Faithful; Genesis 21

Welcome

Good morning to all you here in Waupun, and same to you all tuning in at the Sheboygan Campus. As Travis Tritt would say, it is a great day to be alive; and for us brothers and sisters in Christ it is a great day to live for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and worship Him together, Amen?!

My name is Mitchell Olthoff, I am the Worship Pastor here at Edgewood Community Church at the Waupun Campus. I am humbled and honored to be tasked with preaching the Word of God today.

I want to start off with a question for you to consider…

Introduction

How do you respond to God’s Word?

With doubt or with faith?

When you hear God’s Word, when you read God’s Word, or when you recall God’s Word, you respond in one of these two ways, generally…faith or unbelief…or it’s possible that you walk the line and are “lukewarm”…you believe, but you doubt, then you believe again, then you doubt…

But, His Word was meant to be believed fully.

Do you believe that God is faithful to fulfill what He has said?

If you say yes, is that actually true?

How would your spouse answer that question for you?

Or how would your kids answer that for you?

Or what does God see you do or say that no one else sees?

How much evidence of God’s faithfulness do you need to see before you’ll actually believe Him and take Him at His Word?

OR, how much do you need to see in order for your life to actually look like that of a passionate and devoted follower of Jesus? We weren’t meant to be lukewarm or apathetic…half in, half out.

It is too easy to go to church on the weekend, check the box, do and say the Christian things, but have your heart chained to insecurity because your identity is not actually rooted in Christ…you don’t actually believe that you are who He says you are when you’re His child…or you aren’t really living in the true freedom that God has purchased for you in His Son Jesus on the cross.

We are meant to be free from the bondage of sin, to take the Lord at His Word, and trust in Him. I think this is the “childlike faith” Jesus is talking about in Matthew 18 and in Mark 10.

A child trusts his or her parent and takes them at their word.

In early July my family was in town visiting and we took them to the Horicon Marsh. We were walking on a dirt trail in the woods and getting eaten by mosquitoes, so I started walking faster to get back to the car. Meanwhile, I was holding my son, Asher. Well, I was, of course, wearing Birkenstocks sandals (not the ideal hiking shoe, let me tell you), and I slipped on the mud and fell flat on my back…all the while, I was holding Asher. Now, that fall happened so fast, yet so slow…as I was falling, I embraced Asher more fully and pressed his face against my chest while holding his head so that I would take whatever blow from hitting the ground, but protect Asher…and, thankfully, all is well! I landed flat on my back and Asher wasn’t even phased. After hitting the ground I laid there for a moment to make sure we were OK, and Asher was just like “huh, alright. This is a different view”.

Asher trusted me, hung on, and wasn’t phased at all. He was safe in the arms of his father.

I think that’s a picture of the childlike faith Jesus wants from us…that we rest in the arms of our Heavenly Father, even while everything else around us might be crashing. We are safe in His arms. Oh, and by the way, our Heavenly Father doesn’t slip and fall.

To further give us confidence in Him, God has given us clear evidence in His Word that He is faithful to fulfill all that He has said that He will. He is a trustworthy Care Giver, a trustworthy Provider, a trustworthy and faithful God to His people.

We’re going to cover the whole chapter of Genesis 21 today. There are three main parts, and they might seem separate and disconnected, but the common thread through all three parts is God’s faithfulness. Genesis 21 gives us three reasons to trust Him. God’s faithfulness is:

Proven

Present

Promised

Let’s pray…

Pray

Heavenly Father, we pray that at we open Your Word, that You would speak to us today, right now, through Your Holy Spirit. Please, Lord, use me, a broken vessel, for Your glory. Speak in and through me as I preach Your Word. Lord, please, through Your Spirit, soften our hearts to be shaped and molded by You…and open our ears, to hear Your voice through Your Word…that we would receive it in the way of which You intend to communicate it to us. We are all here in Your presence, O Lord, to learn from You…

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

God’s Faithfulness…Proven

Genesis 21:1–7 (ESV)

The Birth of Isaac

21 The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Well, here we are! It’s Issac. He has arrived! The birth of Issac feels like the end to a great story…Abraham and Sarah have waited so long for this child…they’ve wrestled with God through unbelief, then belief, doubt, then trust…now, Issac is finally born! The story is seemingly complete with a beautiful, happy ending.

There are three things to note here…

God fulfills what He has promised.

Three times this is confirmed in the phrases “as He had said”, “as He had promised”, and “at the time of which God had spoken to him”. Only two verses into the chapter we see those three phrases. The reiteration of that concept is important.

God spoke the promise of Issac’s birth in Genesis chapter 17 and 18, and now Issac is here!

Let’s take a moment to appreciate this attribute of God. He is trustworthy because He does what He says He will! Don’t overlook this quality of God that we actually can find in no one else. No one has a perfect track record of being faithful to their word like God is.

Do you realize what a solid foundation we have in the Lord? He NEVER contradicts Himself. He NEVER doesn’t do what He says He will do.

Every single promise God makes in Scripture we can trust He will fulfill.

God performed a miracle.

In Genesis chapter 17 and 18, God promises Abraham and Sarah a child. Genesis 17:17 tells us that Abraham would be 100 years old and Sarah 90 years old when Issac is born. In response to this Word from God, both Abraham and Sarah laughed in disbelief… God’s reply to the laughing is: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14).

God proves to Abraham and Sarah, and to all of us the answer to that question… “No. Clearly not. Nothing is too hard for the Lord!”

John Piper points out that “[God] aims to show that nothing is too difficult for the Lord. His purpose in all He does is to magnify His sovereign grace and keep us in our humble place.”

Sarah first laughs in disbelief, but now she laughs in joy at the birth of her baby boy, and her boy, Issac’s, name literally means “he laughs”.

I think it’s really interesting how Keneth Mathews points out in his commentary on this text that the method of which Issac’s name is established is an evidence of the importance of both the mother and the father in the work of grace.

Abraham’s doubting laughter is transformed into obedient faith (by him naming the child “Issac” as the Lord had told him to).

Sarah’s doubting laughter is transformed into a joyous faith!

When we see God’s faithfulness through His promises fulfilled, we’re drawn to obedience and joyous faith!

In this miracle of Issac’s birth, we’re meant to see that God is the Giver and the Author of life. He made the impossible happen…an old and barren women having a child, and all that goes along with that…the birth experience, nursing, maybe some version of diapers…?

God did it. We have children because God made it so…not because we, in and of ourselves, can create life without His intervention.

God’s timing is perfect.

Verse 2 says “And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.”

This example certainly makes true what Warren Wiersbe says… “God’s delays are not always God’s denials.”

Isaiah 55:8–9 “8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

God’s ways are so far beyond ours. Why should we be surprised?! Isn’t He the God Almighty? The literal LORD of the universe?! Of course His timetable is different than ours! We should take comfort in that, not frustration…as hard as that can be at times.

Do not doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light.

God is faithful, and His plans are good.

Do you see a parallel here with the birth story of Jesus?

It’s God’s miracle in the face of human impossibility,

It’s a fulfillment of God’s promise from a long time prior,

And it’s in God’s perfect, often unexpected-by-us, timing.

It is clear in these first 7 verses that God has proven Himself to be faithful to His Word.

Remember earlier I said that the story of the birth of Issac thus far is seemingly complete with a beautiful, happy ending… Well, in a couple ways it’s actually just the beginning of some real challenges… what happens next in this chapter is quite the plot twist…

God’s Faithfulness…Present

Genesis 21:8–21 (ESV)

God Protects Hagar and Ishmael

8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Here’s some advice for your social interactions: be careful how and when you laugh…!

What was a family celebration turned into family drama… Raise your hand if you can relate…I’m joking!

It’s funny (no pun intended) how laughter is a theme here again.

First, there’s laughter in disbelief at the birth of Issac, then there’s laughter of joy at the birth of Issac, and now there’s laughter of mockery at the birth of Issac.

Now, nothing is funny anymore and Sarah is throwing people into the desert!

Before you tell Sarah to chill, see how God backs her up and tells Abraham to, indeed, obey Sarah’s wishes and throw Hagar and Ishmael into the desert.

God clearly has a plan here that we wouldn’t expect.

Now, imagine how difficult this must’ve been for Abraham! He is distressed over the idea of losing his son, Ishmael, but the Lord comforts him by directing him to carry about what Sarah had called for, and reminding him of the promise He had made to Abraham earlier…this is verse 12-13: Genesis 21:12–13 (ESV) “…Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.”

So, yet again, Abraham is tasked with trusting God in a situation that makes no sense to him. Yet, Abraham must rely on the Word of the Lord that will never fail or pass away. He is assured that both boys will have a promising future, but it is in God’s own planned way. Not Abraham’s. Abraham at this point has got to be saying “Sheesh. Story of my life. Nothing makes any sense, literally ever.” … Can any of you relate to that?

Just as the birth of Issac was an absolute miracle and a testing of faith and patience, so is Abraham challenged yet again. But, thankfully, Abraham obeys the Lord and trusts the Lord’s ways. Note that Abraham promptly obeys…Scripture says “So Abraham rose early the next morning…” in verse 14.

How often do we procrastinate? Are you promptly obedient to the Lord upon conviction by the Holy Spirit? What is He prompting you to do that you’re procrastinating about?

We were at a friend’s house for dinner about a month ago in Indiana and he told us that he instructs his children to obey “right away” and “all the way”…meaning: obedience in a timely manner, and with all of your heart, soul, and mind…not reluctantly or begrudgingly.

Consider how you can apply that rule of thumb to your own life in your walk with the Lord.

Are you obedient to God, as your perfect Heavenly Father, “right away” and “all the way”?

How has God been calling you to obedience, but you’ve been procrastinating about it?

Has He been calling you to be baptized?

Have that conversation with your unbelieving boyfriend or girlfriend?

Step out in radical generosity to those in need?

Or how about this: sell all you have and move across the world as a missionary?

Or, talk with your unbelieving or atheist neighbor about the love of Jesus?

We’re called to be obedient to God even if we don’t understand the situation or, even if, because of our sinful nature, we don’t agree with God’s rule or like His rule on the situation.

So, what does this “eviction to the desert” look like for Hagar and Ishmael?

This is really a wild story and is quite traumatic. Ishmael is literally dying in the desert and his mom, Hagar, has to watch. But, she obviously doesn’t want to, so she throws him in a bush (not really, it says she “put the child under one of the bushes”), and she sits far enough away from him so she can still see him, but not have to hear his crying.

In the midst of this horrible experience, God hears their cry.

Genesis 21:17–18 “17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.””

Just as God met with Hagar 5 chapters earlier (chapter 16) in the wilderness and she says to God “You are the God of seeing” (Genesis 16:13), God proves this to her once again that He sees her in the midst of her pain, suffering, and affliction.

The name Ishmael actually means “God hears”.

God meets Hagar and Ishmael right where they’re at and He rescues them.

Note what God does next here…

Genesis 21:19 “19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water…”

God unveiled her eyes.

The power for doing this belongs to God. He is the One who reveals and unveils what we cannot see.

It appears that the well of water was either right there the whole time OR God miraculously placed it there; but either way, the essential piece to the puzzle is that faith in God is required. Hagar and Ishmael cried out, and in God’s mercy, He answered them!

Crying out to God requires humility (the admission that you can’t do this on your own) and it requires faith.

In Psalm 120:1 David says “In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me.”

This applies to us today also.

Is your pride preventing you from crying out to God?

James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you…”

God is intentional in His plan the whole time. He reminds Hagar and Ishmael again that He will make Ishmael into a great nation. God will carry His plan out to completion…as He will for you also.

Philippians 1:6 (ESV) the Apostle Paul says “…that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

But until then, God is faithful to be present with you in your circumstance.

God’s Faithfulness…Promised

Genesis 21:22–34 (ESV)

A Treaty with Abimelech

22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.” 24 And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

25 When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized, 26 Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” 27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. 28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” 30 He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” 31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath. 32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.

So…who’s this dude, Abimelech? This feels random!

Well, if you remember from a couple months ago in the Genesis series before we took a break for the summer in 1 Thessalonians, Abimelech is from chapter 20…he’s the king of Gerar and the guy who was tricked by Abraham because Abraham told him that Sarah was his sister, and that happened because Abraham was afraid…obviously a bad move.

Anyways… It is obvious that God is with Abraham. In verse 22 Abimelech says to Abraham “…God is with you in all that you do.” Abraham is a clear witness of God’s grace and provision, and he stands as a clear example of a follower of the Lord. God’s blessing to Abraham is obvious and is recognizable to outsiders.

Abimelech and his people desire a covenant with Abraham because they see the clear presence of God in Abraham’s life.

Do you think others could say the same about you? Consider that… Do the people you work with see the clear presence of God in your life? If you say you’ve been changed from the inside out by the work of God, does that actually show? How does your existence on earth actually share and show the love of Jesus to a dying, broken, and sinful world? Is your life compelling to people outside of the faith (and in the faith)?

What kind of testimony could you have for those around you if they saw how your life has been changed by the Lord? Some of us need to let people in to see that. Some of us need to share our testimony more. Some of us just need to be real about the struggle of life and be secure enough to say “I don’t have the answers, but I know the One Who does.”

It’s important to note that God gets the credit here in this exchange. It is clear that God gets the glory for Abraham’s success. See, this is for God’s glory and Abraham’s good.

This meeting is basically a peace treaty. The location of this peace treaty is at a well of water. They call the place “Beersheba”, which means “well of seven” or “well of the oath”.

Abraham honors the Lord by making a memorial there in His honor. Abraham worships the Lord here. Worship is always the proper response to God, no matter the circumstance. God’s faithfulness has clearly been on display in Abraham’s life… Abraham sees it, and the people around him see it.

***

Just as there’s a parallel with the birth of Issac and the birth of Jesus, there is a parallel here in this scene too and it is profound…

Just as a covenant of peace was made at the well between Abimelech and Abraham…so will God make a covenant in which His very life, His One and only Son, Jesus, the Living Water, will flow to all nations. He will gather it from another well, and a Samaritan woman will drink from it…

Here in Genesis 21, a peace treaty is made between two people groups: Abraham and Abimelech at the well of water…

Abraham was wronged (because his well was stolen, verse 25), but instead of seeking retribution (or a pay back), he calls a truce, AND gives in generosity - by giving livestock to Abimelech.

In John chapter 4, bridge of peace was made between two people groups that had a long history of conflict: the Jews and Samaritans…but at that well of water, Jesus gives the invitation to ALL NATIONS!

And we have ALL sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but Jesus offers forgiveness AND grace on top of that through eternal life.

The woman at the well in John 4 represents us: broken, sinful, and in desperate need of a Savior.

The invitation Jesus gives in John 4:13–14 is this: “…“Everyone who drinks of this water [the water from the well] will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.””

When we drink from the Well of Living Water, we will never be thirsty again! Jesus is the All-Satisfying Water that quenches every thirst and every need that we could ever have.

Will your response to Jesus’ invitation be that of the Samaritan woman? She says in John 4:15 “… “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.””

Are you dying in the desert wilderness and need to take a drink of the Living Water? God promises that you will never be thirsty again.

God’s faithfulness is promised to all who put their hope and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Closing

What does this mean for you and me today?

God’s faithfulness is proven…in the birth of Issac…the fulfillment of His promise.

God does NOT abandon His Word. He is ALWAYS faithful to fulfill what He says He will.

You want proof? Look at Scripture. He has given us proof. That proof empowers us to believe in faith the next two points!

God’s faithfulness is present…with Hagar and Ishmael in the desert…and He is with you in your circumstances.

God does NOT abandon you in the midst of your pain and your suffering…whatever that looks like, He is with you.

In the midst of whatever desert wilderness you’re in right now, cry out to God in your pain…

In Psalm 13 David cries out…

1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

6 I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

For you in your life, you might be crying out…

How long, O Lord, until my marriage is restored?

How long, O Lord, until my child comes to faith in You?

How long, O Lord, until my health struggles are cured?

How long, O Lord, until my anxiety and depression is taken away from me?

How long, O Lord, until I’m not alone anymore?

How long, O Lord, until we see peace in the world?

How long, O Lord, until we see You face to face?

Look to Romans 8:28-29… “28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, …”

In whatever trial you’re facing, God is working it for your good and His glory…now, that doesn’t mean it’s all going to work out the way that you hope it will… What it does mean is that there is purpose in the pain: you are being “conformed to the imagine of His Son”…that’s the work of sanctification: becoming more like Jesus. You’re being conformed to the image of Jesus! That’s the purpose in the pain.

God’s faithfulness is promised.

As a covenant of peace was made at the well between Abimelech and Abraham, so will God make a covenant in which His very life - Jesus, the Living Water - will flow to all nations…and the invitation to drink from it is open to us all.

What promises of God do you need to cling to?

Here are some of the promises of God we see in Scripture…

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you…” - James 4:8.

God protects His people - Psalm 121.

God’s love will never fail; 1 Chronicles 16:34.

God blesses those who delight in the Lord; Psalm 1.

God gives peace when you give yourself to Him in prayer; Philippians 4:6-7.

God will provide all of your needs; Philippians 4:19.

God will give you rest when you seek Him; Matthew 11:28-30.

Jesus, Himself, will wipe every tear from your eyes; Revelation 21:4.

There are many more I could list here, but I encourage you to pick one of these promises, memorize it, meditate on it, and store it in your heart.

Rest in the promises of God… God’s faithfulness is trustworthy!

***These hope-filled promises of God apply only to those who are His children…those who have committed their life to Him.

The greatest promise of God gives us the path to salvation in Him…God promised to send a Savior who would come to fix our biggest problem: sin…His Name is Jesus.

Jesus came to live a perfect life (fully God, fully man) to die in our place, a death that we deserved, and then resurrect from the dead, conquering sin and death forever, and for all who trust in Him will be saved…that requires humility and it requires faith…and then you can benefit from the promises of God.

The Gospel is this: Christ came to pay a debt He didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.

John 3:16 “16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Ephesians 2:4–5 “4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”

The promise of God that unlocks all other promises is found in Romans 10:9 “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Pray

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word…thank You for all of the evidence You give us of Your faithfulness…we have no reason to fear anything because You are faithful to Your people…Psalm 23, You, Lord, are our Shepherd, and in You we lack nothing. I pray that through Your Holy Spirit You would increase our faith in You right now…that Your Word is true, and that Your Word is good. You have promised Your faithfulness to us, Your faithfulness is present with us in our suffering, and You have proven this all to us.

Thank You, Jesus…what a blessed assurance we truly have in You.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

—

Drink of the Living Water of Jesus… Cling to the promises of God… and receive His blessing…

May the Lord bless you and keep you,

May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you,

May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you His peace,

Which always surpasses our understanding,

In the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,

Amen.

Brothers and sisters: you are loved!