When God Keeps a Promise

INTRODUCTION:

We’ve been going through the book of Genesis as a church and we find ourselves in Genesis 21 this morning.

Genesis 21 is the end of a series of messages we’ve entitled “Faith in the Waiting.”

There are people God chooses to use, by his grace for his glory. Those people, before being greatly USED by God are first greatly TESTED in their faith. Abraham was the founding father of faith and God brought him through several tests.

Some of these tests Abraham passed with flying colors. Others he failed with tragic and ongoing consequences.

What about you? When your faith is put in a season of waiting how do you respond?

I think there are many similarities between us and Abraham.

When God waits we disagree with his timing.

When God delays we often take matters into our own hands.

When God speaks we don’t always have ears that can hear him.

When God visits we don’t always have a heart ready to receive him.

Finally, when God puts us on the brink of a break though we don’t always have the strength to see it though to the end.

If any of those things have been true of you take heart because they were also true of Abraham. We’ve saw last week that where sin is great God’s grace is greater.

Today, as we conclude the series, we’ll discover God always keeps his promise no matter what.

Promise Keeper?

Has any ever broke a promise? Of course. We’ve all had people break their word in our life.

In fact, sometimes we can become so jaded by all the broken promises that when somebody actually DOES DO what they said they’d do we’re not able to truly believe it.

(Examples: pick up time, honey do list, reading assignment, business contract, etc)

If God exists then He is a God of truth. It’s not just that he does not lie. He CANNOT lie nor does he ever change. Immutable veracity. Perfect adherence to the truth.

That means God is reliable and faithful and always keeps his promises. When he makes a promise you can take it to the bank. Stand on it. Count on it. He is good for his Word.

Because God keeps his promises you can base your life on his Word.

This is good news because God has made a LOT of promises.

I heard this week that there are right at 7,474 promises in the Bible. (at 66 books that’s 113 per book. Some will have 3-4 others will over dozens or 100+)

There’s a lot of promises we’re still waiting on God to fulfill: the second coming, resurrection of the dead, lifting of the curse, no more brokenness or presidential elections.

In the life of Abraham he was also waiting on God’s promise to be fulfilled.

I summarize God’s promises to Abraham under three L’s. Land, lineage and Lord. The land had already been given to Abraham as an inheritance but he was still waiting on this promised descendant through his wife Sarah who would ultimately pave the way for the coming of the Messiah.

25 years they had been waiting on this promise. 25 years of barrenness. She’s around 90 and he’s around 100. I imagine both of these were REALLY beginning to wonder if God was going to keep his promise.

Finally, in Genesis 21, the answer to their prayers is born. A baby boy named Isaac.

Read The Text

As we read I want you to notice how many times the text emphasizes the activity and faithfulness of God.

Genesis 21:1–7 CSB

1 The Lord came to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him. 3 Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7 She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age.”

WHEN BREAKTHROUGH COMES

Did you notice all of the activity of the Lord? “The LORD came, the LORD did, As God told, as God commanded…” This is all intentional by Moses.

The take away is pretty obvious: God keep his promises. He does exactly WHAT he has promised and exactly WHEN he has promised it.

God faithful in the WHAT and he is faithful in the WHEN.

There’s an emphasis on BOTH in this text. “AS he had said… at the appointed time God had told…”

The other thing that we can see in this text is that when God keeps his promise He amplifies HIS glory and not our own.

Sarah was 90 years old. She even comments, “God has made me laugh… Who would’ve told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age.”

This laugh is a throwback to Genesis 18:12 “12 So she laughed to herself: “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight?””

God’s response? Genesis 18:14 “14 Is anything impossible for the Lord? At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son.””

Is anything impossible for the Lord? Answer: No! Nothing is impossible for God.

Which is why God often orchestrates events in such a way that when his promises come true it’s not unclear who gets the credit.

Half the time that’s why God waits to answer our prayers. He’s not waiting to make us miserable. His waiting to prove himself all powerful.

He’s waiting until everybody else writes the situation off as hopeless before he comes in and says, “no it’s not because nothing is impossible with God.”

All You Need Is Nothing

You see a similar dynamic with the birth of Jesus Christ.

Mary was virgin and asked the question, “How can I have a baby when I’ve never been with a man? Response: the Holy Spirit will come upon you and power of God will overshadow you.” (Luke 1:35)

The Holy Spirit and the power of God is all you need for God to keep his promise.

He doesn’t need your money. He doesn’t need your skills, talents or abilities.

He doesn’t need your perfect record or impressive resume.

The only thing God needs from you is NOTHING.

When you bring your nothing God will bring his everything and prove himself faithful.

We saw this earlier in Genesis as well.

Out of nothing he created the heavens and the earth. Bought order to chaos, filling the structures with substance.

God keeps his promises. He is faithful to the how. He is faithful to the when. And he is keeps his promises in such a way that only HE gets all the glory.

I wonder if we truly believed this if we wouldn’t pray differently. I wonder if we wouldn’t begin to actually SEE more answers to our prayers than we’re used to seeing.

Sometimes I think we’re looking for God to answer our prayers in such a way that WE get the glory or OUR LIVES are dramatically improved and put on display. But that’s not how the Lord works.

God always gets the last laugh. He gets it here with Abraham. He got it with Mary. He got it at the cross and he’ll get it at the second coming.

Baby Momma Drama

The second thing we see from this passage is that when God keeps his promise it requires our submission and obedience. You see this at two levels: first in the naming and circumcision of Isaac on the eighth day “just as God had commanded him.” (Gen 21:3-4)

But we’re also going to see this through an upcoming conflict between Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael and the response Abraham is required to make.

Let’s pick it back up in Genesis 21:8.

Genesis 21:8–10 CSB

8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son mocking—the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a coheir with my son Isaac!”

Here we see a lesson on how past sins can undermine future blessings from the Lord.

For those of you who are new to the story these two new characters of Hagar the Egyptian and her son Ishmael first show up in Genesis 16.

The Back Story

Abraham and Sarah had gotten tired of waiting on God’s timing so they decided to take matters into their own hands.

She took it upon herself to force her servant, Hagar, to marry and sleep with her husband, so that Abraham could finally have a child as God has promised him.

The problem was, God’s plan wasn’t to give a child through Hagar but through Sarah. (Gen 17:19)

In that way, Ishmael represents a season of self-reliance and disobedience against the Lord.

That’s not to say Abraham didn’t love this child nor is it to say that God wasn’t committed to bless this child. Ishmael couldn’t help the events surrounding his birth. In some ways he’s a victim.

In other ways, however, he’s to blame for the situation he’s about to find himself in. He’s continuing the tradition of harassment and mockery that his mother first engaged in in Genesis 16.

Conflicting Spirits

In the book of Galatians Paul actually forms a contrast between these two spirits as the Fruit of the Flesh (Ishmael) and the fruit of the Spirit (Isaac). (Gal 4:28-31

Galatians 4:28–30 CSB

28 Now you too, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as then the child born as a result of the flesh persecuted the one born as a result of the Spirit, so also now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Drive out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never be a coheir with the son of the free woman.”

The point being made here is that the fruit of the flesh cannot coexist with the fruit of Faith without conflict.

A house divided cannot stand! We know this to be true intuitively.

Salt water and fresh water don’t come from the same spring.

The Lord has given warnings against being unequally yolked.

Missionary dating is always doomed to failure.

And anytime you try to carry a spirit of submission alongside a spirit of resistance the spirit of resistance always wins out. Negative energy is generally more powerful than positive.

So it’s no surprise to see Sarah say, “Drive out this slave with her son.” (Gen 21:10)

Ishmael is probably about 16 years old at this point. He must’ve had some kind of a complex given the circumstances surrounding his birth.

Most teenagers are a less than ideal version of who they will ultimately become so you can imagine what Sarah might’ve been reacting against.

The problem was Abraham and Sarah couldn’t move forward in their life of faith if they continued to abide this accommodation to the flesh.

A Difficult Choice

So Abraham has a choice to make. As do many of us when breakthrough comes in our lives.

Which Spirit will we abide? The fruit of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit

If it was just a moral choice it would be easy. The problem is, our moral choices result in relationships, love, affection and commitments from which it is not so easy to disassociate.

You certainly see that with Abraham’s reaction. Gen 21:11

Genesis 21:11 CSB

11 This was very distressing to Abraham because of his son.

The word translated “distressing” doesn’t just mean Abraham was sad or stressed out. It likely means he got angry!

Notice, for Abraham Ishmael is “his son” whereas for Sarah Ismael is “son of that slave.”

Sarah has gone full momma bear on this child and her mother. She sees Isaac as a threat to what God was about to do in their life.

I’m not saying she went about it in the right way. Certainly seems a little harsh but as we’ll see from God’s response she was not ultimately wrong in what needed to take place.

Genesis 21:12–13 CSB

12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and about your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac, 13 and I will also make a nation of the slave’s son because he is your offspring.”

I imagine that Abraham wasn’t super excited to hear that from the Lord.

The last time he listened to his wife she put Hagar between his legs. That didn’t work out so well.

But in this instance, she was right and the Lord was affirming her wisdom so that Abraham would embrace it.

A reminder, men, that your spiritual responsibility to lead your home doesn’t negate the wisdom of listening to your wife. They often, as in this case, have wisdom that you do not. Especially when it comes to situations like these.

When it comes to children, mother’s are attuned to threats that Father’s simply cannot see.

At a larger level there’s a spiritual principle at play.

You cannot accommodate the flesh and reap the fullness of God’s promise.

Because God’s promise is a reward of faith. And the spirit of faith is diametrically opposed to the spirit of the flesh.

Application

You may be confronted with a choice to disassociate from people or things that represent a season of rebellion and disobedience in your life.

It might even resemble the case of Abraham where the people affected are ultimately victims of your own foolishness and poor decision making.

You’ll have a desire to bend the rules, accommodate and justify what you know isn’t right. But what you’re really doing is undermining your own blessing from God and his ultimate plans for their life as well.

Past sins can be forgiven but their effects cannot be erased. The sin of Abraham and Sarah with Hagar have continued to make waves for 4,000 years.

They were on a different path and it was a necessary ending for Abraham and Sarah.

They couldn’t reap the fullness of God’s promise without separating from what threatened it. If it was true of them it’s also true of you.

What is putting the promise of God at threat in your life right now?

Jesus has promised to give us the abundant life. Peace that surpasses human understanding.

Forgiveness and cleaning of sin, the producing of fruit that proves we are disciples and glorifies our Father in heaven.

There may be people, habits or commitments that threaten that work of God in your life.

You cannot operate under two visions for your life that are in conflict!

I’m sure there are stories you could tell and nuance you could give as to why it’s just the way it’s gotta be.

But maybe it’s not. Maybe God is saying, “you need to separate from this if you want to fullness of my blessing.”

Are you willing to make the choice? Or will you take mud pies in the sand instead of a cruise across the ocean?

Abraham’s Choice & God’s Provision

Abraham decides to do the right thing and separate but the way he goes about it is less than ideal.

Genesis 21:14–16 CSB

14 Early in the morning Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her and the boy away. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beer-sheba. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes 16 and went and sat at a distance, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I can’t bear to watch the boy die!” While she sat at a distance, she wept loudly.

I say this approach is less than ideal because Abraham basically sent Hagar and Ishmael into the dessert with some bread and maybe 3 gallons of water.

Maybe he was trying to sabbatoge the mission so they’d have to come back? I’m not sure. Either way, it result in their potential death there in the wilderness.

You can imagine the physical and emotional hell this must’ve been for Hagar and Ishmael.

He’s 16 years old. He’s been rejected by his dad. He’s in the dessert with his mother and she’s gone off to sit by herself because she can’t stand to watch him die.

Faithful Still

It’s at that moment that the Lord hears the cry of Ishmael. (a play on his name which means “God hears.”)

Genesis 21:17–21 (CSB)

17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the boy crying from the place where he is. 18 Get up, help the boy up, and grasp his hand, for I will make him a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. So she went and filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink. 20 God was with the boy, and he grew; he settled in the wilderness and became an archer. 21 He settled in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

What you see here is the faithfulness of God even in the face of failure and unbelief.

You see the failure of Abraham and Sarah in sending them off poorly. (He had 318 trained men who could’ve taken them and protected them).

You see the failure of Ishmael in rudely mocking Isaac when he was born.

You see the failure of Hagar in marrying Ishmael off to a pagan Egyptian even after God miraculously saves their lives.

The big idea is that even in the face of failure and unbelief, God is faithful still.

And notice how God’s faithfulness manifests in this story. It’s THE angel of the Lord.

Many times in the OT “an” angel of the Lord will show up which just means messenger. But in this case it’s THE angel of the Lord.

I think that is a reference to Jesus Christ in his preincarnate state.

Jesus’ words to Hagar are his words to us when we’re at the bottom of our rope: “Don’t be afraid. God hears you. God sees you. Get up. Keep going so God can keep his promise.”

Jesus Good To All

When Hagar demonstrates an act of faith upon this invitation by the Lord Jesus her eyes are opened and she sees a well.

There’s a big debate as to whether or not the well was already there and she couldn’t see it or whether the Lord miraculously created the well. I think either way it’s a miraculous provision from the Lord.

It’s very similar to the New Testament story of the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. She, like Hagar was an outcast, alone, hopeless and desolate.

Jesus sat with her, comforted her loved and served her just as he does here with Hagar.

Jesus is the only person in this story who is good to EVERYBODY.

Abraham isn’t good to everybody.

Sarah isn’t good to everybody.

Ishmael isn’t good to everybody.

Hagar isn’t good to everybody.

This is important to point out because the main point of this story isn’t Isaac is good and Ishmael is bad.

Everybody is bad in this story. Nobody comes off looking good.

The only person who is ever always good is the Lord Jesus Christ.

There’s nobody “always good” but Jesus and Jesus is “always good” to ALL.

Jesus was good to Abraham. He was good to Sarah. He was good to Hagar and he was good to Isaac.

But Jesus is good to everybody because Jesus is good.

Even when nobody else case about you Jesus still does. Even if nobody else will be with you Jesus still will. Even if you’re cast out by everybody else Jesus will not cast you out because of his great love for you.

In fact, he was himself cast out so that all the cast outs could be brought back in.

His great love for Hagar is able to heal his Father wound even as Jesus saves his physical life.

The Main Difference

Unfortunately, Hagar doesn’t seem to ever become a believer. Nor does Ishmael.

That is the main contrast of this story. Everybody is bad. But some exercise faith in God’s promise and other reject God’s promise so they can walk in the flesh.

Just because you walk in the flesh doesn’t mean God won’t bless you.

He blesses Ishmael and makes him into a great nation. But they never follow or worship Yahweh.

Many of the Arab people today descend from Ishmael. (436 million of them) And the conflict that started in Genesis 16, climaxed in Genesis 21 still rages on 4,000 years later.

One of the descendants of Ishmael who also lived in this region of the world is a religious leader named Muhammed. He founded the religion of Islam.

To this day, Muslims travel to this well and reenact this story of Hagar and Ishmael on a journey called “The Hajj.”

What’s interesting is that they retell the stories of Genesis but inverted and in reverse.

Hagar - not Sarah - becomes the chosen wife of Abraham.

Ishmael - not Isaac - becomes the chosen son.

Ishmael - not Isaac - is offered as a sacrifice before Allah.

They flip Sarah out and Hagar in. They flip Isaac out and Ishmael in.

Beyond The Blessing: Salvation

But that’s not the only thing they invert and reverse. They also replace the true source of salvation.

In Islam, the hope of salvation comes through self-reliance and good works.

In Christianity, the hope of salvation comes through faith in God’s promise.

Let’s put it this way. There’s a difference between being blessed and being saved.

God promised to bless Ishmael but he never got saved.

There was never any repentance. There was never any submission.

They were happy to accept God’s blessing but never saw past the blessing to it’s ultimate source.

Many Islamic people are looking to their Hajj or the water of this ancient well to save them when it was never intended to save.

It was intended to point people to the only one who can.

Salvation isn’t found IN God’s blessing but behind/beyond it in Jesus.

Muslim people will never find salvation in the water of that well any more than the Samaritan woman who wanted water from Jacob’s well more than the living water in Jesus.

The only water that truly satisfy our thirst is the living water of Jesus Christ.

We need to look beyond the well to it’s source, the Lord Jesus.

Which is the last thing I’ll say about God’s commitment to keep his promise.

Look beyond the promise to it’s source and fulfillment. All of God’s promises are “yes and amen” because of Jesus. (2 Cor 1:20)

True salvation is only in him and that salvation is only received by faith.

If we embrace and celebrate God’s promises without ultimately getting to Jesus then we’ve settled for mud pies on the beach of an ocean.

Don’t be like Hagar. Don’t be like Ishmael.

True descendants of Abraham are those who walk by faith in the promised Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Application

So how might you need to respond this morning in light of these truths?