Waiting on Promises.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to Genesis Chapter twenty one will be in Genesis twenty one this morning. [0:06] If you haven’t been here before, by the way, my name is Steve, one of the pastors here. [0:10] And just just one more announcement, and that is that on Saturday morning, March first, [0:15] we’re going to be having something that we have a couple of times a year, and that is what we call membership matters. [0:20] And what this is is a morning first. [0:23] This is a requirement for everybody that wants to become a member here at Village Church.

[0:27] And then it’s also a morning to where if you’ve been checking us out for a little while and you have questions [0:33] and you want to know like what we believe about specific things, what the who the leadership is, [0:38] you know, what kind of leadership do we have, why we do things the way that we do things, [0:43] why we have things like village groups, why that’s so important to us. [0:47] That is a great morning for you to come. [0:50] And we’re just going to spend three hours that morning just unpacking who we are as a church.

[0:55] And I’m always, you know, here and I’m getting emails about specific things about our beliefs. [0:59] I’m I’m hearing people talk about wonder what the church believes about this or that. [1:03] And here’s the reality. That morning you can come and have all your questions answered. [1:07] And if I don’t answer it, then we’re going to have some Q&A time. [1:10] And you can ask that morning. You can ask anything you want to know. [1:14] Even if you just want to know a few things about me, there’s ninety nine percent of things that I’ll tell you about.

[1:18] And if you go into that one percent territory, I’ll just let you know that I’m not going to tell you. [1:23] So so come out that morning. It’s going to it’s going to be great. [1:27] If maybe you’re asking, you know, what is church membership? What does that look like? [1:30] Well, we’re going to talk about that as well. [1:32] And if I talk about that now, it’ll make that morning pointless. [1:35] So come March the first that Saturday morning and it’ll be a great time for us to spend together,

[1:40] to ask questions and just to just to get to know one another in Genesis, Chapter twenty one. [1:46] What we have is the promise that God has made to Abraham and Isaac, [1:53] everything that they’ve been working for, everything that they’ve been longing for, [1:56] everything they’ve been having faith in God for. [1:59] We finally see it come to fruition. [2:01] We see them experience the taste of what God has promised in saying that they’re going to be a great nation,

[2:07] that he’s going to make their descendants to outnumber the stars in the heavens. [2:11] This long awaited almost three decade promise that they’ve been waiting for. [2:16] It comes and Sarah has a child. [2:20] Back in Genesis, Chapter twelve, we see God insert himself into the story of Abraham. [2:27] The world has written God out of their story, [2:30] but God has this interesting way that he doesn’t let us do that, that he’s involved.

[2:34] He inserts himself back in even when we try to write him out. [2:38] And God comes to Abraham, a man who doesn’t know him, a man who isn’t following after God. [2:44] And he simply looks into Abraham and he says, Abraham, follow me. [2:48] Abraham, obey me. [2:49] I want you to leave everything that you’ve ever known. [2:52] I want you to leave your house, the household of your father.

[2:55] I want you to leave that part of your family behind. [2:57] I want you to take your wife and I want you to go to a land that I’m going to promise you. [3:01] He didn’t even tell him where the land was. [3:03] He just said, journey and I’ll lead you there. [3:06] And then in twelve, fifteen, and then in seventeen and eighteen, you see God [3:11] come to them again and again saying, not only that, but I’m going to make you

[3:17] a great nation, give you descendants that you’ll not believe. [3:21] And it’s very hard for Abraham and Sarah to believe that because they’ve been old. [3:26] They’ve grown into elderly age. [3:27] They’re at the point where they’re kicking back, not wanting to work anymore. [3:30] And they’ve still got no children. [3:32] So at that time in this society, their age is not normal for them to have children.

[3:36] More than that, as they get older, this promise has been around for over two and a half decades [3:42] and they still have not seen it. [3:45] Abraham’s now a hundred years old.

[3:48] Sarah’s in her nineties, no children. [3:51] And so this promise that they’ve been waiting for, this promise that they’re trying to endure [3:55] and have faith in God for, it just doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to come. [4:01] But it does. [4:03] But it does. [4:05] So join me in Genesis, chapter twenty one.

[4:08] The Lord visited Sarah as he had said.

[4:15] Don’t skip over those words, but those words really sum up what the story of not just this [4:22] story of Abraham and Sarah, but the whole story of scripture is that everything’s going to happen [4:28] as God said it would. [4:31] That God, when he says something, he means it. [4:34] He’s going to deliver on what he says. [4:37] And the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised.

[4:43] I love those two phrases, what he said and what he promised. [4:47] They’re certain they’re going to happen. [4:49] God never questioned it. [4:51] God knew when it was going to happen. [4:52] God knew why it was going to happen. [4:54] God knew how it was going to happen.

[4:56] And he simply wanted Abraham and Sarah to trust it. [5:00] It also helps us understand and reiterate the fact that Abraham and Sarah are not the [5:05] heroes of this story, as we’ve said before. [5:08] God is. [5:09] God is the central character. [5:11] This is not a story that starts out with and everything happened to Sarah because of how

[5:15] great she was. [5:17] This happened to Sarah because she measured up, because she was good enough, [5:22] because she had righteousness, because she had ability. [5:25] No, it goes to God. [5:27] And it says he came to Sarah and everything that he said would happen. [5:32] It happened.

[5:35] And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had [5:41] spoken to him. [5:42] Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. [5:48] And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. [5:54] Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. [5:59] So I want you to see the reality of the faith that we’re talking about in this passage

[6:06] and the endurance that each and every one of us have to understand that we need in our lives [6:12] to trust God for everything that he has said would happen will happen. [6:19] Pray with me, Father, we come before you.

[6:23] We’re thankful that you are a God who delivers on his promises.

[6:30] I asked this morning that you would help us to trust you. [6:35] You would give us the gift of faith this morning. [6:39] That your gospel would be the light that comes into our lives and gives light to the path. [6:45] When things seem uncertain, that you would just engage us to trust you, that you would [6:49] give us the power and the strength to endure in that faith. [6:53] And that when we get discouraged, we would not turn away from you.

[6:56] When we suffer, we would not seek some other type of satisfaction or help, but rather it [7:00] would immediately turn our attention to you because you are the one to whom life belongs.

[7:07] God give us faith. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. [7:11] So number one this morning where I want to start is with this reality of what we see in this [7:15] passage and that is that faith produces a life of working patience. [7:22] Faith produces a life of working patience because that’s what you have in this story. [7:27] Oftentimes when we think about our life, when we think about our faith, we think about it in terms [7:31] of let go and let God. We think about it in terms of well, God’s going to do it. If it’s absolutely

[7:38] certain, if there’s nothing that can happen that can undo God’s promises, then I’ll just sit back. [7:43] I’ll not do anything. I’ll not engage him. I’ll not be involved because it’s going to happen [7:47] and I could mess it up. So I’m going to sit on the sidelines and I’m just going to wait [7:53] with no work. But what we see in this story, as well as all stories, that is not the life that [8:00] God has determined for you and me. That is not the life that God has determined for any of us, [8:04] but rather God has determined for each and every one of us to trust in Him. And in our trust,

[8:09] He wants us to understand that we play an active part to what He’s going to deliver through His [8:15] promises. That He not only demands the ends, but rather He demands the means that go to those ends. [8:23] And the way that He has designed for His promises to happen in this world, in our lives, in His [8:29] kingdom, is He works through people. He works through us. When we trust Him, that’s Him engaging [8:35] us saying, I’m going to use you. And so oftentimes what we do is we excuse ourselves [8:41] because we believe that we have a massive lack of ability. We’re not strong enough.

[8:47] Our life’s better suited for other things. That’s something that’s specifically for certain people. [8:52] And surely I’m not one of those. I haven’t been gifted as well as other people. But note the [8:58] story is not on how great Sarah is. Focus on the stories on how great God is. Your life as it comes [9:09] to God fulfilling the promises that He has given to us through you has nothing to do with how able [9:15] you are. Has nothing to do with how great you are. Has nothing to do with how gifted you feel [9:21] naturally, but rather it’s about how powerful He is and how He will gift you as you trust Him.

[9:27] Do you know that God never sets us on the sidelines for us to watch Him, but rather He says, [9:32] why don’t you get in the game that I’m quarterbacking? Because God says, I’m going to make this happen [9:38] and I’m going to use you to do it. Not because you are able, but because He is. Because He’s more [9:45] capable than you could ever dream and He desires to use His power to flow through you. It’s not [9:52] mystical out of body experience that has nothing to do with you, but rather it has everything to [9:58] do with your everyday life. Day in and day out, God desires for us to live focused on what He has

[10:07] promised in His Word and for us to orient the purpose of our lives, the action of our lives [10:12] through those things for us to focus towards Him, for us to worship Him, and for us to act according [10:17] to His promises as if He’s going to work through us to deliver those promises. And He does. And He [10:24] works in us and He works through us. Abraham and Sarah have the promise of God for Isaac to come [10:32] through them and for this child to be born. And for almost three decades they wait and in almost [10:37] three decades they journey, they work, they go to the promised land. But during that time, their

[10:42] faith gets extremely difficult. Their faith gets extremely hard. It gets extremely burdensome [10:51] because they find themselves saying, is this ever going to happen? Have you ever struggled with [10:59] something that you thought God was going to do, but He didn’t? Have you ever struggled in disbelief [11:04] in God because times got hard or the promises didn’t seem real? [11:08] Look, we’ll be really honest this morning. Have you ever been disappointed with God?

[11:15] You ever had a moment in your life

[11:19] you look to Him and you’re angry?

[11:22] Because life’s not happening the way that you thought it would.

[11:26] Success isn’t coming the way that you thought it would. Rather, hurt’s coming. [11:31] Pain’s coming. That thing that you thought was a promise from God actually turns into the biggest [11:34] pain in your life. Abraham and Sarah go to the promised land and famine strikes.

[11:45] That’s what we see in Genesis 12. And so what do they do? Turn away from God, run towards Egypt, [11:51] because that’s what makes sense. They run into sin. We see Sarah disbelieve, say, there’s my maid [12:01] servant, maybe you’ll have a child through her. Abraham does. He disobeys God. He struggles with [12:07] faith. That happens. Guess what? Sarah’s still disappointed in God because it’s not her baby [12:11] after all. So her struggles with sin actually turn into disappointment with God. You ever been [12:18] there? Can we be honest this morning? Yet God continues to come. He continues to reiterate

[12:26] His promise. He says, I’m going to do what I said I was going to do. In those moments we see that [12:32] this is not a story of Abraham and Sarah. This is a story of God for us in our lives. You see, [12:40] when it comes to the promises of God, there are three possibilities in our lives of how we deal [12:45] with it. First, there’s a possibility that we just think God is a liar. We said He’s going to do it, [12:55] right. Secondly, you don’t believe that God is powerful enough to deliver. [13:00] Or maybe thirdly, you simply don’t want what God has to offer in His promises. You don’t really

[13:05] think there’s any fourth option. I think those are the three. Either God’s a liar, either God can’t do [13:10] it, or you don’t want it. But the story of Scripture undoes everything in that we see right here. God [13:16] does as He says He will. Over and over again in Scripture, we see in the story that God always [13:23] does what He says He’s going to do. He never ever lies. Ever. Not one time can you find in [13:30] Scripture where God told to lie, nor can you find it in the Gospel. God doesn’t lie. He says, Abraham, [13:36] Sarah, you’re going to conceive. He continues to come down. Even to the point of in chapter 17 and

[13:40] 18, He looks to them and He says, is anything too hard for God? And then He says, okay, fine, [13:48] a year from now I’m going to make it happen. And in that year, they disbelieved Him.

[13:57] God doesn’t lie. They know God doesn’t lie. The second one is maybe God’s not powerful enough.

[14:05] It’s not what Scripture tells us, especially in this story. It’s the God who calls them away. They [14:09] follow and God blesses them. God continuously comes when they sin. He intervenes. He shows them [14:14] their sin. He brings them to places of repentance. He does amazing things. We go past this story. [14:20] We see a God that can send plagues to Egypt to redeem His people. And by the way, in this story, [14:24] He actually prophesied, I’m going to send them into slavery for 400 years. Then He parts the [14:29] Red Sea. Then He endures them through the wilderness. He’s always their God. He takes a

[14:34] little bitty, tiny nation and they conquer all of the promised land, nations that are far larger [14:38] than they are. We get into the book of Judges and at one point He says, I don’t want all of the [14:44] warriors. Send 100 against a couple thousand. And by the way, the only things you’re going to use [14:48] are horns and pots and you’ll defeat them. And they did. Story after story in the Old Testament, [14:56] He comes. He’s powerful. He does it. He can do anything He wants to. He can speak through [15:02] people who don’t deserve for Him even to speak to them. Then ultimately, we see every promise

[15:08] that God ever makes come to fruition. Jesus Christ makes the lame to walk, makes the blind to see, [15:17] makes the mute speak, makes the deaf to hear, raises the dead, then goes to the cross, dies, [15:24] and comes back alive under His own power. So over and over and over in Scripture, we see first, [15:32] He’s not a liar. He tells the truth. Second, He’s powerful enough. He can do it. So we know these [15:39] things. So what is the struggle? The struggle is, is that we want things that He doesn’t offer.

[15:47] What God wants for us in His promises isn’t good enough for us. That’s really what we see in this [15:54] story. The promised land isn’t enough, so He needs the treasures of Egypt. Sarah wasn’t enough, [16:00] so He’s got to go to Hagar. God’s plan isn’t sufficient, so they’ve got to make their own [16:06] plan. His safety and security isn’t enough, so He needs the safety and security of Abimelek. [16:12] And more so, He needs the lie to get it and maybe sacrifice the wife that God gave Him, [16:17] the family that God promised Him. He’s sacrificing the promises of God for safety, security,

[16:24] treasure, prestige. So we see ultimately the biggest issue that we struggle with in our lives [16:30] and in our disbelief in God is that we want more than God has to offer, and we’ll do anything to get it.

[16:43] We must see that our desires need to be transformed by God’s promises. [16:49] You see, God’s not after just dutiful obedience. God is after our hearts, and He wants us to have [16:56] what we want transformed by Him. He wants us to have what we see as treasures to be transformed [17:04] by Him. He wants to give us joy, and the joy is often in the journey, but more than that, [17:12] God knows that at the end of that journey is more joy than you ever thought you were capable [17:18] of having. And so in this story, when God visits Sarah, she gets to experience a piece of that joy

[17:28] of the promise of God that will ultimately be fulfilled in Jesus, but she had to endure in faith [17:34] to get that joy from God. See, the ultimate joy is not just the child. The ultimate joy is knowing [17:41] that that child is from God Himself as a fulfillment of His promise.

[17:48] See, oftentimes we’ll come to a story like this and we’ll see I need to have faith, but we don’t [17:53] understand that the faith is not for your treasure. The faith is for God’s treasure. [17:58] And when God says to Sarah in Genesis 18-14, is anything too hard for God? The answer, of course, [18:04] is a rhetorical question because the answer is no, there’s nothing too hard for God. [18:09] God is more than capable of anything. [18:13] Then Jesus Himself in Matthew chapter 19-26, He looks to His disciples after saying that

[18:19] it’s harder for rich people to get into the kingdom of God than it is for a camel to go [18:23] through the eye of the needle. You know what His disciples’ response is? We’re in trouble.

[18:29] He says, God, then who can possibly get into the kingdom of God? And Jesus looks to His [18:34] disciples and He says, guys, with man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. [18:43] Because God is doing a work in transforming lives and in transforming hearts. But here’s what we do. [18:50] We take these promises and we look to them and we trust God for all the wrong things.

[18:59] Most times our disappointment with God have nothing to do with God and they have everything [19:03] to do with us. It’s because we want what God has not promised more than what God has actually [19:11] promised to us. So our disappointment comes when we’re after something, when we’ve got a plan, [19:16] when we’ve got a way that things are going to work out and it doesn’t happen, and yet we’ve [19:21] been trusting God for that thing. You know, the reality is God never promised that to you.

[19:30] God never promised that you wouldn’t suffer. God never promised that you wouldn’t hurt. [19:37] God never promised that you wouldn’t suffer great loss or great harm or great enduring persecution, [19:45] great sicknesses, great losses. God never promised that you would have abundant wealth in this life [19:51] because God knows that that is not what would satisfy your heart eternally. Yet over and over [19:56] again, when we see a text that says, with God all things are possible. Okay, so everything that I [20:02] want I can get from God and when we don’t get it, we look to God and say, what’s your problem?

[20:06] And God’s looking at you and saying, I’ve promised something way better than that.

[20:13] On that pathway to seeing the promises of God happen in her life, Sarah and Abraham endured [20:21] great suffering, endured great hardship, endured tough times.

[20:33] But those moments needed to turn them towards God rather than away from God.

[20:40] Friends, every bit of suffering that you go through in this life, and trust me, you’re going to suffer,

[20:49] isn’t to turn you away from God. It’s always to reveal your great need of God. It’s always to show [20:57] that you are completely dependent upon God for everything that you have. Do not trust God for all [21:04] of the wrong things. Trust God for what he has promised and in that he will give you great things. [21:10] He will give you a life that’s unimaginably joyful, a life full of delight because it will [21:16] be a life in which you endure in faith, waiting for God to give you every promise that he’s ever [21:23] said that he would. And in those moments you will experience great joy.

[21:31] And with everything else in this life, you need to hold it in an open hand.

[21:39] I want to be real with you this morning and I want to use an example. I don’t want to play around with you, but here’s the reality. [21:44] One of the greatest joys that I’ve had in my life is being a father. It took me, I used to have two moods, sleepy and grumpy. [21:54] I was about as good as it ever got. But there’s a third one and that is smiley. You get around your little daughter, your baby son, and it’s just like wow. [22:03] This is great happiness. This is joyfulness. I love them to death. But here’s the reality. They belong to God.

[22:14] Do you know God never promised them to me?

[22:18] My joy can’t terminate on them because they are my pathway to God rather than my pathway as God.

[22:27] So what God would have me do with my children is he would have me hold them in open hand because [22:32] I know ultimately that they belong to God. They don’t belong to me. They’re his. They’re not mine. [22:39] And so through everything, I love them. I pour my life into them. I look towards them through the promises of God, through the gospel of Jesus Christ. [22:49] That’s the only way that I can live life with them where they do not become my God. Because you know they can.

[23:00] I don’t want to play with you. I want to use the ultimate example that I can in my life of where I’m tempted.

[23:08] Because if I were to lose them, I don’t know what I would do.

[23:14] But God has called me. Not to find my ultimate delight in them, not to find my ultimate joy in them, [23:20] but to find my ultimate joy in him and in that it’ll be for their betterment.

[23:26] The promise of God for my life is the kingdom of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. [23:30] And as I fight to trust him, as I fight to have faith in God for that, I have the fringe benefit of being entrusted by God, the great happiness of fatherhood.

[23:44] But my fatherhood exists for him, not for me. I get the privilege of being a part of it, but it’s not my ultimate. [23:53] You see, God wants to break down your idols to turn you towards himself.

[24:01] And whenever we go through trials, whenever we go through suffering, our mindset has to be that.

[24:12] That this is in my life to turn me towards God because the alternative is to turn away from God. [24:19] And in doing that, we will miss his greatest gifts.

[24:26] Our works are to be oriented to show faith in what God will deliver.

[24:31] Nothing else. We’re to live with absolute certainty to the point of our lifestyles being oriented for those promises. [24:39] God uses us to bring about his promise because of our certainty through living. [24:44] Here’s what I mean by that. Here’s what a working patience is going to look like in Galatians 6, 9. [24:49] The God says, and let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season, we will reap if we do not give up. [24:58] You see the marriage there between God’s sovereignty and our effort and our endurance. [25:04] God says you will reap. Don’t give up.

[25:09] You need to keep having faith. You need to keep enduring. You need to go through the trial. [25:15] You need to go through the suffering. Hold all of life in an open hand because God’s promises will endure to the end. [25:20] But you got not much. Excuse me. You don’t have much of a guarantee about everything else.

[25:28] In Hebrews, Chapter six, verses 11 through 12, he says, and we desire each one of you to show the same [25:33] earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end so that you may not be sluggish, [25:40] but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. [25:44] Do you see it there that God will endure you? Don’t be sluggish.

[25:51] Don’t sit on the sidelines. Don’t throw your life at false idols. [25:55] Don’t throw your life at desires that have nothing to do with God.

[26:02] Trust him.

[26:05] Faith builds a life that works on the certainty of the promise as a joyful participant in bringing it to fruition.

[26:13] Secondly, this morning, when God is patiently trusted, the world sees faith. [26:20] It’s part of stories. Interesting. Look back at the text. Look in verse six. [26:23] And Sarah said, God has made laughter for me. Everyone who hears will laugh over me. [26:31] And she said, who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? [26:35] Yet I have borne him a son in his old age. First off, I know who said it was God.

[26:42] But secondly, it’s kind of a play on words because back in Genesis 17 and 18, [26:46] God himself came in human form and he came to Sarah and Abraham and he reiterates his promise. [26:51] And Sarah laughs at God. It really isn’t a thing you want to do when God presents himself to you.

[26:58] But Sarah laughs. She’s overcome with laughter. The name Isaac means laughter.

[27:04] But then Sarah’s way of expressing her gratitude to God is to explain that he [27:09] flipped the script on what laughter is all about. He took her laughter, not believing that the [27:15] promise would come, and now she’s saying God’s using that and he’s going to amaze the world [27:19] around me to laughter that an old lady is nursing a baby. You know, one thing you’ll [27:26] probably never see is a person that is in a nursing home nursing a child. All right. [27:33] If you’ve ever had kids, you know what I’m talking about on that one.

[27:37] You don’t do that at old age. When you check into the nursing home, you’re not reproducing [27:41] any longer. It’s not the way it normally goes. But God is doing it. And here’s what I think [27:47] God wanted to do. He didn’t want to give them the promise immediately, but rather he wanted [27:53] them to endure in faith on our benefit because God could have come to Sarah and Abraham at a normal [27:59] age and said, I’m going to give you a baby. And he did nine months later and it just wouldn’t [28:04] have done anything to the world around them. But when a 90 year old woman gives birth to a child

[28:09] and is able to nurse him, the world might pay attention. Or when a virgin conceives and gives [28:15] birth to a baby, the world might pay attention. God works contrary to the world in order to amaze [28:21] the world in order to show how amazing his power through his promises are. And so God does this and [28:28] he makes the world around her laugh. The fact that such an old woman would have a child so [28:34] that we would understand that God wants us to have faith because faith takes time. If they’d had the [28:45] it would have taken any, but three decades took faith because they were old when the story happened.

[28:52] They’re ancient at this point, but he knew that Israel was going to have to spend centuries [28:59] waiting for Jesus to be born. So he prepares them to understand that faith takes time.

[29:08] Faith means waiting. Faith builds patience, but then he also knew that there would be a church [29:14] that follows Jesus Christ that’s waiting for him to come again. We’re waiting. We’re enduring. [29:22] We’re hoping. But he wants us to understand that when God works it’s going to be according to his [29:29] timing, not ours. That’s the hardest thing for the younger generation to really hold on to because [29:36] we’re used to having our hot pockets in under three minutes. We’re not used to waiting for anything. [29:43] All right, if I have to wait overnight, forget it, it’s over.

[29:50] We want things now, but God says that is not what faith is about and I believe that temptation is [29:55] very hard for us because we don’t want to have to endure through anything. We want gratification now, [30:01] but here’s what the scripture says in Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 3, [30:04] For still the vision awaits its appointed time. It hastens to the end. It will not lie. [30:12] If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not delay. Guess what? It doesn’t [30:20] feel like it’s delayed to God. Might to you. But God says it’s not slow. It may seem that way,

[30:29] but guess what? That’s your problem, not mine. That’s what God says. That’s literally what the [30:33] text is telling us there. If it seems like it’s taking a long time, toughen up. I’m God. I’ll do [30:38] what I want. In Psalm 27, 14, wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. [30:47] Wait for the Lord. God’s promises teach us faith in submitting to God. Look in 2 Peter chapter 3 [30:55] verses 8 through 9, but do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a [31:01] thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise,

[31:07] as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, [31:11] but that all should reach repentance. Here’s what he’s saying. The fact that God takes time [31:16] to give his promises is for your benefit. It’s so that you will be saved. It’s so that you will be [31:24] redeemed, because without faith you will not, because faith is God’s requirement. You must [31:28] trust him. You must believe him. And when you do not believe his promises, you do not have God.

[31:35] God says, it is not a long time to me. And it’s only because of our sin

[31:44] that it seems like a long time. Patience is an action. It’s not a state of being. It’s an [31:52] action. Something that you do. And it’s something that’s so great that the scripture tells us that [31:58] we cannot have it without God. It’s unnatural. It’s a spiritual gift. Look in Galatians chapter 5, [32:05] verse 22. The scripture tells us, but the fruit of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, is love, [32:10] joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. I believe that the fruits of the Spirit exist for [32:17] us to understand that we cannot normally understand those things apart from God. You can’t

[32:23] enjoy apart from God. You can’t know what love is apart from God, but you also can’t understand [32:28] what patience is, and you can’t have patience without the power of God. It takes Holy Spirit [32:33] power for you to have patience. You know in the Greek, the term patience has two different [32:38] meanings as well. It can mean long suffering or endurance. So we think patience is sitting in the [32:50] scriptures. Patience is something that is hard. Patience is something that’s tough, and I want you [32:55] to be honest with that. That it is hard sometimes to believe God. It’s supernatural to trust Him.

[33:02] Faith is a gift. Faith is something the Spirit gives us. We struggle.

[33:09] I want you to be honest with yourself this morning and admit the struggle of enduring in faith. [33:15] God said it would be hard. Sometimes we suffer great hardships as we’re waiting on the Lord.

[33:29] Sometimes we endure sickness. Sometimes we endure loss of family, loss of friends,

[33:39] maybe loss of ability.

[33:44] God says in those moments, understand that the Holy Spirit that’s in you will aid you in your [33:53] endurance as you wait for God’s promises. He says the vision is certain. It’s going to happen. [34:04] God will not delay. A day is a thousand years. It’s not surprised Him. He is already in tomorrow [34:13] when I’m stuck in what I’m going through today. He knows the outcome. He’s been down the road. [34:20] He’s made the path straight. God will endure you to the end if you will trust in Him. If you will [34:27] seek Him, He’ll be there. He’ll not turn away from you. He’ll be there for you, but you’ve got to

[34:33] continue. You’ve got to have long-suffering. You’ve got to endure. You’ve got to work for [34:38] your patience. You’ve got to trust the Holy Spirit for it. You need to obey God.

[34:45] In 1 Peter 5, 6 through 7, the scriptures tell us to humble ourselves, therefore, [34:50] under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties [34:58] on Him because He cares for you. I love that it says that at the proper time He will exalt you.

[35:10] Scriptures also say that at the proper time Christ was crucified. In other words, [35:14] God’s already got it mapped out, friends. He knows when your exaltation is going to come.

[35:20] But it also tells us that we need to cast our anxieties on Him. I think oftentimes what we [35:26] don’t understand about our stresses and our anxieties in life is that they are a produce [35:30] sometimes of the fact that we’re not trusting God. And that sometimes when we’re just overcome [35:37] in our anxieties and we’re overcoming, we want things to happen faster and we’ve got to have it [35:41] now and we can’t wait for it. And I don’t want to wait until I’m exalted. I don’t want to wait [35:46] until I’m financially stable. I don’t want to wait until God gives me the promise that He said I

[35:50] would have in my life. I don’t want to wait. What we’re showing is that we’re not humble [35:54] under God’s hand. That we believe we are mighty. That we believe we deserve something.

[36:05] And usually we’re waiting for something that God never promised [36:09] instead of waiting for something that He has promised. And that’s His kingdom.

[36:16] What do you treasure greater than the kingdom of God? What causes more anxiety in your heart [36:21] than the gospel can quench? He cares for you.

[36:31] You see when Peter wrote that text, he was writing to the church that was dispersed [36:34] because of persecution. And what is modern day Turkey is where a group of Christians had [36:40] settled down and they were surrounded by people who did not believe Christianity and were absolutely [36:45] aggressively against it and they were suffering great persecution. People were being killed every [36:49] single day. And so they’re not saying I’m having to wait in traffic so I don’t trust God.

[36:59] You know what they’re saying is my brother was murdered yesterday for being a Christian. [37:04] I’m struggling to trust God with that. And that was Peter’s response.

[37:18] I know [37:19]

[37:22] that in each and every life in here there’s something.

[37:29] I don’t know if it’s your child. I don’t know if it’s your health.

[37:34] I don’t know if it’s some situation that you’ve gotten yourself into.

[37:38] But I do know that God cares for you. God cares for you. [37:47] He cares for you so much that he took this world and all the anxiety and all the stress and all the stuff [37:53] that we’re going after, all the false gods that we’re chasing, and he sends this little child [37:58] Isaac into this world and he amazes the world because he uses something so foolish looking in [38:05] the eyes of an old lady having a baby. And it’s just it does against everything that we would ever [38:09] think would be possible. And so we would probably start saying things like well you’re not going to

[38:13] be able to go to high school graduation. You’re going to be dead. You’re too old to have a baby.

[38:17] Other than the fact that it’s a pretty big miracle that a 90 year old had a kid.

[38:23] Centuries later in Matthew chapter 13 they looked to Jesus and they said isn’t this just the child [38:27] of a carpenter. You see Jesus wasn’t born into the family of a king. He wasn’t born into the family [38:34] of the pharaoh. He was born into the family of a simple carpenter. There’s no room for him in the [38:41] inn. Wasn’t born in a hospital. For all we see he was born in a cave like stable in Bethlehem.

[38:51] God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. So whatever you’re enduring, [38:56] whatever sickness, whatever hardship, whatever pain you’re going through, understand that God has [39:01] this crazy way of taking that which we think of as despair and he turns it to amaze the world [39:10] at his greatness. Keep trusting God. First Corinthians 1 27 says that but God chose what [39:22] is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose that what is weak in the world to [39:26] shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world even things that are not

[39:31] to bring to nothing things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. [39:39] In other words, God looks at all of our strategies. God looks at all of our success charts. [39:44] God looks at everything that we think is great. Everything that we think is going to make our [39:47] name amazing and he looks to that and he says man you couldn’t be more wrong. You know God [39:52] didn’t stand back and say oh my goodness Joseph’s just a carpenter. I didn’t think about that.

[40:01] That was God’s plan all along because God wants us to understand that he has not defined success [40:07] in the same way that we have. The disciples, Jesus has risen from the dead and they’re like okay are [40:13] we going to go overthrow Rome now? You’re a military leader right? And Jesus is just like you don’t get [40:17] it. I’m not going to take over some puny kingdom on this earth. I’m going to drop my kingdom [40:23] directly down on top of it and crush it. He’s saying have faith until I do.

[40:33] Finally this morning when everything continues to fail, keep trusting and keep moving.

[40:42] I wish the story ended here but it does not. In verse eight the text tells us and the child [40:49] grew and was weaned and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned but Sarah [40:54] saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian whom she had born to Abraham laughing. We don’t know [41:00] specifically what happened in the situation. The text does not tell us. Some commentators [41:04] kind of think they have an idea but we know that in the Hebrew as well as in the Greek this term [41:08] of laughter isn’t the type of joking but rather it’s some type of malevolent laughter. It’s either

[41:15] he’s mocking him or he’s done something to cause him great pain. We don’t know all we can do is [41:20] pontificate but we know that it is a negative term used to describe what Ishmael did to Isaac.

[41:28] So Sarah said to Abraham, cast out the slave woman with her son for the son of the slave woman shall [41:32] not be heir with my son Isaac and the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son [41:38] but Abraham said, excuse me, but God said to Abraham be not displeased because of the boy [41:43] because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you do as she tells you for through Isaac shall [41:48] your offspring be named and I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also because he is [41:54] your offspring. So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and

[41:58] gave it to Hagar putting it on her shoulder along with the child and sent her away and she departed [42:03] and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone she put the child [42:09] under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off about the distance [42:14] of a bow shot for she said, let me not look on the death of the child and as she sat opposite him [42:21] she lifted up her voice and wept and God heard the voice of the boy and the angel of the Lord [42:30] called to Hagar from heaven said to her, what troubles you Hagar?

[42:36] Have you ever felt like God said that to you and you’re like, you know what’s troubling me?

[42:43] Fear not for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Verse 18, I love this, up.

[42:55] Here’s what I know about us. When we’re suffering, when we feel bad emotionally, [43:02] when we’re a little bit depressed, when we’re a little down in the dumps, what we want is sometimes [43:07] not what we need. What we want is for somebody to come and put their PJs on us and sit and eat some [43:12] ice cream with us and cry with us and stay down in the dumps with us and just understand with us. [43:18] We don’t want to know what the problem is, we just want them to understand and here comes God [43:23] to someone whose child is dying and he says, what’s your problem? Get up.

[43:29] Get up. Get up. Stop wallowing in your sin, stop wallowing in your shame. Get up.

[43:38] Winston Churchill, the great World War II leader in England, he once said, when you’re going through [43:43] hell, keep going. Because here’s what we do, we get to hell and we look for a lounge chair.

[43:53] It’s like, don’t sit down, get out. Get up.

[44:00] So God comes and he gives advice that none of us would want.

[44:06] Lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand for I will make him into a great [44:10] nation. Underline that. Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water [44:16] and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink and God was with the boy [44:20] and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the [44:25] wilderness of Peran and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

[44:31] It’s part of the story is a little disconcerting because I don’t can’t speak to the morality of [44:35] what Sarah did. All right, the text doesn’t dwell there, it takes us to something else. [44:40] But here’s what I do know, there’s two things that happen in this part of the story. [44:45] First is the reality that God told Abraham to send her away so that they would not stand in the way [44:50] of God’s promise. Somehow it was going to stand in the way of what God wanted to do so God said, [44:56] do what Sarah said, send them away. The tension and turmoil involved in the relationship would

[45:01] have obviously worked negatively. So that’s true. God did not make the promise to Hagar and Ishmael, [45:10] he made the promise to Abraham, Isaac and Sarah. But I know what we do sometimes, sometimes we run [45:13] after God’s promises and we’ve had sin in our lives, we’ve had problems in our lives and here’s [45:18] what we do, we run after God dragging our sin with us. Saying, God, I don’t know why it’s not [45:23] working out. God, I don’t understand why I’m still having these problems all the while toiling in [45:28] things that God didn’t promise us, nor does God want it in our lives, but we still want to

[45:33] mess around with it. And so God said, no, Hagar and Ishmael, they got to go. So they did. [45:44] But here’s also what I want you to understand. Secondly, here’s the question. [45:49] Do you trust God with Hagar? Because I think sometimes we look at the story and we’re like, [45:55] injustice. The other woman always gets cheated. First off, she’s the other woman, so of course. [46:05] But secondly, here’s what you don’t see in that story.

[46:14] God did not desert them. God did say, leave Abraham, Sarah and Isaac, [46:24] but God never said that you can’t have him. So oftentimes when we look at people in sinful [46:30] situations, we feel that they’re too condemned, we feel that they’re in too much trouble, [46:34] we feel there’s too much turmoil going around. And we say, why does this have to happen in the [46:38] story? And the reality is, is God was giving grace to Hagar because God had a plan of his own for [46:44] Hagar. He never once deserted her. He watched her as she left the house. He was with her as he was

[46:51] with Sarah. God was with her when she sat down. God was with her when she put Ishmael down to [46:57] watch him die. God was there the entire time and the suffering that Hagar was enduring at that point [47:04] was specifically in order to turn Hagar’s attention back to God and off of herself.

[47:14] And that’s why your suffering exists, friends.

[47:18] Oftentimes the trials that we go through in life and the suffering that we endure are a grace from [47:23] God to give us a breakthrough in our faith that we would not have had apart from it. [47:27] God is always working to give us more of himself than we’ve ever had before [47:32] and that’s what he’s doing to Hagar and Ishmael. He’s saying, I have a story I want to write with [47:38] you and I can’t write it as long as Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac are in your way. God wants to [47:45] make them a great nation as well. God doesn’t abandon them. God hasn’t abandoned you.

[47:54] What God is doing in your life is saying, turn back to me. Endure this with me. You are not alone. [48:04] God is always with you. He’s personal. He’s relational. He loves you. He’s caring for you. [48:10] He’ll be with you every step of the way, but sometimes we are so hard headed that we want [48:15] to endure it by ourselves before we’ll turn back to God. And God says, that’s not the way that I do [48:21] things. I want to be with you every step of the way. I want your attention every step of the way. [48:28] I want your focus every step of the way. It is not until we come to an understanding that we are

[48:34] completely 100% dependent upon God in every situation of our lives that we will ever understand [48:42] what real faith is. So God puts himself in the story of Hagar and Ishmael.

[48:54] But what’s interesting to me about this story, and I’m going to get a little theological as we end here, [48:58] I hope you can track with me, is that when he makes that promise to Hagar and Ishmael, when he says, [49:04] I’m going to make Ishmael a great nation, it’s the same promise that he’s given to Isaac. [49:10] And you say, how’s that possible? Well, it’s going to get rough through the Old Testament. [49:14] There’s going to be some wars, there’s going to be some battles, but then we come to Jesus Christ.

[49:22] The lineage of Isaac comes Jesus. The lineage of Ishmael, we have a lot of Gentiles,

[49:31] those who were not the chosen people, those who didn’t get to be those promised chosen ones of [49:38] God in the Old Testament. Have you ever had somebody that everything seems to go right for them [49:41] and you hate them so much for it? All right, that’s Isaac to Ishmael, all right?

[49:47] But here’s what I want you to understand. God was never any more for Isaac than he was for Ishmael.

[49:56] God’s no more for those people that look so successful in this world than he is for you. [50:01] Here’s why I know. Galatians chapter three verses 28 to 29 says, [50:06] there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, [50:11] for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, [50:16] heirs according to the promise. You see, God in Genesis 50 20 says that he makes, [50:23] takes the evil things and he makes them all good.

[50:28] God knew that there was coming a day when Jesus Christ would come and all of the descendants of [50:33] Ishmael could be redeemed. God knew there was coming a day where he was going to unite all [50:38] peoples in the name of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians chapter two verse 13, it says, [50:42] but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. [50:48] All of God’s plans and all of God’s promises intersect in Jesus Christ, all of them.

[50:56] And so the pain that Ishmael went through would be redeemed by Jesus.

[51:05] Everyone finds wholeness, everyone finds purpose, everyone finds meaning, if you put your faith in [51:15] Jesus Christ, because he was the one through whom all the world could be saved. He still is.

[51:26] And God’s kingdom, all things will be made right.

[51:31] God knew that the wrongs done to Hagar would be made right in his kingdom.

[51:36] In his kingdom, all sicknesses will be made healthy.

[51:41] What do you do when the healing will not come?

[51:47] What do you do when the hurt will go away?

[51:51] What do you do when the pain of this life seems more than the joy of anything else?

[52:00] You trust God because of Jesus Christ. [52:03] Because in him, all things will be made right.

[52:09] You’ve got to trust that.

[52:13] Because life is meant to be lived in trusting God and obeying him. [52:18] And following him and moving with him.

[52:24] Your sadness will become joy. Your hurt will become laughter. Your tears will be wiped away.

[52:34] Your hope will be fulfilled. You see, the reality this morning is that on my deathbed,

[52:45] there should be more hope in my life than in a delivery room.

[52:53] Because I know the promises of God. [52:56] And I know the joy that I’m about to enter into. [53:00] We are to be a hopeful people in every single situation in our lives. [53:07] That is what is going to amaze the world around us. [53:11] Will they always understand? Absolutely not. [53:13] Will they at times ridicule? Yes, they will.

[53:15] But we have hope in God. We have hope in Jesus. [53:18] We are to be a people defined by trusting and believing that better days are ahead. [53:23] Even if we don’t see them until we enter into the kingdom of God after death.

[53:29] We are to be those people that suffer with joy.

[53:35] Because our great delight comes from God himself.

[53:40] Whatever situation you find yourself in, whatever hardship you are suffering through, [53:44] know that the joy that is set before you in God is greater than the pain that you are enduring right now. [53:50] And there is coming a day where there will be no pain. [53:52] There is coming a day where there will only be delight. [53:55] There is coming a day where there will be no sadness. [53:57] There is coming a day where our regrets will not pin us down any longer.

[54:01] And all we will know is the joy of the presence of our God in King Jesus Christ. [54:07] Who is the one that came through this promise.

[54:15] That is the promise that will endure you through life.

[54:23] As the band comes up, I want us to understand, I want us to reflect this morning.

[54:29] As we do every week on communion, the broken body of Jesus, the shed blood of Christ,

[54:38] the broken heart of Jesus. [54:39] You know, I have not always believed God in my days.

[54:44] I probably struggled this morning to believe him. [54:48] We are probably similar in that.

[54:53] But I can come to his table not because I am good enough.

[54:59] Sarah had Isaac not because she was good enough. [55:03] But because God is gracious.

[55:09] I can come into the presence of God because the shed blood that this cup represents [55:15] was the blood that Jesus bled on the cross that covers absolutely every one of my sins.

[55:22] And gives me his righteousness because God forgives.

[55:29] If you do not know him, you need him.

[55:31] You can know him today.

[55:35] If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, in just a moment, I want you to go to one of [55:38] these six tables throughout this room.

[55:42] Today, I want you to come and I want you to pray while you are doing it. [55:46] I want you to bring your hurt.

[55:50] I want you to bring your disbelief, your doubt, [55:54] your pain, your sickness, your suffering.

[56:01] Whatever is holding you down.

[56:05] I want you to bring your needs.

[56:10] I want you to bring your cares, your anxieties, your stress.

[56:15] That thing you are begging God for and you have been begging God [56:18] and you do not understand why he has not given it to you.

[56:24] I want you to bring it to the table.

[56:28] When you reflect on the Lord’s Supper, I want you to cast it before the Lord.

[56:36] Not because you will never think about it again.

[56:41] But because you are trusting him with it.

[56:45] Because he cares for you.

[56:48] Because he is a good, good God. [56:52] Who has more love and grace than you will ever exhaust. [56:57] When you are ready, come.