Abraham Week 4

Abraham's not perfect

GAME:

Telepathy

SONGS:

Graves into Gardens

Build my life.

Lesson:

Read Genesis 16:1-5.

Abraham and Sarah thought they could help God’s plans.

To us, this sounds insane, but to them culturally this was fairly normal.

If you were unable to have kids with your wife, you would try with your wife’s slave.

Abraham is nearing 100 years old at this time and he’s no doubt concerned about God’s promise.

Have you ever doubted God?

I have!

I’ve doubted him with my finances.

I’ve doubted him with my time.

I’ve doubted him with me being a pastor.

I’ve wanted to quit many things because i’ve doubted God.

But God desires to use you, he desires to use me, even in my mistakes, mess, and doubts.

But sometimes before God uses us, we’ve got to recognize the mess we’ve made.

By choosing to take the matter into their own hands, Abraham and Sarah make quite a mess.

They choose to have a child via Sarah’s slave.

And this created much problems.

The chief problem was this...

Abram and Sarah chose to do things their way rather than waiting on the Lord.

Man, we do that too.

I’ve done that so many times.

It always creates a mess.

Did you know that in the middle east today, Muslim’s fight with the nation of Israel over the land?

The origin of this conflict literally goes back to this moment.

You see the descendant of Abraham via the slave Hagar was Ishmael.

Islam originated with a man named Muhammad

He had “visions” in a cave in 610 A.D. (610 years after Jesus in other words…)

And Muhammad basically reverses Genesis 15-17 by saying that God’s promise of land, nation, and blessing would carry on through Ishmael rather than Isaac…

But is that true?

Let’s find out.

Read Genesis 17:15-18 “15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” 17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!””

Genesis 17:19-22 “19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.”

God rejected Abraham’s man made plan.

God clearly says here that the covenant blessing will continue through Isaac and Sarah’s son, not through Ishmael (vs. 21.)

But this isn’t the end of the story.

There is a lot more, but I’d like us to look at one more part of Abraham and Sarah’s story.

Read Genesis 22:1-18

Genesis 22:1–18 NIV

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” 15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Several key things to note from this account.

vs. 5- Abraham tells his servants “we will come back to you.”

Does he say “I will come back to you?” no.

He says we…

Why is that important? What is Abraham about to do?

Abraham believes going into this, that God’s plan will be enough this time. He doesn’t know what God’s plan is… but he trusts it to the end.

2. When Isaac questions his dad, Abraham’s response further’s his faith, “God himself will provide a lamb” vs. 8.

Abraham believes that regardless of what seems to be reality in front of Him, that God will provide.

3. In the end, Abraham is right, and God is faithful.

God provides a ram and Isaac is not sacrificed.

But that’s not the end of the story.

If you flip to the New Testament,

Hebrews 11:17-19 “17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.”

vs. 19 has always struck me.

Abraham believes that even if he would have sacrificed Isaac, He believed God would raise him from the dead.

Had Abraham ever seen that before?

Had he any reason to believe that from what he has experienced in life?

Has he any reason to think generally God can do that?

the answer to all of those questions is no.

So why would Abraham believe that?

Because he believed God is faithful.

Period.

And at the end of chapter 22, God again reaffirms this promise to Abraham.

Guys go back tot he beginning today.

Abraham had no reason to receive this grace from God.

Abraham and Sarah messed up bad with Hagar.

They messed up and hurt a lot of people.

Their mistake literally is still felt in the world today.

But God is working.

God had a purpose.

Abraham eventually learns that.

What about you? what about me?

AM I looking for God’s purpose?

Let’s pursue God’s purpose!

Let’s run hard after that all the days of our life.

Let’s remember that God’s ways are better than our ways.

Patiently wait on the Lord.

Amen?