Untitled Sermon

Please continue to pray for our mission team in Honduras, we have several students on that trip as well.

Pray that God would use our team to accomplish great things for His Glory.

Get back Saturday

We are going to continue our series the book of Genesis, if you guys have your bibles we will be in Genesis 16 still reading about the life of Abraham.

How many of you guys would say that you are patient? That you do really well in waiting for something?

This is an older statistic from Google analysts that says 40% of users will abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. So if its over 3 seconds they are out.

If im using youtube to figure something out if i use it at work theres an ad that pops up and it kills me waiting the 5 seconds for the skip button to show up.

Then I try and skip around the video to get the info quicker when if I had just watched from the beginning I would have been finished already.

One of my job responsibilities at the factory at one point was maintenance on the trampolines and if you guys have seen the long one on the basketball court there is alot of springs that need to be installed.

So me and another guy were working on that and they make them really compressed so they dont stretch as easily. So we had to take a pry bar, put it in one side and pull really hard to connect it to the frame.

We were frustrated and rushed through it and realized we didnt install the extra safety net at the bottom.

So we had to unhook like 10 of the springs and reattach them, it was a nightmare. If I had taken my time to make sure it was done right, I wouldn't have had the issue.

I still do this just last week, My wife had this shelf she got for her classroom at school, so I read the instructions on how to put it together and I was in such a hurry to get it done that after I finished I realized I had put the back plates on backwards so it showed the unfinished wood instead of the colored background.

We live in a instant gratification culture.

Everything is about convenience and how fast we can accomplish something.

While that can be a good thing often for convenience there are times where we need to be patient and not take the short cut.

So Tonight we are going to continue looking at Abraham's life and we are going to see he and Sarah take a short cut instead of being patient. We will see the result of this still affects our world even today.

Lets pray and dig into the text.

So Chapter 16 starting in verse 1. Abraham and Abram we talked about how they are the same guy and I will interchange their names but we are talking about the same person. His wife also receives a new name at this point she is still known as Sarai but becomes Sarah. So I very well could interchange those names as well but we are talking about the same people.

We read where God promised Abraham many descendants and land but so far at this point, it has not happened.

Abraham and Sarah are getting older and they did not have any children.

For a woman to be at the age Sarah was and not have any children it was looked down on by the culture as a tragedy.

Because at her age many people had children and grandchildren. So Sarah is frustrated in this moment and lets see how everything unfolded.

1. 'Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.

Now in Chapter 12 we saw Abraham get into this mess in Egypt. He tells his wife that she is beautiful and because of her beauty he is afraid the egyptians will kill him so that they can have her. So he makes her say she is his sister.

The Pharaoh finds interest in her gives Abraham all these possessions but then we see God strike Pharaohs house with plagues when Sarah was taken into his house.

Eventually we see Pharaoh let them go but while he was there Abraham was treated well and given alot of possession and its believed that that is where Sarah gets Hagar as a maid.

2. So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

Which leads to our first point tonight

We must not Compromise in the waiting.

It sounds wild in todays world that was plan for them to have an heir.

If a man and his wife were unable to conceive a child then it was socially acceptable for him to sleep with a maid or servant and make them another wife in order to have a child.

But even though that was socially acceptable, Abraham has a covenant with God and in the eyes of the Lord this was not condoned. We see as early as the garden of eden in Genesis 2

'For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. '

Genesis 2:24

The design was for one man and one woman to join together in marriage. But in the midst of this difficult time. They try to take the easy way out and go outside of God’s design.

The text says Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

Abraham listening to Sarah in this moment is crazy!

Like bro you just witnessed this covenant ceremony between you and God where God makes a promise to you. HE shows how serious He is about keeping His promise to you at whatever the cost.

But Abraham decides to compromise while he is waiting for this promise to be fulfilled.

We also must not compromise in the waiting.

For those of us in Christ we know that this earth is not our home.

While we are here we must not give into the sinful pleasures of this world in order to satisfy our flesh.

Because when we follow His plans for our life, the way His word describes for us to receive joy and happiness is the only way that will truly satisfy.

So do not compromise on your morals and values, the world is begging you to and they will propose many things that look enticing.

But the pay off is not worth it, its empty temporary pleasure.

3. After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4. He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.

Our second point tonight is

We see Consequence for sin

This was Sarah's idea, and some scholars believe she may have been twisting the words of the Lord.

Maybe she thought this is the plan for Abraham to have the heirs,

Maybe she thought God promised Abraham an heir but not her, because we don't see it specifically promised to her until the next chapter.

Sarah emotionally condones sinful behavior

The point of accepting Hagar as a wife was for her to get pregnant and it happens.

We she Sarah get furious!

Hagar is mad at Sarah, Sarah is mad at Hagar it’s a mess

You guys may have heard the saying the ends justifies the mean. Meaning whatever you have to do to achieve your desired outcome is worth it if you receive what you want.

But she realizes after it’s over that’s not what she wanted, it didn’t mean the same thing and she was jealous.

Its was not worth it. Sin never is.

We see that sin is never condoned in scripture.

5. And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the Lord judge between you and me.” 6. But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.

We see consequences for the sin that took place between them.

Its an interesting parallel that we see here with the garden of eden.

Eve takes the fruit gives it to Adam, he eats it then he tries to put the blame back on her.

Abraham listens to Sarah, sleeps with Hagar and then runs when the consequences show up.

In both cases Adam and Abraham both are responsible for their own actions, putting the blame on their wives doesnt remove that guilt from them.

We see Abraham chapter after chapter continue to miss the point and mess up.

He continues to be passive and look for the easy way out of problems.

Instead of turning to The Lord

Thankfully he was put to sleep during that covenant that was made with God, because in the very next chapter he is completely messing everything up.

Thats a great reminder for us today. We dont drift towards holiness.

If we are not spending time in prayer and in His word it is so much easier for us to be distracted by the things of the world and to fall into temptation.

Psalms 119:9-11

'How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. '

Abraham and Sarah should have brought their concerns to God in prayer in this moment.

When we are going through difficult times we are called to lean on Him and cast our cares on Him. Not say “Well God I got this one all on me, I can figure it out and I dont need you”

'There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. '

Proverbs 14:12

So we see consequences for this sin between Abraham and Sarah but we also can look at Hagar’s perspective on this.

She was a servant, and its not clear if what she desired to be a husband to Abraham but it just says Sarah gave her to Abraham.

We see Sarah despise and mistreat her.

Then we see Hagar flee and have this interaction with the angel of the Lord.

7. Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8. He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” 9. Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.”

It is not healthy to run away from our problems and we cannot run away from the consequences of sin. So it is the right thing for her to do for her to return and attempt to make things right with Sarah. Because all of 3 of the parties involved are guilty in some way.

10. Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” 11. The angel of the Lord said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. 12. He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers.”

God is compassionate and merciful to her in this moment and because he is Abrahams son but this is not the bloodline that delivers Jesus and our salvation.

There so many thing we could get into with bloodlines and genealogies but we wont get too deep into that tonight.

But what we do know is that it is believed that Ishmael is the father of the Arab nations.

We see descendants promised to Ishmael and people of the islamic faith believe that from his line comes Muhammed who is really important in their faith system.

I havent read the QuRan so we arent digging too deep into that but the short point is Arab nations came from Ishmael, Israelites come from Isaac and we have seen these two groups fight for over 2000 years.

Looking at the news over the past couple years all the conflict going on in Israel and Gaza all of that can stem back to consequences from this sinful moment.

I doubt the 3 of them could fathom that all of this blood shed would be the result of this.

But its a reminder that our sin has consequences even when we dont see it right away.

13. Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” 14. Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi (BEER LA HI ROY); behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. 15. So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.'

This leads to our third point

We see God’s Compassion to the people, and a Commitment to His Promise.

Hagar says you are a God who sees.

In those moment when Sarah sends her away, after mistreating her.

She is all alone out in the wilderness, and we see God choose to speak with her in the midst of this tough time.

She honors this interaction by also naming the well BEER LA HI ROY which translates too “well of the living one who sees me”

Its a good reminder for us today that God is all knowing and sees all things.

So when we are going through a difficult time, we have a God who knows all things and desires for us to communicate with Him.

We talk about Jesus as our high priest in this new covenant we are in, He is able to sympathize with us because He came to earth in bodily form.

'Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. '

Hebrews 4:14-15

So remember even at your lowest points that you feel alone there is a God who loves you so much that He sent His son to die for you.

So we see God’s compassion for the people, and then we eventually the commitment to the covenant, in His timing.

But we see God keep His promises to Abraham. Even though Abraham continues to mess up.

Im sure we will dive deeper into this in the upcoming weeks but lets skip ahead to Genesis 21

Genesis 21:1-7

'Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 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.”

When he has Ishmael with Hagar

Abraham was only 86. Isaac is born when Abraham was 100!

He was so impatient to force the plans God had but God delivers on His promise 14 years later!

Our timing is never better than God’s we have to remember that.

But we see God deliver this line from what may seem impossible, two incredible old people have their first child in what is a miracle. This bloodline will ultimately lead to the birth of our Savior.

My encouragement to you tonight in closing, is to trust in the Lord and His ways. When things get difficult dont turn to the ways of the world for happiness and instant satisfaction.

Because God has a plan and His ways are always better than ours.

If you don't know Jesus and have questions about it, talk to your small group leaders. We love you guys, we are here for you and desire for you to know Him.

Lets pray and break up into small groups.