Genesis #24 - The Gospel According to Abraham #14 - "Responding to God's Grace Work" (Genesis 21)

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Have a Bible, and I hope you do. Take it and turn with me to Genesis chapter 21. Genesis and the 21st chapter.
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Genesis chapter 21. Genesis chapter 21, and that should be page 15 in the red
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Bibles that we give away. Genesis chapter 21 and verse 15.
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Well, Genesis chapter 21 is going to be page 15. Genesis chapter 21, and we're going to read just the first seven verses.
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As I said, we're going to study the whole chapter, but just to get us started, the first seven verses. So Genesis chapter 21, verses 1 through 7.
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If you could stand with me out of reference for God's Word as we read this portion of Scripture. Genesis 21.
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Brothers and sisters, these are God's words. Yahweh came to Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did for Sarah what he had promised.
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Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the appointed time God had told him.
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Abraham named his son who was to be born to him, the one Sarah born to him,
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Isaac. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded him.
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Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said,
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God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me. She also said, who would have thought that Abraham, who would have told
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Abraham, excuse me, that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have born a son for him in my old age.
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Pray that God will bless that reading of his Word and give us understanding of it. Let's pray, ask for the Lord's help, and we will come to his
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Word. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your Word. We thank you that every time we come to it, we come to know more of who you are and what you have done.
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We come to hear more of your great and wonderful grace towards us and your love for us as your children.
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And so, Father, as we come to this passage, which has so many twists and turns and complicated issues that come with it, we ask,
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Father, that you would teach us from your Word what we need to hear.
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Father, may we see the goodness of God even in this text. And Father, as we pray for ourselves, we pray for our friends at the living room, the church just down the street from us.
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Thank you for Pastor Dan and the work that you are doing in and through him. Pray for him as he's preaching through the book of Acts.
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It was in Acts chapter 18 this morning. Pray that you would use the preaching and teaching of your
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Word to stir up gospel advance in the hearts of those who are there. Pray for their ongoing building work at this building that you have so graciously provided for them.
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Pray that you would continue to provide both the funds and the laborers to complete that work so that the building there can be used for the propagation of your gospel and the training of gospel workers through that church.
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We also pray for their ongoing partnership with Casa de Alferero, the
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Spanish congregation who share the building with them. Thank you for just the heart you've given their two pastors to partner together in cross -cultural ministry here in the
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Valley. Father, we ask that you would bless that effort, you would bless those works so that more and more and more people can hear the good news about the
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Lord Jesus. We pray that for them and we pray that for us even now. We ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake.
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Amen. Please be seated. For a few moments together this afternoon,
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I'd like to think with you about responding to God's grace work, responding to God's grace work.
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Usually when I come to preach, I have a great illustration. I think they're great anyway. I have a great illustration or some way of connecting real life to what we're about to talk about, but I really don't have one for this passage because if you've been walking with us through Genesis, this section really needs no introduction.
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We began this journey with Abraham back in chapter 12 several months ago now, and in that time, this has been something of an arduous journey to go through together.
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It's been a refining journey for Abraham and I imagine for us as we've read these words. It's been a challenging one as one pastor,
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Archon, he used notes in his commentary on this section.
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Though Abraham's character and devotion to God towered over that of Lot, he had his weaknesses.
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His capitulation to Sarah's insistence that he take her servant girl Hagar as a wife demonstrated a lack of faith in God's word, not to mention an abdication of his patriarchal leadership.
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Most recently, he had tried to pass Sarah off as his sister to the Philistine king to save his own skin, and this was not the first time he had tried that ploy.
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Pagan Abimelech had rightly taken the moral high ground in reproving Abraham. Abraham's failure and his failure to shine was the cloud that preceded this chapter, but like all of us, the patriarch was in process, and from here on, he began to shine ever brighter.
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The present chapter records both Abraham's and Sarah's growth in grace as he moved towards what will be his ultimate test, which we'll see next week in chapter 22.
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As we come to this section of God's word, really the highest point in this story so far, Abraham has finally received what
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God so graciously promised. The road from promise to fulfillment, but as we come to chapter 21, here we are.
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And as with so much of the life of Abraham, this chapter is jam -packed with rich truths for us as God's people journeying with him in our own move from promise to fulfillment.
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Well, what does Genesis 21 have to teach us about the promises of God and how we respond when those promises come to pass, or better yet, how not to respond when those promises come to pass?
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Well, I think we can learn this, that God's work of grace in the lives of his people will meet with a number of contrasting responses.
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That when we encounter the grace of God, the grace of God doesn't meet with just one kind of response.
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In fact, you see several responses in this chapter that we are going to study. So like I said, we learn from this chapter that God's work of grace in the lives of his people will meet with a number of contrasting responses.
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In fact, I want us to consider four contrasting responses to the gracious work of God in our text.
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Four responses that we're going to see as we march our way through this chapter, and with them, we're going to learn lessons that we can apply to our own walk with the
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Lord. So, not much time to say it, so I'll get straight to work. Consider with me, first of all, the response of receiving with joy.
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The response of receiving with joy in verses 1 through 7. So if you remember, those of you who were here when we were in Genesis 17 and 18, we used this language of coming back to Sarah, of coming back and basically making good on his promise.
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In fact, he used this language of he would visit Sarah at the appointed time. Well, if we can push the analogy a little further, it's safe to say that visiting hours have finally arrived.
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And so we look at verses 1 and 2, Yahweh came to Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did for Sarah what he had promised.
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Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the appointed time
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God had told him. For a moment, put yourself in Abraham's shoes and just imagine the sheer joy of this moment.
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My own son turns three on the 19th. My memory is somewhat short these days,
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I'm just tired all the time. But if there are some things that are still burned deeply into my memory and I can't forget them, and one of them is that moment of first holding
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Gareth after he was born. I remember being told by multiple people, just as they knew that that day was approaching, that being a father changes you.
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But sitting in that room as Laura was being taken care of, and I'm holding little Gareth for the first time, that didn't change me, it was life -altering.
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Even someone like me who is generally quite stoic, something broke in me and it was the best thing that's ever happened.
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I can only imagine how this felt for Abraham and Sarah, after nearly 30 years of waiting, after 30 years of longing, 30 years of hoping, 30 years of doubting at points, after 30 years of questioning.
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Just imagine with me for a moment, waking up every morning and asking the Lord, Lord you promised, when?
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I know that pain all too personally, and I imagine that is the case for many of you in this room.
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You know what it is waiting can and does give way to the season of receiving.
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Well Abraham and Sarah have received what God has promised, and look at their joyous response in verses 3 through 7.
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Abraham named his son the one who was born to him, the one Sarah bore to him, Isaac.
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When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded him.
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Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, God has made me laugh and everyone who hears will laugh with me.
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She also said, who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children, yet I have born a son for him in his old age.
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Here he is, Isaac, the child of laughter. His name given to him before his birth, his birth being the fulfillment of God's covenant promises, not just for his parents, but this is a further step in the fulfillment of God's covenant promises for the whole world.
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I can't help but see the parallels between this and another child who would be born later down the line, born to an even more unlikely pair of parents at an unlikely time, and whose birth would advance
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God's covenant promises. I'm always,
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I'm always somewhat wary of calling everything a type of Christ. Everything is, then nothing is. But you can't help but think in this, or you see this narrative in the way it's described, in the way this has come about, that there are some interesting correspondences here, as the birth of Isaac is signposting us to another unlikely birth, a birth that would well and truly change the world.
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I'm coming back to our text. Do you see Sarah's response in verses six and seven? These are not the comments of the unbelieving woman that we have seen in our study of Genesis.
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Yeah, there's an air of unbelief here, to be sure, but it's not the kind of unbelief that says
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God can't do it. Clearly he's, she's holding her son.
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No, it's not that kind of disbelief. It's the kind of disbelief that says, can you, can anyone believe what
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God has done? This is crazy. The air and tone of this is nothing short of just complete joy, and wouldn't it be great?
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Wouldn't it be wonderful? Wouldn't it be just splendiferously delightful, if this was the only response we encounter in this chapter?
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But if you've lived on the planet Earth for any length of time, you know that that's not how life goes. If I've learned anything about life with God, especially as somebody who's been in ministry,
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I've learned this, that where there is blessing, there will be people who don't like it.
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I believe the colloquial term that the kids in this generation use is the word ops, short for opponents.
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I grew up calling them player haters. More dignified people might not like that term, so they may just say they are obstinate.
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Whatever you call them, where there is the joy of God's promises, where there is the joy of receiving the blessing of God, there will be, number two, ridicule and opposition.
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Ridicule and opposition. And here I'm going to take some time, because there's more to this story than meets the eye, but we'll get there in just a moment.
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The birth of Isaac sets up some tension in the Abraham household, because if you remember all the way back in chapter 16, remember what happened there?
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Sarah got a little bit impatient, actually a lot impatient, and Sarah had the bright idea that just like was the custom in the ancient
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Near East, I just so happen to have a slave. Her name's
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Hagar. Abraham, I can't give you a child, and this is, so take my slave, sleep with her, and the child that we want will be your child.
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We know that child is Ishmael. And so now
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Abraham has, if I can, I promise I'm not trying to be flippant when I say this, he's got his wife and his side piece living in the same house.
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Oh, and they both have a kid, but this is more than just baby mama drama, as it were.
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In fact, first of all, can I have you consider the conflict itself in verses 8 through 13? The conflict itself, the context of the conflict that we're going to see here is a party.
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So verse 8, the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day
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Isaac was weaned. Typically in the ancient Near East, this is what happened at about age two to three.
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So we've moved ahead a bit in the story when we come to verse 8. Time has passed on a little bit. We're no longer dealing with baby
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Isaac, we are now dealing with toddler Isaac. He sounds about the same age as my son, so you can tell
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I had a lot of fun. Can only imagine little baby Isaac, Abrahamson, if you will, running around and being a toddler like toddlers do.
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And so they're having this party to celebrate. This is a happy scene, it's good vibes.
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But the problem with good vibes is it doesn't really take much to ruin them. So verse 9, but Sarah saw the son, the one
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Hagar the Egyptian had needed as, I think it was my mom or my dad used to say, a manual reset to the back of the head every now and again.
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Kids at the age of 14 are not exactly known for their general respectfulness and well behavior. But why is
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Ishmael, this teenager, why is he intentionally not named? It's like the author goes the long way around to identify who he is.
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He's called the son, the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham. It's like, he's almost edited out of this story.
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Because really, this day is not about him. And the narrator wants you to understand that. The spotlight, excuse me, is supposed to be on Isaac, and it's going to stay that way.
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The second thing about this text that interests me is kind of hard to see in English, but you see in verse 9, his behavior is described as mocking.
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It's the same root as Isaac's name. In fact, one commentator I read this week said he was
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Isaac -ing Isaac. But this isn't laughing with Isaac, the little toddler.
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No, this is laughing at Isaac, the toddler. We're not told the content of what he says, but you can kind of pick up from the context of this.
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Think about this. Your dad didn't even want to be with your mom, was pushed into it. You yourself know, he's 14, which means he's somewhat cognizant of the world around him.
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You yourself know that you are not the child he wanted. No doubt he loves you, but let's face it, you're not the child he wanted.
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You're the child he just happens to have. We know from chapter 16 that Hagar seems to have a bit of the running of the mouth problem, so I can't imagine she's not told
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Ishmael how she feels. Mom knows that this was not the child they wanted.
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Oh, imagine having to hear constantly, oh, God says you're not the child he wanted. I can only imagine that she made her thoughts and feelings about this very, very obvious.
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This very act of mockery showed contempt for Isaac, and the author really doesn't feel the need to tell you the what of what was said and the why of it.
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It's really, frankly, unimportant. What's important is
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Sarah's response in verses 10 and 11. Sarah sees this mockery and says, not you, not my son, and not today.
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Verse 10, so she said to Abraham, drive out this slave with her son, which seems to suggest that Ishmael is kind of being prodded
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Lord by mama here in this. Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a co -heir with my son
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Isaac. This was very distressing to Abraham because of his son. You can just feel the drama in this passage leveling up, and it's not pretty.
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Ishmael's origin story isn't Ishmael's fault. What Abraham and Sarah did may have been a mistake, but Ishmael's not a mistake.
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He's here by the providence of God. It's not his fault. His actions, and implicitly those of his mama kind of goading him on, those he has to take accountability for.
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And now you can just picture it, the happy occasion is now mixed with pain as Abraham faces a dilemma.
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And you can tell he's like, I don't want to do this. And it's at that point that God enters the situation, verse 12.
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But God said to Abraham, do not be distressed about the boy and about your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac.
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And I will also make a nation of the slave son, because he is your offspring.
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God's answer to this ridicule and opposition is once again to ground
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Abraham in the reality of the covenant promise. Isaac was to be the son of promise.
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And if he's the son of promise, the blessing that resided on his father resides on him.
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Any and all attacks on him are not to be tolerated. Because any and all attacks on him are attacks on the promises of God.
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And yes, God has a plan and purpose for Ishmael. Remember, he said that back in chapter 16. He has a plan and purpose for Ishmael.
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It's just not this plan. So God says,
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I wouldn't be too worried about this, Abraham. It's time for there to be a separation. Now, if this sounds like just bad drama that's happening, the
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Bible helps us to understand that there is more to this story that meets the eye. And for that, keep something here in Genesis 21, turn over to Galatians chapter 4.
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Galatians chapter 4, and we're going to consider for a few moments the conflict interpreted. The conflict interpreted,
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Galatians chapter 4. I'm going to have to move very quick through a very dense and very complex section of Scripture.
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For those of you who have the study guide here, you'll see a little QR code.
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If you just pull out your phone's camera and scan that, and just point your camera at it, it should open up a link. That will take you to the sermon
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I preached in full on this passage. Some of our long -time members know I preached to you the letter to the
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Galatians a couple years ago. So I dealt with the text in quite some detail. I encourage you to watch that sermon in your own time.
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It's called Actually Listen to the Law. For those of you who are watching at home, I have put on the next few slides that same
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QR code that's in the study guide here. All you have to do is point the device at it, and you should be able to watch that.
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For now, I'm going to have to summarize real quick, because Paul takes this passage, and he gives us something of a divine perspective on it.
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Let me give you some context if you're not familiar with the letters to the Galatians. Galatians is written to a network of churches in a particular region called
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Galatia, and the people from this area were people that Paul had personally met they were a part of.
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And unfortunately, after Paul had planted these churches and left, other people came in and started teaching that, yes, you need to believe in Jesus, but in addition to faith in Jesus, you need to also obey the law of Moses.
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History would know them as the Judaizers, because they were attempting to make these Gentiles basically live and function like Jews.
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And so the whole letter of Galatians is Paul's defense of justification by faith alone apart from works of the law.
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And as we come to Galatians chapter 4 and verse 21, Paul does something that is, in my opinion, a stroke of genius.
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See, he begins this section with one profound question. One profound question in verse 21. One profound question.
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Verse 21. Tell me, you who want to be under the law, don't you hear the law?
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The Judaizers had come with all these big stories about the importance of the law of Moses and the need for these people to basically submit themselves to the law of Moses in addition to faith in Jesus to be saved.
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And Paul says, I'm sorry, those of you who want to be under the law, have you not actually read the thing? It would be akin to somebody trying to school my wife on the
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Harry Potter series and then getting pretty much every detail wrong on my wife, just looking at them with utter contempt and saying, you've not even read one page of this thing, have you?
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And that's Paul's point. These people who were quoting the law didn't really understand the intent of it. And so he asked one profound question in verse 21.
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That ends up setting up two profound contrasts in verses 22 to 28. So you've got one profound question, two profound contrasts.
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The first contrast is a contrast in spiritual origins. A contrast in spiritual origins.
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And that contrast in origins is pictured by the two sons. So verse 22, what does
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Paul say? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and the other by a free woman.
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But the one by the slave was born the, as a result, excuse me, of the flesh.
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While the one by the free woman was born through promise.
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What Paul does here, like I said, it's a stroke of genius when you actually consider what it is that he's doing. He essentially says, you've got these two boys.
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We just read about them. You've got Isaac and you've got Ishmael. Ishmael is the result trying to bring about the promise by the flesh.
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He essentially says that Ishmael is what happens when you try to achieve divine blessing by yourself.
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Which is exactly what happens in Genesis chapter 16. This was Sarah's attempt to bringing about what
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God had promised in her own power. With Abraham consenting in doing it. He says in contrast,
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Isaac is the son who was born through promise. And so there was a contrast of origins that we're supposed to consider.
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But not only is there a contrast of origins, there's a contrast, secondly, of outcomes.
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A contrast of outcomes. Because in verses 23 to 28, two different outcomes are spelled out.
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So Paul goes on and says, for the one by the slave was, the 23, was born as a result of the flesh.
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While the one by the free woman was born through promise. These things are taken figuratively.
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Now there's a whole lot of debate as to what Paul means when he says that. I encourage you go listen to that earlier sermon. I take that in some detail, explaining the various views and where I land.
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For now, let's just take Paul as what he says. These things are taken figuratively for the women represent two covenants.
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One is Mount Sinai, and bears children into slavery.
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This is Hagar. Now Hagar represents
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Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the person Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
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Hagar is then said to symbolize the pursuit of salvation through human efforts. Specifically, the keeping of the law.
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That's why he says that it corresponds to Mount Sinai, which is the mountain from which the law came.
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And Jerusalem, the home of the temple and the sacrificial system. So Hagar represents the pursuit of salvation through human effort.
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The result being Ishmael. But Sarah, interesting, Sarah is not named in this passage, but Sarah is alluded to.
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But the Jerusalem of, verse 26, is free, and she is our mother. It is written, rejoice childless woman unable to give birth.
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Burst into song and shout you who are in labor, for the children of the desolate woman will be many. More numerous than the woman, than those of the woman who has a husband.
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Now you two, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of the promise.
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Sarah symbolizes the granting of salvation directly from the presence of God. That's why he uses his language of the
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Jerusalem above. Salvation directly from the presence of God to unlikely and undeserving people.
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Much like a barren woman is considered unlikely to have kids. And Paul's point in these two profound contrasts is the same thing.
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That just like Isaac, the believer in the Lord Jesus is the product of unlikely and unmerited grace.
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And that's really the heart of the gospel, isn't it? That unlikely and unworthy people are made righteous and acceptable to God, not because they came in the right way, but because Jesus lived and died and rose and lives for them.
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That reality for Paul leads to number three. Three profound implications. Three profound implications.
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They didn't have space. I didn't put them on the slides. You have to listen quickly with me. The first implication is very simple. That those who are seeking to be under the law will always oppose the spirit.
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So verse 29, look what he says. But just as then the child born as a result of the flesh persecuted the one born of the spirit, so also now.
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But we saw that back in Genesis 16, didn't we? Ishmael ridicules and opposes the child born of the spirit.
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And Paul says in a stroke of genius, that's exactly what these Judaizers are doing. These people who are insisting on salvation by works, who are essentially negating the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus.
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These people who are negating what Jesus did are doing so because those who want to be under the law will always oppose those who want to be under the spirit.
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But that leads to a second implication in verse 30, which is that those who are trying to put people under the law, you cannot have two opposing gospels living under one roof.
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You cannot have two opposing messages of salvation living under one roof. And the final implication he gives is in verse 31, that the believer who is under the rule of the spirit receives the inheritance that the law can never give.
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So verse 31, therefore brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave.
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We are not children who are produced through human effort. Slaves don't inherit, but we are children of the free woman, and so we do inherit.
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You see, when you read Genesis chapter 21, embedded in this narrative is a very simple reality, that ridicule and opposition will exist from those who seek their own way and not
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God's way. I wish
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I had time. I've got a little time, actually. I'm looking, I'm actually further ahead in my sermon than I thought
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I would be. Isn't this how this plays out in the life of God's people?
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Allow me to get controversial and touchy for a moment. Isn't this how this always plays out with those who have made a decision in the course of their
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Christian lives that I'm going to pursue this my own way and not God's way? Isn't this always the case that the apathetic and kind of over this, we've been here a while and done all this kind of folks, they are always the ones who function as an opposition to those who want to pursue deeper communion with God.
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The Galatians wanted to follow the gospel, and there were the Judaizers trying to pull them into a self -made workspace religion.
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Isn't that always the case, that those who are trying to live life in the Spirit find themselves opposed by those who have made a conscious and deliberate decision,
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I'm going to live life by my own set of rules. And isn't it funny that I've been, like I said,
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I grew up in church. I've been in church long enough. I've been in church long enough to see that when somebody starts to get a little bit zealous for the things of God, when someone starts to get a little, there's always those people in church who tell you, don't take all that, calm down, be reasonable, be balanced.
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Makes you wonder, is this the Ishmael -Isaac paradigm playing out again?
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Is this a thought I have as I read a passage like this? The reality is that the grace of God doesn't always meet with joy in some people.
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Sometimes it meets with response, the response, excuse me, of ridicule and opposition.
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We'll come back to Genesis 21, is that's the only response that we see here.
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We've seen receiving with joy, we've seen ridicule and opposition. Well, Hagar's actions lead to number three, regret that is nonetheless met with grace.
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Regret that is met with grace. Again, we have to applaud the growth in Abraham up to this point, because he receives an instruction, and he's very prompt in his obedience.
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Early in the morning, verse 14, Genesis 21, 14. Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a water skim, put them on Hagar's shoulders, and sent her and the boy away.
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She left and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, verse 15, she left the boy under one of the bushes and went and sat at a distance about a bow shot away for, she said,
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I can't bear to watch the boy die. While she sat at a distance, she wept loudly.
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Hagar and Isaac's, excuse me, Hagar and Ishmael's bad behavior leaves them with a lot of regret and in a very bad place, but for long the small provisions that they've been given are spent.
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This is the desert, so the desert environment is unforgiving, and the end result is now with no supplies, with no shelter in the middle of the desert.
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Hagar is left feeling as though they are doomed to die. You can feel her pain.
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No mother wants to see their child die in front of them. It looks bleak, and then once again, for the second time in this chapter, in comes
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God. Verse 17, God heard the boy crying, which again is a play on his name.
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Remember, his name is Ishmael, the God who hears. Well, God heard the boy crying and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, what's wrong,
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Hagar? Don't be afraid, for God has heard the boy crying from the place where he is. Get up, help the boy up and grasp his hand, for I will make him a great nation.
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Then God opened her eyes and she saw well, and she went and filled the water skin and gave the boy a drink.
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Hagar's regret becomes the theater for divine promise and divine provision, both in the long term, as Hagar is reminded that God has indeed said
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He will take care of Ishmael and will bring forth a nation from him. And since that requires
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Ishmael to live, a dead Ishmael could not produce a nation. God provides for he and Hagar's need in the immediate.
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Verses 20 and 21 flash forward into the future as God makes good on His word. So you see there in verse 20,
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God was with the boy and he grew. He settled in the wilderness and became an archer.
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He settled in the wilderness of Paran and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt. What was almost the ultimate regrettable moment is now met with divine grace.
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You might be listening to me today and you carry some regret from your past. You maybe carry some regret from your present.
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Can I comfort you with this reality? Can I comfort you with the fact that in the God ways available to all who will come to God as they are?
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. I think one of the saddest things we've done in the church is we paint this picture that Christianity is only for perfect people.
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No, the gospel is not just for perfect people because if that were the case, nobody would apply. I mean, think about this story.
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Hagar technically isn't even a believer. We never hear her acknowledge the God of Abraham.
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Yes, the God of Abraham does stuff. It's not by accident that the general name for God is used here and not the covenant name.
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Hagar technically isn't even a believer, but if you are here today and you believe in Jesus, you are. And if God can meet the regrets of Hagar with divine grace, do you really think he can't meet your regrets with divine grace?
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We've seen receiving with joy. We've seen the response of ridicule and opposition. We've seen the response of regret met with grace.
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But there's one more response in this text and this one will summarize. Verse number four, we see a recognition of favor.
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We see a recognition of favor in verses 22 to 34. Well, the story moves from this flash forward back to the immediate aftermath of Hagar and Ishmael leaving.
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Verse 22, at that time, Abimelech accompanied by Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, God is with you in everything you do.
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Can we just pause for a moment? This is the same Abimelech. Time hasn't passed that long.
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This is the same Abimelech, more than likely, who had essentially been defrauded by Abraham not too long ago.
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But now he has to come back and no doubt good news has traveled far. The unusual birth of Isaac has no doubt garnered some attention.
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The end result is that even Abimelech, who I have to imagine post that whole, you know, shenanigans that happened, probably thought, you know what,
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I want no part in this man. He's over there. I'm over here. If I see him on the street,
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I'm crossing to the other side. I just don't want any business with him. You have to imagine he kept
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Abraham at some arm's length after the nonsense of the last chapter. But even Abimelech now has to say,
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God is with you. And as a result, verse 23, he says, swear to me by God here and now that you will not break an agreement with me and with your children and descendants.
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As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a resident alien.
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Oh, if I can fast forward in biblical history, remember Abimelech is king of the Philistines, who end up becoming one of Israel's most bitter enemies.
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It's interesting. We never read anything of Abraham breaking his word. Remember Abimelech says, you're not breaking agreement with me or with my children and descendants.
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Well, they did. But coming back to this passage, the promise of Genesis 12 .3
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is once again being played out as Abraham is now synonymous with the blessing of God.
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I won't read verses 25 to 32 because that's basically how they make this covenant. Yes, there are some speed bumps along the way, but essentially
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Abraham establishes a covenant to live peacefully in this land with them. And look how this narrative ends in verse.
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Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the
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Lord, the everlasting God. And Abraham lived as an alien in the land of the Philistines.
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The planting of these kinds of trees were symbols of devotion and devotion to and recognition of God as the source of his, of their prosperity, excuse me.
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The pagans around Abraham had recognized the favor that God had shown him. And now
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Abraham recognizes and acknowledges this favor as he lives in peace with his wife and the son he had so long waited for.
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Well, all of this sets up what's going to be by far the biggest test for Abraham in chapter 22.
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We'll come to that next week. But for now, as we transition to the
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Lord's table, we've seen four different responses to the grace of God in this passage.
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And I have to ask, as we conclude this afternoon, what is your response to the grace work of God in your life and in the life of others?
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Is it receiving with joy? Is it ridicule and opposition? Is it regret that is met with divine grace?
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Is it a recognition of the favor that we have received? At the end of the day, only you can answer that question. But allow me to leave you with this.
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For those of us who have received the grace of God, there is only one appropriate response that we can have.
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For those who were under the weight of our own guilt and have met with the beauty of grace, the only response we can have is gratitude.
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The kind of gratitude that doesn't just say, oh God, I thank you that I have fire insurance and I'm going to heaven for eternity.
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True as that is. But it's the kind of gratitude that turns around and says,
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Lord, I will abandon my life to your cause. I will submit my life to your cause and to your mission, even if it's not comfortable and even if it's not convenient.
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As Abraham's about to find out in the next chapter, sometimes that response of gratitude might call us to give up everything.
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But regardless of what we're called to give up or what we're called to take on, think long and hard about your response to the work of God.
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And Father, we thank you so much that we have your word that not only showcases your gracious acts, but it also shows us how we are to respond to those gracious acts.
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It shows us how we are to respond to what you are doing. Father, by your grace and for your glory, we're used to your grace.
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May we not act like Hagar and Ishmael and the Judaizers and the apathetic, those who kind of see the work of God by his spirit and basically want to oppose it and ridicule it.
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Father, may we respond like Abraham and Sarah do. May we respond even like Abimelech and his commander do, recognizing your presence and your power.
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And Father, I pray for anybody here who may not know you or who may think they know you.
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And yet a passage like this points to the fact that maybe they don't. Father, may this be the day that you bring them to an awareness of themselves.
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Bring them to the end of who they are so that they may find their all in all in you. May they turn from their self -righteousness and their attempts to garner their own salvation and find faith in your
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Son and our Savior Jesus. It's in his name that we pray and for his sake.