The life of Abraham and Sarah.
So turn to Genesis chapter 12 and as
we go through this series and just looking
at couples and their their marriages, see the
great lessons in them.
It says, Now the Lord said unto Abram,
get out of your country and from your
kindred, from your father's house, to a land
that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation, I
will bless you and make your name great.
You shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, I
will curse those, or curse him who curses
you.
And in you all the families of the
earth shall be blessed.
So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken
unto him and Lot went with him.
Abraham was 75 years old when he departed
from Haran.
Then Abraham took Sarah his wife and Lot
his brother's son and all their possessions that
they had gathered and the people whom they
had acquired in Haran.
And they departed to go to the land
of Canaan.
So they came to the land of Canaan.
Abraham passed through the land to the place
of Shechem, as far as the tenerbeth tree
of Mereth.
And the Canaanites were then in the land.
Then the Lord appeared and Abram said, To
your descendants I will give this land.
And there he built an altar to the
Lord who had appeared to him.
And he moved from there to the mount
east of Bethel and he pitched his tent
with Bethel on the west and Ai on
the east.
And there he built an altar to the
Lord and called on the name of the
Lord.
And so Abram journeyed going on still to
the south.
And verse 10, there was a famine in
the land.
But as you look at Abraham and Sarah
and study them not so much as individuals
that we tend to do, but just to
look at their marriage, they're really quite a
wonderful study.
They're a study in roles in a marriage,
the role of a husband, the role of
a wife.
They're also a role, a great study in
just the area of faith.
And watching this couple in their lives grow
in faith.
No one on the world, on the planet,
had it like they did at the time.
They were quite unique.
They didn't have a church they went to,
they didn't have a fellowship, they didn't have
a body of people that they could go
and fellowship and encourage and be built up
in.
They were starting it all themselves as they
went out and built this altar and they
journeyed in essentially to start a whole new
faith.
A whole new way that the world would
come to know God.
It's quite unique when you look at it
in its text.
They had some struggles along the way and
we'll sure look at them, but they're establishing
the roles and God is doing a lot
within them.
Not only the roles of following him, but
also the roles in the marriage.
In Genesis 3.16, the Lord said to
Eve, you shall desire, pardon me, yet your
desire shall be to your husband and he
shall rule over you.
And they learned this and as Peter tells
us in 1st Peter 3, how on Sarah
called Abraham Lord, they learned in their relationships
and they learned in their roles and they
learned in faith.
It's interesting as part of the the judgment
of sin that happened with Adam and Eve
in the garden, that's carried on through history.
A lot of people don't like it, but
there's two aspects of it.
One is is that the the woman has
to submit to the man and from which
she came and man submits to the earth
from which he came.
It's like the the the say the elements
of which Adam came out of the Lord
sent him back to him.
He says now you're gonna go out you're
gonna work this and till the soil of
the land by the sweat of your brow
whatever its whim is and whatever it's you
know how it goes and if there's famines
and if there's struggles and then you'll learn
to deal with them and you'll learn to
trust me as I work in those things
and then he looked at Eve essentially and
he says now you young lady where you
came from that is for man you'll learn
to deal with him and both Abraham and
Sarah had to deal with famines.
Sarah famines at times in her husband and
and Abraham famines at times in the land
but they both had to learn there wasn't
a higher or or lower role by any
means but they were different and and they
had to learn but here as you watch
this couple they wonderfully learned.
Both of them end up in Scripture to
be wonderfully commended.
The New Testament looks at these two and
calls them and of course puts them in
in Hebrews and in Romans for their great
faith ultimately it remembers them for that they
struggled doesn't mention that in the New Testament
but they did it mentions it clearly in
the Old Testament but at any rate their
early married life to begin with it.
The story begins in the year of Chaldees
and not known to us that way any
longer it was essentially part of the Persian
Gulf as we know it now in a
thriving metropolis that was named after the moon
god Ur of which the whole of the
nation in the world of course at that
time was just all into idol worship making
gods fashion them all to their own but
there somehow another at that time while Abraham
was there at in the city of Ur
this huge metropolis at the time Abraham somehow
another became repulsed by the idolatry that had
been there and come to somehow another doesn't
mention the scriptures but got familiar with the
one true God who had spoken to him
and called him and and called him quite
clearly get out of your country from your
kindred your father's house all and to a
land that I am going to show you
and with such a promise like that Abraham
took Sarah Sarah I at the time and
is aging father Tara and his nephew a
lot and what belongings in that they had
and they ended up venturing off to a
city of Haran moving is obviously always quite
difficult and but it was even more intensified
with Abraham when he went off because he
went off not knowing whether he went as
it tells us in Hebrews 11 8 Abraham
God spoke to him he says I want
you to go and of course he went
and says okay family we're going God speaking
to me and he's going to show us
someplace and says great where well that's we're
just supposed to go and we'll know along
the way and I can imagine Sarah say
no and I think you wives probably understand
that feeling though don't you and it's so
often when you're you know following your husband
you oftentimes have to wonder well I've got
a lot more in common with Sarah than
I ever thought I've never he doesn't Abraham
didn't know where he was going either that's
a little comfort and oftentimes you know we
look at a husband we fall in love
with him we're so excited and and whether
thou goest I will go but we fail
to ask him do you know where you're
going and most of us don't but the
but at any rate out they headed and
it was probably harder on Sarah than Abraham
I would imagine most men at least speaking
for myself you give me a bed in
the refrigerator and I'm pretty content but women
seem to want more you know I mean
you don't for some reason a lot of
other things and they think about all of
the other things that you need to make
life work and I'm sure that she had
to carry a lot of these things but
at the same time she wonderfully went along
and there is they they went it's a
comes to me in a sense of just
what even between the lines I think of
both of these people both Abraham and Sarah
in the senses this is no not young
he was 75 she was 65 when we
pick it up but yet young spirited young
at heart young and desire about them it's
something to where she was no when you
look at her you find she's no weaker
spineless woman by any means the name Sarah
I that she was given by her earthly
parents means princess and she was a very
beautiful woman it's mentioned twice about her on
several occasions that come up and comes up
in her life later on it was changed
from princesses Sarah I to Sarah which means
the mother of a nation or a mother
of nations and she's obviously quite intelligent when
you go through and pretty incapable and I
think when she found herself married to Abraham
though one of the things that she seemed
to do rather well for the most part
was to establish her task in life essentially
is one of just wanting to fulfill her
husband's purpose in a sense there to look
at her life and to say she every
time we really follow her in Scripture that
she's there in many cases with this phenomenal
ability in this phenomenal capacity essentially almost to
give her whole identity away that's the way
the 20th century would look at her at
least the 90s woman oftentimes would tend to
look and and judge her to say woman
you've made a terrible mistake you're spending your
life at this man's side and you might
be making a terrible mistake of all the
sides to pick to grab him and he
doesn't know where he's going oftentimes he doesn't
know what he's doing and then some of
the things he does do as we'll see
are quite disastrous to say the least some
of them just downright no courage whatsoever about
them but it's something to where she found
her niche essentially there I'm called to his
side I'm called to encourage and to support
and to build him and and that's a
unique thing I think always through history but
it seems like these two people did know
their roles though they struggled with them they
seemed to define them and I think that's
a secret of a lot of marriages when
even though you can make a lot of
mistakes in marriages you can let each other
down and fail them one of the things
that as I look at them in the
overall way is that Abraham essentially he's the
leader and Sarah is the influencer and I
think those are two different roles I don't
think and I've mentioned this before because this
is my own opinion on it but my
observation of great marriages is that when the
man knows that he's a leader and he
leads and a wife knows she's an influencer
and she influences I don't think either role
is higher or lower I don't think there's
one that's greater or lesser I don't think
there's one that's important or unimportant but when
they realize that they don't they're not contesting
each other you know for roles in life
they're blending together and niching together he's leading
she's influencing they're working back wonderfully together they're
not a threat to one another they complement
each other when they see them I think
if anything sometimes when you look through scripture
and you see the phenomenal influence that women
had when they saw that role the power
of it the magnificence of it and you
see behind many of the great leaders in
the scripture you'll see a mother or you'll
see a wife whose influence was was stamped
so wonderfully upon their life that the man
became what he became because of the influence
of another and the role I don't know
which is the greatest becoming something or being
the tool that allowed it to become what
it is and it to be the what's
molded or fashioned or to have your hands
and the influence of fashioning and molding when
somebody though just looks and just realizes well
God's determined the day of my birth what
my role is and therefore I'll do it
with all the glory in it and with
all my heart in it that's what I
see to me somewhat with Abraham and Sarah
they seem to understand and so they complimented
each other to me quite wonderfully I think
when you have somebody that doesn't understand that
I look at somebody like a bar or
a have been Jezebel they will study them
sometime and you look at their marriage they
were doomed their roles were all messed up
they they had no sense of them they
were jealous for each other's roles if they
there was havoc in their marriage it could
have never succeed at all because of the
way that the thing he was even established
from the very ground up but well anyway
back here to the story here we have
is Abraham and Sarah though they head off
they've got there for his father Tara with
them who was an idol worshiper himself it
tells us in Joshua I'll just read it
to you 24 and in verse 2 says
in Joshua said to all the people that
says the Lord God of Israel your fathers
including Tara the father of Abraham and the
father of Nahor dwelt on the other side
of the river and in old times and
they served other gods and here we have
Abraham as he's heading out he's taking his
father with him but his father and idol
worshiper not a man of God at all
but he they headed for a while and
they got to the city of Iran and
their dad said I don't want to go
any farther this is far enough for me
and there they sat for years and Abraham
you know torn between going on and honoring
his father perhaps and sometimes family relationships have
a way of getting in and not always
for the best they can slow down some
of the will of God but ultimately I
don't think they'll destroy it if we learn
but at any rate they finally begin on
with their journey after Tara died and there
they begin to head off it with just
the complete freedom of faith God where you
want us to go we're now ready to
go and something that would seemingly be wonderful
now that they're free just to go wherever
it is he has to do whatever it
is that they want him to do just
to serve him however it would be but
they didn't realize that along in every marriage
and in every home there's a lot of
tests there's a lot of problems that will
arise and and Abraham and Sarah had to
deal with these tests they had to deal
with these problems if you run from them
you'll be faithless if you try to avoid
them you'll be a coward but and spineless
and these couples struggled like all couples do
with some of them but ultimately they all
grew through them and as they head out
they get to their first test it tells
us in Genesis 12 and verse 10 says
that there was a famine in the land
and Abraham went down to Egypt to sojourn
there for the famine was severe in the
land and it came to pass when he
was close to entering Egypt that he said
to Sarah his wife indeed I know that
you are a woman of beautiful countenance therefore
it will happen when the Egyptians see you
that they will say this is his wife
and they'll kill me but they'll let you
live please say that you are my sister
that it may be well with me for
your sake that I may live because of
you and so it was when Abraham came
to Egypt and Egypt that the Egyptians saw
the woman and she was very beautiful and
the princes of Pharaoh also saw her and
commended her to Pharaoh and the woman was
taken to Pharaoh's house and he treated Abraham
well for her sake he had sheep and
oxen and male donkeys and male and female
servants male donkeys and camels but the Lord
plagued Pharaoh in his house with great plagues
because of Sarah Abraham's wife and Pharaoh called
Abraham and said what is this you have
done to me why didn't you not tell
me that she was your wife why did
you not say she is my sister why
did you say she's my sister I might
have taken her as my wife now therefore
here's your wife and take her and go
your way so Pharaoh commanded his men concerning
him they sent her away and his wife
and all that he had but here the
first test of their marriage came along and
it was a real difficult test not the
first one they'd had others I'm sure but
here is it now and they're heading off
in their life of faith and following God
soon after as they arrive into the land
that God had pointed out to him there
was a famine there in the land and
you may wonder what God ever said I
know there's a lot of theology today that
God will never send you into a famine
well Abraham would have a few comments about
that I would too he sent me here
I don't know where that came from moving
on here but and he did but it
and it's wonderful because that's where you grow
but here is God sent him there into
this and it was to test him it
was that he could grow but as soon
as he got there he decided we got
to go down to Egypt and it's just
not going to work here and so Abraham
he asked Sarah to willingly surrender herself in
the most tragic of ways to save essentially
his skin he basically looked there and he
analyzes they're about to head into town and
he realizes and she must have been some
woman she's 65 and here is they're coming
into town and Abraham looks over and he
says to her you know you're such a
beautiful woman I know we're gonna get there
and Pharaoh's gonna want you and if they
know that you're my wife will they kill
me because you know to get you but
if you just say you're my sister then
I'll have preferred status and so we'll be
fine if you can imagine this something there
for you to imagine listening you know to
this I mean here's this man as he's
heading off you may wonder this is the
man that's listening to God this is the
one that God is gonna bless the whole
world through him this is the one where
all the nations of the earth are going
to be blessed and you know the amazing
thing is is anytime the God ever chooses
a human that's exactly what he does he
picks a human he picks somebody anytime he
calls anybody into a life of faith into
a life of surrender he doesn't pick a
finished product he doesn't pick somebody that's got
their life together he picks somebody that's rough
and rugged and has all sorts of humanness
about them all the weaknesses and the failures
that we all have so much within us
sometimes we rule ourselves out so God wouldn't
call me I know what you're supposed to
be if you're following him but you might
pick up the scriptures and read a little
you come to quite a surprising understanding that
when God calls somebody he calls what oftentimes
we may call some of the raunchiest people
for some of the things that they're liable
to do but through those things he fashions
and he forms some of his most glorious
work some of the most wonderful of things
and here Abraham he actually turns to his
wife and he's asking her to surrender you
know that fidelity of their own marriage to
save his own skin and and the immorality
essentially of his own heart how pathetic it
would be and there she went along with
it and it's it's always a sad thing
when the thing like this happened it happened
another time 20 years later same thing they
went through the same scenario again another King
preferred her when she was 85 I said
she must have been she must have been
some woman you know on this for a
king's when she came into town for her
her beauty was definitely a plague and but
at any rate or at least it was
for Abraham I don't know if it was
for her but he couldn't handle it very
well but at any rate the thing is
though is that their marriage had this this
was the issue in which they were to
grow I think every marriage so often there'll
be things in your marriage that are unique
to it there'll be trials and tests to
you what your struggle is maybe in your
home or in your relation it may be
entirely different but it'll be but it'll be
the same and it'll be the same in
the sense that that in a marriage I'm
convinced God he lifts the veil over each
other's soul and through time you get to
know one another you know the fabric of
what you're made up of you God you
know all things are open and naked before
the eyes of him with whom we have
to do in the next level of nakedness
is in a marriage in a sense where
God exposes one another you know your own
nature to one another in the ability of
a couple what do you do when when
that exposure of another person's soul when their
weaknesses when their failings when their shortcomings when
their nature is exposed to you maybe others
don't see it others don't know it on
the outside on the surface there may be
a wonderful person but to you it's known
but what do you do with it how
do you handle it it's going to be
the issue that either strengthens the marriage or
destroys it they'll usually never remain the same
after a thing like this after Abraham said
these words to Sarah she was not challenged
he was ignorant he was absolutely out to
lunch at this time wasn't he but the
challenge now was to her it was now
God exposed something of him to her and
how are you going to handle it it'd
be very easy almost at that time to
say you know that's fair was a pretty
good-looking feral you know I mean be
almost pretty sick guys pretty rich you know
and it's interesting by the way he he
half lied when he asked if you know
to be her sister she was his half
-sister in Genesis 20 I'll just turn to
it if you want to but it tells
us in verse where is it verse 11
and in verse 12 he said that he
says but indeed she is truly my sister
she's the daughter of my father but not
the daughter of my mother and she became
my wife when the second time when he
lied the the story really comes out clearly
she was his half-sister that was not
all that uncommon in those days but it's
something there to where a half-truth before
God is really alive and the whole world
even the the the pagan world looked at
it Pharaoh looked at it and the other
king of Imalac when it happened again they
both knew the man was lying to save
his skin he was taking a half-truth
twisting around to his advantage and he was
lying but the thing here is it'd be
easy at this time for Sarah maybe look
say you know I've been hanging around this
guy for 65 years I don't know if
he's ever going to get it together you
know I mean she grew up with him
she grew up all around him and now
as she has it fully exposed to see
what a human he is what do you
know how he can fail her it'd be
awful easy to look over and say let's
see there's a famine with this guy in
more ways than one and the Pharaoh of
Egypt to be his wife when he's taken
such a liking to me you know I
can I don't have to hang around a
much longer if I don't want she could
just look and say you know he's my
half-brother but he's my full husband and
if you want to deal with it that's
up to you or whatever yeah I'm sure
that had to cross her mind unless she
was more spiritual than the rest of human
beings but it's something there to look there
and probably wonder here's if here's Egypt at
her feet she's got it all she doesn't
have to wait later on for blessings to
come into her life and she's there looking
at this man and what will I do
and there she chose she said I'll stay
with him you may wonder she probably who
needs this idiot there she had to weigh
this out to think he would do this
to think you would ask of this but
at the same time I'm convinced I really
am that I think most marriages have a
time like this it may not have anything
to do with the same illustration but when
the same realization that you are married to
a human being with weaknesses frailties things of
which can so let you down and if
you don't know how to handle it you
see from then on the marriage even if
you kind of hold it together it won't
hold together long but if a person can
spiritually rise to the occasion these are the
things that make them or break them they'll
never usually begin be the same but once
they rise to it once they can take
it and Sarah she rose in this terrible
of occasion and she proved that she was
a remarkable woman whether or not she sensed
that God was gonna intervene as he did
or not but there it was something that
she put her life into tremendous jeopardy for
this man who was doing a foolish thing
it ends up where Abraham there when the
Lord plagues him of Pharaoh and then Pharaoh
finds a says what in the world's going
on this terrible plague in his house he's
just doing what an Egyptian Pharaoh would do
he wanted her he was taking her and
innocent enough as far as he was concerned
and there as he's about to to take
her you know God intervenes and then he
goes is why in the world didn't you
tell me she was your sister why'd you
tell me she's just when she's your wife
and he ends up the world rebukes him
and Abraham gets a heavy rebuke from a
king and but so often I think that
when there's a husband that fails and there's
a faithful wife that's there being faithful God
oftentimes saves him and he saves her and
you'll usually give him a lesson in the
process of it and this is vice versa
either way I believe whoever it is is
the failure it's not important but whoever it
is that sees the failure now the balls
in your court you see what God's always
seen let me tell you when you marry
somebody you'll just start seeing what's always been
there it doesn't just start it it's been
there latent maybe unknown to others only known
to the person around them but when there's
but when you decide God make me a
mate that when my when my mate is
exposed to me when they're failings when their
weaknesses when their humanness God make me a
husband or make me a wife that I'm
truly helpmate I'm truly one there to stand
with them when they can't even stand alone
those are the secrets to me of a
great the foundation of a great and of
a wonderful marriage and and even though in
the thing is it may even happen again
as it did with them but even then
to be able to grow through it all
another test that you find in their marriage
as it continues to grow is that there
was a great strain in their marriage simply
because they didn't have any children God had
promised Abraham and Sarah that they would be
the father and the mother of a nation
that all the nations in the world would
be blessed because of them he'd taken him
out and he says look at the stars
of the sky so shall thy seed be
told me to see if you can number
the sands of the sea so shall thy
descendants be God had come in and promised
him all these things but here when the
man comes along he's 90 years old I
haven't got anything there's not a child in
sight and you know and after you know
50 60 70 years of working at this
project having children when you don't you kind
of easily get down on it I suppose
but here at this time it tells us
in Genesis 16 it says now Sarah Abrams
wife had born him no children and she
had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar
so Sarah said to Abraham see now the
Lord has restrained me from bearing children please
go into my maid perhaps I shall obtain
children by her Abraham he did the voice
here the thing that happened is that now
in their marriage Sarah perhaps maybe feeling guilty
maybe feeling inadequate maybe feeling I've let him
down it's my fault of course it wasn't
was it at all but anybody again one
of the things in marriage that is quite
common is that oftentimes we feel that we're
there's things about us that are restricting and
holding back another one we there are subtle
ways that that can happen and get into
us but here Sarah somehow another she's feeling
I don't know what's wrong with me I'm
not the woman I'm not the mate I'm
not the person that the other one needs
this is common it's very common in marriages
and in times where you go through and
just feel your own inadequacies what the person
really needs somehow another you're not but let
me tell you every marriage is fashioned that
way if you were the one that they
needed in the sense of the that you
could be all that they needed they'd never
need God and God is ultimately though as
much as we're helpmates and as much as
we're there to help and encourage and bless
one another the older one who had who
himself is accountable to fulfill all of his
plans and his promises in our life it
isn't each other it's God and and here
though Sarah at one point she feels well
it's her fault somehow another so she devises
a scheme and she says this Egyptian handmaid
I've got Hagar and he says she says
take her I have a child with her
and I'll take her from mine of course
then the the handmaids or the servants they
were a little more than chattel they were
owned at that time and so this is
just take her and have a child with
her and you know it's an interesting thing
here at this point is that so many
sins in our life if you look at
the sins in your own heart in your
own life you begin to find pretty quickly
that so many of our sins they're rooted
in previous sins there the person who who
is quite innocent when the person who is
who is what who is wise to simple
who is part of pardon me why is
it simple who is who is simple to
evil and wise to what is good the
person who just decided I just want to
be simple minded to what is evil I
don't want to know it I want to
stay away from the person that is wise
to the things that are good is a
person who doesn't have a lot of things
and struggles within their own heart in their
own life but the person who's wise to
evil they've got a resource to go back
and pull more more evil back into their
life again and this is what happened here
you see Sarah and Abraham never should have
even set eyes on Hagar the sin there
that happened in the production of this child
was rooted in a previous sin here this
unbelief was rooted in a previous unbelief had
they never gone down to Egypt had they
stayed in the land where they'd called they'd
have never had this woman she was given
to them back when when they went down
every Pharaoh said here you take all the
things he'd given a med servants maidservants oxen
cattle and sheep is here you just take
it all and get it all out of
here and so they came back figuring hey
we did okay well they didn't what seemed
to be okay at a time the devil
snuck in something there that would come back
to get them later and when somebody learns
just I think the phrase is nip it
in the bud I think that's a horticle
I don't know much about horticulture of plants
but one of the thing with a with
a plant when it's growing if you get
the you know before the flower blossoms before
it comes of age and it drops its
seed if you nip it quickly before the
seeds can go down and all become individual
plants it'll come back and produce more if
you can nip something snip it off quick
when it's there just as a thought or
as a temptation deal with it then cut
it off and say God I want it
out of my life but when somebody lets
something blossom in their life let it take
its full thing in the process they may
finally cut it off but in the process
is oftentimes dropped a lot of seeds that
later on come back and this is what
happened here the now there's Hagar who they
never should have seen and they decide well
let's have a child it's interesting Abraham and
Sarah as great as they were in faith
they were they they struggled with patience that's
true with most Christians I think Hebrews 612
says it is with faith and patience we
inherit the promises of God Abraham was great
on faith but they struggled in patience they
knew God would come through they knew he
would work they knew he would answer but
they failed in the area of just letting
it be in his timing and all they
ended up doing was of course setting the
whole process back farther didn't they here it
was something that they went on ahead and
they had a child they had Ishmael you
know who was was born here in chapter
16 but notice and what a trial what
a child they had it tells us in
verse 11 it says in the age of
the Lord said to her behold you're with
child and you shall bear a son you
shall call his name Ishmael because the Lord
has heard your affliction but look at the
description you'll be a wild man his hand
should be against every man and every man's
hand against him and he'll dwell in the
presence of all of his brethren oh isn't
that a picture of the flesh isn't that
the nature of what we produce through our
own impatience what we do in our own
unbelief what we do with our own when
we just step in and we have to
take control or we got to do something
next thing you know you produce a wild
man who dwells right in the midst of
his brethren his hand against his every man
and every man's hand is against him and
what a thing you've got there to deal
with well that would that's what they had
more so than that it cut off fellowship
with God for some time for look at
Genesis 16 verse 16 Abraham was 86 years
old when Agar bore Ishmael to Abraham doesn't
it's just a small comment there but pick
it up the next verse in 17 1
and when Abraham was 99 years old the
Lord appeared in him the end of chapter
16 he's 86 the beginning of the next
chapter is 99 13 years silence 13 years
when Abraham and Sarah decide we're going to
handle this we're going to fulfill God's promises
our own way we think we know how
to do it and we've got a way
to do it there was 13 years at
this man who was a friend of God
this man who knew fellowship and communion with
God who knew his voice who followed him
in a wonderful way but here when he
took his life into his hand he wasn't
exempt from anything and God let him sit
for 13 years until finally and it's always
this way isn't it God broke the silence
Abraham never not a word there of any
communion between the two not anything whatsoever worth
recording of any potential conversation any behavior anything
in the relationship between these two friends the
father of all of the nations in the
world are gonna be blessed for 13 years
of his life he shut things down it's
not uncommon though is it but there God
came before him and he challenged him now
says in when he was 99 years old
the Lord appeared him said I'm the Almighty
God you walk before me and you'll be
blameless grow up Abraham let's get on with
it could going around and struggling with you
know with your own unbelief in your own
you know struggles in your own way of
fulfilling it and of course during those 13
years there was quite a bit of pain
that went on between this home here Abraham
now he's got both Sarah and and Hagar
to deal with and they didn't get along
that she's Hagar's proud and there's jealousy in
the home and there's division going on it
was quite unmanageable and then it end up
where Hagar blamed her part of Sarah blamed
Abraham for the whole thing she came to
him and you know said it's all your
fault is what you know in verse 5
of Genesis 16 says then Sarah said to
Abraham I wrong be upon you you know
I gave my maid your embrace and when
she saw that she had conceived I became
despised in her eyes the Lord judged between
you and me they had more than a
little tension in this relationship in this wonderful
father and mother of all the world God
shows us that you can in the processes
of growth you can have some real things
there she's looking there and she says I'd
like God just to step in and take
care of you or me but I think
it's you that's what she said you know
she says you know that's well that's exactly
what you said you know the wrong my
wrong be upon you that's a good kind
of reverse of the garden there wasn't it
and the garden he says the woman now
gave us me he sure she now turns
and returns the favor and says it's the
man that God gave me my wrong is
your fault I did it but you did
it somehow another that's a we can rationalize
that way can't we when we want but
anyway the thing is is as you watch
these two and and you see the struggles
they had they all you know in your
verse 6 this is Abraham said to sir
deed your main your maid is in your
hand do to her as you please and
then when sorry Del harshly with her she
fled from her presence and here was something
to wear here now when Sarah is looking
for leadership looking for help wanting somebody in
the head office to make a decision she
says now you the Lord be between you
and me and I need your leadership and
I need no it's gonna be says I'll
take care of itself she's in you she's
in your hand you do what you want
to sound like home or somebody else's home
that you know maybe but the so often
I mean they had the real issues that
most homes go through here God as he
puts these things in Scripture I think it's
something here to watch though at the same
time these are two people God loved he
loved their marriage he had a plan for
it that they himself could you imagine for
them in a moment trying to sit come
into their home and sit down and visit
with them on any spiritual terms hi how
you guys doing how's your marriage you know
over by who's your handmaid here looks a
little heavy oh she's a child who's the
father oh how's your fellowship you know I
mean I mean you look at this marriage
I mean put it in real terms this
is what we're talking about but amazingly and
God and his mercy you know to me
when you look at these two it's something
I think by the way that is so
refreshing to me in the New Testament the
record there says that Abraham staggered not yet
the promises of God think about that you
know I would think no he didn't stagger
he just fell flat on his face you
know or something in in one sense you
did but but that's what the New Testament
says God looks at these two people and
he says they staggered not that's his when
you would ask the Holy Spirit years later
and writing down the record of this couple's
life the record of their marriage the record
of their home and saying you know and
now the New Testament the writers are writing
about it and of course it's all written
by the Holy Spirit first Peter tells us
is there that men wrote as they were
inspired to the Spirit and there is a
New Testament writers on one hand having you
know the Old Testament in their hands and
yet is the Holy Spirit is inspiring them
to write he says you write down he
staggered not at the promises and you got
to sit look and say wait a minute
wait a minute here staggered not how can
I write this I would say they staggered
and that would be very nice you know
about them but you know the wonderful thing
this tells me it's a Bible this is
a powerful book and it tells us that
God he takes our sin he removes as
far as the east is from the West
and he says behold I'll remember it no
more years later when you would ask God
did Abraham and Sarah fail never they staggered
not isn't it wonderful it's wonderful because it
gives me hope it's wonderful because it gives
every marriage hero gives every one of us
something to grasp on to that when we
could look and maybe we know so much
in the Bible says no no man after
the flesh but so often we in marriages
you want to destroy your marriage just know
the facts about each other know the truth
about each other but a spiritual you know
couple they look there and they're each other's
greatest defenders they're one there that they're determined
above all else I don't know the facts
I know heaven's facts not the earth's facts
I don't not interested in them and as
the earth gives me a fact I'm going
to take it to prayer and find out
spiritually what heaven's is to do with it
and how it's to be handled there for
the glory of God and the edification of
my mate who I want to build up
and not tear down and if I know
them after the flesh and if I record
the flesh and I remember the flesh how
can we go on how could this couple
ever make it how would you counsel this
couple when you watch them there if you
can if they came in here at about
90 years old Mary arguing fighting Lord be
between you and me you know sort of
a thing my sin is upon you you
know and they're all just handle the kid
himself I don't care what you do they
handmade and all that yours he'd sit there
and realize man how are we gonna help
this couple you know realize what you do
but the thing is is when two people
determine their heart God I want to know
my mate after the Spirit after what heaven
says then is when we find it you
know and there ought to be that a
husband looks and as Paul tells us in
Ephesians 5 that the husband being there the
head of the house and there is the
priest of the house he's love his wife
as Christ of the church and washer and
cleanser with the Word of God his whole
thing is when he finds something in his
mate that isn't becoming you find some weaknesses
there is his first in this first task
before as anything else to say is I
know I'm here to forgive and I know
I'm here to cleanse I know I'm here
to wash and when people have got that
when they've got that in their marriage when
they look there and they realize they have
married their greatest defender next to their defender
in heaven that they are married to their
greatest advocate next to their advocate in heaven
they're married to their greatest intercessor next to
their intercessor in heaven and they're both determined
I want to be like the one in
heaven you're gonna have marriage oh you still
fail oh you still struggle because you're still
human and God still dealing and helping us
to grow but you got the foundation for
a wonderful wonderful thing and they did they
still went on with thing and finally in
Genesis 17 the Lord comes he tells Abraham
you're going to have son he comes and
he tells him but then of course Abraham
struggling there he tells me says well just
take the Ishmael he says what do you
mean I'm going to have a son I
don't need a son I got one just
he asked him take Ishmael just take this
product of our flesh our own creation come
on we got it was 13 years old
we're well into the project here now why
don't you just use him but of course
God couldn't do that he was a product
of expedience he was a product of unbelief
he was a product of their own flesh
she said no don't need him and essentially
what happened is Abraham laughed it says in
verse 17 it says of chapter 17 then
Abraham fell on his face and laughed and
he said in his heart shall a child
be born to a man who is a
hundred years old and shall Sarah who is
90 years old billet you know bear a
child he just laughs you know the wonderful
thing after he rebuked them and they obviously
received the rebuke because it rekindled their faith
their lives wonderfully and gloriously picked up and
then the as you you find out about
this couple it's written for us what God
had to say about them Romans chapter 4
verse 19 it says and be not weak
in faith and pardon me but and not
being weak in faith about Abraham he did
not consider his own body already dead since
he was about a hundred years old in
the deadness of Sarah's womb and he did
not waver at the promises of God through
unbelief but is strengthened in faith giving glory
to God and being fully convinced that what
he had promised he was able also to
perform therefore was accounted in him for righteousness
now was not written for his sake alone
but it was imputed him but for us
it should be imputed to us if we
believe in him who raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead but here is Paul
writes he says you know this story about
Abraham it's not a unique story it's the
story of everyone of God's children he comes
to you and I and there's something that
he is promised everyone of us I'm convinced
of that to you is dead to you
is impossible to you it can't happen Abraham
isn't unique God's no respecter of persons what
do you want to teach him he wants
to teach you he wants to teach me
and you bring us into a world where
it's dead he'll bring us into something where
there's a famine he'll bring us into things
in our own life our own individual experience
or in our home or our family to
where beyond it's beyond our ability but when
we can sit before God and be as
insane as the world would think of Abraham
and sit before him and say God I
believe you God I want to rest in
you and trust in you and see what
you can do for your glory this is
the wonderful thing these two people against hope
the Bible says they hoped against all evidence
of it there they sat before God in
the end they trusted the same is said
of he in Hebrews 11 of Sarah and
on how she trusted when she was beyond
the age of conceiving on how God would
do it for her and their faith was
wonderfully rewarded and it tells us there that
they called his name laughter that's what Isaac
means when they named him you know the
hitters he was born the name that came
to him and what to call him his
laughter it says in chapter 21 verse 6
of Genesis and Sarah said God has made
me laugh so that all who hear me
will laugh with me she looked back there
and she I'm sure in a humble state
there was something she laughed but there this
laugh of sorrow or laugh of unbelief and
now turned into a laugh of rejoicing turned
in a laugh of praise a laugh of
joy is there she looked and she'd hold
this you know child in her arm you
just have to laugh sometimes I look at
things in my life I look at things
around me where God will put you the
thing to where you couldn't happen and he
says it will and then it does and
you just kind of hold on to it
and all you can do is just call
it laughter just kind of look at it
just smiles Lord you've got a wonderful sense
of humor you're so good you long after
it was humanly possible you came through and
you were life wasn't over for him he
still had other things as it goes on
in the home for time there God allowed
that Hagar and Ishmael were there and oh
how they irritated you know as it tells
us in Galatians on how the child of
of unbelief persecuted the child of faith in
there there was this agitation went on in
this pushing around in this tension the home
to finally it tells us in chapter 21
in verse 10 here Sarah comes to Abraham
she she'd had enough of it in verse
10 this is therefore she came to Abraham
she's cast out this bond woman her son
for the son of this bond woman should
not be here with my son named namely
with Isaac this matter was very displeasing to
Abraham's sight because of his son here he's
looking there and and now he's kind of
in a thing where she comes to him
one day and she says throw him out
I want the bond woman out of here
and I want the child now she says
their history they're done well Abraham went to
the Lord verse 12 God said to Abraham
don't let this be a displeasing your sight
because of the lad because of your bond
woman whatever Sarah said to you listen to
her voice here was something you know he
he listened to her once and should have
and he didn't want to listen to her
another time in area and he listened to
her once and shouldn't have when she suggested
the start of this thing but this time
she came and though angry though probably hostile
she was right he went before God and
God said listen do what she says I
think a lot of marriages I can grow
if they listen to each other and find
themselves praying through things one more thing before
we have community together and perhaps the greatest
test of all their life is that one
day it tells us in chapter 22 and
of this marriage if you can imagine this
this couple finally having laughter but in chapter
22 it says now it came to pass
after these things that God tested Abraham and
he said to him Abraham and he said
here I am and he said take now
your son your only son Isaac whom you
love and go to a land of Moriah
and offer him there as a burnt offering
on the one of the side of the
mountains which I shall tell you and here
if you can imagine this day to where
now God came and he says take now
your son your only son well Abraham remember
he had another one didn't he not as
far as God was concerned not in this
case and he looked at him he says
take now your son your only son whom
thou lovest he says I know how you
care for him but I want you to
take him offer him as a sacrifice to
me and here he asked him essentially what
I believe he's doing here of course is
he's asking he says Abraham I've given you
the greatest promises in the world all everything
that God had ever promised Abraham was wrapped
up in Isaac was all there all of
his future all of his dreams all of
his hopes was in this child and here
God comes to him one day when this
believed he was maybe 17 18 years old
and he says I want you to go
and offer him as a sacrifice as he's
right about the age to where the whole
next act of this is going to come
on we're soon after he's about to be
married and produce and make him a grandfather
and begin to catapult this whole plan into
existence but here as he comes to him
and he says I want you to offer
him to me and you know it's something
to us I think that this is not
uncommon again to marriages that were ultimately God
may bless us and give us wonderful things
and do many many a wonderful thing to
us and he though may come and then
the day says I want you to give
them to me and here it's interesting Abraham
his faith by now it had so matured
it had so grown it had become so
rich it becomes so deep it becomes so
strong that Abraham as the New Testament tells
us in Hebrews chapter 11 it says Abraham
accounted that God was able to raise Isaac
from the dead so he said ok I'll
do that you want him I'll give him
to you and here is he went off
as God was able to raise him up
even from the dead from which he also
received him in a figurative sense here was
something to where God now says Abraham I
want you to give me your son well
Abraham believed God so much he was willing
to let something die knowing that the promises
of God are yea and amen ok I'll
let him die but God you'll have to
raise him from the dead and this is
before there's a resurrection known to man the
concept wasn't even known but he says I
want you to give me all I've given
you trust me and may give him back
and may not want him in the interesting
thing here I don't think I at this
point I think it moves into another stage
of life that none of us understand fully
there was another contemporary of Abraham and another
place in the planet at the same time
believed by most historians named Job and here
this other contemporary well God is dealing here
one of the great accusations in heaven is
that Satan comes to God and he accuses
God and there he says God the only
reason he loves you is your blessing only
reason he does anything to you at all
as you put a hedge around him he
just given given and given and given you
protect him and you just pour all this
in you take that away and you'll curse
you to your face God says no but
the interesting thing here what's going on in
heaven over your life and mine and what
the devil is looking at God and saying
God you touch their life they'll curse you
they'll be bitter at you and they'll be
angry at you I'm convinced that the devil
who's the accuser of the brethren he's doing
this constantly with every one of us where
there's some blessing there's some thing that goes
on in our life and there is it
happens what's going on in heaven behind the
scenes where the devil comes he says you
just take this away from him you take
this away from her you let her see
your husband for what he really is she'll
turn against him and you you watch it
you watch him now in this situation you
watch this this is going on constantly in
heaven we don't understand it finally and gloriously
the book of Revelation tells us one day
he'll be thrown into a pit and there'll
never be another discussion between heaven and the
devil but they're going on now and he's
constantly accusing and he's constantly accusing no doubt
us to God saying they only love you
because you bless them take away or put
a trial or ask any other blessing from
them and watch them they'll turn on you
as quick as anything you saw you just
dry up his business you take away this
thing and you watch him he'll be wondering
if you loved him if you care if
you're ever real you watch them in their
marriage you watch their kid you do this
you do that you let some health go
wrong you do something there and you see
well here God came to Abraham he says
to Abraham I want you to take Isaac
give him to me what a thought what
a thought but Abraham verse 3 rose early
in the morning and saddled his donkey took
two of his young men with him and
Isaac his son and he split the wood
for the burnt offering he rose and he
went to a place of which God had
called told him on the third day Abraham
lifted his eyes and he saw the place
afar off you know this is there's only
one story in all of history that all
out shines this one and that is when
the great father in heaven took his son
on a three-day journey and only he
didn't get his back like Abraham did but
Abraham said to the young man he said
stay here with the donkey the lad and
I will go yonder and worship and we
will come back to you and you know
one of the thing that's so beautiful about
Hebrew it's much like Spanish in the sense
that the verbs are all conjugated everything in
it it's all broken down when it just
says a word in here it's not clear
to us but in you like when you're
going in English in Spanish the word is
ear but any conjugates I'm trying to remember
now it's a long time boy boss of
almost fun vice fun but somebody's always going
anytime you conjugate a word I'm going we're
going they are going it's always not just
go it's it's always conjugated in the in
the tense as to who's going or how
many are going and here the Hebrews the
same way and what is said here literally
as he says Abraham tells his men stay
here with the donkey the lad and I
we will go yonder we will worship and
we will come back to you and here
it's something there to raise looking there and
he now though when he took him and
knew he was going up there and as
he bound him and as he brought up
that knife and was about to come down
can imagine faith like this that here he
is you know just about to do it
as he's about to come down upon him
verse 10 Abraham stretched out his hand he
took the knife to slay his son but
the angel Lord called him from heaven and
said Abraham Abraham and he said here I
am and he said do not lay your
hand on the lad or do anything to
him for now I know that you fear
God since you have not withheld your son
your only son from me you know the
interesting thing to me for God to look
at a human being and saying now I
know now I know you know I think
we sing and God loves the songs of
his children we worship him we tell him
wonderful things and we ought to we tell
him how we love him we tell him
how we trust him we tell him all
that he means to us all through our
life but I don't know that how much
he knows until the day comes that he
looks and he says now I want you
to offer that prayer that you sung that
song you've sung that trust that you have
I want you to do it you do
yes I want you to give me all
I've given you will you give it up
for me and me alone could you go
back to it's just you and me or
is it my promises have now become more
important than me am I enough the wonderful
thing is is that Abraham had so grown
it's this it had so matured in his
life a long long way away is some
you know we read this book but we
don't realize that we've just read through 50
years of a life when he started off
and he went down from his first tragic
experience in in in Egypt about 50 years
have gone by and now for this man
to take and say God is yours you
made the promises you'll have to raise him
from the dead I trust you that's there's
there's a couple and of course Sarah no
doubt as she's there staying back it probably
was harder for her than even the goal
for her faith there to wait for Abraham
to come home and would Isaac be with
him and of course now they really had
a son didn't they I don't think you
ever have anything in this life till you've
given it up I don't think you ever
own anything in this life till you don't
have to own it it owns you until
you can look out there and lay it
down and say they're yours fortunately God doesn't
ask these things of us yet but the
day will come he will every one of
his children one day he'll ask for your
mate he'll ask for your children he'll ask
for your business he'll ask for all that
it is that's the schedule you're on if
you're a child of God and when we
can turn and say yours scary thought isn't
it but let me tell you to be
able to say it is the most wonderful
of all to be able to surrender it
to be able to offer it up because
then when it's honestly his is when now
it's really ours and his and heavens and
his work isn't done but that's growth that's
what it is when you look at this
couple they started off he'd look at them
in the early years and said this these
are my grandparents you know these are the
these are the parents of all of the
household of faith and the wonderful thing is
is God says yes yes they are they
ought to give you great hope they ought
to give you great hope you know all
the struggles and all the things that we
may have where God looks at us and
says don't worry look what I did for
your relatives whom I built your whole life
on let me do it with you let
me do it in your marriage trust me
now let's pray father how we thank you
dear Lord for your wonderful word thank you
for the things Lord that you are bound
and determined to teach us the things Lord
that you have and plan and store for
our lives forgive us Lord we settle for
so little we have most of our aspirations
right here on this planet in this life
we would be happy with such a weak
marriage in such weak faith but Lord you
challenge us you say oh no you won't
I can make you so much happier may
have to give you trials to have that
happiness take root to have your love become
strong may have to test it in some
of the most painful of ways but I
believe you can rise I believe something can
emerge as you determine God make me a
lover and an intercessor and an advocate make
me one who covers my mate not exposes
them but Lord did I find that it
could go deep and strong I asked Lord
you'll bless each life here maybe there's some
not married and you spoke to them a
word of what you have for them they're
laughing maybe there's some that we in many
of our areas of our life there's something
out there that you would tell us that
we'd laugh forgive us but Lord when it
comes may we call it Isaac and may
we just smile at heaven Lord you've outdone
yourself but Lord with all of us may
we grow may we be ones that one
day we can look at all that you've
given to us and be able to offer
it up to you say Lord is precious
as they all are and they're all worth
it all the things in the world to
me Lord they're yours I love you more
and Lord I give them to you knowing
that as I do only then will they
really live it all anyway Lord teach us
an abiding faith in love we ask it
in Jesus name