Turn with me to the 16th chapter
of the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 16. In this 16th chapter, we have
here the story of Sarah, the wife of Abraham, and
her hastening of a son. It says, Now Sarah, Abraham's wife,
bear him no children. She was barren. An old lady at this particular
time, she wasn't able to conceive and have children. It was a great
honor among the people of this particular age that they had
children, in particular that the firstborn might be a son.
Every man desired a son. that he might perpetuate his
name, which I suppose there's a whole lot of that thinking
in our day. Men want sons in order to perpetuate
their name. Of course, it's not saying that
they don't want daughters either, but men like sons to continue
their name. But anyhow, it says, Abram's
wife, bear him no children. She didn't have any children,
couldn't have any children. And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian,
whose name was Hagar. The Egyptians were slaves at
this particular time to the Israelites. At one time the Israelites were
their slaves. The Israelites were down in Egypt
for 400 years and lost all their identity, had almost forgotten the true
God of Israel. And of course you know the story
how God raised up Moses and delivered them from the land of the Egyptians
and gave them the land of promise, the land of milk and honey and
so forth. But there was a time when they
were slaves, of course that is yet to come, but now Hagar is
a slave of Abraham. And Sarah said unto Abraham,
Behold, now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing.
I pray thee, go in unto my maid, that it may be that I may obtain
children by her. And Abraham hearkened to the
voice of Sarah. She decided that be a good idea,
since she was not able to bear children herself, that her maid, Hagar, would be her
substitute and would bear a son from her husband or bear a child
from her husband. And Abraham, Abram, agreed to
the suggestion of Sarah here. Abraham's wife took Hagar, her
maid, that's the third verse, 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 was despised in her eyes. I want you to notice
that and kind of underscore that. Her mistress was despised in
her eyes. That is, she despised Sarah from
then on. After she had the child, or after
the child was conceived in her womb, and her knowing that Sarah
was not able to conceive a child of Abraham, there was a certain
pride that arose in her heart and some contempt for her mistress,
for her master. She became very despisable and
contemptible towards Sarah. And Sarah said unto Abraham,
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. Lord, judge between
me and thee. Well, now if you'll turn with
me there to about the 17th verse of the 17th chapter. The Lord is talking to Abraham here and
it says that Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said
in his heart, Shall a child be born unto me that is a hundred
years old? And shall Sarah that is ninety
years old bear? Abraham said unto God, O that
Ishmael might live before me. Of course, Ishmael is the child of Abraham and Hagar. Well, thus far we know that because of the fact that she couldn't bear children,
she decided to help this thing along a little bit. She gave
Hagar, the Egyptian servant, to her husband Abraham and he
did go into her and the child was conceived and the child was
finally born and they called the name of the child Ishmael. But in the meantime God had promised
Abraham a son. I read to you there where Abraham
laughed in his own heart and so did Sarah. They both laughed
and thought, they were just astounded and amazed that God would make
such a ridiculous statement as that to them in that one was
near a hundred years old and one was in her nineties. I think Sarah was in her nineties
and Abraham was about a hundred. And he said they were going to
have a child. And so they just kind of laughed about it. Well,
in this twenty-first chapter now it says, And the Lord visited
Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had
spoken. The Lord is faithful to perform
that which he promised. For Sarah conceived and bare
Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God
had spoken to him. All that God has said will come
to pass. And Abraham circumcised his son
Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And
Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto
him. And Sarah said, God hath made
me to laugh, so that all that will hear laugh with me. And she said, Who would have
said unto Abraham that Sarah should have given children suck?
For I have borne him a son in his old age. And they were happy,
very happy with this son of promise. whose name was Isaac. Well, as
the child grew and was weaned, I thought that was a significant
verse there, a significant fact that indicates some of the household, the manifestation of household
happiness and so forth in this particular home. It said the
child grew and was weaned, weaned from its mother. And Abraham
made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. The day
that Isaac was weaned from his mother, why, they had a party,
a big feast, kind of celebrated this great occasion that Isaac
was weaned from his mother. Therefore, or 9th verse now,
It says, And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, which
she had borne unto Abraham mocking. Now, Sarah gets back to this
child that was born about 13 years earlier to Abraham and
her handmaid, Hagar. He was about 13 years old at
this particular time. It says, And Sarah saw the son
of Hagar, the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. This son was mocking. Wherefore
she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for
the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even
with Isaac." Now, I always thought that that was a strange passage
of Scripture there. It was her idea to begin with.
It wasn't Abraham's idea, it was Sarah's idea that Abraham
go in and have a relationship with her servant in order that
the outcome might be a child. And when the child is born and
has reached a particular age, now she says, when she has a
child of her own, now she says, cast out that born woman and
her son. Cast them out. Get them out of
our household. Get them out of our presence.
Cast out this born woman and her son. For the son of this
born woman shall not be an heir with my son. He'll not share
with my son, even with Isaac. And this thing was grievous,
or very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. That
bothered Abraham because of Sarah's attitude towards Abraham's son, Ishmael. Now listen,
and God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight
because of the lad. Don't be too upset about this,
Abraham, because of Ishmael, because of what your wife has
said, cast out this boy and his mother. Because of the lad and
because of thy bondwoman, in all that Sarah hath said unto
thee, Hearken unto her voice. Listen unto what Sarah's got
to say to you. For in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. And also of the son of the born
woman will I make a nation because he is thy seed. That is, he'll
have his particular place of honor and place of glory in this
world because he's your seed. I'll take care of him. So Abraham
rose up early in the morning and he took Hagar and the child
and took them off and led them off into a place where he thought
they would never return. Well, of course, you can finish
reading that story if you want to, but I've read all that in
order to impress upon you this particular Scripture here, verse
number 10, where it says, cast out this bondwoman and her son. And I want to try this morning
to tell you what I think that means. And I believe that I'm
right here. Cast out that bondwoman and her
son. Got to be cast out. Now turn
over to the fourth chapter of the book of Galatians. This same story is told by the Apostle
Paul here, Where is it? In the fourth chapter, I believe
it is, of the book of Galatians. Let me read part of that chapter. There in verse 22. Well, verse
21. Someone preached on that not
too long ago, wasn't it? Verse 21, do you remember hearing
that not too long ago? I think when Henry Mahan was
here, he used a portion of this scripture right here. Tell me,
ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? Now, verse 22, for it is written
that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid and the other
by a free woman. That is, he had a son by Hagar,
who was a bondwoman. And he had a son by Sarah, who
was a free woman. He had two children. Their names
was Ishmael, and he was the oldest. Thirteen years, I believe, thirteen
years older than Isaac. And Isaac was the son of the
free woman. Abraham fathered them both. But
he who was of the born woman was born after the flesh, but
he of the free woman was by promise." That is, I think, what it means
there literally when it says, he who was of the born woman
was born after the flesh, it was through the conniving and
scheming of Sarah that brought this union with Hagar and Abraham
about. It was her idea. She planned
it and purposed it. and brought it about, it was
after the flesh. It was not after the Spirit.
It was not according to God's divine purpose at that particular
time. Of course, I know that everything
that happens here in time is the evidence of the fact that
God hath decreed such and such to happen, but nevertheless it
was of the flesh. Verse 24, Which things are an
allegory? For these are the two covenants. Now, these two women represent
two covenants, two agreements that God made. Now, it says,
Which things are an allegory? For these are the two covenants.
The one from the Mount Sinai, which is Gendreth to Bondage,
which is Agar. And 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. For it is written,
Rejoice thou barren, that bearest not, break forth and cry, thou
that prevailest not, for the desolate hath many more children,
than she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise." Paul comes to that conclusion
that those that were believers in the Lord Jesus Christ in the
Church of the Galatians, they were true believers, he said,
now we are the children of promise. We're like Isaac, we're 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. The same thing happens now, Paul
says to the people of Galatians, that he that was born of the
born woman still persecutes He that was born of the free woman,
Sarah, or Jerusalem. 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 free woman. So then, brethren,
we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Now, let me
try to tell you what I think that means. I've said so far
that Abraham had two sons. Ishmael was the son of the bondwoman. Hagar, who represents the covenant
of the law and the covenant of works. Isaac was the son of Thomas,
born to Sarah, who represents the covenant of grace. Although
Sarah was the original wife of Abraham, actually the first and
only wife that Abraham had. This really wasn't his wife,
it was his concubine. It was his mistress in a sense. But for the sake of argument,
let's say that he did live with her and he did conceive and she
did bear a child. Now, Hagar brought forth the
first son, that was Ishmael. Even so, the covenant of grace
in Christ Jesus is eternal and it is before the covenant of
works. Now, the covenant of grace was
purposed by God in himself before the world ever was. God made
a covenant which is a blood covenant, an eternal covenant God made
with His Son, God made with the or the three persons in the Trinity
agreed upon a certain thing, and it was a covenant that God
would choose a people, the Lord Jesus Christ would die for a
people, and the Holy Spirit would give life for a people. And God
made a covenant, and it was a covenant of grace, and this covenant of
grace was made by God eons of ages before time ever was. So it was an eternal covenant
that God made. Now, the first man, Adam, was
a son of works and flesh. When the son of promise is brought
forth, the child of works must be cast out. That is, they cannot
share the inheritance. That's what we read here. She
said, Sarah said, this boy Ishmael, he cannot share or he cannot
be an heir with my son, even Isaac. He must be cast out. Cast
out the bondwoman and cast out her son. You can see thus far
that it's an impossibility for these two sons. You can't keep
these two sons in the same house. One's got to be cast out. One
is a representative of a covenant of works, a covenant of the law,
a covenant of the flesh, and one is a representative of the
covenant of grace, and they cannot in harmony live in the same house. They can't live in the same house
because there'll never be any peace or assurance or comfort
as long as these two live in the same house. The covenant
of works and the covenant of grace. One's got to be cast out. The covenant of grace can't be
cast out. The covenant of works must be
cast out. Cast out the bondwoman and her
son. Her son is my righteous. that is in the flesh. That's
what Isaac represents. He represents my righteousness,
and he's always arguing against the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, which is my imputed righteousness. So the woman,
the woman, Hagar, the bondwoman, and her son must be cast out. got to be cast out before peace
and harmony prevails in our lives. Listen, they cannot share the
inheritance, Hagar the law, Ishmael my righteousness, must be cast
out, that Christ Jesus must have all the preeminence and our hope
of redemption be in Him and Him alone. Now can you imagine the
turmoil, the conflict in Abraham's home when both of these sons
lived there? Ishmael hated Isaac as works
hates grace. Now who was it that told us before
church here, Pat McGinnis, I believe it was. He said that John Mitchell
had went out to see his son in Wisconsin, and while he was there,
he had opportunity to preach in a man's house about 20 miles
north of where Steve lived. And he said that these people
had never heard the approach that John took to the gospel,
and I'm sure it was the gospel of free and sovereign grace.
And he said that one fellow was so angered and stirred up that
he jumped up in the middle of John's preaching and wanted to
debate and argue this question. That's the works. Works hates
the grace of God, you see. Just as the turmoil took place
in the household of Abraham and Sarah when these two sons were
there, one representative of free grace and the other representative
of works. It says that old Ishmael mocked
Isaac. Alright, Ishmael mocked Isaac
as my righteousness rises up in conflict with the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our righteousness does that
at times. We try to program a righteousness
of our own. We try many times, conscious
or unconscious, of setting forth a certain standard that we go
by and live by. And I'm not saying that's all
wrong, but I'm saying that if a righteousness that we set up,
or a code of ethics, or a standard of conduct, if that somehow unconsciously or consciously
gives us a feeling of security or a feeling that somehow it
would be commendable unto God, well, then it would be wrong,
dead wrong. It would be in conflict with
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the
reason, I believe, why some do not have rest and peace and joy
and assurance in the household of faith. And I'll tell you why. Because I think they're trying
to raise these two boys together. You can't raise these two boys
together. That is the covenant of works
and the covenant of grace. They can't be raised together
and you still have peace and joy and satisfaction. Somebody's
got to give up. Somebody's got to be kicked out.
Now, if we're going to be scriptural, who are we going to kick out?
The covenant of works. It's got to be kicked out. Hagar,
Hagar and her son Ishmael, they got to leave. They got to leave.
They can't stay in the house. They can't stay in the same house
with the grace of God. They got to leave. That's right. Well, they try to hold to Christ's
righteousness and at the same time feed and nourish Ishmael. You can't do it. That is, you
can't trust completely, solely, 100% in the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and at the same time, feed and nourish
works, which is Ishmael. Ishmael's got to go. He's got
to go if you're going to have any peace. And to me, that's
the reason I believe why there's so much unrest and uneasiness
and dissatisfaction and lack of assurance in the lives of
those that profess to be Christians. Because they say, yes, we believe
in Jesus, but... but what? But some works out
there. They're trying to nourish Ishmael
in their own household and it can't be done. Now, I've been
preaching every Thursday at the Arbor's over here, at the old
people's home right there in Fairmont, that building. I have
a good group of women there every Thursday, and women that are
interested in hearing the Word of God. And they come down and
listen to me. And I talked to them here last
Thursday about about our true picture before God. And I tried
to tell him that the picture was, every line was drawn by
God, and I read verses to him that would substantiate the authority
of God, that he had a right to draw this picture. And the picture
was true because God made every line and every detail in that
picture. And I read to them where it says,
Let God be true and every man a liar. And then I read to them
that pictured every one of us by nature and told them how we
were, sinners before God and hopeless and helpless. And our
condition was so dangerous, and if we continued on in our rebellion
against God, we'd wind up in a devil's hell. And so I went
on then and tried to tell them that Christ died for sinners. And if they could identify with
what a sinner was and who a sinner was, that there was hope for
them. And we talked along that line. But after I got through,
and it was about ten minutes till two, and I said, well, I've
taken a lot of time here. We'd better conclude and be dismissed. And so we were dismissed, and
some lady, I noticed as I was talking, she was shaking her
head. Shaking her head, and she put her hands up on her ears
every once in a while, and I thought it was, in fact, maybe she was
nervous. I thought maybe she couldn't
hear me good, but I was talking pretty loud. But after it was
over with, she said, some of the other ladies come around
and talk a little bit, and finally she said, well, she said that
that was fine and all that, but she said, I don't go along with
you in what you say about us being sinners, us being sinners.
She said, we're saved by the grace of God, and then after
we're saved by the grace of God, we're not sinners no more. And
I said, well, now, That's not so. I said, we're saints. I said, we're saints. That's
right, but we're still sinners. We're saved by the grace of God,
but yet we're saved sinners. I said, all of us have imperfections
in our lives. None of us are perfect. None
of us are perfect. I said, I'm not saying that we
don't and shouldn't strive on to perfection. We should. Charles
has mentioned several times about we ought to conscientiously conscientiously,
with our whole heart, obey all of that which the Bible teaches,
regardless of what it is. If it's for our day, if it's
for our age, if it's for now, we ought to give heed to it. We ought to obey it to the best
of our ability. Strive for perfection. But that's
not to say that we're not sinners by nature and by choice. And
we kept on talking about this matter, and I tried to explain
to her. And she said, no. She said, I
differ with you. She said, now what if after you
say you're saved and then you sin? And I said, well, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. And
if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive
us of our sins and so forth. She said, well, what if you don't
have time to confess your sins? You know what she was talking
about? I come to the works. See? That's the thing that I
want to destroy. Because as long as a man says,
I believe in Christ, but he still nourishes and feeds Ishmael in
his same house, he can't have no rest. You see that? He can't
have no rest. Can't have no rest. And I know
she thought I was unkind. And lots of people think I'm
unkind when I talk like that. But I'm not unkind. I'm only
trying to help them. I'm trying to help them to see
that it's Christ and Christ alone. It's got to be. It's got to be. You can't nourish and feed Ishmael. She said, well, what if I couldn't
repent? I said, what if I didn't have...
I said, listen to me. I said, when Christ died on the
cross and you tell me you are a believer in... I said, how
many sins did Christ die for? Did He die for all your sins
or did He die for part of them? She said He died for all of them.
I said, that ought to answer your question. It ought to answer
your question. It ought to answer your question
today, too. How many sins did He die for when He died on the
cross? He died for all of them. He died
for all of my sins. He said, I cast them all behind
your back. And that takes care of it, brethren.
That takes care of it. But you see what I'm talking
about, don't you? There are people who try to hold on to the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and at the same time, feed and nourish
Ishmael, the son of law and human merit. And you can't do it. You
can't do it. There will be no real peace. until the born woman of the law
and the son of human merit is disowned, disinherited, and put
out into the wilderness with a jug of water." Put them out
there! Even though it grieves you, they've got to be put out.
See, it grieved Abraham. When Sarah said to Abraham, He said, we can't have no peace
and harmony in this house with that woman and that boy here.
Can't do it. He said, he's not going to be
an heir with my son even Isaac. He said, put him out. Put him
out. And Abraham, it says, he grieved
before the Lord. He grieved. Oh, that Ishmael
might live before me. He grieved before the Lord. But
God said to her, He said to Abraham, now you better hearken to your
wife. One time you better listen to your wife. Sometimes we ought
to listen to our wives, maybe more than what we do. But in
the end, I said, you better listen to your wife. I said, for what
she's telling you is right. You do what she tells you. So
he got up early in the morning, and he got that woman in her
clothes, and he got that boy in his clothes even though it
broke his heart. And he took him out in the wilderness and
set him out there and gave him a little jug of water. And then
he turned and walked and came on back. He left him out there.
He left him there. Of course, God took care of him.
God saw them there, He heard the tears of old Ishmael, the
tears of Hagar, and He took care of them, but they got to be put
out. You see, works and grace cannot share the human heart. Can do it, can do it. I'm not
talking about, I'm not saying that there's not to be works.
Put works in its right perspective. The Bible talks about that which
accompanies salvation. What does accompany salvation? Good works! Does not Titus say,
maintain good works? That's right. They're not saying,
well, once we've come, once we've came to the cross of Christ and
our sins are forgiven, they're all in the blood, then we'll
just live lawlessly. We'll just be rebels. We'll just
do what we want to do. That is, as far as our flesh
concerns, we'll not give any heed to the law of God. We'll
not give any heed to the Bible. We don't care. Everything's alright.
No, if that's our attitude, we've never been saved. We've never
been to the fountain. We need to go back. A man that has the
attitude that, well, I'm a Calvinist. Through and through, I believe
in God's eternal election. I believe in all these things,
and everything's settled and satisfied, and I'm all right,
and I just go out. and dip into the excess of the
flesh all I want to." That man has never been to the fountain.
That man has never been saved. He has never been saved. Because
once a man has been blood-washed and plunged beneath the fountain
filled with blood that flows from Emmanuel's veins, he is
a new creature in Christ Jesus. And he desires from that time
until the time he dies, he desires to please and glorify God. Now
he may not always do it. He may fall, and He may make
mistakes. I've made 10,000 of them, and
I'll probably make 10,000 more. But it will be in spite of! I don't want to. I'd rather glorify
God. All right. Works and grace cannot
share the same heart, brethren. Ishmael. Ishmael must not be
allowed to have even a foot of ground. He must be forever deserted. Desert Ishmael. Desert him. Cut
the strength. Take him out in the wilderness.
Oh, I'll tell you, salvation is by grace and grace alone.
It's in Christ. It's not in Christ plus what
I can do. It's in Christ Jesus and Him
alone. Works and grace cannot live in
the same household They do in many cases, but there's no peace
there. No peace. It's like that woman. That woman
shaking her head to me. She said, no. She said, no, I
can't believe that. She said, no. She said, I went
to a free Methodist church all my life. I said, well. I said,
I can't help that. I said, I'm not critical about
the free Methodists or anybody else. I said, that's just what
the Bible teaches. Oh, no. Her heart would not let
her believe in free grace. Oh! Wouldn't do it. Wouldn't
do it. Feed no Ishmael. Got to give
Ishmael something to eat. Give him a cookie now and then.
Give him a cracker. Give him a bowl of soup. Anything
to keep him by. And oh, how many people go through
this life, brethren, the same condition. They don't know. They see a true Christian. He's
happy. He's able to sleep at night.
He's able to say, well, come what may, I've learned in whatsoever
state, wherewith I to be content. I'm content, not content in myself,
I'm content in Christ, and if the death angel comes tonight,
before you know I'm dead, I'll leap off into the arms of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And most people can't understand
that. They say, oh my, what presumption
on his part. What presumption? Oh no, it's
not presumption, it's free grades. its free grace. You see, that which is born of
the flesh is flesh and can never inherit or can never share with
the inheritance of the Son of Promise. Therefore, he must not
be kept around, O wishful, to mock and to rob the house of
its happiness. Put him out. There will be no
real assurance. There will be no real assurance
and peace and comfort in the heart until the ishmael of human
merit, human righteousness, and self-glory is deserted and inforgotten. Someone said, in my hands no
price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. And that's the
message for today.