Infinite and Intimate

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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Genesis 18:1-15

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Saw many big smiles on faces. I realize Our time in Genesis 17, which was somewhat prolonged was a stretch for some especially those perhaps
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Uninitiated with covenant theology and I'm sure we're all excited to continue pressing forward in the narrative of Genesis However, we'll continue to see how significant those foundational stones are as we continue to press forward
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But this morning we're beginning Genesis 18 and we'll be focusing this morning on verses 1 through 15
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And we'll look at these verses really in three movements The first movement is just the first three verses the
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Lord appears to Abraham and Sarah and then secondly, we'll see that they provide for the
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Lord and Then lastly, we'll see that the Lord provides for them So those are the movements that we have in our passage the
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Lord appears To Abraham and Sarah they provide for the Lord and the Lord provides for them beginning in verse 1
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Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day
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So he lifted his eyes and looked and behold three men were standing by him and When he saw them he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the ground and said my lord
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If I have now found favor in your sight do not pass on by your servant
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So Abraham we find at the door of the tent by the terebinth trees of Mamre That's a place that we've become familiar with since chapter 13 in this climate at this time
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Which is midday the heat would have been almost unbearable If you had a tent you'd be in the tent
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If you were in the tent You were hoping that that tent was under the trees in the shade and that's where we find
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Abraham sitting in the shade of his tent The tent sitting in the shade of the trees the last indication we had of Abraham's age in chapter 17
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He's 99 years old. Sarah is a decade younger We cannot imagine exactly the age dynamics at this time as we've seen ever since the flood in Genesis 7 8 9 all the way to where we are in chapter 18 the dynamics of human age and ability are beginning to dwindle
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We're slowly pitching toward the the lower end of three digits even with Abraham So when we say he's 99 we can't imagine for us that that's a 99 year old
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Today, we'll see that when he's running back and forth preparing this feast So we have to picture the fierce heat and even though he's not a 99 year old by today's standard
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He's still very old. He himself says well advanced in age well past the years of childbearing
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He's elderly and he's sitting in his tent monitoring the land the cattle his servants
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Perhaps he's doing what elderly folks tend to do dozing in and out of naps There was a great viral video
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Some years ago and you should you should look it up and watch it It's really great and it it features a interview on a local news show with a woman named
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Flossie Dickey I mean what a name Flossie Dickey and it was her 110th birthday on that day and so they sent a an
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Anchor woman to go interview her as the family and the nursing home was preparing a birthday party
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So there they are and they're trying to get Flossie who now because of her birthday party cannot have her normal nap which she does
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Ten times throughout the day. So she's sitting there with a completely grumpy face waiting for the news team to leave
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They're going so Flossie. Are you excited about your party today? And she's just staring at the camera not one bit
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What do you want to do I'm tired Okay, Flossie, so they're you know realizing they're really putting it on to this lady now
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Abraham's not that tired But I can picture him in his elderly age in this midday heat sort of dozing out
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Lifting his eyes occasionally looking around. He's certainly not gonna be moving around. He's not gonna be doing any sort of work
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He's got servants. He's got Ishmael He's got all that under control and then we read in verse 1 the
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Lord appeared to him now. This is Theophanic language when the Lord appears and so we're already being hinted to at the very first verse that the presence of God is drawn near to Abraham and The Lord's appearance is mysterious
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Of course, we've seen many appearances of the Lord and and all of them are mysterious after their own kind We've seen
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God speak directly to Abraham and chapters 12 and 13 Assuring him of his will and his promise in the land we've seen whether it was a a prophet of the
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Lord Most High or a Manifestation of the Lord Most High we've seen Melchizedek pronounced blessing upon Abraham We've seen the fire and the smoke and the vision of the
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Great Covenant of chapter 15 and even last chapter in chapter 17 we saw the glory of this covenant revealed by the
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Lord. So we've seen the Lord make himself manifest Already but here we have something entirely unique we find the
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Lord appearing to Abraham and Simultaneously, we read of three men in what follows
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They are reported and treated as three men. The meal is made with three measures of fine flour
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So the three is not some apparition. It's real There are three travelers by the human eye standing in front of Abraham at the opening of the tent
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But Abraham realizes all is not as it seems We read in verses 2 and 3 when he saw them
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He ran from the tent door to meet them bowed himself to the ground and said my Lord If I have now found favor in your sight do not pass on by your servant
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Now we're not told in this instance that Abraham recognizes the divine identity of these visitors it seems to dawn on him over time and Some have even argued that Really anyone that came to visit an ancient
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Middle Easterner would have received this kind of lavish welcome this kind of hospitality It was appropriate and still is for instance in the
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Bedouin culture to bestow great Hospitality and honor upon a guest within your domain
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However, there are several details in the narrative here that show us Abraham has some hint some glimpse that indeed
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There is a divine manifestation here. And if he doesn't understand it by verse 3 He certainly understands it in the verses that follow what we have here is without a doubt a theophany meaning a manifestation or appearance of God and then better yet or more accurately a
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Christophany when God appears he appears in the likeness of his son
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So this is a a pre -incarnate appearance of the Son of God The first thing to notice is in verse 3 where Abraham says my lord now he's addressing only one within this trio and By the end of this chapter we find only one of this trio
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Conversing with him the other two have gone on to Sodom and Gomorrah and in the beginning of chapter 19
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They're revealed to be two angels So already if we're following the narrative we have one that Abraham is dressed is addressing as my lord
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Two that are not being addressed and two that later on will travel apart from we would say the
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Lord In order to go towards Sodom and Gomorrah and there they are revealed as angels Now the
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Hebrew in verse 3 for Lord is Adonai It is one of the ways to address
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God But it also can be used to speak reverently of a of a master of a ruler of a highly honored guest
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And so that's true not only in ancient Hebrew that's true in many cultures air in German Dominus in Latin curious in Greek the word that we use to address the
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Lord can also be the Lord of the house or the Lord of the estate or or a Lord someone who's revered and honored
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So Adonai is not a whole lot of help But when we get to verse 13 and we read the
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Lord said to Abraham there We do not have Adonai there. We have the divine name Yahweh and No human being is ever referred to as Yahweh Until we get to the
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Lord Jesus Christ Who is Yahweh incarnate? So once you see that the
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Lord of verse 13 is the Lord of verse 3 You realize that Abraham is not just bowing down to strangers out of reverence or cultural politeness
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But in fact, he's worshiping one that he's beginning to recognize as a divine manifestation of his
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God It could well be that we have here what John refers to in John 8 56 as as the vision the glimpse of the
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Lord Jesus says Abraham saw my day and he was glad Now there's very few commentators.
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Therefore that find this visitation to be anything less than the Lord the pre -incarnate
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Son of God and Two angels that are accompanying him which go on to destroy
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Sodom and Gomorrah When we go back to the earliest views of the ancient church, this is still the understanding not much has shifted
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We find this view with Justin Martyr Irenaeus Tertullian Clement of Alexandria origin all names that perhaps are not so familiar to us, but they ought to be
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However when The Trinity became a matter of dispute and all sorts of Trinitarian heresies began to blossom in the early church
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Some church fathers began to look at these three men these three visitors and say here we have the
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Trinity It was never as straightforward as that even among the church fathers
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It was a rare view, but they they saw in the context There is some sort of glimpse at the trinity of God There's three visitors and yet only one reference to the
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Lord And so the church fathers who again saw there's a pre -incarnate Son and two angels
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Even they by this time would say nonetheless There is some mysterious display some glimpse that God is in fact three and one that he is triune so in a certain homily
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For example origin writes the fact that Abraham rushes to welcome three, but only worships one
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Communicate something greater Everything that is reported in this account is mystical
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What is suggested here is of course the mystery of God as Trinity and then by the end of this homily where?
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Origin is writing. He says seek the mystery of the Trinity through the revelation of Christ Which is very insightful from our ancient brother because indeed we can only
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Seek the mystery of the Trinity through what Christ reveals about his father and the
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Spirit To give another example of this Just because it's so significant and I'm sure many of you looking at chapter 18 were like three men
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Is this the Trinity this father -son Holy Spirit when we see three that's where we jump So yeah, some people would say amen if you were living in the fourth or fifth century
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But since then we're gonna be a little more careful than that and say no Caesarius of Arles he's writing in the 6th century
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He takes more of an allegorical approach very common at the time and listen to how allegorical it becomes
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The noonday stands for the fullness of divine radiance The threefold appearance indicates
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Abraham's superior state The tent is the abode of the soul which receives
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God The mystery of the Trinity is indicated by the three cakes which are hidden It doesn't come across in the
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English translation But Sarah hides in Hebrew hides the cakes under the hot ash and so three are being hidden And so early church fathers are going.
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Oh, this is a hidden mystery of the triune revelation And of course Abraham sees three but worships only one
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I think we can grant there may be a divine hint at the true identity of the
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Lord But we have to agree with John Gill It's always safe to agree with John Gill the truth of the matter seems to be this one of them was the
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Son of God in human form Chiefly conversing with Abraham and the other two were angels
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Who in that form accompanied him in that expedition? So that's that's safe ground for us
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Now notice the response of Abraham He's rushed out to meet these three men
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He bows down before the Lord In an act of worship and he pleased with him stay
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Let me give you some refreshment We see this in verses 4 through 8 Abraham and Sarah and many other servants and their employee are providing for the
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Lord Please let a little water be brought wash your feet rest yourselves under the tree I will bring a morsel of bread that you may refresh your hearts and After that you may pass by in as much as you've come to your servant and they said do as you have said
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So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said quickly Make three measures of fine meal knead it and make cakes and Abraham ran to the herd took a tender and good calf
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Gave it to a young man and hastened to prepare it and so he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared and Set it before them and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.
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This is lavish Hospitality, this is not a morsel of bread and some water and you'll be on your way
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This is not a sleeve of saltines and a few Poland Springs This is a very lab lavish elaborate form of honoring these three guests
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It runs even longer in the Hebrew text our translation at several verses long here
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It's even longer in the Hebrew text what we'll touch on that momentarily the significance of that The reader can see how appropriate
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This is we are already tracking maybe what hadn't quite yet dawned on Abraham that this is indeed the
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Lord And so whether it's cultural politeness at this point or not we really recognize
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Abraham is doing everything the right way and this seems to be where the New Testament is drawing this whole idea of Entertaining angels unaware of being hospitable to strangers
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Hebrews 13 2 of course is the point in reference do not neglect to show hospitality the strangers for by this some have
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Entertained angels unaware perhaps this is drawing on Abraham in this very passage The writer is saying it was a good thing
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That Abraham wasn't cold Wasn't rude Didn't shove an empty bucket and say if you want some water go fetch
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It was good that he was a very gracious hospitable host to these strangers and the same way
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Jesus teaches us that we're to have an eye toward the stranger the One in need and when we do so we are in fact having an eye toward him at Matthew 25
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I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink
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I was a stranger and you invited me So Jesus himself is teaching his people to have this
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Abrahamic sight for those that are passing by In a real sense we can say
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Abraham was providing for the Lord in a real sense In Acts 13 verse 2 we read the same thing about Paul and Barnabas and others in the church at Antioch.
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They were serving the Lord literally ministering to the Lord in Antioch It's an interesting way to think about the dynamics of the
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Christian life, isn't it? It's not as though God is lacking anything in his Perfections as though he needs provisions as though he goes from state to state as we do and needs things
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External to himself to to continue being he is pure being he is of himself therefore he requires nothing and Yet he invites his people as it were to minister to him
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Very interesting, isn't it? The Lord requires no ministry. No service.
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No provision and yet he delights To allow his people to minister to him as we read in Acts 13 verse 2
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He's willing as we see in Genesis 18 for Abraham to show hospitality to him Willing to have
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Abraham and Sarah serve him He delights to find his people eager and willing to fellowship with him
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To commune with him and eager is all over verses 6 through 8, right?
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Just just look at these words Abraham hurried. He rushed into the tent. You can picture out the decorum
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Please please do not pass by. Let me get you a morsel of bread Grab the flower grab the flower.
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He's rushing all over his property. What are you talking about? What are you talking about how much flower you can picture the chaos behind the scenes
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Meanwhile, these three men are under the terebinth trees and then Abraham runs to the herd
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Goes to a young man Take that tender and good calf take the fatted calf prepare it and then he took butter and milk in the calf which he had
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Prepared remember there's no refrigeration in the ancient world And so it's not like you just have milk and butter on hand
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This this would have been all things that were being done in the course of the day and now it's times a thousand We need more butter.
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We need more milk. We've got guests to feed We've got a feast to produce get to churning get to milking fill those buckets
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Then he finally at the end of verse 8 is standing by them under the tree as they eat probably huffing puffing sweating as They sit there and eat this lavish feast
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And all of this bustle is calculated the pressure that Abraham puts upon himself and then puts on his whole household is a
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Calculated way of demonstrating how much desire he has for these guests to stay
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How it's his heart for them to be honored and privileged This is a calculated form of bustle.
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It's not that Abraham is is so out of control He just has to run around like a maniac trying to find some way to scrounge up a meal that it's meant to show something
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I so revere you I so honor you that I'm going to run to my servants run to my wife
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I'm gonna run as fast as I can to make sure you have everything you could possibly need This is how much
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I want your fellowship how much I want you to be honored if you go to a restaurant And you have a waitress that's constantly bending over backwards.
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They sure don't need a refill on that. Let me clear this for you Are you sure you're not? Is that okay? Do you want some ketchup for that? You feel very honored what an attentive waitress
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You got a restaurant where? You know your your food comes out cold your drinks been empty for half an hour.
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You're waiting for the check It's been you know an hour. You don't even she's on break somewhere. You don't feel very honored
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Can we please have our check? It's been three hours. Oh, yeah. Sorry about that Moseying up you wouldn't feel very honored would you it's the same dynamic here
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Abraham's effort shows how much he desired their fellowship. It shows him that he
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He's doing everything he can please don't leave I'm trying to get everything in order.
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I want this to be great. Please don't leave. It's like the prodigal father When he runs out to meet the son, please don't turn back.
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Please don't leave He's running. He's rushing. I have to ask us brothers and sisters does our effort to welcome the
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Lord Show something of our desire for him not to leave Does our our bustle
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To commune with the Lord show something of our hunger to fellowship with him of our heart to honor him
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What would it look like if you could translate this scene into morning devotions? Get that coffee going gotta get the
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Bible open Lord. Please don't leave I Want to fellowship with you? I'm hungry for you to stay and draw near I Want to serve you
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Lord so that you might bless me I want to refresh you Lord so that you might refresh me what kind of hospitality in other words
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Do we show to the Lord do we show Abraham's hospitality to the Lord? hastening lavish filled with a selfless attention to him
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Or is it lazy? Is it haphazard? Is it so consumed on self need and self focus that The one thing you could not describe it as is a ministering unto the
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Lord Paul says in Romans 12 do not be lagging in diligence
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But be fervent in spirit serving the Lord God's looking for that same
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Abrahamic fervency in the way that we serve him and of course We automatically think of serving and even in the context of Romans 12 right showing hospitality and kindness to those around us
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Having self -control over our spirit we we think of all these things, but I'm saying there's even something more basic than that That we in our own devotional life in our own way of communing with God We ought to have this vision of hospitality unto the
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Lord. How can I situate myself? How can I establish my time in my presence
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Lord so that it's hospitable for you to commune with me? How can I make myself available?
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How can I make myself consistent How can I show by my sheer effort Lord that my desire is for you to be honored and for you to stay?
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This is not to pass by Lord I'm not just gonna give you a little morsel of my attention in the morning.
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No Lord. I want a feast And the
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Lord has always been this way Do you remember what he says to Simon the Pharisee? Do you see this woman?
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He says this notoriously sinful woman this woman that you've been saying in derision in your heart
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She's unclean and he must not be a prophet. He doesn't know what manner of a woman. This is And what is what does
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Jesus say? You gave me no water for my feet But she's washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head
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Simon in that culture. He would have done all of the checklists of hospitality I'm having this revered one one that are saying is the great prophet the one we've been waiting for even
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I'm having him in my Home tonight, I'm gonna make sure that everything is checked servants Make sure that he has all the wine all the food prepared everything he needs make sure everything is in order
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You know Simon too would have been calculating everything so that Jesus felt honored and when
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Jesus walks in he's saying You haven't even begun to honor me like this woman. You never showed me the kind of Love and affection and dependence that she has
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This is the kind of devoted care that honors the Lord Back in Genesis 18
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Abraham is running around thinking of anything and everything he can pull together for a feast
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He runs to the fatted calf the ancient world. You don't eat meat all that all that often And it was quite a process as I'm sure our brother can tell us to butcher a whole animal and prepare it for a feast
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This wasn't gonna be a quick meal. It was gonna take some time And Abraham is preparing this feast for the
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Lord and for these angels and For Abraham this greatest act of honor that he can muster with what he has
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Nothing is spared. Everything is available Everything must be given over. It's as a lavish
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It's as honorable as he can possibly muster and for the Lord, it's it's sheer
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Condescension for him just to sit and eat the things that he made and does not require
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RS candlestick brings this out. This is a singular act of condescension the only
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Recorded instance of the kind before the incarnation. That's amazing, isn't it?
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From Genesis 18 until you get to the ministry of Jesus. You'll never read about the Lord sitting down to eat a meal with his people
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Food is brought out to the Lord in Various forms of his manifestation but that's always turned into a sacrifice and it's devoted in sacrifice and and the the scent ascends into the heavens, but here
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God Here the Lord is sitting in partaking with Abraham like a friend to a friend
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Which is why Abraham is uniquely called throughout scripture a friend of God This is a meal between friends and the
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Lord is condescending to Intimately and graciously fellowship with Abraham.
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So then it's no surprise when Thousands of years removes we find the Lord truly human
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Not in the appearance of man, but as a man looking for that same man to man intimate sharing of a meal with his people
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Zacchaeus Zacchaeus come down. I must stay at your house tonight Think of how familiar and friendly these meals with his disciples would have been that this was actually something of the heart of our
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Lord Not just in his ministry as though it was something he had to get through but actually it was his delight and when we
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When we read of him after his resurrection appearing to his disciples, for instance in Luke 24 on the road to Emmaus the disciples recognizing
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After the fact that they had been with the Lord they they were begging him as is proper in the culture abide with us
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It's evening the day is far spent and he goes in to stay with them And then we read further in Luke 24.
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He goes in with all of the Apostles and he stood in the midst of them we read and said peace be to you and They were terrified and frightened and supposed that seen a spirit and he said why are you troubled?
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Why is doubt filled your heart behold my hands and my feet. It's I myself Handle me see a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see
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I have and when he said this he showed them his hands and his feet and they still while they still did not believe for joy and marveled and Then I just I love this.
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It's as shocking an act of condescension as we find here in Genesis 18
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He says do you have any food here? This is the risen exalted
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Lord Jesus and he's standing before these apostles Who aren't even sure how to process this and he's going you guys got anything to eat.
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I Am hungry Can't tell you what it's what it's like to endure what
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I've had to endure. Do you have any food here fellows? friends And they bring out a piece of broiled fish a piece of honeycomb
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And we read he took it and ate it in their presence I could say oh, this is this is a gospel writers way of recollecting that which shows he's not just an apparition
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He's truly man. No, no, no. No, he's doing what he loved to do.
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He's eating with his people He's fellowshipping with them as a friend
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Jesus delights to share such common intimate hospitality from his people whether it's a lavish feast of the fatted calf or the
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Refrigerated leftovers of fish and honeycomb. And so as God's people we should show this kind of hospitality to the
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Lord first and foremost and our daily desire to commune with him in prayer and in the word are we that Attentive to that spiritual dynamic that this is not the equivalent of taking a vitamin for the day
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Oh, I've got my little scripture fortune cookie for the day off I go But no rather you are sitting and opening up the time for you to commune with God through the means of grace
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That he is present by his spirit and attends to the means and that you are in a way commonly intimately fellowshiping with him and we see all of the ornamented detail of this meal and And if you're following the narrative
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You're forced to do this when you're reading Hebrew narrative It's very obvious when you enter into disjunctive patterns in the text.
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There are certain constructions We call it a vital structure where the narrative is being carried along and when you get to a disjunctive
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Verb at the beginning you realize this is the parentheses. This is the text box this is not something that's part of the main narrative and Here we have all of this
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Ornate detail about the milk and the curds and the the say is of finely ground flour and the churned butter
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And all of these things take up as much if not more space Than empires that are rising and falling than the
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Tower of Babel in all of its might than the five against four World War that had broken out in chapter 16.
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There's more detail here Now, what does that say? This is significant
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Every detail matters. It says this was so profound so supernatural that will never forget
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What we prepared and what we ate when we were with the Lord will never forget Like the disciples will never forget pass it down.
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It was broiled fish and honeycomb. We'll never forget that We'll never forget that And so it zooms in with all of this detail in the whole front half
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All the way from verse 1 to verse 8 is all about Abraham's activity Abraham's plead
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Abraham Abraham Abraham and then we get to verse 9 and the whole focus switches to Sarah And they said to him, where is
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Sarah your wife? Here in the tent and he said I will certainly return to you according to the time of life and behold
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Sarah your wife shall have a son Sarah was listening in the tent door, which was behind him bad thing to do ladies
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Now Abraham and Sarah were old well advanced in age and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing
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Therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying after I've grown old shall I have pleasure my lord being old also?
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And the Lord said to Abraham why did Sarah laugh? saying surely
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I I Shall I surely bear a child since I am old is anything too hard for the
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Lord At the appointed time. I will return to you according to the time of life Sarah shall have a son and Sarah denied it saying
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I did not laugh for she was afraid he said no you did this whole narrative now shifts to Sarah and Abraham is just in the margins
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He's the supporting actor if you were gonna put this on a play Now the Lord is addressing him and Sarah is for all intensive purposes outside of the meeting place
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Which would have been very common in the ancient world And yet the Lord has not come for Abraham. It's patently obvious These three men have come for Sarah and they're staying not for the sake of Abraham, but for the sake of Sarah With Abraham the promise has already been established of course the promise was given to Abraham And it was established by degrees first.
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You're going to have a son from your own body Okay, how's that son gonna come about? Maybe through Hagar, and then the promise is no it won't be
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Ishmael It won't be the seed through Hagar, but from Sarah. She'll have a son and now in this visit
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He gives the time frame this time next year. I'll return and Sarah will have a son
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So it seems that Abraham if we follow what Paul says in Romans 4 Abraham's faith had been wavering
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Until God made that covenant in chapter 17 and Abraham's faith wavered no longer
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He himself had laughed, but now he was not laughing now. He was trusting, but it wasn't so with Sarah and remember that God's covenant is not just with Abraham as though Sarah is expendable as Though Sarah's just means to an end
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God covenants with Sarah as well. I Am the Lord he begins the covenant and to you
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Abraham and then to you Sarah Sarah Is herself addressed she is
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Embedded within the Abrahamic Covenant the Lord has come to strengthen the faith of Sarah Abraham is not wavering, but it seems that Sarah is
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Abraham had already been where Sarah is in this very place Laughing in his heart at what seems humanly impossible
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Genesis 17 beginning in verse 16 we read God said to Abraham as for Sarah your wife.
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You shall not call her name Sarah I but Sarah shall be her name and I will bless her and Also give you a son by her then
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I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations Kings of people shall be from her then
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Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart shall a child be born to a man who is 100 years old and Shall Sarah who is 99 years old bear a child?
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And Abraham said to God. Oh that Ishmael might live before you and God said no Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name
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Isaac I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him so notice the
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Parallel Abraham laughs in his heart at the promise because it is humanly impossible
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His faith wavers and he turns to what seems humanly possible. Oh that Ishmael might be the fulfillment of this
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Oh that Ishmael might live before you. I've got the son that I wanted and God says no
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But Sarah your wife will bear you a son Sarah your wife
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Abraham. That's who I made the promise to Sarah like many of us has a faith that is caught between the impossibility as it seems to us of God's promise and The apparent reality of her position as an elderly barren woman
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And don't we as believers see this all the time. We have
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God's promise. That seems impossible given the realities of our human life and our position in life and our
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Circumstances and yet God's promise could not possibly be more clear and we lose our faith
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We waver at the promise and the purpose of God Just like Abraham just like Sarah failure in these situations is not the fault of God But ours and yet at the same time what is true of Abraham and Sarah in their day is true of believers today
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These great promises God loves to fulfill Against the impossible odds so that he might get all of the glory
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So that we might recognize and see his mighty hand and give him the worship and praise do him
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God is therefore persistent to give reassurances to his people
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That wavering he will not allow Indefinitely he comes to his people to reassure them of the promise.
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How many times have we seen God? Reassure the Abrahamic promise from chapter 12 again and again and again and even now where Abraham is solid
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But Sarah is wavering it's time to go again. It's time to go and speak to Sarah God waits until it is humanly impossible
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For this child of the covenant to be born so that he can show it won't be by human effort
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It won't be by apparent reality. It will be by his strength and his sovereign grace Is anything too hard for the
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Lord is the question, isn't it? Is anything too hard for the Lord? It's a question about God's ability
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Is God unable to do anything in this case?
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the child of promise is going to be born to a barren woman well past menopause and We know that she ultimately is just projecting forward for God's ultimate purpose through her the same promise
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He made to the woman back in Genesis 3 It's being reiterated here to this woman Sarah in Genesis 18
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Until it comes to its fullness in Luke chapter 1. Mary says to the angel. How can this be?
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Since I do not know a man And the angel answered and said to her the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you
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Therefore also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God Verse 37 for with God nothing will be impossible.
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You see this is the fulfillment God comes to the situation where it's humanly impossible that the child of promise be born and he says for God This is not impossible with God.
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All things are possible How could anything be difficult for the Lord who knit together the universe?
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The one who knit together all of the galaxies that we can see and the ones that we cannot see Who also can knit together every molecule?
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Of a child deep in the earth to use the language of psalm 139 Is he not able?
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God and his power and his sovereignty calls things into being Things that are not as though they were that's what we see here
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Remember when Jeremiah is prophesying and he's watching as Babylon is edging ever closer to the destruction of Jerusalem When we read in Jeremiah 32
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Aha, Lord God behold you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power by your outstretched arm
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Nothing is too difficult for you God has been promising all that he's going to do and even though this destruction is going to come he'll deliver a remnant
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He will bring his people out of exile. And what does Jeremiah say? It's just not seen possible And God says behold,
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I am the Lord the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for me? Jeremiah when you're in that miry pit
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When when when you're being persecuted and hunted down when you're just sparing of life itself And you're seeing all of God's people routed of the enemy of enemies of God rising up.
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Don't you dare forget? I'm the God of all flesh. Nothing's too difficult for me And so it's true in salvation, isn't it when
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Jesus talks about the the rich young ruler who goes his way And he says that it's impossible
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It's impossible For a rich man to enter the kingdom of God for someone whose heart is so consumed with their life in this world and everything
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That's attached to it who thinks nothing of eternal things. Nothing of spiritual realities. They're consumed by a fleshly existence
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Their whole life is taken up in this vapor of life and Jesus says it's impossible for someone like that to be saved
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They cannot enter the kingdom How impossible try to try to push a camel through a needle that's more possible than the possibility of someone whose life is
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Self -focused in this life to enter into the kingdom of God and the disciples are astonished. What do you mean? And what does
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Jesus say? With men it is impossible, but not with God For with God all things are possible
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Jesus is saying God is the only one who can save God's the only one who can make children of promise
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Whether that barrenness is as Sarah's or or the Adamic flesh that were born into how our children of promise born
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Not by themselves not by the flesh not by the will of man, but by the Spirit of God God not only can do he does what is humanly impossible for us to do
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You've never met a Christian who is in a miracle of impossibility humanly speaking for God to make a beloved son or daughter out of a rebellious traitor to make someone a
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Princess or a prince of the kingdom a choir with Christ who was dead and trespassing sin
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This is what the Protestant Reformation understood when we said salvation is sola
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Gratia it's by grace alone. All you do is receive that gift of grace by faith, which is itself a gift.
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I was reading of The great missionary would be a great missionary biography to read although it's one of these missionary
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Biographies that should be three times as long because he died so young Henry Martin who was for a time an assistant minister to Charles Simeon it at Trinity Church in Cambridge and had a had a desire to go and serve in the mission to India and There he met
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William Carey and served alongside William Carey and planting the churches his main work was translating the
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Bible into first Hindustani and then Persian he translated the entire New Testament into Hindustani, which was what the
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Muslim majority world spoke They began working on a Persian translation even sailing to Persia when he got tuberculosis and at age 31
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He died and this is one of his diary entries. I Speak a little
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Arabic sometimes to the sailors, but their contempt of the gospel their attachment to superstition
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It makes conversion seem impossible But oh that power which can make these people followers of the man
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You see this is the great missionary insight it is humanly impossible
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It is humanly impossible But all things are possible to God Nothing is too difficult for God And so unless we're absolutely convinced of the sovereignty of God, we will never ever
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Ever be able to make human sense out of his call to faith If you don't have an utter dependence upon the sovereign control of God if you're not absolutely
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Trusting that God is in sovereign control of all things. It makes no sense to trust him completely If he's only responsible for half of the occurrences in the world
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How could you trust him completely for all occurrences if he's only the God of blessing and not the
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God of trial? How can you submit to the trial you can only do it when you trust him in his sovereign care for his people?
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This is the basis for the Lord sowing faith into the hearts of his people We serve a
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God for whom nothing is difficult. Nothing is impossible all bends like jello to his will
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And so that means that we obey even when humanly speaking there's no reason to obey There's no there's no light to obeying.
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There's there's no eyes to obeying. There's no fruit to obeying It doesn't make sense to obey but we obey because God is sovereign
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And he plants that faith in our heart to respond To obey by faith even when it's the hardest thing to do even when where we obey hurts the most
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We begin this life of submission to him by faith We stand in it by faith because we walk by faith not by sight not by what humanly seems possible
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Humanly seems realistic humanly seems tenable. We walk by faith according to God's sovereign power
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Nothing is too difficult for the Lord Do we have the kind of faith that Trusts in this sovereign care this sovereign control
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When we make the most difficult sacrifices in our life, are we willing to make those sacrifices because we trust him?
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Human eyes can't see it, but we see it by faith Now in the time that we have left, there's just something
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I want to bring out in this passage, which to me is It's the beauty of this entire section in verses 1 through 18
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There's this playful interchange between the Lord and Sarah and I use playful guardedly
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But there's just really no other way to understand it. You can't read it sternly You can't read it as some sort of intense rebuke.
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You have to read it as something playful Picture the scene
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God is speaking to Abraham at this time next year. I'll return and Sarah shall have a son This is what Paul in Romans 9 calls the word of promise
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You can picture Abraham. There's there's this Manifestation of the Lord's presence and you can picture
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Sarah by the tent thinking she's being very quiet Maybe she's got like a servant kneading flour or something, you know over there
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And so she can hear kind of keep making noise like I'm over there and she's listening And as soon as God says at this time
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Sarah shall have a son next year. You can hear some some sort of exclamation of cynicism grief shock surprise humor and God Stops why did
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Sarah laugh? The Hebrew is so much more intense than that it puts a pronoun, right?
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It's like Why this did Sarah laugh? It's like like why on earth would
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Sarah laugh? Is anything too difficult like do you not know? I am How is that funny to you?
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Why is that surprising to you? Do you not know who I am? Why did
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Sarah laugh saying shall I surely bear a child since I am old? Is anything too hard for the
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Lord? At the appointed time. I will return to you according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son
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God doubles down On the promise. No. No, you didn't miss here No, this isn't something that may happen.
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Let me let me tell you crystal clear. This is going to happen And then Sarah denies that she left she denied it saying
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I didn't laugh and we read because she was afraid So now she's lying and she's afraid and what does
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God do? You did laugh you liar now I smite no, what does he do? He says no, but you did laugh saying remember that you laughed.
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Remember this next year and then we'll see who's laughing. I Remember when Abraham laughed and he's not really laughing as much anymore.
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And now you're laughing. Remember that remember that you left Sarah is being urged by God to cling to this promise.
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Just like her husband is being urged to cling to this promise Demonstrating submission to it trusting in God as best as they can and so she responds in her heart
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It's it's something that she didn't even want to let out. It says, you know, she laughed to herself Right. She she laughed in her heart literally and that's what
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God is is saying Oh, why did why did Sarah laugh you did laugh don't deny it you did laugh This was not
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Something that she was saying out to the Lord. In fact, she didn't think the Lord would even hear this This was just some internal dynamic and now she's understanding something more about the
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Lord that she hadn't understood before But he doesn't just see by the seeing of the eye. He understands the secret thoughts and intents of the heart now
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Sarah knows that Perhaps you've had a moment like that It's an embarrassing moment right when you're you're not meaning to project a certain emotion or say a certain word and it's too late
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Your mind catches it when it's out of your mouth already and all the heads are turned and then you just kind of want to Disappear and that's what's happening to Sarah.
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That's all she can do in her shock. It's just I didn't I didn't laugh Yeah, you did Sometimes you're in a crowd and you laugh at something and no one else is laughing and that's a hard place to be, isn't it?
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I remember one time It's one of those things let me just say you had to be there But we were at a family's home on a
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Sunday night doing worship This is many years ago at a different church and the the parties involved will be anonymous
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But there was a young man there and we're all singing this hymns. We're all picture this intimate living room we're all gathered kind of in an oval and we're all singing this hymn and it was one of these hymns where there's like There's a little pause before you start
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So like the if you had a piano, there'd be a piano playing and I think we actually had a piano playing There's a note and then you start on the second beat
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Well, there's this young man there with this bass this incredible bass, you know, he just sang all the little notes
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And I think the first the first lyric was like, oh the Lord and so on but on one of the stanzas
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He forgot to give that pause. So there's you know, 20 people packed in this room We're all singing then there's that piano and no one's singing and he goes ball like a foghorn ball
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And everyone else just carries on probably feeling bad for him and Alicia and I start bursting into tears laughing
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So much that we have to close our hymnals and we're covering our faces and we actually cannot even recover we cannot finish the hymn
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We're just laughing looking at each other like tears streaming down our face laughing While this poor innocent man is turning deep shades of red and we're feeling like fools, but we can't stop we're in it
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And it's just like one of those like I I hate that this is happening But I can't stop this and it's hilarious and my stomach is hurting
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God wants Sarah to never forget this reaction He wants Abraham to never forget his reaction name.
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He says you shall call him Isaac. What does Isaac mean in Hebrew Yitzhak? He laughs Saying you're gonna you're gonna name your son laughter.
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I want you to remember That you you heard the promise of a God that seems humanly impossible and you laugh
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Well, let me give you a son that you'll name laughter. You'll never forget. You'll never forget What I do when
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I commit to something you'll never forget that my promise is sure That's that exchange at the end
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I didn't laugh no, but you did and it's playful it's not sharp No, but you did laugh Sarah. You did laugh and I want you to remember it.
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I know that you're doubting I know that you're wavering I know that it seems like there's been this this heavy hand upon you and it seems like well if you were able to do
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It why wouldn't you have done it if you were able to do it? You would have done it back in her when we were
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Sacrificing to to false gods to have a baby you would have done it when you first called us to Canaan and back in chapter 12 which was three decades ago
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You promised children and then you allowed me to go through the last months every month.
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I was testing every month I was waiting every month I was hoping that you'd finally fulfill the promise until my barren my barren womb was completely past menopause and I was effectively dead inside So if you're if you're able why wouldn't you do it then?
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Why would you do it now? Excuse my cynicism, but she can also begin to understand
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The one who's sovereign enough to know my heart my thoughts the things that I don't let out
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Must also be the one who's sovereign over my womb. I've seen what he did When Abraham let me out to the
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Egyptians in the palace and how he closed up all of his harem None of them could produce children until we were let let loose.
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I Remember that he's sovereign in these things, but it's been hard for me to walk into the reality of it I don't trust his promise because now it's impossible
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I was trusting back when I could have something even after a whole life lived in barrenness, but now and so the the
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Lord is playful and personal he confirms the fact that he's infinite is
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Anything too difficult for the Lord? I am infinite and then in the very next sentence.
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He is intimate You did laugh Sarah And I know that you haven't laughed a lot it's been a hard road
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But I'm coming next year and you're gonna have a son and you're gonna name him laughter Infinite and intimate
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Infinite and intimate It's not just the God who's there when he pronounces the blessing and and gives the fruit and gives the promise and jokes around then he
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Disappears in the hard time which is usually how it feels. God feels very present when we're being blessed
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He feels horrifically absent when we're being tried and yet we see that the
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God who is personal and blessing is just as personal in trial and in the secret bitterness of her barrenness in the shame of her doubt and all of herself to spare
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God was as Intimate and as personal then as he is now here at the tent in her hearing
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And so maybe you're like Sarah maybe you had spent your whole life geared in a certain direction praying for something so difficult
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Watching life pass you by clinging on to every last dashing Hope until it became humanly impossible to trust anything that God had promised whether or not he has a purpose in your life whether or not
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You belong to him whether or not the promises are sure and yours Maybe you hit that kind of trial where you're wondering.
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Where is God? Where was God? Where could God possibly be?
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Why could God possibly allow this? I? Can't I always when I think of this? I always think of that woman with the flow of blood
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Do you remember in Mark 5 how? You remember this this phrase we had Mark in sandwiches
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Mark loves to start a story and not finish it until he gives you another story in between and do you remember the sandwich of Mark 5 it began with Jairus's little girl
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Jairus's daughter and she was sick and she was on the brink of death and Jairus is terrified. He's a synagogue ruler
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He has a whole community surrounding him and supporting him How many flowers would have shown up on his doorstep how many
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Hallmark cards expressing sympathy and prayers? How many people would have come by to to fold his laundry and bring him soup?
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He he had the whole synagogue the whole community at his beck and call Grieving and mourning this little beloved girl
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And then what does Mark put right next to that a woman who's entirely alone in her suffering? She has nobody no flowers.
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No cards. No soup. No laundry. What does she have bankruptcy because she spent all her money looking for a cure
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She's entirely utterly alone and she feels like God despises her She's ritually unclean and can't even go to the marketplace without either
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Tempting God to punish her because she's going unclean or exposing her shame and secret her whole life decade after decade looks like this
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And then of course she reaches thinking if I just touch the hem of his garment I'll be healed and Jesus I think in his state of humanity realizes powers gone out of him
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But it's something that the Lord doesn't reveal until he turns around and confronts this woman And all the eyes are on her not a burst of laughter like Sarah, but now a confession of shame
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I'm entirely unclean I've taken the biggest risk possible. I came to a holy man in my impurity and I touched him.
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I Risked making you unclean with with all of my defilement But you just made me whole
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You just cleansed me and this is the most beautiful thing There's only one time that Jesus ever addresses a woman in the
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Gospels as daughter and it's here in Mark 5 He says daughter Your faith has made you well it's like Here's this here's this little girl and Jairus and everyone is all supporting her and it must be look at all of God's grace to her
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And Jesus is merciful to her as well. He's merciful to Jairus. Look at all that support Look at all that blessing.
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She's constantly being reminded the scriptures and taught the scriptures What about this woman?
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Would she have ever felt so beloved so belongs that God was ever being personal and intimate to her
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Not until she and she alone here's Jesus call her daughter, I think
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Jesus said daughter with more affection more sympathy More intimacy than Jairus could have ever said daughter to him
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The Lord knows her heart the Lord knows Sarah's heart the Lord knows our hearts
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When he condescends to fellowship with his people, he's not coming distracted
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He's not coming half removed. He's not coming as as a dignitary with people that are so beneath him
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He's coming as a servant. He's coming as a friend. He's coming as a lover of your soul He's coming as one who wants to to draw refreshment to his people
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Give them a stream in the midst of the wilderness. He comes as as a as a lover of the daughters and sons that are suffering
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He's infinite but he's intimate He's personal and blessing but he's personal in trial and Trial comes to every human life this whole week
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We've seen what kind of trial comes to human life. It's a hard thing to watch a mother hold her dead, baby
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I've had to do it twice in two years And it's hard and what comfort can
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I be? All I can do is say God is
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God is personal in his blessing and personal in his triumph and he's sovereign over all
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He's sovereign over all And you can trust him that he's good
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And don't doubt for a second that you're a daughter Because by faith you're walking with Jesus and you're looking for him even when you're angry with them
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Even when you're wondering where were you and I know you're possible. But if you were if you were able, why didn't you do it? Why didn't you save him?
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And our sister was crying out to Jesus in that room when they were pumping up the diocese heart
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Who were you God? But then we come to the scriptures and we understand
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He's more intimate than we could ever know. He's moved by our infirmity He's gripped with sympathy for us
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There's no tragedy that he doesn't have a sovereign hand over and though in this life We don't understand why he allows such thorns such hardship.
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We we by faith walk with what we cannot see there's a coming day when all will be revealed when all will be made right when the thorns will make perfect sense when we along With all those who have been in the refiners fire been pressed with thorns of affliction will bow down and say you are good
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You are good You are unchangeably good and glorious and I would not have this trial taken away
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I would not have any less of a thorn than you put upon me. Your plan is perfect and you are wise and good
01:01:12
Do you sit down like a friend to this high priest who sympathizes with you and your weakness
01:01:24
Come boldly to the throne of grace Finding help in a time of trouble, you know
01:01:34
Sarah she'll have Isaac as we'll go on to see and Together they'll name him laughter and it's just this perpetual reminder of how not only
01:01:45
God does the impossible but how God is Personal he's infinite and he's intimate and when
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Isaac is born she says now everyone can laugh with me and She doesn't mean laugh cynically laugh doubtingly laugh harshly
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Laugh with with a life lived in barren. Hope but now laugh with joy and don't you know that that?
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Transformation of laughter is the same transformation that all of his people will receive In this life will cry
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Tears of suffering and then he transformed those tears to be tears of joy
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Sarah's laughter was cynical and doubting and it transforms into a laughter of fulfillment and promise
01:02:31
The Lord is gracious and ready to forgive ready to receive ready to commune draw
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Be hospitable to him Feast with him sup with him
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Doesn't matter how ornate or how humble his desires to be with you to minister to you as you minister to him as A friend to a friend has a
01:03:00
Savior to a Savior as a shepherd to a sheep And I close with these words from Paul this prayer
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That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all of the
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Saints what is the width and length and depth and height no matter how many decades no matter how many valleys
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No matter how many thorns what is the breadth and the depth and the height of the love of Christ?
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Which passes all knowledge that you may be filled with the fullness of Christ Let's pray father we thank you that you
01:03:46
At the very place you show us your sovereign power Lord, which no human mind can fully fathom.
01:03:51
You also show us How intimate you are with your concern and sympathy for every detail of your people's lives
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Which just like your power Lord, we we cannot fathom We cannot fathom the
01:04:05
God who speaks worlds into being Also being the God who's concerned about every sorrow and hardship that is along our path
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Lord, we are wholly incapable of holding on to these things.
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We thank you that you've given us your spirit Who groans on our behalf who?
01:04:26
Who enlightens illuminates these truths in our hearts? Who prompts us and leads us and convicts us when we stray?
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We thank you Lord that nothing in our lives is sure from a human perspective But with faith we see that our lives are sure because you are sure
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Your promise is sure your word is sure your purpose is sure and with you.
01:04:50
Nothing is too difficult Lord, I pray again for our brother and sister
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Lord that you would comfort them with the truths of your sovereignty and your Infinite purpose which will never be thwarted.
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No, no matter how deep the valley no matter how heavy the cross Your purpose is good and you will as our brother reminded us in prayer you will bring glory to yourself
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Which is good for us Help us to stand in these things Lord. Give us faith if there's one here in our midst
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Lord, who's who's suffering? Who's who's like that woman in Mark 5
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Lord? It just feels destitute sup with them Meet with them
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Lord eat with them Minister to them Lord.