Alright, let's turn there now
to Genesis 21, and let's just look at this one verse in verse
17. Genesis 21, verse 17. And God heard the voice of Lad,
and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said
unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard
the voice of the lad where he is. You know, some time ago I
started a series on questions that God asks to sinners. And we've looked at questions
He's asked to sinners up to this point. And here we have another
question. This is the angel of God calling
to Hagar out of heaven. The angel of God is the angel
of the covenant. This is Christ, God's own Son,
speaking here. And here's His question to Hagar,
and this is our title. What aileth thee? What aileth
thee? We're going to use this passage
as an illustration, an allegory, of how God converts a sinner
through Christ Jesus by His grace. How He converts a sinner. How
He converts a believer, even after we've been called by His
grace. The first thing I want you to
see here is that our sin separates us from God. Verse 9, Sarah saw
the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham,
mocking. This was Ishmael, Hagar's son. He was mocking Isaac. He was
mocking Sarah's son. Verse 10 says, Wherefore Sarah
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, the Spirit of God used Paul
to teach us some commentary on this in Galatians 4. Look over
there at Galatians 4. Hagar and the way that Ishmael
was born is a picture of the covenant of works. Hagar is a
picture of the covenant of works given at Mount Sinai and Ishmael
is a picture of a child trying to come to God by his works,
by his will, being born of his flesh. And he gives us here in
Galatians 4.28 a commentary on this. Sarah's a picture of the
covenant of grace. And her son Isaac's a picture
of a child born of God's promise, born by God's grace. Galatians
4.28, Paul says, Now we, brethren, you born of God, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. Children of promise. But as then,
He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born
after the spirit. Ishmael persecuted Isaac. Ishmael
was born after the flesh. He persecuted Isaac who was born
after the spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith
the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son
of the free woman. So then, brethren, we're not
children of the bondwoman, We're not children of the covenant
of works. We're not children of our works, of our will, being
born of our flesh and being come to God in works we've done, but
of the free, of God's free grace, of His covenant of grace, born
of His Spirit. Now that covenant of works is
a law given at Mount Sinai by God. That was that law. He said,
do this and live. He didn't say that because He
expected anybody to do that law and live. Everybody He gave that
law to We're sinners. We couldn't keep it according
to the righteousness of God. But He gave it to show us we
could not keep it. He gave it to show us our need
of God to save us. Look over at Romans 3. Hold your
place in Galatians. We'll come back. But look at
Romans 3. Look at Romans chapter 3. Hold your place in Romans
2. And Romans, we'll be back there
as well. Romans 3.19, the law was given to show us our sin,
the magnitude of our sin that we committed in Adam in the garden,
magnitude of our own sins, to shut our mouths, to make us see
we're guilty before God and that we need Christ. He's the righteousness
of God. Romans 3.19 says, now we know
that what thing soever the law says, it says to them who are
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
become guilty before God. As you're born into this world
the first time, you're guilty in Adam and you're under the
condemnation of the law of God. So He's saying this to you who
have yet to be called by God's grace. He's saying this that
all mouths may be stopped. He says, and the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, by you and I keeping the law, there shall no flesh be
justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. If we're justified, that means all our sin, past, present,
and future is gone. That means we are righteous.
According to the law, we're righteous. So this is what's required. We
gotta have been perfect before the law of God. So all that are
born in this world are sinners, and all of our sin, especially,
especially the sin of trying to come to God by our works,
by our religious deeds, and our benevolent deeds, and our good
works, this is sin. And it's mocking God. That's
what it is. It's mocking God. It's mocking
Christ. It's mocking salvation by the
covenant of grace. It's mocking his people just
like Ishmael mocked Isaac. That's what it is. It's mocking
God. mocking God. All who attempt to come to God
by our works shall be cast out. Just like Hagar and Ishmael were
cast out, they shall be cast out. Our sins have separated
us from God. You see, it's not God to blame. They didn't have God to blame
for this. It was their sins that got them separated. So it is
with you and I. It's our sins that have separated
us from God. All right, then go back to our
text now in Genesis 21. So that's the first thing we
see. Our sins separate us from God. Now here's the second thing.
God saves by covenant grace. Look at verse 11. And the thing
was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. Naturally
it would be. This was his son. And it says,
And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight
because of the lad and because of thy bondwoman. And all that
Sarah hath said unto thee hearken unto her voice. For in Isaac
shall thy seed be called, and also of the son of the bondwoman
will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. Now in Isaac
your children are going to be called. When it says, In Isaac
thy seed shall be called, it means that through Isaac, Christ,
the seed, Christ, the promised son, was coming into the world. And Christ, that son, is the
one in whom all the elect of God were chosen before the world
began. It's the one in whom they were
called by God Almighty from the foundation of the world. It's
the one in whom they shall be called in time to give faith
to believe on Him. Now look back at Galatians, Galatians
3.16. Galatians 3.16. It tells us this. Now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds
as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. You see that? This to thy seed.
This whole promise was made to Christ. He's the one that was
coming through Isaac. And then look over at Romans
9. Look at Romans 9 and look at verse 7. And then all the
true children of God, the true, true children of Abraham are
the elect of God. They're chosen of God the Father
unto salvation in Christ Jesus by God the Father before the
world began. They're called to faith in Christ in time. They're
not necessarily of the nation of Israel. They could be of Gentiles. It's God that makes the difference.
His grace. Look at verse 7, Romans 9, 7.
Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all
children. Neither because they are just
children of the flesh. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
You see where Paul's getting that? He's getting it from our
text. That is, they which are the children of the flesh. These
are not the children of God. But the children of the promise
are counted for the sick. And you see that? The children
of promise are God's elect. And back to Galatians 3. One
more time, Galatians 3. I just want to lay this foundation
here. You've got to see this. Galatians 3, 7. Galatians 3,
7. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. You see
that? And then look down at verse 29. If ye be Christ, then are
ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Do you see that?
So, look at one more play, Romans 4. Romans 4.13. Romans 4.13. So Ishmael here had to be cast
out because it's not by our works that sinners are saved, it's
by the promise of God's grace. And here he is, he represents
a sinner trying to come to God by his works. Now look, here's
why salvation is not by our works, it's by God's grace. Romans 4.13.
For the promise That's the covenant of grace.
The everlasting covenant of God's grace is the promise. The gospel
is the good news of God's promise. That's what it is. For the promise
that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham
or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness
of faith. For if they which are of the
law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none
effect." Do you see that? So it's not fair. Now here's
what I'm trying to say to you. In order for God to get all the
glory and the salvation of a sinner, God has to do all the work. He got to do all the work. God
the Father chose whom He would save in Christ before the world
began. That's called the elect of God.
He chose them unto salvation in Christ. God the Son, Christ
Jesus came in the fullness of time. He was made of a woman,
made like unto His brethren. They were flesh. He was made
flesh. Christ Jesus came into the world, born of a virgin,
not of corrupt seed, of incorruptible. He came forth made under that
law to redeem those elect children that were under that law. And
he did so by being made a curse for us at Calvary on the cross. It's written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. And then God, the Holy Spirit,
through the gospel, He regenerates these elect children. He teaches
them in the heart the truth of what Christ has accomplished,
of this salvation by His promise, by His grace. And He gives us
the gift of faith and repentance to turn from ourselves and rest
all our hope of eternal salvation in God's hands, in Christ and
what He's done. If you go home tonight, Before
you go to bed and you read Ephesians 1, you'll see this laid out. It's so plain. Tell you all about
what God's done. And that's our gospel. That is
our gospel. That's our hope. Alright, now
go back to our text, Genesis 21. But now staying with Ishmael
and Hagar, I want to use them here as an illustration, as an
allegory of God's grace and work upon those that He truly does
save. Alright? You with me? This is
an allegory of His grace and work upon those He truly saves.
Verse 13 tells us there, He said, Also of the son of the bondwoman
will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. Ishmael is the
father of the Arabs. You want to know why the Arabs
in Israel fight like cats and dogs? It's because the Arabs
think Ishmael is the promised seed and the Jews think Isaac
is the promised seed. And so the two don't meet. They're
not going to meet. They're not going to have harmony
with one another. All right, but were Ishmael and
Hagar saved eternally by God's grace? I don't know. I have no
idea. I don't know. And there's not
sufficient proof in the Scriptures to really say one way or the
other. It's hard for us to even look at them as just a picture
of a sinner saved by grace because we have that allegory Paul gave,
but he's using them as an allegory. And he's primarily using the
fact that Hagar, it was Abraham trying to make a child by his
works instead of trusting God's promise. And it was Ishmael being
a pitcher, mocking Isaac, a pitcher of a sinner, mocking the grace
of God and the covenant of grace and so forth. But now from here
on, we can look at him as a very good pitcher, very good allegory
of how God does save his people. So I don't know if they were
saved, but I want you just to look here now with me at this
pitcher. God said there in verse 13, I
will do this for Ishmael. And the work of making his elect
to be his holy nation, he said, I will make a nation of him.
That's what God does for his elect people. He makes us his
holy nation. His holy nation. And in order
for him to do that, it's the work of God. God said, I will
do this for him. And then God said, because he's
thy seed, that's why I'll do it. He told Abraham, because
he's thy child. Like as God did this for Ishmael
because Ishmael was Abraham's child, God saves his elect because
they're Christ's, our everlasting Father's child. There He is.
He's given them to Him and Christ has done all the work to save
us. That's why God does this work of making His people His
great nation and He does it for the sake of Christ, according
to the promise He's given to Abraham, according to the promise
He's given to us. He does it all by His promise.
So, that's the second thing we see. First, our sins separate.
That's why they're being cast out. They try to come to God,
picture of a sinner trying to come to God by his works. Secondly,
we see here, God said, I'm going to do this according to my grace,
by my work. So, God saves by covenant grace,
covenant mercy, everlasting covenant of his grace. He does it. Here's
the third thing we see. In order for you and I to understand
what God has done, God first has to get His child lost before
He saves us. Look at verse 14. And Abraham
rose up early in the morning, and he took bread and a bottle
of water, and he gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder. And
the child, this child's 17 years old or so, and he didn't put
the child on her shoulders, he just gave her the child, and
he sent her away. So here she goes, she got bread,
she got a bottle of water, she got this child, and he sent her
away, and she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Now, God provides for His elect child all temporal possessions
as we go through this world, even in the days of our rebellion.
He provided everything for us, even when we were lost. Hagar
here was given bread, she was given a bottle of water. These
are just temporal things she needed to survive. God gives
us those things. She had her son Ishmael. You
know what that is? Israel's her fruit. Israel's
the work of her hand. That's what she is. She had the
works of her hands. And when she went away, she departed. She left. She didn't have to
be the servant in God's house anymore. She didn't have to be
the servant of Sarah anymore. She went out. She left. She departed. Now, unregenerate sinners go
through this life Feeling like they have everything they need
they got physical food physical bread physical water They got
their fruits that they've done the works of their hands In religion
perhaps or maybe it's out of religion a lot of folks just
think God's gonna He's not gonna be all that hard. He's gonna
judge me and I'll be alright because it's something I've done
they got the works of their hand like she had Ishmael her son
and And they think they're free. Just like she went out of the
house, she thinks she's free now. She's just out there free.
But is that freedom? Is that freedom? Notice here,
Hagar and Ishmael were now in bondage. They were in bad bondage. Because now they're out from
under all the provision of Abraham's house. And notice verse 14 says,
everything was on Hagar's shoulder. It's all on her shoulder. Believer,
sinner, we don't want everything to be on our shoulder. We don't
want it on our shoulder. That's what sinful, depraved
man wants. Man wants, I want to be my own
savior. That's what men want by nature.
We don't want it to be on our shoulder at all. The peace the
believer has is of knowing everything is on Christ's shoulder. Listen
to this scripture, Isaiah 9.6, unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given, And the government shall be upon his shoulder."
That's Christ. The government's on his shoulder.
And his name should be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And he finds
his lost sheep. And when he's found his lost
sheep, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. It's all on His shoulder. That's how we want it. That's
how the believer wants it. Outside of Christ, we've only
got earthly bread, earthly water, we've only got the works of our
hands, and we're in bondage. But through faith in Christ,
by God's grace, we've got Christ the living bread. We've got the...
rivers of water Christ our Lord and we've got the full provision
of his grace and everything he's accomplished for us and we're
in the spirit of life in Christ has made us free from the law
of sin and death that's true freedom to be his servant to
be serving him is true liberty to be in this world and running
around and thinking you got everything you need and you're your own
person and you've got it all on your shoulder that's not liberty
that's bondage that's bondage But note something here in verse
14 too. She wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. She just wandered
in the wilderness of Beersheba. Now, I read the whole chapter
to you in the beginning because I want to point this out to you.
Abraham had already dug a well. He had already dug a well of
water called Beersheba. Genesis 21-22 says, It came to
pass at that time. This is one of those deals in
Scripture where as the Lord's telling us a story about something
that took place, then He'll pick up with something like this that
says, and at that time, and he tells us something else about
the detail of that story he was telling us about. So he picks
up there in Genesis 21, 22, and he starts telling us about that
well of Beersheba that Abraham had dug. This is what the highlights
I want you to get of it. That well Beersheba means covenant. It means covenant. It means oath.
And Abraham dug that well. He's the one that dug it. And
he gave seven you lambs to establish the covenant that he had dug
that well. Seven is the number of perfection.
The lamb is a picture of Christ Jesus the Lamb of God who has
come and done all the work perfectly in perfection so that all God's
covenant, all his oath to save his people is ordered by God
and sure by what Christ has accomplished. That's what Beersheba means.
Covenant, it's done. So, Get the picture here. This
well of Beersheba is a picture of the everlasting covenant of
grace. Perfectly ordered and sure, in
Christ the Lamb of God, slain for the elect of God. It pictures
Christ, the well of life, in whom all the covenant promises
are given to God's people, their yes and amen in Him. So, when
Abraham sends Hagar out of his house, get the picture of this
now. Here you have the father, one who's called the father of
the faithful. Here he is. Abraham is a good picture of
God our Father. He sends Hagar out of this house. She's separated because of her
sin. But he sends her out with bread
and water, not to sustain her, not to give her life, not so
she can live off of that bread and water. It's all on her shoulder. That's all she had. But he sends
her off in the direction of where that well is. Where that well
is. He knows that well's there. The
well he dug beforehand. The well of his covenant. The
well of his oath. The well that he made covenant
promise with these seven new lambs. And he sends her to that.
To that well. Galatians 3.24 says, Wherefore
the law was our schoolmaster. to bring us unto Christ, that
we might be justified by faith. But after faith is come, we're
no longer under a schoolmaster. So you see, whenever God gives
His child the law, It's like Abraham putting that bread and
that water on her. He gives us the law and he makes us to hear
what it's saying to us. Not to sustain us, but to declare
us guilty. To show us we're going to get
no life from this. To drive us to Christ who is
the fountain of life, who is the well of Beersheba, who is
the one in whom all the covenant of promises of God are yes and
amen. That's what we have a picture of, but left to herself. You
know what Hagar did? She didn't find the well. She
wandered in that wilderness. She went out there and she wandered
in it. Why is that? Because it's a picture
to us brethren that God will not let me and you, His elect
child, He will not let us have the glory for finding Christ. He won't let us have the glory
for finding the well. He will not. You hear people
all the time talking about how I found Jesus, I found Jesus. We're going to have to be, He's
going to get us lost. Plumb lost to the point to where
we can't find Jesus. He's going to do that first.
He's going to make it to where we can't pat ourselves on the
back for doing anything. And that's what He did with her
first. Now look, then He's going to bring us, this is the fourth
thing, First of all, our sins separate us. Then secondly, we
see He saves by covenant grace. And then thirdly, He's going
to bring us and make us to be lost first. And then fourthly,
He's going to bring us to the end of ourselves. Now look at
verse 15. And the water was spent in the
bottle, And she cast the child under one of the shrubs, and
she went and sat her down over against him a good way off, as
it were a bow shot, for she said, let me not see the death of the
child. And she sat over against him and lifted up her voice and
wept." Now, we'll take the things God's given to us. We'll take
the scriptures, we'll take the law He's given to us, and we
won't use them for the right purpose. We'll use the things
He's given to us to try to work out our own righteousness by
these things and come to God ourselves, apart from Christ,
when the purpose He gave them to us for was to shut our mouths
and to bring us to the end of ourselves and to make us see
we have to have Christ. But God will see to it that He
brings us to the end of ourselves. He will bring all His children
to the end of ourselves. The water ran out. The water
ran out. All that that she thought she
had life by, it ran out. And the water was spent in the
bottle. And He brings us down to the dust so that He separates
us from all our works, all the good deeds we thought we had
that would bring us to God. That child, Ishmael, is a picture
of her fruit. It's a picture of her work. It's
a picture of what she accomplished, what she brought forth. And that
boy has done, he's done withered down to where he can't, he can't
live. He's, he's, he's got no water
and he's withered down. And so she, it says there, she
cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, she left
Him. God's going to separate us from
our work. He's going to make us repent of our works. All our
goodness, all our fruits, everything we think we've produced. And
she went and sat down. She's down in the dust, a good
way off. And she's sitting there, a bow
shot from Him, and she said, don't let me see the death of
this child. And God gives us a desire for the living water.
You know how He does it? He gives us this dryness. He
puts us in this desert and He makes it so we have no moisture
in ourselves, no life in ourselves. All our works He's brought to
nothing. Everything we thought was life is spent in the bottle
and there we are. We're just left now crying out
for mercy. There she sits over against Him
and she lifts up her voice and she's weeping. She's weeping.
God's going to bring His child to the end of ourselves. Alright,
here's the fifth thing. God's going to bring us to confess.
our sin. He's going to bring us to confess
our sin. Verse 17, And God heard the voice of the lad, and the
angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto
her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard
the voice of the lad where he is. Now you remember back, we
saw before whenever the Lord found Hagar by a fountain before,
you remember He told her then, He said, I'm going to make a
great nation of your son. The son that at that time was
in her womb. And so she went back to Abraham's
house and she had Ishmael. Here she is about 17 years later.
That's an example of you and me hearing the gospel that God's
going to make His holy nation. He's going to make His people,
made up of His elect people, in His Son. And here she sits
now, though, and she's out there, and she's weeping, and she's
thinking, this boy's going to die. She's thinking God's promise
is useless. He's not going to make good on
His promise. Believer, do we find ourselves in that place
many times? Believer, do we? We've heard
the promise of God. We've heard God declare to us
in our hearts that He sent His Son. We've heard Him tell us
that in His Son He's justified us. He's purged us of our sins. He's robed us in His garment
of righteousness. He's washed us within and without,
that we're complete in Christ. We hear Him over and over tell
us that He will with His Son freely give us all things. And
then we get into some kind of place like this and we start
weeping and mourning and pining away as if God's purpose of grace
can be frustrated. Why do we do that? Why do we
do that? It's because when we're looking
to our strength and to our fruits, you know what we're doing? We're
mocking God. Just like they mocked Isaac,
we're mocking God. It's no different for you and
me to start fretting over our temporal provision. and thinking
that it's all on our shoulder. It's no different than that than
thinking we can come to God with it all on our shoulder and be
saved eternally with it all on our shoulder. Both is mocking
God. He's providing everything for us in this life and in eternity. Everything is by his hand, by
his provision. But we try to live by the earthly
bread and the earthly water. And we get to acting like freedom
is running around in this wilderness out here. And the next thing
you know, we're lost. And you know what God does over
and over again? He brings us to the end of ourselves, just
like He did Hagar, just like He did us when He converted us
in the beginning. God doesn't convert us one time. He converts
us a thousand times all through our life. That's what He told
Peter. Peter was converted. Peter was a saved man. Now Peter's
walking around out in the wilderness, trying to live off of his strength,
by his wisdom, eating his bread and his water, and he's out there
saying, they might forsake you, but I won't forsake you. And
the Lord said, Peter, when you are converted, strengthen my
brethren. When you're converted, strengthen
them not by telling everybody what you've done and what you
will do and how strong you are, but by telling them how you're
nothing and how I'm everything. Go tell them that. That's how
you're going to strengthen them. But you've got to be converted
again, all over again. And He graciously does this,
making us repent of ourselves, from ourselves to Him over and
over through this life. Are you a sinner brought to the
end of yourself? I mean a sinner that's brought
finally to the place where you say, I can't save myself. I can't
do anything to save myself. Or are you a believer brought
to this place where you see it all over again? I can't do it.
I can't fix this. I can't do anything to stop this
and fix what I've broken. Why has God done that for you?
And that's what He's done. He's done it for you. Why has
He done it for you? Here's why. The angel of the
Lord, this is Christ our Savior. He says, what aileth thee, Hagar? What aileth thee? What aileth
thee, Clay? What aileth thee, Christine?
What aileth thee, Art? What aileth thee, Eric? You know what it always is? Think
about the questions we've seen so far. Adam, where are you? hiding from God. Cain, why are
you angry? If you brought the lamb, came
in the lamb, tried to come to God trusting God, wouldn't you
be received? Angry because God didn't receive
you because you're trying to come to Him in your own strength.
Cain, where's your brother? Where's your elder brother? Where's
Christ? Where's He? We put him out of my mind, just
like Cain murdered Abel. Hagar, for whence camest thou? Running from the house of God.
Where you gonna go? Where you going now? Sarah, is
anything too hard for the Lord? What's the problem? I'm doubting
God's able, doubting God's all-powerful hand. And now, Hagar, what's
ailing you? What's really ailing you? You
know what Hagar's gotta answer? Hagar. I am. I put myself here. I brought
myself right here. He gonna bring us to see our
sin's not something he did, it's what we've done. Our problems,
we us. So He's shown us, who is it then
you're going to have to be saved from? Me. I've got to be saved
from me. I've got to be saved from Clay.
And then He says to us, fear not. You've heard the Gospel. You've heard the promise of salvation
promised by Christ in Christ, so fear not. And He says, now
watch this, God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Now if Paul, speaking by the
Spirit of God, can use this as an allegory and show us how to
interpret Scripture, I don't see a problem with us doing it
either. So let's don't think about the lad being that one
over there under the bush. God's heard and God knows your
need because Christ has first heard your cry. And Christ has
brought your petitions before the Father. And for the sake
of His angel, God hath heard." He's heard the Lamb. He's heard
Christ. He's heard His petitions for
the sake of our advocate, for the sake of our propitiation,
for the sake of the Lord our righteousness. God hath heard. He's heard. So, He brings us
to confess our sins and He tells us, fear not now, God's heard
because of Christ's intercession for us. And then sixthly, Christ
speaks in saving power to us. Verse 18, Arise, lift up the
lad, and hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and
she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the bottle
with water and gave the lad drink. After he's brought us down, only
Christ can lift us up. He does so by His Word. He does
so by His Gospel. He does so by His power speaking
His Word into our hearts. He said, verse 18, Arise, He's
our strength to arise. He says lift up the land, He's
our strength to lift up Christ. before the five. That's the only
way God's going to receive us is holding up Christ and saying,
I don't come in any other name. I don't come in any other righteousness. I don't come in any other work.
I don't come in any other one but Christ, Him. And He says,
and hold Him in your hand. And Christ is our strength to
lay hold of Him and hold on to Him and lay hold of Him. And then Christ speaks His covenant
promise into our broken and contrite heart. He says, verse 18, for
I'll make him a great nation. God's going to make Christ a
great nation. In order to do so, Christ had
to justify us. He had to wash us and robe us
and crown us. And now we're His holy nation.
We're His royal priesthood. That He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. That He might be the King of
His kingdom. That His kingdom might be established. And therefore,
God promises to supply all our need for the sake of Christ our
King. God says to His child, I'm going
to make Him a great nation. And for His sake, you don't have
anything to worry about. And then Christ, our light, opens
our blind eyes. Look at verse 19. And God opened
her eyes and she saw a well of water. Christ is there all along. He said, Paul said He's near
to us at any time. And the psalmist said He's near
to them that are of broken heart and a contrite spirit because
He broke it. That's just like He did Hagar. And then He speaks
this grace and answers us. And He gets all the glory. When
He's brought us down there and He's brought us to that dry dust
of our flesh and given us eyes to behold Christ the fountain,
Christ the King, Christ the living waters, Christ our all. Do you
think when He does that, that the preacher is going to have
to stand up and He's going to have to say, now just please come
on and get a drink of this water. Please come on in and just let
him give you this water. Please, do you see who's in control
of all this? God's in control of all this.
Christ is doing this work. He's doing it all. Do you think
the sinner who's been made thirsty for his righteousness is going
to have to have their arm twisted to come to the fountain? Look
at verse 19. And she went and filled the bottle
with water and gave to the lad to drink. No, they're going to
come to the well, they're going to come to the fountain, they're
going to come to Him. He said, He that believeth on Me, out
of the Scripture said, out of His belly shall flow rivers of
living water. He's the fountain, brethren.
Do you see Him? Do you realize He's the fountain?
Are you thirsty? I can tell you this. Folks make
all kind of excuses. Folks will depart from the gospel. Folks will go out and they'll
be lifted up in pride. And they'll go out and separate
themselves from their dearest loved ones. And they'll make
all these different excuses on why they're doing what they're
doing. And I tell you when they'll find out what the real reason
is, is when Christ comes to them in power and says, what's really
ailing you? It makes us to see it's us. and
shows us that fountain. He makes us thirsty and then
we'll come to that fountain. We'll stop making excuses and
we'll come to that fountain. And then seventhly, this is the
last thing. In the end, God shall fulfill
all the promises He's made to us. We're going to see it all
done. Look at verse 20. And God was with the lad and
he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer and he dwelt
in the wilderness of Paran and his mother took him a wife out
of the land of Egypt. There's a lot about that I don't
understand, but I do understand this. Christ told her all that
was going to happen. So what I'm telling you is, in
the end, as far as spiritually speaking and according to His
promise of grace, in the end we're going to find that out
too. Everything Christ has told us, He's going to make good on.
He's going to fulfill everything He said He would. Now here's
what we've seen. Our sin separates us from God.
It's our sin. Ishmael mocked Isaac. Don't mock
God. Don't mock Christ. Don't mock
this covenant of grace. Don't mock this work being done
all by His hand. Don't mock it by looking to your
strength and your will and your works and everything of yourself.
Believe on Him. So the only way we don't mock
Him is to bow at His feet and trust Him. Secondly, we saw God
saves by covenant grace. He said, I'm going to do this
for Ishmael, for your sake, Abraham. All this was done for this vessel
of mercy, for the sake of another. And that's what the covenant
of grace is. Everything God does for His elect child, He does
it for the sake of another, for the sake of His own son, Christ
Jesus. And then God gets His child lost
first before He saves us. He drove her to the fountain
and made her become lost in that wilderness. Lost in that wilderness
with nothing, all her fruit, all her livelihood, everything
she thought she had was life. He made it all dry up. And then
fourthly, God brings us to the end of ourselves. She was separated
from her fruit, her water was spent, she brought down to the
dust, and that's when she cried. And then fifthly, God's gonna
bring us to confess our sin. What is it now that's really
ailing you? It's me, my sin. And then Christ
speaks in saving power, arise. Lay hold of Christ, don't let
him go. Come to this fountain and drink,
drink, drink, drink, drink. And we will when He speaks it.
And then seventhly, we're going to find it's all fulfilled by
Him, just like He promised from the beginning. And not one child
is lost. All of them will be there, and
our King will be reigning, the Lamb in the midst of the throne.
And you know what we're going to say about all that? You know
what we're going to say? This is what we say every time
He converts us. from the first time and then
each time as we go along we find ourselves lost looking to ourselves
and He converts us back, shows us Christ again and then in the
end when we come to the point when we're going to be finally
there with Him forever. You know what we're going to
say? What we say every time and what we're going to say finally
without sin and in a clear, great sounding voice and be able to
sing it fully and loudly with no shame. You know what we're
going to sing? Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive
power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory
and blessing. Blessing and honor and glory
and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the
lamb forever and ever. Because the whole work from A
to Z is his work. Can you glory in God Can you
glory in Christ? Can you say, thank my gracious
God of heaven and earth that he has the whole work of my salvation
up on his shoulder. And the whole government therefore
is safe and secure in his hand. That's a peaceful place to be.
The only peaceful place to be. Amen.