It was close, it was very close. All right, Genesis chapter 21. Anybody ever have an acquaintance in your life that was a thorn in your flesh? Now, don't think on it too hard, right? And maybe they were a bully. Maybe they kind of ridiculed you. Maybe they kind of made your life kind of miserable. And you might think of somebody that may be coming to your mind right now. Maybe it was from grade school or high school or at a job you had or a certain place or at college or something like that. And it seemed like when life was good, they were bound to show up and mess it up. And hopefully, you haven't had too many of those type of acquaintances. But I had one. I had one my freshman year of high school. And his name was Carl. And I don't think Carl will be listening to this. I think I mentioned Carl a while back in passing. But it was Carl. Carl was a wrestler. He was a football player. He was big. He had 20-inch biceps, probably, and about 18 brain cells. But he was strong. He was strong. I think. I don't know. But anyway, I was not like Carl in my freshman year of high school. He was about a year ahead of me or so. And I was probably 103 pounds because they wanted me to wrestle at 98. And my mother said, absolutely not. You're not losing weight. And so the next weight class to wrestle was 103. And I said, OK, well, I could do that. And I was scrawny. I was small, thin. And this guy, Carl, was the polar opposite of me. And I never said a word to this guy. I didn't hardly know him. I would see him around. He was mouthy. He walked like this everywhere. But for some reason, this dude picked me out. And he would taunt me and laugh at me. He thought it was funny to pick me up by the neck. He tried that one time in the locker room getting ready one time and it never failed. If my day was going well, Carl would show up. And what a nuisance he was. And he reminded me of a lot of things. I mean, I was well acquainted with my own inabilities compared to his. I was, if we ever had to go to the weight room, his laugh reminded me of my lack of physique and things that way. And I don't know, he was just, he was something else. He really was. And all of it one day came to a boiling point and something had to be done. You're like, what did you do? I didn't do anything, right? But I know what had to be done. Carl had to go. Carl had to go. He was a nuisance. And he had to go. And you know what? He did. He went. He went. I didn't take care of him. Somebody else took care of him. So I didn't have to take care of him again. It was a wonderful thing. And we actually kind of got along pretty well after somebody else kind of took care of Carl. And he backed off, and we actually You know we realized we both had about 18 brain cells and we got along pretty good. And it was not a bad time. But you know if I was ever going to get relief in that freshman year of high school or the rest of high school for that matter Carl had to go. And you know this is true of our Christian life as well. true of our Christian life. And this is what we're going to see in our text here in Genesis chapter 21. Notice here, I'm going to get to this here in a little bit, but I want to first, I want to look at the, look at the text here that God has given us here in chapter 21. Notice here with how verse 1 opens, And the Lord visited Sarah, as he had said, and And the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. And the first thing I notice here in our text is that God is faithful, amen? He is faithful and I'm so thankful for that. We can say that and it can become quite cliched. and it can just kind of roll off of our lips. And we, it's just the, you know, the Christianese thing to say that God is faithful. But if you look back at it and you look back at like the testimony that Brother Micah had tonight and some others, and you look back at the faithfulness of God, and isn't it a wonderful thing to think about where you could be tonight? and where you might have been if the Lord hadn't rescued you and somebody hadn't brought you the gospel and you hadn't been under the preaching and my goodness, I know my trajectory and I know where I was and you know what yours was when the Lord rescued you and if we would really stop and ponder it for a little while and meditate on it for a little while, we should be overwhelmed with the realization and the feeling and the understanding of the faithfulness and the goodness of God, amen. Look what verse 1 opens with. God did exactly what He said He was going to do. See the ability for Sarah to conceive was a miracle. It was a miracle. It wasn't gonna happen. She was 90 years old. You're like, well, this was way back in Genesis. Obviously, this wasn't normal because God said this wasn't normal. And Sarah said, this isn't normal. And Abraham's like, are you sure? This isn't normal. They were too old, all right? It was past the time of childbearing, but God intervened and caused life to come from a dead womb. That's what the Bible said, her womb was dead. It was passed. God worked a miracle and brought life to that womb. And conception came about, and a child came from the dead womb of Sarah. It was an absolute miracle. But notice what this miracle reveals about the nature of God. Look at verses one and two, that the Lord visited Sarah as he had said. Notice these three little phrases here. As he said, as he had spoken, and at the set time. See it again, the Lord visited Sarah as he had said. And the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. And Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him. So we see here in the faithfulness of God as he has said, as he had spoken, and at the set time. This miracle that came about in the life of Abraham and Sarah, the miracle came about just as God said it would, exactly how God had spoken it to be, and precisely when He said it would happen. wonderful thing. Now, I want you to show you two similar, two words in here in verse 1 that seem similar, but they are not. And this is kind of exciting. I'm telling you, I say it over and again, and you know this, if you're reading your Bible and a word jumps out to you and it seems like the most innocuous word, like it means nothing at all, look it up. Maybe the Holy Spirit of God so many times is saying, hey, there's something here you need to go look up, this is gonna be good. Because I think God knows the definition of all of our words, right? And He knows the depths of some of these words, and there's a reason He uses them. So look what it says, and the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, there's that word said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken. So you have the word said, and then you have the word spoken. Kind of the same words, said, spoken, but they're really not. That word said there is a Hebrew word amar, and it means to say, or to speak, or to utter, just to, you know, like I'm doing right now. The air comes from your lungs and into the diaphragm, and it pushes up into the vocal, voice box, and through the vocal folds, the air passes through, and my vocal folds vibrate, and what is in my brain, word-wise, I am forming with my mouth how I have learned to, and a word comes out that I said. It's all it is, it's to speak, or to utter, or to say. But the word spoken in Hebrew is dabar, and it means to declare, or command, or set in a row, ranging in order. So said, the word said refers to the promise here in verse one, but the word spoken refers to making the promise happen. See, it's one thing to say something, It's altogether something else to be able to make come to pass the thing that you say. I love this. And this is here God is, and this is what God said, and he said it in order, and what he said in order, notice this in verse two, he did it in his time. For Sarah conceived and bare Abram a son in his old age at the set time, which God had spoken to him. Now you do realize, I wanna go back and visit this, it's not my notes at all, but realize it was 25 years from the time God first told Abraham he was gonna have a son to when Isaac was born, right? 25 years. But for 24 of those years, God really said nothing to him until about a year prior. And he said a year prior to this date, he said, at about the same time next year, Sarah is gonna conceive, and you're gonna have a child. So really for 24 years of this, God left Abraham out in the I don't know where, or I don't know how. He had a promise, that's all he had, and he had nothing else. I remember a professor in college telling students, he said, you know, some of you are convinced that God wants you in school, And you get here, and the first year you're here, you're like, well, I don't know if God wants me here, and I don't know if God wants me to stay here, and I don't know if, you know, you go through all of these things, and he'd tell these students, he goes, listen, when God spoke to Abraham, he didn't speak to him again for another 25 years. And he said, if God told you to come here, he may not speak to you again until it's time to leave, so just stay put. You know, and I thought, boy, that's a good, that's pretty good. God didn't say a word, really, to Abraham for 24 years. He didn't say too much to him, right? A couple of times when Abraham had questions, God kept saying, no, it's going to happen. You're going to have a son. It's not Eleazar. You're going to have a son. And here it is. He did it in his time. Yeah. God, who is all knowing God, who is all powerful. He knows the perfect time for everything. This is one of the hardest things for us to really grasp, isn't it? No, let me say it this way. This is one of the hardest things for us to accept. We don't like that. In some way, we're all control freaks. We're finite. We don't like the unknown. And so we're constantly trying to connive and figure out what God is going to do. And so many people essentially will not step out and obey God because they cannot control what is going to happen in the future. But let me tell you something, that is just not faith. That is not the faith life. And you are never going to please God living that way. And you are never going to know the joy and the peace of obedience to God living that way. God, listen, He is all knowing. He is all powerful. He knows. He knows the perfect time for everything. And His will is accomplished. His will is accomplished regardless of man's free will. Isn't that amazing? What did Abraham do? He messed up. He got ahead of God. Yep. I love this. Only God can create man with a free will and still accomplish his own will right alongside man's free will. place it is for a Calvinist who has created a God that is so weak He has to create a mankind who is an absolute, just an automaton without a free will so He can accomplish His will. I don't know if they really realize it or not. I know, I understand. Listen, I read after them. I study. I have called myself years ago I would have deemed myself a Calvinist. I would have loved it, right, and did, right. But But the more and more it falls apart according to what the Word of God, but what they unknowingly do when they're trying to lift up God and His sovereignty, they've actually made Him very small because He can't accomplish anything without us being robots. But can I tell you, if love is gonna be love, love cannot operate without a free will and for the object of the love to say no, yeah. Otherwise, it's not love. It's not at all. And so, think about it. He's powerful enough to speak everything into existence, right? This is within the Calvinist mindset. He's powerful enough to speak everything into existence, but he's weaker than man's will. That's what's being said. He's weaker than man's will, so he's gotta create us a certain way. Listen, the God of the Bible is so big and so powerful that he's able to accomplish his will even though man operates in his own fallen free will. And I love that. Amen. Yeah. Look at Abraham's life right here in Genesis. In spite of Abraham going into Egypt during the famine, lying about Sarah, marrying Hagar, having a son by Hagar, going down into Kadesh, lying about Sarah again, in spite of all of his free will and Abraham's mistakes, God still shows up in faithfulness and accomplishes exactly what he says in his time and for his glory. God's faithful. He absolutely is. You know what this faithfulness does of God? It brings joy. It brings joy. I mean think about it. Anytime somebody comes out and makes a statement, God is faithful, you know your heart just rejoices. And you say, yes he is. And that's a joy, right? We live in a world of unfaithfulness. We live in a world of 50 and 60% divorce rates because of people's unfaithfulness and things like that. I mean we're living in a world when our government is unfaithful. And other things, I mean you go right down the pipe, businesses, I mean we don't, We live in such unfaithfulness among where we live that when God comes along and we say, well, God is faithful, it's like, oh, finally, somebody, somebody I can trust, somebody I can rely on, right? The greatest joys in, listen, the greatest joys in life is to know the promises of God and to watch God fulfill them in your life. He said, I'm gonna make you like Christ. I promised you I'm so pleased with my son that I want many more just like him. Yeah. I love that. I heard a preacher say that one time. I thought, oh, that's excellent. That the father was so pleased with Jesus that he wanted many more just like him. And He's promised us that we'd make us like Christ. And we look back in our life and sometimes, sometimes we can feel like we haven't made much progress, but boy, at other times you can look back and just be amazed at the faithfulness of God and what He's done in your life. Not only just the blessings of what He's given you, but what He's changed about you. And things that you know that I would not have changed of myself. attitudes, and fears, and bitternesses, and angers, and things like that, and how you can now look through situations that you know you would have responded in an un-Christlike manner, and you can watch a situation like it come through your life again, and you realize, wow, I didn't do that over here. Praise the Lord. He's faithful. He's faithful, and it brings joy. It brings joy to those around us when we don't act like idiots anymore at times, right? Other people are happy about it too. But see, in chapter 18, Sarah laughed in unbelief, but in chapter 1, Sarah has a laugh of joy. into the eyes of the miracle that God has promised. See, back when the angels came, and one of them was Jesus, and told her that she was gonna have a child, she laughed. He said, why are you laughing? It was a laugh of unbelief. But here it is, here we see it here, that she's looking into the eyes of the promise that God had said she was gonna have, and it was a great laughter of joy, because God was faithful, and His faithfulness brings joy. Have you ever experienced the joy of God's faithfulness? something you have prayed for and God has answered, some difficult situation and God worked it out. And I'm telling you, you leave it with a lot of joy. You leave it with greater assurance and faith in God and trust in God. It's a great thing. We had some friends down in Cassville and she would come to church, very faithful, brought her children. And her husband was unsaved and he would not come to her at all, wouldn't come to church whatsoever. Well, and she loved the church. That was their life. They loved it there. And she had a testimony one night and she said, you know my husband, he's not saved. We've been praying for him. And not too long ago, he woke up one day and just says, I want to move. They were going to sell the farm. They were going to sell everything. He wanted to move. And she thought, oh no. She goes, I don't want to leave my church. I don't want to leave my church family. I didn't want to move. I didn't want to go anywhere. But she goes, I can't say anything to him. Right? I mean, the Bible says there will be one by my chaste conversation. I'm not going to nag, and complain, and whine, and cry about getting my will, you know. And she goes, I just began to pray. You know, I just began to pray. And she said, after a while, I don't know how long a time it went. She said, one day he just woke up and said, yeah, I don't want to move. never said a word to him. Never said a word to anybody else. Boy the joy that was in her soul. The joy that was in her heart to watch God come through in a difficult situation and work it out. Listen the joy of God's working and faithfulness that He brings into our life when we see Him work. Listen the thing of strength that we look at is the when we're in hard times that we can look back in our past and go, boy, hey, he did it then, he can do it again, amen. It's a wonderful thing. God is faithful and his faithfulness brings joy. But in verses eight through nine of our text, sin is still causing problems. Look at verse eight, and the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abram, mocking. Mocky. So Isaac is no longer nursing. So Abraham throws a party for him. Now at this time, Ishmael would be about 13 years old. And Isaac is just a little, just a baby, an infant still. And at this party that Abraham throws, Sarah catches Isaac mocking him. He's making fun of him. And I know this, mamas don't like when their kids are made fun of. They really don't. Now, dads are like, ah, get over it. Ah, punch him in the nose. Ah, he'll be fine. You know, just deal with it. This ain't the first time somebody's gonna say something to you, son. Just learn to deal with it. Mom was like, no, I will kill you. They get pretty upset about it, right? But if you remember, Abraham marrying Sarah's handmaid was Sarah's idea. And Abraham went along with it, okay? They're both at fault here. And I would say Abraham is much more at fault than even Sarah is, because God told Abraham directly what he was gonna do. Yeah. and because of their restlessness, the child's now living in the home. That is not the promised seed, and it's not the line of the Messiah. Watch, their sin caused a really big problem, and 13 years later, it's still in the house causing problem. Hey, this is a great warning to us, is it not? We have all lived there. We know it's true. What you've opened the door to, maybe it was 15 years ago, 20 years ago, 25 years ago, or five years ago, sometimes you realize the thing is still here. We've opened the gate and it's still in the house. It's still in our life. Lester Roloff said one night, he was talking to men and it was kind of funny. You know how he is in his folksy way, how he was. And he'd say, he said this one night, he said, he said, dads, if you got to do your talking with Satan, do it out on the porch. He said, if you let him in the house, he'll never get them out. And I thought, wow, what a profound thing he just said there. It was very profound. I can look back as a dad and a husband and as a head of the home and made some decisions that were made that seemed rather small and meaningless at the time and you realize the gate was open and now you can't shut it. And 15 years later it's rearing its head up and you're going, oh great. Ishmael's mocking Isaac. He's mocking him. Galatians 4, Paul explains the metaphor that's going on here. In verse 23 of Galatians 4, Paul says this, but he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. So Israel or Ishmael is a type of the flesh and of sin, and Isaac is a type of the spirit and a picture of righteousness. So you see here, unrighteousness, watch the picture here, unrighteousness is mocking righteousness. Bondage is mocking freedom. Flesh is mocking the spirit. And Sarah is having nothing to do with this. She says it's gonna end tonight. In verse 10 and 11, you'll see that Sarah says that the son of the slave, look at this, wherefore she said unto Abraham, cast out this bond woman and her son, for the son of this bond woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. Hey, don't brush over what's going on here. Abraham has a 13 year old son. It's still his boy. It's still his son. Very much his son. But now he has Isaac, who is the promise from God. And the ultimatum is given. Isaac, if Isaac is gonna be the heir, then Ishmael has got to go. He's gotta be kicked out. Now Abraham's gonna have to choose between two sons. He's gonna have to choose. Look at verse 11. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. Why, he loved him. What a horrible choice. Don't pass this, please. This was a real choice that happened in a real man's life and a real couple's life a few thousand years ago. This was a real choice, right? This really happened. And in verse 12, God confirms that it's necessary. Look at it. And God said unto Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman, and all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And so in verses 13 through 20, Hagar and Ishmael leave, and God promises to take care of Ishmael because he is Abraham's seed. And he does. And he still is. Seems strange, but he is. Now, God did say that the world, the hand of the world was gonna be against Ishmael, and Ishmael was gonna be against the world. God did say he was gonna be a crazy man. He called him a wild man, and the world was gonna be against him, and he was gonna be against the world. It's true. I just talked about it this morning of Islam in the lineage of Ishmael that we're dealing with on planet earth still today. What happened? Abraham opened a gate a few thousand years ago and the world is still dealing with his choice. Yeah. So God is faithful. God's faithfulness brings joy. Sin is still causing problems. And here we see here, Ishmael has got to go. He's got to go. He's the one causing the problems. Well, this is the pattern in the life of a believer as well. You looking at your life tonight? This is the pattern in our life as children of God. We've already said it. We spent some time on it. God is faithful. God is good. He is faithful. We can count on Him. When I get in the way, when I choose sin, when I cause the problem over and over again, God is faithful. What an amazing thing. But sin is still causing problems. Would you go check that door out back, please? Sin is still causing problems. Look at Romans chapter seven. Paul gives the greatest reality of a believer's life when he confesses. Would you turn to Romans chapter seven? I'm gonna show you this, if you would please. Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter seven. God is faithful in our life, amen, but sin is still causing problems. It absolutely is. Some of you knew that this morning, and you knew it this week, that it was still causing problems. Look at verse 12. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. But when that which is good made death unto me, I'm sorry, let me read that again correctly. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid, but sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not. For that which I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent under the law that it is good. So then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. What's going on inside of you? Well, Isaac and Ishmael. Yeah, the flesh and the spirit. Jesus told the disciples, remember, they're in the garden of Gethsemane, and he went on to pray, and they're sleeping, and he warned them, he said, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Watch and pray, be on guard, be ready for this, right? See, in verse 21 there, Romans chapter seven, he says, there's a law. It's a law. When I do good, evil is present. It is a law. You're not gonna change it. You're not gonna change it. Although you are saved and the spirit of God dwells within you, the flesh is still alive and now righteousness is dwelling in the same body as unrighteousness. And you know what unrighteousness does? It mocks righteousness. Unrighteousness in your life mocks righteousness. Every time you choose to serve God, your sin will mock you. Every time you choose to obey, sin mocks you. Whenever it seems like you've got the Christian life down, your Ishmael shows up and begins to mock you. You're a Christian, you did that? You follow God? Seriously? After you said that? After you told him this? Or after you said this to her? After you watched this? After you listened to this? After you stayed too long over here? What? Come on, no you're not. Mocks. Irritating, isn't it? Even though you're saved, you're born again. You're a child of God. Sin's still causing problems. But God has a plan for your life. He does. Just like Isaac, there's a purpose in your life. And there comes a time in your life when you're gonna realize if righteousness is going to live, unrighteousness must leave. If you're ever going to live where God wants you to be, if you're ever going to live in the promise that God wants you to live in, if you're ever going to go into the Canaan that God has for you, if you're ever going to live in the rest that God has for you to rest, unrighteousness has got to be kicked out because it cannot dwell with righteousness. You say, wait a minute, you just said that when evil is there, when good is there, evil is present, right? You just said that we still have the flesh, although we have the indwelling spirit of God. What, I mean, this seems absolutely contradictory, right? But it's not, because listen, There are things in our life that have to be removed by us. They can be removed by us. If God is gonna have His will in our life, there are some things that we have to use, that we have to kick out. And I use that word kick out on purpose, because listen to me tonight, sin never leaves on its own. You do not outgrow it. Right? He said, well, when I get older, that won't bother me. When I get older, I'll live past that. Can I tell you something? Wow, that got loud. That was good. I like that. Yeah, maybe you ought to listen up to this one, huh? Can I tell you something? Lust does not go away with age. Yep. It has to be kicked out. Envy and strife does not go away with age. Greed doesn't go away with age. Do you know how many elderly people get taken by scams? It's not always just because they don't understand. Sometimes it's because they still have greed and they think they're gonna get ahead. I don't mean it disrespectfully. I'm just saying there's some things that we don't grow out of. And we think, well, just, I can't wait. Now I do have something, now here we go, my non-theological joke that is gonna be upset that it's not theological. But I have had hope that when I get older, all of the dumb things I say, people go, oh, he's so cute. You know, this old guy doesn't even know what he's saying. Right now I get in trouble for everything I say. But I'm waiting for the day, the gray is coming on, and I'm waiting for the day that I can get away with saying a lot of stuff. But as for now, I cannot. What has to happen? My mouth, what comes out of my, it starts with my brain needs to be kicked out. And you're like, you don't do a lot of kicking out. You'd be surprised how much I kick out. You would be surprised. Abraham had to command Ishmael to leave. If righteousness is gonna rule in my life, if righteousness is gonna rule in your life, we're gonna have to command unrighteousness to leave. Friend, that is hard work. Abraham struggled with the thought of Ishmael leaving. Why? It was him. It's his flesh and blood. Can I tell you who are we by nature born under the sin curse of Adam? We are sinners by nature. The easiest thing that we are acquainted with is sin. Oh, I know we hate it, but it's the easiest thing. It's like, you know, there's things that come into people's lives that they have to get out, and when they get them out of their life, they're almost like, well, now what? I feel like I've been divorced from something. Now what do I do? It's been so ingrained in their life. Abraham struggled with it. And so will you, and so will I with some things. But it has to be done. Hebrews 12, it says, wherefore seeing we're compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight that doth so easily beset us, and let us run the race that is set before us. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. I'll get it one of these days. Looking unto Jesus, there it is, the author and the finisher of the faith. Yeah. Lay aside every weight. You know what that means? You've got to kick it out. I've got to kick it out. Well, I mean, it's pretty powerful. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. We just saw in 2 Peter on Wednesday nights that we've been given all things that pertain unto life and godliness and we have the indwelling spirit of God who gives us the power to do these things and we've got to be honest with ourselves when we don't do them is because we just really don't want to. No, I understand there are addictions, I get that. I understand there are some things that take a long time to come out. Absolutely, I have a lot of empathy for that and I understand that. And listen, I am acquainted with the problems that people have with some addictions. And I mean we have addictions galore in our nation and we need to deal with them, absolutely. But listen, as a child of God, As a child of God, no matter how hard the decision is, no matter how long it's been a part of our life, no matter how much we're in love with this thing, if righteousness is gonna rule, the unrighteousness has got to be kicked out. Do you want an abundant life? Jesus says, I came to give you life and to give it more abundantly. Do you want the abundant life? Do you want to enjoy victory over the besetting sin? Do you ever want to be used of God, really, in a deeper and more profound way? Do you really want your life to glorify God? Glorify, right, glorify, to put on display the attributes of another? Do you really want your life to put on display the attributes of God? The weights that are holding us back, they're gonna have to be thrown off and kicked out. Some people throw the weights off and they just throw them in the closet. Or they just drop them off on the floor and you trip over them, right? No, they gotta be sent out with the trash and taken away and brought away. Hey, can I remind you tonight, we all have at least one sin. That no matter how young you are, no matter how old you are, there is a besetting sin that lives with you and lives with me. It doesn't mean, listen, it doesn't have to control your life, obviously, because we can kick it out, but you know it's there. You know which the one it is. You know it is, you may have had victory over a myriad other sins. You may have come to Christ and I had a man tell me years ago, some years ago, he said, he said, you know, when I got saved, God took away the alcohol and the marijuana and all of these things. But this one thing he didn't, I just, I don't know what to do about it. I just, I hate it and I don't know what to do about it. Yeah. There's something, there's always something. And it's like a leech. It just, it won't let go. It won't let go. And every time you get close to God, man, it shows up and it mocks you. Yeah. Maybe it's a vice. Maybe it's an attitude. Maybe it's in your language. Maybe it's in your spiritual life. Whatever the source, listen, you know what it is. And whatever it is, that's your Ishmael. That's your Ishmael. It's the one thing that does so easily beset you. See, Abraham had lived through a lot of sins and a lot of forgiveness up to this point, and he had moved on, right? But this one had to get out. It had to get out. So if righteousness is gonna rule your life, Ishmael's gotta go. If joy is gonna be the center of your life and rule your life, Ishmael must go. And if Ishmael has got to go, you're gonna have to be the one to physically, spiritually, or physically, or whatever, remove him from your life. So the question is tonight, what are you doing with your Ishmael? What are you doing with your Ishmael? Some may say, I praise the Lord, I've had victory over my Ishmael for a lot of years. Can I tell you, Ishmael's come back. What are you talking about? We got like a billion of them on the planet Earth right now. They're still causing problems, right? Literally, the lineage of Ishmael is on the planet Earth that's still causing problems. And sometimes, listen, your Ishmaels lurk around, and you'll find them, and they'll come around, and you gotta just remind them that they're not a part of the family anymore. What are you doing with your Ishmael? What are you doing with your Ishmael? You may have victory over it, but you gotta, watch, you gotta be circumspect and make sure it never comes back again. Maybe you've been wrestling with your Ishmael for a while and you've sat there, watched it, and you're kind of, you're like Abraham. It's like, what an ultimatum. I mean, I gotta be honest between me and God. Okay, I love this thing, but I know it's gotta go. I love the control I have over this person with the bitterness and the anger and the unforgiveness. I love the control I have over this, but yes, I know it's gotta go. I just love the power that I have with some of the words that I use and how I talk to certain people, but I know it's gotta go. I just love the way that my insecurity is salved, S-A-L-V-E-D. I can't say it, it's salved, salved. by this vice that I have and how I turn to it every time as a medication. I know, but it's got to go. Whatever it is, you know what it is. You know what it is. What are you doing with your Ishmael? Can I tell you? With the help of God, do we believe this tonight? With the help of God, the Ishmael can go. You know where it starts? It starts tonight by driving a stake into the ground saying, okay, Lord, I don't know how, I don't know where, I don't know the process, I don't know what I'm even gonna do next, but I know this, between me and you, it's going tonight. It is going tonight. And I trust you that you're gonna help me pick it up and kick it out. Yeah. Father, thank you tonight. I know this as a child of God, as one of your children, there is that battle within the flesh and the spirit that I hate the flesh. I hate what happens. And sometimes it can feel or seem as if there's no hope. No doubt everybody in this room that has lived Christ for a number of years have no doubt come to that place in their life at times when they're so tired of sin that keeps showing up and they just feel like there's no hope and they want to give up and just go on but I'm so thankful tonight that we can see as Ishmael it is possible what a joy it is to know that it is possible for the Ishmael to be kicked out of our life what a joy that is. And I'm thankful that we have undergirding that, Father, your faithfulness, your faithfulness in our life, the promises that you have for us, the things that we have ahead of us. And Lord, we just look to you tonight that whatever it is, whatever that weight is, whoever that weight is, whether it is a vice, whether it is an attitude, whether it is a bitterness, whether it is whatever it is, Lord, would you help us tonight to just drive the stake into the ground. Two different things. He's going tonight. Ishmael is going. I'm telling you, he's going. Or the other thing that we need to drive in again tonight is a reminder that thank you, Lord, we've had victory. And help us tonight to walk circumspectly. to make sure we continue to walk in the victory that you have given us and that we will not go back, we'll not allow, we'll not open that door, allow Ishmael back into the family and back into the life. Oh God, help us there. Well, thank you for what you do tonight in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand tonight, invitation is open, instruments playing, however the Lord has spoken to you. Maybe you need to ask the Lord for help just to keep that door shut. God's given you victory in your life and you need it shut. I know these are one of these invitations that who on earth wants to go forward because everybody's going to think, well, you got something going on in your life. Friend, everybody has something besetting. It doesn't mean it's running roughshod over your life tonight. It just means that you are aware You are aware and you're honest with yourself and you're honest with God that, listen, every one of us in this room and every one on planet earth is in the same position with their own besetting sin that they know at any given time could rise up and take over. Maybe tonight Ishmael is still residing in the house and you just gotta kick him out and say, God, tonight it's going, it's going, yeah. I know this, not everybody has the same Ishmael. Not everybody has the same one. Regardless of what it is, the Holy Spirit of God, and you know, you know what it is. You know what it is. Maybe it's fear. You know, Satan knows he can get you at fear. and just constantly afraid of tomorrow, constantly afraid of carrying out the will of God, because, well, how am I gonna make ends meet, and how am I gonna do this, and how am I gonna do that? And if God wants me to do this, how's this gonna, just fear, you're living in fear, and it's an Ishmael that needs to go. You know what it is, whatever that is. Just start tonight, start. Here's the starting point, God. He's going tonight. You've spoken loud and clear. The flesh is not going to inherit any of the blessings of God. No. Doesn't matter if you've said it before to God. Doesn't matter if you've dealt with it before. You're like, well, I've already tried to deal with this thing. Who cares? Deal with it again. Tell God again tonight, God. Fine, whatever. I haven't made it, but we're gonna start all over tonight. And I'm gonna tell you, I'm kicking him out. And I'm gonna look to you to help me. Yeah.