ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 1

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1 ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 1 Contents Genesis 16 Series, Study Genesis 16 Series, Study Genesis 16 Series, Study Genesis 16 Series, Study Genesis 16 Series, Study Genesis 16 Series, Study Genesis 16 Series, Study Genesis 16 Series, Study Genesis 16 Series, Study Genesis 16 Series, Study Genesis 16 Series, Study Genesis 16 Series, Study 1 by Chris McCann, originally aired July 25, 2017 Good evening and welcome to ebible Fellowship s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #1 of Genesis, chapter 16 and we are going to read Genesis 16:1-3: Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name *was* Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, JEHOVAH hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. We have come to the point in the historical account of Abram and his wife when they had already dwelt in the land of Canaan for 10 years. If we go back to Genesis 12, we know it said in Genesis 12:4: So Abram departed, as JEHOVAH had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. Other scripture reveals to us that his wife Sarai was 10 years younger than him. When Abram entered the land of Canaan, he was 75 and Sarai was 65. Now we read that he had dwelt 10 years in the land of Canaan, which would mean Abram was 85 and Sarai was 75 years old and they had never had a child. Of course, they are both familiar with God s promise that Abram would have a son, the seed, and God had specifically said the son would come of his own bowels. In the previous chapter, Abram pointed out to the Lord that he had no heir and the steward of his house, Eliezer, was the heir at that point. So, God said in Genesis 15:4: And, behold, the word of JEHOVAH *came* unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. Again, He brought him forth and told him to look toward heaven and to tell the stars if he be able to number them and God said, So shall they seed be.

2 ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 2 So, time is passing and God often tests His people and one key element to a test is time, a time in which man s own mind begins to operate and to worry, fret, fear and become anxious. In the time after God has spoken and given His Word and stated His promise, man then begins this process and God intentionally allows the passage of time because it is just a fact that anyone can wait a day. If God were to state His promise that the new heaven and new earth would come tomorrow, anyone could stop what they were doing for a day and wait and see for a very short period of time, but if it is a prolonged period of time it is a test. In this case, it had been 10 years and the number 10 in the Bible points to completeness. It points to a complete testing period in which Abram and his wife Sarai were being tried by God: Do you trust in the Lord? Do you have faith in the things He has said? Of course, Abram was counted in the scriptures as a great man of faith. We have spoken about that and we know that the faith that was counted to him for righteousness was the faith of Christ, but Abram had faith as a result of salvation because God had already saved him, so he was a man of faith. In this case, his wife Sarai had born no children and she had an Egyptian handmaid whose name was Hagar and Sarai said to her husband Abram, in Genesis 16:2: And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, JEHOVAH hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. You see, she had been thinking about this. It must have been quite a burden upon her because God had promised and reiterated the promise to her husband that there would be a seed coming forth from his bowels. And, yet, the Lord had continually restrained Sarai from bearing children and it had been many, many years. It was more than 10 years because they were married in the land of Haran. Sarai began to think and she thought, God said he would give a seed from my husband s bowels, but not necessarily from me. So, she developed a plan. She would give her handmaid Hagar who was much younger and of childbearing age. It would only make sense that she would select one of her young handmaids because a young woman would be more capable of bearing a child and this would be done for the strict purpose of bearing a child. She did not want her husband to marry another woman she did not want that at all. But in order for this promise of God to be fulfilled to Abram, she thought there must be another woman, like this handmaid, that could serve the purpose of bringing forth a child and the child brought forth would be counted as Sarai s own. That is why she said, I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her, and we do see this in other places in the Bible, like with Rachel and Leah and their handmaids. For example, Leah would give her handmaid to her husband Jacob and a child would be the result, but Leah would consider the child to be hers and, likewise, it happened with Rachel and she counted the child as her own. This is how the Bible has presented these things and Sarai would have counted the child as her own, but the child would not come forth from her own womb. Remember what the Bible says in Hebrews 11:11: Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. This is interesting that God says this of her, because in Genesis she is not being faithful at that point because, historically, this was a sinful act on Sarai s part and on the part of her husband. Abram should have refused her and turned it down. He should have said, No God has made us one flesh, the male and the female. What God has joined together is to be one flesh and there is not to be another. There was not to be additional marriage. We know it happened in this case with Abram and we know it happened later with Jacob and it happened with some of the kings, even some of the good and faithful kings like King David. And, yet, that does not excuse it. The Bible was very clear from the beginning there was one male joined with one female.

3 ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 3 God made Adam and Eve, one man and one woman, and that is how marriage is. We understand that today when someone divorces through the law of whatever nation they live in, they may be divorced in the eyes of that government but they are not divorced in the eyes of God. What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. There must not be divorce, in God s eyes, but when people under certain governments get divorced and remarried you know, we look back at these historical accounts and we think how ancient and outdated the custom was and how it was almost barbaric that they had more than one wife and, yet, people all over this world are doing the same thing today they are divorced two, three or four times and they have two, three or four husbands or wives in God s sight. They have done exactly what some of these people of old have done. We know that if a true believer has divorced and remarried today, they are to continue to live in a married condition with their present spouse; they are not to divorce or seek to go back to the former spouse, but to live in this kind of condition. But it is sin today and it was sin back then for Sarai to instigate the whole thing and for Abram to go along with it. He does not get a pass because it was his wife s idea, just like Adam did not get a pass because it was Eve s idea to eat of the forbidden tree. No the man is the head of the house and he is the one who is ultimately responsible for what goes on in his house. And, here, Abram allowed this sin to take place and he also must have been very troubled by the entire situation. Perhaps, they even had thoughts, If only God had not told us, again, and again, that he was going to give us a seed. Then we could forget about it and accept our lot in life and our current circumstances. There are some people that cannot have children. The woman may be barren or there is some problem with the man and they accept it. They say, This is of God, just as Sarai said, JEHOVAH has restrained me from bearing. She probably had long thought that, so if God had not come to them with the promise of the seed, they would have just accepted their circumstances and Sarai probably would not have done this. It is a pretty desperate thing to take one s handmaid and give her to your husband for a wife so they can have sexual relations and produce offspring. It is a very desperate thing and it was because her womb was as good as dead. That is what it says in Romans 4:19: And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: It was because her womb was dead and because God had promised that she came up with her idea. Let me be clear. We have to be very careful; it is never correct to blame God and to try to justify our sinful actions due to circumstances. Yes God had placed her in these circumstances, but it does not excuse whatever sin we are involved with and it is also true that God arranged these circumstances. One of the reasons God gave the promise to Abram (who would have shared it with his wife Sarai) and then delayed in fulfilling it was so that Sarai would do exactly as she did. She would get to the point of being so concerned and anxious about the whole matter and she just wanted to get it settled so she turned her handmaid over to her husband in order to have this child. Her hope was that Abram would have the seed from his loins and the Word of God would be fulfilled. Abram had the seed that would multiply as the stars of the heavens and then they could get on with their lives and stop focusing on this. You can see how that would ease her mind because she would no longer have to continually dwell on her barren state and feel terrible about it almost like it was her fault that no child was coming forth. But God arranged the circumstances and allowed her to think these things and allowed her to choose her handmaid for Abram. God caused her to choose this particular handmaid Hagar, who was an Egyptian. It was very important that she be an Egyptian that would be presented to Abram to wife. We know this was all according to the perfect will of God because of what we read in the New Testament in the book of Galatians. Let us turn to Galatians 4:21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

4 ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 4 I like to read this verse because what we are reading in Genesis may not be viewed as part of the law, but this is proof that the whole Bible is the law and everything written in the first five books was called the Law, but it is true of the whole Bible. It is not just a law when we read, Thou shalt not kill, but it is the law when we are reading in Genesis 16 about the mistress turning her handmaiden over to her husband. After alerting us to the question, Do ye not hear the law?, it says in Galatians 4:22: For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. You see, it was significant and important that she be a bondmaid. Then it says in Galatians 4:23: But he *who was* of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman *was* by promise. The one of the freewoman would be Isaac and the freewoman was Sara, after fourteen or fifteen years when she conceived and she would be 90 when she would bear Isaac. So, here, God is laying out this important Biblical principal: But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Then He said in Galatians 4:24-26: Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth 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. Do you see how God has taken these historical events that we are reading about in the book of Genesis and He has spiritualized them. You know, this is another charge or accusation people make because they do not understand the Bible and they do not understand how God wrote the Bible. Therefore, the churches have laid down their laws and they teach this in their seminaries to those that will become pastors and teach their congregations: You are not to spiritualize. They are saying that we are not to do what Mr. Camping did so well. They may even use Mr. Camping as an example of the dangers one can get in when spiritualizing. You are not to look for deep spiritual meaning. You look only for the plain, literal meaning of the text. Yes, if it happens to be something God explains as a parable, then you can comment on it. But the underlying theme of it all is to get off that practice as quickly as possible and stay with the surface meaning of the Bible. It is really an instruction from babes to babes, in order to maintain the childhood and lack of understanding that the churches have of the Bible. They cannot go any further than to simply scratch the surface because they have established laws that prevent seeking deeper understanding and digging into the Bible as for gold and silver. No they have laid down their laws and hermeneutics that must be followed or you cannot be a pastor in their denomination. If you go to another denomination, they will tell you the same thing about following their particular laws. It is pretty common practice among all the churches not to spiritualize. But what is God doing here? He is calling this historical event an allegory and He says, for these are the two covenants, one born by the flesh and one by promise. It is spiritualizing, is it not? But it is God who is doing it. It is God who is drawing from the historical account and spiritualizing it and, yet, you will not find any clue in Genesis 16 or in the surrounding chapters that would give the idea that you are supposed to look for allegories or spiritual meanings. There is no clue. It is presented as straight history and, yet, God has drawn from it and He has spiritualized it in detail: one woman represents mount Sanai in Arabia and this one represents Jerusalem above. And regarding the children, one is of the flesh and one is of the promise. You know, if I or another child of God were teaching these things and people in the churches was listening, they would roll their eyes. They would say, Listen to this! They are spiritualizing. They have gone overboard. They have gone wild with their fantastic ideas about what the Bible says. Then you tell them, Actually, it is God who is doing this. But they would have an answer. They would say, It is okay to spiritualize in a very

5 ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 5 limited way, as long as God has presented the spiritual meaning Himself, like He is doing here. So, yes, you can do that for this one section of scriptures because we have the New Testament explaining the Old Testament. We could find other verses, like in 1Corinthians, which draws from the verse in Deuteronomy that says that you shall not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn and a spiritual meaning is given in 1Corinthians. They would say, again, Yes you can do that there, too, because the New Testament interprets the Old Testament. But you cannot do it where the New Testament does not interpret the Old Testament. In other words, they are going to be lazy. They are going to be idle. They are going to twiddle their thumbs and wait for God to do all the work for them in studying the Bible and in discerning these things. They want everything explained to them and they want God to lay it out, specifically, before they will get the clue that Christ (the Word made flesh) spoke in parables and without a parable He did not speak. That means the entire Bible is a parable and God is teaching us how to understand it. Genesis 16 Series, Study 2 by Chris McCann, originally aired July 26, 2017 Good evening and welcome to ebible Fellowship s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #2 of Genesis, chapter 16 and we are going to read Genesis 16:1-3: Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name *was* Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, JEHOVAH hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. In our last study, we were discussing some of the historical problems that would have been part of Abram and Sarai s lives. They had received a promise from God regarding a seed that would come forth from Abram s bowels. It had been 10 years and even before that time they were already old. Sarai came up with a plan to fulfill the Word of God so her husband could have a seed that came forth from his bowels, but it would not come from her womb, but it would come from the womb of another woman, her handmaid, who was said to be an Egyptian. We went to Galatians, chapter 4 last time and we saw that God had a spiritual picture in view by allowing these circumstances to develop and by allowing Sarai (by lifting His hand of restraint) to develop a sinful idea and to follow through with it. He also allowed Abram to participate in this sinful course of action. God permitted it because He had a purpose for the historical event that would paint a specific spiritual picture. For instance, it is like when God allowed Jonah to flee to Tarshish. Historically, Jonah rebelled against the Word of the Lord because God had told him to go to Nineveh. So, it was a sinful act on Jonah s part, but through his fleeing to Nineveh, it pictured the Lord Jesus Christ as He would enter the world and go with mankind that was fleeing from JEHOVAH. So, here and in other parts of the Bible, God allows true historical situations to happen with men and women to develop a spiritual truth. Galatians, chapter 4 is very clear regarding what this truth is, as Sarai and Hagar represent two covenants and the children they produced would represent these two covenants. This why it is so important that in Genesis, chapter 16, God points out in verses 1 and 3 that Sarai s handmaid was an Egyptian. He mentioned it twice and the second time it was said in verse 3: And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian. We wonder why the focus on her being Egyptian? The answer is clear. Let us look at how God typifies the land of Egypt in the Bible. It says in Exodus 13:3:

6 ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 6 And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage Also, it says in Exodus 13:14: And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What *is* this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand JEHOVAH brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: It also says in Deuteronomy 5:6: I *am* JEHOVAH thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. It says in Deuteronomy 6:12: *Then* beware lest thou forget JEHOVAH, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Then it says in Deuteronomy 13:5: And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from JEHOVAH your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage And it says in Deuteronomy 13:10: And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from JEHOVAH thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Of course, there are many more references to this and I am just reading a few of them. In the New Testament, it says in Acts 7:6-7: And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat *them* evil four hundred years. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. We see a strong connection between Egypt and bondage. It is the house of bondage and that is why it is such a terrible thing when God says this regarding the death of the two witnesses at the end of the church age that had the testimony of His Word, as typified by the Law and the prophets or Moses and Elijah, and they were killed and their dead bodies were lying in the street, in Revelation 11:7-8: And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies *shall lie* in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Of course, if you read in the Old Testament about Sodom, that was not the place the Lord was crucified. Or, if you read all you can about Egypt, you will not find that as the place the Lord was crucified. Where was our Lord crucified? It was outside the city Jerusalem. So, God is connecting the fallen church to Jerusalem, which typified the corporate church and when the two witnesses ended their testimony and were killed, spiritually the church became Egypt. Why did it become Egypt? It was because all that remained after God commanded His people to come out of the midst and flee to the mountains were the unsaved that would remain

7 ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 7 in bondage to sin and to Satan. All the while people were going to the corporate churches during the Great Tribulation, Satan (typified by Pharaoh) was ruling in the churches and congregations and it was as if Pharaoh was ruling over Egypt and professed Christianity were before him, like Israel of old, in bondage. They were under cruel taskmasters and in the case of the New Testament churches, that would be the pastors and elders and deacons and spiritual leaders in the congregations; they were emissaries of Satan that would not let the people go. When news about the end of the church age came forth from the Bible to those in the congregations, these leaders said, Oh, no, do not listen to that it is all heresy. You stay where you are at and keep your families here. Do not leave. It was just like when Moses came before Pharaoh and brought God s message, Let my people go, and Pharaoh refused to let the people go. So, too, Satan worked through his emissaries in the corporate church to command, Do not let the people go, and they taught against the true teaching of the Bible that God had ended His relationship with the corporate churches. God s people did come out because they heard the voice of Christ and followed Him. They went to safety by coming out of the corporate church, which had returned to Egypt. There is a verse in Deuteronomy, chapter 28 that only has fulfilment in the spiritual realm. There has been no historical fulfilment of this verse, but there has been spiritual fulfilment of this verse in Deuteronomy 28, a chapter where God went into detail about His wrath upon a rebellious people. We can understand this to mean the judgment that came upon the house of God because of their rebellion. It says in Deuteronomy 28:68: And JEHOVAH shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy *you*. There was a return to the house of bondage. They were sold to their enemies as bondmen and bondwomen and no man, referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, will buy them. In other words, they would not be redeemed. There is no more salvation possible there. The churches and congregations, typified here by ships, told the members of their congregations that they were sailing to the Promised Land: Come travel with us. We are going to set sail and we will take you to heaven. This was said, as it were, by the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians, the Catholics, the Congregationalists and every other type of church. We are going to the Promised land of the new heaven and new earth. This is the way to the kingdom of heaven. Come, set sail with us! They set their course, but God had broken the ship, as depicted in Acts, chapter 27 and it was not going anywhere. But in this figure in Deuteronomy, chapter 28 God does indicate the destination for the ships it was a return trip to Egypt and to the house of bondage. So, whatever you do, do not think for a second that in these days after the Tribulation and in this Day of Judgment, that anyone is being blessed or doing something good for themselves or their families when they return to the churches or to church doctrines that brought down the wrath of God upon the churches in the first place. And now, because some people do not know what they are doing and have lost sight of God s timeline and His times and seasons, they have turned away from sound doctrine that pinpointed the Day of Judgment and laid out the duration of the Great Tribulation and many other truths along with these things. They have rejected truth and things are unraveling for them and the clear vision they once had acknowledged regarding these end time events have been removed and they have returned to a place of darkness and spiritual ignorance. That has made it easy for them to get on board a ship that is sailing, not to the Promised Land, but back to Egypt and back to the house of bondage as bondmen and bondwomen, servants of sin and not a servant of God. It is not the way into the kingdom of heaven.

8 ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 8 However, God laid out the way. After coming out of Egypt, the way into the Promised Land is through a grievous and extremely difficult path of wandering 40 years while being severely tested. It would be about as difficult an experience as anyone can imagine and, yet, that is the way. Historically, that is what Israel had to do before they could cross Jordan into the land of Canaan. Spiritually, it is what God s elect must do. We must endure this testing program God has established at the time of the end before we can enter into the kingdom of God. It is not sailing on a ship anywhere. It involves walking around under a hot sun, but God is feeding us with manna from heaven and water from the Rock. This is the pathway that leads to the eternal kingdom of God and it is the way the Bible has established, but just like Israel of old, some loathe that light bread, the manna, and they do not like the hot sun beating down upon them and scorching them. They are very distressed and uncomfortable and, in that condition they desire to return to Egypt. Let us make us a captain and go back to Egypt. For the few meager things they had there, like the cucumbers, the leeks and the melons, they fantasized about it and it began to look wonderful to them, compared to the desolate wilderness and the hot sun, so they turned around and went back. They have returned to bondage. This why Hagar was spoken of as an Egyptian and a bondservant or handmaiden. She was a bondwoman. In Galatians, chapter 4 there is a verse that came before the verses we looked at regarding Hagar, where God speaks of being in bondage, in Galatians 4:1-3: Now I say, *That* the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: Now I should say it is necessary to read the previous chapter (Galatians, chapter 3) where God likens being under the law to being under schoolmasters. It says in Galatians 3:23-25: But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster *to bring us* unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. Who are under schoolmasters but children? When they go to school they have a teacher or schoolmaster to instruct them. Prior to faith coming through salvation, God s elect were under the law, just like everyone else. We were under a schoolmaster. In the case of God s chosen elect people, the end of the law was Christ, because God used the law to direct us to Christ or salvation and faith came in that case. So, in Galatians, chapter 4 it is picking up that idea of the heir or the seed of Abraham being all those in Christ. Again, it said, in Galatians 4:1-2: Now I say, *That* the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. That is, we were under the commandments and statutes of the law, which were our tutors and governors or our schoolmasters. Then it said in Galatians 4:3: Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: In this case the children are those to be saved, but not yet saved, and we were like a child under a schoolmaster or the law. Here, to be in bondage under the elements of the world relates to being under the law of God. But then it says in Galatians 4:4-5: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To

9 ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 9 redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. This is often misunderstood. It is not referring to the fulness of time when Christ came in history, but it is referring to when Christ came in salvation. Remember, chapter 3 said that we are under a schoolmaster until faith comes and Christ is Faith. So, in the fulness of time for each of God s elect, God sent forth His Son to save them. It is really explaining the point in our personal lives when God delivered us from bondage to the elements of this world, which means to be under the law of God. To be in bondage is to be held captive by sin. And what is the strength of sin, according to the Bible? It is the law, so we were in bondage until the point that God delivered us through the sending of faith or the sending of His Son, because faith and Jesus are one and the same. So, this is the context and idea that led to the discussion of Hagar and Sarai later in Galatians, chapter 4. It says in Galatians 4:9: But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? It is just like the churches today that have returned to bondage. They have gone back to Egypt, spiritually, because they did not follow the Spirit of God when He commanded them to come out, where salvation could only be found outside of the churches. But, again, bondage has to do with being under the law. Yes, the churches have the Bible and the Bible is the law of God, but they no longer have a Redeemer. They no longer have a Saviour or Deliverer because God will not violate His own Word. He commanded His people to come out of the churches, but most refused to obey and now the churches are a house of bondage. This is where Hagar comes in to view in chapter 4 in Galatians 4:22-23: 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 freewoman *was* by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. This is Agar (Hagar), the Egyptian. At mount Sinai God gave the law and it says here that it gendereth to bondage. The word gendereth is Strong s #1080 in the Greek Concordance and it is also translated as begat or born. So, the law is that which begat bondage, which is Agar. Ishmael was the son of Agar, the son of the flesh, born to an Egyptian bondmaid and he was born in bondage, because she represented the law and he came forth from her. To look at it another way, it is like the gospels there is the Gospel of grace and the gospel of works. Sara represented the Gospel of grace and Agar represented the gospel of works. People respond to both. The elect are saved and born again they are born of the freewoman and they are free. But there is a gospel that perverts the Gospel of grace and introduces work along with it. They say, Will you accept Christ? You have to be (water) baptized and you need to do this or that. When people follow this gospel, they take the name of Christian and they say they were born again. However, they were born of the bondwoman and they are born in to bondage. Genesis 16 Series, Study 3 by Chris McCann, originally aired July 27, 2017 Good evening and welcome to ebible Fellowship s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #3 of Genesis, chapter 16 and we are going to read Genesis 16:3-6: And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress

10 ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 10 was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong *be* upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: JEHOVAH judge between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid *is* in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. This is turning out to be a very interesting historical account of happenings within a family that lived over four thousand years ago. God is giving us some details of events that took place at that time to teach us about two covenants, as Galatians, chapter 4 lays out. There was a covenant that had to do with being in bondage and there was a covenant that had to do with freedom. They are the two gospels the Bible declares. It is the Gospel of grace as compared to the gospel of works. Hagar identifies with mount Sanai and that is where the law was given. All who attempt to get right with God through keeping the law would be children of the bondservant or handmaiden Hagar. On the other hand, the elect of God are saved by the true Gospel of God s grace, a gospel in which the sinner contributes nothing at all to obtain righteousness before God; righteousness is imputed to them through the faith and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That Gospel is typified by Sarai. Here, God is beginning to lay out the historical picture based on true occurrences in the lives of Abram, his wife Sarai and the handmaiden Hagar. God has already emphasized that Hagar was an Egyptian. When Abram and Sarai went into Egypt earlier, Pharaoh took Sarai because she was very beautiful; Abram had said she was his sister and Pharaoh entreated Abram well for Sarai s sake, as it says in Genesis 12:16: And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels. Pharaoh gave to Abram menservants and maidservants and Hagar was an Egyptian maidservant, so their relationship probably began when Pharaoh gave her and other servants to Abram and she entered in to Abram s household and Abram and Sarai became her lord and mistress. That was the custom of that time. They were bondservants in bondage to their masters and mistresses and Hagar was this type of bondservant. That is why God used her as a picture of Egypt and the house of bondage. She was a woman who was in bondage herself and she would bring forth children that were also in bondage, as the point was made in Galatians, chapter 4. It said in Galatians 4:22-25: 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 freewoman *was* by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. The one covenant gendereth or was born to bondage. Ishmael was born of his mother, a bondservant. Hagar would have had a special place among the servants because of her relationship with Abram and Sarai and bringing forth a child from her master, although it was counted as Sarai s child, in a way. The child Ishmael was probably the highest of the children born to the other bondservants and, yet, he was still a bondservant himself. He was still a child of a bondservant and, therefore, born to be a bondservant himself. God s point is that no one can become free from the bondage of sin and Satan unless they become born again by the Spirit of God. They are born from above, as represented by Sarai, and born by promise. We know the Bible lays out God s salvation program as that which is accomplished by the Lord on behalf of His people and it is the only way to obtain spiritual freedom. Concerning freedom, this is the reason Christ said in John 8:33-36: They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of

11 ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 11 sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: *but* the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Jesus was talking to Jews who assumed that because they were physical descendants of Abraham it automatically meant they were free men. Maybe they were free in the world, but not spiritually, and that is the point of Galatians 4 and the allegory. Spiritually, unless they are born from above or born of the Spirit, they are still in the flesh and they are still a bondservant, spiritually. They are in servitude. Basically, Christ was telling the Jews that they were still in captivity and they had never come out of the house of bondage in Egypt, spiritually, even though they were not living in Egypt during the 400 years of affliction as slaves under cruel taskmasters. Christ said, You think you are free because you are no longer in Egypt and no longer forced to make brick and build pyramids. You think you are free, but the spiritual truth and spiritual reality is that you are still a servant because you are a servant to sin. You are still spiritually serving Pharaoh (Satan) and in the house of bondage. This is why Christ said, If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed, but they did not understand it. It is just like people all over the world today that happen to live in free countries. The United States is a good example because we like to emphasize our freedom. We are free people. It is the same truth for Americans as it would be for a Jew: You may be free politically. You may be free physically. You may have every outward freedom imaginable and, yet, if you are not saved, you are a slave. You are a slave to sin and to Satan. God says this in a few places in the Bible. It says in Proverbs 5:22: His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. It is like someone that is captured. You tie him up and secure him so he cannot move his arms and he cannot escape. You now have a prisoner. That is what sin has done. An individual s own iniquities enslave him and no one else s iniquity. It is the sinner himself, because of pursuing his own lusts. And he will pursue his own lusts; he will follow them to the death. He will go after them and it will ensnare him. It says in 2Timothy:24-26: And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all *men,* apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And *that* they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. They are prisoners of sin and Satan prisoners in a dungeon. This is the condition of unsaved mankind, the people that we see in the world that are laughing and smiling and going about their lives. They are thrilled with the sinful pleasures of this life. How wonderful these sins are and how great it is to go partying and drinking and drugging. No it is not great at all. There is nothing great about being the lowest prisoner in a filthy pit of a dungeon, where it is dark and dreary. The bars are locked and they cannot get out. That is the state of unsaved individuals, as they are captive to their own sins. Sin has dominion over them. Sin rules over them. Sin is the authority of their lives and they must obey, submit and serve sin. When someone tries to stop smoking or drinking or overeating or whatever sin it is and, you know, sin always brings negative consequences and it always brings trouble. And after a while, people realize it. A sinful pleasure of youth, like drinking, is so full of excitement and it is so great to be with your young friends and everyone is drinking and having a good time. But over the course of time, the excitement wears off and there may be arrests, DUI s, accidents and maybe even injury to self or others and fights and loss of work. These are consequences of that specific sin. Of course, there are consequences of smoking, like disease and ill health. There are consequences to every sin, whether it be anger or a loose tongue, where you do not control what

12 ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 12 comes out of your mouth and you say whatever you think. It gets you in trouble, does it not? Sin naturally leads to trouble. And it leads to more and more wrongdoing and then more and more trouble. In truth, it is nothing more than a headache and some people come to realize that, but, typically, it is often too late regarding a specific sin. They may come to realize that they must stop drinking, smoking, doing drugs, cursing and putting tattoos in the strangest places. Or, they must stop just speaking their mind because they keep getting in fights over and over. It never helps them. It is never for their good or for their personal benefit. That is why the declaration of the Gospel to the people of the world should always have been done in meekness because it was instruction to those that were opposing their own selves. Did you ever hear the saying, I am my own worst enemy? Or, someone might say, That guy is his own worst enemy. That is Biblical. When you look back on your life, who has caused you the most trouble? Who is that nemesis that has injured you and brought destruction, misery, pain and sorrow? It has been yourself. It has been myself. The way of the Bible and the Gospel message is to follow the scriptures and to follow the teachings of the Bible, doing things God s way and keeping His commandments. Yes, there will arise up affliction for the Word s sake. There will arise up persecution and other things. But, you see, it is much healthier and along with it are tremendous blessings of God because they are finally doing it God s way. Finally, they are not feeling sick because they smoked a pack of cigarettes or drank a half a case of beer or they did whatever they did or said whatever they said. They do not have the waste of time and the hangover the next day that wastes more time and the constant repairing of relationships due to the breaches that sins bring. These benefits alone are a relief and tend to bring more joy and peace to some degree. In addition, there is joy of obedience. There is this understanding: Yes, things are hard and I have been suffering affliction because I continue to hold on to this Bible truth and people of the world and people around me do not like that, so there is affliction for the Word s sake, but thank God. Even that kind of affliction is thankworthy, we read in 1Peter. Thank you, Lord, that you have brought me this way. Thank you that I am now suffering for something good, something right and proper. Thank you that the suffering in my life is an upright type of suffering for which I can thank you and not the type of suffering that comes because I sinned again. I did wrong again. I rebelled against you again. I went the opposite way of your commandment. You see, there is no way to avoid suffering as human being in this life. Either we are going to suffer as a servant to sin and Satan and suffer for our sins or we are going to suffer as someone who is doing things God s way. We can walk along, by God s grace, keeping His commandments because of His indwelling spirit and we can do so because we are already saved and not that we are trying to get ourselves saved. We are following the pathway that Christ established as He went the way of God s commandments and, by the grace of God, we are following that narrow way. We are following the path that leads to the kingdom of heaven and this is the freedom that we have in Christ as Christ has set us free. We no longer bear the heavy burden of sin and that weight of sin upon us. Yes, there is a yoke of servitude to the Lord Jesus Christ, but His yoke is easy and His burden light because it is always easier this way. Yes, the child of God is condemned by the world, because the world is always watching us. Someone pours out all kinds of accusations and charges against you, but you know none of it is true you are simply following the Bible. So, what? We do not care what they say. But if you have done wrong and they accuse you on that point of wrongdoing, it troubles us because we have given occasion to the enemy or adversary to speak reproachfully and it adds to the grief. And there is no thank worthiness in that. Well, I have diverged from what I intended to talk about this time, but that is the nice thing about a verse-byverse Bible study, because we can come back to it. Lord willing, in our next Bible study we will come back to Genesis 16 and look at this very interesting and unusual passage concerning the relationship of Sarai and Hagar. Genesis 16 Series, Study 4 by Chris McCann, originally aired July 31, 2017

13 ebible Fellowship Genesis 16 Series Page 13 Good evening and welcome to ebible Fellowship s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #4 of Genesis, chapter 16 and we are going to read Genesis 16:4-6: And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong *be* upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: JEHOVAH judge between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid *is* in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. I will stop reading there. As we have been discussing this chapter, we have seen that these two women and their children represent two covenants or gospels: 1) the true Gospel; 2) a false gospel. One is the Gospel of grace and the other is a gospel of works. God has painted this spiritual picture by allowing this historical situation to develop in the lives of Abram, his wife and their handmaid. As we talked about earlier, Sarai attempted to solve the problem that God had brought in to their lives concerning the promised seed. It had been quite some time since God had told Abram he would have an heir that would come forth from his own bowels. To solve that problem, Sarai came up with the idea of having children through her handmaid, so she gave Hagar to Abram to wife. And it did work because Hagar conceived and was with child, but it was not what God had in mind. God had in mind to give Abram a seed through his wife Sarai. It was not long after Sarai gave her handmaid to her husband that she realized her error. She said to Abram in Genesis 16:5: And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong *be* upon thee Why did she say it was a wrong? What had happened to make her realize this was an error and a foolish thing for her to do? It was after Hagar conceived and she realized she was with child that her mistress Sarai was despised in her eyes. We can clearly see the historical setting and how that could happen when one woman is unable to have a child with her husband, but then another woman enters the picture and becomes the second wife and quickly becomes with child. Then the second wife felt she was special and that she had done something the other wife was unable to do. She could begin to think more highly of herself and think that Abram would favor her more than the other woman because, after all, she was able to give him an heir and Sarai could not. All these things began to work in Hagar s mind and she began to think more highly of herself than she ought to think and she despised her mistress. It is similar, historically, to the situation we read about in 1Samuel, chapter 1 where a man had two wives. You know, whenever we read of a man with more than one wife, we read about trouble, whether it be Jacob with Leah and Rachel and their handmaids that were given to him to wife or whether it be this man in 1Samuel 1:1-6: Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name *was* Elkanah, the son of Jehoram, the son of Elihu, the son of Tofu, the son of Zap, an Hamathite: And he had two wives; the name of the one *was* Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto JEHOVAH of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of JEHOVAH, *were* there. And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but JEHOVAH had shut up her womb. And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because JEHOVAH had shut up her womb.