SPEAKER_00: Scripture reading this morning is from Genesis chapter 18, verses 1 through 15.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis chapter 18, verses 1 through 15.
SPEAKER_00: And it reads as follows.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day.
SPEAKER_00: He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him.
SPEAKER_00: When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, Oh, O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.
SPEAKER_00: Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and and after that you may pass on, since you have come to your servant.
SPEAKER_00: So they said, Do as you have said.
SPEAKER_00: And and Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, Quick, three three sheeds of flour, knead it, and make cakes.
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham ran to the to the herd and took a calf tender and good and gave it to a young man who prepared thee quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Then he took the curds of milk, curz and milk, and and a calf and that he had prepared, and he set it before them, and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
SPEAKER_00: They said to him, Where is Sarah your wife?
SPEAKER_00: And he said, She is in the tent.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord said, I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.
SPEAKER_00: And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.
SPEAKER_00: Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years, and the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.
SPEAKER_00: So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, After I am worn out and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh and say, Shall I indeed bear a child now that I am old?
SPEAKER_00: Is anything too hard for the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.
SPEAKER_00: But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, No, no, but you did laugh.
SPEAKER_00: May God add a blessing to the reading of his word.
SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I'm reminded of the words of the song, fill our cup, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Fill it up.
SPEAKER_00: Come and quench the thirsting of our soul.
SPEAKER_00: Bread of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Feed us till we want no more.
SPEAKER_00: Take our cup, fill it up, and make us whole.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, have your way this morning.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: This summer we've been going through a series on faith.
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like to trust God through the book of Genesis and with Abraham?
SPEAKER_00: And we've been seeing that faith, this walk of faith, isn't a straight line.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham didn't always get it right.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't always trust God as he should, but but in the midst of all of the ups and the downs, God proved himself to be faithful to Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: This morning, our text, I want to focus our attention on Sarah's faith journey.
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like for Sarah to trust God in the midst of all that was going on?
SPEAKER_00: And we want to ask the question this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We want to say ask the question, what happened to her heart?
SPEAKER_00: What and what can happen to our heart that that when she hears the promise that next year you're going to have a child, you're going to have a son, that her response basically is yeah, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: That's basically her response.
SPEAKER_00: There's a cynicism, there's a there's a there's a uh a disillusionment with her because because God says, I'm going to give you a child, and and she says, okay, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: What happens to a heart that that in this faith journey, if we're not careful, while we're waiting for God to move, while we're waiting for God to do what God said he would do, if we're not careful, our hearts can become embittered.
SPEAKER_00: You might be in that space this morning.
SPEAKER_00: You might be saying, you know, I hear everybody talking about God's gonna provide and God's gonna do this, but I've been waiting for X amount of years, or I've been waiting for all this time, and and yet God still has not moved, and and I don't even know if He's gonna move.
SPEAKER_00: What happens, what has happened to her heart that that she's at a space where she's saying that and and she didn't say it out loud, but she thought it, and and and you might not say it out loud because you're in good company.
SPEAKER_00: You know you can't say that out loud in the midst of the congregation, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: You know that, but you you understand in your heart you're thinking that.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want us just to survey Sarah's journey and and we'll get back to this text here, but but I want us to go back and look.
SPEAKER_00: This has been a 65-year journey.
SPEAKER_00: When when when Sarah gets this word, when Abram comes to her and and says, We're getting ready to move, she's 65 years old.
SPEAKER_00: She hasn't had a child.
SPEAKER_00: And we know from the scriptures that that that to be childless and to be barren is is a is a heavy burden for a woman to bear.
SPEAKER_00: And here's this woman for 65 years.
SPEAKER_00: She's she's been waiting for God to bless her with a child, and she still doesn't have a child.
SPEAKER_00: So her journey starts at 65 years old.
SPEAKER_00: And and when we're at verse chapter 18, we're looking at 24 years later.
SPEAKER_00: So that when the promise comes to her, she's she's 89 years old.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as we as we look at Sarah's journey, as we look at the struggles and the things that she goes through, it would be easy for us as we look at these circumstances for us to say, Well, yeah, I understand why she's feeling that way.
SPEAKER_00: That makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: She's 89 years old, she can't have kids.
SPEAKER_00: But but what we'll see as we go through this passage and through these texts is that God still expects her to trust him.
SPEAKER_00: God is still expecting her that he's not concerned about the circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: The circumstances don't hinder God.
SPEAKER_00: God is still expecting Sarah and Abraham to trust him, even when all odds are against what he's speaking of happening to happen.
SPEAKER_00: He still expects them to do that.
SPEAKER_00: And and beloved, that's the same with us.
SPEAKER_00: God still expects, even though our world might be falling apart, even though the things that we are looking for and hoping for may not seem to show up.
SPEAKER_00: God is not saying, Well, you know, I know you're in a tough situation, so I understand the fact that you don't really trust me.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, he still expects them to trust him.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason why he expects him to trust them is not because of who they are.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, but it's all because of who he is.
SPEAKER_00: He's that covenant-keeping God.
SPEAKER_00: He's a God who makes promises and and and and and says what he says, and he wants you and I to learn to trust him.
SPEAKER_00: He's not denying that the the situation is difficult.
SPEAKER_00: He's not denying that that your circumstances may be overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00: He's not denying that.
SPEAKER_00: But what he is saying to you and I is that I am your firm foundation, I am your rock.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, you might be shaken, but you hold on to me.
SPEAKER_00: So at 65 years old, God is dealing with her.
SPEAKER_00: Her faith journey is is underway.
SPEAKER_00: There are those when I was studying, there were some that were saying, well, she didn't, maybe she didn't know the promises.
SPEAKER_00: It was it's hard for me to believe that all these things that were going on with Abraham and all these changes, there are momentous changes that Sarah didn't know about this.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, anytime your husband comes home and says, Pack up, we're moving, and and doesn't give you an explanation as to why we're moving.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there's gonna be a conversation.
SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be a conversation.
SPEAKER_00: You just ain't gonna pack up, leave your family, leave your relatives, leave everything you know, and go to a place, and your husband said, God told me to go because he's gonna bless us in the land of Canaan.
SPEAKER_00: You you there's gonna be a conversation.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm more than certain that that when Moses, when God came to Abraham, Abraham in chapter 12, and God said to him, and I will make you a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: I will bless those that bless you and curse those who curse you.
SPEAKER_00: When God told him that, he told Sarah that.
SPEAKER_00: And I bet you she picked up on that great nation thing.
SPEAKER_00: Because you can't have a great nation without kids.
SPEAKER_00: I'm 65.
SPEAKER_00: And and and and she probably is, she's probably thinking and hoping, well, this can still work at 65.
SPEAKER_00: We can we can make this work at 65.
SPEAKER_00: He shows up again in chapter 13 of Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: And he and he reaffirms the promise.
SPEAKER_00: And Sarah hears this.
SPEAKER_00: I know Abraham relays this to Sarah.
SPEAKER_00: He says, and the Lord said to Abraham, after Lot had separated from him, lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward, eastward and westward, for all the land that you that you see, I will give to you and to your offspring forever.
SPEAKER_00: And I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth, your offering offspring also can be counted.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure she's dust of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: There's a whole lot of people still don't have a baby.
SPEAKER_00: I'm getting older.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 15.
SPEAKER_00: God renews the promise.
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 15, chapter 15, verse 1, after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.
SPEAKER_00: Fear not Abraham, Abram, for I'm your shield.
SPEAKER_00: Your, your, your, your, and, your reward shall be great.
SPEAKER_00: But Abram said, Oh Lord, what shall you give me?
SPEAKER_00: For I continue to be childless.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Abram's picking up on this.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Look, okay, God, I'm I'm hearing the promise.
SPEAKER_00: I'm hearing that you're gonna take care of us, I'm hearing that you're gonna provide, I'm hearing you're gonna, we're gonna we're gonna have all these children, and and my my seeds are gonna be from the sand of the sea.
SPEAKER_00: I'm hearing it, Lord, but I am childless.
SPEAKER_00: Don't know how we're gonna have a big nation and we don't have any kids, God.
SPEAKER_00: Abram says that.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 3, and Abram says, said, Behold, you have given me no offspring, and and a member of my household will be my heir.
SPEAKER_00: And behold, the word of the Lord came to him and said, This man shall not be your heir.
SPEAKER_00: He says, See, Abraham's starting to try to help God figure this out.
SPEAKER_00: Because God hasn't done it for him yet.
SPEAKER_00: God has not given them children yet.
SPEAKER_00: So Abram's like, okay, well, maybe I need to step in.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe God doesn't know the options that are before him.
SPEAKER_00: You know, and a lot of times that's how we do.
SPEAKER_00: We do this with God.
SPEAKER_00: We we God says, I'm gonna take care of you, I will provide all your needs, I'm gonna protect you, I'm gonna keep you.
SPEAKER_00: And in our minds, we we we figure out in our minds how we think God ought to work it out.
SPEAKER_00: And I often say that's that's how my prayers work.
SPEAKER_00: My prayers were like the Star Wars, the Jedi mind trick.
SPEAKER_00: I would I would try to tell God and project to God how he could possibly work out my situation.
SPEAKER_00: You know, God, if he would just do this, you know, I got a little money here and this here, and we just move this here, move that there, and then we can make that happen.
SPEAKER_00: Or I can get alone, or I can do this, or if you would just make this person do this, and then everything would be figured out.
SPEAKER_00: And and and so we're trying to help God figure out how he's going to fulfill his promises to you and I on how he's going to care for you, how he's gonna provide for you, how he's going to keep you.
SPEAKER_00: We want to help God.
SPEAKER_00: And so Abram is trying to help God.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Look, don't have any kids, but I got a servant in my house.
SPEAKER_00: His name, let him be the heir.
SPEAKER_00: And God says, No, that's not what we're gonna do, Abram.
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 40, behold, your word of the Lord came to him, this man shall not be your heir.
SPEAKER_00: Your very own son shall be your heir.
SPEAKER_00: And he brought him outside and said, Look toward heaven and the numbers of the stars, if you are able to number them, then he said to them, So shall your offspring be.
SPEAKER_00: And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Sarah's thinking the same thing too, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: Sarah's thinking this too.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what I hear you, Abram.
SPEAKER_00: I hear you, I hear you.
SPEAKER_00: You're coming in here every time telling me what God told you.
SPEAKER_00: And you're telling us about the sand of the sea, and I keep hearing this, but but uh we we I'm not getting any younger.
SPEAKER_00: And you're not getting any younger.
SPEAKER_00: And we still don't have a child, and she's waiting.
SPEAKER_00: She's 65, she's probably 70.
SPEAKER_00: She's going up time, and time is passing by, and God keeps promising, I'm gonna take care of you, and they can't find and figure out how he's gonna do it.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't look like it, it doesn't make any sense to what God is doing.
SPEAKER_00: And then in verse 17, God says he makes a promise.
SPEAKER_00: He makes a covenant in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: He he he does what they do.
SPEAKER_00: They they they call it passing through the animals.
SPEAKER_00: They cut an animal when they made a covenant, and and they would walk through, and they were basically saying that that if I don't keep my word, then what will happen, what happened to these animals is gonna happen to me.
SPEAKER_00: And and Abram falls asleep, and God walks through by himself.
SPEAKER_00: God is basically saying to Abram and to Sarah, if if I don't do what I said I was going to do, may I be torn apart.
SPEAKER_00: Now, now and and now what happens to us as we are walking our faith journey, where we mess up and where we get we struggle, is because we be, we we fail to see the faithful hand of God in our lives in the past.
SPEAKER_00: God provides for us over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: God has made a covenant with you and I.
SPEAKER_00: God has said to you and I through Christ, because he has died on the cross, he says, I will do what I said I will do.
SPEAKER_00: The work that I have begun in you, I'm going to complete it.
SPEAKER_00: And so what he's basically saying to us is that come hell or high water, God is going to get you through to the end.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter whether you go bankrupt, doesn't matter whether our children go sideways, doesn't matter whether or not the doctor says there's no cure.
SPEAKER_00: God said, I still am going to keep you.
SPEAKER_00: Now he doesn't always tell us how.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where the challenge comes in.
SPEAKER_00: Because I just want to know how.
SPEAKER_00: I want to know how you're gonna do this.
SPEAKER_00: Would you just give me a little insight as to what you're going to do?
SPEAKER_00: But but oftentimes God just keeps it silent.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't tell you how he's gonna maintain you while you're in pain.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't tell you how he's gonna maintain you while your children are walking away from the faith.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't tell you how it's gonna happen, but somehow on the other side, you look back and you see how he made it through.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, gospel song says, How I got over.
SPEAKER_00: How the one the the the the the sometimes I look back and wonder how I got over.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't tell us how he's going to fulfill it, he doesn't give us the details, but he says, Trust me.
SPEAKER_00: Trust me.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter, chapter 16.
SPEAKER_00: Sarah's getting older.
SPEAKER_00: She's getting over, the the clock is ticking.
SPEAKER_00: She's Abram is 86 and she's 76.
SPEAKER_00: Now Abram made a suggestion.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Look, let me let me let me give you my my my servant.
SPEAKER_00: He maybe he'll be the heir.
SPEAKER_00: And Sarah jumps in.
SPEAKER_00: She says, Well, that probably wasn't good enough, Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: I got an ideal.
SPEAKER_00: I got a handmaid, her name is Hagar.
SPEAKER_00: We'll go that route.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 16, verses 1 and 2.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Sarah, Abram's wife, had borne him no children.
SPEAKER_00: She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.
SPEAKER_00: And Sarah said to Abram, Behold, now the Lord has prevented me from bearing children.
SPEAKER_00: So she knows God has control here.
SPEAKER_00: God's in control.
SPEAKER_00: This is, see, God's the one.
SPEAKER_00: The only way she's gonna have a child, God has to do it.
SPEAKER_00: And that's that's always the case with all of us.
SPEAKER_00: God is in control.
SPEAKER_00: God's the one who controls everything.
SPEAKER_00: And she says, I can't have a children, I haven't had a child, so maybe we'll go this way.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has prevented me from bearing children.
SPEAKER_00: Go to my servant, that it may be I shall obtain children by her.
SPEAKER_00: So she says, look, we'll do this proxy.
SPEAKER_00: We'll let Hagar's children be your descendants.
SPEAKER_00: It turned out to be a bad idea.
SPEAKER_00: That didn't work out well.
SPEAKER_00: So she's she's she's she's she's 76 years old, she doesn't have a child, and she keeps hearing Abam come home telling him about all these visits he's had from God and God passing through the animals and everything like that.
SPEAKER_00: And she's probably thinking, well, Abram, you know what, this this doesn't make any sense, and and and you might trust him, but I don't I don't know how this is gonna happen because I can't have children, and I'm getting older, and you're getting older.
SPEAKER_00: The next time God shows up, it's 13 years later.
SPEAKER_00: See, this is real.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times we read these texts and we're just like, oh, it's a nice story.
SPEAKER_00: No, no.
SPEAKER_00: You do you understand how long this woman is waiting?
SPEAKER_00: You understand how long her heart is yearning?
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand that with each year that passes, the potential and the possibility of her having a child just goes way more and more and more.
SPEAKER_00: As she keeps hearing this stuff that I'm going to give you a child, and she's saying in herself, it doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_00: And and and part of the problem sometimes when when on our faith journey is that we're trying to figure out God's working in our lives, and and we want it, we want, we we want it to work the way we think we it should work.
SPEAKER_00: We've got our own plan of what our lives ought to look like, we've got our own ideals of how God ought to move in our lives, and it seems like God is just going all the way around Robin Hood's barn and he just isn't getting it done.
SPEAKER_00: And you can become frustrated, and we can become disillusioned.
SPEAKER_00: And we can be sitting there and we can be saying, I don't even know if this is gonna happen, man.
SPEAKER_00: I've been waiting for four years, five years, six years, seven years, ten years, fifteen years.
SPEAKER_00: God isn't showing up.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I should just stop praying, maybe just forget about it.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe, maybe I didn't really hear from God.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe, maybe God isn't going to care for me and take care of me.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I need to take matters in my own hand and just over and over and over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: And 16, and and and so she's she's she's 86 years old, and God is letting her know 13 years later, I'm still gonna do what I said I'm gonna do, and it doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_00: In chapter 17, he shows up 13 years later.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham is now 99 years old, and she's 89 years old.
SPEAKER_00: All right, you know, basically, realistically, let's just tap out.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: And not only that, not only that, he he he he comes back, Abram comes back and says this promise over again, and then not only that, he comes and he says, We're changing our names.
SPEAKER_00: He comes home and he says, Look, I met with God again.
SPEAKER_00: He says, He's changing my name.
SPEAKER_00: My name would be Abraham, and and and and and that means father of a multitude.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, I'm changing your name too.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I I can see myself going home today and telling my wife, Tracy, Tracy, I'm gonna change your name.
SPEAKER_00: Look at it again, I lost my mind.
SPEAKER_00: Who do you think you are?
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna change my name.
SPEAKER_00: Give you the authority to do that.
SPEAKER_00: And here this man comes home again, and and and he's coming home about the promise and everything else, and he says, and he says, God changed my name, and he's changing your name, and he's he's gonna give us this child.
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham and God said to Abraham, for Sarah, your wife, in chapter 17, chapter 15, um wife shall you shall not call her name Sarai, I mean chapter 17, but you shall call her name, you should call her Sarah, and I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her, and I will bless her, and and she shall become nations, and kings and people shall come from her.
SPEAKER_00: Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said, Lord, Said to himself, Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?
SPEAKER_00: Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before you.
SPEAKER_00: And God said, No, but Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.
SPEAKER_00: He says, No, I'm gonna do what I said I was gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not telling you how.
SPEAKER_00: It's none of your business.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do what I said I was going to do.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what God may be saying to some of us this morning, some of you this morning, that that you has you're sitting there and you're saying, Yeah, preacher, but but you don't know how long I've been waiting.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know, and and and and it just doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what God in it.
SPEAKER_00: God said he was going to care for us.
SPEAKER_00: God said that he was going to provide for us.
SPEAKER_00: And the thing that I think we need to understand that in the process of how God does it, he he he is not going to be tied to yours and my expectations of what it's supposed to look like.
SPEAKER_00: He just isn't gonna do that.
SPEAKER_00: He isn't gonna sit around and say, Well, I'll do it for you because do it in a way that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: That's not not how he's gonna do it, because the glory goes to God so that so that when God does it, the only one that's gonna be able to get the glory is you and I are gonna say, God did that.
SPEAKER_00: God did that.
SPEAKER_00: And then we we say that about our dear brother Jim Taff.
SPEAKER_00: God did that.
SPEAKER_00: That was God.
SPEAKER_00: That wasn't that wasn't the doctors, that wasn't God stepped in and did that.
SPEAKER_00: It didn't make sense, it didn't put God did it.
SPEAKER_00: And and God is is working Abram and Sarah to a place where they recognize that there is nothing they can do.
SPEAKER_00: God has to show up.
SPEAKER_00: And Abram believes, but Sarah's just her heart's broken, her heart's hurt because she's like, I can't figure out how God's gonna pull this off.
SPEAKER_00: So after he promises that he's going to do that, God is kind and gracious.
SPEAKER_00: In chapter 18, is where we are today.
SPEAKER_00: He he comes and he he has, as it were, a covenant meal with Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: He made a promise in a covenant with Abraham, and he says that they would be circumcised, and and over 300 men were circumcised that very day.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a lot of men to be circumcised.
SPEAKER_00: And and and then God shows up.
SPEAKER_00: Now Abraham doesn't know that this is God in chapter 18, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: Not yet.
SPEAKER_00: But it says in verse 1, again, the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, and he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day, and he lifted up his eyes and he looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him.
SPEAKER_00: When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, Oh Lord, if if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.
SPEAKER_00: Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves on the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on.
SPEAKER_00: Since you have come to your servants.
SPEAKER_00: So they said, Do as you have said.
SPEAKER_00: This hospitality isn't strange in that those days.
SPEAKER_00: They would they would show this level of hospitality to strangers.
SPEAKER_00: That's why that parable of the persistent neighbor that keeps knocking, I gotta get some bread.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's shown up at my house.
SPEAKER_00: It was it was disgraceful.
SPEAKER_00: It was it was it was bad manners not to care.
SPEAKER_00: So so Abram doesn't know necessarily who these these men are.
SPEAKER_00: There are three of them.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know who they are, but he's showing hospitality.
SPEAKER_00: And so he said, so they said, Do as you said.
SPEAKER_00: And Abram went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, Quick, take three, three uh sheaths of fine flour and knead it, and make caves and ate cakes.
SPEAKER_00: And Abram ran to the herd and took a calf and tender and good and gave it to a young man, and he prepared it quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Then he took curds and milk and a calf and he prepared it, and he set it before him, and they stood by, and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's Abram doesn't know that this is God, Christ, the second person of the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: Often in the Old Testament, they would have, as you call a Christophany or a theophany, where God would show up in human form.
SPEAKER_00: And you would know because of the way that they would respond to God, and oftentimes they would bow down and worship, and you, and if it was an angel, the angel would tell you to stop.
SPEAKER_00: But this this individual would often just let them worship him.
SPEAKER_00: That's a sign that this was an angel of the Lord, was Christ, the second person of the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: And then as we go through this conversation, we'll begin to see and understand that what Abram begins to see is that this guy knows stuff that only God knows.
SPEAKER_00: And so he said in verse 9, Where they said to him, Where is Sarah, your wife?
SPEAKER_00: These are three strangers.
SPEAKER_00: How do you know her name?
SPEAKER_00: Three guys just show up, and all of a sudden they just say, Well, where's Sarah?
SPEAKER_00: And Sarah's in the back, and so she, you know, lights are starting to go on and bells are starting to ring.
SPEAKER_00: And and he's and and and and and and then he says in verse 10, she is in the tent, and in verse 10, it says, The Lord said, I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife, shall have a son.
SPEAKER_00: And and now, how did these guys, or how did this man know that that Sarah was barren, and how did he know about the promise that next year I'm gonna you're gonna have a child?
SPEAKER_00: How did he know?
SPEAKER_00: Because this was the second person of the Godhead who had showed up to have, as it were, a covenant meal with Abraham to confirm the covenant that he had just made.
SPEAKER_00: How gracious, how kind, how condescending that God would come and have a meal with a man to let him know I'm gonna do what I told you I was gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: He could have stayed up in glory, and but he came in person and he says, I want you to know I told you next year, I'm gonna sit down, we're gonna eat, and it's gonna be next year.
SPEAKER_00: And so Sarah was listening in her tent door behind him, and Abram said, and Abram and Sarah were old, advanced in years, and the and the woman had and the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah, and Sarah laughed to herself, saying, What after I am worn out and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure?
SPEAKER_00: Now, husband, that's not something you say to your wives.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you don't say you're worn out, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But she was able to say that.
SPEAKER_00: Said, I can't do this, I can't have a child, it's too late, it's over.
SPEAKER_00: She said this in herself.
SPEAKER_00: She didn't say it out loud.
SPEAKER_00: She's she's behind them.
SPEAKER_00: The men are there, God is there, she's in the tent, she's hearing this conversation, and she says, I can't, I can't, this isn't gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh and say, Shall I indeed bear a child?
SPEAKER_00: How'd he know?
SPEAKER_00: How do you know he laughed?
SPEAKER_00: She laughed.
SPEAKER_00: Only God knows what's going on in the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Only God knows.
SPEAKER_00: So she laughs.
SPEAKER_00: And and now that I am old, is anything too hard for the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Is God is anything too hard for the Lord, beloved?
SPEAKER_00: Is there anything too hard for the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: That's a good question for you and I to walk out of here today as we look at our lives, as we look at our circumstances, as we look at our situations, is there anything too hard for the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: It's nothing too hard for the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He said, At the appointed time, I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.
SPEAKER_00: But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid.
SPEAKER_00: He said, No, no, but you did laugh.
SPEAKER_00: He rebukes her.
SPEAKER_00: Is he rebuking some of us this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Are you are you have that cynical laugh like here we go with another preacher telling me about trusting God?
SPEAKER_00: I've been doing this all my life.
SPEAKER_00: I've been waiting for God to move and do this, and here they go again.
SPEAKER_00: Trust God.
SPEAKER_00: But you know why you trust God?
SPEAKER_00: It's not because of you, it's because of who he is.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one that made the promises, he's the one that cut the animals and walked through, he's the one that came and had the meal with Abraham and said, I'm going to do what I said I'm going to do.
SPEAKER_00: He's the firm foundation, he's the rock that you and I hold on.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we trust him?
SPEAKER_00: Why would you put your confidence in this God?
SPEAKER_00: Because this God does not fail.
SPEAKER_00: And he has never failed.
SPEAKER_00: And even if you look at your life now, you can look back and you can see his faithful, consistent hand in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it may not have all gone smooth, it's not gone the way you want it to go, but God has never let us down.
SPEAKER_00: And you know why he will never let you and lie down?
SPEAKER_00: Because he sent his son to die on the cross for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: Christ came, shed his blood for you and I, that you and I might have the right to the tree of life, the right to come and have communion with him.
SPEAKER_00: Do you think that he would send his son to secure your salvation just to let you go and hang?
SPEAKER_00: Not giving up my child just to let somebody just go away.
SPEAKER_00: He gave them up so that you and I might be secured.
SPEAKER_00: And if there's anything that ought to let you and I know that God will not forsake us, is that he gave his son for us.
SPEAKER_00: Who does that?
SPEAKER_00: Who loves us so much that he gives his son for you and I?
SPEAKER_00: Joel Beeky, I was listening to his sermon on this passage and and he pointed out with the problem with Sarah.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the problem with Sarah is that that God said he would do this, and and Sarah responds, I shall I?
SPEAKER_00: God said, I shall.
SPEAKER_00: God didn't ask Sarah anything about what she was gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: He really didn't.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't say, Hey, Sarah, you think you you you good with this?
SPEAKER_00: He he said, I am going to give you a child.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't ask Sarah about her age, he didn't ask Sarah about anything.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm doing this.
SPEAKER_00: But her response is, shall I?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that us?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, so often God says, I'm and you say, Well, I don't know how he's gonna do that.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have this and I don't have that, and and this isn't in place, and that isn't in place, and and I just don't know how it's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: God didn't ask you.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't ask me.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I shall.
SPEAKER_00: He said, The work that I have begun in you, I am going to complete it until the day of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: I am going to get you from the day I saved you to the day of glory.
SPEAKER_00: Now he doesn't tell us everything that's gonna happen in between.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't tell you about the doctor's appointments that you might see.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't tell you about the the financial issues that you and I might encounter.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't tell us about all the details, he doesn't tell us about all the details.
SPEAKER_00: All he says is that I'm gonna get you from point A to point B.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that what he said?
SPEAKER_00: When he was on the boat, he was getting in the boat, he says, We're gonna go to the other side.
SPEAKER_00: They got in the boat, all the storms came about.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is in the boat sleeping.
SPEAKER_00: They wake him up.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you care that we perish.
SPEAKER_00: He gets up and says to them, Oh, yeah, little faith.
SPEAKER_00: Then he tells everything to be still.
SPEAKER_00: He said, We're going to the other side.
SPEAKER_00: He says to Sarah, you're gonna have a child.
SPEAKER_00: She tries to figure it out how she can help God, and and God says, I don't need your help.
SPEAKER_00: And beloved, as we close, God is saying to you and I this morning, I don't, I don't need your help.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to trust me.
SPEAKER_00: I know, I know there's things that don't make sense, but I need you to trust me.
SPEAKER_00: Because I know what I'm doing, and I'm going to get you to the other side.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that God would give us the faith.
SPEAKER_00: That when he says that, we don't smirk and say, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just let me just point one last thing.
SPEAKER_00: Let me show you how good God is.
SPEAKER_00: God is so great, he responds to Sarah.
SPEAKER_00: How does he respond to her cynicism in chapter 21?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord visited Sarah as he had said.
SPEAKER_00: He could have told Sarah, forget it.
SPEAKER_00: You don't trust me?
SPEAKER_00: Forget it.
SPEAKER_00: Find somebody else.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not what he did.
SPEAKER_00: He said, And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in her old age at the time of which God had spoken to him, and Abraham called the name of the son uh who was born to him, uh, whom Sarah had borne him, Isaac, and Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, and God commanded him, and Abraham was a hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him, and Sarah said, God has made laughter for me.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who hears will laugh over me.
SPEAKER_00: He he redeemed her sinful laughter and gave her laughter of joy.
SPEAKER_00: That's how he is.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that God would redeem our unbelieving hearts, and we would look and see how faithful he is.
SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for Sarah's faith journey because, Lord, in many ways it reflects ours.
SPEAKER_00: Um you've told us that you would care for us and we hear it and in our hearts because things aren't going the way we want them to go or unfolding like we want, we tend to get restless, embittered, um, unbelieving.
SPEAKER_00: Well, would you help us?
SPEAKER_00: Would you help us to trust you?
SPEAKER_00: Would you help us to remember that you indeed are that sure foundation?
SPEAKER_00: You are our anchor.
SPEAKER_00: We can trust you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we believe.
SPEAKER_00: Help our unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.