In Christ, we are children of Grace.

Believer, consider Paul's Holy Spirit-inspired typology of Hagar and Sarah as the two covenants of Law and Grace in Galatians 4:

21–22 "Tell me, do you want to go back to living strictly by the law? Haven’t you ever listened to what the law really says? Have you forgotten that Abraham had two sons; one by the slave girl, and the other by the freewoman?

23 Ishmael, the son of the slave girl, was a child of the natural realm (born according to the flesh.) But Isaac, the son of the freewoman, was born supernaturally by the Spirit—a child of the promise of God! 24 These two women and their sons express an allegory and become symbols of two covenants. The first covenant was born on Mt. Sinai, birthing children into slavery—children born to Hagar. 25 For “Hagar” represents the law given at Mt. Sinai in Arabia. The “Hagar” metaphor corresponds to the earthly Jerusalem of today who are currently in bondage.

26 In contrast, there is a heavenly Jerusalem above us, which is our true “mother.” She is the freewoman, birthing children into freedom! 27 For it is written:

“Burst forth with gladness,

    O barren woman with no children!

Break through with the shouts of joy and jubilee,

    for you are about to give birth!

The one who was once considered desolate and barren

    now has more children than the one who has a husband!”

28 Dear friends, just like Isaac, we’re now the true children who inherit the kingdom promises. 29 And just as the son of the natural world at that time harassed the son born of the power of the Holy Spirit, so it is today. 30 And what does the Scripture tell us to do?

“Expel the slave mother with her son!

The son of the slave woman will not be a true heir—

    for the true heir of the promises is the son of the freewoman.”

31 It’s now so obvious! We’re not the children of the slave woman; we’re the supernatural sons of the freewoman—sons of grace!"

Ishmael was born "according to the flesh." False preachers try to twist "walking according to the flesh" to mean committing sins. But believer, "walking according to the flesh" is simply trying to bear fruit to God by human striving aka Law-keeping, the same way Ishmael was borne of human striving. There is no inheritance of the promise here. God does not recognize such Ishmael-type works aka human striving at keeping the Law in order to bear the fruit of godliness or get right with Him. The very next chapter (Galatians 5:4) tells us the consequence of doing this:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace." 

Believer, "Walking according to the Spirit" is a gift of Grace. It is realising that "the arm of flesh will fail," ending all human striving at bearing fruit to God and TOTALLY surrendering to His will and power working in us to save us and cause us to bear fruit to God, the same way Isaac was borne of Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. No human striving involved. Abraham and Sarah's ability to reproduce was dead. Here, we cannot boast about how "God gave me a jet because I sowed my car" because by Grace,  we know and believe the truth about what God's word says of man, a truth that Paul experienced - see Romans 7:18-

"For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

God's word says human effort (the arm of flesh/walking according to the flesh) will fail, is powerless and cannot. But Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort at obedience) that will fail says:

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I still have some good/strength in me. I can keep the law in order to be godly. I can resist temptation to commit sin by my will-power and sheer determination. I can bear fruit to God by my human effort.”

This is akin to what Abraham did with Hagar. God promised Him a son but he went about getting a child by human striving. This is a picture of believers trying to keep the Law (Hagar) in a bid to bear fruit to God.  Remember what God said to Abraham in Genesis 22:2-

"Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love--Isaac--and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you."

Abraham had two sons at the time. Ishmael was older than Isaac, yet God saw Abraham as having an "only son." These things are allegories/typologies that speak of our salvation in Christ. Believer, when we rest in the finished work of Christ, our heavenly Father fills us to overflowing with His goodness and mercy so much that what is spilling over, we can't help but bear "much fruit." Christ says in John 15:5-

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

The Passion Translation puts it thus: “I am the sprouting vine and you’re My branches. As you live in union with Me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from Me you are powerless.”

Christ cannot lie. But many churchgoers are yet to understand the weight and power of the Word of the Almighty. Many churchgoers believe that God's work in us cannot succeed and His word will not come to pass without our making it so by some forceful effort on our part, but this is akin to how "Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled." in 2 Samuel 6:6. Jesus is the true Ark. He is Grace. He lives in all who believe and doesn't need "balancing" much less from the arm of flesh that will fail that try to preach a "balanced message" that highlights human striving at bearing fruit to God.

Christ says by abiding (believing, relying on, trusting wholly) in Him, we get to bear much fruit — when the believing is right, right living will follow. But many feel that the branch needs to do certain things on its own besides abiding in the Vine in order to prove that it is “of the faith." Not so. In union Christ, we get to bear fruit to God. What fruit? See the fruit in Galatians 5:22-23–

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

These fruits are the EVIDENCES of our abiding in Christ, not CONDITIONS. In Christ, we get to bear "much fruit" the same way Abraham and Sarah bore Isaac: not by human striving at keeping the Law to bear fruit but "...supernaturally by the Spirit—a child of the promise of God!" Galatians 4:23

Believer, Sarah (Grace) did not need Hagar (Law) to raise Isaac (you and I who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.) Sarah was sufficient for Isaac in EVERY way, even to live a life of godliness and moral excellence. Believer, likewise, Grace is sufficient for us. Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him:

"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says of Him: “He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.”

By God's Grace, flee from any "man of God" that tries to re-introduce the Law to you as your nanny, teacher, assistant or whatever. Flee from any "pastor" that tells you:

“Yes you are saved by GRACE but you still have to keep the LAW, not to be justified before God, but as a guiding principle for morality so that God will not turn His back on you and so that you don't fall from grace.”

This horrid mixture that is neither Law nor Grace is the "neither cold nor hot" that Christ spoke of in Revelation 3. It is also the the surefire way to get cut off from Christ and "fall from grace" according to Galatians 5:4—

“For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace.”

Believer, the spirit of the antichrist is not anti-God. In fact, it can be very religious, preaching against sin and shouting the need for churchgoers to bear the fruit of godliness from the rooftops. But its own method of attaining godliness is by human striving aka law-keeping. It seeks to remove, diminish or replace the finished work of Christ in making the sinner who believes righteous in God's sight/heaven-worthy apart from works with human striving at keeping the Law. 

These false (often very religious) antichrist preachers are the same people that persecute children of Grace as Ishmael persecuted Isaac. See verse 29 of the same Galatians 4 where Paul made thd analogy of Sarah and Hagar as the two covenants of Law (Hagar) and Grace (Sarah) -

"But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now."

We often forget that the Pharisees and teachers of religious laws who persecuted, sought to kill and rejected Christ were not people who could not wait for the synagogue service to end so they could rush out to commit sins. They were highly religious people with the utmost respect for God's Law which they did their best to keep in order to be godly, but they were against Christ aka anti-Christ. 

Remember "Walking according to the flesh" means trying to bear fruit to God by human striving. Believer, let's not be found here, trusting in our puny arm of flesh (human striving) that will fail in a bid to bear the fruit of righteousness to God and thus get cut off from Christ. Isaiah 64:6 describes such fruit as "a menstrual rag" in God's sight:

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

In Christ, having Him as our only Source of salvation and means of bearing fruit to God, we get to bear "much fruit," the kind that is acceptable and pleasing to our heavenly Father. 

Believer, by Grace, don't worry if you are yet to see your own "much fruit." Our life in Christ is not based human logic of the knowledge of good and evil. Only by revelation do we see as God sees, so ask. Don't let any antichrist pastor try to convince or bully you into believing that you are no longer Christ's because some things aren't quite right in your life. Don't let them trick you into doing things to prove your status as a child of God. They are only following the "If you are the Son of God..." example of their master Satan when he tempted our Saviour in the wilderness. To the world who did not know Him, Christ's external conditions did not portray the glory and majesty of the Son of God that He is. He was hungry. But jumping down from the pinnacle of the temple to prove that He is the Son of God definitely wasn't on our Saviour's agenda. He knew that He is the Son of God and didn't have to kowtow to the demands of the world to prove it and by His grace, neither do we!

Only by revelation do we see as God sees. In Christ, we are children of Grace. Like Hagar and Ishmael, law-keeping (human striving at attaining godliness and salvation from earthly ills) can produce fruit rapidly but that fruit can never be accepted by God, inherit the promise or even be lasting. This is why we see the same set of churchgoers doing things like running from pillar to post and looking to "men of God"  for deliverance from generational and other curses that Christ hung on the cross to redeem us from (Galatians 3:13)

Believer, as it was with Sarah, Grace may take His time, but His fruit is acceptable to God and everlasting. So don't fret. See yourself as a little child whose father has a long, full beard. All that you need to grow your own long, full beard like your Daddy is already in you. As we continue to abide in our Daddy's house (believing Jesus and what He has done,) we are being transformed (2 Corinthians 3:18.) That long full beard and other features of our Daddy that we did nothing to deserve and possess only because we are born (again) will be evident for the world to see.

In God's time, your "much fruit" that Christ says we bear in Him which the whole world can see will be evident to the world and all glory will be to the Almighty God, as was the Isaac experience. None of that "I sowed my car and God gave me a jet" shared glory that man can boast about and use to feel superior involved here. We know and the world will see that it is all God's doing. All the glory goes to Him. 

This is Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour.