Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to our first reading, Genesis
chapter 18, and reading from our text, just part of verse
14. Genesis chapter 18, and the first
part of verse 14. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? The whole verse reads, is anything
too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed, I will
return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall
have a son. Genesis 18 verse 14, and obviously
the answer to this question, is anything too hard for the
Lord, is no. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. Of course, we do need to qualify
that, we'll look at that a little later. But what is the situation
that is here, the context that is here? We have Abraham, Abraham
who is 99 years of age. When he was 75, he was given
the promise of a son and that the covenant of God in providing
a saviour, the seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent's
head, should be established with him and with his seed. This was also established before
him with Noah, but here it is with Abraham. But from the age
of 75 through now to 99, He has no son. Yes, he has a son with
his maid Hagar. He had Ismael. But God said,
no, it should be, though he had blessed Ismael, the promised
seed and the coming Christ and Messiah should be through a son
from Sarah. Well, Sarah was 89. And we're told here that it was
past the time of her life. She wasn't having her period
anymore. And in a natural way, it was
impossible that she should have a child. Hence the reason why
she laughed, saying, shall I of a shorty bear a child which am
old? And yet here, God was saying
that he would give a child. And yes, this is God. We read
of this account that suddenly three men appeared to Abraham. Well, it says in the beginning,
and the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre. Three
men stood by him. Later on it was that two of them,
two angels, came to Sodom. The three men were the two angels,
but also the Lord. the eternal Son of God, before
the days of His flesh, coming in the appearance of a man, appearing
to Abraham in this way, and eating and drinking with him, but is
very evident from all that is said here. Verse 13, And the
Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh? It is the Lord
that is speaking, it is He that is with Abraham at this time
in bodily form. And so he is giving the promises
of when he should come to this earth, when the eternal Son of
God should be made manifest in the flesh, should become flesh
and dwell among us, Emmanuel, God with us. And so we have the
situation in a natural way. It seems to be impossible, but
it will be brought to pass. In chapter 17, the previous chapter,
in verse 4, we have the promise to Abraham, As for me, behold,
my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many
nations. Then we have it also in verse
19, And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed,
and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my
covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after
him. And verse 21, But my covenant
will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee
at this set time, in the next year. And so that is in that
chapter when the institution of circumcision was instituted. And now in this chapter again,
the Lord is appearing and saying he will bring this about. For the people of God, God begins
with them with the promises and all the promises of God are yea
and amen in Christ Jesus. In Hebrews 11, which speaks of
those that lived and walked by faith, one of the first evidences
of true and saving faith is an embracing of the promises. Believing the promises of God,
they raise up a hope for a sinner. They raise up an expectancy that
though things seem so opposite, so hard, so impossible, Yet in
the promises of God, what God has said that he shall bring
to pass. And so here is Abraham at this
age. Well, by the time he was 100,
he did indeed have a son. Isaac was born, and from Isaac
then came Jacob, and through Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel,
and then eventually through the 2,060 or so years from this time
came the promised Messiah, the promised seed, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that is why we read the passage
in Luke, because it's going the other end of this promise. As the promise is established
with Abraham, in our text, is anything too hard for the Lord? No, it is not. And then we have
the angel appearing to Mary in the portion that we read in Luke
chapter 1, and we read in verse 37, For with God nothing shall be
impossible." The angel had revealed that though Mary was a virgin,
she knew not a man, yet the Holy Ghost should overshadow her.
That holy thing that shall be born of her should be called
the Son of God. And also with her cousin Elizabeth,
She was already six months pregnant with John the Baptist, and she
was old again, past age, past bearing. And yet, miraculously,
she had her child as well. And so both ends of this promise
is rehearsed to us that with God, nothing is impossible. And in the New Testament church,
and as we preach the word this morning, this is a wonderful
foundation for the promises of the gospel. When we look at the
history of Israel, when we look not just at what happened there
with Abraham, that Isaac was born, but that the line goes,
and we've only got to look at, we have Luke chapter three, and
We have there a description of the line of Mary, beginning at
verse 23 in chapter 3, Luke. Jesus himself began to be about
30 years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph,
which was the son of Heli, and he goes right down through Mary's
line, right down through David, right through Abraham, right
down to Adam, which was the Son of God. This is truly the seed
of the woman. The bloodline through to Mary
is traced without a break right through. And we have again in
Matthew chapter one, the line from Abraham through to Christ
in those three sets of 14. generations. And again, it is
through David, David's son Solomon goes through to Joseph, David's
son Nathan goes through to Mary. And when we think of what God
has done, the wonderful ordering of the events in this world,
the miraculous raising up of the nation of Israel from Abraham,
who was one man, and the scriptures emphasise this, I called him
alone, He was just one man, and that as good as dead, an old
man, and yet from him was raised up the nation of Israel, and
how that nation was kept and that line kept through. We think
how they were in Egypt, how they went down into Egypt, and in
Egypt they were formed into a nation from the 12 sons of Jacob, and
how the Egyptians dealt with them, how the Egyptians did not
want to let them go. And it took all of those plagues,
nine plagues, and then the 10th, and their firstborn slain, before
Pharaoh would let them go. You know, we think with this
pandemic, we think, well, it will soon be finished. Maybe
Pharaoh thought that in the first plague, and the second plague,
and the third one, and the fourth, and the fifth, but it went on
and on. Where God has a purpose, it goes
on and on. We pray it won't be so in this
case. But what was the reason for God's
dealings with Pharaoh? To show his might and power in
him, and that he let the children of Israel go. What is the Lord's
purpose with this? Well, we pray that it might be
for real spiritual reviving in England. When we don't see that,
we wonder, will the Lord continue on his hand? But we have that
expectation the Lord will turn many unto him in mercy through
this time. But we see the children of Israel
then go through the wilderness, and the Lord brought them through
40 years in the wilderness. And perhaps the greatest miracle
is that the Lord bore long with Israel itself. They were a rebellious
people. They'd seen the signs and wonders
in Egypt, but they still rebelled. They wanted to go back to Egypt. They made the golden calf. They
turned aside to idols, not just in Egypt, but when the Lord established
them in Canaan, they did. Really, the worst enemies to
Israel was Israel itself. When they made the wonderful
temple in Solomon's day, Over the history of Israel, all the
damage done to the Temple, apart from when it was destroyed by
King Nebuchadnezzar, it was all done by the children of Israel
themselves. They stripped the gold off. They
took the things off and gave to their enemies to cause them
to go away. All the damage that was done
to the Temple was more done by the children of Israel than ever
an enemy of Israel. And so it is. Still today, the
greatest trials and troubles are not from without the Church,
they're within the Church, amongst the people of God. That's where
Satan gets in, and we each have a wicked and evil heart. But
this is the great wonder of the Lord for Israel. In spite of
what they were, He still kept them as a nation. His promise still went with them. And so though it seemed to be
extinguished, like in the time of Hezekiah when he was to put
his house in order and die, there was no line to Christ. The Lord
added to his life another 15 years. Manasseh was born, 50
years or so of his reign, and yet such a wicked king. But the
Lord saved him and turned his heart, used affliction and tribulation
to be as a means that he was brought to repent and to bow
before the Lord. We think of those 70 years in
Babylon and then brought back, so wonderfully brought back to
their own land, established and built up again. And then at last,
the Lord Jesus Christ coming. The promises of God, that which
the Lord determined to do, for Israel. He brought about, over
a period of those 2060 years, nothing short of a miracle that
he should do this, ordering other nations, his own nation, his
own people, again and again, miraculously keeping alive that
line And where we have in the Old Testament record a promise
of Christ's coming and his coming, it should really establish us
that what God promises, he will do. And that nothing is too hard
for the Lord. The Lord can manage, as he managed
all the hearts and lives over those centuries. manage each
heart, manage every nation that was involved with the children
of Israel. Though Haman sought to have the
Jews completely destroyed, the Lord preserved them then. Again and again, the Lord appeared
for his people and his promise stood firm and sure. This is a foundation for this
Gospel day. The promises of God fulfilled
in Christ, fulfilled in the promised seed, and we are then to look
at this Word, given us, hear us a text, is anything too hard
for the Lord? If Christ has come in this way
and in this manner, and this promise fulfilled in this manner,
is anything too hard for the Lord. No, it is not too hard
for the Lord. Now we said before that it needs,
of course, qualification. God cannot deny himself. He cannot lie. He cannot go against
his own plan and purpose. But there is nothing that is
consistent with his holiness that he cannot do. He cannot save without providing
a substitute and that the wrath of God fall upon one in the place
of sinners. Sin must be put away, it must
be paid for. Years ago there was a story account
of a lad carrying a plank, a beam. And someone called to him and
he swung round to see who had spoken. And the plank went through
a window and it was smashed. And he immediately apologised. The man says, I forgive you,
but someone must pay for the window. is one thing to be forgiven,
it's another thing to have the payment made good. And when God
forgives sins, he forgives those whose sins he himself has borne
away at Calvary. Let thy hand be upon the man
at thy right hand, the son of man, whom thou made as strong
for thyself, as the word in Psalm 80. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the one upon whom he outlayed the iniquity of us all and punished
him instead of his people. The substitutionary offering
of Christ. Without that, there can be no
mercy, there can be no saving. But as we have traced here from
Abraham to the coming of Christ, then we see in Christ's life
and his death and his rising again and ascending up into heaven,
the way in which God is now able to save unto the uttermost all
that come unto God by him. Well, I want to look at two main
points this morning with the Lord's help. Firstly, three main
areas where we are to remember that there is nothing too hard
for the Lord. And then secondly, this truth,
how this truth should affect us in our lives. But firstly, three main areas
we are to remember. There is nothing too hard for
the Lord. The first is in saving sinners,
in giving eternal life. It was not too hard for the Lord
to know eternally of those for whom he had loved and was then
to put away their sin at Calvary. He accomplished that. If your
sins and my sins are put away, They were put away when the Lord
Jesus Christ was crucified. But the very saving of a people
is carried out in their lifetime. They are born like everyone,
in sin and shapen in iniquity. We are not born saved, we are
born lost. We are born sinners at enmity
and hatred to God. And it is God's work in our lifetime
to save us from our sins, to turn us from sin to him, to bring
us to know that we are sinners and to bring us to trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. And it is this that is
God's work. This is the work of God that
ye believe in him whom God has sent. And the Lord's promise
is, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of mine hand. Every one of God's people has
a different story to tell of how God saved them, how God brought
them from being an enemy to a friend. We read in the Word of God, we
mentioned about Manasseh, how wicked his life was, how many
innocent people he slew in Jerusalem of his own people, offered children
in sacrifice to idols. But God turned his heart. God
used him being taken by enemies and put in fetters and then brought
him back to his own land The Lord knew how to turn him. The
Apostle Paul, soulless he was, hated the people of God, those
that called on the name of Jesus of Nazareth, because though he
knew the Scriptures, he did not believe that Jesus was the Christ. But God appeared to him on the
Damascus Road, turned his heart, brought him to believe in Jesus. and then brought him to preach
the Lord to not only the Jews but the Gentiles, to be the apostle
to the Gentiles. As much as he was an enemy to
the Church of God, he was a blessing to the Church of God. That is
God's work and no case is too hard for the Lord. And those
of you listening this morning, however hard your heart, whatever
your case may be, however far off, whatever things you have
done, whatever way that you're walking, your heart is not too
hard for the Lord to soften. Your case is not too hard for
the Lord to meet. He is able to save unto the uttermost
all that come unto God by him. The Lord begins that work of
saving by giving life, eternal life. The Lord spoke of it in
John 3 as being born again, born of the Spirit, is like the wind. We do not know where it comes
from or where it goes to. We just hear the sound of it
and we see the effect of it, we feel it. And so is the work
of the Spirit in the heart. It is God's work to bring us
to be first concerned, first to feel that we're sinners. Sometimes
it's a sudden work. Sometimes it's a very gentle
work. It's a different work with those
that have never ever heard the Word of God. They've not been
brought up under the sound of the truth. All of these things
are very, very new to them. They've never known them at all.
God works different in them than he works in those who have been
brought up under the sound of the truth, and they actually
know the Bible stories. They know all of these things,
but they know it just in their head at first, and have never
really been in concern. He's never touched their hearts. They've never been troubled in
their souls. They've perhaps rested in the
fact that they're not as bad as other people, or that their
parents are God's people, or that they believe a certain set
of doctrines or part of a denomination or part of a church, and they
rest in that as if that is saving. But the only thing that is saving
is a God-given saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, a trust
in him alone, not in our own work, but in Christ's work, his
blood that was shed at Calvary, and his perfect life of obedience,
which is to be imputed or given to us, so that when we stand
before God, we stand in Christ's obedience and not in the filthy
garments of our own wretched lives and sinfulness. There's nothing too hard for
the Lord. There's no case too hard for
the Lord. In saving his people, he knows
how to bring his word. He knows how to apply it. And
we are to remember this. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? No. Not in salvation. Not in saving sinners. he is
able to save unto the uttermost. May we remember that ourselves
personally, for our own souls, and may we remember that when
we're praying for our loved ones and for those who do not yet
know the Lord. Is there anything too hard for
the Lord? No, there is not. The second
area to remember that there is nothing too hard for the Lord,
is in the keeping of his people. Our Lord in John 17, his high
priestly prayer, he prays for his people. He says, I pray for
them. I pray not for the world, but
for them whom thou hast given me. I pray not that thou shouldst
take them out of the world, that thou should keep them from the
evil. God's people don't have to just
begin in the way and be saved, but they need to be kept. Kept
from going back. Kept from the evil of their heart. Kept from the many enemies and
adversaries they have in Satan, in the world, in false brethren. in imbibing error. Many of the
letters that Paul writes to the Galatians, to the Ephesians,
is telling them and warning them of the errors that they're likely,
and some of them had fallen into, that would turn aside their hearts,
their lives from the right way. So there is nothing too hard
for the Lord in keeping his people And when we know and feel our
own sinful hearts, the propensity to sin and evil, our love of
evil, and that is with us, the Lord is able to keep us. We may
despair, we wonder what we shall be left to. We may so fear, not
those without, but fear at what we shall do ourselves. But the
Lord is able to keep us. and able to deliver us from our
own sin. And this extends then to providence,
to all that happens in our lives, ordering our footsteps by the
word, bringing those things that prevent us from going into sin,
or if we have fallen into sin, is able to recover us. Those
things that affect us in our lives, our government's decisions,
the things that happen in our nation, in other nations. Sometimes we might hear of all
what's happening in the nations of the earth. We might truly
tremble and wonder what is happening, but the Lord is in control and
nothing is too hard for him. He raises up some, he puts down
others, and all that he does is for the good of his people,
for his church. We think of our churches, How
low they are, the troubles, the trials in them. How can there
be reviving? How can there be a keeping of
them? How can there be blessing? Is
there anything too hard for the Lord? No, there is not. He can
send a revival in a moment. He can open men's hearts. He
can cause that the Word of God that is hidden on a top shelf
and covered with dust is taken down, is read and is blessed. It was like that in the days
of Josiah the king. They found the Word of God in
the temple. They read it. They were convinced
of their sin. They humbled themselves before
God. They were blessed. And the Lord
can do that. And He does do that. Nothing
is too hard for the Lord in the ordering in our lives. Maybe
things that you look to the Lord to do in your life, in your children,
your family, those round about you. We have a God that is able
to do exceeding far above all that we can ask or all that we
can think. So that is in the second, in
keeping of his people in this world. The third is in making
all things new. This world one day shall be burnt
up, all things shall perish. We're reminded every time we
look at the graveyard of the fact that we all must die, we
all must finished with this world and one day this world shall
be rolled up as a scroll. But the Lord has said that there
shall be a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. He has promised this through
the prophecy of Isaiah some 700 years before Christ and in Isaiah
65 and verse 17, we read, for behold, I create
new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered
nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem
a rejoicing and her people a joy. And we have then in the following
chapter in 66, For the new heavens and the new earth, verse 22,
which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so
shall your seed and your name remain. And this, of course,
is then taken up in the New Testament, Peter, in his second epistle,
chapter 3, verse 13, or the verses that are before
it, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, looking
for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the
heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. coming right to the end in Revelation
21 and verse 5. He that sat upon the throne said,
behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write, for
these words are true and faithful. And it is this promise, this
expectation of a new heavens and a new earth There shall be
no more sin, no more sorrow, no more sighing, no more death.
This world shall be replaced. There shall be no need of the
sun, for the Lord God shall be the light of that place. And
there shall be the resurrection at the end of this world when
God shall come again. Christ shall come with power
and great glory, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. and
those that are alive and remain, we shall be caught up with his
people in the air, so shall we be forever with the Lord. The Lord shall bring this about.
Is anything too hard for the Lord? He can raise the dead to
life. He can join and give a new body
to us, our souls united again. The Lord is able to do that.
The soul is eternal. It doesn't perish when we die. It returns to God that gave it,
and he keeps the souls of his people. They have not perished.
And at the last, they shall have a new body, a celestial body,
and a world, an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, reserved
in heaven for us. It is this blessed prospect that
is to be a help for us in all the sorrows of the way. It might seem to us so impossible,
it is impossible, but God is able to bring it about. And like
as he did with Abraham, he revealed it thousands of years before
the coming Christ came, but he did come, and so he has told
us also. of those things that have not
entered into the heart of man, what God hath prepared for them
that love him." So these things, these three things, these three
main areas in saving sinners, in the keeping of his people,
and in the making of all things new, these are those things that
we are to remember, that there is nothing too hard for the Lord. But our last main point then
is how this truth should affect us in our lives. And there's four main things.
The first is this, it should be a remedy against unbelief. With the children of Israel it
was said of them in the wilderness, how that they limited in Psalm
78, we read in verse 20, and the verses before, how they tempted
God in their heart by asking meat for their lusts. They spoke
against God. They said, can God furnish a
table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, that
the waters gushed down, the streams overflowed. Can he give bread
also? Can he provide flesh for his
people? They were tempting God, limiting
him. And so this truth, is anything
too hard for the Lord? No, there is not. It should help
us. as a remedy against unbelief. Many of the Lord's dear people,
not all of the Lord's dear people, are plagued at times with unbelief,
with doubts. We're limiting the Lord as if
the Lord is not able, he hasn't power, he hasn't strength, he
is not able to do these things. May this word, this verse this
morning, this precious truth, be as a remedy against the unbelief
of our hearts. May we never limit the Holy One
of Israel. Nothing is beyond His ability
or power to do. The second is in our prayers,
that it helps us that we do not restrain prayer. encourages us
still to pray. God has ordained that for these
things I will be inquired of by the House of Israel to do
it for them. Prayer is the key, as it were. Ask and it shall be given thee.
Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto thee. It should really strengthen us
in our prayers. But remember, when we pray we
are not dictating to the Lord. We are not coming in the same
way as what Satan did. If thou art the Son of God, command
these stones, make them to be bread. If thou art the Son of
God, do this, do that. We can be like that. As if saying,
I'm only going to believe if I pray and you do immediately
what I ask and you do these things. As if God is just a puppet or
someone that has no plan and no purpose and is just at the
whim of his people. No, we pray through our Lord,
if it be thy will, subject to the Lord's will. And may we be
encouraged in our prayers in that way and not discouraged
by no answers by thinking, well, the reason why we have no answer
is because the Lord is not able to do it. No, the Lord is able,
but maybe the Lord is saying that is not good for you, my
child. or not yet, it will be but not yet. So in the second place then it
is, in our prayers it should affect us in that way, nothing
too hard for the Lord. The third is in resisting Satan's
temptations that God is powerless. Satan will always try to pull
down God's power He, right at the very beginning, he said,
question God's motives and question the Word of God. But when we
realise that nothing is too hard for the Lord, when Satan will
suggest otherwise, we have an answer to him. God is almighty. And we may say to Satan, well,
if you are so powerful and God is so weak, Why were you able
not to stop the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ? You tried
very hard when Herod destroyed all the young children in Bethlehem. You still did not get him. You
tried very hard through his lifetime, through his temptations, and
even at the cross, and you still didn't succeed. He bruised thy
head. That is bruised, his healed,
his true. May we have an answer to Satan.
When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord
shall lift up a standard against him. He will not suffer you to
be tempted above that which you are able, but will with the temptation
make a way of escape that you be able to bear in. There may
be a help in resisting Satan's temptations. And lastly, in patient
waiting. We mentioned with Abraham, 75
years of age really, he waited 25 years for that promised seed.
Many of God's children are tried, tested by the Lord in waiting. But wait for the Lord, wait patiently
for him. Wait in the way of his word and
in prayer and at the post of his doors. Wait by looking unto
him. By trusting in Him, though He
tarry, yet wait for Him. There is a set time to favour
Zion. We are encouraged in this knowledge. The Lord delays, it's not because
He is not able, but may we be encouraged by the very circumstances
of this Word. and by Abraham's example and
all of the generations to Christ, to wait for the Lord, to be given
patience. To whom else can we go? Where
else have we hope but in Christ, but in his appearing and in his
precious promises? May we wait for him, patiently
endure unto the end. And may this Word be a help to
us in that. So may the Lord bless this Word
to us. The Word of our text is anything
too hard for the Lord. No, no it is not. May it remain with us is anything
too hard for the Lord. And we add that into the many
things that may concern us this morning, be weighing us down,
pressing upon us. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? No. May the Lord bless His Word. Amen.