[0:00] Evening. A warm welcome to the service. I'll pause for a second. Poor Alistair's just getting the praises 30 seconds before he's been asked to stand up and to sing.
[0:14] Come in. It's good to have some visitors with us tonight as well and you're especially welcome. And after the service tonight we'll have a time of open fellowship.
[0:27] And we've got David with us. David and Marina Lane. And it's good to have them as well. And David's going to share a little about his walk with God and the ministry that he continues to serve within at this point in his life.
[0:46] He may be retired but he's still active and so we look forward to hearing about that. If you're able to stay behind at the end please, please do so. We're going to begin now and we'll begin this time of worship by singing to God's praise.
[1:01] And we sing from Psalm 136. Psalm 136. And we sing the first two stanzas of the psalm.
[1:12] The first four verses as they're marked in the English. Give thanks to God for good is he, for mercy hath he ever. Thanks be to the God of gods give ye, for his grace faileth never.
[1:25] Thanks give the Lord of hosts unto, for mercy hath he ever. Who only wonders great can do, for his grace faileth never. These two verses, these two stanzas of this psalm.
[1:39] We remain seated to sing in Gaelic. Please sing in the trat. I amuliia.
[1:50] I amuliia. Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
[2:52] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
[4:21] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
[5:25] Thank you.
[5:55] Thank you.
[6:25] Thank you.
[6:55] Thank you.
[7:25] Thank you.
[7:55] Thank you.
[8:25] Thank you.
[8:55] Thank you.
[9:25] Thank you.
[9:55] Thank you.
[10:25] Amen.
[10:55] Amen. We sing again to God's praise now.
[11:09] We sing this prayer. We remember as we sing the Psalms and as we open the Word of God and as we gather around the Word of God, we do so with that sense of the Lord, we do so with that sense of the Lord, we do so with that sense of expectation that God will speak to us.
[11:23] And we pray as we sing this hymn. Speak, O Lord, as we come to you to receive the food of your holy word. Amen. Amen.
[12:30] Amen. Amen.
[13:30] Amen. As you walk with us.
[14:01] As you walk with us. As you walk with us. The church is filled with you. If you could. If you could.
[14:12] If you could. If you could. If you could. If you could. If you could turn now please to Genesis chapter 21.
[14:24] If you could. If you could. If you could. If you could turn now please to. Genesis chapter 21. Genesis 21.
[14:39] For those who are visiting. We've been. Going through a study in the life of Abraham. Over the last few months.
[14:50] And we. See. At the very beginning. In Genesis 12. How God. He reveals himself to Abraham. And he gives him this. Great promise. Of.
[15:01] Of children. That will become. A great nation. And. The years pass. And we. Follow Abraham. As he follows. The Lord. And we have the twists and turns.
[15:13] Of. His. His walk with God. And we've come to. The point. Now. In. Genesis 21. Where that promise. Which was given.
[15:24] So long ago. Is. It comes to pass. And. We. We begin. At verse one. With the birth of Isaac. This is God's word.
[15:36] Now. The Lord was gracious to Sarah. As he had said. And the Lord did for Sarah. What he had promised. Sarah. Became pregnant. And bore a son to Abraham. In his old age.
[15:47] At the very time. God had promised him. Abraham gave them. Gave them. Gave the name Isaac. To the son Sarah bore him. When his son. Isaac. Was eight days old. Abraham circumcised him.
[15:58] As God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old. When his son Isaac. Was born to him. Sarah said. God has brought me. Laughter. And everyone who hears about this.
[16:09] Will laugh with me. And she added. Who would have said. To Abraham. That Sarah would nurse children. Yet I have born him a son. In his old age. The child grew.
[16:21] And was weaned. And on the day. Isaac was weaned. Abraham. Held a great feast. But Sarah saw the son. Whom Hagar. The Egyptian. Had born to Abraham.
[16:32] Was mocking. And she said to Abraham. Get rid of that slave woman. And her son. For that slave woman's son. Will never share. In the inheritance. With my son Isaac. The matter distressed Abraham greatly.
[16:46] Because it concerned his son. But God said to him. Do not be so distressed. About the boy. And your maidservant. Listen to what. To whatever Sarah tells you. Because it was through Isaac.
[16:57] That your offspring. Will be reckoned. I will make the son. Of the maidservant. Into a nation. Also. Because he is your offspring. Early the next morning.
[17:08] Abraham took some food. And a skin of water. And gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders. And then sent her off. With the boy. She went on her way. And wandered in the desert.
[17:20] Of Beersheba. When the water. And the skin was gone. She put the boy. Under one of the bushes. Then she went off. And sat down nearby. About a bow shot. The way.
[17:31] For she thought. I cannot watch the boy die. And she sat there nearby. She began to sob. God heard the boy crying. And the angel of the Lord. Called to Hagar.
[17:42] From heaven. And said to her. What is the matter Hagar? Do not be afraid. God has heard the boy crying. As he lies there. Lift the boy up. And take him by the hand.
[17:53] For I will make him. Into a great nation. God is with you. In everything you do. God is with you. In everything you do. Now swear to me. Here before God. That you will not deal. For me. And my children.
[18:04] Or my descendants. Show to me. And the country. And the country. And gave the boy. And gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy. And gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy. As he grew up. He lived in the desert.
[18:15] And became an archer. And Abimelech. And Phicol. The commander. Of his forces. Said to Abraham. God is with you. In everything you do. Now swear to me. Here before God. That you will not deal.
[18:26] Falsely with me. Or my children. Or my descendants. Show to me. And the country. Where you are living. As an alien. The same kindness. That I have shown to you. Abraham said.
[18:38] I swear it. Then Abraham complained. To Abimelech. About a well of water. That Abimelech's servants. Had seized. But Abimelech said. I don't know. Who has done this. You did not tell me. And I heard about it.
[18:49] Only today. So Abraham brought. Sheep and cattle. And gave them to Abimelech. And the two men. Made a treaty. Abraham set apart. Seven new lands.
[19:00] Lambs from the flock. And Abimelech asked Abraham. What is the meaning. Of these seven new lambs. You have set apart. By themselves. He replied. Accept these. Seven lambs.
[19:11] From my hand. As a witness. That I dug this well. So the place. Was called. Beersheba. Because the two men. Swore an oath there. After the treaty.
[19:22] Had been made. At Beersheba. Abimelech. And Phicol. The commander. Of his forces. Returned. To the land. Of the Philistines. Abraham planted. A tamarisk tree.
[19:33] In Beersheba. And there. He called. Upon the name. Of the Lord. The eternal God. And Abraham. Philistines. For. A long time. Amen.
[19:44] And may God bless. That reading. Of his word. To us. We'll sing. Again. Now. To God's praise. From Psalm 119. From verses. 89.
[19:55] Down. To verse. 94. Thy word. Forever is. O Lord. In heaven. To all generations. Thy faithfulness. Doth last. The earth.
[20:06] Thou hast established. And it. Abides by thee. This day. They stand. As thou ordained. For all thy. Servants be. And we'll sing. Down to the end. Of verse.
[20:17] 94. And we'll stand. To God's praise. Thy word. For. God. And the days.
[20:29] O Lord. In heaven. Set. To. To. Fast. And to. All. To. All.
[20:40] Generations. Thy faithfulness. The past. Thy faithfulness. The past. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. The past. Thy faithfulness.
[20:51] Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy where thy faithfulness. Thy mighty becomeasan are平ish. Thy faithfulness.
[21:02] Thy faithfulness. Thy exile ak arabe足. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness.
[21:15] Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy eu wiedishes Their faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. Thy faithfulness. These faithfulness. Thy mercifulness. All I share and deal Unless in thy voice perfect law My soul delights are done I should not perish breath When I my troubles did not burn Thy peace sets I will never forget
[22:15] The great angel below Lord, I am thy O save thou me Thy peace sets I have sought Let's pray for a moment As we come back to God's word Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word We thank you for the faithfulness That you show to us Of your character and of your works As we open your word And we thank you that your word It remains It endures
[23:16] Heaven and earth will pass away But your word will never pass away And we thank you that your promises Are sure and steadfast We thank you that we find delight A lasting joy Satisfaction Life In our souls As we come to your word And we thank you that as we As we meditate upon Your precepts Whatever we Are studying We will find that Our eyes are directed Towards the Lord Jesus We thank you that he Is the one Of whom all the The prophets spoke We thank you that the blessing That was promised to Abraham All these years ago Although it Brought the Initial joy Of Isaac Into their home We thank you that the blessing That was promised Is realised
[24:16] Is fulfilled In the Lord Jesus And we pray For that blessing To be upon us now We ask Lord That you would speak To our hearts We pray for those Who are your people Lord that we would Be trusting you all the more That your faith That you would increase Our faith That we would be more And more leaning Upon your promises That we would walk More and more Closely with you And Lord if There are any of us Who are wandering At this time We ask that you Would draw us back Into that close walk With God We pray for any Who may be here tonight Or who may listen At a distance On TV Or whatever And who Who don't yet know you We pray that you Would work In their hearts Lord That you would open Their eyes To see Jesus We pray that you Would touch Their hearts That salvation May come in We thank you
[25:16] That you are a God Who seeks us When we do not Seek you We think of Abraham All these years ago With no thought Of God And yet you revealed Yourself to him You sought him And you saved him And we pray for Any even tonight Who may not be Seeking you We pray for any Who may even be Reluctant To be under Your word And we ask that You would awaken Their souls tonight We thank you Lord That you Your word is powerful It will not return To you empty And we ask that You would achieve much For your glory For our salvation For the encouragement For the blessing Of your people As we bow before You in prayer Cleanse us from sin We pray As we confess it Empty us of all That is of self Fill us with the Holy Spirit And lead us by the Holy Spirit As we study Your word And what we pray
[26:17] For ourselves We pray For others Who meet As we do In different places We think of Duncan As he opens your word In Scalpy Tonight Bless him Lord And speak through him We think of Anthony As he opens your word In Manish tonight And we ask that You would bless him And speak through him And every denomination Whatever Christ Crucified us preached We ask Lord That you would be at work That you would be Building your church And that the name Of Jesus Would be more And more known In this land So hear our prayers And bless This time together And we ask this In Jesus name And for his sake Amen Genesis 21 If you could have that Open in front of you That would be Helpful And Genesis 21 As you can see In the heading In front of you It begins with It begins with Good news It begins with
[27:18] The good news That has Been long awaited It's the news Of the birth Of the promised Child And that's the first Point that we have Tonight We see The The The arrival The delivery Of the The promised Child And we We have the Account of that In verses 1 To verse 7 Now the Lord Was gracious to Sarah As he had said And the Lord Did for Sarah What he had promised Sarah Became pregnant And bore a son To Abraham In his old age At the very time God had promised Abraham Abraham gave him The name Isaac To the son Sarah bore him When his son Isaac Was eight days old Abraham circumcised him As God commanded him Abraham was a hundred years old When his son Isaac Was born to him Sarah said God has brought me laughter And everyone who hears About this Will laugh with me And she added Who would have said To Abraham That Sarah
[28:19] Would nurse children Yet I have born him A son In his old age So we see The promised child And there's been A long wait Many chapters That we've actually Studied through And many years Have passed And we'll think about That in just a moment And now There is the arrival The joyful Arrival Of the promised Land Sorry Not the promised land The promised child And when we think I mean I'm seeing Not many young folks Here tonight No offence to those Who are a little bit older I'd count myself In that bracket But there's a couple At least And when you're When you're younger There's some things That you're You're looking forward to And the things You look forward to They just seem to Take forever to come I remember waiting For birthdays And waiting for Christmas And it just seemed Like time
[29:19] Stopped For days Seemed like weeks They seemed like months As you're You're waiting for this This amazing day This great event To come And for Abraham And Sarah They had been waiting A long time For God's promise To come true And in Genesis 12 God promised them A child And this child Will be the beginning Of a great nation And through this This great nation A blessing would come And when they first Received this promise Abraham was Was 75 years old Don't know if there's Anybody here tonight Who's 75 years old Don't know how you'd feel About getting the promise Of a Of a baby And Sarah Was 65 years old When she received This promise And so The biological clocks They were still ticking But it seemed unlikely
[30:20] Most maternity clinics Would have been Very sceptical About this promise That they received The odds of them Conceiving And having a child At that stage In life Were very slim But the promise Was given And one year Passed No pregnancy No child And then Ten years Passed There's no Pregnancy And there's no Child for Sarah And twenty years Passed No words Still No child And by Genesis 21 Twenty-five Years Had passed Since the time That God made This promise To Abraham And Sarah Abraham's now A hundred years old Sarah Is ninety Years old And after all These years Awaiting And after all The complications And the challenges That we've read And we've studied Through
[31:20] In past weeks The promise Eventually Comes true And Sarah Became pregnant And she bore A son And the promised Child Arrived He He was Delivered And It's a miracle And we can only Imagine the Joy That was Felt within The hearts Of Abraham And Sarah It was a miracle And perhaps I should just Pause Although I wasn't Planning on Doing that And perhaps I should just Underline Something that's Very obvious Our God Is a God Of the Supernatural Our God Is the God Of miracles Christianity Is a religion
[32:21] That Is Miraculous The world That we live In We As human Beings God Spoke And everything Was created From nothing Those of us Who are Christians The fact That our hearts Are being Changed The fact That our eyes Were opened That we Would see Our sin And that we Would see Jesus as Saviour That in Itself Is a miracle We can't See that We can't Do that Work It's the Miraculous Touch Of God The coming Of Jesus Into this World The conception Was Miraculous As we Follow Jesus In his Ministry Through the Gospels And as We see Disease And demons Being fought Back As we see Death Overcome As we see
[33:22] The blind Giving their Sight As we see The sick Being healed We see Time and Time again The miraculous Powerful touch Of Jesus And when We come To The crucifixion It seemed To the Disciples That all Their Ambitions All their Hopes Had come To nothing But on The third Day Miraculously Sleep Jesus Rose From the Dead And Promised That same Resurrection Life To everyone Who believes You know Christianity Is not a Code It's not a Lifestyle Choice For us Christianity Is It's a religion Of miracles It's a religion Of the Supernatural Our God Is a God Of supernatural Power
[34:22] And Abraham And Sarah As they Hold this Child in Their arms They're Praising God For this Miraculous Promise That came True And if we Were If we were Directing a Film If we were Trying to Put this On a Cinema screen I think At this Point In the Story There would Be lots Of footage There would Be lots Of drama There would Be emotional Music There would Be a Huge emphasis On the Birth Of Isaac But the Strange Thing in This passage Is there's Very little Of that We've waited All these Years For this Promise To come True And yet There's Very little In detail There's Very little Of emotion And drama In the Record Of the Birth Of Isaac And the
[35:23] Point that's Emphasized In this Section Is simply The point That God Keeps His promises And maybe Some of us Have to be Reminded Of that Tonight God Keeps His promises Sometimes We're looking For huge Drama Sometimes We're looking For Damascus Road Experiences Sometimes We're looking For Amazing Touches And what We actually Need to Take hold Of is the Truth That God Keeps His promises If you and I confess Our sin He is Faithful He is Just He will Forgive us Our sin He will Purify us From all Unrighteousness We are Safe We are Saved Now for Some people That truth Dawns In them With a Huge Amount Of drama And bang
[36:24] And fizz For others Of us Myself Included It's a Gentle Realisation Of the Truth Of God's Word That he Gives us The faith To take Hold of And trust To know That we are Saved And that's The point That's been Driven At home Through these Verses That God Keeps his Promises Look at Verse 1 And 2 Now the Lord was Gracious to Sarah As he Had said He promised Grace He delivered Grace And the Lord did For Sarah What he Had promised Sarah became Pregnant And bore a Son to Abraham In his Old age At the Very Time God Had Promised And so God Is a God Who makes Promises And who Keeps His Promises We see
[37:25] Here The Arrival Of the Promised Child And as We think As we Must do Of Old Testament Lines That Track Through into The New Testament Our minds Should travel From this Plot To another Plot Think about The promise Of the Child Through whom Blessing Would come Think about The prophets One after The other They promised This child This Messiah The saviour Would come And the promise Seemed to never Be coming true It seemed Unlikely There were Barriers There were Complications There were Obstacles And yet In God's Time Jesus The child God the
[38:26] Son He was Born The promised Child Through whom We are Saved He He arrived God's word Is trustworthy That's the Main point Here The birth Of Isaac Says Weerspe Reminds us That God Keeps His promises In his Own way And in His own Time And as we Were reminded In the Morning Through Bethany And her Crutches We can Put our Weight On God's Promises Even when Sometimes we We've been Given a Promise And we're Thinking It just Seems So unlikely It just Seems So Highly Improbable That this Would come To pass And yet If God Has given You a Promise Hang on To it Trust him If God
[39:28] Has given You a Promise For a Loved One Who Is going To be Saved And who Is not Yet Saved Keep Believing Keep Praying Keep Trusting God Is a God Who Keeps His Promises We see That in The Promised Child But Secondly Here We go From The Promised Child To The Problem Child Verse Eight We'll look At verses Eight Now Through To Verse Ten The Child Grew And Was Weaned And on The First And on The Day Isaac Was Weaned Abraham Held A Great Feast And in That Culture And that Tradition This Is what Would Happen The End Of Weaning Would Be Marked By This Great Celebration This Great Feast And we Have This Picture The Celebration The Party Is In Full Swing But Sarah Saw The Son Whom Hagar
[40:28] The Egyptian Had Born To Abraham Was Mocking So we May have In our Mind's Eye This Picture Of Two Toddlers Playing Together And one Teasing The Other But That's Not Actually The Picture If We Work Out The Ages Here Isaac Was A Toddler So he Was Maybe Two Or Three Years Old But The Other Son Ishmael By This Time When he Was About 17 Years Old And Whatever Ishmael Says Or Whatever He Does It Has A Cruel Edge To It That's The Implication Here And if You Want A Backup On That You Can Go To Galatians Chapter 4 Verses 28 And 29 When We're Told That's Actually What Happened Ishmael Is Deriding He's Mocking Isaac And Sarah Sees This In The Middle Of This Party As She Sees This And As A Mother She Sees Red As Mothers
[41:28] Do Their Children Are Being Being Mocked And Treated Cruely And So She Says To Abraham Verse 10 Get Rid Of That Slave Woman And Her Son For That Slave Woman Son Will Never Share In The Inheritance With My Son Isaac And So There's A Problem Here And This Too Had Been In Line With God's Promise The Child That Was Born To Hagar Would Be A Problem That Had Been Promised That Had Been The Warning Of God In Genesis 16 The Angel Of The Lord Remember Told Hagar That Ishmael Would Be And I'm Quoting From Verse 16 From Verse 12 Of Chapter 16 This Son Ishmael Would Be A Wild Donkey
[42:28] Of A Man His Hand Will Be Against Everyone And Everyone Hand Against Him And He Will Live In Hostility Towards All His Brothers And We'll See That As His Life Continues But Even At This Stage In His Young Life He Is Living In Hostility Against His Brother He Is In Conflict With His Brother And There Are All Kinds Of Problems Now In This Home You Know In One Sense This Is The Child That Should Should Never Have Been If Abraham And Sarah Had Trusted God And If They Had Not Tried To Take Matters Into Their Own Hands And Speed Up God's Promises If Abraham Had Not Slept With Hagar Then This Child Would Not Have Been Born But He Was Born And The Problems That God Warned Hagar Of We're Coming To
[43:28] Pass The Child Is Mocking His Brother And This Family Is In Conflict And It's Messy But Sin Is Messy That's The Point We Need To See Here Sin Is Messy And It Brings All Kinds Of Problems And Yes When We Repent Of Sin Then We Are For For For For For For For For For For For We To Problems That We Have To Deal With And We Have To Work Through And That's Not Nice It's Not Pleasant But That's Just Real Life And We Need To Know That So That We Need To Know That So That When We Fall And When We Fail As We All Do We Will
[44:29] Keep Asking For Grace And Strength To Get Through The Problems That Our Sin Causes And That That Was The Lesson That Abraham Was Learning In Genesis 21 It's It's The Lesson Also That David The Psalmist Learned In Psalm 51 It's Probably My Famous My Favourite Psalm Remember David He Falls And We Have The Record Of How He Falls And In Psalm 51 We Have This Full Frank Confession And Repentance We Have This Prayer That Teaches Us How To Repent And David As He Prays And As He Repents He Receives The Assurance Of Full Salvation Of Forgiveness But Still In
[45:29] David's Life There Were Problems In His Family And He Keeps Having To Come To God To Ask For Grace And We In Our Lives Our Sin Brings Problems And Yes We Are Forgiven As We Confess It And Yes We Can Rejoice In The Assurance Of That Forgiveness But I Need Grace And You Need Grace Day By Day As We Try To Live And Follow God In A World That Is Messy And In Families And Circumstances That Are Messy We Need God's Grace So There's The The Promised Child And The Joy That Goes With That There's The Problem Child And The Conflict That This Is Causing Within The Family And The Third Thing Here Is There's
[46:29] The Pain That Abraham Felt We're Told In Verse 11 That This Matter Distressed Abraham Greatly Because It Concerned His Son And Just Building On The Last Point In Abraham's Experience That The Problems That His Sinful Course Had Caused They Led To Pain Ismael She Wasn't Sarah's Son And We Can Hear That Bitter Edge To Sarah's Words But Ismael Was Abraham's Son And He Loved Him But There Was Real Conflict In The Home And So Something Had To Give And Sarah Made Her Views Very Clear In Verse 10 She Says Get That Boy And Get His Mother Out Of Here It's
[47:29] A bit Rich Coming From Her Because It Had Been Her Idea In The First Place To Get The Boy In It Had Been Her Idea For Abraham To Actually Go With Hagar But At This Juncture She's Furious And With A Bad Spirit I Think She Says In Verse 10 Get That Slave Woman And Her Son Out Of Here And Although What She Said Was Was Not Said With Great Grace The Fact Was That Ishmael And Isaac They Couldn't Live Together And So God Says To Abraham Listen To Sarah And Do What She Says Verse 12 God Said To Abraham Do Not Be So Distressed About The Boy And Your Maidservant Listen To Whatever Sarah Tells You Because It's Through Isaac That Your Offspring Will
[48:29] Be Reckoned And This Hurt Abraham It was Difficult For Him To Have To Hear And It's Difficult For Him To Have To Deal With And This Hurt Hagar Hagar And It Hurt Ishmael But Sometimes It's Not Possible To Have A Pain Free Solution To Things To Thick For Example You Know If You Have To Thick It Hurts To Go To The Dentist And Have The To Thief Removed It's Not Pleasant To Sit In That Chair And To Have That Big Awful Needle Catching The Corner Of Your Eye And As You See It And Feel It In The Side Of Your Gum It's Not Pleasant It's Hurtful It's Painful We'd Rather Not Have To Go There And Yet If We Don't Go To The Dentist And
[49:30] Deal With That Pain Then We've Got The Ong Pain Of Toothache Either Way The Problem Of Toothache Involves A Painful Solution And There Is No Pain Free Solution To The Problem Of Sin And As We Think About That We Must Go Immediately In Our Minds To The Cross In The Eternal Sense Our Sin Pain To Jesus Jesus Felt Pain Because Of Our Sin In Gethsemane We See Jesus In Pain And We Have A Part In That And On The Cross We See Jesus In Pain The
[50:31] Sinless One Feels Pain Because Of My Sin And Yours And As Jesus Cries Out From The Cross Why Have You Forsaken Me There Is That Intense Spiritual Pain That Our Sin Caused Sin Jesus Jesus Felt The Pain That Our Sin Caused But Even In The Temporal Sense We Will Sometimes Feel Something Of The Pain Of Sin Sin In In Terms Of Our Walk With God When I Sin When I Stray There Is A Broken Fellowship With God There Can Be A Broken Fellowship With The Lord's People And That's Painful Think About The Words Of
[51:31] That Hymn When Oh For A Closer Walk With God When The Hymn Writer Says Where Is The Blessedness I Knew When Once I Feared The Lord And First I Feared The Lord Where Is That So Refreshing View Of Jesus And His Word There's A Pain In That Hymn That We Feel Because Of Our Sin And The People That Are Around Us When We Sin We Never Sin In Isolation Our Sin Has An Effect On The People Around Us And And We See That In Abraham's Life There's A Pain A Real Pain That Abraham Felt And We Might Ask The Question Why Do We Have To See This There's A Number Of
[52:31] Times In In This In This Section As We Track Abraham's Life And As We Follow Him As He Follows The Lord We See Things As We See The Disciples As They Follow Jesus There's There's Things in Their Lives That We Are Allowed To Look In On And We Think Why Do We Have To See This This Is Not Pleasant This Is Not Nice This Is Painful This Is Hard To Read So Why Do We Have To Read This Why Does The Lord Not Just Draw A Veil Over This Whole Messy Conflict Between Ishmael And Isaac And Sarah And Hagar Why Do We Need To Know About Abraham's Distress Why Do We Have To See Into This This Conflict That's The Question That Maybe We're Asking And I Think The Answer Is Is In Parts That We Don't Enter Into Sin You Know We're Being Showing Something Of The Effect Of Sin So That When
[53:31] We Are At That Point Of Temptation We Turn Back We Just Don't Steam Ahead But I Think The More Encouraging Thing For Us To See As We're Allowed To Look In To This Messy Situation As We're Inable To See Here That God Is Still In Control Yes It's A Mess Yes It's A Painful Scenario But God Is Still In Control And Both Abraham And Sarah Can Look Back On This And We Can Read In On This And We Can See That Although It Seems Chaotic And Although It Is Messy God Is Still In Control He Is Still At Work He
[54:33] Is Able To To Work In The Messy Complicated Painful Seasons Of Life Encouraging Thing Here Is That We We Learn That We We Never Get To A Dead End With The Lord He Never Leaves Us He Never Forsakes Us He Never Gives Up On Us But He Continues To Minister Even In These Messy Painful Situations And Seasons So There's The Promised Child Who Arrives And The Blessing That Was There's The Problem Child Who Is In Conflict With Isaac And There's The Pain That Abraham Felt In The Experience Of All This And The Final Thing Here Is The Provision That
[55:34] God Made And I'm Going To Leave You To Do Your Work In Terms Of This Last Point But If You Look From Verse 14 Down To Verse 34 We See The The Evidence Of The Fact That God Is A God He Provides He Cares For His People And He Also Cares For Those Who Are Not His People He Also Cares For Those Who Shake Their Fist At Him From Verse 14 To 21 And I'm Not Going To Go Into This Tonight We God's Care And God's Provision For Hagar And For Ishmael Because They Find Themselves Out In A Desert And How Do You Survive In A Desert Well You Don't And Hagar Is Coming To Terms With This She Can't Bear To Look At Our Son
[56:34] Because She Believes He's Going To Die And Abraham's Heart Is Breaking Because Of This But God Says To Abraham Just Trust Me And In The Middle Of This Desert The Lord Opens The Eyes Of Hagar And She Sees This Well Which Is A Well That Brings Life To Her And To Her Son God Hears The Cries Of The Boy God Hears The Cries Of The Mother God Hears The Cries The Sobs Of Abraham And He Responds By Providing For Them Even Though The Boy Would Not Be One Of God's People Even Though This Boy Would Be The First
[57:34] Of A Long Line Of People Who Would Be Enemies Of God God Still Provides For Him He Cares For Him And That's The Truth Tonight Still There Are There Are Many Many People Who Are In Every Place Who Have No Interest In God Or Whose Only Interest In God Maybe That They Hate Him They Still Have Food In Their Plates They Still Have Water In The Tap The Sun Still Shines On Them Still There Are So Many Blessings That They Receive Because God Is The God Who Provides It's Common Grace Which The The The The The The Common Grace That Hagar And Ishmael Are Experiencing And Then For Abraham And His Men Verse 22 To Verse 34 Again We See That In
[58:35] A Desert Where Again Water Is Life God Provides This Water So That These Men Could Live And They Could Survive They Could Thrive And So We See Here As We Finish That That God Is A God Who's Who's Interested In The Big Things The Eternal Matters Of Eternal Blessing Through The Child Who Was Born To Abraham And Sarah Whose Line Would Lead All The Way To Jesus Through Whom We Can Be Blessed And Saved That's God's Interest It's These Matters Of Salvation Of Eternal Security That's His Business That's His Interest And Yet Also The Lord Is Interested In The Little Things Like The Provision Of A Well For
[59:37] A Few Men In A Desert In A Land Far Away God Is The God Who Provides We We Tend Overlook These Things But If You Ever Get The Chance To Listen Into The Children's Prayer Meeting On A Wednesday Night They Never Overlook These Things There Isn't A Wednesday That Passes Where They Don't Thank God For The Provision Of Water And Food And Warm Houses And Cozy Beds And Families And Friends these are blessings which come from the hand of God who provided for Abraham and who provided for Hagar and Ishmael and who provides for us so let's remember to thank him even for the provision of the water that we drink and let's trust him the God who provides living water through Jesus his son the promised child who was given for us and we'll pray our heavenly father we thank you that you are good that you are faithful that you love us that you seek us that you save us that you care for us we thank you that your word is trustworthy we thank you Lord that the promises that were given to and realized in some measure by Abraham and Sarah even in this passage are promises that impact us we thank you for the Lord Jesus who came through the line of Abraham and Isaac and who brought salvation to our souls help us we pray to be those who trust in the Lord Jesus and who praise you for your faithfulness and we ask this in Jesus name
[61:57] Amen we'll sing to conclude great is thy faithfulness O God my Father great is thy faithfulness O God my Father there is no shadow of turning with me the changes the changes not thy compassion save fail not as thou hast been thou forever will be great is thy faithfulness great is thy faithfulness
[63:02] Lord unto me Son and winter and stream time and harvest Son, moon, and stars in their courses above Join with all history in manifold quickness to thy faithfulness mercy mercy and love Great is thy faithfulness
[64:03] Great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed thy hand has provided Great is thy faithfulness és Great is thy faithfulness Por alts and my hope for tomorrow.
[64:56] Blessings of mine with ten thousand beside. Great is thy faithfulness.
[65:08] Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see.
[65:20] All I have needed thy hand has provided. Great is thy faithfulness.
[65:33] Lord unto me. And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit be with us all now and forevermore.
[65:47] Amen.