Abraham, Father of Faith Part 14 “Is Anything Too Hard for the Lord?”
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9 And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
13 And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
14 Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
Introduction
Introduction
Abraham’s faith is legendary. He believed when all He had was a voice telling Him to leave His kindred and go into a strange country.
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
He had brawny faith. Faith with muscles.
Shame on you Christians, that call yourselves Christians, and go around with a weary. “Well, I don’t know. And if I go to church, the…” Oh, you’re a poor excuse.
Let me tell you. Lift up your heads. Straighten up your chest. Oh, my! Oh, use faith. Faith is the boss. That’s right. Faith has hairs on its chest. Brother, I mean, it’s got big muscles. When it speaks, all the worries drop from one side to the other.
The devil say, “Now, you just can’t make it. You can’t do this. You’re ashamed to testify.”
Faith raise up, say, “Shut up! I got the floor.” Amen. Sure. Faith takes the initiative. That’s what we need today for every pilgrim in the land. Straighten up your head. 56-0603 - "The Lamb's Book Of Life"
How do you know you have strong faith muscles? Through tests and trials.
You might have a lot of hindrances. Every person that starts out to meet Christ will find you got a lot of hindrances, but your faith don’t have any. Faith don’t have no hindrance. Faith has hairs on his chest, great big muscles. Reasons raise up and said, “You know, it’s reasonable.”
Faith pulls his muscles back and sticks out his big chest, and said, “Shut up. Set down.” And reason jumps over in a corner and takes his stool. Right. Faith has got muscles, and he means what he says. 63-0113E - "Perseverance"
Sarah also had to have faith.
11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Though she laughed, initially, in the end she judged Elohim faithful, her body was changed, she had the child.
She laughed because she didn’t understand that the hungry stranger was God.
We find out, He had His back turned to the tent. And Sarah laughed at what He said, because He told him. And she couldn’t understand that that, just being a Man out there, eating the meat that she fried, drinking the milk from the cow, and eating its calf, and that was God. 64-0402 - "Jehovah-Jireh #1"
When she laughed she should have died right there.
Let me give you a little grace here, brethren. That minute, God would’ve killed Sarah for disbelieving that Angel, He didn’t. Look at that Angel, went down and told Lot’s wife not to look back. See what happened to her, for her unbelief?
But He couldn’t take Sarah, because she was part of Abraham. And today, the unbelief of the real true Church, She has unbelief, but He can’t touch Her, we’re in Jesus.
You can’t take the Church without hurting Christ; He couldn’t take Sarah without hurting Abraham, so grace covered it. 62-0715 - "Behold, A Greater Than All Of Them Is Here"
13 And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
Why did Sarah laugh?
Sarah laughed because Satan had done everything he could to prevent her from receiving her visitation.
Now, Satan was trying to block Abraham and Sarah, because he knew that there was an Angelic visitation coming.
And then when everything rises, all out of order, then we know something is wrong. Now, I believe, maybe if we would listen to Satan, we might miss seeing it, like Sarah did.
Let’s think that Sarah, being that she done what she did, let’s think that she was kind of a little fussy that morning, that she might have said, “Abraham, you know the supplies are getting low here, and the herdsmen says the pasture is all dried up and the water holes, I think you made the wrong decision when you chose to come up here, and let Lot and Mrs. Lot and their family live down there with plenty.
“Why the other day, or some time ago, rather, when I went to the city, why, Mrs. Lot had on one of the prettiest dresses I ever seen, it was styled by the Egyptians. Why, a camel caravan come through, and she got the new styles. There is no such things as them caravans and styles coming through out here.”
But if she just knowed, there was more than a caravan coming through, there was a host of the Lord coming that way!
And I might have heard her say something like this: “You ought to seen the new hairdo that she had.” You know, a woman sixty years old, trying to look twenty. But that just things that attracts your attention, something, from the things of God, that’s what I’m trying to get at. “And you should have seen her.”
And poor ol’ Abraham, faithful ol’ brother, I…that didn’t shake him one bit, he just walks over and gets his chair and sets down in the door of the tent. I like that. 60-0328 - "Is There Anything Too Hard For The Lord?"
And here He is now, and Sarah, “I,” let’s just break in on her for a minute, there she set back there, say, “I wonder how many fanatics my husband can entertain?” And there he’s setting out there, you know, and Abraham just interested, maybe the ol’ fly-bush, you know, fanning the flies away, and saying…
Well, I see the Angel takes His chair, maybe, and leans back toward, His back toward the tent. And Sarah listening through the tent, you know, kind of eavesdropping, you know, and listening through the tent. And she was kind of in an awful mood that morning.
You don’t see things when you come to church in that kind of a mood. You just, no need of trying it, you just might as well stayed home, you won’t get nothing out of it. Go home in a…When you come to church, come prayed up, come in the atmosphere, come expecting.
Abraham knew that the time of the promise was coming close, it had to be, he was a hundred years old. He was expecting it any time, he watched every minute. When he run in, told Sarah, “This, I believe, is our day of visitation.”
And she kind of looked at him with them big eyes, and thought, “Well, Abraham, you’ve said that a long time.” But you know, there will come a time when it’ll be so, if God said so.
And you know, Sarah in there, eavesdropping, kind of halfway in a upset mood from her condition that morning, she’s thought in her heart, “Now, isn’t that a silly thing? Think, in our day, me an old woman, as old as I am, here I am ninety years old, there sets my husband Abraham, a hundred years old!
Well, I, it’s not been with me as women for fifty years. And Abraham, well, we’ve been married since we were about seventeen, and him about twenty-seven, well, how could that be? How could it be?”
See, she had herself all out of condition to receive it when God brought it. Oh, my, don’t never get that in your heart, be open, be ready. She missed it, she failed to see it.
Here she was in that shape, saying, “Now, how could that happen in our modern time? How could it happen to me in my condition?” But it happened just the same.
Abraham, out there, waiting with anticipation, you see, it wasn’t made known to her, it was made known to them that was looking for it.
That’s the way it comes yet, to those who are looking. So, he was watching, Abraham was. He said, “Yes, my Lord. Yes, that’s right, the promise was, and I’ve believed it all along.”
He said, “Now, Abraham, just about the time of life, it will be each month, well, I’m going to visit you, and you’re going to have that baby.”
And Sarah, you know to herself, went, “Humph!” laughed kind of to herself. Now watch, Abraham gets the sign now. See, Sarah was too flusterated, too concerned about the new hairdo she seen, or something else.
Sometimes we’re too much flusterated about the fellow, the other fellow that’s got the biggest denomination, or, “His congregation dresses better than mine.” Or, “They’ve got a bigger church down on the corner than we got.” What difference does that make?
I want God, I don’t care if I have to worship Him on the street corner, in a coal shed, wherever it might be, I want God. Let me have my heart in condition, if I wear overalls, so I can watch God and see His move and recognize Him, not pass it by.
He said, “Abraham, where is your wife, Sarah?” A Stranger, never seen Him before, “Where is your wife, Sarah?” And how did He know that he had a wife? And how did He know that her name was Sarah? Said, “She’s in the tent behind You.”
And when Sarah laughed, He said, “Why did she laugh?” He caught the sign, he knew what it was. Sarah didn’t get it, she even come forth and tried to deny it. God would have destroyed her upon that if she hadn’t been a part of Abraham.
And lot of times our unbelief would destroy us if it wasn’t for the Blood of Jesus Christ. God can’t destroy us now because the Blood of Jesus Christ keeps God off of us. We are part of Christ, just as Sarah was part of Abraham, for we are the Bride of Christ.
And we people who is borned of the Spirit of God, ought to wake up, get out of our stews, and watch for the supernatural sign of the Coming of the Lord Jesus, His signs that He promised. 60-0328 - "Is There Anything Too Hard For The Lord?"
14 Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
“hard”
פֶלֶא (peleʾ). n. masc. wonder, miracle, act of God. Designates a mighty act of God that is inexplicable and indescribable according to human standards.
Is anything too wonderful for God?
Faith in God means you buy stock in God’s promises when everyone else is selling.
When the Babylonians were getting ready to carry the people ofJerusalem captive, God had Jeremiah buy a piece of land in an extreme fear market.
Jeremiah’s nephew was selling family property, and the Lord told Jeremiah “buy it, pay full price for it, and bury a sealed copy of the deed on the land”.
14 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.
15 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.
When everybody else gave up on the land, God never did. When everyone else gave up on you, God never did.
When everything was contrary Abraham made an investment in the promises.
Hundreds of tribes and kingdoms were displaced by the Babylonians and disappeared from history entirely, but the Jews were God’s chosen people, the land would be theirs again.
Their faith would be tested for 70 years, but they would return.
The Israelites never did have complete autonomy again until 1947 when the star of David was raised. It took thousands of years, but God keeps His Word.
16 Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the Lord, saying,
17 Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
Same Hebrew Word
18 Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the Lord of hosts, is his name,
19 Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:
20 Which hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and hast made thee a name, as at this day;
21 And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror;
22 And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;
23 And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them:
24 Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, thou seest it.
25 And thou hast said unto me, O Lord God, Buy thee the field for money, and take witnesses; for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying,
27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
Do you want to know whether you have faith? What do you do in your darkest moments? Buy or sell?
The reason Warren Buffet became the richest man in the world for a time is because he refused to judge a company by the current climate, but by it’s fundamentals.
He asked himself “if the stock market didn’t exist for the next ten years, would this company still exist and thrive?”. Is their product good? So he famously invested billions in Coca-Cola. When everyone else sells he buys more. Why? He has faith in the company.
Coca-Cola could go broke tomorrow, but God will always keep His Word.
Because Abraham trusted God, he submitted himself to the promise.
You might be in an impossible situation, but He specializes in those.
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: And the government shall be upon his shoulder: And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
His name is wonderful! How could anything be too wonderful for Him?
(Illustrate: Mr. Wonderful, Kevin O’Leary)
Jesus is called wonderful because His very existence is beyond our capability of knowing.
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel.
The man speaking to Elohim should not have existed. If Sarah had known who He was like Abraham did, she would have believed from the start.
Notice the question: “Is anything too hard for the LORD”.
Do you remember who I am Abraham?
Let me remind you, I created the heavens and the earth.
(El Elah Elohim)
1 O sing unto the Lord a new song; For he hath done marvellous things: His right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
2 The Lord hath made known his salvation: His righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.
3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: Make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp; With the harp, and the voice of a psalm.
6 With trumpets and sound of cornet Make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein.
8 Let the floods clap their hands: Let the hills be joyful together
9 Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: With righteousness shall he judge the world, And the people with equity.
Conclusion
Another woman was told she would have a baby, this time without a man being involved at all.
She said “How will these things be?”. He said “With God, Nothing is impossible. She said “Be it Unto Me according to thy Word”.
If He could give Sarah a child at 90, if He could give Israel back their land after more than 2000 years, if He could form Himself as germ in the womb of Mary, He can do all things.
What are you facing today? With God, all things are possible, only believe.