Well, that was a real treat.
Great having you guys here. These are the words of Hagar in verse 13. Now remember, Hagar
has fled. Sarah was very hard on her, and
made it to where she had to leave. And she's fleeing, in all likelihood,
she's going back to Egypt. That's where she was from, because
when the Lord found her at Shur, that was on the way to Egypt. And she calls the Lord, who appeared
to her, this name. God seest me. Do you know that he sees me and
he sees you like you are the only person for him to look at? He sees you right now much more
clearly than you see yourself. He sees. Nothing escapes His
notice. He sees. Thou, God, seest me. Now, these are the words of Hagar,
and like I said, as we considered last week, she represents the
law. Paul said in Galatians chapter
4 verse 25, Hagar is Mount Sinai. Hagar is the place of the giving
of the law. But Hagar herself was someone
the Lord saved. Hagar herself was someone the
angel of the Lord appeared to. And Hagar herself was someone
that knew the Lord. He sees me. I have seen him who sees me. Look in verse 14. Wherefore,
the well that she was at was called Beer Lahayroy, which means
the well of him that liveth and seeth me. The well of him that
liveth. He is who he is without reference
to what you and I think about him. He's the one who lives. And he's the one who seeth me. Now, if you don't know him, he
sees you. He sees everything about you. knows everything about you. Now
that doesn't mean he knows you in the sense of, remember that
group he said, depart from me, I never knew you. What he meant
when he said that is I never loved you. He didn't say I don't
know you, but in the sense that he knows everything about you.
He sees. He sees what thoughts you have
of yourself. He sees what thoughts you have
of him. He sees. The Lord seeth not as man seeth. Man looketh on the outward appearance,
but the Lord sees, looks on the heart. He sees all because he's omnipotent. He sees you because he's omnipresent. He's there. He sees you because
he's omniscient. The scripture says all things
are naked and opened in the eyes of the one with whom we have
to do. He's looking upon you right now,
and me as well, as if we're the only person he has to look at. That's an awesome thought, isn't
it? Thou God seest me. He sees all at once because he's
omnipotent. He has the power to see all. He sees all because he's omnipresent. He's everywhere at once. He's
an eyewitness of everything because you can't go anywhere where he's
not. He sees all because He's omniscient.
He's all-knowing. He sees all, all together. All-knowing and all-seeing, He
sees completely and He sees perfectly before it even takes place. He
sees all. He sees me entirely. He sees
me completely. He sees me supremely as the only
one he's looking at. Now, Hager was not terrified
by this. She was comforted. This was good. He sees me. I'm relying on him who sees me. Now, when I think of the Lord
seeing me, right now, he sees the end from the beginning,
and it's not like he's getting any surprises. He sees me altogether. He sees what I'm gonna be tomorrow.
He sees what if he gives me five years to live, what I'm gonna
be in five years, and he's not in for any surprises. when he
sees me. It's not like he says, oh, I
didn't know he would do that. I didn't know he would think
that. There are no skeletons in the closet because he sees
all. No surprises. And he sees you and I as we are. I know it was Henry Mahan who
made this statement, and I always liked it. We're all three different
people. We're the people others think
we are, we're the people who we think we are, and we're the
people who God knows we are. He sees all. And here is what is so thrilling
to me, He actually sees his people in Christ. Now, what does that
mean? If he sees me in Christ, that
means according to Colossians chapter one, verse 22, that I
am holy. I am unblameable. I am unreprovable in his sight. And if that's the case of his
sight, how he sees is how it really is. You say, I don't see
you as holy and unblameable and unreprovable. And I understand
that. Stay around me for 10 seconds
and you'll have it figured out. And the same goes with you. But
if God sees me as holy, unblameable, and unreprovable, and that's
what Colossians chapter one, verse 22 says, than I am, everybody
in Christ, when God looks at them, when God looks at you right
now, and remember, he sees things as they are, he sees you as holy,
to be without blame, nothing to reprove you for. Now, the story begins in verse
one. We looked at this last week.
Now, Sarah, Abram's wife, bare him no children, and she had
a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarah said
unto Abraham, behold, now the Lord hath restrained me from
bearing. I pray thee, go in unto my maid. It may be that I may
have children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice
of Sarah. And Sarah, Abram's wife, took
Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, after Abraham had dwelt 10 years
in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband, Abram, to
be his wife. He went in unto Hagar, and she
conceived. There was nothing supernatural
about her birth. She was a young woman, and she
conceived when Abraham went into her. And when she saw that she
had conceived, Now remember, this woman was a slave. And now
all of a sudden, she's bearing the heir. She's somebody now. She had been a slave and nothing
more. And now she's bearing the heir. And what does she do? She does
the same thing that you and I would do. She despised her mistress. She looked down her nose at Sarah. I've got the child, you don't. I'm somebody now, you're not. Well, Sarah said unto Abram,
verse five, my wrong be upon thee. You were wrong in doing
this, you knew it. I don't care if I didn't tell
you to do it, you shouldn't have listened to me. My wrong be upon
thee. As I said last week, that reminds
me of my dear wife. My wrong be upon thee. This is your fault. I've given
my maiden to thy bosom, and when she saw that she conceived, I
was despised in her eyes. The Lord judged between me and
thee. The Lord sees. He knows that
this is wrong. But Abram said unto Sarah, Behold,
thy maid is in thy hand. Do to her as it pleaseth thee.
And when Sarah dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. Verse seven. And the angel of
the Lord. Now this is the first time we
read this statement, the angel. of the Lord. Now without doubt
this is the Lord Jesus Christ. He made many appearances. He
appeared to Abraham in the next chapter as the angel of the Lord. Do you remember when he appeared
to Jacob and wrestled with him in Genesis chapter 32? He appeared
to Moses, the angel of the Lord in the burning bush, the bush
that could not be consumed. I love to think of that. That
bush that could not be consumed, it didn't need the energy of
the wood to keep the flame going. The independence of God. You
know what that means? It means he doesn't need you.
He doesn't need me. He is utterly and completely
independent. We need him. He doesn't need
us. And that fire did not consume the bush. That's speaking of
the perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the wrath
of God could not consume Him. He consumed the wrath because
of the glory and excellency and greatness of His person. I think
of the Lord appearing to Joshua as the man with the drawn sword. And Joshua said, are you for
us or against us? He said, neither. I'm the captain
of the Lord's host. I don't take somebody's side. He appeared to Manoah's wife,
going up back to heaven in the sacrifice. I think of him when
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are thrown bound into the fiery
furnace. Nebuchadnezzar looks and says,
did not we put three men bound in the fiery furnace? Lo, I see
four men loose and walking. And the fourth is likened to
the Son of God. The Lord made many pre-incarnate
appearances before he actually became flesh. And notice what
it says, the angel of the Lord found her. He found her. You know, anybody he looks for,
he finds. He found her. I remember one
time reading this and it really resonated with me. Religion is
man's search for God. Canst thou by searching find
out God? No. The gospel is Christ coming
to seek and to save that which was lost. Lord found her. Lord find me. Find me. I've gone astray like a lost
sheep. Find me. I need him to seek me
out and find me. And he called her. by name, and
the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of the water in
the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur, which means
she was headed back to Egypt, and he said, Hagar, he calleth
his own sheep by name. Hagar, Sarah's maid, Sarah's
slave, he knew her in both ways. Hagar, Sarah's slave. Whence camest thou? And whither
wilt thou go? Now the Lord wasn't asking this
for information. He knew where she came from and
he knew exactly where she was going. But what a question for
us to ask ourselves. Where'd you come from? Where'd you come from? Now I
can answer that in two ways that I'm sure of. First, God is my
creator. That's why I'm responsible to
him. Came from God. He's the one who is over all
things. But I came from fallen Adam.
I was born into this world. That's where I came from. I came
from fallen Adam. Yes, I came from God, but I came
from fallen Adam. Where you going? He knew. She just said, I'm fleeing. I'm
running. Sarah is going to make my life
so miserable, I had to leave. This reminds me of the Lord saying
to Adam, Adam, Where art thou? He knew exactly where he was.
He knew where Hagar came from. He knew where Hagar was going. He was saying this for her benefit.
And she said, I flee, verse eight, from the face of my mistress,
Sarah. Now look what the angel of the
Lord says. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to
thy mistress, your master, and submit yourselves
into her hand. Return to her, literally return
to the starting point, and submit yourselves into her hand. Humble
yourself to her authority. And this lets us know what faith
and repentance is. Submit yourselves into her hand. Turn and submit yourselves into
her hand and humble yourselves under her authority. Now listen
to me real carefully. Listen. Right now, turn to Christ. Turn to Christ. If you can't turn, ask him to
turn you. Didn't David say, turn us again? Oh Lord God of hosts, cause thy
face to shine and we should be saved. Jeremiah said, turn me
and I will be turned. If you can't turn, you can ask
him to turn you. Now, to turn, is to turn away from salvation
by works. You know, I'd like to say, and
there's truth in some measure, turn from your sins. But if I
say turn from your sins and turn to the Savior, I've messed up
turning to the Savior when I say that. I'm putting something between
you and the Savior when I say that. You need to turn from your
sins and turn from the Savior. No, turn to the Savior. Forsake,
turn away from any hope of salvation by anything you do. Don't just
forget that. Turn to the Savior. Submit yourselves into his hands.
What does that look like? Well, the leper did that. He
came to the Lord and the scripture says he worshiped him. Now, that's
gotta come first. The issue of worship is to be
settled. He's to be worshiped whatever
he does with me or you. He's worthy of worship. If he
sends me or you to hell, he's still to be worshiped because
of who he is. A leper came and worshiped him,
saying, Lord, if thou wilt. Now that's submission into his
hands, isn't it? Lord, you're the Lord. If thou wilt, doesn't have anything
to do with me willing anything. If thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. Now that's submitting yourself
into his hands. Lord, I don't have any control.
I'm in your hand if you will. You can make me clean. I think of the Syrophoenician
woman. She comes up, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. He answered her, not a word.
He ignored her. She got no response. She continues
crying, though. You know, if somebody really
wants mercy, they can't be shut up. If you can give up, you never
wanted mercy in the first place. If you want mercy, you're gonna
continue to cry for mercy. Now, when you need mercy, it's
because you're not a victim. Your sin's your fault. It's all
your fault, and the only hope you have is his mercy. Now, as long as you have some
control, as long as you're a victim and it's not all your fault,
you're not really gonna ask for mercy. But if all your sin is
all your fault, you're gonna continue to ask for mercy because
you know there's nothing else. Well, the disciples said, send
her away. She cries after us. She's driving us crazy. And he
said, it's not. I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. I've only come to save the elect.
That's exactly what he means. I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. You know what scripture says?
Then came she and worshiped him saying, Lord, help me. And then he said, it's not right
to take the children's bed and throw it to dogs. You're nothing
more than a dog. Why should I do anything for
you? Truth, Lord. Not objecting. Truth, Lord. But the dog's eat of the crumbs
that fall from the master's table. Lord said, oh woman, great is
thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. You see, that's coming and submitting
yourself to his authority. There's nothing else you can
do. It's not like you have a plan B. It's not like you have any
other options. Now the Lord says, the angel of the Lord said, return
to her, return to your mistress, submit yourself under her hands.
And then he talks about what he will do. And the angel of
the Lord said unto her, I, now that tells you it's the Lord
Jesus Christ, the created angel couldn't do this. This is the
Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I will. You know, anything that begins
with an I will on my part is no good. But when he says I will,
oh, we got another story, don't we? He says, I will multiply
thy seed exceedingly that it shall not be numbered for Multitude
and the angel of the Lord said behold thou art with child and
shall bear a son and shall call his name Ishmael Because the
Lord hath heard thy affliction now the Lord tells her what he
will do and I wish I could express this as it ought to be expressed
Salvation is what he does It ain't what you do You can just forget it It is
what he does. Salvation is of the Lord. He said, I will. You know, way
back before time began, Christ said, I will bear full responsibility
for his salvation. Speaking of all of his elect,
each individual believer, he said, I will be surety for them
chosen him. Salvation is what He does. He
became flesh. He kept the law for me. I'm saved
by His righteousness. There's not a thread of anything
I did in that righteousness. He is the righteousness of every
believer. My sin was paid for by Him. He
redeemed me on the cross. He was raised from my justification. Right now, He's representing
me. Salvation is what He does. When He said, it is finished,
you know what? It was finished. My salvation
was accomplished, and it was wholly what He has done. My works don't even count. I love it that way. Salvation
is what He has done. Ishmael means God has heard.
And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with
child, and thou shalt bear a son. and shall call his name Ishmael,
God shall hear, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction." Now,
the word affliction means trouble. It means poverty. It means misery. Grace is not moved by anything
in you. Grace is wholly found in God.
But mercy is moved by misery. God has heard your affliction. Mercy is moved by misery. The public did not say, God be
merciful to me, the good person. He said, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. Now, God's great heart is moved by
misery. My name, my nature, my deeds,
sinner. He delights in mercy for the
miserable. Now listen to this. You come in your righteousness,
he'll turn a deaf ear. You come in your goodness, you
come with promises of your reform, how it's going to be better from
here on out. You're not gonna pay attention
to that. But you come in your misery, your sinfulness, for
his mercy. The scripture says he delighteth
in mercy. Verse 12, and he will be a wild
man, speaking of Ishmael, His hand will be against every man,
and every man's hand against him, and he shall dwell in the
presence of all his brethren. And here's her response. And
she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, thou God
seest me. Now, I don't believe she knew
him that way before this. She does now. He came after her. He found her. And she now says,
thou God seest me. Now, two things. First, he sees me as I am. You know what that means? He sees me as one who really
is totally depraved. You can't take that far enough.
And God saw the wickedness of man that was great in the earth
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continued. That's what God sees. You might
not see that, but he does. And he sees things as they are.
The Lord looked down from heaven to see if there were any that
did seek him. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together, become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. That's what God sees. And you
know what? There is a, somebody that believes that, there's kind
of a relief in that. What do I mean by that? Well,
he's not, he knows there's nothing in me that can save myself. He's
not looking for anything in me to contribute in salvation. There's
comfort in Him seeing me as I am. He doesn't have any surprises
with regard to me. He knows me altogether, and He's
not looking for anything in me to save me. That's a relief,
isn't it, to know that God sees you for what you really are,
as nothing but a sinner. I can't fool Him the way I can
you. He sees me. And I learned from
this that salvation must be all of grace. Now, if you see God seeing you
that way, you know this, salvation must be all of grace. Now, remember when I spoke of
him seeing me in Christ. He sees me as I am, and I can't
fool Him. I can fool you. I can't fool
Him. He sees me as I am, but He also,
if I'm a believer, He sees me in the Lord Jesus Christ. I've seen Him who has seen me. He sees me in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, I've already quoted this, but let us turn to Colossians
1. I want you to see this for yourself. Colossians 1. This is not just
me saying this. This is God's Word saying this.
Colossians 1. Verse 20. And having made peace through the blood of his cross. Now notice it doesn't say he
made peace available, or he's offering you peace. You know,
that's ridiculous. He made peace. He made peace. I've heard people say, I've heard
preachers say, have you made your peace with God? No, I've
not made my peace with God. Jesus Christ made my peace with
God. That's what he did on Calvary Street. He made my peace. He did it all. Jesus paid it
all, all the dead I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Having made peace through the
blood of His cross by Him, to reconcile all things unto himself. By him I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes
or before time alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable. and unreprovable
in his sight. When God looks at this man talking
to you, and this is true with regard to every believer, he
sees one who is holy, one who is unblameable, and one who is
unreprovable in his sight. That's the power of the blood
of Christ. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. And when God sees the blood,
such as the power of the blood, it makes every believer to be
without sin, without guilt, without fault. Verse 13. And she called the
name of the Lord that spake unto her, thou God seest me. For she
said, have I also here looked after him that seeth me? Well, for the well was called
Beer-lah-hi-roy. Behold, it's between Kadesh and
Bered, the well of him that seeth, him that liveth and seeth me. Now let me close with this thought. The God who sees me, first of
all, is the God who liveth. He is who he is. And what you
and I think of him, naturally, has nothing to do with who he
is. He is who he is. He is other. He's not like me and you. He's
not like anything created. He's the creator. He's holy. He's righteous, He's absolutely
just, He's utterly and completely sovereign. That means you're
in His hands. That means even the things that
you do, He's sovereign over. You do them willfully, no doubt,
when you sin. It's because you wanted to sin.
You can't blame him. But do you know that he's completely sovereign
over the free and uncoerced actions of men and everything that happens
is under the umbrella of all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them who are called according to his
purpose. He is who he is as he's revealed in his word. He's the
God who lives and the God who sees Now, he either sees me in
myself, and that's a place I don't want to go. I don't have any hope. Or he
sees me in Christ. And in Christ, I'm holy, unblameable,
and un-reprovable in his sight. And I'm relying on his sight,
not my sight. but his side. Well, somebody
might be thinking, well, what about our side? What do we see?
Here's the last scripture. Turn to John 9. Verse 39. And Jesus said, for judgment
I am come into this world, that they which see not might see,
and that they which see might be made blind. Now you think about what he's
saying. If you are blind, he came to
give you sight, and if you can see, He came to blind you. That's why He came. Somebody
says, I can't see why God would ever save me. He came to save
you and give you sight. Somebody else said, well, I can
see why He'd save me. Look at all the things I've done. You've
been blinded. Verse 40, and some of the Pharisees
which were with him heard these words and said unto him, are
we blind also? Jesus said unto them, if you
were blind, if you could not see one reason in yourself why
God would save you, you can't come up with one reason, you should have no sin. No sin. You see, you're somebody Christ
died for. But now you say, we see. If you
can see why God would save you because of, hey, I did this.
The Lord said, your sin remaineth. I don't wanna be there, do you? Thou God seest me. Let's pray. Lord, how grateful we are that
you look upon the lovely face of your Son and see nothing but
that which is beautiful, holy, perfect, without sin. And Lord, everyone in your Son
is beautiful, is perfect, is holy. is without sin, how we
thank you for the power of his precious blood that makes everyone
who looks to him only just like that. Lord, deliver us from ourselves. May we be seen, every one of
us in Christ. May we be like Hagar, trusting
your side of us through your son. Oh Lord, We worship you
who see us. Bless this message for Christ's
sake, in His name we pray.