I want you to open your Bibles with me now to the book of Galatians, chapter 4. The message I'm bringing tonight is not easy, it's a difficult, difficult task. I said to someone this morning that the message I brought this morning and am bringing tonight just might be the most important messages I preached from this pulpit in a long, long time. If we can get our teeth into what I'm trying to say this morning and tonight, if we can get established on this foundation, this rock, if this truth can penetrate our hearts and we can lay hold on Christ alone, plus nothing, minus nothing, we'll And this just may be the most important messages that I've preached in a long time. And this man spoke up and said, that you've ever preached. That you've ever preached. And I believe that. I made some statements Wednesday night, either last week or the week before. And I want you to listen. I'm going to be as candid tonight as I can. As plain as I can. Because this is what I believe. That I am justified, sanctified, and redeemed. and accepted by the Heavenly Father. My name is in the Book of Life. I'm a child of the King on the account of nothing that I've ever done, said, given, or performed, but solely and completely and absolutely and totally and unchangeably because of who Christ is and what he did and where he is now. That's how I'm saved. Plus nothing minus nothing. Now, Noah may get drunk. and cause his son to fall, but he's saved by the grace of God. Can you take that? It's so anyhow. Abraham may fail in faith and deny his wife not once but twice, but he's saved by the grace of God. David may find Bathsheba and fall and kill her husband, but he's saved by the grace of God. Can you take that? If you can't, you've missed the gospel. But you say that's terrible. If you knew how terrible your heart is right now in the sight of God, you'd be blushing, not looking so straight ahead. Your head would be hanging. Right, Tom? It's not many sinners, do you know that? We say, oh, this is terrible, that's terrible, something else. You're terrible. By birth, by nature, by practice, by thought. You say, I've never done this, not outwardly, but you have in your mind. Everything that people in jail for right now, you've done in your imagination. Everything that criminals have been hung for, you've committed before God in your thoughts. Do you know that? Somebody said, well, you can't hang a man for his thoughts. I know that, but God can send him to hell for them. That's right. The judge can't hit his gavel on the desk and send you to prison for your thoughts, but God can damn you for them, and that's exactly what he's going to do, unless you have a savior. And Peter can sit by the fire and curse and swear and declare he never knew Jesus Christ, but he's saved by grace. That's so. You say preach like that, and folks will live like they please. I hope they do. Until God changes your pleasure, you're going to anyway. And you might as well live outwardly like you live inwardly, because God looks on the heart, not on the outward countenance. That's so. But salvation by grace, and I made these statements, and I told you I was going to get plain, but I'm getting plain. Now Christ is going to get the glory for your salvation, or he'll glorify his justice in your damnation. But he's not going to share his glory with your little puny works. He's not going to do it. He's not going to accept your self-righteous rags at the marriage supper of the Lamb. You're going to be clothed in the spotless righteousness of Jesus Christ, or you're going to hear him say, depart from me, I never knew you. Bind him hand and foot and cast him into hell, where the worm doth not and the fire is not quenched. That's grace, and that's grace alone, and that's the preaching of grace. Somebody said, well, people will charge you with being an antinomian. If this works generation of fundamentalists doesn't charge you with being an antinomian, you hadn't preached any gospel. Because to them, you are one. They're saved by their works. They're saved by their deeds. They're saved by their goodness plus Christ. Men who believe grace and look to grace and cling to grace and preach grace, they were saved by Christ alone plus nothing minus nothing. And that's so. And I said the other Wednesday night, your sins will never keep you from Christ. I don't care how dark they are, how black they are, how many they are. Your sins will never keep you from Christ. He delights to show mercy. He came to save sinners. Our Lord died for sinners. He's the friend of sinners. But our Lord despises self-righteousness. And while your sins will never keep you from Christ, your good works will. Not so. Our Lord Jesus Christ had nothing but pity and compassion and affection for sinners. They gathered around him. They ate with him. They talked with him. They looked to him. They touched him. The Pharisees stood off and condemned him. Thank you, Lord, I'm not like those folks. I tithe and fast. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not unjust. I'm not all this. But you're not saved either. But this poor old publican who beats upon his chest and will not so much as lift his eyes to heaven, but weeps and cries, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Our Lord said he went home justified. And he called himself the sinner, not a sinner, the sinner. You said it says a sinner. That's a definite article. You look it up. I'm the sinner. I'm the chief of sinners. Now your sins will never keep you out of heaven. Heaven is a place where God's gonna take sinners, blood-washed sinners, redeemed sinners, but your good works will keep you out of Heaven. And your sins are no barrier, no barrier at all to perfect holiness. No sin I've ever committed, no sin I've ever thought, no sin I'll ever commit is any barrier whatsoever to perfect holiness. Because perfect holiness is in Christ, who is my holiness and who is my sanctification. I'll tell you outside of Christ, if we weren't in Christ by grace and in Christ by God's mercy and under Christ's blood and clothed in Christ's righteousness, out of Christ the best man who ever lived would be an abomination in God's sight. Did you know that? The very best man who ever lived. Not you and me, the very best man that ever lived. Because even our righteousness is a filthy rag. We all do fade as the leap. Do you know what a sinner is? If we could just see it. Sinners enter heaven by grace. No man ever entered therein by works. And I'm telling you, and I'm saying it as clear as I can, no two things in all this world are any different than works and grace. They are diametrically opposed. They are as opposite grace and works. Grace and law are as opposite as light and darkness. Did you know that? They're infinitely apart. Grace and works can no more mix or agree than fire and water. You can't mix fire and water and you can't mix grace and works. Turn to Romans 11 a minute. Romans chapter 11, and I want us to spit on our hands and choose up sides tonight. And I want you, like Joshua said, he said, choose you this day whom you'll serve. Either the God of all grace, free grace, sovereign grace, pure grace, or the God your daddy served on the other side of the flood. But as for me and my house, we're going the grace road. As for me and my house, we're going the road of grace, free grace. free grace, and I guarantee you this, everybody who's ever seen himself a sinner is going that road too. Everybody who's ever got a glimpse into his old rotten heart, his old sinful nature, everybody that's ever seen himself under the microscope of God Almighty's perfect holiness, he's going that road too. And you know who's going to walk the road of works? Folks that never knew their lost, but they're going to know it someday. beyond repair. In Romans chapter 11, listen to the verse 5. Even so, at this present time, there's a remnant according to the election of grace. And if it's by grace, and if it's by grace, it is no more of works. It can't be. Otherwise, grace is not great. Grace is pure, undiluted, no alloy, no mixture. It's pure grace. It's a pure gift. If it's got any works mixed, it's not grace. That's what he's saying, it can't be grace. I know we believe in Christ, but not even a tiny little but. I know Christ saves, but wait, now hold it right there. I know Christ saves period. That's it, it's by pure grace. Elected by grace. redeemed by grace, chosen by grace, called by grace, accepted by grace, kept by grace, perfected by grace. Even faith is a gift of God's grace. Even repentance is a gift of God's grace. Even my works are not products of my own heart, they're the work of God. It's not I, it's Christ that liveth in me. My own flesh will never be any better. Even grace does not improve the old nature. The old nature is the same. It'll never change. It can't change. It's got to be put in the ground. The new nature is holy and cannot see. It's a divine nature created in the image of God. Read on. If it's of grace, it's no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if this thing of salvation be by works, it's no more grace. That's how clear it is, David. That's the reason I said, as Barnard said, spit on our hands and choose up sides. It's either salvation, justification, sanctification, acceptance with God is all of grace. It's the pure gift of God. Without anything that we do, think, or say, or it's by works, it cannot be both. It cannot be both. But this is what's so amazing. This is what's so amazing, that while works and grace are so diametrically opposite, so essentially different, the human mind, this old mind of ours, is so void of spiritual understanding. This old mind of ours is so depraved, it's so twisted and turned away from God. He said, your thoughts aren't my thoughts. There's a way that seems right to us, but he said the end is destruction. It's death. Why, he said, as the heavens are high above the earth, my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. My ways are higher than your ways. We don't think like God. Our minds are so depraved and so void of spiritual understanding and so twisted and so turned and so perverted that the most difficult thing for a human being to do is to discriminate between law and grace. Did you know that? That's the hardest thing in the world. That's the greatest conflict that the natural mind has, especially a religious mind. The hardest thing in the world is for him to differentiate, to discriminate between works and grace. What he wants to blend, what God says, can never be blended. He wants to mix what God Almighty has positively put asunder. It's grace. It's grace alone wherein God gets all the glory for everything that I have and am and know and shall be. Or it's works. It cannot be both. Let me show you some scripture. I'll just quote it for you. You don't need to turn to all of it. I can get it quickly. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. not of works, lest any man should boast." Listen over here to 2 Timothy 1.9, 2 Timothy 1.9, for we are saved and called with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, grace which was given to us, given to us in Christ before we hit a lick, before we hit a tap, before the foundation of the world. This grace was given to me, it was imputed unto me before I ever was born into this world. That's what it says. Listen to Titus chapter 3 verse 5. It says, not by works of righteousness which we've done, but according to his mercy, his mercy, his mercy, he saved us Not according to our works. God says that over and over again. A man is not justified by works. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. Not by works. Yes, we're going to have it in him. Well, I just don't believe she saved if she wouldn't have done that. See what I mean? Well, I just don't believe he can be a saved man and talk like... See what I mean? We're going to get it together or die. We're going to get it together if it costs God all His glory, we're going to mix it. Not by works, is that clear? But by His grace, according to His mercy, He saved us. Romans 3, I want all of you to turn to this one. In Romans chapter 3, verse 20, listen to this. Romans 3, well let's read verse 19. Now we know, everybody's been taught if God knows this, Everybody, God Almighty has opened his heart like he did Lydia and revealed anything to him, he knows this. We know that what things forever God's law says, what God's law says, and let me tell you something, God's law speaks more than to the act, it speaks to the attitude. It speaks to the attitude. Now I want you to think a little bit. I know there's some folks that don't do things exactly like we think they ought to, but you watch your attitude toward them, your sin may be greater than theirs. It just could be. God doesn't judge sin like we do. God Almighty does not measure sin like we measure sin. I know enough about his word and enough about his holy character that what we sometimes judge to be the worst thing in God's sight is not. You know when he named the seven things he hated, what he named first? He named pride. That's the first thing he named. And I'll tell you this, here's a person that transgresses or offends us in some way, and the attitude we take toward them and the way that we treat them in their fall or in their problem may be a greater sin in the sight of God than what that individual did. Now you think about that. Think about Romans 3, what the law saith, it saith to everybody, not just some, it speaks not to the act only, to the attitude, it speaks not just to the manners, it speaks to the motive. God's law speaks to the heart. You see, sin is a spiritual transgression. That's right, sin is a spiritual offense. Sin and the way God looks upon sin is in the spiritual world. Almighty God could care less for your cars and houses and bank accounts and money and all this stuff you've accumulated. God looks on the heart. That's where the business of life takes place. Keep your heart out of the inner issues of life. My son, give me your heart. God is nigh unto them of a broken heart. God save us such as be of a contrite spirit and a broken heart. You hear what I'm saying? With the heart man believeth. Out of the heart, the mouth speaketh. That's where God does business. He could care less how long your dress is. That's right. He created you, you didn't have nothing on. You see what I'm saying? We're so busy, caught up in and wrapped up in things, material things, physical things, and God Almighty could care less about it. He looks on the heart. I'm telling you the truth. These other jack-legged preachers are not. Now that's just honesty. One thing, they don't know it. That's the reason they can't tell it. Sin is a heart problem, and God looks on the heart, and God deals with the heart. I hate to see people go to hell with an outward righteousness and an inward condemnation. But that's what the Pharisees were. Our Lord said to them, He said, why? He said, you're like a white encephalica. You're so pretty and so nice and so outwardly pure, and on the inside you're full of dead men's bones. You appear beautiful to men, and on the inside there's nothing but a chaos and extortion and all of the wickedness God Almighty hates with a passion. Oh, God help us, but He won't. We know that what the law says, and the law speaks not just to the manners, it speaks to the motive, not just to the act, but to the attitude, not just to the deeds, but it speaks to the heart. And what does it say? It says to everybody under the law that every mouth may be stopped, stop your mouth, and all the world become guilty, guilty, guilty. You ever been guilty? Guilty! I tell you what, guilt looks for grace. Pride looks for worse. Exactly right. Guilt looks for grace. Misery looks for mercy. But man's pride and arrogance in his haughtiness before God looks for reward. All right, every mouth stopped, all the world guilty. Therefore, here's my conclusion. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall be no flesh. And you set forth your Levitical law, your Sabbath days, your tithing, your feast days, your washings, set forth your moral law, the thou shalt not and thou shalt. God says by the deeds of no law, no law given by man or God, no law either Levitical or moral, no law by the deeds of the law, no flesh shall ever be justified in God's sight. No flesh. Now that's as clear. That's as clear as it can be made. So we face three difficulties. We face three major hurdles. And the first one is this. Somehow, someway, By God's mercy and by God's grace, we're going to have to find out that we're sinners. I don't know how it's going to be done or whether it'll ever be done, but we're going to have to find out. These proud, arrogant spirits and hearts are going to have to be crushed and broken before God and smitten. We're going to have to be slain or we'll never be made alive. We're going to have to have our foundations cut out from under us and swept out from under us, but we've got no place to rest our feet. Without hope, without God, without help, without strength, without hope, without Christ, and our wits in, as Scott says, at the end of the rope, hanging by a thread over the open pits of hell. We've got to find that out. I don't know whether God will ever show me I'm a sinner, but if he never does, he'll never save me. You'll never save me. I've got to be stripped before I'm clothed. I've said that 10,000 times. I'd like to hope 10 people have heard it. We're going to have to be slain before we're made alive. We're going to have to be crippled before we're healed. We're going to have to be hopeless at the wit's end, crying unto the Lord in our trouble. We'll never be saved. Learning a doctrine doesn't save you, Christ saves you. Changing from fundamentalism to Calvinism won't save you. Changing from some other ism to this ism won't save you. We're going to have to come to him as a sinner, a stripped and broken sinner. We're going to have to come to him like that leper fell at his feet and worshipped him and cried, My Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. So many people were in this and now they're in that and they're no better off. So many folks saw this, and then they saw that, and they accepted this, and they're no better off. The only man that's better off is the man who's seen himself lost, empty, slain, and looked to Christ, and reached out an empty hand, and said, if I can but touch him, I'll be made whole. That's the one that's better off. Some folks have had some experiences, and they've seen the light, but they've never seen Christ. That's sad. So that's the first hurdle. We're going to have to find out we're sinners. Then secondly, turn to John 6. We're going to have to learn the gospel. We're going to have to learn the gospel. In John chapter 6, we're going to have to be taught of God. We're going to have to learn the gospel. And what is the gospel, David? The gospel is the gospel of God. We know that. It came from God. Secondly, it's the gospel concerning his son. We know that. The gospel is not concerning what you do or anybody else does. It concerns Christ. Who he is, what he did, why he did it, where he is. It concerns Christ alone, it's the gospel concerning his son. Christ is my righteousness, he's my wisdom, he's my sanctification, he's my atonement, he's my sin offering, he's my high priest, he's my mediator, he's alpha and omega, the beginning and the end and all in between. God looks on Christ and not on me. It's concerning his son. Not just his finished work, but his eternal work. Not just his death, but his righteousness. And then I know this, that gospel is a gospel of God's grace. Pure grace, free grace, grace alone. And the only way to learn that is to be taught of God. John 6 says this, our Lord said in verse 44, no man can come to me, is able, has the ability to come to me, except my Father which sent me draw him. Gonna have to be drawn by the Father, and I'll raise him up. It's written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. And I'll tell you before God teaches a man, what's the first thing he does? Shuts his mouth. A man, a woman will never learn. I'm warning you, I'm telling you this, you'll never learn while you're teaching. Talking, telling somebody else what you believe, what your position is. When a man learns is when God strips him and breaks him and humbles him and sits him down and shuts his mouth. And then God teaches him. God teaches him. And I'll tell you what God teaches him. He teaches him who he is. Who he is. I love the way Tom opened his prayer in our Bible study class this morning. God, oh God, our Father, we know a little bit about how awesome you are. How mighty and how glorious. How eternal and magnificent. Do you? Do you? Now next thing he'll teach you is how insignificant, how wretched and worthless in Adam you are. I no count. God doesn't need you. God doesn't need me. We need Him. But you don't mount a hill of beans in yourself. In Christ you do. You're somebody in Christ. You're a prince. But out of Christ you're nothing but a rebel. You're nothing but an enemy of God. You're nothing but a son of Satan. You're nothing but a tree that conquers the ground that bringeth forth no fruit. And God said, cut it down. Christ said, in me are all things, and without me you can do nothing. What is the branch separated from the vine, fit for nothing but to be gathered together and cast into the fire and burned? Worthless, less than nothing. Man at his best state is vanity. God will teach you that. And I'll tell you this, you'll turn your eyes on Christ. He let you see from eternity past to eternity future. Everything he's ever had for the sinner, considered given the sinner, set out in his purpose to bestow upon the sinner, he purposed it in his son. Christ is the firstborn of every creature, the firstborn from the dead, and he's the first in God's kingdom. And everything we have is because of him, and in him, and through him, and for his glory. That's so God teach you that. God will shut you up to faith in Christ. Grace! What a charming sound. Grace. Now here's the third hurdle. Find out I'm a sinner. God has to do it. Strip me. God has to do it to break me, to humble me, to shut my mouth, to make me see I am nothing, have nothing. Arthur Pink said, and know nothing. Poor in spirit, poverty stricken, in the kingdom of God less than nothing. lower than the beast, lower than the animals, a wiggling maggot, unworthy of God's attention, found him on the dunghill and set him on the throne. Where did he find him? Where did he find you? He found me on the dunghill. found every one of his sons on the dunghill. That's our abode, that's our place of habitation, the dunghill. God found us there. And God washed us and cleansed us in the blood of his son and roped us in the righteousness of Christ and shot our feet and put a crown on our head and a ring on our finger and exalted us and set us on his throne, not ours, his. And he did it all. Brought me scratching and fighting all the way. That's right. Put me on the throne. Every one of us going to hell if we can. That's right. Every one of us. And it's all by His grace. All by His grace. And then He'll teach us the gospel. And what He'll teach us. And then the third thing. What is it? The difficulty. It's to rest therein. Did you know that? To stay there. Gerald mentioned this to me in a study while ago. He talked about what I preached this morning, how much he appreciated it, how he believed it. He said the amazing thing to me, and it's amazing to me too, but then I understand it to some extent. He says it seems that some people, some people lay hold of this message of grace, of Christ, of salvation by Christ, God's election. and Christ's redemption, Christ's burial and resurrection, Christ's intercession. They seem to lay hold on that, and they seem to appreciate it to some extent, and even teach it and argue for it. But then, they still, it's Christ and this, and that, and something else. And you can't be saved by Christ unless this, and unless that, unless something else. And if you're saved by Christ, this, this, and this. I know that, and you know what it is? I'll tell you what it is. They've never, they've got a head knowledge of Christ, but they've never really been satisfied with Christ. They've never really laid hold of Christ with the full heart and the whole heart and the complete heart. They've never been completely satisfied that everything that the law requires and that God requires and that justice demands is met in Christ and they're satisfied with Christ. Otherwise, they wouldn't add anything to Christ. If I'm complete, then nothing needs to be added. Nothing. And here's another thing they don't see. That's the first thing. They've never seen that everything the law demands. Everything that justice requires, everything legally, everything spiritually that God Almighty is and requires is fulfilled in Christ. I am complete in Christ and you can't get more incomplete. Brother Scott Richardson says we make a mistake talking about growing in grace as if we grew in the grace of God. We're as gracious as we'll ever be in God's sight. We're as holy as we'll ever be. We're in Christ. We grow in acts of grace. We grow in love and faith and these things. But as far as acceptance, I'm already seated on God's right hand in Christ. I don't grow in that. Not at all. I'll tell you another thing as long as this. Anybody who looks to anything else for fulfillment, or for additional acceptance or for completion, never saw himself a sinner. Now let me tell you something. Rather than a sinner is dead, dead, a sinner is without any way in this world of satisfying a holy God. Let me tell you something. Even those good things, good in whose sight? Good in our sight. But what's good in God's sight? And I have never done, listen to me, I've never done in the eyes of God a good work. Never, never, never. Have you? Russell, have you ever done a good work? Now in my eyes you do. I wouldn't take a dollar and a half in a county cash for you. I think you're one of the finest men I know. I think you're one of the most loyal, dependable, but you ain't never done nothing in God's sight that's perfect. Never have. And I haven't either. In other words, I have no good works on my account. I've got a lot on Christ's account. See what I'm talking about? You can give your body to be burned and have not Christ to profit you nothing. You can bestow your goods to feed the poor and have not Christ to profit you nothing. That's Bible. You can speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not Christ to you a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. You've never performed one good work, and you never will, in God's sight. In the flesh, what does the Bible say? No man can please God. No man. But I'll tell you this, now here's what I'm saying, by grace in Christ I have a perfect standing. In Christ, my works, my prayers, my deeds, my worship, as unholy as they are, as selfish as they are, as tainted as they are, as sinful as they are, are accepted in Christ. In Christ. Please listen to me, that's so. I beg of you, it's so. You've got to stay there. Paul said, I turn to Galatians chapter 2 and listen to it. Galatians chapter 2. And you say, well, preacher, if you keep on like this, you'll discourage good works. I hope I discourage any man from trusting in them. I hope I discourage any man from finding any joy in them. I hope I discourage any man from having any hope in them. I hope I discourage any man from having any approval of them. I hope I show every man that there's no such thing. Out of Christ is a good work, and that'll shut him up to Christ. But Paul says in Galatians 2, 21, I do not confuse, I do not confound, I do not frustrate the grace of God, if righteousness cometh by the law, and in a shape, form, or fashion. Jesus Christ died in vain. I turn back to our text, and let me show you something here quickly. I want you to look at these two women. He says here, I read it to you, you remember me reading it, Hagar and Sarah. Abraham had a wife named Sarah. God said to him, you're going to have a son. Abraham was 90 years old, or less than that. He was 80-some odd when God first promised him an heir. Out of your own bowels, you'll have a son. Well, he got to be 86 years old, and he still didn't have a son. Sarah was 10 years younger. She's 76. Didn't have a son. was past the scriptures of the way of women at that time. So she said to him, she said, there's my handmaid Hagar, go in to her and have a son. So Abraham listened to the voice of his wife, went in to her and had a son. He was 86 years old when Ishmael was born. And Ishmael started growing up, and God came to Abraham when he was 90. Ishmael was four years old. And God said, Abraham, I told you he's going to have a son. Out of your own bowels you'll have an heir. He'll be great, and Abraham said, Lord, I'm 80, I'm 90 years old, and Sarah's 80. Passed her the way of women. He said, let Ishmael live before they. No, sir. No, sir. I will not have Ishmael. Won't have him. I won't have him. You're going to have a son by Sarah. Going to be a miracle son. Going to be a son God gave. Son God gave. So Abraham was 100 years old, and Ishmael was 14 years old. Young man running around 14 years old. Sarah was 90, she conceived and bore a son. And when they were weaning Isaac, Ishmael was about 15 or so then, and they were weaning Isaac, and Ishmael was over there laughing at him, mocking Isaac, mocking him, mocking the heir. And Sarah saw him, and Sarah told Abraham, said, get rid of that woman and her son. And Abraham went to God, and he said, I can't do that. And the Lord God said to him, and Sarah was right, cast out the bondwoman and her son. Cast them out, for the bondwoman and her son will not be heir with the free woman and her son. That's what God said. Paul comes along right here and says, those two women are an allegory of something that happened back there, people, things, and events that illustrate something right now. Paul says those two women are the two covenants. Hagar is the covenant of works, do's and don'ts and deeds. That's who she stands for. Ishmael, her son, is the product of the covenant of works. See that? Flesh. Abraham produced him, Hagar produced him, works produced him. Sarah is the covenant of grace, pure miracle, pure grace, pure purpose, pure promise that God made before the foundation of the world. Isaac, her son, was born, she's 90 years old, and her husband was 100. A pure miracle, a pure work of God. Ishmael born of the flesh, Isaac born by the power of God. And my friends, that's the difference right here in works and good. Works is what you do, works is what you produce, grace is what God did and what God produced. Abraham could take credit by Ishmael. Abraham got the prize. I'm sure when he came out down the street and that boy was born, people patted him on the back and said, Abraham, great, glad you got a son. Yeah, he said, I'm proud too. But I tell you, Isaac wasn't any reason for him to be proud. God did that. Abraham didn't do that. God did it. Sarah didn't do that. God did it. All the praise and the glory goes to God. Let me show you some things about these two women. First of all, Sarah was Abraham's wife originally. That's right, she was the original wife. And the covenant of grace is the original covenant. It was made before the foundation of the world. It was made before Abraham ever knew Hagar. Before Hagar was ever on the scene, before Hagar was ever heard of, before Hagar was ever born, Sarah was the wife. That's right, that's right. And I'm telling you, God's covenant of grace toward sinners was there before sinners were ever born. before the covenant of works had ever produced one Hagarin. Is that a good name? A Hagarin. I think that would be a good denomination, a Hagarin. It wouldn't be a Nazarene, it would be a Hagarin, Gerald. But before there was ever a Hagarin who ever wiggled and writhed unto heaven, God had a covenant of grace. Now, Hagar was never Abraham's wife. Never was, never intended to be, and never was. Sarah was his wife. And the covenant of works was never intended to save anybody. Hagar was never free. She was a slave when he met her, and a slave when he hired her, and a slave when she conceived, and a slave when she gave birth to the son, and a slave when they put her out. Never free. Sabaoth was free, and Isaac was born free. Born free. And I'll tell you this, everybody that's born by the grace of God is born free. was never a slave, was never in bondage, always a son of God. Now watch this. Turn to Genesis 21. I want to show you that. Genesis 21. And this is what we've got to do, and it's a hard thing for the flesh to do. But in Genesis chapter 21, let's look at it. And it says in verse 8, Genesis 21, 8, are you with me? And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast this day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, which was born unto Abraham, mocking. She said, Abraham, cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, never, never, never. And the thing was grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in your sight because of Ishmael, because of the bondwoman. And all that Sabaoth hath said to you, hearken to her voice. For in Isaac shalt thy seed be called. See that? Now turn to Galatians 3, and I'll show you that same thing over here. And this is hard for us. It's hard for us. And, boy, I'll tell you, Abraham, when God told him that, Here's Sarah, the free woman, and her freeborn son, a gift of God, a miracle of God that's a type of Christ and a type of salvation, a covenant of grace. Here's Hagar and her slave son. He's still Abraham's son. He's a product of Abraham's flesh. He's much a part of Abraham as Isaac is. He's older than Isaac. You know, though Sarah was the first wife, Hagar had the first son. And though there was a covenant of grace before the covenant of works was ever produced, the covenant of works produced the first son. Adam was an Ishmael. And my old flesh was born before I was born spiritually. And I'll tell you, Abraham sat there and he said, I can't do that. I can't. That's bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. God said he got to go. I don't care how painful it is. I don't care how hard it is. I don't care how distressed you are. Ishmael's got to go. Got to go. And I'll tell you this, we gnaw and bite, but look at Galatians chapter 4, listen to that, verse 30. Nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman, who is she? The old covenant. And her son, who is he? He's a product of the old covenant. He's a product of works. He's a product of flesh. Cast him out, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. But Lord, let's give Ishmael a little corner over here on the ranch. Ain't nobody gonna pay much attention to it. Let's just, oh no, listen to me. In salvation, Christ is gonna have all the glory. Our flesh and deeds and works not even gonna live in one little corner. Got to be cast out. That's what Paul's saying in Philippians 3, if you want to look at it a minute. In Philippians 3 here, he named all the things he'd done and all the things he was. He said in verse 5, I circumcised the eighth day, the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee. Verse 6, concerning zeal, persecuting the Church, touching righteousness, which is the law, blameless, but all these things I count lost. Yea, I count them all lost for the excellency of Christ. He said in verse 8, and I do count them but rubbish to be cast out, dumb to be cast out. And I say this to you, we take all that we've ever done and all that we've ever said religiously, our heritage, our ancestry, our tithes, our guilts, our preaching, our teaching, our decisions, our experiences, all that we have, all our Ishmaelites, all our little Hagarines, let's take every one of them and let's cast them out. Tell them goodbye. Turn them into the wilderness. Son of promise. son of purpose, the son of grace. He lives alone. He's exalted alone. God's not going to share his glory. He's just not going to share his glory. We're intent, we're intent on blending them. We're intent on giving Ishmael out. We'll give Christ the major place. You'll give Christ the whole place. But we'll give Christ the greatest honor. You'll give Christ all the honor. But we'll recognize Christ as worthy. You'll recognize him alone as worthy. That's just so. That's where the rubber hits the road. That's where business with God is done, in Christ, for Christ, through Christ. And he's not going to recognize your ishmaelism. That's got to be done. You've got to, however it hurts, however painful it is, How much it turns people against you. You just think what the neighbors thought when Abraham put Hagar out. I bet there's some talk went on. Just think what the neighbors say. You man, you're going to put that boy out? He's yours. That's right. We'll put him out because he is mine. And I'm going to cling to Isaac because he's God's. That's right. And you let them talk. You let them say what they will. It's not men that are going to judge you, it's God that's going to judge you. And we got to get rid of our Ishmael's and our Hagar's. Cast them out. Be done with them. Count them but rubbish. Fit for burning. Take the best we have that the flesh has ever produced. No matter how proud we are of it, I raised that boy. I know you did. That's what's wrong with him. You're going to have that one God raised. He'll raise his own in the image of his son, Jesus Christ. created in His image, created in His likeness, and you'll get the glory.