and make ready quickly. Three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the herd. And Abraham ran unto the herd and fetched the calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man, and he hastened to dress it. Let's get down to verse thirteen. The Lord now has told Abraham that he would in fact have a son, that Sarah, even in her old age, is going to have a son. And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of assurity bear a child whom I am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord? The time appointed I will return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Now, verse nineteen, the Lord is on his way leaving Abraham after having this meal with him, the Lord and the two other angels. The Lord is going to send the two angels then on into the city of Sodom and Gomorrah where they are going to pass judgment. But notice here that while the Lord and the two angels are walking away, there is a contemplation that is going on that is given to us here in the Word of God. Verse nineteen, For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice. that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him. And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have done all together according to the cry of it, which has come unto me, and if not I will know. And the men turned their faces from there and went towards Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. And as you know the story, Abraham was then given the opportunity to act as an intercessor on the part of the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, and particularly on the part of his nephew Lot. In chapter nineteen then we read concerning the destruction of the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. Chapter nineteen and verse one there came two angels to Sodom at evening, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom, and Lot seen them, rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face towards the ground. Now you'll notice here that Lot is in the gate of the city. It means he is now an official in this city. Part of his function is to greet strangers as they come into the city of Sodom. And this lesson will be skipping chapter twenty because it deals again with Abraham's laps in year out where once again he puts his wife in a compromising position. And we have already spoken of that in a previous chapter. Chapter twenty one and verse one we read, And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken unto him. Notice how it emphasizes over and over again this was God's working. The Lord visited Sarah as he had said. He did as he had spoken. And it was at the time in which the Lord said it would be. So the Lord took care of his purpose in his own time. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him whom Sarah bore to him Isaac. The name Isaac means joy or laughter. You remember on one occasion Abraham laughed for joy. Sarah laughed in disbelief, not believing that she could bear a child. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God has made me laugh so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham that Sarah should have nursed children, for I have borne him a son in his old age. 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, whom she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. 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. Back to chapter eighteen, where we had our beginning, we want to notice a couple of things immediately. We'll notice that we have in the outline first of all concerning Sarah, Abraham's wife. Sarah is a wife now that is seen as a very obedient and a very submissive woman. It is said of her in First Peter chapter three verses five and six that she called Abraham Lord. It goes on to say, whose daughters ye are. So just as Abraham is the father of all those who follow by faith, we can see how that Sarah is the mother of all those who follow in faith. Sarah is going to be spoken of as a woman of faith in Hebrews chapter eleven in that she bore a child or she received strength to bear a child in her old age. So women or wives can find their example in Sarah, a woman who showed a true submissive spirit to her husband Abraham. Now I also want to take note of the lesson of hospitality that is given here in this eighteenth chapter. Romans twelve, thirteen, first Peter four nine, give us instructions and exhortation toward hospitality. You'll notice that Abraham, as he lifted up his eyes, he ran to meet the strangers that were coming to him. It was in the heat of the day. He was eager to them. He was respectful to them as he called them, my Lord, and he was insistent that they stay there with him and enjoy a meal. Then he would go to the tent of Sarah in verse six. Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah and said, make ready, quickly, three measures of meal, need it, make cake, and then he would go to the herd. Now notice some things that Sarah did not do. Sarah did not say to Abraham, now Abraham, you know better than to invite company at the last minute. She did not say that. Sarah did not say, now Abraham, you know that we don't have any new China with which to serve strangers on. She didn't say that. She didn't say, now Abraham, you know that we weren't going to have any company until we added on that new wing on the tent. She didn't say that. And say, now Abraham knew, no, I'm not going to serve company on this old dining room table. I must have a new one before I... Didn't say that. Abraham's wife, Sarah, immediately set to work to entertain strangers. And in entertaining strangers, they did, in fact, entertain angels, unawares. Of course, they became aware of who they were as time went on. But because they were willing to entertain strangers, Abraham down the road here is going to have this golden opportunity to make intercession on behalf of his nephew Lot. Had they not entertained these strangers, we don't know if this opportunity would have ever been given to Abraham. But they did. There was no excuses. They very quickly, at the last moment, We're very glad to bring these strangers into their tent to fix a meal for them, and then it turned out that they would receive the confirmation of promise. Now, this is a very important lesson for us today, because many times in our Christian experience, we have a tremendous number of excuses for not entertaining the Lord's people. Well, the dishes aren't quite right. We really don't have enough room. wait until we get a dining room. We really should have a china closet, something along this line. And yet the instruction of the New Testament, the word of God that is speaking to our hearts would say, be eager to entertain strangers. The Lord's people are not really all that picky. When my wife and I were in Hawaii, we were first married. We were in Hawaii and we were in just a little old shack practically that we were renting for a an absorbent amount of money. Just to give you an illustration of what kind of place this was, I was changing a light bulb and I was standing on two chairs on top of each other to get up to it. And as I was changing it, suddenly I slipped and I fell and I hit the wall and the entire wall moved into the next apartment. This is the kind of place it was. Whenever it rained, we just took a sponge mop and just shoved the water out the door. And it kind of formed a waterfall as we're going down the steps. So it was really a nice place. And of course we didn't have a lot of money in those days, like it always is with new married couples, not that we have a lot of money now. But we didn't have a lot of money, so we didn't have a table. We didn't have too much in the way of silverware. Usually we use, we did have some kind of plastic dishes, I forget what, Melmac or something. We used them because the people who were handling the wedding forgot the candles. And it was all right with me. I didn't want to cast it quiddy. But anyway, they'd forgotten the candles and so the money from the candles that we saved on no candles we'd used to buy these plates. So we had these dishes. But what we did was we always would have company come in and we just sat around on the floor and you just put your dishes on the floor there and we just ate there sitting on the floor. And we never thought too much of it. There was a lot of servicemen in Hawaii who didn't have a place to go, and they would much rather come to our place and have roast beef and rice and whatever, some cream corn, and sit on the floor and eat it, then go back to the ship. So we had a lot of servicemen come in. We were able to entertain strangers. And in so doing, the Lord really blessed us in this because we got to meet and make some very lasting friendships. not too long ago we got a long distance phone call from a man in New York State and he was calling and he says I just found out that you've gone out into the Lord's work full time you're out preaching he says I think that's great but he says I want you to know that the reason why that I'm still meeting with the Lord's people that meet in the way we do is the reason why I'm still with these Christians is because you took time out to show me hospitality way back when I was in the Navy in Honolulu, Hawaii. And there was many other friendships that we were able to make because of this. And it didn't make any difference to us, who the people were, old, young, in between. They all came, they all sat on the floor and we had a good time of fellowship together. It really doesn't make any difference whether we have the right kind of dining room equipment, whether the flatware is silver or plastic. or whether or not it's the dishes or plastic paper or whatever, China. It doesn't really make any difference. It's just showing hospitality to the Lord's people. Whatever is necessary, we ought to be doing this. We can learn this lesson from Sarah. Sarah is the one that had to go into the kitchen, knead the bread, and do the work. You know, you wives, today sometimes you think you really have it difficult. All you have to do is go to the little bread box, pull out a loaf of bread. There you have it. Sarah had to go and actually meet it and bake it and make it right there on the spot. Now, you'll notice, husbands, that Abraham did kind of go out and help her out a little bit. He ran out to the herd, fetch the calf, tender good, and he dressed it. So he was willing to put out. It was a last-minute thing. So he was willing to put out a little effort as well. I know one day when my wife and I were driving home, we had just invited three servicemen. Navy ship had come in and we invited three of them to come over for dinner. My wife was kind of scratching her head and saying, listen, I don't think we have enough roast beef. You better go and get some Kentucky Fried Chicken or something quick. So I said, all right. So I was just kind of like Abraham going out in the herd and fetching it. But I was going to Kentucky Fried Chicken. and got some chicken and brought it in. So husbands need to be a little willing to help out with the wife as well. But we need to learn this lesson of hospitality, to show kindness, to show hospitality to strangers. This is a lesson concerning Sarah, his wife. We have then the confirmation of the promise that they will, in fact, have a child. Sarah is going to bear a child at the age of ninety. And in those days, of course, their biological system, they were younger, longer. However, a ninety-year-old woman back then would be kind of like a fifty-year-old woman today. So ladies, how would you like to have a child at the age of fifty? Well, we'll look at that a little more later. But this is why Sarah kind of chuckled within herself. She was chuckling. And then she denied that she laughed, and the Lord gave to her this verse, Is anything too hard for the Lord? No, there isn't. There is nothing too hard for the Lord. The birth of Isaac is going to be a miraculous birth. Now keep in mind a couple of things concerning the birth of Isaac. Things that we already have seen in our lesson. Number one, that Isaac is the child of promise. Number two, Isaac's birth is going to be a miraculous birth. Number three, his name is going to mean laughter or joy. He is going to be the child of joy. These three things, as you will notice already, are going to begin to lay down a pattern for us that is going to give us the type of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Now I want to bear down a little bit on verse nineteen, as I had mentioned. Abraham is a man who is in control of his family. His wife is obedient to him, as we've seen already in this chapter. The Lord knows him. He knows Abraham as a man. He says, and I know him. Knows him how. That he will command his children and his household after him. In Deuteronomy chapter six and verse seven, the law stated, that the fathers in Israel were to teach their children the law. It says, teach it to them. Make it as a frontlet to their forehead. In other words, the law was always to be before their eyes. Now later on, Jewish custom made it so that they had the twelve commandments in a little box hanging on the forehead. But that's not exactly what God meant. He meant that they were to teach it to their children so that it was always before them. When they rise in the morning, when they lay down in the evening, as they walked during the day, the law was to always be before them. Abraham was this kind of man, a man who had control over his household, the man who was in charge, and he was a man who would command his children after him. The Lord knew that what was committed to Abraham would be passed on to the next generation. the church in Ephesians chapter six. Then I'll just flip over there and read the very familiar passage of the Scripture. Ephesians chapter six and verse four. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ye fathers, as fathers we are to be in control of our household. We'll see more of this in a moment, how God has put the man in charge. He is to be the head of the household. And then it says, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. And I believe that what is being said here is that the children are not to be driven away from the things of God. Now the reason why I say this is because it stands in contrast to the rest of the verse, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So the contrast between bringing them up in the things of God would be to drive them away from the things of God. So it says, Fathers don't do that. Now a Father can do that in a couple of ways. He can do it by exercising discipline but never showing any love. This would drive the children away. He can do this by exercising too severe discipline, or discipline that is done in anger. Fathers should never discipline their children while they're angry because they may overdo it. In Colossians chapter three, in verse twenty one, it says, Fathers, provoke not your children, lest they be discouraged. Fathers are to discipline their children, yes, but they are to do it in such a way as to bring them in line with the things of God, not drive them away from the things of God. So fathers have this responsibility. This is why in Judges chapter thirteen and verse eight, we read the prayer of Samson's parents when they said, O Lord, teach us what we shall do unto this child. This ought to be the prayer. of every parent. Lord, teach me. Teach me how I shall bring up this child in the things of God, in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. To such a one, to such a father who has his family under control, the Lord will speak to his heart and will give him a real purpose in his life. But God is not going to use a man who does not have his family under control. Even the elders in the church, qualifications for an elder, is it there to be the husband of one wife? There to have their children in submission. There to be in control of their household. It ought to be our prayer as fathers that we might be like Abraham, a man whom the Lord could say, I know him. He will command his children. He will pass these things on to his household and those that are after him. Chapter nineteen, then, we have the lesson concerning Lot, his nephew. You remember previously, in Chapter thirteen and verse twelve, we saw that Lot was a man who pitched his tent toward the city of Sodom. Chapter fourteen and verse twelve, We read that when the kings, invading kings, came and took over the city of Sodom, they took Lot out of the city. He was in the city. So we have him pitching his tent toward the city. Then in chapter fourteen he is in the city. Now in chapter nineteen he is in the gate of the city. And so it is with this man Lot that his spiritual decay has reached the point where he has not only been taking into this wicked place, but he is an actual, he's actually an official in this place. Lot knew the sin of Sodom, that is Sodomy. In II Peter chapter two, verses seven and eight, it says that just Lot was vexed with this wicked city. It goes on to say that he was a righteous man, that he had a righteous soul. But even though the word of God says that this man Lot was righteous, Still notice he is a man sitting in the gate of the city of Sodom. It can be today that the Lord's people could be found in the gate of wickedness. It can happen. Now many times what we call a carnal Christian is really not a Christian at all. But we don't know for sure. But there can be such a one who is carnal, who has slipped so far away from the things of God, they are still righteous. in the sense that they are saved, truly born again. But they have slipped into sand. Mark it down, whatsoever a man sold, that shall he reap. Sarah has reaped what she sold. Lot is going to reap what he has sown. He will lose his wife in the transaction. Notice then that as they come out of the city, during this chapter, a familiar story to us, as they come out of the city, they were not to turn around and look. Lot's wife turned around and looked and turned into a pillar of salt. Later on in the chapter then, he is hiding out in a cave with his two daughters. He will then have children by his two daughters. They will become the Moabites and the Ammonites. Both were people who attacked Israel. They were a pain in Israel's side later on in history. All because of a man who was, even though he was a just man, righteous man had a righteous soul that was vexed just because he did not learn the holy walk to separate himself from this wickedness and to seek first the kingdom of God I want to just point out here as well as you can see on the outline the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is the sin of Sodomie I was just not too long ago I was reading in the religious section of the Denver Post Otherwise known as the comic section. And in this section, there was one certain clergyman who was stating that the sin of Sodom was not actually homosexuality, but was in fact lack of hospitality. That's why we call it the comic section. The sin of Sodom was, in fact, sodomy. God does condemn it. And as Christians, we have to have this straight in our mind, because we're living in a world today that is first trying to tell us, well, it's only a sickness. And then they try to tell us, well, no, it's not even a sickness. It just happens to be a biological mix-up. This sin brought about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as given to us here in this chapter nineteen of Genesis. It is also the is spoken out of the sin that brought about the destruction in second Peter through six and in Jude verse seven it is condemned under the law in Leviticus chapter twenty verses thirteen to sixteen by stoning to death this is the mind of God concerning the sin of sodomy it was punishable by stoning in the Old Testament under grace it is also condemned in Romans chapter one We read these words. Romans chapter one, verse twenty six. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections. Notice that God calls this vile. For even their women did exchange the natural use for that which is against nature. And likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the women burned in their lust one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, receiving in themselves that recompense of their error, which was fitting. God is condemning what is known today as the homosexuality. Men with men, women with women. It is condemned in the Word of God. The Christians must condemn it as well. We must make sure that in our lives and in our practice, that we stand against those things that God stands against and not be brainwashed by this nonsense that it is simply a sickness. Whenever someone says to me, so-and-so is having a problem in a certain area, I say, yes, it's called sin. I say, wow, so-and-so is having a problem with drinking. I said, is that a sickness? And I said, yes, it's a sickness. It's called sin. The other day my wife was asking me, she says, you're always saying that. It's called sin. I said, well, that's what it always is. It's sin. Sin is the problem. It is not some biological makeup or mix up in hormones or any other such nonsense. It is sin. God calls it sin. It has been condemned as sin. The Christian must call it this as well. In Chapter XXI, then, we read concerning sin. the birth of Isaac. And we enter in here to a very important passage of Scripture. As I noted earlier, there are some parallels now immediately with this man Isaac, and he is being established as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ as we're moving through Scripture. And we will see this even more clearly in the offering up of Isaac in Chapter In the birth of Isaac we see once again Abraham the man of faith. We will also see Sarah as the woman of faith. In Romans chapter four we read concerning the birth of Isaac. In Romans chapter four verse thirteen we read For the promise that he should be heir of the world was not to Abraham or his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Abraham will have a son born unto him, not by works, once again, not under law, but it is going to be because of the righteousness of faith. He believed in the Lord. For if they who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect. Because the law worketh wrath, where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, before him, whom he believed, even God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth those things which are not as though they were, who against hope, I noticed that. Abraham believed against hope, believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations. According to that which was spoken, so shall I see be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead. Word of God saying that Abraham at the age of one hundred was now unable to have a child. It was impossible. If there would have been doctors there, they would have told Abraham, it is impossible for you physically to have a child. But he did not consider his body now dead when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. She was beyond the age of childbearing. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. This is how the birth of Isaac came about. Abraham, the man, believed God. He considered not the deadness of his own body, the deadness of Sarah's body, in their ability to reproduce, but they believed God. It says he staggered not. He believed God. We can see through these lessons how Abraham is becoming a man that each step of the way is becoming a man stronger and stronger in faith. He believed God. Salvation, first of all, is believing God. It is not considering the flesh, but rather it is turning away from the flesh. To repent, turn about, and believe God. This is how we are saved in the first place. To believe in Jesus Christ as Lord. The way in which we can... The only way in which we can live a successful, fruitful, purposeful Christian life today is once again, we must believe God. We cannot consider our own selves, our own energy. This body is dead. If I start looking at my abilities, I'm on my way down here. But as long as I'm looking to the Lord, believe God, what He has said in His word, what He's revealed to me here. Just simply take Him at His word and believe Him. This is where we see real joy and peace in our Christian lives. This is when we begin to bear fruit. Sarah also believed God in Hebrews chapter eleven and verse eleven. We read this verse. Through faith also, Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Again, remember Sarah is ninety years old. It'd be about like a fifty-year-old woman having a child today. She received strength to conceive and to bear a child. She did so how? By faith. They believed God. He promised them that he would do it, and he did. When we read concerning the birth of Isaac, then we see that repeated over and over again. He did it when he said he would do it, at the appointed time. just as he said he would do it, sure enough, there was a child. The Word of God is filled with many instructions and promises given to the Christian. What the Christian must do is take the Lord at his word, believe him, and then act upon it. There is real victory over sin, over the world, and the devil, if we will simply believe God. Staggering not at the deadness of his flesh. but rather believing Him. In Galatians chapter four we read concerning an allegory and I want to take note here of these verses because this once again is going to tell us of this new life in Christ. When Isaac was born the son of Hagar must be cast out. We'll begin reading at verse one. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. So here we have the contrast between bondage and freedom. This is what we're going to be talking about. Bondage held under the control of the world. This is what is meant in Ephesians chapter two when it says, You who are dead and trespasses in sin, who walked. The word walked means to order your conduct according to the prince of power of the air and according to the course of this age. That means we were held down under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time was come, God sends forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that ye might receive the adoption of sons. No longer children in bondage. but now sons, God has placed these as mature sons in His presence. Now we are to live like it. How are we going to live like it? Over in verse nineteen, my little children. The little children, this is not the same word that's being used over in the first part of chapter four, but this is an endearing turn, a loving turn. My dear ones, of whom I travel and prevail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. There's the desire here that Christ Be formed in us. I desire to be present with you now, and to change my tone, for I stand in doubt of you. Tell me, ye, that desire to be under the law. Do ye not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond made, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh. But he of the free woman was born was by promise. Which things are an allegory? For these are two covenants. the one from Mount Sinai bearing children for bondage who is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answers to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. It was not the bond woman's son changed over to something better, but it was Isaac born. This is the difference. Abraham had a son. Ishmael was born. The son of Hagar, the barred woman. They did not make Ishmael better. They couldn't do it. What they had to do was take Ishmael and kick him out completely. Now before, Sarai tried to get rid of Hagar, the barred woman. But the Lord brought her back to Sarai so that she could reap what she sowed. but now Sarah has given birth to the child of promise. Now the Lord will come to Sarah and tell her, all right, now you can cast out the bond woman. Here in Galatians it tells us the teaching then of what we see in the Old Testament. The bond woman, the law, the bondage and the elements of the world must be cast out completely because there is a new birth. Isaac is born. That of promise. Our salvation begins with, first of all, turning completely away from the bondage of this world. Sin in this world is bondage. There is the bondage. People today run around all proud and puffed up and saying, I'm my own man. Or I'm my own woman. No, you're not. That's nonsense. Men and women today are under the control and the influence of this world, and even more than that, they're under the control of the prince of the power of the air, which is the devil in fact. So in order for a person to be saved in the first place, they must cast out that bondage. They must turn away from it. That is why it is so very important that we preach repentance in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, turning about a person cannot be saved and continue in the same sinful, wretched road that they're on right now. It's not going to happen. The road to salvation is paved with repentance. They have to turn about and then believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. There is the child of promise. And there we see not the flesh made over new. The flesh isn't made better, but it's cast out completely and there is a new birth. This is what the Gospel of John in the third chapter is talking about when it says you must be born again. You can't make over the flesh into anything different than the flesh. You can't make it into something new. It's not going to work. What we need is a total, that's gone, and now there has to be a new birth. Now being born again, what am I to do? He says, my little children, My dear ones, whom I surveil in birth again until Christ be formed in you, what is that? That Christ be formed in us. Is Christ being formed in our lives? Do we see the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives? Do we see victory over sin? Victory over sin is where the bondage is cast out and now we are free. Free to do what? Free to serve the Lord. because there is true freedom. There's nothing that irks me more than when Christians say to me, they say, we're not puppets. Would the God we were puppets. Would the God that every time he spoke his will, every time his word came into my heart immediately and instantly, I obeyed. It's like someone who was pulling a string. I wish I was a puppet. that that old bondage would be cast out. Are we living free lives? Are we living in real freedom? Freedom is that that flesh, that old slave master is gone. We crucify the flesh by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The indwelling Holy Spirit springs up within us and makes us free to live this joyful, purposeful life that we can have in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's why in Galatians five one we read, Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free. Free now to serve him. Do you feel free tonight? Do you feel free from the bondage of sin of this world? Or do you still see how that there are certain areas there where we're still under bondage? Sometimes we can look at our Christian lives many times. I'm sure that we've all seen this where we look and we say, I'm still under bondage to sin in that area of my life. Or the Word of God would tell us, cast it out. Get rid of that. We spoke of last night, cut it off. It is to be circumcised. Cast it out of there. We are no longer under bondage. The law has no more power over us, no more dominion over us, but we are free to serve the Lord. That's why at the bottom of the outline you'll notice I put a quote by C.H. Macintosh, there is no one so entirely independent of all around as the man who is really walking by faith and waiting only upon God. But the moment a child of God makes himself a debtor to nature or to the world, he loses his dignity and will speedily make him feel his law. There is no one so free as the one who walks by faith. And this is what we are seeing in the life of Abraham more and more as we proceed in his life. He is a man of faith. And as a man of faith, he is walking in real freedoms. He is free from the invading armies that surround. He knows freedoms from the judgment that falls upon the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. He knows that he has all the land about him. will belong to him and to his children. How can we apply this to our lives today in First Peter chapter one? It tells us that we are to be walking this kind of life that Abraham is walking. A life by faith. A holy walk whereby the Lord can come to us and say, I know him. All that the Lord could say, I know Greg Cain is going to command his children and his household after him. I know Him. You'll cast out the bond woman and her son. You'll cast out that of bondage, and you'll be walking according to the Spirit. First Peter chapter one, verse thirteen. Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children, those who stagger not. at the promises of God or the deadness of this flesh, but they believe God. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance, but as He who has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of life. Because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. Just then as Abraham is the head of his household, as Abraham is the one who is in control, We see in the New Testament it is to be this way in the Christian family as well in Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five in verse twenty two then we read, Wise submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. The other night I sort of bore down on the husbands and some of you wives probably thought you were going to sneak away without any problem. But get ready, here it comes. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior, the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything that they think is right. Oh, no. It just says in everything, then. No, it doesn't say wives submit in everything that you agree with your husbands. It says wives submit to their own husbands in everything. You know why, sisters? Very simply because your husband is going to be the one that's held accountable for what you're doing. Now, I don't know. Now, just kind of switch places with your husband and think about it. If you were being held accountable before God for everything that takes place in this family, wouldn't you like to have the last word on what the final decision is? If you were the boss of ten men, and there's a boss over you that said, listen, you're responsible for those ten men. Are you going to tell those ten men, okay, fellas, let's put this up for a boat. You just do whatever you want. No, no. You're going to go to those ten men and say, listen, this is the way it is. Let's follow along here. Now, you might seek out advice from those ten men. Some of them might know something. You might do that. But you're going to make sure that your decision is the one that sticks. Husbands are being held accountable by the Lord. The Lord did not come to Eve in the garden. Eve was the one who was guilty in the transgression. She took the fruit. She went along for a walk, ended up talking to a snake, and took the fruit and disobeyed God and gave it to her husband. But the Lord did not walk in the cool of the day and said, Eve, where art thou? No, he said, Adam, where are you at? God came and said, Adam, you're the one I want to talk to. And with Adam, they had to come out front and center and give an account before the Lord. Now, sisters, this doesn't mean the husbands can't consult with you and talk with you. That's what you are. You're their help. But the final decision has got to fall on the husband. Husband and wives are to pray together. Husband and wives need to communicate. The wives can help. The husbands think with their head. Wives think with their heart. When I see a puppy dog get run over, I just think, well, one less dog. But a wife, oh, it's terrible. Wives are more sympathetic. Sometimes a husband needs a little sympathy instilled in the decision. Sometimes I want to say two plus two is four. My wife comes along and says, now you could be a little nicer about that. That's my help. My help is meat for me. So husband and wives can confer together. They can pray. They're to pray together certainly. But the final decision has got to fall on the head of the husband. And some wives all of a sudden balk and say, hold it. Wait a minute. My husband isn't taking the leadership, so I have to. Oh, no, you don't. Oh, no, you don't. If that husband isn't taking the leadership, then you don't do anything. I'll tell you something. The Lord will honor that. I've seen it time and time again. A wife came to me one time and she says, my husband refuses to take care of the finances, and then he gripes about the way I'm doing it. And it was causing their marriage to go, shh. I said, all right. You don't touch the checkbook. You don't pay the bills. You let it sit. And you tell them he's the head of the house. Now he's going to do it. He's fussing about it. And I said, you just turned the whole thing over to him. You know what happened? The next month their lights went out. Phone got yanked out. Heat went off. I was in the dead of winter. She was panicky. We had to call up utilities and said, hold it a minute. We'll take care of this. So they put the heat back on, lights came back on. Then the husband sat down with his wife. Together they worked out a budget. He says, listen, I can't handle this. Let's have you go ahead and write off the checks and then we'll work this out. Then they got together. But the husband can be given the leadership by a submissive wife. The Word of God says, Wise, submit yourselves unto your husband as unto the Lord. not as unto your slave master husband, not as unto the guy that's always gruff with me when he comes home after a hard day at work. No, it says as unto the Lord. Do it as unto the Lord. You know, sisters, you can clean house as unto the Lord. You can wash drapes, do dishes, even dirty diapers. You can do that as unto the Lord. Makes it a whole lot nicer. And the Lord will honor that. The husband... is the head of the household, therefore the wives are to submit, therefore children are to obey. In chapter six, verse one, children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. You know, a lot of folks think that, I was talking to one parent, they said, well, their son was out carrying on, and I said, why don't you do something about this kid? He says, well, he's eighteen, he can do whatever he wants. What does it say in the Bible, children obey your parents until you're eighteen years old, And then you don't have to anymore. Talking to another couple one time and said, well, their feet are out from under my table. I don't have to worry about it. Where does it say that? Children obey your parents until your feet are out from under their table, and then you don't say that. How long are you a child of your parents? And I don't know about you, but I still call my father father. My father still calls me his son. I haven't seen anything to change there. Now, there is one change that we'll look at in a moment. The Word of God says, Children, obey your parents. Your father is responsible for you. So obey him. The Lord is going to take your father and he's going to be holding him accountable for the way in which you turn out. So obey him. Listen to him. Listen to his instruction and his guidance. He is to bring you up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That is His responsibility before God. His responsibility before God is to discipline you. I know all you young people like spankings, you little ones. I know all you little older ones. I know you enjoy being grounded. I know it's a lot of fun. But if your fathers didn't do it, it would be the worst for you. Someday you live to regret it. I talked to a young lady just recently who told me, she says, Greg, if my parents would just tell me no once, I'd know they love me. But they never do. They don't care where I'm at. They don't care what I'm doing. I don't believe they even care about me at all. When your parents discipline you, it's because they want you to grow up to be fine Christian men and women. My daughter asked me sometimes, Daddy, why are you doing this? I said, honey, because I want you to grow up, and I want you to be a fine Christian young lady for some Christian young man. I tell my son, I said, son, you honorary little fella, and he is. He bucks me all the time. I seen the time he's only five years old, and he's already shook his fist at me one time. I took off my belt and blistered him good. I said, son, I want you to grow up and be a fine Christian young man. It's for your own good. Children, obey your parents. The only thing that I see in Scripture, now you can disagree with this if you want. If you've got chapter and verse, be my gift. But the only thing that I see in Scripture that is going to overrule this principle is, number one, marriage for this cause. shall they leave their father and their mother for this cause so the man leave his father and mother and flee to his wife and they flee should be one flesh. So they will be leaving the father and mother. The man then becomes responsible for his household and that girl now is going to be responsible for her husband rather than to her father. The other one would be death. Death ends all earthly relationships. I don't see in Scripture where the child no longer is a the child of their parents. Now many times a lot of agonies in life would have been spared if this simple verse would have been followed. Now I've seen times when there was a young lady left home. She was twenty-one years of age. That always seems to be the magic number, twenty-one. Now we can be free and silly. So now she goes off, she's outside of home. She wanted to marry a young man. This young man was a Christian. She couldn't see any reason why she couldn't marry him, but her daddy said no. Well, she put her foot down and says, I'm twenty-one. I'm not living at home. I'm on my own. I'll go ahead and marry him. Today that marriage is a mess. And I talked to her one time and I said, dear sister, if you just would have bade your father one more time, you wouldn't be in this pickle today. Like I say, you can disagree with me and try to set an age on it. As I see it, God says, obey your parents. And even after we're married, honor thy father and thy mother, I still listen to my mom and dad. Sometimes my mom takes me aside, you know, son, this is a little haywire here. And I listen. My mom gave me a lot of good advice when I was growing up, so I still listen. My dad gave me a lot of good advice. It's amazing, you know, when you're little, your parents know everything. You get to be a teenager and they're really dummies. But then you get married and you're out on your own and suddenly they're smart again. Funny how things change like that. But they gave me a lot of good advice and so I still listen to them. They understand that it's my responsibility now to govern my family and so they don't interfere too much. But keep these things in mind. Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church as we saw in our previous lessons. Why submit them to your husband? They got a tough task. And if sometimes you don't think they're handling things quite right, well then pray about it. Get on your knees before the Lord and say, Lord, help my husband. You've got a tough job. Me and the kids, things aren't always quite right. Well, Lord, help my husband. And you young people, you boys and girls, Obey your parents, for this is right, and God will honor you because of it. Abraham had a good influence on the world around him, and so should we, try to live peaceably with all men, and let the judge of all the earth do right and take care of the matters in the world around us. Let's close in the word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank thee again this evening for this time that we have had together. to look into the Word of God. Father, we just thank you for the Holy Spirit that indwell each one here, each one that knows they're born again and sins are forgiven if they're on their way to heaven. And the Father, we just pray that we might each one have real exercise of heart to live this holy life. We might be disciplined in the things of God that in our home life we might be a real testimony of the Word of God and the things that are holy. And Father, if there be anyone here this evening who is not sure, who still doesn't know for sure, that they're free in Christ, that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He's ruling, He's under control in their lives, Father, we just pray that thou would speak to their heart and show them how that the bondage of the law can be cast off forever. and how that they can know real freedom in Jesus Christ as Lord. We pray this in His name. Give me thanks. Amen.