Verses 9-13 tonight, the title
of my message is, Not an Heir. Genesis 21 verse 9, And Sarah
saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, which he had borne unto Abraham,
mocking. Therefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman
and her son. For the son of this bondwoman
shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. The thing was
very grievous in Adam's sight because of his son. And God said
unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad,
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 the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation
because of thy seed. We'll continue reading. And Abraham
rose up early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of
water, gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child
sent her away. She departed and wandered in
the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spit in the
bottle, and she cast the child under one of the bushes, or one
of the shrubs. And she went and sat her down
over against him a good way off, as if it were a bow shot. For
she said, Let me not see the death of the child, And she sat
over against him, and lift up her voice, and went. And God
heard the voice of the lad. The angel of God called to Hagar
out of the heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar?
Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he
is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand, for I
will make him a great nation. God opened her eyes, and she
saw a well of water. And she went, and filled the
bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the
lad, and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an
archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took
him a wife out of the land of Egypt. Let us pray. Our Father,
we bless You and thank You that we can come into Your presence
as Your children, welcome into Your presence, and we can approach
the throne of grace boldly to speak to You concerning our heart
and our need. Our greatest need, Father, is
always the same. It's the need of the presence
of the Spirit of God to take us and show us the things of
Jesus Christ to lead and guide us into all truth. We thank You,
Father, that You have sent Your Son into this world, this world
of woe, and for Him to dwell among sinners, Him being without
sin, spotless and blameless, and to have Him go to that cross
and die in the room instead of His people, secure their redemption
and their salvation by the singular and wondrous work that He did
in offering unto you the perfect sacrifice for sin, wherein your
justice was satisfied and sin was put away. Father, we thank
You that we can even think of such things, for we know what
we are inside and by nature. We know that we have no claim
on You. You have all claim on us. We
know that we can do nothing and are nothing that can ever be
pleasing to Thee. And yet You were pleased because
of Your Son to make Him to be unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And made us accepted in the Beloved
to the praise of the glory of Your grace. I pray for those
of our company who are sick, those who are going through healing
processes, we ask Lord you be with them, watch over them. Those
who are away from us for whatever reason, we ask you bring, pray
you bring them safely home to us. Watch over this evening as
we endeavor to preach your gospel. Help me Lord, don't leave me
here by myself, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Now the characters
in this story, are important. They are employed throughout
the Word of God both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Abraham is seen as the father of the faithful to all those
who believe in Jesus Christ. According to Galatians 3, all
who believe in Christ are Abraham's seed in Galatians 3.29. Sarah
is presented as the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of us all
in Galatians chapter 4. Isaac is presented as the true
Israel. They elect according to grace
the seed of Abraham in which the true church is called in
Romans chapter 9. The children of Isaac and Rebekah,
that is Jacob and Esau, set forth the definitive doctrine of election
and the definitive love of God for Jacob and not for Esau. Isaac and Ishmael represent the
doctrine of that which is born of the spirit and that which
is born of the flesh. They represent the doctrine of
the enmity between the flesh and the spirit as set forth in
Galatians 4 and Galatians 5. And this entire historically
true episode which we just read about is said to be in Galatians
chapter 4 an allegory or a story that teaches us something else.
Depicting the old and the new covenants, the difference between
law and grace. and the riches of the Old Testament
are manifestly revealed in this nuclear family of Abraham and
Sarah and Isaac and Hagar and Ishmael. Now this particular
episode is rich in gospel doctrine and presents a particular aspect
of that teaching that is actually the bread and butter of the life
of the child of God. It is the doctrine of law and
grace, the doctrine of the flesh and the spirit, These elements
of existence of the child of God are ever present in the believer's
life. They are cited in scripture as
a war within our bosom. And also that which was contrary
to us which Christ openly nailed to his cross and defeated them. Also revealed in this passage
is the doctrine of those who are heirs of God according to
promise and those who are not heirs of God. And the difference
has nothing to do with natural generation or tribe or nationality,
except as it relates to natural descendants. It is about spiritual
election and the sovereign God dictating who are His heirs and
who are not. Just as you probably will if
you ever make out a will in a testament. You will probably designate who's
going to get what's yours. You'll be pretty much particular,
I expect, in the language that you use. You won't say, I'll
leave all my money to everyone. Because everybody would be lining
up at your door to see if they could get a little bit of your
money. What you'll say is, I'll leave my money to whom I please. My children, and so forth, or
some charity. But you will designate the money.
And they will be your heirs. You pick them. They don't pick
themselves. They don't pick themselves. Now
this episode begins when Ishmael is a teenager. I know some of
the language. Sounds like he's just a baby
as his mother supposedly cast him under a bush or so forth. And the Lord told him to pick
him up in that hand and so forth. But he was a teenager at this
time, probably 16 or 17 years old. He'd been a long time with
his father, Abraham. And his father loved him as a
father loves a son. He was Abraham's boy for so many
years before Isaac was born. In fact, when the Lord told Abraham
in Genesis 15 of that seed that would be born to him of Sarah's
womb, he actually asked the Lord, he said, Oh Lord, let it be Ishmael.
Let Ishmael be my heir. God said no. He was Abraham's boy. But this
is not how Sarah describes Him. And language means something,
and though we are not privy to Sarah's thoughts, since out of
the heart the mouth speaketh, Sarah's words betray her estimation
of Ishmael. This is how she describes Him
back in our text in verse 9. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar,
see this is Abraham's son, the son of Hagar, the Egyptian. which
she had born to Abraham, mocking the son of Hagar, the Egyptian,
that's how he's described. And he was said to be mocking.
She sees him as the son of Hagar. That's important, because she
repeats that language again. Perhaps there's some selective
memory being exercised here. You see, it was Sarah who actually
besought Abraham to take Hagar to be his wife. How be it, that
request was born of unbelief concerning the promise seed.
She knew the promise too, but she said, I don't believe God's
going to be able to perform this thing, so why don't you take
Hagar and bring me forth a son so we can have an heir to pass
on your name. You see, often the hardest part
for a believer in this world is waiting on God. It's the hardest thing to do,
to wait on the Lord. When Sarah was going through
all that stuff she was going through and Deb was out there
with it. I can't tell you how often I thought, Lord, please
rush this thing up. Hurry it up. I knew he wasn't
going to. I knew he was going to do it
on his own time, but my thoughts ran that way. It was hard to
wait. It's hard to wait to hear the
doctor say that she was cancer free. It was the hardest thing
for me to ever do. It's hard to wait on the Lord. I'm not
mad at Sarah, upset with Sarah, because she said, look, let's
get this done. So she gave him Hagar. But Sarah
saw Ishmael now mocking Isaac. And her remedy by any human standard
of decency and family dynamic seems extreme. She tells Abraham
to banish Ishmael and his mom from the family. The bondwoman
and her son is how she describes it. Banish that bondwoman and
her son. Verse 10 says, 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 even Isaac
I expect all the years that Ishmael was there up to this point Sarah
had called him her son because he was heir in the house and
she probably treated him like a son and we might in looking
at this being fathers and mothers We might even be appalled by
her vehemence if we did not know that this all serves the sovereign
purpose of God. Ishmael mocking Isaac was part
and parcel of God's plan. Part and parcel of God's purpose
in grace. His hatred for Isaac was the
necessary catalyst for an understanding of the two covenants. Now we
don't know that and neither did Abraham at this time. But years
later when the New Testament was being penned under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, God taught us that. Look at Galatians chapter
4. Galatians chapter 4. Galatians
chapter 4 and verse 30. Here's why Ishmael mocked Isaac. Nevertheless, what says the Scripture?
Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman
shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. This is what
the Lord said. So we understand this by what's
being said here. In verse 29 it said, But as then,
he that was born of the flesh persecuted him that was born
after the Spirit, even so it is now. So that was all part
of God setting forth these two covenants. Because back in the
earlier part of chapter 4, In verse 22 it says, For it is written
that Abraham had two sons, the one of a bondwoman and the other
by a free woman. But he of the bondwoman was born
after the flesh, but he of the free woman after the spirit.
And these things are an allegory. They are given to us for teaching
us something. Now that means back here, way back, when Paul
was converted on the road to Damascus and God took him out
on the back side of the desert to teach him the way, teach him
the truth, the Lord took him to Genesis chapter 21 and said
you've been under one covenant all your life, Paul. There's
two of them. And that's represented by the
story, the true historical story of Abraham and Isaac and Ishmael
and Hagar. Any father can understand Abraham's
reaction to get rid of his son. It grieved him. Verse 11 said,
and the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of
his son. Very grievous in Abraham's sight. Had to be a hard thing
for it. But the Lord confronted him concerning
Ishmael and told him that the words of Sarah described how
it was supposed to be. The words of Sarah did that.
In verse 12, she said, And God said to 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. And then he adds these words,
For, or because, in Isaac, shall thy seed be caught. We only had
the Old Testament and we might be wondering what that meant.
But we can turn to the New Testament in Romans Chapter 9. This is
also repeated in Hebrews Chapter 11. We will just read Romans
Chapter 9. People were saying the idea was
that Israel had all these benefits that no other nation had. God
did not operate religiously or legally lawfully with any nation
but Israel. Now you think about it, this
was a tiny little nation. He said, I didn't love you because
you were great, I loved you because you were small and weary and
weak and there wasn't nothing to you, which pictures the grace
of God. But people said, well they had
all these benefits. They had the Word of God. They
had the Pentateuch, they had the Decalogue they had all these
words had the law and the prophets had all that stuff, you know
And they had that they had the priesthood and they had the sacrifices
and the ceremonies all these things that Reminded us and rounded
them and told them of God they had all these things and yet
you say God set that nation aside because that nation only represented
a spiritual truth of the truth of Israel Are you saying that
all they had that word was to none effect? And this was the
answer that was given. Verse 6 of chapter 9 says, Not
as though the word of God hath taken none effect, for they are
not all Israel, which are of Israel, neither because they
are the seed of Abraham. Because remember, Ishmael is
the seed of Abraham. But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. Word for word from what we just
read in Genesis chapter 21. In Isaac, shall thy seed be called. Again, we see the providence
of God in accomplishing His purpose. Also in the grief of Abraham,
we see our own love for what we produce by the flesh. We nurture
it and feed it, though we ought to despise the garment spotted
with it. But the reason it continues to
plague us is because we don't want to let it go, just like
He didn't want to let Ishmael go. The Lord also told Abraham
that He would make Ishmael and his descendants a great nation.
Back in our text, in verse 13, it said, Also of the son of the
bondwoman will I make a great nation, because he is thy seed. The last words of this verse
13 tell the reason why God will bless Ishmael in this world.
Because he is the son of Abraham. Because of thy seed. For Abraham's
sake He does this. And though Ishmael will always
be the enemy of Isaac, and is yet today, the flesh always the
enemy of the Spirit. The flesh exists for the elect's
sake. The enemies of the gospel exist
for the elect's sake. God has given Christ authority
over all flesh that He might give eternal life to as many
as God has given Him. We know this, the rain falls
on the just and the unjust. The sun shines on the just and
the unjust. But they both exist for the good
of the elect. Now remember, Don Fortner said
one time he planted a garden right next to him. His neighbor
planted a garden. In fact, the fence separated the two gardens. Both of them had good gardens. When the rain fell on Don's garden,
it fell on that guy's garden, too. And that garden hated the
gospel, hated Don. Didn't want anything to do with
him. Didn't care for the message at all. Don said, the sun shined
on my garden. It shined on his garden. His
corn stood up and tasseled out. His squash grew beautiful. His
watermelon, everything I planted, tomatoes, we both had wonderful
crops. He said, but the sun shone for
me. And the rain came down for me. It came down on his garden,
too. He said, I just think he ought to stop and thank me. That never happened. He never
got thanked for it, but that's the fact. You see, all things,
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them that are called according to His purpose. Now, all things
happen to all people. They do, but they happen for
the benefit and welfare and eternal aspect of the child of God. As this episode progresses, Abraham
sends the bondwoman and her son away with bread and water. And they wandered in the wilderness
of Beersheba, and they began to falter in fear for their life. It's described as running out
of water, and it even says she just had her son sit under a
juniper tree. It says she went away about a
bow shot. Because she didn't want to watch
her son die. They were dying. She feared for her life. They
were destitute. They had nothing. Abraham didn't
send them away with a bunch of donkeys, with pack animals. He
didn't send them away with a bunch of oxen. He didn't send them
away with a bunch of food. Give them some bread and water. A
bag of water and a bag of bread. Sent them on their way. There
they are. This is a tough life. They're
destitute. They sat up under that juniper
tree waiting for the inevitable death, and they prayed. Their
death was not according to God's purpose. It was not the day that
they should die. God heard their cries. That's
what He said. People say, does God hear people's cries that
they don't know Him? Well, He did hear. He did hear. God hears everything. If He answers a poor person's
prayer who don't know Him, that's alright with me. I don't have
a difficulty with that. Scripture says, God regards the
prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer. And
we know He also says that the prayers of the wicked are an
abomination to Him. So I don't know how to reconcile
those two things. I don't have to. They're both in the Word
of God. God heard their prayer. That's what it says right here
in this text. God heard the cry of the lad. We don't hear the cry of the
lad. Maybe his cries were just groanings of a dying man. It was his mother who wept out
loud and cried unto God. He said, I hear the lad. He told
her, I heard the lad. I heard the lad. After all, remember
he said, I'll do this for Ishmael, for Abraham's sake. for Abraham's
sake. God opened their eyes. That's
what it says. They didn't have no water and
no bread. God opened their eyes and what?
Behold there was a well. A well. And they were refreshed. They filled up their water bag
and went on their way. They were refreshed. Whether
that well was miraculously created at that moment was there all
along and the Lord had hidden it from their eyes is not recorded
but how they saw it and why they saw it is plainly recorded in
verses back in our text in verse 10 excuse me not verse 10 see
if I can pull up what I'm looking for oh in verse 19 excuse me and God
opened their eyes that's how they saw it God opened their
eyes. I thought of Elisha and his servant. They were camped out. They pitched a tent. And Elisha
the servant got up in the morning and went out to get some water,
maybe cook some breakfast for the prophet. I don't know, but
he went out because that was his job, to take care of the
prophet. And he looks up on the hill and the hill is just completely
surrounded with an army of Syrian Syrians. completely they are
totally just him and the prophet and the whole army surrounding
him he went in there and said we're in trouble and Elijah said
oh Lord open his eyes and he said now go out there and look
and he went outside and looked and surrounding the army of the
Assyrians with a host of heaven host of warring angels completely
surrounding the Syrian army. Elijah said, there's always more
of us than there are of them. And that's always the case. But
it takes God to open your eyes. It takes God. I wonder what refreshing
will we see when at the end of our rope the Lord opens our eyes. We'll see the well that never
runs dry. And Ishmael became an archer,
it says. Ishmael became an archer and
dwelt in the wilderness of Paran. This is interesting because his
descendants were the Mabathys. His son was Mabathai, I think,
and the Mabathys. And also the Saracens were his
descendants. And they were famous archers.
They are famous in history. They were warriors. They were
huntsmen who lived off the land. And they were even guards in
Mecca. The sons of Ishmael. They were
called the dart men. Dart men. How happily this describes
the enemies of grace who hurl the fiery darts of slander against
those who hold tenaciously to the doctrine of God's grace.
Paul dealt with them throughout his ministry. He said in Romans
chapter 3, one of the attacks, one of the darts they throw at
them is, if you preach grace, and I've had people say things
like this to me, if you really believe what you preach, and
you preach that and you don't preach no law and tell people
how to live and don't give them regulation, don't give them a
church covenant to go by, don't give them those things, if you
do that, it's just going to open up floodgates of sin. That's what they say. That's
a dart. from Ishmael. Paul said in Romans
chapter 3 verse 8, He said, And not rather as we are slanderously
reported, and as some affirm that we say. And if you preach
grace and believe grace and tell people about grace, this is what
they are going to say about you if you say it right. They say that we say,
Let us do evil that good may come. And their damnation is
just for saying such a thing. That is what they are saying.
If you preach grace, as Paul did, people are going to say,
well, you're saying, by saying that where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound, you're saying the more we sin, the more
grace we'll get. We're not saying that. But that's
what they say. That's one of those fiery darts.
The darts of slander. The darts of accusations. The
darts of lawlessness. The darts of antinomianism are
hurled by the descendants of Ishmael. Their bow and arrow
is made ready. And you know what? It is the glory of God who has
preserved them for this purpose. To hurl the dollars. That's their
job. That's the purpose they serve.
Our Lord said in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Speaking to this church, he said
in verse 19 of chapter 11, 1 Corinthians, For there must be also heresies
among you, there must be also be heresies among you, that they
which are approved may be manifest among you, that they which are
approved That is how it is. This is God's purpose. This is
God's world. This is God's plan. This is the
way God does things. They do not always sit well with
us. We look at these things like Abraham having to cast out that
bondwoman and her son with just a bottle of water and bread.
It disturbs us, but that is the way it had to be. Because God is going to preserve
him as an enemy of Isaac forever until he gathers the enemies
in one place and destroys them all. and takes his people on. This is the way it's got to be.
It's the way God planned it. This is God's purpose. Shakespeare
said the whole world is a stage and we are but actors upon it.
And to some degree that's the truth. People say, well that
makes me a puppet. Well I tell you what, I'd rather God pull
my strings than me pull his strings. I'll be honest with you. I'd
rather him do the pull of the string pulling, wouldn't you?
I would. And let me tell you, he does.
He does. Father bless us to understand.
Pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right.