It is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. ( Romans 9:8 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh that are children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed. )

Picture the Old Testament Abraham as a pastor. The Lord says, “I will bless you and prosper your ministry.” But the church is barren and bears no children.

What does Abraham do? He begins to despair of supernatural intervention. He is getting old. His wife remains barren. So he decides to bring about God’s promised son without supernatural intervention. He has sex with Hagar his wife’s handmaid ( Genesis 16:4 4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. ). However, the result is not a “child of the promise,” but a “child of the flesh,” Ishmael.

God stuns Abraham by saying, “I will give you a son by her [your wife Sarah]” ( Genesis 17:16 16 And I will bless her, and moreover I will give thee a son of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be `a mother of' nations; kings of peoples shall be of her. ). So Abraham cries out to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” ( Genesis 17:18 18 And Abraham said unto God, Oh that Ishmael might live before thee! ). He wants the work of his own natural, human effort to be the fulfillment of God’s promise. But God says, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son” ( Genesis 17:19 19 And God said, Nay, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. ).

But Sarah is 90 years old. She has been barren all her life, and she has already passed through menopause ( Genesis 18:11 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, `and' well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. ). Abraham is 100. The only hope for a child of promise is stunning, supernatural intervention.

That is what it means to be a “child of the promise” — to be born “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” ( John 1:13 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ). The only children that count for children of God in this world are supernaturally begotten children of promise. In Galatians 4:28 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. Paul says, “You [Christians], like Isaac, are children of promise.” You are “born according to the Spirit,” not according to the flesh ( Galatians 4:29 29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him `that was born' after the Spirit, so also it is now. ).

Think of Abraham as a pastor again. His church is not growing the way he believes God promised. He is weary of waiting for supernatural intervention. He turns to the “Hagar” of mere human devices, and decides he can “attract people” without the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.

However, it will not be a church of Isaacs, but Ishmaelites — children of the flesh, not children of God. God save us from this kind of fatal success. By all means work. But always look to the Lord for the decisive, supernatural work. “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord” ( Proverbs 21:31 31 The horse is prepared against the day of battle; But victory is of Jehovah. ).