"Helping" God

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 104:19-35

Psalm 104:19–35 ESV

He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting. You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about. The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. When the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their dens. Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening. O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it. These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works, who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke! I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord. Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!

Scripture Memorization: Genesis 50:19-20

Genesis 50:19–20 ESV

But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Scripture Reading: 1 John 4:1-6 (Cory)

1 John 4:1–6 ESV

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Sermon:

Good Morning Church!

I was Glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

Well once again, and as always, good morning church. I was glad when they said to me let us go and Worship in the house of the Lord. As much as I enjoyed a week off from preaching last week, it was nice to sit in the Pew with you all and hear Zach present to us from The Book of Romans.

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I love getting to come up here and present to you all God's word. And especially now, I've been loved being in the book of Genesis, and so we are continuing back to the Book of Genesis. Back to Genesis. Those of you listen to the radio. Back to Genesis might mean something, but?

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We're going to the Book of Genesis chapter 16. This morning. As we prepare our hearts and Minds to hear from the Lord. I'd like us to think about a phrase. And we're going to use scripture to evaluate this phrase. Use this text in many ways. To see the the weight and the ultimate wrongness of this phrase, but it's a phrase I think we all know.

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It's sort of a. A phrase that represents the? The American Spirit. If I can do this and I can pull myself up by my bootstraps. But there's some problems when it comes to certain things. And the phrase is. God helps those. Who help themselves? I think we all know why that's wrong.

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Or that that is wrong, but it's harder. Rather to know why it's wrong. So, let's look at our text today. And see what's going to happen again. We'll be covering all of Genesis 16. And I'd like to approach it a little differently instead of reading the whole text at once.

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I, I'd like to? We'll read it section by section as we go through Point by Point. To see the weight of the story unfold and try to understand the lessons that are going to be taught today. So, since we're not going to read the whole thing at once. It feels appropriate that we would start our time this morning with a word of prayer.

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Let's pray. Oh Lord, Our Lord, How Majestic is your name in all the Earth? We thank you and praise you for all your great and wondrous Deeds. For your kindness, your goodness, your Justice. We thank you that you are a God who sees and knows us. Who has loved us enough to call us out of Darkness and into light.

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We thank you for the precious gift of your son, Our Savior, Jesus Christ. The word became flesh. The one who? Holds all things from him and through him into him are all things may we offer our lives in. Worship us in worshipful sacrifice to him. It's in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. And amen. To remind us where we are in the Book of Genesis. We are in the middle, just literally smack dab in the middle of the highest high points in Abram's life. Two weeks ago, we talked about. God will come in, and he will Covenant with Abram in a beautiful and wonderful way. God Quintuples down at a certain point on the promises he's made Abram of of land and blessing and of children.

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Hey, God has said, you'll your children will be a nation. And then God comes back and says, in fact, your children will be if anyone could number the grains of sand. That's how many your children will be. And then, two weeks ago, Abram in a time of doubt and pain, God came to him and said, just go outside. Look at the stars, just try to count them. That will be the the number of your descendants. This land. It will be theirs, though. There will be a time of trouble they will be. Slaves and sojourners in a foreign land one day. This will be theirs.

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And then God himself walked through the torn carcasses of goats and Rams and heifers three years old. In between the carcasses of turtle dove and a pigeon saying in effect. This is my Covenant with you if all that I promise you does not come true. May this be upon me, this is what God's saying is. He walks through. The carcasses of these animals? So, God has made Abram Great and Mighty promises in chapter 17 that we'll get to next week. God will again Covenant with Abram. He will again make promises with Abram. And so here, smack dab in the middle of the greatest promises that God has ever given Abram.

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In some ways, the greatest promises that God has ever given mankind. We find Abram. On the roller coaster of his life. Hitting another dip. In many ways, this might be the lowest dip. In Abram's life. So, where do we start? Where does Abram's problems of Faith start? Well, it will sound familiar to us if we've been paying attention. We actually start with.

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The same problem. Same, same one. Genesis chapter 16, verse 1 now Sarai Abram's wife had borne him no. Children. The problem in a nutshell is that God has made these great promises. He's promised him children and land at the end of the day. Those are, if if you're thinking through, what are the promises to Abram to help you out? Children and land. What did God promise Abram, children and land? What is Abram waiting for as God has promised him children in land? And we, we know he doesn't have any land. Lot took the better portions. He's resting by the The Oaks of someone named mamry. They're not even his own Oaks.

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He doesn't have land in here. The real issue? He has no children.

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And so Abram's problem is. If he walks by sight? God's promises are in trouble.

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If he walks by faith. Well, now it's hard. I have to. I have to see things with faith that my eyes can't seem to see. Abramus advanced in years. He wasn't young when God called him, and then he wandered for a while. Hands up in Hebron, and then God calls him. And then he comes, and he's in the promised land camping. And God says, this will be your land. This is where God promises him. In many ways, the promised land. Neighbor has to go sojourned out in Egypt, and then he comes back. And now, there's a problem with lot. He's just getting older.

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It's the way things work. I feel it in my own ankle and bones every day of my life would just get older. And then lot goes, and he has to go rescue lot, and they come back. And we'll find out they've been living in Canaan for 10 years. There's no kids. In fact, if we peek ahead just a little bit, Sarai will put into words the real weight of the same problem. Verse 2, Sarah, I said to Abram. Behold now. The Lord has prevented me. From bearing children. Do you want to get full voice to? The same problem is that God has made a promise. And yet, God, it feels.

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God, it feels that's an important note. But, let's be honest, it's God. It feels. Is slow to keep this promise.

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Sarah looks at her life. Abram looks at his life. They look at God's promise, and these don't match. They don't fit. I'm supposed to have kids. We're supposed to have a nation coming from me. Last week, Abram voiced it like this or two weeks ago, he said. Am I going to be childless forever? The heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. I got no kids. Because, as I promise. How will I know? And then God walks through the animals. And yet, here we are. Still, no kids. Still, no children. So no Offspring. The the Hebrew word here, still no seed.

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That can Sprout and grow and flourish and become this great nation. It's the same problem.

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And so here's the real issue. The same problem that Abram's been dealing with. Will lead to the same heart. The same heart that Abrams had last time he fell. Here's the full story. Well, let's do verse one again now. Sarah Abram's wife had borne him, no children. And the hint of a problem. But she did have a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarah, I said to Abram. Behold, now the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go into my servant. It may be that I shall obtain children by her. And Abram listened to the voice of Sarah.

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So, after Abram had lived 10 years in the land of cannons, Kane and Sarah Abram's wife took Hagar, the Egyptian her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went into Hagar and she conceived. And when she saw that she can see, she looked with contempt. On her mistress. Hear the same heart. And there's a there's a. Surface level answer that is right, and a deeper answer that is also right. What is exactly the heart here? Well, the service level is the heart of sin. Now, many people go into the commentary. You go into the commentary. You read what people say about this passage.

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And they'll say, I think, rightly. In many ways, Sarah and Abram are just thinking the way the world thought here. And so they want to say they're just thinking the way the world thought. Let's not label this as sin. It's definitely sin. It's definitely sin to have relations with a woman who's not your wife. And I would say it's definitely sin to tempt your husband to have relations with people who aren't you? And I would say it's definitely soon to take advantage of a slave girl that's probably part of this story. If we want to be brutally honest?

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And is definitely wrong. To do all these things, but that's not the real heart. The service level issue is the sin of adultery and fornication, sure.

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But what I want us to see is this is the same heart Abrams been struggling with.

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Because the heart here. Is ultimately a heart that does not trust God. If we think back to the last great failure of Abram, what was it? He went down to Egypt. And there in Egypt, Abram thought okay. God's made this promise that I'll have a kid, but? Right, God made a promise, but? And the butt. There was. But. If they see my wife, she's very attractive. They'll kill me, and they'll take my wife and then God's promises can't come true. And so the heart that begins to be exposed is a heart of, well, I'll do it myself.

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God helps those who help themselves.

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I'll figure it out. I'll lie. That'll be okay. Here, God made a promise. We'll have kids. We don't have any kids. I'll figure it out myself. The people around us, the people who don't have God, the people who don't trust God, you know what they do, if the woman can't have a child. They have the servant have the child and then that child becomes the heir and the first wife can use the servant. However, she wants. It. It treats the servant as a mere commodity. It's not good. It. It breeds all sorts of stuff as we will see.

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But the heart. Here is a heart that does not trust God. And in fact, it's very interesting the way Moses writes this. He wants us to think back that this is really the. Of all of our issues, going back to Genesis chapter 3.

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If we do just a quick comparison if we want to do a little bit of flipping back and forth. There's repeated language that we should miss. Verse 2 it says at the end of verse 2, Abram listened to the voice of Sarai Genesis 3 chapter. 17, this is when God comes to Abram after Abram is sinned. Because you have listened to the voice of your wife.

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Abram and Adam, it seems, are following the same problem. In fact, it's even more explicit.

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After Abram had lived 10 years in the land of Canaanis area and took Abram. Wife took Hagar, the Egyptian her servant, and gave her to Abram. Genesis chapter 3, verse 6, so that when the woman saw the tree was good for food, and it was a delight to the eyes and the tree was desired to make one wise she took from its fruit and ate and also gave some to her husband.

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Moses wants us to see as he's writing this that that Abram and Adam, it's the same heart of sin. At the heart of this and the Heart of sin is, did God really say? The serpent said to the woman. Did God really say you can't eat of any tree here? The the sin, at the heart of Sarah. Did God really say you'd have kids? If so, let's figure this out. Missing that God really said, I will do this missing that God really said. I'll take care of this missing that God had already said. I will give you kids.

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And so, Sarah's confession in verse 2 is true that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Then, it's also true the reverse that the Lord can open up her womb. But I'll just help God. God helps those who help themselves will do this ourselves.

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And they fall into sin. And then we're left with. The painful Fallout.

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Verse 4. He went into Hagar and she conceived, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt. Upon her mistress. And Sarah, I said to Abram, May the wrong done to me be on you.

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I gave my servant to your Embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May

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the Lord judge between you and me. But Abram said to Sarah, behold, your servant is in your power due to her as you please. Then Sarah, I dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

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Family Bliss. Does not exist here. For Abram and Sarai and agar.

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Their calculations were wrong. In the grace point. This week, we'll talk about how? In all of our actions, there's often unintended consequences. Here, we see them on display.

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I know what we'll do. We'll get a kid. And shockingly, having your husband sleep with another woman leads to problems. Shockingly. When you desire something with your all your heart? And you engage in sin to try to find inappropriate ways to get it. When it comes to you in sinful, inappropriate ways, it won't feel as good as you thought it would. Shockingly. There's family Dynamics at play now. Shockingly, this doesn't go well. Many commentators, I think, rightfully. So, expose Abram's. Just great failure in this text. Just like in Genesis chapter 3, if we remember back, it was like 26 weeks ago at this point. Now, we're preaching through the beginning of Genesis, I said, Eve. One of her biggest problems, she had a deadbeat husband.

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Right, he should have been the one who said, no, God has said, we will not eat. We will not do this. Instead, his wife took, she ate, and gave. Here, Abram again is the same problem. He, he's not there, saying no, God has said, no, this isn't right. No, you are my wife. Says, okay. And then. He will not protect Hagar. Behold, your servant is in your power. Do with her as your please, whatever? So, here's this woman pregnant with his son. Removing the sinful aspect of it. When I was a youth pastor, I used to tell the kids this all the time we need to know and understand.

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Only. God has the power to create life. So teenagers, I would say, if you make the mistake of having premarital sex, that's a sin. But only God can create life. And that's a blessing. Though it may be difficult and painful, and the circumstances might not be ideal. Any life is a precious gift from God. Okay, let's apply that here. Ava made a mistake.

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And yet only God can create life. So, here's this pregnant maid servant carrying the child of Abram. Nero has no regard or care for her. The language we used earlier, actually, in verse 3, was that this was now his wife. And there's some interesting stuff going on here technically. Sort of. As we look at this, technically, she would be more classified as a concubine. But there's a word for concubine. And the Bible is very clear. You don't mix these two words wife and concubine, either you're one or the other. So, what does the bible called Hagar here?

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Verse 3 Abram lived changed. Lincoln and Sarai, Abram's wife. Took Haggar, the Egyptian her servant, and gave her to her husband as a wife. He should have cared for her now, too. But he won't you take her? Whatever, do what you want. And Sarah is so repulsed at her own actions. At the end of the day in her own decision at the end of the day, she takes it all out on Haggar. She dealt harshly with her. What exactly does harshly mean we don't know? But this is how we, we know how bad it was. It was so bad that Hagar would be willing to.

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As a pregnant woman. Journey alone. On the dangerous road. From Canaan to Egypt.

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By way of example making. Imagine a 7-month pregnant woman. We don't know exactly how pregnant she was pregnant enough to show. Pretty enough that this contempt has happened and pregnant enough that. There's been this contempt, and it grows in this conversation, and she's dealing harshly with her. So this woman packs up by herself, steals away in the cover of night. We don't know how she escaped. And she heads off towards Egypt. It's like a a pregnant woman, a very pregnant woman. Leaving on foot Las Cruces to try to get to Lordsburg?

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Obviously, this is a difficult, painful situation.

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No one is happy here. Abram is not happy here. Sarai is not happy here. Hagar is not happy here. This is a broken, painful situation, and this is what happens when we seek to do things our own way. In our own strength in our own might. There is painful.

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So, what are we left with?

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We'll have a good news, bad news situation for you church. We'll start with the good news. Over all of this. Is the seeing?

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Verse 7, the angel of Lord, found her by a spring of water in the wilderness. The spring on the way to Shure? And he said hagar, servant of Sarai. Where are you come? Where have you come from? And where are you going? And she said, I'm fleeing from my mistress Sarai. The angel of the Lord said to her return to your mistress and submit to her. The angel of the Lord also said to her, I will surely multiply your Offspring, so they cannot be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said to her, behold, you are pregnant, and you shall bear a son.

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You shall call his name Ishmael. Because the Lord has listened to your Affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone in everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his Kinsmen. So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her. You are a god of. Where she said, truly. Here, I have seen him who looks after me. Therefore, the well was called beer Lao, and it lies between Kardashian Barrett. And Hagar bore, Abram's son and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore Ishmael.

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God sees. And God hears. God knows. Here, Hagar is in the wilderness by a spring. Many people read into this that she's probably not going to go much further than this. She's, she's gone as far as we can expect. A pregnant woman to go and hear her and her child will probably die. So, they're laying by a spring. Best case scenario. They are just laying there vulnerable, where all of the worst parts of humanity will go and seek out to do harm to anyone. If you were a robber on the road, where's everyone gonna stop? They're going to stop at the spring.

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It's where you're going to go. It's not good.

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And so the angel of the Lord appears. Now, there's an interesting thought. What we should note is? The angel of the Lord here. Is called by the name God. So many people will say, and this is a story for another day, but I should. I feel the need to put this out here. People say this is actually Jesus before Jesus. Was Jesus appearing on the scene? The second person of the Trinity. How do we know this because it says the angel of the Lord in verse?

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But then verse 13, this is what it says, though she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her. You are a god of seeing she. She called the name of Yahweh, who spoke to her, so the angel of the Lord is speaking, and she calls me the Lord, the Lord. At a minimum. This is a representation. Of the the glory and Splendor of God. Hagar here is seeing the same thing Abram saw when God walked between the carcasses. That's the point.

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And here. God sees her.

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He's a singer.

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He says he can go back. You can go back, and he promises a blessing to her verse 10. I will multiply your Offspring. You may have left in fear, dread fear. But I'll multiply your Offspring. Note, this is not the same promise that God gave to Abram. This is one to Hagar. The seeing God will still care for and make promises to even this woman.

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This woman has been

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used and abused, and now left for dead. God will come, he sees.

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God

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cares for.

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God knows, sir. This is what Matthew Henry says on this passage. I, this is a long quote. But I think it's it's good.

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Hagar. Was out of her place. And out of the way of her duty. And going further astray. When the angel found her. But it's a great Mercy to be stopped in a sinful way, either by conscience or by Providence. Where cometh thou? Consider that thou art running from duty and the Privilege is thou was blessed in Abram's tent. It is good to live in a religious family, which those ought to consider who have this Advantage. And where will you go? You're running into sin. If Hagar were to return to Egypt, she will return to idol gods and into the danger of the Wilderness through which she must travel.

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Recollecting, then who we are, we would often teach us our duty. Inquiring where we came? We would show us our sin and Folly. Considering whether we will go discovers our danger and mystery, and those who leave their space and duty must hasten to their return. How mortified soever it may be, as we say. Matter how difficult and painful if God has called us somewhere. We must go there. So, Hag are you return? But you return under the knowing that God sees and God hears. How does she know? How will she know well God has said name your child Ishmael?

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Ishmael means God hears.

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So every time. She Comforts her crying baby. She is telling herself God hears. Every time. Her child misbehaves. She's telling herself God hears every time she tells her child she loves him. She's telling herself. God hears. God hears in God's sea, so she calls the name of the God you are a god of sin.

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Matt Matthew Henry continues. The Declaration of the Angel. I will. Because I will surely multiply you. I will. Shows. This Angel was the Eternal Word and Son of God. Hagar could not, but admire, the Lord's mercy and feel have I, whom so unworthy been favored with a gracious visit from the Lord? This visit brought her to a better temper. Returned her. And by her behavior, soft and Sarai, and receive more gentle treatment. Would that we were always suitably impressed by this thought? Thou, o God! Seeest me. God sees us. And if we remember just that thought God sees, it is the remedy for all that has come before.

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When we have the same problem.

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I don't have any kids. That's not your problem. What's your problem? Whatever your problem is. God sees. When that same heart Wells up know this, what is the solution to the heart of sin know this God sees? Lauren, when we're in the midst of all of the Fallout and difficulty and pain. That is, when God comes in and sees God enters into this situation in the midst of the pain and difficulty and sin and all of the Fallout God still sees and he cares. Would that we were always impressed by this thought. God seeth me.

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Remember? The God Sees. Because I said this was a good news, bad news situation.

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We end.

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With the same problem.

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Verse 16.

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Abram was. 86 years old. When Hagar? Bore Ishmael. To Ava.

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He has a kid named God sees. This is not the child of Promise.

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Is a child born? An Egyptian servant.

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This is not a child by which all the nations will be blessed. No, this is a child verse 12 who will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, living a life at War of strife and difficulty. The Fallout of this? Will be War. For thousands of years. The Fallout of this is strife and Discord, and pain and Abram still doesn't have a kid.

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Here's another illegitimate error.

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That's where we

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at.

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So, what's changed? Some ways, not much. Some of these things have only changed for the worse. Cuz Abram and Sarai are now another year older.

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Same problem.

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What's the difference?

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God hears. And God sees, and they've been reminded of this.

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Don't try in your own strength in mind. Rather trust in the Lord.

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It may be painful. It may be difficult. Would that we were all suitably impressed with this thought. Thou are the God who seest me?

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Next week. We will not resolve this problem.

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Next week, we'll start with the same problem, even worse. Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram when Abram verse 17, chapter 17, verse 1. Ahead to next week when Abram was 99 years old. The Lord appeared to him. We're gonna go 14 years.

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Still the same problem.

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So the question becomes? Will you trust God who sees more than you trust the problems, however big, and however long we Face them?

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He's a God who sees and hears.

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May we trust in him? Let's pray.