Genesis chapter 21. We looked
at this last week, but I want to read it to you again today,
beginning in verse 1. And the Lord visited Sarah, as
he had said. And the Lord did unto Sarah,
as he had spoken. And Sarah conceived and bore
Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God
had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of
his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old,
as God had commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years
old when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God
hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with
me. And she said, Who would I who would have said unto Abraham
that Sarah shall have given children suck for I have borne him a son
in his old age. 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 Agar 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 fang
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, in 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. And Abraham rose
up early in the morning, and took a bottle of water, and gave
it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child,
and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered
in the wilderness of Bathsheba." Wandered in the wilderness of
Bathsheba. Now, I want to look at this this
morning, and I want to consider some things concerning Isaac and his birth.
And I want to look at it and make an application to that if
I can. And the way I want to look at
it is this. If you and I this morning are
born of God, if we are regenerated by the Spirit of God, there are
some things that our birth, our new birth, have in common with
Isaac's birth. And let me give you some things.
First of all is this. If you're born again this morning,
then like Isaac, you are a child of promise. You are a child of
promise. Now we, brethren, as Isaac were,
are a child of promise. I read that to you, didn't I?
You who know the Lord Jesus Christ, who have been born from above,
You are a child of promise. Why was Abraham called a child
of promise? Because his birth was promised
before he was born. His birth was spoken of, it was
purposed, it was prophesied of before this young child ever
had a being. This is the word of promise At
this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. That's in chapter
18 and verse 14. That's why he's called a child
of promise. His birth was spoken of and promised
to Sarah and Abraham before he was actually born. And if you
and I are children of God by new birth, our new birth was
spoken of and it was promised before we actually experienced. that new birth. Now I want you
to turn some scriptures with me. I want you to turn over to
the New Testament in Titus chapter 1. You hold Genesis 21 and you
look at Titus chapter 1. If you're here this morning and
you're a child of God by new birth, you have eternal life abiding
in you, you have a good hope through grace, then that birth was promised
to you before you ever experienced it. Do you know that? Look here
in Titus chapter 1, look here in verses 1 through verse 3.
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according
to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the
truth, which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life, which
God that cannot lie promised before the world began. He hath in due time manifested
his word through preaching. Paul said there you have the
faith of God's elect. But I tell you before you had
that faith, that faith was promised. And he said there in verse 2,
you live in a hope of eternal life. But you know before you
had that hope in your soul, you were promised that hope. Before
you ever had that life, Glenn, you were promised that life.
Who was it promised to? Those who would eventually have
it. Look over here in another place, look at 2 Timothy, just
right back to your left. Just one or two pages back to
your left. Look in chapter 1, in verse 7 through verse 9. You're here this morning and
you've experienced the new birth. And that's necessary and we'll
see that in a minute. But I'm telling you, before we
experience that new birth, we can go trace that new birth back
to where it was promised, before we ever experienced it. Look
here in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and look in verse 7. God hath not
given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and
of a sound mind, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. But be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel, according to the power of God, who hath saved
us, and called us with them holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given
us in Christ Jesus, when before the world began. What was promised
before the world began? Paul told Titus, Life, in hope
of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the
world began. In the purpose of God. In the
promise of God. When is a person saved? Before the world was. Ain't that
amazing? Only God can call things which
be not as though they were. When He promises it, then they'll
eventually have it. That's what He said. George Spurgeon
asked an old lady one time, he said, Dear sister, has the Lord
saved you? And she said, I believe He has.
And he said, Did the Lord save you by accident? Or did He save
you on purpose? Well, who in his right mind would
say the Lord ever saved anybody by accident? And she said, well,
I suppose he saved me on purpose. And Spurgeon said, when did he
purpose to save you? There's one answer, isn't there? Before the world ever was. When
did God promise to save certain individuals? Before the world
ever was. Listen to these covenant promises. I will take them from among the
heathen, and I'll sprinkle clean water upon them." That's a promise
to somebody. That's a promise concerning somebody. I will give them a new heart,
and from all their filthiness will I cleanse them. Somebody
has been made a promise. Before the promise was ever fulfilled,
just like it was made to Sarah and Abraham, somebody has had
a promise made to them. Listen to this, Other sheep I
have, which are not of this fold, them I must bring. Now that's
a promise. And who's it to? Who's that promise
concerned? The sheep. The sheep. I've got
them. Most of them are not in barns
yet. But you know something, I promised this. I'm going to
bring them. I'm going to bring them to repentance. I'm going
to bring them to faith in me. I'm going to break their hearts.
I'm going to give them life eternal. They're going to follow me and
they never will perish. Now that's a promise. That's
a promise. And who's that promise concerning?
It's concerning the sheep. If you're here this morning and
you're a child of God by a new birth, you can trace that new
birth a long way back before you ever experienced it. You can't know about it until
after you've experienced it. Isaac never had existed before.
He couldn't know anything. But when he came into being,
And he began to grow in grace and knowledge. He could trace
the promise of his birth even before he was ever born. And
where do you trace your new birth to? You trace it all the way
back to God's electing love, can't you? Electing love. He set his love upon you before
the foundation of the world. Listen to Jeremiah chapter 32
verse 38. They shall be my people. They
shall be my people. And I will be They're God. That's a promise. That's a prophecy. And it's a promise. I will give
them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever. I haven't
done it yet. But I will. I promise I will. I will never turn away from them
to do them good. I will make an everlasting covenant
with them. I'll put my fear in their hearts.
And they shall never depart from me, saith the Lord." Isaac's
name was made mention of before he was ever born. All the way back in chapter 18,
the Lord told Abraham, you're going to have a son and call
his name Isaac. Before he was ever born. You know something? Your name
is made mention of, Clarence, before you ever had a new birth.
Called the sheep. my vessels of mercy, my chosen
one, my elect. You had a name. Your name was
made mention of before the world ever was. That's the first thing. If you're here this morning and
you're born of God, then you have the same thing in common
with Isaac. He was a child of promise. And secondly is this. Isaac's
birth was a miracle. And if you're born again, your
birth is a miracle. A new birth is a miracle. Abraham considered
not his own body now as good as dead. You know what that verse
is saying. Abraham knew if he had a son,
it was going to be a miracle. Because he said, I'm as good
as dead. And Abraham considered not the deadness of Sarah's womb. when she was of past age. But
he was persuaded that what God had promised, God was able to
fulfill. Abraham knew that if he had a
son, he was going to take a miracle. Sarah knew if they had a son,
he was going to take a miracle. And you know who else knew he
was going to take a miracle? The Lord knew it. The Lord knew it. Look back over here again. Look
back over here again in Genesis 21. That's why she made this
statement. Look what a statement she made
here again in verse 7. And she said, who would have
said unto Abraham that Sarah should have given children a
son? For I have borne him a son. Who
would have thought such a thing? Who would have said such a thing?
Nobody even believed this but Abraham and Sarah. Nobody else
even thought about making such a statement. If you'd have went
around telling and bragging that Abraham and Sarah was going to
have a son, nobody would have believed it. They wouldn't have told it.
Look over here, look right back again in chapter 18. Let me keep
reminding you of some of these passages. Look here in chapter
18, when the Lord appeared to Abraham here as he sat under
this shade tree. Look in verse 10. The Lord knew
it was going to take a miracle. Here's what the Lord said unto
Abraham. I will certainly return unto thee according to the time
of life, and Sarah thy wife shall have a son." And Sarah heard
it in the tent door which was behind them. Now Abraham and
Sarah were old and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with
Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within
herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my
Lord being old also? And the Lord said unto Abram,
Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child,
which am old? Is any thing too hard for the
Lord? The Lord knew if this couple
had a son, it was going to have to be a miracle. It wasn't the
will of Abraham's flesh. It wasn't the liveliness of Sarah's
womb. It was God's ability that would bring it to pass. Is anything
too hard for the Lord? Let me read you another passage,
really a connection with this. Look over in Luke chapter 1.
It's a miracle. It's a miracle. Look in Luke
chapter 1. Look in verse 26. This is where the angel Gabriel
was sent to Mary in verse 26. Look at this. There in verse 26, the angel
Gabriel was sent to Galilee. to a virgin, a spouse to a man
whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's
name was Mary. And the angel came unto her and
said, Hail thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee,
blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was
troubled at his saying. and cast in her mind what manner
of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her,
Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold,
thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and thou
shalt call his name Jesus before he is ever born." His name was
spoken of, just like Isaac. And he shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall
be no end." And look what Mary said. There's only one thing
she said. There's only one thing. There's only one problem with
it. I don't even have a husband. I'm a virgin. See what she said
in verse 34? Then said Mary unto the angel,
How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? Well, read on. The angel answered
and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, the power
of the eye shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And
behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son
in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her who was
called barren. And look at this, for with God
nothing shall be impossible. Gabriel sort of turned that around,
what the Lord said. The Lord said over in Genesis
18, is anything too hard for the Lord? And Gabriel learned
a lesson from that, didn't he? So he comes here and says, with
God all things are possible. Nothing's impossible with the
Lord. How can this be? With man this is impossible.
With man this is impossible. But we're talking about a miracle,
aren't we? We're talking about a miracle. Now let's be fair,
let's be fair to Sarah, and let's be fair to Mary. This ain't the
only place somebody said, how can these things be? You referred
to it, Glenn, this morning. There was another fellow who
made that statement one time. How can this be? And what was
that referring to? The new birth. The new birth. The Lord told Nicodemus, He said,
except you be born again, you can't see the Kingdom of God.
You can't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That which is born to
flesh is flesh. It's useless. It's good for nothing.
But that which is born to the Spirit is Spirit. And Nicodemus
said, how can these things be? How can this be? Well, I'll tell
you this much, brother and sister. It's not of flesh. It's not of
blood. It's not of the will of man.
But it's of God. It's of God. With God, all things
are possible. The disciples of the Lord asked
that question one day. When the Lord said, how hardly
shall a rich man be saved? They said, who in the world can
be saved? Remember what the Lord said? With man this is impossible,
but with God all things are possible. You know, I'll say this, and
I don't think you'll misunderstand me when I say this. We talk about
the incarnation of the Son of God being born to the Virgin. You know, that's no greater miracle
than the new birth. It's no greater miracle than
the new birth. And it's a wonderful miracle. But the same Spirit
that conceived Christ in the virgin womb, He has to conceive
Christ within our hearts. Christ physically was formed
in that virgin womb, spiritually He must be formed in our hearts. How could Sarah, whose womb was
dead, have a child? God had to visit her. How could
a virgin have a child and never know a man? The Holy Ghost had
to come upon her. How can a man be born again? Of his own will, begot he is,
with the Word of truth. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. They're all miracles, aren't
they? They're all miracles. And when Sarah looked down at
that little baby sucking on her breast, she said, what a miracle. And when a virgin brought forth
her firstborn son, she looked at him and she said, what a miracle!
And when you look at yourself and believe that you're born
of God, you know what you say? What a miracle! What a miracle
of grace! I'm born of God! Born of God! Don't you count it miraculous?
It's a miraculous thing. If you're born of God, you're
the object of a miracle of grace and you know that it's a miracle
and you'll never get over it. You'll never get over that you're
born of God. You see the necessity of it and
you know that this birth with men is impossible. You didn't get this new birth
in water. You didn't get it in making the
decision for Christ. It's nothing that you've done
and nothing that you've merited in your flesh. This new birth
is a miracle from God Himself. Just as Isaac's birth was a miracle
and just as Christ's birth was a miracle born of a woman. I
love what Watts said in that great hymn. Here's what he said
about the new birth. Not all the outward forms on
earth nor even rights that God has given nor will of man, nor
blood, nor birth can raise a soul to heaven. The sovereign will
of God alone creates us heirs of grace, born in the image of
His Son, a new peculiar race. The Spirit, like some heavenly
wind, blows on the sons of flesh, creates a new heavenly mind,
and farms a man afresh. Our quickened souls awake and
rise from the long sleep of death. On heavenly things we fix our
eyes, and praises employs our breasts." It's a new birth, ain't
it? And it's a miracle. Aren't you
amazed at yourself this morning that you can fix your eyes on
heavenly things? You can do it. You do it every
day. You fix your eyes upon heavenly
things. Aren't you amazed that you see things that are unseen? Aren't you amazed that sometimes
your breast is filled with praise and adoration for the Savior
of sinners? You continued all your life and
you never had one praise unto Him, the Savior of sinners. But
now sometimes your breast is filled with praises and adoration
for Him. Aren't you amazed that you can
delight yourself in the living God? the Creator of heaven and
earth, me, delight myself in Him, that you can hear His Word,
that you can know the truth, that you can understand it, that
you can believe it and hope in it, don't that amaze you? Aren't
you amazed that your faith is in His blood and not in any merits
of your own? Aren't you amazed that you have
a will and a desire to let go of this world and cleave to the
Lord Jesus Christ with purpose of heart and you're willing to
suffer anything for the cause of Christ and His glory in this
world if you only know that it's His will? Aren't you amazed at
yourself? And what is it, brothers and
sisters, that you attribute this change to? What is it that you
attribute this one thing to but a new birth? You have been born
of God. A miracle has taken place within
your heart as sure as a miracle took place in that virgin's womb. And as sure as a miracle took
place in Sarah's womb, a miracle has taken place in your heart.
The miracle of a new birth. Oh, who would have said? Who
would have said? Who would have ever thought?
And who would have said that poor old Glenn Whitehead could
be indwelled by the living God? Who would have thought that,
Glenn? Who would have said such a thing? Who would have ever
said that God could dwell in me and walk in me and sup with
me and abide in me? Who would have ever said such
a thing? Don't you count this a great miracle? Oh, you're amazed,
aren't you? You're amazed. You're amazed
by it. It's a miracle of grace and you
and I will never get over it. Beloved, what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God, thine new birth. It's amazing. It's amazing. Can
you imagine how Sarah felt as she looked down and saw that
little miracle hanging on her breast? She laughed. She laughed. And she said, everybody
that hears about this is going to laugh with me. And you know
what she meant by that? Everybody that's heard what I've
heard about this miracle of God's grace, they're going to laugh.
When you look down and see in your breast that you're a new
creature in Christ, don't you laugh? You laugh in your soul. Your life and your soul. Thirdly,
something else about Isaac's birth that resembles the new
birth, the birth of Isaac brought conflict and opposition. Look
back over here at our text in Genesis chapter 21. When Isaac
was born, it wasn't long that we see opposition and we see
conflict within the family. Look at verse 8 again. And the child grew, Isaac grew
and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the same day that
Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Agar,
the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mock him. Wherefore
she said unto Abraham, Cast out this slave and her son. Two things
we need to see from this this morning. We don't know a thing
about Ishmael when he was a teenager. He was 14 years old now. We're
not told anything about his character or his conduct. We know Abraham
loved him. Abraham delighted in him, prayed
for him, prayed God bless him. And you see here in this passage
that I read to you, Abraham didn't want to run him off from home.
He loved this child. He was Abraham's firstborn of
this slave. But it's not until Isaac is born
and weaned that Ishmael begins to show his true nature. Did
you notice that? And what had happened here, Abraham
had made Isaac a feast, all the attention was towards Isaac,
everybody was talking about, here is a child of promise, here
is the gift of God, here is a miraculous birth, and Ishmael becomes jealous
and begins to mock. And Paul said, Ishmael persecuted
Isaac. He that was born after the flesh
persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, and even so,
he says, it is now. And here's my first application
of this. This is the first thing that
you and I must know and remember. A carnal world does not love
the spiritual children of God. A lost world, an open and profane
world, and a religious world does not love the children of
promises. Now they don't. Right off the
bat, Peter tells us, as soon as the Lord saved us, he said,
here's what our friends, our lost friends, begin to think.
They think it's strange that you run not with them to the
same excessive riot, speaking evil of you. You don't run with
them anymore. And they get aggravated at you
because of it. You don't listen to their filthy jokes anymore.
You don't stay out half the night drinking with them anymore. And
they say, boy, he's got religion. He thinks he's better than the
rest of us now, but give him a few days and he'll be running
with us again when he gets over his religion. That's what they
say about the children of God. And then it's not long that even
some religious people begin to fall out with the children of
promise. What happens, see, what happens with the children of
promise, they begin to desire the sensual milk of the Word,
and they begin to grow in grace and in knowledge, and they begin
to quote Scripture that religious people have never read before,
and they begin to speak these truths that these religious people
have never heard before, and then you have this protest The
religious people begins to protest. Isaac was about three years old,
they tell us, when he began to be weaned. About three years
old. And I imagine, if that's so,
that he began to talk a little bit. He's three years old, he's
beginning to talk. And can you imagine what he's
saying? Can we imagine this morning, let our imagination run with
us, and imagine what he may have said to his brother Ishmael?
My father told me the difference between my mother and your mother
was, my mother's a free woman and your mother's a slave. My
daddy told me the difference between me and you was, I'm a
child of promise. I'm born according to the will
of God and the purpose of God and you're a child of flesh.
You're carnal. Can you imagine what kind of
effect this had upon this young man? Ishmael began to protest
and persecute, and he began to mock. Now, brothers and sisters,
as soon as you are born of God, and you begin to desire the sin-filled
milk of the Word, and you begin to grow in grace and knowledge
of the truth, and you begin to learn more about your Savior,
and what He's done, and who He's done it for, and where He is
now, and what He's promised to do, And you begin to tell these
things to religious people. You better get ready to stand
your ground and not be offended by them, because they're going
to start protesting. Now that's so. That's so. The
Lord Jesus said, Father, I've given them thy word. I've given
it in their hearts. I've taught them the word. I've
taught them your gospel. And what does the world feel
about? The world hates them. They never hated them until they
began to preach your word, and now the world hates them. And
why do they hate them? Because they're not of this world.
I've called them out of this world. If they were of the world,
the world would love them and embrace them, because the world
loves its own, but because they're not of this world. But I've called
them out and made them new. The world hates them. The world
hates them. And the Master says, don't be
upset about this. Don't be disappointed. Don't
be discouraged. They hated Me before they hated
you. And if they persecuted Me and they mocked Me, they're going
to persecute you and they're going to mock you because you
believe the same thing that I believe. You say what I've taught you
to say. You just believe in My Word. And the world hates you. Now you might as well get that
in your head. When you come home, you're all
down because the world has gotten mad at you. And your friends
and your relatives, you've offended them because you just spoke the
plain truth. It's hurt your feelings. Just
remember, that's what happens with the children of promise
and the children of the flesh. As it was then, so it is now. And if it's not that way now,
then we probably owe our security to our unfaithfulness, don't
we? It has to be that way, brothers and sisters. Old Luther used
to say, God's not going to yield, is he? God's not going to yield. The devil's not going to yield.
If you take God who is unyielding and the devil who is unyielding,
you're going to have a war. And you know where it meets that?
Right in the church in the world. That's where it meets that. Ishmael was born after the flesh. was a child of promise. He was
a child of promise. There were two sons in Abraham's
household. The one was a product of nature
and the other was a gift of God. Two different people. And there's
conflict when you've got that. There's conflict. The second
thing I want to say about this is this. Let's make it more personal.
Not what we may suffer from the world, but Ishmael and Isaac
were both children of Abraham. They were both sons of Abraham.
Within every child of God, there is two natures. There's the old
nature. There's the old Ishmael. And
then there's the new nature. 2 Corinthians 5.17, if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature. A new creature. A new creature
that was never before. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of the incorruptible by the Word of God. When you
and I were born the first time, of our mother and father, we
were born of corruptible seed. That's why we came into this
world as sinners. Our mom and our dad got together and they
had a baby and since they were sinners, we're sinners. And that's why this old flesh
is in pain and suffering and weak and full of infirmities
and that's why it's finally going to die. It's born of corruptible
seed. But Peter said being born the
second time of incorruptible seed by the Word of God. The
child of God has within him a nature that is incorruptible. He's born
of it. That cannot sin, that knows no
sin. That will never die, that will
never diminish, but will live forever. Then you told us that
this morning. That's that incorruptible seed.
Listen now, listen to me. Isaac was not Ishmael with a
new name. Isaac was not Ishmael improved
or redefined. Isaac was a new born child that
never existed before. And his birth had no effect upon
Ishmael. Ishmael remained what he was
before. These were two distinct people. Both of them were children of
Abraham. They were of the same household, but they were two
different people. One of them was born of a slave,
lived a slave, died a slave. The other one was a gift of God. And that's what you have inside
you today, brothers and sisters. You have an old man that was
born in sin, he served sin, and the devil, and that's all he's
ever known. But if you're here this morning and you're born
of God, you're a child of God by new birth. You have a new
nature within you, a holy nature. And that's why we have this conflict.
The new birth is not the improving of the old, but the receiving
of the new. And the receiving of the new
nature does not improve the old, but contrary wise, the receiving
of the new nature soon reveals the vileness of the old. When did you find out what kind
of nature you had? Not until you're born again.
That's when you found out. We don't see what a malker Ishmael
is until Isaac is born. We don't know what kind of fellow
he was. He may have seemed like a nice young teenager until Isaac
was born. And then old Ishmael began to
show himself. And a believer may see his flesh
to be so vile and wretched only after he sees it in the light
of being a new creature in the Lord Jesus Christ. You may not see it when you're
first born again. There's a number of people, and
I didn't see it very much either. I went for a few days after the
Lord had saved me. I'd come to Christ. I'd come
to Christ brokenhearted, and I was a sinner. But I tell you,
it wasn't too long after that that he seemed like he opened
my heart more. And I began to see the vileness
of my flesh that I'd never seen before in all my life. Never
seen it like that. It was only three years. Isaac
was three years old. And then Ishmael showed himself. And sometimes, it may be a while
after the Lord saves one of His elect, But somewhere He's going
to open their hearts more and more. And when He does, they're
going to see how vile they are by their nature. They're going
to see it in a manner that they've never seen it before. He begins
to detect these two natures. When I would do good, I would
do good, evil is present with me. Remember when you learned
that? Remember when you learned that? Wouldn't the Lord begin
to teach you that? I delight in the law of God after the inward
man. I do too. But, I see another
law in my memories. What's going on there? Two natures? Ishmael and Isaac in the same
household. Listen to what Pink said about
this. It is not until we are born again
that we learn what a horrible and vile thing that flesh is.
and the discovery is painful. To many it is a quite unsettling
thing. To those who have supposed that
regeneration is an improving of the old nature, the recognition
of the awful depravity of the flesh comes as a shock and often
destroys all the peace of their soul. For these young converts
quickly conclude that after all, he must not be barren of God,
seeing that now he recognizes himself to be so vile. The truth
is that the recognition of the true character of the flesh and
a correspondent abhorrence of it is one of the plainest evidences
of our regeneration. For the unregenerated man is
blind to the vileness of his fleshly nature. The fact that
I have within me a conflict between these natures is spiritual proof
that there are two natures present within me. I find the Ishmael
nature persecuting the Isaac nature, and that's to be expected. that the Ishmael nature appears
to me to be growing worse only proves that I have now the capacity
to see its true character in the light of a new nature. Now,
ain't that comforting? Ain't that comforting? A man
don't know himself until he has this new nature. Just as Ishmael
didn't show himself until Isaac was born. And I tell you, as
we grow in grace and knowledge, what happens? You see more of
Ishmael, don't you? You see Ishmael mocking and Ishmael
persecuting. What must happen to Ishmael?
Well, here in verse 10, here's what happened to Ishmael. Wherefore
she said unto Abraham, Cast out this slave woman and her son.
Cast him out. Cast him out. What must be done
to the old natural man? What must be done to carnal reasoning?
What must be done to the will of the flesh? What must be done
to human merit and worth's religion? Cast it out. Cast it out. Put off the old man with his
deeds. Deny him a place in the house. Keep him out in the wilderness
where he belongs. Let him starve on bread and water. That's what Paul's teaching.
Whatever is contrary, brothers and sisters, to the Lord Jesus
Christ, to His grace and His work in us, as well as His work
for us, must be put outdoors, must be driven out into the wilderness.
Wherever we see vile flesh raising its head, if it be within me
or if it be without in others, give it no place to rest in your
house. and give it no bed to sleep in
or table to eat at. Flesh is nothing but a slave
to sin. Flesh is nothing but a servant
of the devil and it has no part nor lot in the kingdom of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Put it out. Put a loaf of bread
on it and a bottle of water and send it out into the world. That's
what he said. That's what must happen to Ishmael.
Bruce, that's what I'm going to do. That's what I'm going
to do. Wherever I see old Ishmael at, I'm going to put him out.
I'm going to put him down. If I see him in me, I'm going
to crucify him. If I see him in religion, raising
his ugly head of free will, I'm going to put it out. I appreciate your passion. I appreciate your resolve, but
it may not be that easy. Easier said than done. Do you
know that? Do you notice Abraham, how he felt when Sarah said,
you put your son out? How did Abraham feel? He's grieved
to death with him. He is grieved to death. It may
not be as easy as you think, brothers and sisters. And you
know when Abraham died in the 25th chapter of Genesis, do you
remember who came to bury him? Ishmael and Isaac. I thought
he sent him away in the wilderness, he did, but he came back. He
came back. He's always coming back. How
many times have you put a loaf of bread in a bottle of water
and sent the slave woman out with her little son, and he's
right back the next day? I've sent him out several times
and got a nice rest, and on my way out the door the next morning,
I stumble over him trying to get out of the house. They come
right back. And she just cleaves to you,
and here's that child following after you, crying after you,
for hunger and thirst. He just follows you around all
day long. Wherever you go, there he is, crying after you. Feed
me, I'm thirsty. And how can you deny Him? What
can you say? He's your child. He's flesh of your flesh and
bone of your bone. It's easy to say, I'm going to
cast him out, but doing it is another thing altogether. You'll
spend your lifelong days doing it. And you'll never get it done. You look at Abraham here and
he was always trying to make provisions for Ishmael. That's
what the rest of this chapter is about, the last portion of
this chapter. Making provision for Ishmael. It's not too easy,
is it? It's not too easy. I've tried for 35 years to keep
the slave woman and her son exiled. And I've yet to do it. I've yet to do it. Here's the only hope and here's
the only help in our struggle. It's found you in verse 12. Look
at this. 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. When could Abraham do
it? In whatever degree he did, how
could he do it? How can you send your own son
out in the wilderness with a bottle of water and a loaf of bread?
And that's what he did. How can you do that? He can only
do that as God gave him grace to do. God spoke to him and said,
Abraham, you go ahead and do it. You go ahead and do it. And
brothers and sisters, when you and I face this warfare with
this old nature and we face the world and we see Ishmael all
around us, mocking and persecuting, we can only continue to struggle
against him as God gives us grace to do. Now that's something. You get up in the morning, you
come home in the evening, you put a bottle of water and a loaf
of bread in her arms and send her and her son out, it's because
God has given you grace today. O'Banion in Pilgrim's Progress,
he gave a very good example of this. Pilgrim was ready to go
on his journey from the city of destruction to the celestial
city. And the interpreter took him into this house. And he was
sweeping the floor. Remember this, Barb? Sweeping
the floor. And the dust was just flying
everywhere. And they were gagging. And then the interpreter got
a bottle of water and spread some water around on the floor.
And then began to sweep. And it got rid of the dust. And
the pilgrim said, What meaneth this? And he said, This dust
is sin. seeing within you and seeing
outside of you. And he said, if you try to sweep it without
God's grace, He'll gag you to death. He'll strangle you. He'll choke you. It can't be
done. But he said, let God sprinkle a little grace in your heart.
Let God give you some grace and mercy and strength that's in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, you can sweep it
right out. You can sweep it right out. There's the way we struggle
against this old flesh that we can't get rid of. There's the
way we stand against false doctrine in this world. It's through God's
grace and strength. If it's not for that, brothers
and sisters, we'll get so discouraged, we'll get so disgusted with ourselves,
we'll get so down on ourselves, we'll almost despair. I can't
help what I am. You can't help what you are.
You don't make excuses for it, but you can't have it. You was
born the way you were born. Something happened way back yonder
in the garden that affected the way you was born, and you can't
have it. You can't have the warfare that you feel within your soul.
It's natural for a believer. But there's help for you. There's
grace for you. And it's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I tell you, whenever you feel the struggle is about to
get the best of you, If that little child is crying after
you and aggravating you to death, there's a throne of grace you
can go to. You can find strength and grace to help you in the
time of your need. And when the Lord speaks to you
and says, put him off, put him off, you can put him off. He's
been tempting you to do some horrible thing. He's been racing
all these awful blasphemous thoughts through your mind and you can't
quit thinking. But as soon as the Lord says, put him off, then
you can do it. You're going somewhere and you're
going to witness of the Lord. You're going to witness to somebody
of His grace and you feel so ashamed and you're ashamed that
you're ashamed. But when the Lord says, go ahead
and witness, be not ashamed, then you're not ashamed. But
it takes grace. It takes grace. Abraham, you
send your son away. Boy, he did. When God says do
it, then you can do it. You can do it. If He says come,
you'll come. If He says look, you can look. If He says walk, you can walk.
God bless His Word. Father, we do thank You.