Transcript for:
Galatians 4:21,5:1 -Stand Fast- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2025-10-12

Please open your Bibles to Galatians chapter four verse 21 through Galatians chapter five verse one. And would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together? Galatians chapter four beginning with verse 21. Tell me, and ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which genders the bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar in Mount Sinai in Arabia answers to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem, is above, is free, which is the mother of us all, for it is written, rejoice, thou barren, and bear us not, break forth and cry, you that travail not, for the desolate has many more children than she which has a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Father, thank you for your holy word. Please open the scriptures to us today, Lord. Please teach us. Please equip and strengthen us and build us up in this most holy faith. Lord, help us to not shirk. Help us to not fear, to not shirk away or or fall away. Help us to stand fast, to be firm in the truth, to be firm in these truths, and firm with the gospel, and not back down, not compromise with the world. Help us to walk in the liberty that's ours, the freedom, the true freedom that's ours in the life of the spirit, Lord. So blessed, pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you please be seated? Freedom or bondage? The Galatians were falling back into the bondage of the law. Why is this? Why would somebody choose bondage over freedom, slavery over liberty, legalism over grace, flesh over spirit, law over love, death over life for a person to willingly go back into slavery when they've been set free, when they've experienced the liberating work of salvation through Jesus Christ is truly a mystery. Why would we do that? What would motivate someone to do this? How can we better understand and appropriate appropriate the grace of God in our lives so Paul seeks to break this spell, this bewitching that the Galatians have fallen under when the Judaizers come down from Jerusalem, and it's kinda like they're under a spell. They're they're bewitched. They're they're you just can't get through them. It's like it's like, you know, the light's on, but nobody's home. They're being seduced. They're there's these seductive influences of legalism in their lives of the Galatians. And, you're trying to reason with them from the scriptures, but people just can't get it. And that's why I use the term the mega cult today because as much as I try to awaken people to how we're being deceived and how we're being betrayed, people just have already made up their mind, and it's so frustrating to watch that take place. And that's what what Paul's dealing with here is people that have been seduced, people that have been caught up, you know, in the in the hype and under a spell, so to speak. And he's saying, don't you know what the law entails? Don't you know how the tyranny that's coming if you go that way? Don't you know that the digital ID is gonna make it so you can't do anything without the government's consent? With you you want to go under the law? Don't you enjoy your constitution? Don't you enjoy your freedom? Do you want freedom of speech to go away? Do you really want that? I mean, I I had people that were so angry at me. At least they were nice enough. They took Kathy and I out to dinner, and they told us don't speak in Trump's name anymore, or we're gonna leave the church. And I'm like, wow. Why is this so important to you? If what I'm saying is not true, then please inform me. But I I can't deny what I'm seeing. I can't deny overwhelming proof that we're going down the road to a global government, that we're going we're heading into tyranny. We're heading into bondage. We're gonna lose our freedom of speech. We're gonna lose our freedoms. You're not gonna be able to buy yourself here in the tribulation period without a mark on your right hand to your forehead. You're not gonna be able to travel without a vaccine certificate, a wearable according to Robert, you know, j Kennedy. And, you know, they met this week, Robert Kennedy, with president Trump, and it's so bizarre because we've got a five thousand increase in autism in children. Five thousand percent. Since when? Since they began to use the bundling of vaccines with the adjunct, which is mercury. They don't talk about that. They're rolling out the lie this week, and they said, it's because these kids are circumcised. What? And when they get circumcised, they use Tylenol. And it's the Tylenol because these kids are circumcised. What kind of idiots you think we are? You know? People have been getting circumcised since the time of Abraham when God instructed Abraham, the kids didn't come away with autism. You know? Well, they didn't use Tylenol. Well, they used something. Why not why not look at it from the standpoint of the bundling, putting nine, ten, twenty, fifty two, over 50 vaccines in these kids before they're two years old, and you're using mercury as an adjunct, which the kid's neurological system isn't able. That's the truth, but you're gonna double down with these lies and bring people under a tyranny where their bodies aren't even their own. They can't even work unless they get the job. You know? They can't even travel or do anything without the ID. Why would you go back into that level of tyranny? It's mind boggling to me to be a free society, fight all these wars to maintain our freedom, and then now as evangelicals, we're gonna usher in the greatest tyranny the world has ever seen since the time of Rome when 60,000,000 slaves had no rights, no privileges, nothing. And Paul's saying, the the 613 precepts of the Mosaic Law, it binds you. The rabbis, as they interpret the law, they put all these different burdens upon you. And in Acts 15, Peter says, why put a burden upon these people, the Gentiles, that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear? Enjoy your freedom. Jesus is the great and emancipator. He set you free. Why would you go under rules of do and don't and days and weeks and years and all these things? Why not live according to love? Why not move and work in the power of the holy spirit and move in the direction of love? Think how incredible the antichrist system's gonna be of tyranny. If you don't take the mark of the beast, you lose your head. If you're a Christian in Nigeria, there's been there's been seven thousand Christians Christians killed in Nigeria in this last year. 52,000 since 02/2009. Christians. What's the crime of being a Christian under a regime of, you know, Sharia law? What what did I do wrong that I'm gonna lose my head? Because you believe in Jesus. What greater tyranny is that? You know, mind boggling. Syria, today, the Christians are being killed because they don't adhere to the law of Sharia. You know? And thirty Christians were killed last week in Mozambique, beheaded for their faith. That's what we call martyrs. 6,000,000 Christians were killed in the first two centuries of the church because they refused to simply do once a year. They could save their life. If once a year, they would go into a pagan temple and declare Caesar is Lord. If they would pinch incense and say Caesar is Lord, they could live another year. But to them, it violated their conscience. They were they were law abiding citizens, but when it came to their faith, they were not gonna bow to any man. They were gonna be faithful to Jesus. And all throughout history, the church has faced these things. So why would you willingly go into a, you know, a tyrannical religious system that governs your every move. You know? God used it to show that every mouth would be stopped, that every person, you know, would be guilty. And the law is good. The problem is us. But when the Lord comes with the new covenant and sets you free, now you're adult sons, you're heirs. You're you have a greater responsibility. You have a greater a greater freedom, if you will. Don't don't go be living like little kids again and have the law be ruling over you. No. Listen to the holy spirit. Allow the holy spirit to lead and guide every single step that you make. And you'll find that the holy spirit, when you're spirit filled, you'll find that when you're spirit filled Christian, we'll see this later in chapter five, spirit filled Christians don't practice fornication. Spirit filled Christians don't practice adultery. Now remember, I'm using the word practice. Take you to first John, committed this practice. Spirit filled Christians, they don't live according to the law. Right? But they certainly don't practice murder. They don't practice stealing. They don't practice whatever. You know? They live according to love, and they allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them. But today, we see many, many Christian churches take the word grace and go to the other extreme. One extreme is here, that of the law. The other extreme is antinomianism, which is the grace card, which says I can do anything I want. Nobody can judge me. And I heard the gospel preached, and I accept, and now I just live however I want. And if you judge me, you're putting me under the law. You're being a leakless. No. I'm not. You know, if you say you know God and keep not his commandments, you're a liar, the truth isn't in you. So which is it, Rick? What what what are you saying? I'm saying you don't live according to the letter of the law and let it all kills, But God's law is good. It's good that I'm instructed to not murder. It's good that I'm instructed not to be a homosexual or a lesbian or an adulterer or fornicator. Those are good things. The law is there to protect me from hurting myself and hurting others within society. But I don't really need the law ruling over me if I'm living according to love. Because with love, I don't want to be one that breaks God's heart. I I could be I could be out there, and you guys don't even see what I'm doing like Joseph, and and how could I do this great evil against God vertically? His relationship with God is such that he doesn't wanna break his father's heart. The father said concerning Jesus, he do he does always those things that please me. That's a life I wanna live, a life that's pleasing unto the Lord. So why, if I have that freedom and that intimacy of that, you know, that that relationship with God, why would I why would I go back to living according to the law? When I was growing up, my parents gave me a great, great, enormous amount of freedom. I was 13, 14 years old, and they would go away camping for the weekend, and I'd get to stay home. A 13, 14 year old. And they had a kegger at the kitchen sink, a beer, and, you know, and I had no supervision at all. Now I knew if I violated the rules, if I did something really bad, I'd always have to go camping with them. I'd lose my freedom. So I made sure that I didn't violate that freedom. I enjoyed being treated as an adult. I enjoyed that freedom, lest I would be hauled around the car with all my brothers and sisters and little ones making me crazy. You know? So I got to stay home, and I as as I as I began to grow up, I began to learn that principle of, you know, if you don't if you don't violate the law, you'll have more and more freedom. You if you get pulled over for a DUI, you're gonna lose the freedom of driving your car, and you begin to lose the the the privilege and the blessings of of living according to love. And even even those who live according to the law, they understand this. And so why? Why would these guys do ask this question in verse 21? Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do you hear? Do you not hear what the law is saying? You know why? Don't you hear? Don't you understand what the law says? Obviously not, or you would be standing fast, chapter five verse one, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and would not be entangled again in the oak of bondage. So you would continue believing. You start to believe, and you have that euphoric, hey, I'm free, and the work of the holy spirit helped me overcome sin and all. But now some Judaizers come along, and they say, you know, you'll be more holy if you wear these kind of clothes. You'd be more holy if you wear this kind of a cap, a a gown, you know, a shawl or whatever. You'd be even more holy if you eat only certain foods and not go to Oak Table and have any of that pork bacon. You know? And if you go out to Tacoma every Saturday and and meet with the mystic Jews, you know, then this mystic Judaism, you're gonna be even more holy. Do you see anywhere in the New Testament of mystic Judaism churches or whatever? No. Jews and Gentiles go to church. The Gentiles and, you know, the Jews primarily to the temple, but in all the various cities and all, there would be groups of people that meet as churches, but it'd be Jew and Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bonder, free, male, female, all of us worshiping Jesus. And it wasn't it wasn't that and when we get to the book of Ephesians, that middle wall of partition was broken down, And so there's no separation, if you will, of of ethnic groups or whatever, or, we're all one, you know, in Christ Jesus. So we continue to believe. So stand fast. Number one, three reasons to stand fast. Number one, the historical explanation. Sometimes when a society gets away from the truth and people rewrite history, then the liars will get on there on the Internet, and they'll lie about history. They'll lie about things and try to say, hey. Historically, we always believe this way. Historically, you know, the church never had the rapture. You know, historically. No. That's not true. Irenaeus in the first century, cited the the rapture of the church. Well, what happened to the teaching of rapture of church? Well, we went through the dark ages. And when we went through the dark ages, these truths were hidden by the Catholics. And so how did it revive? Well, there's a revival of these truths later, and the church rediscovered these truths. Another truth that the church lost was the the truth of Ezekiel thirty six and thirty seven of the nation of Israel being reborn in one day. People thought that was so preposterous up until the nineteenth century that they thought there's no way. It must must be the church replaced Israel, Israel, you know, because that's too big of a prophecy for that to happen. And then 05/14/1948, Israel's reborn as a nation. According to what? According to the Abrahamic covenant. So there's no dividing of the land. The land goes from the Nile to the Euphrates, and God's promises to Israel, promise to Abraham are, you know, unconditional, everlasting. So no matter what people say today and forget history, the history of the bible, a great a great history book, we can go back to Genesis twelve and thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, nineteen, twenty, you know, 21, 22 of Abraham 23, and we can see God's covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, that Abraham and thee, all nations of earth are gonna be blessed. Abraham, there's gonna be a country. You know, they're gonna come out of Egypt after four hundred and thirty years down there, and they're gonna they're gonna cross over into Canaan. And Abraham was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God, ultimately, knowing that, you know, in book of Revelation, the heavenly celestial city that he was looking for. And and so we see the the covenant that God made with Abraham, but today, we got many that don't believe history. They don't they don't look at the Bible as a history book. History's been rewritten. Somebody told them somebody told them Martin Luther. And some of the guys began to say that the church replaced Israel, and people believe that from the fifteenth century forward. And so Augustine and Martin Luther were instrumental in removing that truth from people, and so, boy, history shows them. And what are we looking at Israel? Ezekiel thirty eight and thirty nine prophetically, where a coalition of nations are gonna come and attack Israel. That's prophecy. Someday that'll be historical. How will it be recorded? How will man record that? Really doesn't matter, does it? The bible recorded. The bible told you ahead of time. History written ahead of time. And, so the historical explanation, verse 22, for it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond maid, the other by a free woman. So Ishmael was born of Hagar. Hagar was the bond maid, and, Isaac was born of Sarah, the free woman. So what happened? Abraham and Sarah, they couldn't have kids. And so after about ten years, God allowed a famine to take place. And with that famine that took place, Abraham and Sarah went down in chapter 13 of the Genesis down into Egypt. And when they're down in Egypt, the pharaoh was warned, don't touch this woman. You know? She's so beautiful, Sarah. She's about 75 years old about this time and thereabouts. And and she's still a really good looker. And so tell them you're my sister, Abraham said, because he's afraid that he'd be he'd be killed. And so he had a lapse of faith. This father of our faith didn't have the, you know, that perfected faith. His faith was growing just as your faith is growing, and my faith is growing as we go through these challenges and trials and testings and such. And so finally, they're released from there. And, but when they leave, you know, Lot's with them, and Lot really likes Egypt. Egypt's a type of the world. And so as they leave there, they leave with a handmaiden for Sarah, a slave girl. Her name is Hagar. And so, again, after about ten years of Abraham, his name's Abram, and his name's gonna be changed to Abraham, father of many, but he can't have any. So he gets frustrated in chapter 17, and he's like, you know, who's gonna be my heir? Is it gonna be like, you know, Eliezer, you know, my servant that's raided in my household? You know, what's gonna go on? And and Sarah suggested that you go into my handmaid, Hagar, and let her be your wife. Have two wives, and and we'll help God out. God needs our help, and so we'll help him out. So Paul's saying, hey. This is an allegory. This is a picture. Hagar being the bond maid, Sarah the free woman, verse 23, but he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh. So it was a work of the flesh. Have you ever tried to help God out and do it as a work of the flesh? Say, hey, God. I've got a plan, and I'm gonna pray about this plan because I've been told by all the faith preachers that if I pray and if I believe that you'll do what I want you to do, and you know what, God? I'm I'm instructing you how to bless me, Lord. If you'll do what I tell you to do, then everything's gonna be really good. You know? And and then maybe the Lord doesn't wanna follow your plan, and so you're just waiting and waiting and waiting. Still not happening. Well, you know what? I'm I'm I'm gonna help God out. You know? God needs a little help. And is there anything too hard for God? No. And but we venture over in the area of the flesh, and that which we produce many times stinks. It just stinks. It's just like, why did I do that? Why did I venture that way? Why did I go that way? Why did I and I wanna use the word force. Why did I force it? And other times, the doors can be opening, and we think it's God opening the doors, but I've discovered I've had a lot of doors open, especially when I'm poor and I'm struggling here in Bremerton. I've had a lot of doors open that I could stop all the suffering, that I could make good enough money to buy Kathy a house, that I could take better care of my family if I just leave the ministry, relocate somewhere else. People offer me jobs, offer me positions, offer me things, doors opening. And you know what? I'd be in sin. I'd be in sin if I moved in that direction. I don't know how long God, you know, wants me in that situation. You know? I don't know. It can go on for ten years like that. Ten years you're waiting. Abraham started waiting ten years for Sarah to get pregnant, and she's she can't get she can't get pregnant. So Abraham goes into Hagar, and she gets she gets pregnant, and she has a child. His name's Ishmael. The Lord hears. And now Hagar's looking at Sarah a little differently. Like, hey. I I got it. Look at me. I got it. I got the affection of your husband and all, but that wasn't true. She didn't have the affection, but it was a work of the flesh. So be careful when the devil opens doors too. The door had opened for Hagar to be used in this way, and Sarah suggested it, and Abraham seized the moment. Abraham should have said no. We're gonna trust God. We're gonna wait for God to fulfill his promise. Abraham, what do we have to go on? It's been ten years. Maybe we sin beyond belief. Maybe maybe there's sin in the camp. Maybe we the reason the good things haven't happened yet is because we're so sinful. Man, I've done I've gone down that road so many times. But if the Lord were to mark iniquities, who could stand? Who could stand? If the scrutiny against Abraham, against you and I is, you gotta be a really holy dude, and then I'll bless you. That ain't gonna happen. No. It's always by God's grace because of his mercies. It's your desire. And as Abraham's faith is growing, even when he's lifting the knife to slay Isaac later in chapter 22, the Lord says, now I see that Abraham won't withhold anything from us. Before, he's in a pickle, and later, even even with Abimelech, he's twice he goes into a land because of a famine, because of a financial reversal. He goes into a a a country of unbelievers and lies about Sarah and couldn't trust God enough that God would provide for him. No. I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna go get a job. I'm gonna leave being a worshiper and trust in the Lord, and I'm gonna go work in the secular world, and I'm gonna help God out. You know? And some pastors, they're bi vocational. You know, they do that, and that's great. But Abraham, he's he's a spiritual dude. God's pulled him out of, you know, Ur of the Chaldeans, and and it's God's hand handiwork upon him. God is wanting to get the glory for what comes out of this old boy, and he doesn't need our help. He doesn't need us to, you know, accept the Lord build the house, they that labor labor in vain that build it. When Jesus said, I'm gonna build my church upon this rock, I'm gonna build my church, and the gates of hell not prevail against it, he means he's gonna build his church. Now I don't need your $200,000 to build his church. I don't have a vision to expand in Kitsap County and need your $200,000. Do you understand that? Building the church is building you up. I have confidence that God is gonna build his church, and what he means is he's gonna build you up. You're his church. And that's our objective. That's our goal because that's according to Ephesians chapter four where he gave to the church prophets, evangelists, and here we go, pastors, teachers. That's my role in the church as a pastor, teacher. I don't have all the roles, but my objective, my job is to feed the sheep. Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. Paul gave the full counsel of God. How much of the Bible is being taught in these churches that need $200? None. It's a social club, a social agency. It's pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. These guys getting away with this. Not teaching the word of God, not helping to mature the saints. Oh, they might have, you know, Romans three twenty three, all have sinned, and the wages of sin is death. But that's just a launching pad for the pitch. The pitch to come to the money. Every week, it's money money money money. Well, what would Peter say? They'll make merchandise of you. I don't need to talk about money. Let's talk about Jesus. Talk about prophecy. Talk about him coming again. And those that that attend, they grow. The church grows. Jesus, upon this rock, I'll build mine. He's building you up. The word edify means to build you up. So he gave some pastors, teachers for the edifying of the church, to build you up, to help you mature so that you can be a part of the work of the ministry. Not the word of the work of the ministry to go sign people up to become more members in our social effort here in Kitsap County. We're gonna alleviate suffering. We're gonna alleviate the homeless. So we're gonna get governmental monies too, and we're gonna build a whole apparatus like Catholic youth services or whatever. And now we're gonna be yoked with the government and the church, and during COVID, we're gonna shut down, and we're gonna take the PPE money. And it's always the money, isn't it? It's And always the social gospel, but the people don't grow. They're put under the law. You gotta do this. You gotta be part of this group. You you know? And then the other side of it is the anti anomianism. No law. It's all grace. You can live with each other. You can do whatever you want. Doesn't matter as long as you give the money. Give me your EBT number. We'll pull it out automatic because it's always about the money with the false churches. Always. And it's not about the teaching of God's word. It's not about prophecy. It's not about building people up. So they rely on the flesh. So except the Lord build the house, they that labor labor in vain that build it. They can build it, but they're laboring in vain. It lacks power. It's a work of the flesh. Walk into a Catholic church. Do think that's a work of God's spirit? Tell me. You wanna pray the beads? You wanna get the water? What what do you want? Right now, the Catholics are trying to capitalize on the the feminine or the weakness of men. A lot of the guys are falling into this thing, and I don't even wanna waste time with it, but everybody's like, I'm masculine. I'm a man. You know? And they're wanting to counteract the feminine side of the Biden era and all that, of all the gays and lesbians in the military. And these guys are studs. You know? Just go to work. Read your Bible. Pray. Let's be a man of God. Don't get caught up in all that. But they got these guys going there, they're gonna pray for ten hours or fast for three weeks, and it's it's like a show of the flesh. You know? But they're selling it as its show of spirituality. That if you're Martin Luther and you're going up on your knees, the Sistine Chapel, hey. I'm going up on my knees. I'm flagellating myself. I'm hurting my I'm more spiritual. I'm gonna live up on a pole. You know? I'm gonna be stay away from the world, and I'll be more spiritual. It's legalism. It's putting people under the law. It's the flesh. But he was the bondwoman who was born after the flesh. So Abraham and Sarah were trying in the flesh to produce. They were tired of waiting. You ever get tired of waiting on God? I have to I have to say this again. I I haven't got any update this week, but I've been waiting so long for my daughter Jessica to have a baby. Britney's prolific. She's oh, man. She's fertile. Be fruitful and multiply. She applies that to her life, and it's exciting. But then you have another daughter that you can see wants to be fruitful in that way, and she's had to wait a long time. She's 43 years old, and she's pregnant, eight weeks, nine weeks pregnant now. We're praying that she'll come to full term, and I'm asking God because it's a God thing. You know? And I thank the Lord. So in Genesis 12, Abraham was called. He was promised a nation. In Genesis 15, he was frustrated. He had no children. And, he says, fear not, Abraham. I am thy shield and I exceedingly great reward. I'm childless. I got no seed. Is Eliezer my heir? Now earlier, said it was chapter 17. It's chapter 15 with Eliezer. Eliezer was his servant in his house. And so Abraham was like, you know, is my heir gonna be Eliezer? Now Eliezer is a type of the holy spirit. We'll see, as you go through there. When when Abraham sends Eliezer to his hometown where he's from to get a bride to bring Rebecca to Isaac, it's a picture there of Isaac being a type of the bridegroom, and Eleazar, a type of the holy spirit, the holy spirit going out into the world and bringing a bride unto Christ. And that's the allegory. That's the picture there. He says, no. Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven. Genesis sixteen, ten years since the promise. Abraham's 85, Sarah's 75. The clock is ticking. People are laughing. They're barren. There's no fruit. There's nothing to show for ten years of trusting. That's the most difficult part of being a pastor of a small church. What do you have to show for thirty years? Where's the fruit, man? Where's the fruit? People look at numbers. It's always the numbers. If you don't have the numbers I even know Calvary Chapel pastors that said if you don't have at least 200, you're not a church. Well, that's not a biblical truth, if you will. Much more difficult to pastor a small church than it is a big church, let me tell you. And yet they don't have any fruit. They don't have anything from this this promise. You know? So what's your name? Abram? God changed his name to Abraham, father of many. Well, how many you got? How many? I got none. Childless. My wife, in fact, she's she's gone through menopause. She's menopausal. Really rough being around her too, man. Those estrogen levels are oh, they're really tough. No. He didn't say that. And you'll notice that Sarah, even in that condition, called Abraham lord. I've been waiting forty four years for Kathy to call me lord. She doesn't call me lord. But she has called me a donkey more than once. And she says it's biblical. And speaking about Balaam's donkey, okay. Alright. I get you. So why the delay? Why the delay? Because God's setting the stage to do something greater. I believe God's setting the stage today to do something the greatest thing this world, this universe has ever seen. The stage is being set for the return of Jesus Christ. And according to Revelation chapter seventeen seventeen, God has put it into the hearts of these technocrats, the hearts of these globalists, the hearts of these satanists. You read it. Revelation seventeen seventeen, to do according to God's will. So what are they doing? Very first day in office, president Trump signed the Stargate bill. Did he talk about that when he was campaigning? No. No. But with Peter Thiel and J. D. Vance and Elon Musk, they signed the Stargate bill, $500,000,000,000. And what's it for? All these places to track and trace the proliferation of AI, the digital beast system. Our government is leading the way in building the beast system because the antichrist, in place of Jesus Christ, is not omniscient. He doesn't know everything. The antichrist is not omnipresent. He can't be everywhere like God, the true and living God can. Satan, the false father, can't be everywhere at once. He can only be one place at a time. He's a fallen angel. And they're not omnipotent. They're not all powerful. And so they need technology, the technocrats, the technocracy. And I'm watching it in real time take place. And it tells me these birth pangs, the birthing, as the stage is being set, it tells me with Israel on the land and with Israel wanting to build a temple and with the ashes of the red heifer and all the different struggles over dividing the land or keeping the land, and the coalition of nations starting to hate Israel, it's telling me we're getting close. The stage is being set. Well, when's it gonna happen, pastor Rick? I asked Jim that question before the service. He said, you have to wait for my book. But it's close. The birth pangs are really close. The stage is being set. How is God setting the stage for you? Maybe maybe your life is gonna reach a peak one moment in time, and God's been preparing you for that moment that you'd be glorified. Maybe you're gonna be a martyr, and God's been preparing you for the martyr's crown. Your whole life has been in preparation that you would be Stephen and that you would say no to the religious leaders. We're not gonna live according to your law. There's no way. We're gonna preach Christ. We're gonna preach liberty. We've come to set the captives free, and you guys are stiff necked. You guys have resisted the holy spirit. You guys have resisted all the prophets that have been sent, and you crucified Jesus. You killed the son of glory, the just one. And boy, they gaped upon him with their teeth and stoned him, left them for dead. They left Paul for dead. Stephen, they killed him. But God preparing him for that moment. God preparing John the Baptist when he would lose his head in a very, very unjust way. John never saw it coming. He never saw it coming. That's why he said, behold the lamb of God. And then when he's in a trial like you and I, we find out that he has feet of clay. He's just like you and I. He's just like Peter when Peter's gonna deny that he knows the Lord three times. Are you the one, he says, or should we look for another? Well, come on, cousin. You know who I am. You said, at my baptism, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. You know me. Have I been such a long time with you, Philip, and you don't know me? Show ye the father? He that has seen me has seen the father. For such a time as this, Esther. For such a time as this, Mordecai. This is your moment. This is your place and time. This is what I've been preparing you for. Nehemiah, the butler. I'm gonna use you, Nehemiah, to go back to the Jerusalem and build the walls of the city. I'm gonna send out, you know, Ezra, the priest, and bring the spiritual needs of the people together. A remnant's gonna go back. I've been preparing you for this. God's always working. We're his workmanship. We're his poema, his work of art, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Day by day, we're serving the Lord. Day by day, and God's preparing us for the future. Even the millennium God's preparing us for. But God's been preparing Abraham and Sarah. He's been setting the stage so that he would get the glory. Impatient, you're gonna help God out. You're gonna go into Hagar. You're gonna rely upon yourselves. You're gonna try the world's way. You're gonna produce an Ishmael. Look at what Elon Musk and the guys are doing with their net chips. They're playing God. They're trying to help God out. Now if I was paralyzed and they could put a neurological chip in me and help me to where I could walk, praise the Lord for that medical technology. But if they're gonna lie to me and say you'll never die again, that's a false hope. It's appointed in all men once to die, and then the judgment. We're all gonna face the judgment of God unless our sins were already judged upon the cross of Calvary where Jesus died in my place and the father poured out his wrath upon his son instead of upon me. So the world's way is Ishmael. Fellowship with God is severed between Abraham and Sarah for thirteen years. Thirteen years, Abraham, a worshiper. Abraham, everywhere he went, what did Abraham do? He built altars. Everywhere he went, he everywhere the apostle Paul went, everywhere he went, he became a part of home fellowships. Priscilla and Aquila, everywhere they went, they hosted home fellowships. Abraham was a worshiper. He built altars. And now thirteen years silence. Thirteen years of not hearing from God. And then one day when Abram's 90 and nine years old and Sarah's 89, when you've already given up, you've given up, you know your best years are behind you, and you're trying to find that place of contentment. Alright. I'm just gonna be content. I'm gonna settle in. All those promises that God gave me, all those great exciting things I thought I heard from the Lord, well, I'm just gonna I must not have heard from the Lord. It must have been pizza. You know? It must have been I don't know. I was so excited when I first got saved, and so many things I wanted to serve the Lord and do. And and and I believe he really did, you know, speak to me, And now I haven't heard from the Lord in many years. And then these three guys walk into camp, and they come over and they start to talk to us, and one of them is the Lord himself. The other two are angels, and they're gonna go on into Sodom and Gomorrah after after this meeting. But the Lord Jesus is there, the angel of the Lord, and he lets Abraham and Sarah know that, hey, this time next year, Sarah's gonna conceive and have a son. And Sarah hears it outside the tent, this conversation going on, and she laughs within. And Romans four says that Abraham, he believed God. He staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief, strong in the faith. And God imputed righteousness unto Abraham because Abraham believed. But Sarah, her faith is kinda developing there. Why did Sarah laugh? I didn't laugh. Yes. You did. We're gonna name your son laughter. He's gonna fill your tent with laughter. All that sorrow, all that pain, all that pain you've gone through, and that's what I'm hoping for my daughter Jessica, is that all that pain, all that she suffered through, that her home is filled with the laughter of a baby, a baby to love and care for, the blessing of motherhood. Oh, oh, how I want her to experience the blessing of motherhood. The flesh stinks. The spirit was quenched, grieved. We can grieve. We can quench the holy spirit. We can limit God. God's unlimited. Right? Omnipotent, all powerful, but we can limit God through unbelief. The children of Israel limited God in what he wanted to do through them because of their murmuring, complaining, their unbelief. I hate what a whiner I am, but God gave me a wife that reminds me, are you whining? Some of you guys have said stuff like, hey. Here's a little cheese for that wine. You know? Play this violin, you know, stuff like that. I get you. I get you. But he of the free woman was by promise. So the contrast, but but God, when God's factored in, God keeps his promises Isaac's produced, which is a miracle child. God was setting the stage. In Judges chapter 13, there was a guy named Manoah. Manoah. He's a man. Manoah. And Manoah had a wife, and they had no children. They were barren. And God was wanting to do something great, and he's looking around. Who am I gonna use? I'm gonna use somebody that's barren. In fact, I'm gonna cause her to be barren. I'm gonna cause her to go through the pain, the suffering of everyone around here having children, but I'm gonna make her womb barren. Because I'm gonna do something even greater than just having a child. Her child's gonna be used mightily of me. So the angel met with the wife of Manoah and let her know that she was gonna conceive, that they were gonna have a child. And he told her, don't drink any wine or strong drink, and don't be around any corruption. And when he's born, don't ever cut his hair because he's gonna be a Nazarite unto me. And then he confirmed it again when she was in the field, and her husband Manoah's kinda coming up to speed and all. And the Lord gave them Samson to be one of the deliverers for the nation of Israel. And then after the book of Judges, we come to Samuel, first Samuel chapter one. And there's a guy there in chapter one named Elkanah. And Elkanah had two wives. One was Peniah and one was or excuse me, Hannah. And Peniah, she had she had kids easily. She had lots of kids. But year after year, when they'd go up to Shiloh and they'd offer up to Shiloh and Eli the priest with Hophni and Phinehas are there, you know, Hannah was just heartbroken. The the mocking that Pananaeh would do and the favor that she saw that she had with her husband, El Canaan. El Canaan made the mistake of thinking, aren't I better to you than 10 sons? Most of us guys think that. No. You're not better than me and 10 sons. And she just hurt so deeply. And one of the times I went up to Shiloh, she went into the temple there and began to pray, and she couldn't even verbalize out loud. She's just praying with her lips, but no voice coming out. And Eli, the priest, he's not the most godly guy. And he missed discerns. He missed understands what's going on, and he said, oh, you're drunk. You shouldn't be drunk in here. Well, he probably seen his boys, Hofne and Phinehas, drunk so many times. He just assumed. And she says, no. I'm not drunk. My heart's broken. I'm grieving. And then Eli says, well, may the Lord grant your petition. And she went home, and Elkanah knew her. And before that all happened, as she was in the temple, a very important place, she cried out to the Lord and says, Lord, if let's make a deal. If you give me a son, I'll give him back to you. I'll give him back to you, Lord. You give me a son, and I'll raise him. I'll wean him. I'll give him back to you that you might use him. And so little Samuel, he's weaned, and then she follows through, and she brings this little guy with this fresh coat, really nice coat she she makes for him, and she puts in there with with Eli the priest and Hophni and Phinehas and all. And the Lord began to speak to to Samuel there, and year by year, she'd come see her son and have a new coat waiting for him. And this is the last of the judges, the first of the prophets of God, the prophet Samuel. God was setting the stage. God was wanting to do something far greater than just any baby. Not that there's any baby that's not a a blessing, but you know what I'm getting at. And then with Elizabeth and and John the bapt excuse me, Elizabeth and Zechariah, the Lord caused Elizabeth's womb to be shut up, and God brought forth at the right time the cousin of Jesus, John the Baptist being born around the same time as our Lord Jesus. And so how is the stage being set in your life? Are you going to rely upon the flesh or wait in the power of the Holy Spirit? I like to rush ahead. I like to rush ahead and and then ask God to stamp my efforts afterwards. Man, what a disaster that can be. Now I wait on the Lord. We wait. So God is gracious and faithful to us. Even in our failures, he never fails. In Genesis 17, Abraham's 99, Sarah 89, reconfirm this time next year, you're gonna have this son. What about Ishmael? Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. Noah and Isaac shall thy seed be called. Speaking of Jesus. He's gonna be in the line of the Messiah, Isaac, not through Ishmael, but through Isaac. God has a far far greater plan than you and I have in the arm of the flesh. So stand fast, the historical explanation. Stand fast, the spiritual interpretation. Verse 24. So Paul's gonna say, now I'm gonna interpret this for you, and he's gonna use the word allegory. Watch. Which things are an allegory? Now we take the Bible and we teach the Bible literally, unless we come to words like this to an allegory or types or like, the word like. And so which things which things? Hagar, Isaac, Sarah, Ishmael. Which things are an allegory? For these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which genders under bondage, which is Hagar. So in Hosea 12 verse 10, God said that he'd speak through the prophets, he'd speak through a multitude of visions, and he would also speak through similitudes, which are allegories, through the prophets. Do you love types? Do you love typology? Do you love seeing the the the types where Christ you can see Christ in the in the type, in the picture that God gives? And so this allegory is saying one lends itself to the law, Mount Sinai, where Abraham and where where Hagar was from, typified as the bondwoman on Mount Sinai. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answers to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children. So Hagar's children are the legalists, and they filled Jerusalem, the center of Judaism at this time. They filled it with this this legalism to the point of even killing Jesus. And Caiaphas saying in in John 12 that it was necessary, that it was, you know, expedient that one would die for the nation, lest they would lose their nations from the Romans. You know? He just got done raising Lazarus from the dead, and these spiritual giants are saying, it's expedient that we destroy this man. And Pilate's saying, why? What evil has he committed? What's he done wrong? Where's the facts? No. They're caught up in a demonic spell. They're bewitched by the devil to cry out, crucify him. Crucify him. Let his blood be upon us and upon our children. There's no reasoning with people like that. You can't reason with them. And so Jesus says, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that killed the prophets and stone everyone that that sent to you. How often I'd gather you as a mother hen does gather her brood under her wings, but you would not. God doesn't force his love, force himself upon the nation. Behold, your city has left you desolate. How tragic that they'd rather live according to legalism than embrace the great emancipator that came to set the captives free. I wanna set you free from the world, the flesh, the devil. The accuser of the brethren in Revelation 12, the devil is accusing you all the time. The religious leader is always accusing you. This is the woman caught in the very act of adultery. The law says she should be condemned. She should be stoned. And Jesus said, that's not the intention. That's not the intention of who I am or why I've come. Woman, where are thine accusers? He that is without sin, cast the first stone. That's the intention of the law, to stop every mouth, to make everybody guilty. For God sent not a son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. That's the intention, to save, to seek and to save the lost. It gets worse later in Revelation 11 verse eight when the two witnesses are killed for the space of two and a half or three and a half years, forty two months, or twelve hundred and sixty days, these two witnesses are there in Jerusalem, and they're witnessing and call down fire from heaven if they need to. And then they're executed. They're killed publicly. Everybody got their cell phones and Stargate and all of the ability with the satellites, everybody's seeing real time these two prophets drop to the ground, executed. Everybody was just blown away at the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the assassination of JFK. These two are gonna get assassinated and dropped to the ground. They're gonna leave their bodies in the streets for three and a half days just celebrating. They're gonna have a satanic Christmas during this time, these people, these worldly, these earth dwellers. That's that's a picture of their tremendous hatred against God. How they want it all. They want it to themselves. They want Jesus to leave him alone. They wanna they wanna steal the planet. In fact, they show up at the return of Christ trying to stop him from returning is how insane these people are with all their technology. And he destroys their champion with the brightness of his coming, the sword of his mouth, and the antichrist just drops dead. The blood is as high as the horse's bridle over a 200 feet 200 mile square battlefield called Armageddon. And Jesus is trampling out the vintage in Isaiah 63. He's destroying them. And the antichrist and the and the false prophet are put into the lake of fire, and the and the devil's grabbed by an angel. He's not God. He's just a fallen angel. And he's put into the abyss for a thousand years. Then he's loosed at the end of the thousand years. And again, he tempts people, and they buy into it, and then God destroys and puts the devil into the lake of fire and all the ungodly, the wicked dead into the lake of fire where the worm dieth not and the fires never quenched. Jesus wins. That's why the stage is being set. It's gonna be cataclysmic. It should be unbelievable. Except those days be short, no flesh should be saved. But for the elect's sake, the nation of Israel, the Lord Jesus intervenes. He comes back into time. But these two, in Revelation 11 verse eight, it says these two witnesses, and their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom. Look at that. Jerusalem's called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified, the bondage that's there. Verse 26, but Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. In John twenty one two, John the revelator says, I saw, I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Isn't that exciting? We'll have our new glorified bodies, and we'll be able to travel up to the new Jerusalem in heaven. Wouldn't that be amazing? You're in the millennium, but you get to go up to heaven in your new glorified body as Jesus ascended to see the new Jerusalem. Wouldn't that be exciting? And then the eternal state, Revelation twenty twenty one, now God makes a new heaven, new earth, a new Jerusalem, comes down prepared and ready to roll. The old is burned up, according to Peter, burned away. We have the new, and you and I, our citizenship is in heaven. We're political, but we don't buy into Republican, Democrat stuff. We're looking for a monarchy. We're looking for a theocracy where Jesus as king of kings and lord of lords gonna rule and reign forever. And I hope and pray he's ruling in your heart presently, that you won't bow the knee to these false gods, these false Christs and saviors and prophets and all the YouTube stuff. Don't bow to them. Expose them. For it is written, rejoice, thou barren that bears not. Break forth and cry, thou that travails not. For the desert has many more children than she which has a husband. So he's he's quoting out Isaiah fifty four one, the illustration of God bringing forth more children from the Gentiles than from Israel. So by God's grace, he saves to the uttermost. And again, there's no replacement theology. Doesn't mean that as the nation of Israel rejected Jesus, that they're replaced by the church. The bible doesn't teach that. Romans nine, Paul addresses that question, nine ten eleven. Israel's past election, chapter nine. Chapter 10, Israel's present right now, rejection during the church age, and Israel's future restoration according to Romans eleven twenty five, blindness in part, some are getting saved still, blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, which means the rapture of the church, until the rapture of the church, the closing of the church age. In Zechariah thirteen eight nine, during the tribulation period, what the bible calls the time of Jacob's trouble, that two thirds according to Zechariah thirteen eight are gonna perish, but a one third remnant's gonna be purified according to verse nine of Zechariah 13 as they go through the fiery trial of the tribulation period. In Jeremiah thirty one thirty one, God gives a new covenant in verse 31 where he's gonna write his law, his word in their hearts. So it's internals, not externals. Not the 613 externals, and you living robotically, religiously trying to keep that. No. God, when you're born again, writes his law in your heart, and it's love that motivates a desire to please God, so you're not gonna be a murderer anymore. You're gonna repent. You're not gonna be a thief anymore. You don't wanna break God's heart. It's the life of the spirit. And Paul's gonna talk about it as we move forward in chapter five. So stand fast, the historical explanation, the spiritual interpretation, and thirdly and finally, the personal application. Verse 28. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. He's talking to the to the Galatians. We're the children of promise. That in your seat, all nations of the earth would be blessed, Abraham. We're believers. We're living the life of the spirit through Isaac, the work of the spirit that God is gonna bring forth the Messiah through Isaac, through Jacob. So when you come to Jacob, when you come to the home of Rachel and Jacob, she's got twins, and God narrows it down. It's not Esau. It's not the firstborn. It's through Jacob, younger. The elder shall serve the younger. So you go, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. This is the Abrahamic covenant reconfirmed. And you follow the lineage in Matthew chapter one, and you follow it into Luke chapter three, and you see Genesis three fifteen, that the seed of the woman, the virgin born son of God, that his heel would be bruised, but he crushed the serpent's head. The God man, the son of man, would come forth and die upon the cross of Calvary. Well, how's he gonna get there? He's not gonna be an angel, he's gonna be a man, and he's gonna come through the loins of Abraham. He's gonna be a Jew. Do you love Jews? I do. Doesn't mean I love all Jews or all whites or all blacks or whatever. You know, I should. God does. God loves them all. But when we give our our our when we give our blessing, I'll bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you in Genesis twelve three, we're we're not talking about anybody filled with wickedness or whatever. We're talking about the bigger picture of God because it's he's the one that says it's unconditional covenant. Abraham the nation of Israel has right to the land. It's a land covenant, unconditional. And God's gonna finish this work. Are there wickedness in Jews, wickedness in blacks, wickedness in whites, browns, whatever? Yes. At the Rodney King problem, when I went to Turkey, a guy was trying to say, oh, those wicked black people, you know, what they were doing in Long Beach and all that in LA and all that. No. No. No. It has nothing to do with the outside color. Has to do with the heart. God's gotta change a person's heart, and he's come to change hearts. And thank God, those of us that have a changed heart are the true Israel of God. Believers are the true children of God. He says in Romans nine six, not as though the word of God has taken none effect, For they are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham, meaning the natural seed, are they all the children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Remember in John eight, Jesus said, your father's the devil. And the less of your father, he will do. He's talking about the natural Jew who's unregenerate has nothing to do with the things of God. Nicodemus, you must be born again. So the true Israel of God are those who believe. Those who don't believe, they don't get an automatic admittance into heaven simply because they have a natural pedigree that would open the door for them. Not true. And and the mind of the Jew was is that Gentiles were only fuel for the fires of hell. They hated the Jews. They'd wake up each morning and thank God that they weren't a slave, a a Gentile, a woman. That's how prideful these guys were. And so Paul's saying, in Isaac shall they seed be called. That is that they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise. At this time, I will come and Sarah shall have a have a son. So the spiritual child, the spiritual offspring, those who have faith, those that believe in Jesus. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. So Ishmael mocked and persecuted young Isaac, jealous of the affection and love of the father, witnessing the freedom, liberty, the unconditional love, the great joy and laughter that Isaac brought into the room. Now Isaac is a type of a born again Christian. Isaac is also a type of God the son. In Genesis 22, we see the typology where the father, Abraham, offer thy son thy only son. He's got another son, Ishmael, Offer thy only son Isaac on a mount that I'll tell you. And we see the picture, the type. We see the symbol of Mount Moriah of Calvary of where Jesus would one day die. So Isaac represents in typology and allegory, God the son. He represents also the church, and that your seed, all nation of the earth would be blessed. So Isaac's one that believes, and then also, as we said, being born again. He also represents the groom. Four different ways, Isaac in typology. The groom in that, as I described, Eliezer going to the place of Laban, Abraham's former home, to get a bride, to bring a bride. So Eliezer, a type of the holy spirit, Rebecca, a type of the church, and Isaac, a type of the groom, of Jesus as the groom, and, the Holy Spirit bringing Rebecca to him. So four different ways that Isaac in typology, there. Verse 29. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. So the child of the flesh wars with the children of the spirit. Christians continue to be martyred for their faith by the sons of Ishmael. As we said, 30 just this past week in Mozambique were were beheaded. In Nigeria, seven thousand this past year and 50,000, 52,000 since 02/2009. In Syria, as, ISIS is raging crazily, and also in The Sudan, it's Christians who are being, beheaded. And so God said that Ishmael would be like a wild donkey. He bit war with everybody. And, and so it's not just, you know, those progenitors, those that come out of, Ishmael that is such a problem. It's the bigger problem we see today is the false religious system of Islam through Muhammad later. And so they're they're working to hate the Jews, to hate those that meet on Sundays, the Christians and all. They hate the Saturday and the Sunday people. So, nevertheless, what saith the scripture cast out the bondwoman and her son? For the son of the bondwoman shall not with the son of the be with the son of the free woman. So Hagar and Ishmael were cast out, and and it's interesting. God blesses them, blesses Hagar, blesses Ishmael, makes him a king. 12 kings are gonna come from him. Because why? Because he's a seed of Abraham, so the blessing's upon the Arab nations. Some of the most beautiful, kind people I've met are Arabs, people from Persia, people from Iran, people from Egypt. And they're in America, they love being here. And, they may, worship Allah. They may do all that sort of thing, but, but they're decent, kind people. So we have to be taught to hate, and Jesus tells us to love, to even love our enemies. I don't consider them enemies. I don't wanna I don't wanna preach here and try and get you to hate a certain group of people so that then the government sends your boys, your kids over to wipe them out. That's not my job. I'd rather preach in such a way, and I'm not a pacifist. I just don't wanna buy into the lies of the war engine where we're tricked, where we're told that it was towel head guys flying airplanes into the buildings, and now all of our kids are gonna go over to Afghanistan and Iraq. Wasn't true. There weren't any weapons of mass destruction. It was a means of selling war. How is war being sold today? Be very careful. Be very careful of hating a group of people because the government says you're supposed to hate them, and the media, the propaganda brings you to a place where you hate them. We're to love. The fastest growing church in the world is in Iran. Persians, right now. People are coming to Christ in Syria right now. Am I supposed to hate Syria? Supposed to hate Iran? Am I gonna let's go kill them, you know? Crazy. It's just crazy how we can get caught up in so many lies. But God loved Ishmael. God loved Hagar. It's just they're not a part of this plan. God has a different plan for them. So we must cast out the legalism which Hagar represents that seeks to seduce us to bind and condemn us. So refuse the digital ID. If you can, I'm gonna take the digital ID. I'm gonna have to. I'm gonna try and hold it off as long as I can. But 80,000,000 Vietnamese, their bank accounts will shut out their bank accounts. How long are you gonna last with your bank account shut out shutting you out? Were you guys gonna bring Kathy and I food, and you're gonna have the real IDs? Wow. I'd be really holy if I didn't have it if you'd feed me. Right? I'm not taking the mark of the beast. The real ID is the precursor to the mark of the beast. It's part of the system. Doesn't mean I wanna embrace it real quick. I wanna use cash as much as I can now. I wanna slow it down. I wanna restrain the evil because cash is freedom. When they know every keystroke and they know everything you do and they begin to dictate what you can buy and can't buy and where you can go in fifteen minutes here and you can only fly twice a year in The UK, that's the digital beast system. It's coming. It will eventually come to the place where a mark on your right hand to your forehead according to Revelation thirteen sixteen through 18. But I'm not gonna have to worry about that because I'm gonna be raptured before that happens. Don't have to worry about that. But the precursor to it, as much as I can, I'll resist for as long as I can. So Hagar and Ishmael are cast out. In John eight thirty five, the servant abides not in the house forever, but the son abides forever as heirs. Verse 31. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. There's now therefore no condemnation. The law condemns. There's now therefore no condemnation. Those are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. And then chapter five verse one. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Jesus said, come on to me all you that labor and heavy laden. The burden of carrying the law that the religious leaders are placing upon them. Do this. Don't do that. Wear this. Don't wear that. Go out on Sundays. Don't go out on Sundays. Go five steps, seven steps, fifteen minute cities. That's law. You're being put under tyrannical law to govern your life. And Jesus came to set the captives free. So Jesus said, come on to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Peace, peaceful life, not filled with stress and worry. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest under your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The law's a burden. And Peter said, why put a burden upon these people, the Gentiles, that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear? We're not gonna force them into circumcision and the keeping of the law. Jesus said in John eight thirty one, if continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, and you'll know the truth and the truth shall set you free. If the son, the seed of promise, the son, therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Stand fast. Stand firm. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in work of the Lord, for you know your labor is not in vain, in first Corinthians 15. Right? Because he raised himself from the dead. So he says here, stand fast there from the liberty, the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. So don't give up your liberty for a promise from a man of peace and security. They see the antichrist is gonna promise peace and security. Give up your freedom nation, Germany, change the constitution, give me more power, excuse me, and I'll provide the peace and security from the communist. They're always gonna produce a boogeyman to bring people to the place of fear. Joseph Goebel said, you get them afraid, the COVID shot, COVID, oh, COVID, get them afraid, and you can get them to do anything. Ninety nine point nine percent recovery, but, oh my, freak out time. You get them afraid, Goebbels said, and you can get them to do anything. So Hitler got them to change their constitution so that and blaming the communist, lighting the Reichstag, the government buildings on fire twice, blaming it on the communist, and the people believed it, so they gave up their liberty for security. And they lost it all, didn't they? They lost it all because a tyrant worked his way in there. Be very careful of this. Very few people can handle true freedom. Very few people can handle true freedom. Most fall into one of two camps. The first is legalism. Some can't handle freedom. They want somebody to tell them what time to get up in the morning, what to eat, what to wear, what they should do, when they should be home. They want their whole life mapped out. They don't wanna have to think. They like the security of legalism, somebody deciding for them. Well, welcome to the b system. They're gonna rule over you in such a way. Wearing masks and enforcing mandates. That was what was so crazy. People that love this whole system, this mandate, and the the mass and the the crazy. There were so many people enforcing things that weren't laws. They were just mandates. They were just suggestions. No teeth. No teeth in what these governors were saying. No police officers with with a citation if you didn't wear a mask. No. It's just fear, peer pressure. And then the church is so stupid. The church says, if you love your neighbor, you'll get the jab. How lame is that? How's that working for you now? There's so many pastors with myocarditis and heart attacks and people that have they're gone because they bought into and not a peep. Nobody will talk about it because they're gonna do it again. Absolutely crazy in the church. And the other the other side of it is antianomianism, which means against the law, that divine grace frees Christians from biblical law and any other moral behavior. A license to sin, licentiousness is what we call it, in the name of love. You heard that before? If you make a judgment concerning gays, lesbians, adultery, fornication, any of these things, then you're a homophobe, bigot, a hater. And they want you to think that love means that God loves them and approves of anything they wanna do because they're not under the law. They're under grace. That's antianomianism. That's changing the grace of God into lasciviousness, Jude says. And so that doesn't work because, again, love, loving your neighbor, love is the fulfillment of the law. If you love your neighbor, you're not gonna do those things. So Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments, which means to love, to obey him. Allow be led by the spirit. Romans thirteen nine, love thy neighbor as thyself. Love works no ill to its neighbor. Therefore, is the fulfilling of the law. It means that I'm not under the 10 commandments, but I don't wanna thieve the guy. I don't wanna steal from him because I love him. I don't wanna lie to him because I love him. And more importantly, I love God. And when I sin, as David said, against thee and thee only have I sinned. I don't wanna break fellowship with God. I don't wanna break fellowship with my neighbor. I don't wanna grieve the holy spirit by lying to my neighbor, burning him in a business deal. And nobody has to walk around checking on me because with this freedom, I don't wanna abuse this freedom. I wanna walk in close fellowship with the Lord. In first John two four, he that saith, a lot of people say it, a lot of professors, he that saith, I know him. Do you know him? Do you profess to know Jesus? And keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. All the law is fulfilled in one word, love. Love. So stand fast in love. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage of the law. You're better than that. You're smarter than that. Don't fall for it. Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for the liberty, the freedom that we have, and thank you as Americans. We not only have the work of your holy spirit in saving us and setting us free, but, Lord, we have a written document, the constitution with the bill of rights, God given inalienable rights recognized that you've given us, not privileges. And Lord, the free speech of the first amendment of assembly and and the right to bear arms, the second amendment, all all the way through, Lord, These are to chain government and ensure our freedom. Please, Lord, please help us not get caught up in this left right demonizing Democrats and take the bait and watch an appeal in regard to an insurrection and bringing the troops out and martial law and losing all the freedoms that we have guaranteed by the constitution in this constitutional republic we've been enjoying. Help us not take the bait, Lord, of hate, of dividing, being divided. Help us to stand fast, Lord, in the liberty that Jesus has purchased for us, that we wouldn't go into the bondage of the wicked one, the world, the flesh, and the devil. And while your heads are bowed, as you continue to pray for this country, as you continue to pray for your family, If there's anybody here and you don't know Jesus, you don't have a relationship with Jesus, and and and maybe you're in bondage. You're in bondage to the flesh. You're in bondage to pornography. You're in bondage to covetousness. Covetousness is one of those sins that nobody talks about, but it's that desire for more and more and more and more. The eyes of the wicked are never full. And we're jealous and envious of others that God blesses, and covetousness can be can be binding and and undermine your walk in fellowship with the Lord, comparing yourself with other people. Maybe it's lying. You love to lie. Maybe it's alcohol or drugs or whatever it may be, whatever area of the flesh the devil's trying to hold you down and tempt you in and you fall. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. The Christians borrow soap. If you're a Christian, then you now confess that in the quietness of your heart and you're free, fellowship restored. But if you're not a Christian, if you just profess to know him and you're practicing sin and the antianomianism of taking the grace of God, hey, I got the grace card. I'm going to heaven, but I can live however I want with no repentance, no fruit of repentance, then you need to question, let a man examine himself whether he's in the faith or not. Examine. Judge your own self. Are you in the faith? Is your life a life of love? Lift your hand up if you don't know Jesus Christ, you don't have this relationship. The greatest thing he did for me was give me the capacity to love, to love somebody else more than I love myself. My problem is love of self. I've gotta die to self before I can love somebody else. Anyone here this morning? Just lift your hand up. We wanna pray with you. Anyone this morning? Father, thank you for the peace, the joy, the blessing, and knowing that you're coming soon. You're sending Jesus for us your bride. And, thank you that we're warned here to not make the mistake of the churches of Galatia to fall back into the law. And, as we try to apply it, as we look in the world in which we live, the world's on the verge of the greatest tyrannical system the world has ever seen, a demonic satanic system that's gonna bind the whole planet. And, father, we pray as we see these birth pangs that we would preach from the rooftops that Jesus came to set the captives free, that we're to stand fast in this liberty that we have and not allow the globalist, not allow the world to bring us into bondage, to bring us under this demonic system that's trying to enslave the entire world. Lord, we thank you that the end of the tribulation, you're gonna come and and set up your kingdom. That's our hope. But, Lord, we also we're looking up knowing that blessed hope that you come for us because we're not subject under wrath, Lord. You're gonna take us out of here. So, Lord, as much as we can, let us know let us speak to people, Lord, and preach and teach the the word that you would set the captives free, that you'd bind up the brokenhearted, that you'd set at liberty those who are bound. Those who are blind, you'd help them to see. Those that are in darkness, they would come into the light. Lord, it's the gospel. It's the good news of Jesus that sets the captives free. Help us evermore to proclaim the good news of your coming kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.