Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction & Review

Last week we learned how God graciously chose a man named Abram, who at the time was 75 years old, to leave his father’s family & place where his father was buried, to go to a foreign land that God would show him.

God also promised Abram that God would make of him a great nation.

There were two crazy things about this whole exchange between God and Abram. 1) Abram was 75 years old and he and his wife Sarah had no children.

2) Abram packed up his wife, all his possessions, his nephew Lot and went out not knowing where he was going.

He accepted all that by faith and acted immediately on what God told him to do.

When Abram got to the land of Canaan, God told him this was the land of promise that would someday belong to all of his descendants.

Abram built an altar and worshipped the Lord in a place called Bethel.

After a while, a famine was going on in Canaan, so Abram did what most red-blooded men would do to provide for his family, he moved to where he could get food to the land Egypt.

The problem was Abram didn’t talk to God about it and God didn’t tell Abram to move there.

So Abram was outside the will of God, in foreign land and he got nervous.

Interesting that with God, he was completely okay to take a giant leap of faith and go with God to a place he didn’t know; but now going to Egypt w/o God he got worried because his wife Sarah was a beautiful woman.

So Abram told Sarah that he was worried they would kill him because she was so beautiful, and so he told Sarah they would tell everybody she was his sister.

Well that plan backfired big time because someone told the king, Pharaoh, of Sarah’s beauty and the king took Sarah to the palace with ideas of marrying her.

Well God graciously protected Abram and Sarah especially by plaguing Pharaoh and his house b/c of Sarah.

So he expelled Abram and his family but not without giving him lots of livestock.

So Abram made a beeline back to Bethel and built another altar to the Lord there.

God had blessed Abrams herds a flocks as well as his nephew Lot’s herds and flocks.

Both their herds and flocks had grown so much their servants were arguing and fighting over the grazing areas.

So Abram told Lot to choose where he wanted to settle, so they could each have their own space.

Lot chose the best pastureland for himself in the territory of Sodom.

But Sodom was an exceedingly wicked place.

After Lot separated from Abram, God again appeared to Abram and told him to look at the land, all 4 corners, north, south, east and west, and even go walk it all; because it was what God planned to give his descendants.

God told Abram at that time his descendents would be as many as the dust of the earth.

Abram then settled in a place called Hebron and built another altar to the Lord.

Not long after, a war broke out in the territory of Sodom & Lot and his family and all of his herds and flocks were taken captive along with the people of Sodom.

Someone came and told Abram about it and Abram took 318 of his servants he trained and armed and they took off to rescue Lot.

God blessed Abram’s efforts greatly and they were able to recover Lot and his family, all of his herds and flocks as well as the all the people, livestock and goods of Sodom.

As Abram was returning, he met a King-Priest of the Most High God from Salem, near the area of modern Jerusalem named Melchizedek.

Abram gave Melchizedek a 10% tithe of all and Melchizedek blessed God Most High and blessed Abram.

After that great victory, God appeared to Abram again and promised him this time his descendants would number as the stars of the sky!

And the Bible makes the most amazing statement on Abram’s faith in God in Genesis 15:6 “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”

1. Tell the story

Today’s story comes from the key points of Genesis 16-18.

Setting

While God had repeatedly promised Abram he would have many descendents, God never said who the mother of Abram’s children would be.

Now keep in mind Abram was already 75 years old when God called him and several years had already passed by.

As a matter of fact, 10-11 years had passed and Abram still had no children.

Abram is now 85 or so and the old clock is ticking for both Abram and Sarah who was about 75 by this time.

You may recall I said last week, not having children in those days was a sign of God’s cursing and if you had lots of children, it was a sign of God’s blessing.

BTW, having lot’s of children is still a sign of God’s blessing but our culture doesn’t see it that way.

Psalm 127:3 affirms this truth: “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.”

So Sarah was growing impatient.

Maybe she sensed some change in her body where she just knew in her heart she couldn’t have children anymore.

She even said the Lord had restrained her from having children.

So Sarah devised a plan to help God out.

Problem/Curve ball

One day she came to Abram and told him, I have this Egyptian maidservant name Hagar.

Since God has kept me from having children, I’m giving her to you and maybe I’ll have children by her.

Sarah’s statement, “maybe I’ll have children by her, reveals Sarah’s motives were not for the glory of God, but for her own motives and plans.

Abram didn’t talk to God about this plan and he just listened to his wife and had relations with Hagar.

It wasn’t long after, Hagar was with child and immediately she despised her mistress Sarah.

Now Abram has a problem, his wife isn’t happy and Hagar isn’t happy and Abram is stuck in the middle of this battle of estrogen.

Sarah said to Abram: “This is all your fault!

I put my servant in your arms, but now she’s pregnant and treats me with contempt.

The Lord will show you who’s wrong you or me!” (Gen.

16:5 NLT).

Basically she’s saying this was all Abram’s fault because he just had to believe God that they would have a child in their old age!

Well Abram throws it right back at her, “Look, she’s your maid, do with her what you want.”

So Sarah made Hagar’s life miserable by treating her harshly and Hagar fled from Sarah.

God was gracious to Hagar and told her He heard & saw her distress.

God told her to return to Sarah and submit herself to Sarah’s authority.

God then promised her she would have a son, that she would name him Ishmael which means “God hears”.

God also promised Hagar that He would multiply her descendants exceedingly so that they could not be counted.

God further told her that her son would be an enemy against everyone and people would be against him too.

(Today we know Ishmael’s descendents are the Muslim peoples).

So Hagar called God “El Roi” the God who sees.

She returned to Sarah and Abram and gave birth to her son she named Ismael.

Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

After this terrible incident with Hagar.

we have no record of God speaking to Abram for another 13 years!

One of the greatest tragedies & consequences sinful choices, is that sin separates us from God and hurt our relationship with God.

Yet God’s faithfulness is not dependent on us.

God is always faithful no matter how badly we mess our lives up!

Rising Tension

When Abram was 99 years old, God came back and appeared to him again and God said: “I am El Shaddai, Almighty God, walk before Me and be blameless.”

We should not miss the significance of what God said to Abram.

He’s restoring Abram in his relationship with God.

He’s saying: You made a big mistake with Hagar, don’t do it again.

Don’t give anyone reason to find fault in your character which comes through trusting completely in Me.

I am Almighty God.

That means nothing is too difficult for Me.

Well, Abram was overwhelmed by the grace of God and fell on his face before the Lord.

Think about it, 13 long years of silence, waiting on God to initiate the conversation and restore their relationship.

The Bible doesn’t give us insight in to Abram’s efforts to confess his sin or restore his relationship with God.

Abram was learning and growing little by little in his relationship with God.

Abram didn’t have access to the rest of God’s Word which instructs us on what to do when we sin like we have in 1st John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

That fact ought to remind us of what blessings and treasures we have available to us in the Word of God that we should study, learn and live by while we have the opportunity.

In any case, God continued speaking and told Abram He was renewing His covenant relationship with Abram.

God said: I will make My covenant b/w Me & you, and I will make you exceedingly fruitful.

As a matter of fact, I’m changing your name from Abram which means ‘exalted father’; to Abraham which means ‘father of a multitude’.

Many nations are going to come from you Abraham, even kings will come from you.

Abraham, this will be an everlasting covenant b/w Me and you and your entire family line.

I’m still committed to given your descendents this land of promise forever and ever.

God continued giving Abraham instructions on what Abraham needed to do to seal this covenant b/w him and God.

Abraham, and every male over 8 days old was to be circumcised on their foreskin as an everlasting sign of this covenant that every generation must keep and do.

God went on to say, that it would be Sarah - who’s name means “princess” would be the mother of Abraham’s child of promise!

Don’t let anyone tell you God doesn’t have a sense of humor, because Sarah is 89 years old by this point and God reminds Abraham his wife is his princess!

Your 89 year old princess is going to have a baby in the near future!

We get insight how God intends marriage should be, as we grow old in our marriage relationship, we still view each other as we did when we first said “I do.”