Let's open our Bibles now to
Genesis chapter 21. Genesis chapter 21. We'll begin
our reading in verse eight. And the child grew and was weaned,
and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, which she had borne
unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham,
Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman
shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing
was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. 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. We'll end our
reading there. Let's bow together. Our father, how we thank you
that you've given us yet another opportunity to meet together
to worship your precious name. Father, I pray that you would
give us that spirit of worship this evening. Send your spirit
upon us. Father, enable us to hear the
gospel with a heart of faith that we might look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. We might depend upon him, that
we might rely upon him and him alone without any of our works
or any of our input added to him. Father, without thee, we can
do nothing. I can't preach, your people can't
hear. Without thee, we can do nothing. And we beg of you that
you would enable us to hear the gospel and the power of thy spirit
this evening. Father, we dare not forget to
pray for those who are in times of great difficulty. We pray
for Julie, that you heal and touch her body, restore her to
health quickly, be with the doctors and nurses that treat her, keep
her her pain down, restore her quickly, Father, we pray. We
pray for Tammy and her family at this time of loss and sorrow
that you comfort their hearts with your presence. And others,
Father, there's so many others who are in very deep waters,
those we know about, those who are enduring these things silently
right now. Father, be with your people.
We know that these things have come from thy hands. And we pray
that you give your people a fulfillment of your promise that your grace
is sufficient. And Father, how we thank you.
While we beg help for the many weaknesses and ailments of this
flesh, we thank you. How we thank you for your mercy
and your grace that you've been so abundantly shed upon all of
your people. And in this congregation, you've
been so merciful. Father, we thank you. Thank you
for your provision in all things. we thank you. All these things
we give thanks and we pray and ask in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It's for his sake and his glory
we pray. Amen. All right, I've titled our lesson
this evening, Cast Your Works Out. And we'll read these verses
again, beginning in verse eight. And the child grew, and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast
the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar,
the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Now, last
time we looked in this chapter, we looked at the birth of Isaac,
that miraculous birth. And by this time now, three or
four years have passed since the time that Isaac was born,
and it's come time for him to be weaned. And their custom was,
I guess it still is in much of that area of the world, to have
a feast to celebrate the occasion. So Isaac at this time is three
or four years old. Ishmael is 16 or 17 years old.
And at this great feast that they have, Sarah sees Ishmael
mocking Isaac. Now I have to say this. That's
not all that unusual for an older brother to pick on his younger
siblings. That's really not all that out
of the ordinary. I will admit this to my shame,
but I will be very honest with you. I beat up on my younger
brother on the basketball court without mercy until I couldn't. The day he beat me, I never played
one-on-one again. I tried to never guard him. We
played pickup basketball. Adam, you never had to suffer
that. I did. I had to suffer that. I just
couldn't stand for the tables to be turned. But that kind of
thing, that's just natural. with boys. And I'm sure this
with Ishmael was worse than normal. Because what Ishmael is really
realizing at this time, he's not the heir. He's not number
one. This toddler is. He's realizing
that. And he's mocking Isaac. And I
kind of think Sarah overreacted. And humanly speaking, I think
she overreacted. And she tells Abraham, you kicked
Hagar and Ishmael out. Verse 10. Wherefore she said
unto Abraham, cast out this bond woman and her son. For the son
of this bond woman shall not be heir with my son, even with
Isaac. And this thing was very grievous
in Abraham's sight because of his son. This word cast out,
it means to drive them out. Don't give them any supplies.
Don't give them anything to take with them. You drive them out
with nothing. Now that's harsh. I'm telling
you, that's harsh. It was so harsh. Abraham thought
this is an evil thing to do. This word, the meaning of the
word was grievous. Part of the meaning of that word
is evil. He felt like this is, this is
wrong. This is an evil thing to do. And I really don't think
Abraham would have done it except God told him to. Verse 12, God
said unto Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy sight because
of the lad. and because of thy bond woman,
in all that Sarah has said unto thee, hearken unto her voice,
for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also the son of the
bond woman will I make a nation because he is thy seed. Now, if this account in Genesis
21 is the only account we have in the Bible about Sarah telling
Abraham, you kick Ishmael and Hagar out, We'd think this is
just a sad, sad story, a story that shows human depravity and
human meanness. Sarah just seems like a mean
and heartless woman, if that's all you read about here, about
this account. And when you think about it,
the only reason Ishmael's even here is this was Sarah's idea,
for Abraham to go into Hagar and have a son by Hagar. That's
the only reason Ishmael's even here. And now she wants to kick
him out in the desert with nothing? It's very likely kicking them
out with nothing, with no supplies, with no help, with no defense,
very likely Ishmael's gonna die out there. And Sarah knows it,
and she still says kick him out. I mean, it's just mean, isn't
it? Just meanness. Now, I will say this. You know, the Lord
gave Ishmael everything he wanted. He sure did. He made Ishmael
a rich man, a powerful man. He made Ishmael the head of a
nation that exists to this day. Ishmael never asked for mercy
or grace, but he asked for these other things. He wanted these
other things and God gave him everything that he wanted. So,
I mean, it didn't turn out all that bad for Ishmael, I reckon,
if you consider this just from a worldly standpoint. But now
look over Galatians chapter four. If it weren't for a New Testament
commentary on this passage. I know I would never, I don't
think very many people would, see this as a picture of salvation
by grace in Christ Jesus. Now in Galatians 4, the Holy
Spirit gives us an explanation of what we just read in Genesis
21. And Paul tells us here, this event,
Abraham kicking out Hagar and Ishmael. This event is a picture
of the two covenants. The covenant of works and the
covenant of grace. And these two covenants, this
is what this means. The salvation is all of one or all of the other. Salvation has to be all of works
or all of grace. There's no in between. The two
can never be mixed. So if we would be saved by grace,
our works have got to go. We can't trust in it. We can't
bring them with us. If we would be saved by our Lord Jesus Christ,
our works have got to go. And what that means is this.
We got to get quit trusting our works. We got to quit trying
to bring our works to God to make him happy with us. And we
have to trust Christ alone. That's the gospel message found
in Genesis chapter 21. Now let's look at this new Testament
commentary and see if that's not true. Beginning in verse
21 of Galatians chapter four, Tell me, you that desire to be
under the law, do you not hear the law? Now you who desire to
be under the law, you that want to use the law to help make yourself
more acceptable with God, don't you hear what the law says? The
law says, do and live. But that do means do perfectly,
forever. Never sin one time. And if you
sin one time, just one time, Even a thought of sin, even if
you don't act on it, just thinking about it. One thought of sin
and you die. You're guilty of the whole law.
See, the law does not require the best that we can do. The
law requires absolute perfection. Now, do you really want a human
being, frail and fickle as we are, do you really want to be
under the law that requires perfection from you? You want to be under
the rule of the law that doesn't know anything about forgiveness,
don't know anything about mercy, didn't know anything about grace.
That's what's pictured in Genesis chapter 21. It's the, it's the
result of the law being a picture of the law. Ishmael had to go. Hagar had to go. It sounds harsh,
but that's the way it had to be. That's the only end result
the law can give is death, being cast out from God. Read on verse
22. What's written that Abraham had
two sons? The one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But
he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh. But he
of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory?
For these are the two covenants. The one for Mount Sinai, which
gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia. And answer us to Jerusalem, which
now is. is in bondage with their children.
But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother
of us all. For it's written, rejoice thou
barren, that bearest not. Break forth and cry thou that
travailest not. For the desolate hath many more
children than she which hath a husband. Now Paul tells us
the story that we just read in Genesis 21 is an allegory. An
allegory, it's a story. Usually it's a true story. but
a story that's used to teach us something, a more important
spiritual truth. Now I know this, every event
in the Old Testament is a picture of Christ. There's not one event,
not one thing you read in the Old Testament that is just a
moral story telling you how to live. Everything in the Old Testament
is a picture of Christ. Now we may not have New Testament
commentary on it, but we'll see those pictures of Christ as the
Holy Spirit enables us. And I know this about scripture.
We haven't seen the true meaning of any scripture, old Testament
or new Testament until we see Christ in that picture or in
that scripture. And this one, Paul makes plain
for us. This is one of those ones. I just don't think we ever
would have seen this allegory if Paul hadn't told us that's
what this is so that we can take it and preach the gospel of God's
grace from these two sons of Abraham. They're both pictures.
They're pictures of salvation by man's works or salvation by
God's promise. Ishmael, he was not son God promised,
was he? Ishmael was born as a product
of man's works and the ability of the flesh. Ishmael was born
to a young woman and her child bearing years. There's no mystery
there. Young women have been bearing
children as long as time has been. Young women, they get married,
they have children. There's no mystery there. The
strength of the flesh. It's the normal course of human
life. That's how Ishmael was born.
Not by God's promise. By the power and strength of
the flesh. And Ishmael is a picture of an attempt, not just of works,
but an attempt to mix grace and works. To mix them. Remember,
God made this promise to Abraham, you're gonna have a son by Sarah.
All those years have passed. Sarah had no son. Sarah physically
could not bear a child. She's too old. And Sarah said,
now Abraham, we believe God. We believe, we do, we believe
God. God promised us a son and we believe him. But it's impossible
for me to have a child. It's impossible for me to bear
a son. So God must mean, We've got to do our part in order to
make his will come to pass. That's when Abraham went into
Hagar and Ishmael was conceived and born. But see what that is? Oh, we believe God, but we got
to do our part. That's mixing grace and works.
And that's going to produce a disaster every time. This mixture of grace
and works that produced Ishmael is causing this world heartache
to this day. It's just, and if we try to do
that spiritually, it'll do the same thing to us. If we try to
mix grace and works, it's gonna produce a disaster for us. Because
salvation can't be by works. The only thing that works, our
works, can bring us is death. Because what does the scripture
say? The wages of sin is death. Now that's Ishmael, mixture of
grace and works. But now Isaac, oh, he's the son
of God's promise. Isaac is a product of God's promise,
God's power, and God's grace alone. The strength of the flesh
never entered into this thing at all. See, we know this. Isaac couldn't be born by the
power of the flesh, Abraham or Sarah. They're both too old. It's impossible for them to have
a son. The power of the flesh could not produce a son, yet
they had one. Yet a 90-year-old woman gave
birth to a healthy baby boy. You know why? Because God promised
him. Isaac is the product of God's
power and God's grace to give life from the dead. Now that's salvation. That's
how God saves sinners. With men, it's impossible. By
the works of the flesh, the power of the flesh, the intelligence
of the flesh, we cannot produce it. But with God, all things
are possible. And that's the only way salvation
is possible. It's by God's grace. It's by
his power to give it. And that's the two sons. The
same thing really is pictured in the two mothers. They represent
two different opposing covenants. Now this is very important because
God only deals with men. All mankind on the basis of one
of two covenants. Hagar represents the covenant
of the law. Sarah represents the covenant
of grace and God sees all people under one of those two covenants.
And the sons represent the people who live under those two covenants.
The Hagar represents the covenant of the law. And the reason for
that is Hagar is a slave and Hagar, since she's a slave, puts
all of her children in bondage to the law. She makes all of
her children's, uh, all of her children's slaves. Hagar was
never Abraham's wife. Did you notice when we were reading
that over in Genesis 21, God never called her your wife. I
mean, you know, they had this like sham of a marriage and so,
okay, now you're married and you go into her and you have
a, have a son. God never recognized that. He
never calls Hagar your wife. It's the bond woman, the bond
woman, the slave. Hagar is a slave and the only
thing her children can ever be a slaves. The child of the slave
can never be the heir. Now here's the picture. If you
do any work, any work of your own, any work of the flesh, no
matter how religious you think it is, no matter how righteous
you think it is, no matter how holy you think it is, if you
just try to keep one law, like, well, I know I don't have to
keep the law, but if I keep this one law, God will be more happy
with me. If you do that, you know what you've done? You made
yourself a slave. You made yourself a debtor to
do the whole law. If you think, yeah, but if I
just do this, I'll be more moral and I'll be a better Christian
and God will just be happier with me. Just this one law. What you've done is you've made
yourself a slave. A slave to the whole law and not a son. And I'm telling you, this can
be one of the hardest things in this world for a man to be
able to tell the difference. between grace and works. Because
God saves his people by grace, and scripture's playing on this.
They do good works, don't they? They follow after Christ our
Savior. But here's the difference. Not in order to be saved. Not
in order to gain God's favor. But because God has saved me.
Because God has been so gracious to me. Because God has been favorable
to me, I serve him out of love like son. I'm not serving him
trying to get something from him like a slave. That's the
difference. And if we think about this with
our natural mind, we're going to think about it wrong every
time. There's somebody being moral, trying to earn God's favor,
somebody being religious, trying to earn God's favor, somebody
being Orthodox, trying to earn God's favor. We think, well,
it looks pretty good. Well, it looks good to the natural
mind, but it doesn't look good to God. See, God says, That has
to go. No work of our own, no work,
none can contribute to our salvation or our standing with God. Christ
did it all. Christ is all. He did all the
work that was required to make his people perfect. Now there's
two covenants. covenant of grace. We can rest
in Christ as his sons. We can rest in trusting he's
all I need or we can be a slave and try to do it ourselves. Try
to please God. Try to keep his law ourselves.
One or the other. Those who are trying to please
God by their works. That's what Hagar represents.
They've made themselves slaves, but Sarah, she represents the
covenant of grace. Sarah represents salvation and
eternal spiritual life being given to God's people by the
promise of God. When Paul talks here about Jerusalem,
he's not talking about that country over there in Israel, that city
over there in Israel. He's talking about New Jerusalem, heavenly
Jerusalem. This place is a free city. It's
a place where Christ rules, where Christ reigns. And the people
who live there, The people who live under Christ's rule, under
his dominion and his city, they have salvation given to them
freely. And we say given to them freely,
this is what it means. They didn't do anything to deserve
it. They didn't do anything to earn it. God gave it to them
freely, even though they didn't deserve it. And now they're free. They're free. They're free from
the bondage of the law as a way to earn salvation. They're free
from that burden. They're free from the requirements
of the law. They don't even have to look to the law to find out
how to live. No, no, no. You want to know how to live?
Look to Christ and follow Him. Don't look to the law. They're
free from the burden of the law. They're free from the condemnation
of the law. They cannot be condemned. You know why? Christ was condemned
for them. They're free. They're free from
any fear of the law. Nothing that the law can require. Nothing that the law can threaten.
They don't have any reason to fear it. Christ is the end of
the law. They don't fear the death of
this body. All the death of this body is, is being set free from
this clay prison and being taken straight into the presence of
the Savior. They're free. They're free from those things.
And that's Sarah. Sarah was always a free woman,
wasn't she? Sarah never was a slave. So all, none of her children
could be slaves because she's the free woman. All of Sarah's
children were born free and her son must be the heir. He's the
only one that can be. That's what God's grace produces.
God's children are born free. Free from bondage, free from
fear, free from worry, free from condemnation. They're free and
they're the heir. They're heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ. Now that's two covenants. Now
which one would you rather be? You want to be a child of Hagar
under the law, always a slave to the law? Or would you rather
be a child of Sarah and be free, be a joint heir with Christ?
And Paul says, do you hear what the law says? Do you hear what
the law says? Do you hear what grace says?
Which one you want? The answer ought to be easy,
shouldn't it? We'll read on, verse 28. Now we, brethren, as
Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as in the end, he
that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born
after the spirit. Even so, it is now. Now Isaac
is a picture of every believer. Every believer is born supernaturally,
just like Isaac was. God promised their birth in eternity.
The Father chose the people to save And he purposed to give
it to him. And when we're born in this world,
we're born dead. Just like by the time Sarah was
90 years old, she had a dead womb. It didn't look too promising,
did it? That Sarah could ever have a
child. You and I are born dead in trespasses and sin. We're
born with a sin nature that hates God, that hates the gospel, that
will not surrender. It doesn't look too promising,
does it? Oh, but God's purpose is going
to be accomplished in God's time. He's going to come. He's going
to reveal himself to that center and give them life. Just like
Sarah had a son when she was too old to have a son. Salvation
is going to come to God's people, not by their intelligence, not
by their morality, not by their religious orthodoxy. It's going
to come by the power of almighty God. He's going to, he purposed
it and he's going to give it to him. And I'll tell you how
he's going to do it. Just like the apostle Paul said,
when it please God, that's when he's going to do it. And here's
how he's going to do it. God's going to send us a preacher.
He's going to tell us this story of salvation by grace. He's going
to tell us this story of substitution and satisfaction in the death
of Christ our savior. And I know it sounds foolish
to the natural man, but God's going to cause us to hear it.
He's gonna cause us to hear with the ear of faith, and we're gonna
believe it. And we're born again. Life from
the dead. How'd that happen? Well, I can
tell you this, it wasn't by the power of the flesh. It wasn't
by the power of the preacher. He's got such a good way, such
a good way with words. Not by the power of the flesh,
the person just dead, sitting there hearing, suddenly hears
it. It's not by the power of their flesh. It's not by the
will of their flesh, is it? It's by the power of God. Moving
and giving life where there was no life before. That's a miracle,
isn't it? It's a miracle greater than the
birth of Isaac, naturally speaking. I mean, human strength couldn't
give birth to Isaac. Only God could do that. The same
thing is true when God gives life to his people. It cannot
be by the power of the flesh. God moves, God the Holy Spirit
moves and takes his word as a seed and gives life where there was
none before. And this is a miraculous birth. It's the birth of a brand
new man, a brand new nature who was never there before. Isaac
was not Ishmael remodeled. Isaac was a brand new man who
never existed before who stood as the opposite of Ishmael. Isaac
was not an improved Ishmael. Isaac was a brand new model,
wasn't he? Born, he's a brand new model because he had a completely
different birth, a completely different nature. Well, that's
believers. We're born again as sons and
daughters of God with a brand new nature. Every believer understands
this completely. I've got two natures. I've still
got that nature of the flesh. And I've got a nature of spirit.
And that second man, the second nature, he's spirit. And those
two are going to fuss and fight as long as this flesh is alive. But that new man, he's born free. He's not a slave. He's not a
slave to sin. He's free from the power of sin.
Well, preacher, you say I'm free from the power of sin. Does that
mean I won't sin anymore? No, sir. That's all you're still
going to do is sin. Here's what being set free from
the power of sin means. Now you believe. See, it was
sin that had power over us that kept us from believing Christ,
that kept us from trusting Christ, that kept us from hearing the
gospel. Now you're free from the power of sin and you believe
Christ and you can't not believe him. So you're not a slave anymore. You're a son. You serve God as
a son, not as a slave, and you're the rightful heir. The rightful
heir through union with Christ. Now Ishmael, or Isaac, he's the
child of promise, isn't he? But there's another son, Ishmael. Ishmael is just as much a son
of Abraham as Isaac was, wasn't he? They're both sons. But Ishmael,
he is the product of man's strength. not God's promise. He's that
mixture of grace and words. And all Ishmael could ever be
is a slave. He could never be the heir. And everyone who's in the flesh
without Christ, they're just like Ishmael. They're a slave. They can never be the heir of
spiritual life. They're slaves to the law. They
can never earn. A righteousness, a slave to the
law can never set himself free by our works and deeds of the
law because they're sinful. And again, the wages of sin is
death. Now we got these two natures
that are in us. Read on verse 29. But as then
he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born
after the spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what sayeth
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 from what I
can read and gather, everybody around thought Ishmael was a
fine young man. When did his true colors come
out? When he realized he's not number one. when he realized
he could not be the heir. See, Ishmael always thought,
all this is going to be mine someday. I'm going to take Abraham's
place. And Ishmael started persecuting
Isaac when he saw Isaac was the heir. Isaac is the heir by God's
promise. So this mixture of grace and
works had to be cast out. He can't be heir. He can't be,
he can't exist with a child of God's promise. Grace and works
cannot mix. They can't exist with grace alone. Works cannot be there. So they've
got to go. Ishmael had to go. And that was
hard for Abraham. Now we just look at this on a
personal level. That was hard for Abraham. He loved Ishmael. Ishmael's his
son. But the Lord told him now, Abraham
you listen to Sarah. She's preached you a mighty good
gospel message here. Cast him out. That's what he
did. Well, you and I got an ishmael
in us, don't we? And God says, cast your works out. But I love my works. My flesh
loves my works. My flesh loves the credit that
I can get from my works. The most painful thing in this
world to this flesh is not trust my works. And God says, as painful
as it is, cast them out. They got to go. Here's why they
got to go. So you trust Christ alone. See,
there could never be any peace in Abraham's house. I mean, Sarah,
part of me thinks she overacted, but part of me say she's right.
There would never be any peace in Abraham's house. as long as
those two mothers and those two sons were living under the same
roof. There can never be any peace. Well, there can never
be any peace in our house, in the house of our body, until
we cast out our works. As long as we're trusting in
our works, we'll never have peace. Will we? Because you always got
to do more. You're never finished. There can only be peace when
we quit our works and trust Christ. That's when there's peace. And
that old man, he's all, just like Ishmael, he's always gonna
be coming back persecuting us. He's gonna be persecuting us,
trying to get us to trust our works and not trust Christ alone.
So cast out the bond woman. Cast out her son. And I mean
cast him out with no provision. Don't make the slightest bit
of accommodation for him. Cast him out. Cast them out. And by casting them out, this
is what I mean. Quit trusting them. Quit trusting them. All
right. Cast out the bondwoman and her
son. You know what? That bondwoman and her son are
going to sneak back in when you're not looking. They're going to
just sneak in the back door in the kitchen when you're not looking.
And you're going to have to cast them out again. And they're going
to sneak back in the window, and you're going to have to cast
them out again. They're going to come down the chimney, and
you're going to have to cast them out again. They're going to sneak
in through a door you left unlocked and you're going to have to cast
them out again. Again and again and again. You're going to have
to cast them out. If you desire peace, cast out
your words. Quit trusting them. And trust
Christ alone. And I'll tell you what, you're
never going to be finished casting out these words. I mean, gird
yourself for battle. You're never going to be finished
casting them out. until this flesh dies. And when we die,
you know what? I know one thing's going to show
up at our funeral. Our works. Our works. Ishmael was cast out. Oh, I do. I mean, I feel sorry for Ishmael.
He's cast out. He loved his father. To be separate,
not have that relationship with his father anymore, he's cast
out. You know when he showed back
up? When Abraham died. You who buried Abraham, Isaac
and Ishmael. They're the ones who buried Abraham.
But after that funeral was over, Ishmael had to go again. He had
to go again. He has to go completely. And
he has to go with nothing. He has to go with no accommodation.
He has to go with no inheritance. He has to go with no credit and
no glory. Ishmael would have been content.
just to take a little house on the back of the property somewhere.
But he can't have it. You think, well, what harm would
it do? Give Ishmael this little one-room house. Janet says when
we retire, she wants us to live in one of these little houses.
I don't know how we're going to put all our stuff in there.
I don't know. Ishmael would have been happy with a little house,
wouldn't he? He can't have it. He can't have it. You know why
he can't have it? He'd take the credit for it if
he gave it to him. He can't have it. He's got to go. He'd have
been in that little house like, well, at least I deserve this.
We don't want what we deserve from God. We want God's grace. We want him to give us what we
don't deserve. Ishmael's got to go. And when he left, he left
without any inheritance. Isaac got it all. Oh, Abraham
provided some gifts for the other ones and he sent them away. from
his son Isaac. He sent him away. Isaac gets
it all. This matter's got to be settled.
Who gets the glory? Who gets the preeminence? Christ
gets it all. He's the heir of everything that
the Father has. In case you're wondering, that's
everything, isn't it? And believers, Get it all, too,
through union with Christ. Christ gets it all, and believers
don't get, you know, one billionth of the pie, you know. The math of this doesn't work,
but here's the situation. Every believer gets it all by trusting Christ. Now, slaves
of the law can't have any of that, but trusting Christ gets
it all. Get it all. So let's cast out the bondwoman
and her son. Cast out our works of righteousness
and quit trusting in what we do. And let's be determined. I've cast out the bondwoman.
Cast out her son. I'm not going back. Be determined
not to go back. Because look here in chapter
5 what Paul says. Stand fast. Don't go back. Don't retreat. Stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. For behold, I Paul
saying to you, if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that's circumcised. If you just try to keep this
one law in order to enter into the covenant, in order to enter
into God's favor, I testify to every man that's circumcised,
he's a debtor. He's a slave to the whole law. Let's be determined to stand
fast. I stand fast in the liberty that Christ has made us free
and be determined not to put one law, not to put one requirement
between any sinner and the Savior. I hope that'll be a blessing
to you. We'll have so much more peace, won't we, if we just quit
trusting ourselves and trust Christ. Let's bow together. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. We thank you for your explanation of your word, that
you didn't leave us to ourselves groping in the dark to wonder
what your word means, but you gave us this allegory and enabled
us to hear once again the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
to his people. And Father, I pray that you would
give each one of us here grace and faith to cast out our bondwoman,
to cast out our Ishmael, to quit trusting in our works, and trust
Christ alone. For it's in his precious name,
for the glory of his name, for his sake we pray, amen. All right, Charlie.