Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I've entitled the message for
this morning, Cast Out the Bondwoman and Her Son. This is found in
the Bible twice, once in the Old Testament and once in the
New Testament. And this is a very important
principle. May the Lord teach us what it
means. Cast out the bondwoman and her
son. In Genesis chapter 21, we read
of the birth of Isaac. Now, some 13 years before this,
Ishmael had been born. You may remember the story. God
had promised Abraham and Sarah a son. Years passed. It hadn't happened. Sarah says,
obviously God's promise is not going to take place unless we
do our part. Obviously it's not happening
with me. You go into Hagar. this young maid of mine, and
we'll have a son by her." Abraham agreed to do it. Abraham was
wrong in doing it, but Abraham agreed to do it. And we had Ishmael. Some 13 years later, Isaac is
born. Isaac is born supernaturally.
Sarah has already gone through menopause. and yet she has a
son." This was not Sarah doing her part. This was God doing
it all. She had a son supernaturally. Now, we read in verse 8 of Genesis
21, and the child grew and was weaned. Now, generally, a child
at the age of 3 or 4 years old was weaned. So Isaac at this
time was 3 or 4 years old. His brother Ishmael was 16 or
17 years old at this time. And Abraham made a great feast
the same day that Isaac was weaned. They had a party. They were celebrating
the weaning of Isaac. Now, verse nine says, Sarah saw
the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham,
mocking. Now, Sarah had this three or
four year old son and they were having a party for him. And she
looked over at Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman, and he was
mocking. Now, I don't think there are
very many older brothers who have not mocked their younger
brothers and treated them with some measure of contempt. I know
that he was doing it at this time, and I'm sure that he had
some measure of resentment toward this young half-brother of his,
because before he came along, Ishmael was the heir. And now,
all of a sudden, he's no longer the heir. And I'm sure he felt
resentment toward his younger half-brother. And we read that
he was mocking him. I don't know what all was involved
in this mocking. But look what Sarah said. Wherefore she said unto Abraham,
Cast out this bondwoman and her son. Make them leave. kick them out. I do not want
them living here at all. For the son of this bondwoman,
Ishmael, shall not be heir with my son, even Isaac She said,
get rid of them. Now remember, this was her idea
in the first place. But now that she has a son, she
wants Ishmael out, she wants Hagar out. Cast them out, kick
them out, turn them out. And the thing was very grievous
in Abraham's sight because of his son." You see, Abraham loved
that boy. It was his son. And this was
Sarah's idea in the first place. And now she's saying, kick him
out, make him to be gone. It was very grievous in Abraham's
sight. And that means wicked. That's
what the word means. He thought, Sarah's acting wickedly
in doing this, and I have no doubt that he wouldn't have done
it. Just because she said to do it, he wouldn't have done
it had not this taken place. Verse 12, 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." I have always thought Sarah must
have been a real hard nose. I mean, this is almost vicious.
She says with regard to Hagar and Ishmael, kick them out, get
rid of them. I don't want them around. They're
not going to have any inheritance at all. That seems almost vicious,
and Abraham thought it was. But God said, cast her out. Now, let's look at the New Testament
commentary on this story. It's found in Galatians chapter
4. Galatians chapter 4. Paul says in verse 28, now we
brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. The only reason we're children
is because God promised we would be. just as the only reason Isaac
was born was because God promised he would be. It was a supernatural
birth, not fleshly, but supernatural. But as in he that was born after
the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even
so it is now. Now, Paul interprets what Ishmael
was doing in mocking Isaac as persecution. That's the way he
calls it, persecution. Now, let's stop here for just
a moment. If Ishmael would have continued to be the heir, I don't
think it would have been considered persecution. But he was completely
cut off. He got nothing. Therefore, he persecuted. Isaac. Now, what does that represent? If I preach the gospel in such
a way, the gospel of grace, God electing a people, Christ dying
for them, God the Holy Spirit giving them life, God doing everything
in salvation, and you hear that and say, well, I don't believe
that. If I would say, well, you still get some of the inheritance.
You're still saved, even though you reject what God says. You're
still saved. I'm okay. You're okay. There'll be no persecution. You're going to be fine. You're
going to say, well, you believe your way. I'll believe my way. We'll both
end up in heaven. But if I say this is the only
gospel, and to reject this, you have no inheritance, that's when
people get upset. That's when the persecution starts. When what they're hoping in is
seen to be nothing, and they get no inheritance since by what
they're hoping in, that's when the persecution begins. Verse
30, nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast
out the bondwoman and her son. But the son of the bondwoman
shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren,
we're not children of the bondwoman, but of the free." Now, we know
from earlier in this chapter that this is an allegory. It
really happened. It literally took place, but
it's an allegory to teach us of the two covenants. In verse
24 of Galatians 4, he says, which things are an allegory, for these
are the two covenants. Sarah and Isaac represent grace. Hagar and Ishmael represent works. What are works? Works are something
you must do before God can do anything for you. That is salvation
by works. If there is anything you must
first do, Before God can do anything for you, you believe in salvation
by works. Salvation dependent upon man. That's what Hagar and Ishmael
represent. Man doing his part. But Sarah
and Isaac represent grace, God doing it all, God causing it
to happen. So then, brethren, Paul says,
we are not the children of the bondwoman, salvation by works. We don't trace our salvation
to anything that we have done, but of the free, free grace. Now, Paul gives his commentary
on that in chapter 5. Really, the chapter division
is man-made, and in some respects, it's unfortunate because the
thought is being carried on. He says in verse 1 of Galatians
chapter 5, Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. Stand fast in the liberty, the
freedom wherewith Christ hath made us free. Take your stand
for this freedom. Now, what is meant by freedom
or liberty? Now, there's basically two things
meant by freedom or liberty. Number one, you're free is if
you don't owe anything. If you owe somebody something,
you are not free. If you have debts, you are not
free. And the second aspect of liberty
or freedom is you get to do what you want to do. Not what you
have to do, but what you want to do. Kind of like vacation. Vacation, you're doing what you
want to do. You go to work because you have to. I know some people
say, I love it, and I love what I do. I'm not calling into question
that, but vacation is when you do what you want to do. Now,
Christ said, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free. Now, it's not your knowledge
of the truth that makes you free, it's the truth himself. The truth
is a person, and the truth shall make you free. He'll make you
debt free, and he'll make you to get to do what you want to
do. You're not serving because of
fear of what will take place if you don't. You're not serving
because of hope for what you will gain by doing it. You're
doing it simply because you want to. The Lord said in John 8,
36, if the Son shall make you free, You're free indeed. You see, if Christ died for you,
you owe nothing. You have no sin. You stand before
God without guilt. You owe nothing. And you get to do what you want
to do. Listen to this statement. Trust
Christ and do what you want to. Now, I realize that a natural
man will say, well, that means you can sin all you want. It
might mean that to the natural man, but not to a believer. Your
want to is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Stand fast in the
liberty, in the freedom, wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
don't be entangled with the yoke of bondage. trying to mix grace
and works. That's what it is to be entangled
in the yoke of bondage. I love what Peter said, Now why
put you a yoke on the disciples, which neither we nor our fathers
were able to bear? but we believe that by the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they."
Now, you put one work in salvation, and it becomes entangled with
the yoke of bondage. Now, Paul goes on to say, behold,
I, Paul, say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall
profit you Now Paul was circumcised physically. What he's saying is if you believe
that there's something you must do before God can do something
for you, you need to be circumcised. You need to do this. You need
to stop that. If you take that route, Christ
will profit you nothing. Anything that you do to add or
subtract from Christ negates all saving benefits. We read in 2 Corinthians 11,
3 of the simplicity that's in Christ, the onlyness, the singularity
that is in Christ. This is a true story. There was
a wealthy art owner. He had so much art. And he was very rich because
of the many expensive paintings that he had. Well, he finally
died, and all of his art collection was to be auctioned off. And
everyone was very excited because there's not very many opportunities
to get art like this. So there was a great group of
people there to get what paintings they could during this auction. So the auction began with an
unknown painting of a young man. Nobody knew who he was. This
wasn't famous. They didn't see any value in this. But there was an old man who
used to work for the man that had died, and he recognized who
this painting was of. This was of his son, who died
in the war many years before. And he looked at it, and no one
else was making any bid for it. And he thought, well, I'd like
to have that. I knew him. And so he made his bid. Nobody else bid. They accepted
it. He got the painting. And the auctioneer said, the
auction is over. And everybody was Why? Aren't there other paintings
to be sold? And here's what they found out.
The one who has the Son gets everything else. And if you have
Christ, you have all. If you don't have Christ, you
have nothing. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,
that if you be circumcised, if there's something you need to
do in order to have Christ, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. If any part of salvation is dependent
upon me or you doing something before we can be saved, it's
all dependent upon us. You become a debtor to do the
whole law. Listen to me. It's either all
grace or all works. Hear me, it's either all grace
or all works. There is no in between. And God will meet you on the
ground you want to come, either all of grace or all of works. Which ground do you want to come
on? All of grace. And there's no in between. There's
no such thing as part grace and part works. You're either going
to come fully on the footing of grace, no other way, or on
the ground of your works. Verse four, Paul says, and listen
to the strength of this language, Christ has become of no effect
unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by law, you're fallen from grace. Now, if you think that your justification
is by law, God rewarding you with justification because of
something you've done, because you've accepted it. You miss
all the saving benefits of Christ. You've left grace. You've fallen
from grace. Now, you've heard that term.
Somebody falls into some kind of sin. They say, well, they've
fallen from grace. No, they haven't. You have. Grace
is the only hope they have. You're the one that's fallen
from grace. You're showing a complete lack of understanding of grace.
Now look what Paul says, for we, verse five, we, those children
born of grace, those children born of the free woman, those
children who trace their salvation to God, not to their works, for
we, through the Spirit, this is what everybody who's led by
the Spirit does, we wait for the hope of righteousness. Now
don't miss that. We wait for the hope. Now remember,
hope's not something you can see. Paul made that clear in
Romans 8, 24. If a man sees, why does he yet
hope for it? We wait for what we do not see, righteousness,
perfect righteousness by faith. I believe that I am perfectly
righteous and I will be made so and made to be seen to be
that on judgment day, not because of me seeing anything in me.
but by faith, believing that Christ is my righteousness before
God. For in Jesus Christ," this is
verse six, in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision avails anything,
nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Now, in Jesus Christ, that's
where God's salvation is. In Jesus Christ, circumcision,
What you do. Uncircumcision. Well, I know
there's nothing I need to do. Both of those things avail nothing. They don't count with God. Here's
what counts with God. Faith, which worketh by love. Now, law can never produce love. If there's some law that you
need to keep before God will accept you, all you'll do is
resent God. All you'll do is think he's too
harsh, he's not fair, and you'll feel sorry for yourself, and
there's no real love there. Law never produces love. It only produces resentment and
hatred. But faith, that faith that really
believes that everything God requires of me, I have in Christ. And I can't get any more saved
by what I do. I can't get any less saved. I'm
accepted in the Beloved. I am perfect in Christ Jesus.
God loves me completely through Christ. All my sins are gone. I'm relying on Him. as the evidence
that that is so. You know what faith does? It
works by love. That makes you love the Lord.
That makes you serve him, not because you're afraid of what
you'll lose or because you're hoping what you'll gain, but
because you love him. In Christ Jesus, circumcision
doesn't avail anything. Uncircumcision doesn't avail
anything. But faith, which worketh by love. Now Paul says to the Galatians,
you did run well. You used to seem to believe this.
What happened? Who did hinder you that you should
not obey the truth?" This persuasion, this belief you have of works,
comes not of Him that calleth you. This stuff that you're standing
for now didn't come from God. He's not the one that taught
you this. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. If you put one
work in salvation, you make the whole things by work. That's
what the Galatians were doing. He said in chapter 4, tell me
you that desire to be under law. Don't you hear the law? Don't
you hear what it says? He went on to say, I stand in doubt of
you. As long as you're espousing this view of salvation somehow
by what you do, I stand in doubt of you. I travail in birth until
Christ be formed in you. It doesn't seem like He has been
formed in you. That's what He's saying to these people. Now He
says in verse 10, I have confidence in you through the Lord, not
in you, but through the Lord, that you will be none otherwise
minded, that you will come to your senses and believe grace. But he that troubleth you shall
bear his judgment. Whosoever you be, God's going
to judge that person that's brought you into this position. And I,
brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, You know, people were saying,
Paul preaches circumcision. Paul preaches there's something
you need to do before God can do something for you. Paul says,
if I did preach that, why do I yet suffer persecution? You
see, I'm being persecuted. Everywhere Paul went, he got
whipped, he got beat, he got thrown into jail because he was
preaching the offense of the cross. If I, brethren, if I yet
preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the
offense of the cross ceased." Now, what is the offense of the
cross? What's he talking about? You know, preachers are so careful
to try not to offend people. Oh, I don't want to offend people.
I don't want to run them off. Paul was afraid of not offending
people. Now, I do not want to offend people by my rotten personality
or my self-righteous attitude, but I want to preach the offense
of the cross. You see, the message of the cross
is an offensive message because it addresses all men as sinners
and nothing more. And that offends men's sense
of dignity. The cross, the offense of the
cross, offends men's sense of pride because it says you have
nothing to be proud about. Salvation is all together by
grace, not of works. You can't take credit for anything
in your salvation. And that offends men's sense
of pride. And the cross offends men's sense
of wisdom because it declares revelation. You can't figure
this thing out. You're in the hands of a sovereign
God. It's up to him as to whether or not you're going to believe.
It's up to him as to whether or not you're going to be enabled
to see the gospel. You shut up to revelation. This
is not something you can figure out. This is not something you
can earn. You and I are completely dependent upon God to make himself
known to us. Why? That offends me. And the cross offends men's love
of self because it calls upon us to deny ourself, to take up
our cross daily and follow Him. Why, that's scandalous. That's
scandalous to address me as nothing but an evil, wicked sinner. Why,
that's a scandal to say that I'm saved altogether without
my works, that I'm totally dependent on what Christ did, and my works
count for nothing. Why, that'll lead to sin. Why,
it's scandalous to think that I can't figure this thing out.
It's scandalous, the whole offense scandal of the cross. You know what the biggest scandal
there is, is? that I would stand before God perfect. Now that's scandalous, but that
is the offense of the cross. That's the glory of the cross,
that God takes somebody like me, nothing but sin, and can
do nothing to save himself, and makes me to stand before the
presence of his glory, holy, perfect. and unblameable, and
unreprovable in His sight. That is the liberty that is in
Christ Jesus. Now we have this message on cassette
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