This content uses the biblical allegory of Abraham's sons, Ishmael and Isaac, to illustrate the fundamental spiritual conflict between living by the flesh (old nature) and the spirit (new nature), and between the law and grace, urging believers to stand firm in the freedom Christ provides.
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Our theme tonight is born free.
And we're reading from Galatians chapter
4 beginning at verse 19 through the end
of the chapter.
This has always been a fascinating
paragraph to me
because it shows how Paul reaches back
into the Old Testament scriptures
and finds some wonderful spiritual lessons.
lessons.
Galatians 4:E 19.
My little children
of whom I travail in birth again
until Christ be formed in you.
I desire to be present with you now and
to change my tone for I stand in doubt
of you.
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 bond made, the other by a
free woman.
But he who was of the bond woman was
born after the flesh, that is in the
course of nature.
But he of the free woman was by promise.
Now an allegory is a story
with two levels of meaning. Pilgrim's
progress is perhaps the best known
allegory in the English language
where people and events stand for
abstract truths.
For these are the two covenants,
the one from Mount Si bearing children
for bondage, who is Hagar.
For this Hagar is Mount Si in Arabia,
and answers 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, that is
all believers.
For it is written, "Rejoice thou barren
that beareest not. Break forth and cry
thou that travalest not, for the
desolate hath many more children than
she who hath a husband.
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the
children of promise.
But as then he that was born after the
flesh Ishmamail
persecuted him that was born after the
spirit Isaac even so it is now.
Nevertheless, what sayith the scripture?
Cast out the bond woman and her son.
For the son of the bond woman shall not
be heir with the son of the free woman.
So then, brethren, we are not children
of the bond woman, but of the free.
Stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty with which Christ hath
made us free, and be not entangled again
Now, for some of you, this may be very
complex and mysterious, but those of you
who know your Old Testament scriptures
understand what Paul's talking about.
He's talking about two family problems
that Abraham had.
They're recorded back in Genesis 16 and
Genesis 21.
When Abraham was 75 years old, God
called him into a life of faith and
promised that he would have a great many descendants.
descendants.
10 years went by and uh he had no son.
And so his wife Sarah said to him, "Now
Abraham, God told you that you would be
the father,
but he didn't say that I would be the mother.
mother.
Why don't you marry Hagar, my maid, and
perhaps you can have the son by her?
Now, that was legal, perfectly legal,
but it wasn't scriptural. There are many
things in Chicago that are legal that
are not biblical. And so, he did. He
married Hagar. And when Abraham was 86
years old, Hagar gave birth to a son,
Abraham's firstborn son, and they named
him Ishmael.
Now, um, when Hagar discovered that she
was carrying a child,
Sarah became very jealous of her and
they had a fight and she threw Hagar out
of the home.
And God said to Abraham, "Now you bring
Hagar back. Let her stay here and let
her submit herself to Sarah."
So when Abraham was 86 years old,
Ishmael was born. Now, when Abraham was
99 years old, God came and
said,"Abraham, you should have waited
cuz Sarah is going to be the one to have
the son." About this time next year,
your wife Sarah is going to give birth
to a son. Sure enough, when Abraham was
100 years old
and Ishmael was about 14 years old,
Sarah gave birth to Isaac. Isaac means laughter
laughter
because Isaac brought such great joy
into their home.
Now we have a problem. When Isaac was
about 3 years old, he was weaned and
they had a big feast to commemorate his
weaning. And we read in the scriptures
that Ishmamail, who would now be a
teenager about 16 or 17, persecuted him.
I don't know what he said, but having
been around a lot of teenagers, I can
imagine what he said.
And Ishmael made things rough for little Isaac.
Isaac.
And uh Sarah said to her husband, "Throw
that woman out and tell her to take her
son with her." God said,"Abraham, that's
right." The first time Sarah said for
her to get out, that was wrong. But now
it's right. Let Ishmamail go and let
Hagar go because you can't have Sarah
and Hagar,
Isaac and Ishmamail in the same family.
Now, when you read all of this in
Genesis, it just looks like a couple of
family problems that they would have
written to Dear Abby about if she'd been around.
around.
But there's a lot deeper truth to it
than just family problems. It's an
allegory. Abraham stands for something.
Isaac does, Sarah does, Ishmamail does,
Hagar does.
Now, all of us know what Abraham
symbolizes in the Bible. In fact, uh
Paul has mentioned it several times in
Galatians. Abraham signifies faith. He's
the great man of faith. He's the father
of the believers. And so, when Abraham
is mentioned, you say faith.
Now he tells us what Sarah represents.
Sarah represents the covenant of grace.
And so when you see this very fine
couple, Abraham and Sarah, you have faith
faith
and grace. And of course, they gave
birth to a son. And Isaac stands for the
believer. Verse 28. Now we, brethren, as
Isaac was, are the children of promise. Ishmael
Ishmael
stands for the flesh.
His mother stands for the covenant of
law. And so here's the whole picture
before us. And we didn't make this up.
Paul told us this. Paul says Abraham
stands for faith. And Abraham's family
has Sarah and Isaac. Sarah stands for
grace. Isaac stands for the miracle of
the new birth, the new nature.
Throw out Hagar, who stands for law, and
her son Ishmael, who stands for the old nature.
nature.
So when you put it all together, you
discover something very interesting.
Paul is talking about the two basic
conflicts that you have in your life
every day.
If you're a Christian here tonight, you
have these two conflicts. Now, if you
aren't a Christian, you don't have these conflicts.
conflicts.
You've got a worse conflict. You're at
enmity with God. You're at war with God.
And boy, you don't want to stay at war
with God because you'll lose the war.
What are the two conflicts that we have
in our Christian life? The conflict
between the flesh,
the old nature, and the spirit, the new
nature. and the conflict between law and
grace and Galatians has been dealing
with this. Now Paul says to his friends
in Galatia who had become his enemies,
my little children. You see, he had
brought them into the family. He had
begotten them through the gospel and
he's treating them like little children.
He says, "Let me just tell you a story.
I can't explain these abstract truths to
you. You're such babies. Let me just
tell you a story about Abraham and Isaac
and Sarah and Hagar and Ishmael. And
perhaps if I tell you this story, you'll
understand how foolish you are
to try to keep law and grace, flesh and
spirit in the same family. Can't do it.
Somebody has to go.
Now, let's look together at these two
basic conflicts in the Christian life.
First, Isaac and Ishmael, the conflict
between the flesh and the spirit.
When I'm out in conference ministry, I
always enjoy asking congregations
questions. Sometimes it's the answers
are very embarrassing.
For example, I'll often say, "Who's the
first king in the Bible?" And somebody
will stand up and say, "Saul." I'll say,
"You're wrong.
It's Adam.
God made Adam the first king in the
Bible. Which king took over after Adam?
Silence. Romans 5 tells us sin began to
reign and death began to reign because
of Adam's sin. Then I'll say something
like this.
Who was Abraham's firstborn son? Isaac.
Oh no. Ishmael.
Ishmael.
And Paul tells us here, there's a
tremendous contrast between these two
boys. If you want to understand the
flesh, your old nature, and the spirit,
your new nature, just get acquainted
with Isaac and Ishmamail. Look at their birth.
birth.
Ishmael's birth was done by the will of
man, by the will of the flesh. It was
not of God.
Sarah said to Abraham when he was 85
years old, "We had better help God out."
Mary Hagar. Hagar agreed to this. The
whole thing was man-made. The whole
thing was completely apart from the will
of God. Ishmamail was born of the flesh.
This is why the Bible tells us back in
Genesis, he was a wild man.
Ishmael was a wild man. I don't mean by
this he frothed at the mouth and broke
windows, but he was not controllable.
And I say to myself, you know what? When
I was born the first time, they could
have called me Ishmamail.
I went through Moby Dick some months
back. It's one of my favorite books. If
you've never read it, you ought to read
it. But I went through the book for this
purpose, just to mark all the scripture
references and all the scriptural
illusions in that book. There are more
than 100 references to the Bible in Moby Dick.
Dick.
In fact, you when you start the book, I
wonder how many high school students who
have to read Moby Dick choke on the
first sentence.
Call me Ishmael.
That's significant. When I was born,
they were going to call me Phillip.
And if I was going to be a girl, they
But I had a cousin whose name was Warren
uh he he liked that little nephew of
his. And so he they called my name
Warren. And you know what? They should
have called me Ishmail.
Cuz I was born with an old nature. And
it didn't take them long to find out I
had an old nature. And as I grew up, it
didn't take the neighbors long to find
out that I had an old nature. Didn't
take my kindergarten teacher long to
discover I had an old nature. And no
amount of discipline, no amount of law
could change that old nature. That's Ishmael.
Do you ever notice in your Bible that
He rejected
Cain and chose Abel. He rejected uh
the firstborn in Egypt. He rejected Esau
and chose uh Jacob. He rejected your
first birth. He rejected Ishmamail and
chose Isaac. God rejects the first
birth, Ishmael. Now, Isaac was born by
the power of God. Abraham was physically
dead. Here's a man who is 99 years old.
Here is a woman who's 89 years old. The
very idea that they should have any
children, that's why God waited.
God could have performed the miracle at
75. But people would have said, "Well,
Romans chapter 4 says, "God waited until
Abraham and Sarah were as good as dead
and then he performed a miracle in their
bodies and gave them new life." It's a
picture of what happens when you're born
again. Well, when you come to the point
when you're dead, slain by God, I can't
save myself. I can't do a thing for
myself. Oh, God, you have to do it.
That's why John says we are born
not of the flesh, the will of the flesh
or the will of man. We're born of God.
And so Isaac is a picture of that new birth.
birth.
There's a contrast in their births. I
want to ask you this question. How many
births have you had?
Oh, you say my first birth is really
good. If you knew my mother and father,
I don't know your mother and father,
and I'm not sure I want to, but I know
this much about you. If you've only been
born once, you're a sinner.
I know something else. If you've only
been born once, you're going to die
twice. You can die physically and you'll
die eternally.
There's a place called hell, which is
the second death.
The first death is a physical death. The
second death is a spiritual death, an
eternal death, separation from God. And
so I ask you point blank, how many
births have you had.
Now if you can say, I've had two births.
I know that I was born Ishmamail, but
praise God there. I believe the promise
like Abraham did. And one day God's
power went to work in my life. And I
trusted Jesus Christ and Isaac came
along. The joy came in and new life came
in. And I've been born again.
Now, if you can't say that you have been
born again, you better be able to do it
tonight. You better trust Jesus Christ
right now. So, there's a contrast in
their birth. There's a contrast in their behavior.
behavior.
You will never find Isaac creating
problems for Abraham and Sarah. Never.
He brought joy into their home. By the
way, Ishmamail didn't really show how
mean he was until Isaac came along. I
thought my old nature was bad before I
was saved. But man, when Isaac came into
my life and there was a new nature, oh,
my old nature began to fight. Did you
have that experience? You say, "I still
do. I do, too."
He talks about it over in Galatians
chapter 5 where the flesh lusts against
the spirit and the spirit lusts against
the flesh and these are contrary the one
Abraham said, "Isaac, get on the altar.
I'm going to kill you." He did it.
The new nature always obeys the father.
The old nature always fights the father.
And Ishmamail gave problem after problem
to to Abraham.
Let me drop this into your heart just to
think about on your way home. If you get
into a traffic jam or a long stoplight,
just think about this.
Abraham stands for faith.
Sarah stands for grace.
Isaac was born
by grace through faith. The same way you
were born.
For by grace are you saved through faith.
faith.
Ishmael wasn't born by faith. The works
of the flesh. Ishmael wasn't born by
grace. Hagar is the law.
And in their behavior, the two are
contrary. Isaac is submissive.
Ishmael is rebellious.
Isaac brings joy. Ishmael brings sorrow
and division. Wherever you find the
saints of God not getting along with
each other, somebody
has quit walking according to the spirit
and has started walking according to the
flesh. Always.
Whenever the saints of God in a home or
a Sunday school class or any church,
anywhere else, whenever the saints of
God are happily getting along with each
other in creative work and blessing,
it's because Isaac is in control.
Whenever the saints of God are having
problems with each other, and we've all
been through it, it's because Ishmamail
got in. He always caused trouble.
Now, there's a contrast not only in
their birth and in their behavior, but
there's a contrast in their blessing. I
don't want to go into this in too great
a detail, but I want to point it out to you.
you.
God did give blessing to Ishmael,
material blessing, lands and mountains
and things like that. But he never gave
But Isaac was given all of Abraham's
wealth and the spiritual blessings of
Abraham. Isaac was the heir. My new
nature is the heir of God and makes me a
joint heir with Christ. Because I have
the new nature within me. And if you're
saved, you have the new nature. We are
the heirs of God. Your old nature is not
going to give you any inheritance.
If you're living for the flesh, the
Bible says that which is born of the
flesh is flesh and always will be flesh.
But my friend, if you've been born
again, you've been born rich and you've
been born free.
Because Isaac was not the son of a bond
woman. Isaac was the son of a free
woman. Grace,
when you were born, you were born free.
You weren't born under the bondage of
the Ten Commandments. You weren't born
under the bondage of some religion. You
were born free. Abraham never had to
issue commandments to Isaac. As far as
the record is concerned, Isaac's great
joy was to obey his father, even unto death.
death.
Ishmael, that's a different story.
May I repeat for you something I have
often said.
The old nature knows no law.
The new nature needs no law.
When two people fall in love with each
other, you don't have to talk to them
about obeying.
Where there's love, there's the desire
to serve. When you have the new nature
within, there's the desire to serve.
Now, what does God do with Ishmael? He
throws him out.
You say, "But I still have my flesh."
That's right. I still have my old
nature. I do, too. Every once in a
while, it asserts itself rather voseiferously.
voseiferously.
But you said the old nature was cast
out. That's right. As far as God is
concerned, this old nature of mine is through.
Every time I reckon myself to be dead
indeed unto sin and alive unto God, that
old nature can't do anything.
You see, the problem is not God. The
problem is myself. God has told me,
look, as far as I'm concerned, that old
nature has been thrown out. As far as
I'm concerned, you've been dead to that.
As far as I'm concerned, I am crucified
with Christ. Therefore, reckon yourself
that way. believe what God says and act
The reason Isaac
brought such joy and such blessing to
the home was because he always stayed in
fellowship with his father. If you'll
keep this new nature within you in
fellowship with your father,
you and the Lord are going to have a
wonderful time together. And you're
going to find that that old nature,
though it will fight, though it will do
insidious things, though it will seek to
drag you down, you'll find that old
nature will be defeated
because the new nature
will be the stronger.
Paul says, "Make no provision for the
flesh to fulfill the lust thereof."
Do you remember the story that the
Indian told Dr. Ironside? You recall how
he used to work among our Indians in the southwest.
southwest.
He was talking about this very conflict
of the old nature and the new nature.
And he says, "This Indian has two dogs
down inside, a good one and a bad one,
and they fight each other."
And Dr. Iron Ironside said, "Which one wins?"
wins?"
The Indian said, 'The one I feed the most.
That's good theology.
Make not provision for the flesh to
fulfill the fulfill the lust thereof.
Don't feed it.
Don't let it in the house. Reckon
ourselves to be dead. Cultivate Isaac
and the father in fellowship together.
Now, we must hasten and look at the
second contrast. This is such a
beautiful thing. The contrast between
Sarah and Hagar, Ishmamail and Isaac,
the flesh versus the spirit. Hagar and
Sarah, law versus grace. And they go
together. Grace makes possible the new
nature. Law, the old nature.
By the law is the knowledge of sin. Now,
let's look at Hagar.
Number one, Hagar
was Abraham's second wife, not his first wife.
wife.
Boy, if all the legalists would just
notice that and and believe it, Hagar
was not his first wife. Hagar was his
second wife. God never meant for Abraham
to be married to Hagar.
The law was added.
The law God didn't begin with law. You
don't find the law in in the the Garden
of Eden.
You find a commandment. Don't don't eat
of that tree. That was the test. You
don't find the law. You don't find the
law in the land of Egypt when God
delivered them. God didn't say, "Now, if
you'll all take copies of the Ten
Commandments and hang them on your
door." Oh, no. He said, "You put the
blood on the door." That's grace.
God did not deliver the nation of Israel
from Egypt by law. He delivered them by grace.
So Hagar was his second wife and the law
was added. God brought the law in but he
started with grace.
Dear friend, when you got saved, you
weren't married to law. You were married
I notice a second fact about Hagar.
She was a servant.
Paul says, "Wherefore then serveth the
law." The law is a servant. I mentioned
this to you several weeks ago. Permit me
to repeat it.
The law was never meant to be your servant
servant permanently.
permanently.
Paul talks about the little child who
has to have law to protect him that he
might grow into maturity. He said the
Jewish nation was like this. The law
protected the Jewish nation until the
fullness of the time was come and God
sent his son and his son redeemed them
from the law. Hagar
was a servant.
Now the law is a marvelous servant but a
very poor master. And I'm afraid that
many people who worship
law don't realize they're stepping out
of grace. They don't realize that the
law is supposed to be a servant and the
law still has a service to perform. The
law convicts of sin. The law reveals
sin. The law shows us how sinful we are.
You would never have known what a sneak
Sarah was had it not been for Hagar.
Hagar showed that Sarah was impatient
and Sarah liked to scheme and
secondguess God. You would never have
known what a weakling Abraham was if it
not been for Hagar. Hagar revealed the
fleshliness of Abraham. The law revealed
sin. She was a servant but not a master.
Fact of the matter is she couldn't even
control her own son,
Ishmamail. Now, you'll not read any
place in Genesis where Hagar told Isaac
Hagar was not even able to change
Ishmamail. The law brings out the worst
in me. Grace brings out the best in me.
Hagar was a servant. Thirdly, Hagar was
not supposed to bear a child.
The law does not give birth. The law
gives death.
Paul says in Romans 7, "The law killed me."
me."
God never gave the law to give life.
How do you get life? By grace through faith.
faith.
The law was given to expose sin, to show
how sinful sin really is, and to condemn
us and to help us to feel the awful
condemnation of sin. But the law can't
save. The law was never given to give
life. Hagar was never supposed to have a
child. There's a fourth fact about Hagar
you'd better get a hold of. Hagar gave
birth to a slave.
The son of a bond woman is
a slave.
The law always gives birth to slaves and
God doesn't want us to be slaves.
Remember the prodigal son? He got
himself into a mess of trouble out in
the far country. He was broke. He was
hungry. He was homesick. He said, "You
know what? The servants that my father
has at home are better taken care of
than I am. I'm going to go home and I'm
going to tell my father I've sinned.
Make me a servant." And so he did. He
came home.
His father saw him a far off
and he ran and threw his arms around
him. You know why he did that? If the
father had not run and thrown his arms
around the boy, the people in the
village would have stoned him to death.
He was a rebellious son.
And when the father threw his arms
around that boy, they couldn't stone the
boy. And the villager said, "Here is a
strange thing. This father's going to
forgive his son." And the boy says,
"Father, I've sinned against heaven and
in your sight. I'm no worthy to be
called a son. Make me one of your hired
servants." You know, a lot of Christians
are this way. Oh God, make me a slave.
I'll I'll gruffle in the dust. Make me a
slave. God says, "Wait a minute. I want
I want you to be a son."
Hagar gave birth to a slave. If you put
yourself under law,
you become a slave. God doesn't want you
to be a slave. If the son shall make you
free, you shall be free indeed. Now,
he's not talking about license.
He's not talking about what the
theologians call antonyomianism
against the law. Anybody who says, "Hey,
I'm saved. I've been saved by grace. I
can live the way I please." is probably
giving evidence he's never been saved at
all. When Isaac comes into your life,
you don't want to live the way you
please. You want to live to please your father.
father.
She gave birth to a slave. The fifth
fact I notice about her. She was thrown out.
out.
Cast out the bond woman and her son.
Throw her out.
He didn't say compromise with her. Now,
we have this in churches today. We have
a little bit of law, a little bit of
grace. You can't do that. He didn't say
to compromise with her. He didn't say to
capitulate to her. He didn't say to
change her. He didn't say to do
anything. Throw her out
The strength of sin is the law.
Paul says that 1 Corinthians 15.
Do you know what it is that makes my old
Ishmamail nature want to do bad things?
When you tell me I shouldn't do them.
Don't do this. Oh yeah,
now do that. That's why in churches that
are very legalistic, people are always
mad at each other. They're taking out
their frustrations on each other,
How did Abraham and Isaac raise How did
Abraham and Sarah raise Isaac? By grace
through faith. How do Christians grow up
at Moody Church? By grace through faith.
Not law, through flesh.
So when Hagar goes law, flesh goes
because the law like a magnet draws out flesh.
flesh.
Throw her out.
Would you notice a sixth fact about
She never got married again. God never
gave the law to the church. God never
gave the law to the Gentiles. God had
used the law in his way for his purpose.
She never got married again.
And there are organizations today, there
are so-called Christian groups today
that want to marry
Abraham and Hagar again. And God says,
"No, throw her out." someone comes and
hands you a magazine that says you're
supposed to keep the Sabbath day
or you're supposed to keep Pentecost
or the feast of weeks trumpets
trumpets
just say sorry
when I got saved God kicked Hagar out of
my life and I'm not going to get married
to her again was never supposed to be
So you see, we're born free
like Isaac. We are born free. We are
children of the free woman.
And because we were saved by grace
through faith, the way Isaac was born.
How do we live? By grace through faith.
Where's the grace come from? God.
Where's the faith come from? God's word.
And so your life is not built on rules
and regulations and religious restrictions.
Does this mean we throw out all rules
and regulations? No. We'd have chaos.
When you unite with Moody Church, we
give you a little booklet that says,
"Here's how the train runs on the
track." This is the way we keep from
having confusion around here. We try to
keep a certain order,
but we don't say that by keeping this
you're going to be spiritual. When you
go to a Christian school, they have
certain rules and regulations. You knew
them before you came.
Why are these rules there? To make you
more spiritual? Of course not. My guess
is with 10% of the students it makes you
more carnal.
Just the very idea of someone saying you
can't do this. Oh yeah, I'll show you I
can do it.
Why are these rules there? To maintain
order. Let all things be done decently
and in order. We're not talking about
the social obligations of people. I'm
talking about the spiritual relations of people.
people.
Let no one say because I don't do this
and don't do that and don't go here and
don't go there. I am spiritual. The
Pharisees said that and they crucified Jesus.
We're born free. That's why Paul really
chapter 5:1 should be the conclusion. It
should be 4:32. Stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made
you free.
When I first began to study this passage
some years ago, I said to myself, you
know, it's awfully mean of God to do
that. I mean, all right, he probably
wasn't madly in love with Hagar, but
You know, for some 14 years, he was his
only son. Boy, a kid gets to be about
14. His personality is developing.
Abraham loved Ishmamail
just the way you and I love the flesh.
In fact, at one point, he cried out and
said, "Oh, that Ishmael might live
before you."
God said, "Don't talk to me like that.
I'll give what I want to I choosing Isaac."
Isaac."
I said to myself, you know, God uh God
was awfully hard on Abraham,
taking away his firstborn son. And then
the spirit of God said to me, "Why, you fool?
Didn't God give his only begotten son?
Can't you just see Isaac,
Sarah, Abraham,
that last day when Ishile and Hagar are
leaving, Sarah was happy. I'm sure Isaac
was happy. I'm sure Abraham was weeping.
He was obeying God. But oh, there goes
his son, his firstborn son
And the Lord said to me, "Don't feel too
sorry for Abraham.
There was a day when I sent my only
begotten son out."
And he went to a cross.
And you know why he went to that cross?
So that people could be saved from the law.
law.
Because on the cross, he bore the curse
of the law. so that people could be
saved from the awful penalty of sin. For
the wages of sin is death. So that
people could be saved from the awful
power of the old nature. That I might
make new people out of them. That Isaac
might be born within them. Don't weep
over Abraham.
Just remember, says God, my son, my only
left home,
and bore your sins on the cross.
Now, my dear friend,
which family are you living in?
You say, "Well, I've never been born
again. I don't know what this thing is
about having a new life down inside.
Well, then you belong to Hagar and Ishmamail.
Ishmamail.
And Hagar means law. That means the
judgment of the law is over your head
and it'll catch up with you someday. God
says, "Thou shalt not. Thou shalt not.
Thou shalt not."
And there's, "Oh, Ishmamail, he's going
to get you into trouble. Why don't you
move over into the other family?
Move into the Abraham Sarah family. It's
a good family.
Put your faith in Jesus Christ. By grace
are we saved through faith. Sarah,
grace. Abraham, faith.
Oh, it would be wonderful if tonight
Isaac, a new nature, a joyful new
could just be born into you. You say,
"Can that happen?" Certainly it can.
That's why Jesus died. That's why we
give an invitation at the close of every
service at the Moody Church so that
people can come and say, "I want to
change families tonight. I was born
Ishmamail. I want to be Isaac.
I was born the wrong way. I want to be
born the right way. I was born in
bondage. I want to be born free. I was
born bankrupt. I want to be born rich. I
was born with no home. I want to be born
into God's family and have an eternal
home and never be kicked out.
That can happen to you tonight if you'll
just give your heart to Jesus Christ and
be born free.
free.
Gracious Father in heaven,
thank you for this uh picture that you
give to us of what it means to be free.
And I pray that someone here tonight
might trust Jesus Christ, believe, be
born again, and go away with joy and
peace and new life and eternal forgiveness.
forgiveness.
Father, this can only happen by the
miracle of God.
And I pray that in many hearts tonight
that miracle might take place. And so
work tonight to do your will for your
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