Alright, John chapter 8. The title of the message this morning
is the works of faith. The works of faith. We know what
the works of faith are by seeing the works of Abraham. He's the
father of the faithful. His works, the things that he
did are the works of faith. We'll look at those this morning
and see maybe if we might have If we have the same faith, we'll
have the same works of faith. And we begin this morning in
John 8, verse 37. Our Lord says, I know that you're
Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me because my word hath
no place in you. Now, the Pharisees that our Lord
is speaking to, they are natural descendants of Abraham. After
the flesh, they have descended from Abraham. But being physically
related to Abraham couldn't make the Pharisees righteous. Being
related to Abraham, descending from Abraham, couldn't let the
Pharisees know the Lord Jesus Christ. Being a descendant of
Abraham couldn't make them saved or free from the bondage to sin.
They thought they were free, but they're still a slave to
sin. They must be. They wanted to
kill the Lord. Well, the only reason you want
to do that is if you're a slave to sin. People don't believe
the gospel for this reason. They're slaves to sin. They're
slaves to it. They must obey it. And being
a natural relative of Abraham couldn't give them the same faith
as Abraham. Faith does not come to us from
our parents, from our natural bloodlines, our genealogy. Faith
is a gift of God. When our Lord refers to the children
of Abraham, He's not talking about the natural descendants
of Abraham. Nations claim to be a natural descendant of Abraham,
and so they are. But that doesn't give you a spiritual
relationship with God. Our Lord means when he talks
about the children of Abraham, he talks about those people who
have a spiritual relationship with Abraham because they have
the same faith that Abraham had. And this is something important
that our children need to understand and learn. You are not believers
because your parents are believers. It doesn't come to you that way.
You don't have faith. You don't inherit faith from
your parents like you inherit whatever it is they're going
to leave you. You don't get faith from your parents or your grandparents.
You must believe God. Your parents can't believe for
you. Your grandparents can't believe for you. You must believe
God. God must give you the gift of faith. Only God can give faith. It doesn't come to us any other
way except by the free gift of God. Well, where does that leave
all of us? It leaves us completely dependent
upon God, doesn't it? To give us faith, the same faith
that he gave to Abraham. And God had not given these Pharisees
faith. They did descend from Abraham,
but God didn't give them the gift of faith. And the proof
that they had no faith is God's word didn't have a place in their
heart. They heard God's word, but God hadn't given them faith.
So they didn't have any place to put God's word when they heard
it. They didn't have any ability to believe God's word because
God had not given them the gift of faith. So our Lord goes on,
verse 38, he says, I speak that which I have seen with my father,
and you do that which you have seen with your father. Now, the
Lord makes this clear. There's only two fathers. Either
you're a child of God or you're a child of Satan. That's the
only two fathers. And our Lord tells the Pharisees,
you are doing the deeds of your father, Satan. I do what I've
seen with my father because I am God. And they resented that. Well,
of course they resented that. Most people would resent being
told they're a child of Satan, but it's the truth nevertheless. And our Lord tells them in verse
39 that you show what nature you have by your actions. Your actions reveal your nature
that's on the inside. Verse 39, they answered and said
unto him, Abraham's our father. Jesus saith unto them, if you're
Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. You
say Abraham's your father, but your actions are the opposite
from the actions of Abraham. And we know Abraham had true
faith, don't we? So if your actions are the opposite
from Abraham's, you must not have the same faith Abraham had. In verse 40, we see an example
of that. But now you seek to kill me.
A man has told you the truth which I have heard of God. This
did not Abraham. When Abraham heard the word of
God, Abraham believed God. Every time God spoke, Abraham
believed him. And he loved God. Well, these
Pharisees didn't. They couldn't love him. They
wanted to kill him. When they heard God's word, they didn't
believe it. So they're not Abraham's children, they must be children
of Satan. Verse 41, he says, you do the
deeds of your father. They say to him, we'd be not
born in fornication. We have one father, even God.
We're legitimate sons. We're not sons of the bondwoman.
We're sons of the free woman. So we're not in bondage. We can't
be in bondage. And that is the sad nature of
all man. were born in bondage to sin,
were kept in bondage to sin, bondage to the law, and don't
even know it. They didn't even know that they
weren't sons of the free woman. They didn't know that they're
in bondage. Anyone who's under the law, anyone
who's trying to earn God's favor, trying to earn salvation, even
if they're just trying to earn a portion of their salvation
by their own keeping of the law, is just as much of an illegitimate
son of God as Ishmael was. Just as much. That's what our
Lord is telling them and they don't know it. They don't understand
it because God hasn't given them faith. In verse 42, Jesus said
unto them, If God were your father, you'd love me. For I proceeded
forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but
he sent me. If you're a real child of God,
you'd love God. All God's children love God.
They love God's Son. They love the other children
of God. Love is the distinguishing characteristic of God's children. We read that in 1 John 4, it
opens the scripture. God's children love. And if you
don't love, you can't be of God. You can't be a child of God.
You must be a child of Satan, under the influence of Satan,
who's hateful. And he goes on in verse 43, he
says, Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot
hear my word. Now, when our Lord says hear,
He means believe. You cannot believe my word when
you hear it. Because God hasn't given you
faith. We can only hear and understand by faith. God cannot be understood
with our natural intellect, as smart as you may be. This room
is filled with smart people. God can't be understood with
the intelligence of the human mind. He can only be understood
by faith. by God-given faith. And these
men did not have faith, so they couldn't understand. I was looking
at my notes this morning and I thought, these men were immersed
in religion. They were immersed in it every
day. Religion was a very important
part of their life. Much like us. I was thinking
about of this trip to Mexico. I have wanted to go to Mexico
to the mission field. I don't much care about the resorts
and the ruins and all that stuff. I've wanted to go to Mexico and
see these believers out in these different pueblos almost as long
as I can remember. Walter would bring those slides
and we'd see them and I just always wanted to go. And I bet
you I meet people who are my age that have grown up here in
the gospel. Most of us here, I would say,
our religion, our faith, the gospel is a very important part
of our life. Very important part. Something
that you think about often, I would imagine. God help us. God help us from
being like these Pharisees, being around the truth, holding the
truth, in our hands and not have them in our heart. I pray God
would give us faith. Faith to believe the Lord Jesus
Christ. Nothing could be more important
than that. Nothing. All of our learning and our doing
and all that should do all those things. Nothing is more important
than God-given faith. I pray every day God would grant
it to us because we'll not have it if He doesn't. God help us
from being like these Pharisees Well, verse 44, he tells them,
You are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you
will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in
the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh
a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and he is the
father of it. Our Lord is very clear. These
men are just like your father, Satan. He was a murderer from
the beginning, from the very beginning. murdered all mankind in this
way. When Satan deceived Eve, and Eve gave that forbidden fruit
to Adam, Adam willingly ate it. Adam wasn't deceived. Adam willingly
ate that fruit, willingly disobeyed God. And when Adam fell, all
men died. In this way, Satan murdered all
mankind. He deceived Eve and got them
to eat that fruit. So we're all, every one of us,
have been murdered by Satan. And now everyone who's following
Satan, and if you're not following the Lord, if you're not a child
of God, you're a child of Satan. Everyone who's following Satan
has the exact same agenda. To be a murderer. To put Christ
to death. And they can't get their hands
on him, so what do they want to do? Silence him. Silence this
message of salvation by grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan
murdered mankind with a lie. Thou shalt not surely die. That
was the lie that murdered mankind. And false prophets today, they're
false prophets of Satan. They're still doing his work,
murdering men and women, boys and girls every day. Every day. They lie on God. They tell him
God loves everybody. They tell him Christ died for
everybody. You'll be saved if you just accept Jesus into your
heart. He died for everybody. He wants to save you if you'll
let him. They tell men that salvation is in doing. Whatever it is, whatever their
pet thing is, you know, to get men to do, get them to do it.
You know, get them to give up joys of the flesh, get them to
do things, get them to give money. You know, they try to convince
men that salvation is in the human intellect. God shines a
little light in your flesh, and in your flesh you can believe.
You can lay hold on salvation. If you do those things, they
tell men you won't die. You shall not surely die. Their
message is the exact same message as Satan's. Do what I tell you,
you won't die. Brethren, listen to me. That
message is a lie that's been hatched in hell and is murdering
men and women, boys and girls every day. It's a message of
Satan himself. False prophets are murderers.
of men's souls with the exact same message. The same message
of the Pharisees. You shall not surely die if you
got the right grandfather. The same message. Now, no believer
is going to take part in that lie because the children of Abraham. Galatians 3.29 says if you be
Christ, if you belong to him, if he died for you, he bought
you, he paid for your sin, But his precious blood, if you be
Christ. Then your Abraham see your children,
according to the promise. Now, the actions of Abraham show
us what faith is. And what faith does, the works
of faith and everybody who has faith, their child of Abraham,
they'll do the same works that Abraham did, because faith is
all like precious faith. It's all the same faith. You
see, what I do reveals what I really believe, doesn't it? What I do
reveals what I really believe. If I really believed this roof
was going to collapse, I'd be running out the door. But the
fact that I'm standing here not running out the door reveals
to you, I really believe this roof is going to stay in place.
My actions reveal what I really believe. Well, true faith. You see true faith in action. We can't see into one another's
hearts, but we can see our actions. And true faith is revealed in
our actions, because true faith doesn't sit still. True faith
acts. I'll show you my faith by my
works, James said. True faith works, because again,
James said, faith without works is dead. It's not real faith.
So what are the works of Abraham? Then do I have those same works?
That's what I want to know. Do I have those same works? Well,
if I do, then I'm a child of Abraham by faith. Now look first
in Hebrews chapter 11. I'm going to turn to a few scriptures. If we're going to understand
Abraham's works, we have to understand where they came from. Abraham's
works came from faith, faith in God, God given faith in Hebrews
11 verse 8. By faith, Abraham, when he was
called to go out into a place which he should after receive
for inheritance, obeyed. He went out not knowing whether
he went. By faith, he sojourned in a land of promise, as in a
strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob,
the heirs with him of the same promise." Abraham did those things
by faith. He did what he did by faith.
So now look back at Romans chapter 4. Where are the works? Then,
of Abraham, what are the works that he did by faith? Well, the
first one is obvious. Abraham believed God, because
faith always believes God. Look at Romans 4, verse 1. What shall we say, then, that
Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found? For
if Abraham were justified by works, and he did those works,
but if he is justified by those works, he hath the work of the
glory. but not before God. For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now look over at verse 19. He
not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when
he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness
of Sarah's womb. God told Abraham, you're going
to have a son. Verse 18, who against hope believed
in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according
to that which was spoken, so shall I see it be." Therefore it was imputed unto
him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to his
children also, to whom it should be imputed, if we believe on
him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead." That doesn't seem possible. Most
of you all, one day, are going to come to my funeral, and you're
going to say, well, there he is. He's dead. This body is going
to die. But I believe God. I believe
I have eternal life for this reason God said it. That's all
I need. I don't see anything but sin
in me, and you don't either. All you see in me is sin. That's
all I see in myself. All I see is sin. But against
what I see with my flesh, I believe I'm justified. Even though all
I see in me is sin, I believe I don't have any. I'm justified
because God said it. I believe. Those things seem
just as impossible as Abraham having a son. They seem more
impossible. But I believe because God said it. Because faith believes
God. These Pharisees, our Lord speaking
to her, the same truth. They didn't believe it. Well,
they just made it, showed evidence they don't have God-given faith.
Faith believes. That's a work of faith. Second,
look back at Genesis chapter 12. Faith obeys. Abraham obeyed God because faith
obeys. Genesis 12 verse 1. Now the Lord said unto Abram,
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from
thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. God told
Abraham, get out, get out of your country, get out of your
father's house, get out, go to a place I'll tell you. In verse
4, Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him. And Lot
went with him, and Abraham was seventy and five years old, and
he departed out of Haran. Abraham was seventy-five years
old. God told him, get out of your
father's house and start walking. Seventy five year old man packed
up and started walking, not knowing where he's going, not knowing
how far he's going to walk. He obeyed. God said, leave your
father's house, and he started walking. And I love the simplicity
of this. This is so simple. You and I
do not have to figure out what God's doing. We don't have to
figure out how God's going to fulfill his promise. All we have
to do is just believe. Start walking. Start walking. Abraham obeyed and he left everything
he knew behind. When we obey the gospel, we do
the same work as Abraham did. We leave everything behind and
start walking. When God calls you, you leave
everything you have from your father Adam behind and start
walking, following Christ. You leave all human religion.
I don't care how long you've been tied to it. God calls you,
you're going to obey. You're going to leave all that
junk behind and you're going to start walking. Follow Christ.
When God calls you, you're going to leave all human reasoning
behind. You're going to leave human logic behind. You're going
to say, no, that don't make sense. No, you're not. You're going
to obey. You're going to start walking. You're going to leave
it behind and follow Christ. You're going to leave behind
self-righteousness. You're going to leave behind
your law-keeping. And you're going to start walking, and you're
going to follow Christ and depend upon Him to be your righteousness.
Well, the Pharisees, this is the problem. They would not obey
God. They just absolutely refused. The reason they're wanting to
kill the Lord is to silence Him so they can shut up this message
of believe on me, look to me. They wanted to shut that message
up because they would not obey His command to believe on Him.
than they don't have God-given faith. And men today would silence
God, would silence this message if they could. Thankfully, in
our country, they cannot. So what they do is they just
simply refuse to obey. When people do not believe the
gospel, it's not because they can't believe, it's disobedience. They do not obey. If God's given
you faith, you will obey the gospel. Third, Abraham called
upon the name of the Lord." Look in Genesis chapter 12 verse 7,
Abraham called upon the name of the Lord because faith calls
on the name of the Lord. Genesis 12 verse 7, And the Lord
appeared unto Abram, and said unto thy seed, Why give this
land? And there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared
unto him. And he removed from the fence unto a mountain on
the east of Bethel, pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west,
and Hai on the east. and there he built an altar unto
the Lord, and he called upon the name of the Lord." Look at
chapter 13, verse 4. Abraham's returned unto the place
of the altar which he had made there at the first, and there
Abram called on the name of the Lord. Abram called on the name
of the Lord, and he kept calling on the name of the Lord, because
that's what faith does. Now, the name of the Lord reveals
who he is. The name of the Lord tells us
the attributes or the characteristics of the Lord. God's name is sovereign. Did I call upon the name of the
Lord who's sovereign? Lord, save me by your will. If
you will, you can make me whole. Save me by your sovereignty. God's name is holy. Did I call
on the name of the Lord that's holy? Lord, save me in your holiness. by punishing my sins in Christ
my substitute and giving me his righteousness. Save me by your
holiness. That's your name. God's name is gracious. Lord,
save me by your grace, by your grace. There's no reason in me
that you can find to save me. So save me by your grace. God's
name is wisdom. Lord, save me in your wisdom
because you found a ransom for my sins. I can't provide one.
in your wisdom you did, so would you save me in your wisdom? That's
calling on the name of the Lord. Fourth, Abraham was a peaceable
man, because faith is peaceable. Chapter 13 of Genesis, verse
5. And Lot also, which went with Abraham, had flocks and herds
and tents, and Elaine was not able to bear them, that they
might dwell together, for their substance was great, so that
they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between
the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle,
and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land. And Abram
said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between
me and thee, and between thy herdmen and my herdmen, for we
are brethren. We are not going to have strife.
We are going to have peace with one another. Is not the whole land,
I tell you how we are going to keep peace between us. Is not
the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee,
from thee. If thou take the left hand, I'll go to the right. If
you depart to the right, I'll go to the left. And you know
what happened. Lot chose the well-watered plains,
the best-looking land, and Abraham took the rest. Abraham made peace
with Lot. He said, Lot, you decide what
you want, and I'll take the rest. It don't matter. I'll just take
the rest. Now, Abraham was an old man. He's young. He had the
right to choose first. But in order to keep peace, he
told Lot, you choose. I'll take the rest. And Abram
was at peace with that decision. He had peace with Lot because
of it. And he was at peace with that decision. Abraham, how are
you going to go in those mountains and that wilderness? And how
are you going to live? Abram was at peace. He already
knew the name Jehovah Jireh. He knew wherever he went, the
Lord's going to provide. It'd be all right. He had peace
because faith has peace. It produces a peaceable person. These Pharisees, They must not
have faith. I mean, I've never seen these
guys at peace with anybody. They wanted to kill the Lord
Himself. They'll kill anybody. He heals
somebody, they'll kill them. They'll excommunicate them. These
are evil, wicked men. They're never at peace anywhere.
What do you see? Who their Father is. Not God. If God was their Father, they'd
have peace. Fifth, a work of faith is giving all the glory
to God. And that's what Abraham did.
He gave all the glory to God. You remember the story, Lot chose
those well-watered plains, living down there in Sodom in a big
city. A group of kings were warring
with the king of Sodom. They came and sacked the city,
took a bunch of people captive off with them, Lot and his family
included, took all the possessions of Sodom. Off they went. Abraham
heard about it. With 318 servants, Abraham went
down there and rescued Lot, rescued all those people that they took.
saved them all alive, took all the spoil back from those kings
and slaughtered those kings and all their armies with 318 men.
Look at Genesis 14. Well, he won a big victory, didn't
he? Verse 21, Genesis 14. And the king of Sodom said to
Abram, give me the persons and you take the goods to thyself.
And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand
unto the Lord. the most high God, the possessor
of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to
a shoelatchet, that I will not take anything that's thine, lest
thou shouldst say, I've made Abram rich." Abraham said, you're
not going to say that. What I have, God's going to give
me. He's going to get all the glory.
And he gave away all that wealth because he's determined to give
God all the glory. That's exactly what faith does.
Faith trusts the Lord to provide everything we need. Natural things. God provided for us. He took
the bad part of the land, didn't he? God increased it. And faith
trusts the Lord to provide all of our spiritual needs. He provides
it all, and we give God all the glory. Now, faith works, doesn't
it? This was the work of Abraham.
I mean, he went to battle against those kings. And those armies
outnumbered 318 servants. Faith works. But faith gives
all the glory to God. I didn't do anything. God did
it. God gave the increase. Well,
those Pharisees, they can't be children of Abraham. They just
refused to give God any of the glory. That glory was too precious
to them. They're going to at least have
part of it. It's too precious. Well, then they're not children
of Abraham. Because children of Abraham, of the same faith
as Abraham, are going to give all the glory to God. It's all
of him. Sixth, Abraham's assurance. Where did Abraham find assurance?
In all this time he's sojourning in the land. Where was his assurance? Faith's assurance is the sacrifice. Look in Genesis 15, verse 7. And he said unto him, I am the
Lord that brought thee of Ur of the Chaldees to give thee
this land to inherit it." And he said, Lord God, whereby shall
I know I shall inherit it? Can you give me some assurance
of this promise? Can you give my faith? I believe
you. Abraham believed God, didn't
he? We know he did. But can you give my faith some
assurance? Look what God tells him. And he said to him, And
a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old,
and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him
all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece
one against another. But the birds he divided not. He prepared the sacrifice. Abraham
asked for assurance. Give my face some assurance.
I believe you. But give my face some assurance. God said, all
right, I will. Prepare the sacrifice. Now, how
can I have assurance? God will keep his promise of
salvation to me. God's promised salvation in his
son. Can you give my face some assurance? Yes, I can. Look to
Christ crucified. Face assurance is the sacrifice
of Christ. If God spared not his own son
when sin was charged to him, God will not let anyone for whom
Christ died perish. The sacrifice of Christ is faith
assurance. And if your assurance is in the
sacrifice of Christ, then you're a child of God. And faith will
defend that sacrifice for all its worth. Because that sacrifice,
first of all, it's all my hope. And second of all, that sacrifice
gives God the glory. Faith's going to give God all
the glory. Look at verse 11, Genesis 15. And when the fowls came here,
all that sacrifice was laid out there. When the fowls came down
upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. He fought against
them and drove them away. Now the attack in our day is
just like the attack on Abraham. The attack was against the sacrifice.
Abram wasn't attacked. The sacrifice was attacked and
Abram defended the sacrifice. I wrote an article, put in the
bulletin a few weeks ago, on Christ died for sinners. And
I wrote that because the attack in our day is over what happened
at Calvary. Because that's always been the
attack. What happened at Calvary? How does God save sinners? At
Calvary, did Christ die to once and for all, with one sacrifice,
put away the sin of his people forever? Did He die to make salvation
possible for as many men who might decide to accept Him? Which
is it? Well, we answer that question
by asking a few questions. Who died? Who is it that died
there on Calvary's tree? Which Christ? The Son of God. Well, if He's the Son of God,
no one for whom He died can perish. It's not possible that anyone
should perish. We'll defend that for all the
world. because that's God's glory and that's our assurance. Second
question, well, what did Christ do at Calvary? He died. He died. He died the death, not
that he deserved, but the death that his people deserved. Then
we'll never die. If Christ died for us, we will
never die because that would not be just. Well, why did Christ
die? He died for sin. Christ died
for sinners. Christ died because the sin of
God's elect was imputed to him and God's justice demanded he
die. And Christ died, shed his blood
to put that sin away. So justice is satisfied. The
sin is gone. And everyone for whom Christ
died is saved. Now that is faith assurance. Does that assure your faith?
Then you're a child of God. And we will defend that sacrifice
for all we're worth. Because that sacrifices God's
glory, how he saves sinners, and that sacrifices our assurance.
The Pharisees, on the other hand, they wanted to kill the Lord.
They thought nothing of his death. They thought nothing of putting
that man to death because they thought nothing of him. They
didn't think his death would accomplish anything. The only
thing they thought his death would accomplish is they'd be
rid of him. They put no stock, no value on his blood or on his
death. And men today who do not trust
the Lord think the exact same thing. Anyone here does not believe
and trust in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't
put your trust in that for one reason. You think nothing of
Him and you think nothing of a sacrifice. But if God ever
reveals Him to you, that sacrifice, Christ Himself will be faith's
assurance. Seventh, Abraham trusted in God's
covenant. We looked at that covenant this
morning in our Sunday School lesson. Abraham trusted in God's
covenant because faith trusts in God's covenant of grace. Genesis
15, verse 8. I'm sorry, verse 18. In the same
day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Under thy
seed have I given this land, for the river of Egypt, under
the great river, the river Euphrates. Look at chapter 17, verse 2,
and I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply
thee exceedingly. Verse 6, I will make thee exceeding
fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come
out of thee, and I will establish my covenant between me and thee,
and between thy seed after thee, and their generations, for an
everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after
thee. And I will give unto thee, and
to thy seed after thee, the Wherein thou art a stranger, all the
land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I'll be their
God." That's God's covenant. Abraham believed that covenant. Even though he never owned a
foot of that land, he believed his seed would. The ground of
saving faith is not the fact that my faith works or any of
the works that I've done. It's God's mercy. Abraham never
believed His salvation or his acceptance with God had anything
to do with all these works. The ground of saving faith is
the covenant of God. God promised it and it shall
be done. It will. It's God's covenant.
God will not break that covenant with his son and he won't break
that covenant with his people. God's elect are going to have
eternal life just as surely as Abraham had a son and named him
Isaac. God's elect are going to have eternal life, just as
sure as the seed of Abraham inhabited that promised land. It's just
as sure. Now, the ground of faith that these Pharisees had was
their genealogy. It's who they're related to according
to the flesh. And I always wonder, why didn't
anybody ever ask them this question? Maybe they did, it's not recorded
in scripture, but all right. If you're God's elect, if you
have righteousness because You're Abraham's seed. What about Ishmael? Ishmael is too. Blind. That's all you can say.
It's blind. The covenant of works, the covenant
of flesh is not the covenant of grace. And that's what they
were trusting in. So they couldn't be Abraham's
children. Eighth. Abraham prayed for the salvation
of the lost. Faith. God-given faith. gives
you a care for people that are lost. So you pray for the lost. You know the story. God told
Abraham, I'm going to go destroy Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis
18. We won't read all of it for time's
sake, but God said, I'm going to go destroy Sodom. That's where
Lot lived, Abraham's nephew. And you know, Abraham prayed. He prayed for the lost. He said,
Lord, would you spare the city if there's 50 righteous? That
wouldn't be right to destroy the righteous with the unrighteous.
Would you spare the city for 50? God said, if there's 50 righteous
there, I'll spare it. Abraham said, what if it lacks
five? What if there's just 45? Would you spare the city if there's
45 righteous there? God said, I will. Abraham says,
what if there's 40? What if there's 30? What if there's
20? God said, I'll spare it. Abraham
said, what if there's ten? What if there's ten righteous?
Would you spare that city for the ten? God said, I'll spare
it. Abraham prayed for the lost. And this gives us ample warrant
to continue to pray for the lost. Pray for the lost. I mean those
you love after the flesh. They may seem like a lost cause. As long as they can draw a breath,
pray for them. God's able. Abraham did. Abraham prayed for
the lost. And then this. Leave it in his
hands. Abraham said. The God of all
the earth, the judge of all the earth will do right. Then leave
it in his hands. He'll do right. These Pharisees
hated the thought that God would save a sinful Gentile. They hated
it. They can't be the children of
Abraham. Abraham prayed for Gentiles. Abraham prayed, God spare those
Gentiles. Faith prayed for the lost. Abraham
had faith, didn't he? Strong in faith. Oh boy, the
flesh was still on Abraham. It's still strong. Every believer
knows this. God gave him faith. But that
flesh is just as much flesh and just as strong as it ever was.
So faith cast out the bond woman. and her son. That's what Abraham
did. He cast out the bondwoman and her son. Now, we read the
promise. God promised Abraham a son. He
said, I'm going to give you a son. Make a great nation of thee.
Kings will come from thee. Ten years later, no son. Abraham is in his upper 80s.
Sarah is in her upper 70s. It's impossible for her to have
a child. She'd already gone through menopause.
She couldn't bear a child. Abraham and Sarah got an idea.
We're going to help God out. God promised us a son. I can't
have one. So Sarah said, you go into my
hand and make Hagar have a son. God give us a son. Well, it worked. Hagar had a son named Ishmael. Ishmael was a son, but he wasn't
the son of God's promise. But you know Abraham loved that
boy. You know he did. He loved that
son. Now, he is the son of Abraham's
doing. He wasn't the son of God's promise, but Abraham loved him.
And you know the problems that caused, especially when God gave
Sarah a son. Isaac was born. Oh, now we've
got a problem. Now we've got the covenant of
grace and the covenant of works trying to dwell under one roof.
What are we going to do about that? Well, Sarah, she had faith
too, didn't she? And Sarah, Preach to Abraham
a gospel message. Look at Genesis 21. Verse 9. Sarah saw the son of
Hagar, the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking.
Oh, he's mocking Isaac. Just like rebels today, they
mock the gospel. You don't believe that, do you?
Believe anything but that. 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. He is not going to be heir with
Isaac. And this thing was grievous in
Abraham's sight, because of his son. He loved Ishmael. 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
said unto thee, you hearken unto her voice. For in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman,
why make a nation? Because he is thy seed. And Abraham
rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of
water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder and
the child, and he sent her away. And she departed and wandered
in the wilderness of Beersheba. Abraham cast out the bondwoman,
and her son, now hold your finger there and look in Galatians chapter
four. That casting out the bondwoman is a picture of the gospel. In Galatians 4, verse 22, For it is written that Abraham
had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But
he of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the
free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory?
These are a picture for us. For these are the two covenants.
The one from Mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage, which is
Hagar, is the law. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage
with her children." Ishmael is the son of the law. He's the
product of man's doing by the law. He's the product of man
doing what God promised that he would do. And those works
cannot abide. They cannot. with the son that
God promised. That work, that covenant of works
cannot abide with salvation but grace. So all those works must
go. They must be cast out. Now, that
can be a painful experience. Boy, you put a lot of confidence
in those works. I like them. They help your reputation.
Cast them out. It can be humbling to admit all
these things I put so much stock in for all these years. I was wrong. That's a humbling
statement, isn't it? I was wrong. That's humbling.
But cast them out. Even though it's painful, even
though it's humbling, cast them out because that's what faith
does. And faith continues to cast them out because faith believes
God and lays hold on what God provides, not what we think the
flesh can provide. Those Pharisees, they didn't
want to cast out the bondwoman and her son. They wanted to cast
out the son of promise. We'll keep the bondwoman and
her son. We're going to cast out the son of promise. We'll
just keep the righteousness that we can earn through the law."
Well, they had no faith. They must not be the children
of Abraham. They must be the children of Satan. Then Genesis
22. Abraham worshiped the sacrifice
of the substitute. We'll skip reading this whole
chapter. You know it well. You know the story. Abraham believed
God. God told Abraham, take that son
that you love. Offer him, sacrifice him at a
place that I'll show you. And Abraham believed God. He
started walking. Next morning, he started walking.
And he thought he'd go to that mountain and he thought he would
kill Isaac. But he believed that God raised
him from the dead. We read that Hebrews chapter
11. You see, faith believes God even when we don't understand.
We're not called on to understand what God does. The events of
this week, a young man we watched grow up. God took him. I have no idea why. It breaks
my heart. I have no idea why God did that. None. I believe God. I believe in the
judge of all the earth is going to do right. Faith just believes. You don't have to understand.
These Pharisees, they wouldn't believe what they could not understand. Then they're not children of
Abraham. Abraham believed God's Word every
time he spoke, even if he didn't understand it. And Abraham told
his servants, you boys stay here, the lad and I are going to go
up there and worship. And they went up there to worship. And
they worshiped around the sacrifice of the substitute. Sure enough,
Abraham said, we're going to go up there and worship and come
back. And they did. They came back from the top of
that mountain for this reason. God provided a sacrifice. He
provided a substitute that would die in Isaac's place so Isaac
could come down from that mountain. And that's what faith does. Faith
looks nowhere but to the sinner's substitute. Faith says, I deserve
to be put to death, but I'm going to live. Because Christ died
in my place as my substitute, and I'm going to have eternal
life in him because God raised him from the dead. One more scripture,
John chapter eight. Faith rejoices in Christ Jesus. Abraham rejoiced in our Lord
Jesus Christ. John 8, verse 56. Your father,
Abraham, rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad. Now,
what day is he talking about there? He's talking about Genesis
22 at the top of that mountain. He saw that ram caught in the
horns, by its horns in the thicket. And he took it and he offered
it up in the stead of Isaac, his son. At that time, God showed
Abraham the day of the Lord Jesus Christ when he would be sacrificed
as a substitute for the sin of his people. And Abraham rejoiced
probably more than seeing Isaac spared. He rejoiced more than
seeing the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. I see how God can put
my sin away and fulfill all this promise that he made to me because
a substitute died in my place. Brethren, I rejoice. Don't you?
Faith rejoices in the accomplished salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and faith rests in Him. Alright, I hope the Lord will
bless that to you. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we
thank Thee for God-given faith. We pray that You give us these
works of faith that we would believe, that we would obey,
that we would call upon the name of the Lord that you would enable
us to rejoice in the sacrifice. All of our hope of salvation,
all of our hope of eternal life is based upon the sacrifice of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that he died as a substitute for your
people that we might live. Father, we rejoice. How we thank
thee for this gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we beg of thee,
faith to believe, that we hear and believe and understand thy
gospel and look to the Lord Jesus Christ.