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Bro. Otis Fisher
The 16th chapter of the book of Genesis, rather short lesson today, but a great truth. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bare him no children, and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. Russ, why did she have this handmaid?
But how come she possessed her? Where did they find her? Where? In Egypt. In Egypt. Bill, what were they doing in Egypt? So they were trying to escape the famine. He had promised them the land and he had promised them a son.
And still, following Abram's lead, they went into Egypt. Not only that, when they drew close to where they were going, Abram discussed with his wife the lie that they were going to tell the people. And we find out that they had decided this even before they left Ur of Chaldea.
And you cannot say it was a half-lie, even though it was half-true, it was still all a lie. So it shows me that Abram, the great man, was just as human as the rest of us. We're all susceptible to sin.
There's lots of problems have come from Hagar, which would not have existed had they not gone into Egypt, but we know it was God's ordained plan for that to happen. Abram didn't know that. He did what he wanted to do.
Now we come to the time that they both, Abram and his wife, are long past, or his wife is long past, having children, and she knows that, and she knows the promise made to her. So by human rationalization, she figured out a way to get a child.
Now it may seem strange to us, but the custom of that day prevailed. So we have here the marriage of Abram to Hagar. She was the secondary wife, boy, too much chicken. Now Abram might be excused for this, but he cannot be justified for it.
From the beginning, it was not like this. From the beginning, it was one man and one woman, and Christ brought it back to that very quickly. But Sarai tells her husband, now, my maid, maybe I can get a child by her.
She said to Abram, behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray thee, go in unto my maid, it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of his wife. Now one other place so far, we have seen the word hearkened.
You remember where? Adam and Eve. What did it mean, Deborah, that Adam hearkened unto his wife? Okay, she didn't like to say that, kind of went against the grain. Here we have Abram in the same situation.
David, why didn't Abram question it? Adam didn't question it either. It sounded fairly reasonable to him, and he did not object. I think he should have. But another piece of interesting history come up here.
Their female slaves constituted part of the private possession of the wife. They belonged to her. The husband had no say-so in their disposing or use or anything. It was the wife. So really Abram had no authority in the case.
As far as his wife was concerned, he could have refused to take her. But her statement, I may obtain children by her. Now Charlie, that's kind of a strange statement, because here Sarah is not going to bear a child.
How could it be that a child by some other woman would be hers? Do you have any idea? That's right. Exactly right. In more ways than one. So it was on this ground that she gave her slave to Abram, which Pat tells me.
But just because the world's doing it doesn't make it right. Just because my neighbor does certain things that I would consider wrong, then that doesn't give me the right to do it. We're not like the world, and we better never be like the world.
Even though it may seem reasonable, rational, and the best way to go about it. But we have the Holy Spirit to guide us, to guide our very conscience. Don't ever violate your conscience. Just don't do it.
If there's ever any doubt in your mind, then don't do it. Sarah, Abram's wife, took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian. After Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. And gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
Another piece of history I found was that no one can become the husband's secondary wife without the permission of the first. The consent of the first wife must be there. And he went in unto her, and she conceived.
And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. Meaning that Hagar now considered herself more important of a higher standing than Sarah. Debbie, that's going to lead to problems, isn't it?
Always there's problems. Sarah said unto Abram, my wrong be upon thee. I won't say it. I have given my maid into thy bosom. And when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. And the Lord judged between me and thee.
Now, Diane, what's Sarah trying to do? What did Adam say when the Lord was talking to him? What? Yeah. That point you hit. It was you that caused it. Why is it this human animal always tries to blame something else?
David, what makes us like that? No one likes to be wrong. No one intends to be wrong. Even if they're wrong, they don't intend to be wrong. And they'll argue with you about it. But there are times when we're wrong.
Did any of you ever play tennis? Did you ever swing at the ball and miss it? Did you ever look at the racket and see if there's a hole in it? Same idea. Well, she says the Lord's going to have to judge between you and me.
And that's what I want. So we find that when passion is upon the throne, reason is out the door. It's impossible to reason with somebody in a highly emotional state. It's impossible to—what's the word I'm looking for?
It's impossible to consider anything with a religious fanatic. When they know they're right, they're right. And that's what the world is facing in the Middle East right now. Religious fanatics. You cannot reason with them.
We have here the immediate bad consequences of Abram's unhappy marriage to Hagar. The immediate consequences. John, you know when we get trapped into a sin, we do it willingly. Very, very seldom—well, I'd say never do we look at the final unintended consequences from that sin.
We look at the immediate and, oh, how good it's going to be. Satan certainly never tells you about the consequences that'll be coming. The liquor industry doesn't spend much money on showing you the final result of alcohol.
But it's there. Now, just because you become saved in the meantime, does that change your state on earth? No. If you're in jail, you're still in jail. When we do not well, both sin and trouble lie at the door.
You remember what the Lord told Cain? We may thank our Lord. Now think about this. We should thank Him for the guilt and grief that follow the sin. We might say, well, boy, I don't want the grief. I don't want the guilt.
I don't want the sorrow. Then don't do the sin. What if it never did bother you? Pat, what if you could sin and it never bothered you at all in the flesh? So it is because He loves us and because it's according to His purpose for Himself.
He lets us know by way of our conscience when we violate our conscience. I think it's a great thing. But Abram said to Sarai, Behold. He said, Now listen to me. Your maid's in your hand, not mine. She has always belonged to you.
You can do what you want to with her. Do to her as it pleases you. That's what you did. And when Sarai dealt heartily with her, she fled from her face. Interesting word, heartily. In the Hebrew, it means she laid stripes on her.
What would that indicate, Richard? Took a paintbrush and striped her? She whipped her. She whipped her. Severely. Now, why would she do that when she was the one that suggested this? Who said that? She was angry at who?
We'd never admit it was at ourself, would we? Neither did Sarai. But she was. And when Sarai dealt heartily with her, she fled from her face. She ran away. And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
The two little words, the angel. Anytime you see that in the Old Testament, this is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, pre-incarnate. He's down into time, which Jesus spent his life in time. So it says he found her.
Did he not know where she was? He just happened to come across her? Right, he knew exactly where she was. Can you hide from the Lord, do you? You sure? You sound like you've tried. Well, the next time you're going to sin, get someplace where he can't see you.
He said, Hagar, Sarah's maid, whence camest thou? And whither wilt thou go? She said, I flee from the face of my mistress, Sarah. Now, why did he address her in the very beginning as Hagar, Sarah's maid?
Why did he, she knew who she was, why did he have to say that? Greg, what do you see there? All right, can we apply that to our life today in any condition? In any way? All right. And we should always remember from where we come.
As I said, if you're in jail and you get saved, it doesn't mean that your sentence is commuted. You still serve your time. She was still the maid of Sarah. He said, ask her, where'd you come from? Now, he knew where she had come from.
Charlotte, he wanted Hagar to hear Hagar say where she'd come from. You remember when the Lord asked Peter, lovest thou me? Three times. Pat, it seemed as though the Lord didn't know and he was trying to find out and be sure.
Is that the way it was? The other Pat, back at the back. Why did the Lord ask Peter three different times, do you love me? All right. Peter had to hear Peter say it. That's why I encourage you to read out loud, study out loud, hear yourself speak.
Then you won't skip over those words you can't pronounce. But if you hear it, it just gives another input into your brain. This is why the Lord asked him. One reason was so Peter would know. Same reason that every person in the world will know that there is a God.
No one will be able to stand before him on judgment day and say, well, I just now heard of you. What do you mean? That won't happen. And it has to occur in this life. There's no plea bargainings in the grave.
So, he said, where'd you come from? Where do you think you're going? Where do you suppose she was going? Yes, she did. Kay, where was she going? Jesse, where was she going? Going back to Egypt. Where would you go?
You'd go home. That's where she was headed. She might not have known the direction, but that's where she was going. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, return to your mistress, submit yourself unto her hands.
Clarence, that'd be hard to do. So, upon salvation, we still are who we are in this world. Salvation changes nothing but our heart. Now, our position and our status may change later, but the salvation itself takes us right where we are.
And he brought us to where we are, wherever that is, John. How many are here today because you believe it to be the Lord's will? Do you know it's the Lord's will for you to be here? How do you know it?
Because you're here. There's nothing going to happen that is not his will. Now, I cannot explain all of that, so don't ask me. But I know it to be true. Verse 10, and the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply.
Now, by David's grammar this morning, what kind of verb is that? I will. Will. Indicative. Imperative, we call it. An imperative statement, and it simply means this. The one speaking it has the power to cause it to happen.
If you say it and you do not have the power to cause it to happen, you're in trouble. But this is God himself saying, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly. By multiplying, I will multiply it. That it shall not be numbered for multitude, similar to what he had told Abram.
The angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child. And she knew that. And shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man.
They had in that country, we call them donkeys, they were asses. And some of them were wild. And this is what the Lord is comparing Ishmael to, is a wild ass of a man. And he has proved that to be true.
The descendants. And every man's hand against him. His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all of his brethren. Now has that come to pass?
Who are the descendants of Ishmael? Who? Arabs. Our relation is the Arab and the Iranian. The Lebanese. Turkeys. They're all cousins. They're all against Israel. And they will forever be against Israel.
And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me. For she said, I have here, excuse me, have I also here looked after him that seest me. Now it was not God the Father she saw, it was the Lord Jesus Christ that she saw.
No man has seen the Father. I don't think we ever will. Wherefore the well was called. And Russ, what's the name of it? I'm talking to that Jew that was up here this morning.
It's what? That's good. Ber-lah-hey-ro.
Ber-lah-hey-ro. Behold it is between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bare Abram a son. And Abram called his son's name which Hagar bare Ishmael. The father of all of the Ishmaelites. Abram was four score and six years old when Hagar bare Ishmael his son.
Now, truly how old is four score and six years?
But that's when Isaac comes.
Because Abram was a hundred at that time. All right. A little bit more information now about Ishmael and then we'll be through. When Ishmael grew he settled in the land of Paran. This is the land lying between Canaan and the mountains of Sinai.
God was with him as he had promised. And he became a great archer. One that could use the bow and arrow successfully. Genesis 21, 9 through 21 tells us that. He became a great desert chief. But of his personal history there's not very much recorded.
He was about 90 years of age when his father Abram died. In connection with those with whose burial he wants more. For a moment appears on this occasion the two brothers together. After being separated for a long, long time.
Isaac with his hundreds of household slaves. Ishmael with his troops of wild soldiers and half savage allies. And all of the state of a Bedouin prince. Of the after events of his life but little is known.
He died at the age of 137 years. But where and when we know not. And that's all we know about Ishmael. He was a product of a, as far as man was concerned, a disastrous mistake. Not as far as God was concerned.
As part of his ordained plan. So it proves to me that we do what we want to. Without knowing that it's what God has ordained. We might say, well I wish I had done something different. Charlotte, you couldn't.
We should not be angry at the wicked. Because they're doing what they were predestined to do. We should be angry at sin. We'll go into chapter 17 next time. We're going to get close to her. His name has changed and I'll be glad of that.
Because I call him Abraham half of the time. Is there anything from anybody? Yes. That would cause for unrest, wouldn't it? Diane, you want to say something?
Yes. Yes. So isn't it interesting, although he saw those with the two gentlemen. That it wasn't until Virge that he identified himself as Catholic Mary. Even though we're lesser, he's always shown the same.
Father, I thank you for this study. May we take it in our lives and apply it to order. Just give you the glory. Thank you for the word that you revealed to us, Lord. Study your word and become more aware of it.
Orally, thank you that you revealed the word. Just help us to be more spiritual beings. Amen.