Classic Christianity – Children of Promise – Part 2 – 11-03-26
~ Galatians 4:07 — “So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.”
Bob teaches from Galatians that people who belong to Christ are united in one body, regardless of distinctions such as HEBREW or Gentile, slave or free. In Christ, believers become children of God and heirs to the promise.
Bob describes redemption and spiritual birth as God’s work: through Christ, believers receive the Spirit and a new life. The Spirit’s presence, he says, assures them that they are God’s children and allows them to approach Him as “Abba, Father.”
He contrasts dependence on God with human pride and self-sufficiency. Bob says God gave people a will, but choosing to rely on oneself rather than God can lead to spiritual bondage. In his view, people respond to God’s initiating love rather than earning it through their own efforts.
Bob also warns against allowing religious observances, rules, or church traditions to take the place of Christ. He uses the Sabbath as an example: it was a shadow pointing to Jesus, whom he presents as the source of lasting rest. Religious practices may support faith, he says, but should not become substitutes for a relationship with Christ.
Finally, Bob uses Paul’s comparison of Hagar and Sarah to contrast living under the law with living by grace. His central message is that believers are children of promise, called to leave legalistic dependence behind and live by grace, with Christ as their life and focus.
Here are the Scripture passages Bob quoted, referenced, or clearly alluded to. Some were paraphrased rather than quoted verbatim.
Galatians 3:26–29 — Believers are one in Christ and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 4:1–7 — The heir’s status as a child, Christ born under the law, redemption, adoption, and the Spirit crying “Abba, Father.”
Galatians 4:8–11 — Returning to “weak and miserable” principles and observing days, months, seasons, and years.
Galatians 4:12–20 — Paul’s illness, the Galatians’ welcome, and his longing for Christ to be formed in them.
Galatians 4:21–31 — Hagar and Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac, and the contrast between slavery and the children of promise.
Colossians 2:16–17 — Food, festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths as shadows, with the reality found in Christ.
Other quotations and verses alluded to:
John 19:30 and Hebrews 10:10–18 — Bob’s comments that Christ’s work and forgiveness are finished.
John 1:12, 17 — Receiving Christ and the contrast between the law through Moses and grace and truth through Jesus.
John 3:3–8 — Being born again of the Spirit.
Romans 8:9, 14–17 — The Spirit dwelling in believers, testifying that they are God’s children, and their inheritance with Christ.
Romans 10:13 — Calling on the name of the Lord to be saved; this echoes Joel 2:32.
Hebrews 4:16 — Approaching the throne of grace for mercy and help.
Matthew 11:28–29 — Jesus’ invitation to the weary to come to Him for rest.
Mark 2:27–28 — The Sabbath and Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath.
Genesis 16; 21:1–12 — Hagar, Sarah, Ishmael, and Isaac, behind Paul’s illustration in Galatians 4.
Isaiah 54:1 — Quoted in Galatians 4:27 in the passage about the barren woman.
James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5 — God gives grace to the humble and opposes the proud.
1 John 4:10, 19 — God’s initiating love and people’s response to it.
2 Peter 1:3 — God providing what is needed for life and godliness.
2 Corinthians 12:7 — Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”; Bob speculates that Paul’s illness may have involved his eyes, referring also to Galatians 4:13–15.
2 Timothy 4:3 — People seeking teaching that “tickles” their ears.
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Pray to God:
Do you really want to know the WHOLE Truth of what is going on today?
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:5
Lord Jesus, teach me the truth of the world today and give me the wisdom to know the truth and identify the lies of the devil. Thank you God.”
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Announcer 0:13
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.
Bob George 0:29
Let’s turn to Galatians four. Now, in Christ Jesus, there’s no HEBREW or Gentile because in Christ Jesus, what have you been made? You’ve been made one in Christ Jesus. You’ve been baptized into the body of Christ, have you not? Now, in the body, who’s the head? Christ Jesus. So let’s say over here, all of you were HEBREWs by physical birth, and all you were Gentiles by physical birth, and now you’ve all come to Christ. What are you? You could just you could just get together, and there’s no difference. It’s not HEBREW or Gentile, slave or free. You’re all one. We have been made into one new body. There’s no black, white, slave, free. None of that. You were brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, and there’s no difference in any of us, we’re part of the body, and He is the head. If you belong to Christ, you are there. Then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. Now I’m in Christ, and therefore I’m an heir. Now what does that mean? Yeah, that everything that Christ has we’ve inherited. Now is that good news?
Okay. Now we’re ready for Galatians four. What I’m saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he’s no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. In other words, the father has it. You’re going to get it. But while you’re a kid, you’re not treated as an owner. Why? You don’t have enough sense to be one. You’re a child. You need to grow up. He’s subject to guardians and trustees. Now here’s that until the time set for the father. So as a child, are you subject to your parents or trustees? Yes. Why? Because you’re a child, so also when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. In other words, you were under those rules and regulations of the world. You’re a child, and as long as you’re a child, you need instruction. You can’t go out and turn a child loose to think that they’re going to function like you do when you get to be older. Now it says, but when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, under the law. Was Jesus born under the law? Did He teach under the law? Did He proclaim grace? But had grace been given yet in its fullness, was grace there? Yeah, grace was there. Grace was in the Garden of Eden, so was the law, but it wasn’t called the law or the grace. The law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through who? Jesus Christ. Now, when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, under the law, to redeem those under the law, how come so that we might receive the full rights as sons? Now, when you redeem something, what do you do? How many of you remember redemption sinners? What’s well, you save green stamps. You couldn buy a candy bar with a green with green stamps. You go to the theater and give them some green stamps; they’d laugh you away from the window. But in a redemption store, you could get a toaster. So you turned in these worthless green stamps that were worthless to anyone, except the redemption store, and you got a toaster. Now here, when the time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive full rights as sons. What is that? It’s called the exchange of life. I give him everything that I am, just a just a green stamp, and he gives me everything that he is, and that’s God. I turn myself in as a son; He gives me the right to become a son of God. I turn myself in as an empty jar; He fills it with His life and His righteousness and gives it back to me. It’s redemption. Now, all of that took place, and all of that was the time had fully come. Now, when the time had fully come was what, when Jesus came. Until that, we were locked up under the law until Jesus came. Now, because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out Abba, Father.
Now, what does that tell us? What does that tell us about our spiritual birth? We are made sons of God to as many as received Him, to them who gave the right to become what? The son of the living God. Now, how did we become one of those? The Spirit of God came to live within us. Remember what it says: that the Spirit of God lives in you, and if the Spirit of God does not live in you, you don’t belong to him, so what are you born again of? The Spirit. You’re born again of the Spirit of God. That means the Spirit of God from outside of you comes to take place inside of you, and you’re born. Birth is life. You’re born again. You’ve been born physically. Now you’re born spiritually, and that cannot happen apart from the Spirit of God. So this thing that some people teach that you’re born again yesterday and then you get the Spirit tomorrow is a total, not only impossibility but it’s a perversion of the gospel, because there’s no way to be born again apart from the Spirit. So if you don’t have the Spirit, you’re not born again, and so you don’t get the spirit here. Then get another one tomorrow. You’re born again of the spirit of God, and at that moment you are given the right to become a child of the living God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. All of that takes place at that time. Now, because you are sons, and the spirit of God lives in your heart. That Spirit of God living in you has a testimony, and it says this is the testimony we just talked about it that God has given. And it says if this testimony is in your heart, you’re going to be agreeing with this that you’re a son of God. You’re going to be agreeing that you have eternal life. If the Spirit lives in you, the Spirit can’t war against itself, and the Spirit testifies to the fact that you’re a child of God and you possess eternal life. And it says, because you’re a son of God, you cry out, “Abba, Father.” What does that tell you? When you’re possessed by the Spirit, you know something. God’s my Father. I’m a son. I’m plugged into the God of this universe. I’m his kid, and I can cry out, “Abba,” which is the word “daddy,” father. But he said, “This is God. You ought to, you know, you ought to say thee and thou.” He says he’s daddy. It’s daddy. It’s like John, John going into the office of his dad, of his president Kennedy, roaming around while they were talking about the conflict, he’d say, “Kid, that’s the president of the United States, and he’s my daddy,” and I call him daddy, and that’s what it says to us that we can approach the throne of grace, calling him Abba Father, Daddy Father, and receiving mercy in our time of need. That’s what God has done for you and me, He’s made us His child. Who, anybody on the earth that turns to Him by faith, HEBREW, Gentile, slave, free, woman, man, makes no difference. To whosoever comes to Him, He saves. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord, will be what saved. What’s the only thing that keeps you from being saved? Not calling upon the name of the Lord. That’s all. Just saying, I’m going to do it my way, just like Sinatra. Do it my way. And God says, I gave you a will. People ask the question, How does God allow these things to happen? Because He gave man a will. He could have made you and me as a robot. He could have made us as a puppet. He chose to give us a will, so that I could choose to be loved by God and to love God. And whenever you give a man a will, there’s a danger to it, and that is that man isn’t going to choose to walk in dependency upon his creator. I’m going to choose to do it alone. I’m going to choose my own way. I don’t like you as God. I’m going to get me another one. I’m going to get another one. I don’t like what you testified about your son.
I’m going to get another thing to worship, and that is exactly what takes place in the heart of a man. You know what that is, folks? It’s called pride. And do you know what pride is? It’s P-R with an I, right big in the middle of it. It’s the big I. And God gives grace to the humble, but He resists the proud. Why does He resist the proud? Because the proud is resisting Him. And so we have an opportunity on the face of this earth to come and to learn the testimony of God concerning His Son, and to turn to that Son, and to receive life, and our own stubborn pride many times keeps us from us. We say, “I’d rather do it alone. I want to be the maker of my own destiny. I’m in control.” You ever lived that way? I did for 36 years. That’s the way I lived. I’ll do it my way. I don’t need God. I can go to Sunday. I go Sunday to talk about Him, put $1 in the plate. But do I know Him? No, I don’t know Him. Didn’t know Him till I was 36. Then I came to know Him, not know about Him, but to know Him. Now it says, verse seven: You’re no longer a slave, but a son. And since you’re a son, God has made you also an heir. That we are an heir of all that God has provided for us. Now, how much has God given us? Everything that we need for life and godliness. That’s a pretty good inheritance, isn’t it? He didn’t even divide it up. He just said to every one of you, “It’s 100%. I’ve given you everything you need for life and godliness.” Now it says, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who, by nature, are not gods.” And in many instances, that would be slaves to your religious leaders, who don’t know the Lord, or to your political leaders who don’t know it. You were slaves to them. But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, I love that distinction. What does it say? It’s not that we love God, but what He loved us first. Does anyone ever initiate love to God? No, only respond. And remember, guys, we are not initiators; we are responders. God is the initiator of all things. We are the responder to what He initiated. He initiated His love towards you and me. What do we do? We respond to it. And so it says that now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you’re turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You’re observing spatial days and months and seasons and years. I fear that somehow I’ve wasted my efforts on you. You were talking to a group of people who were bogged down in all kinds of tradition, and all kinds of holidays, and everything was tradition. And then they came to Christ, and He’s saying, “Why are you now returning back to those traditions? What did it say about those kind of things?” Turn with me to Colossians for a moment. Colossians 216. Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival. And that’s what he’s talking about over here in Galatians, or a new moon celebration, or what? A Sabbath day. These. Now he’s named eat, drink, religious festivals, new moon celebration, or Sabbath day. So we could take any one of those, and instead of saying these, saying it. So let’s just for a moment, because so many people are hung up on a Sabbath day, let’s take a Sabbath day. What is a Sabbath day? It is a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality, however, is found in who? In Christ. So the Sabbath day is a shadow. The reality is Christ. Who is our Sabbath today? Christ. Who do we turn to for rest? Christ. Not a day of the week, but Christ. Now, when you still are worshiping the day of the week, and people say, “Oh, you got to worship the Sabbath is Saturday.” No, the Sabbath is Sunday, and you say, “No, the Sabbath is Jesus. He’s the Lord of the Sabbath.
There is no more day of the week. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. That was a shadow foreshadowing the reality that was to come in Christ. What was the purpose of the of the Sabbath? To do what? Rest. What did Christ come to give us? Rest. What? A day of the week? Seven days a week, we rest in Him. Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I’ll give you rest and peace for your soul. It’s not a day of the week; it’s every day of the week, and we get all hung up on what day you come to sit in the pew and go home and smell, folks. All that stuff is foreshadowing. Christ is the Sabbath. He’s the Lord of the Sabbath.
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Bob George 14:51
Now let’s go back to where we were. You’re observing these spatial days. We just talked about that months and seasons and years. Nothing wrong with those, but they become a substitute for Jesus. And anything that God can bless as a supplement, He’ll curse as a substitute. And we make supplements to Jesus, and before long, they’re substitutes for Jesus. And instead of looking at going to church as a supplement to your faith, it becomes a substitute for your faith, and you hear people. That’s all they talk about: it’s church, church, church, church, church. And you go to lunch with people, and all they talk about church, church, church, church, church, church, church, church, church. And you want to throw up after a while. You say, “Where’s Jesus at all this? What has happened? Church became a substitute for Jesus, not a supplement to, but a substitute for. And if you’re going to talk about something, talk about Him. He’s the reality, not your church. And that’s sometimes that’s all you hear. And where I used to go, you went to lunch, brother. You’re going to talk about church. That’s all. Just church, never Jesus. Just church. Become preoccupied with your body instead of your head. We do that too, don’t we? Get a good-looking body and don’t have a thing in our brain. God is saying to us, “I gave you the Holy Spirit for you to think. I came to give you instruction. I came to teach your mind to control your emotions and direct your will, and that’s what I’m there for. Now he says, “I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. I entered into your life so that you could enter into mine. You’ve done me no wrong, as you know. It was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Wonder why I didn’t heal himself? Bob didn’t have enough faith. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel from God, as if I were Christ Jesus Himself. Paul demanded such respect, and had been through such trials and tribulation and persecution. I don’t think it would have been possible to be into His presence without seeing Him as a very, very special servant of God. And He said, “You welcome me as if I was an angel, as if I were Christ Himself. What’s happened to all your joy? I can testify that if you could have done so, you’d have torn out your own eyes and given them to me. And that’s why when Paul talks about a thorn in the flesh, that I believe it was an eye problem. That was his sickness. Someplace down the line was eye problem, and that’s why he says that if you had done so, you would have torn out your own eyes and given them to me. Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth, folks? How many times do you become an enemy by telling them the truth? You know it’s a funny thing, isn’t it? We’ll believe anything except the truth. You don’t want to hear the truth. We don’t want to hear truth about anything, it makes you mad. Isn’t that funny? You can tell people anything. Tell you, listen, I got these hankies that I’ve dipped in the Jordan. You send me 10 bucks, I’ll send you one of them. And man, you just say, lead me to the post office. You tell somebody you’ve been saved by grace and you’re sustained by grace, and Christ Jesus lives in you, and you’re no longer under the law, and Christ’s forgiveness was final. There is no more forgiveness to be executed on your behalf. It’s finished. It’s done, and they say too good to be true. We’re strange people, aren’t we? Well, we really do. We believe anything except the truth. And so he says, “How have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?” We got a notation from a radio station that we’re on that said this is a notice to all people that are on our programs to quit saying anything about the Muslims, and if you do, we’ll take you off the air. I called the manager. I said, “Have you gone out of your mind?
Since when are you going to kick off people who teach Jesus for the sake of a Muslim, and of course he was just a manager. That was an owner’s decision. But again, they don’t want to hear truth. They don’t want anybody to tell you truth about what’s taught there. You’re not telling it to stir up trouble. You’re telling it so that people can be informed, and people get mad at you for telling the truth. These people are zealous to win you over, but not for any good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. I don’t think there’s anyone that wants to alienate you from somebody else unless they want you to be zealous for for themselves. It’s fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good. But to be so always, and not just when I’m with you, my dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. How I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I’m perplexed about you. I cannot understand. What’s going on? In Galatians three, he said, “I came to you with such a clear message that I could have written a postcard in front of you about Jesus.” And he said, “Have you gone mad? What’s happened to you? Have you gone crazy? I couldn’t have made it any more clearly.” And I want to ask you a question: Did you receive the Spirit of God by believing Christ or by obeying the law, and after beginning in Christ, why are you now trying to perfect yourself by human effort? Why are you not walking by faith instead of going back under these stupid principles that kept you in bondage? That’s all a part of the law that had you in bondage. Why are you going back to those principles? I am totally perplexed about you. I don’t understand what’s happened to you. And folks, I want to tell you something. When you’re in the ministry, you see that constantly with people. And I’ve had people that have sat for 10 years that didn’t know any more than the day they walked in here. Their head was as empty 10 years later as it was when they walked in, and sit there and look at you and nod their head and never hear a word you say. And you look at people sometimes that they walk away. They walk away, and the reason they walk away is you might have said something you didn’t like about some something that really wasn’t that important. In other words, what you’re teaching isn’t important. It’s that you teach what I want to hear. And again, it says that in the scripture, doesn’t it? In the last days, people want to get their ears tickled, and we want programs and we want entertainment, and that’s why we go to church is to get entertained and programmed. And so he’s saying, “I’m perplexed about you. I’m in the pains of childbirth again until Christ is formed in you. You know about him, but he hasn’t been formed in you. He’s not your life. He’s just someone out there. But he hasn’t become your life. He hasn’t become your reality. He hasn’t become your rest. He’s just a name. And he tell me, you who want to be under the law, and that’s what he’s talking about. People who have fallen back under the law, came to grace, fallen back under the law. We have people today who say, “I’m Christian, but we got to go obey the HEBREW laws. Who are they? People that is perplexing Paul. Where he’s saying, “What’s wrong with you? I don’t understand. I’m perplexed until Christ is formed in you. Why are you returning to the law and to the ceremonies and to all the things that he’s talking about here? What’s gone on with you? I don’t understand you. We’ve seen it on television, the religious services, have we not? In the big temples, so to speak, and with the hats, and with the robes, and with the sticks. You’ve seen everything going on at pompous, and Paul would say, “I am perplexed about you. What in the world are you thinking about?
Since when did coming to Christ mean that you dressed up in funny-looking robes and wore funny-looking hats and spread stuff all over the place? What does that have to do with anything? Sitting there and people bowing down and doing hocus pocus on the heads and all this kind of stuff. What does that have to do with anything? We can look at these things, folks, but it’s nonsense. According to the Word of God, it’s total nonsense. It’s perplexing, and yet we just love it. Give me more of it. Give me more robes. Give me more hats. Give me more pomp. Folks, do you know in the early church until __________ came along, there were not buildings with stained glass. Can you imagine going someplace without stained glass? We even got some up there. I mean, what’s happened? I can tell you what happened: is religion has become a substitute for Jesus, not a supplement, but a substitute. And Paul’s perplexed about it, and we ought to be perplexed about what’s going on as well. Tell me, you want to be under the law? Are you not aware what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born in an ordinary way, but his son by the free woman was born as a result of the promise. These things may be taken figuratively, for the women the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai, and it bears children or to be slaves. This is Hagar. This was the slave woman’s son, Ishmael. That’s who we’re fighting against today. And now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present city of Job. Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free. She is our mother. For it is written, “Be glad, O barren woman who bears no children, break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor pains, because more are the children of the desolate woman than those of her who has a husband.” Now you brothers, like Isaac, are the children of promise. And at that time, the son born in the ordinary way was persecuted by the son born of the power of the Spirit. In other words, the son Ishmael, born of the ordinary way. What’s the ordinary way? The ordinary way. Then the ordinary. persecuted the son born by the power of the spirit, and who was that? That was Isaac. It is the same now; nothing’s changed. But what does the scripture say? It says to get rid of the slave woman and her son. The slave woman and the son represented the law, it said, “Get rid of it, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son. You’re never going to share in being a child of God by coming to God through the law. Only by grace, you put the law aside, and you get rid of it. That’s what it says: get rid of the slave woman and her son, you get rid of it. You want to still live by the law? How are you going to be sharing in the inheritance of the free woman’s son? Get rid of what binds you, and walk in grace, led by the Spirit of God. Therefore, brothers, we are not the children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. Does that make sense? And folks, that’s exactly where we are today. We either live by grace, or we live under the law. And he’s saying you have been saved by grace. Now live in grace. Two cannot commingle together any more than you can bring foreign gods into your land and commingle together. It doesn’t work. And so, what we have to do is, as children of God, who know the grace of God, is to live by grace and to love by grace. Why? Because you’re indwelt by grace.
Announcer
Thank you so much for tuning in to Classic Christianity with Bob George. We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s program. We truly hope that today’s message has inspired you to walk a life of faith in the Lord. Find more information online at BobGeorge.net. There you’ll also find available CDs, DVDs, and Bible studies available for purchase. It’s through your help, that we are able to spread the good word of Jesus Christ. Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.