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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.
Born Free
Message 0586b
Henry Mahan Tape Ministry
6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501
| Sermon ID | 5906142556 |
| Duration | 45:12 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Galatians 4:30-31 |
| Language | English |
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