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Genesis 12
1 ¶ Now the LORD had said
to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s
house, To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great
nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who
bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of
the earth shall be blessed.”
4 ¶ So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
·
Abraham
was 75 years old when God told him he would become the father of many nations.
· A few years later, maybe 10 …
Genesis 15
1 ¶ After these things the
word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I
am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
2 ¶ But Abram said, “Lord
GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is
Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 Then Abram said, “Look, You
have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
4 And behold, the word of
the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one
who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”
5 Then He brought him outside
and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to
number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
6 And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
·
Abraham
was now about 85 and Sarah was about 75 and like Zacharias and Elizabeth would
2000 years later, they weren’t even sure they wanted to have a baby and weren’t
sure God was able.
o Maybe it was a promise
that passed it’s time.
o Maybe it was just a
little too hard for God.
o Maybe God forgot about
it and now it was too late.
o Maybe God changed His
mind and didn’t tell them.
·
Abraham
loved God and respected Him and didn’t want to embarrass Him or put Him on the
spot so …
·
Abraham
decides maybe he can alter the promise and God’s obligation just a little to
let God off the hook.
·
God
said no! I don’t need you to let me off the hook. What I promised, I’ll
perform!
· Abraham believed God and God counted it to him for righteousness.
However … another year passes and …
Genesis 16
1 ¶ Now Sarai, Abram’s wife,
had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose
name was Hagar.
2 So Sarai said to Abram,
“See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go
in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the
voice of Sarai.
3 Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.
15 ¶ So Hagar bore Abram
a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
16 Abram was
eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
·
Ishmael,
the son of Abraham but a work of the flesh.
·
Abraham
believed God but evidently Sarah didn’t.
·
Sarah
talked Abraham into getting on another path of life in attempts to remedy her
dilemma. How many times have we seen that?
·
Abraham
loved his son Ishmael, Sarah didn’t.
·
Abraham
was again desirous to let God off the hook … after all, both him and Sarah were
getting older and older.
· By the time we get to the next chapter Abraham is 99 years old and Sarah was 90. It wasn’t looking too hopeful for the promise to come to pass now…
Genesis 17
1 ¶ When Abram was
ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am
Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.
2 “And I will make My
covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”
3 Then Abram fell on his
face, and God talked with him, saying:
4 ¶ “As for Me, behold, My
covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
5 “No longer shall your name
be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father
of many nations.
6 “I will make you
exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from
you.
15 ¶ Then God said to
Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall
be her name.
16 “And I will bless her and
also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother
of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”
17 Then Abraham fell on his
face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man
who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a
child?”
18 And Abraham said to
God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”
19 Then God said: “No,
Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will
establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his
descendants after him.
20 “And as for Ishmael, I
have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and
will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make
him a great nation.
21 “But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”
The results …
Genesis 21
1 ¶ And the LORD visited
Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken.
2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
This evening I want to leave us with three considerations:
1.
God does not need us to let Him off the
hook.
2.
It is not over until God says it is over.
a. Not when our body says
it’s over
b. Not when our mind says
it’s over
c. Not when our friends
say it is over
d. Not even when death
says it’s over
i. Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob died without having inherited
ii. And it is not over yet
iii. All the promises of
God are in Christ, yes and amen!
3.
Have faith in God.
a. Don’t follow the
“nay-sayers”, “fear-mongers”, or the disgruntled group.
b. You are already in the
middle of a miracle … cheerlead God, not the devil.
c. Don’t believe what the
world has to say about anything including
i. President Trump
ii. Former Vice President
Biden
iii. The Democrats
iv. The Republicans
v. Don’t believe what the
world has to say … believe the truth.
vi. How can you know which
voice is which?
1. The voice of the world
is usually
a. The loudest
b. The most divisive
c. The most threatening
d. It changes stories and
sides
2. The voice of God
agrees with His word, will and way.
vii. Stay right with God …
viii. God does not need you to let Him off the hook … He will do what He said He will do …
Romans 4
19 And not being weak in
faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a
hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
20 He did not waver at
the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving
glory to God,
21 and being fully
convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
22 And therefore “it was
accounted to him for righteousness.”
