All right, I want you to take
your Bibles and turn back to the book of Genesis chapter 16.
Genesis 16. We looked at this passage of
scripture last Wednesday evening, verses 1 to 6. Genesis 16, 1
to 6. And in that looking at that scripture,
I dealt with this passage out of the book of Galatians and
dealt with it to show that which the Spirit of God revealed this
passage of scripture to set forth. An allegory of the difference
between law and grace, works and grace. And I want to go back
this morning for a few minutes and just look at these six verses
of scripture, Genesis 16, verse 6. And look at them as they set
forth the truth of our need to wait upon the Lord. To wait on the Lord. I quote this passage of Scripture
so often, I need to hear it. 2 Timothy 3.16. All Scripture, all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable, advantageous
for doctrine for what we're taught concerning these scriptures.
For reproof or for the proof of what they're saying. We prove
what we believe by the scriptures. And that ends it. That just ends
it. They're not up for debate. We're
not debating the scriptures, we're proclaiming them. We just
proclaim the truth. All scripture given by inspiration
of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction. What does that mean? Setting
things right. This is right. And for instruction. in righteousness,
for instruction in our walk before God. Proclaiming the truth of
the righteousness of Christ, yes, but for the proclamation
of our knowing, our walk, our attitude toward each other, toward
God, toward ourselves, Now, I pray that the Lord teach us afresh
today from these scriptures. I'm gonna just take a few minutes
and I want us to remember what has led up to this. This man,
Abram, a man that was tried and tested. Whenever the Lord calls
one of his own, Write this down. God's going to prove him. He
will be proven. What does that mean? He's going
to be tried, he's going to be tested, to be shown to be what
God says he is, that he'll believe God. He'll walk with God. God's going to keep him. That's
why he's going to be tried. All the trials, the temptations,
and the chastisements that we go through, who sins those? Now you know this. You know this.
He worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. You
know that. The Lord does. The Lord orders all these things
for His glory and our good. Whenever the Lord called Abram,
He called him out of Ur of the Chaldees. Tried him. Tried him. Tested him. Proved
him. I want you to leave your kindred,
I want you to leave your country, I want you to leave, pack up
and go. He left and went to Havren with
his dad and God sent him down into Canaan and then God sent
a famine. Put him in Canaan and then sent
a famine. What did he do? Scripture says
he believed God, believed the Lord. He went down into Egypt and the
Lord tried him, proved him there and sent him back to Canaan and
back to the place where he built an altar, back to the place where
he worshipped God and wasn't there in no time. and a squabble
comes up between the herdmen to the point to where it was
detrimental to the witness there, the others, the Canaanites were
there in that country and his nephew Lot Affected him, affected
Abrams and Lott's relationship. And Abram was tried, he was tested. What did he do? He told Lott,
he said, you take it all. You take what you want. You take
what you want. Whatever you don't take, I'll
take the rest. He just handed him a blank check. He said, look, I'll sign it here.
There's my signature. You just write in what you want.
That's faith. That's faith. He believed God. He tried. He tested. You know
what happened? Lot set his eyes towards Sodom.
God gave Abram. He said, let me show you something.
He said, I want you to look around. He said, I'm going to give all
this to you. Lot went over there, pitched his tent towards Sodom.
Here comes this war. Probably would have been of no
significance whatsoever, except that Lot was involved. And God
tried him, tested him. Sent Abram and 318 men up against
four kings and their armies. And God gave him the victory.
After the victory came back, God tested him. Told the king of Sodom, moved,
you know God ordered his mouth, he worketh again all things after
the counsel of his own will. Told that king of Sodom, moved
on him, told Abram, he said, you take all the spoils, give
me the people, you take all this money, take all the wealth, take
it all. And Abram by the grace of God
said, I'm not gonna take anything from you. I've lifted my hand
up to God. I'm not going to take nothing
from you because you're going to end up saying I made Abram
wealthy. Here he is. He's tried and tested. They that
will live godly in Christ Jesus, you're going to suffer persecution.
God's going to test you. Don't think that it's not going
to happen. It will happen. And God had told
him, he said, I'm going to give you a seed. He promised him that,
chapter 15. And Abram believed in the Lord,
and God counted it to him for righteousness. God's people,
those regenerated by the grace of God, they believe him. But
they're going to suffer, and they're going to have to wait
on the Lord. They're going to have to wait
on the Lord. Isaiah 40, hold your
place there. Turn to Isaiah 40 verse 31. One
verse. Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah 40. Last verse in Isaiah
40. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew, or that word renew is change, their strength. You're gonna realize it's not
my strength. They that wait on the Lord shall
renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint. But they're going to wait. They're
going to wait. That is the mark of a believer. And he's going to wait upon the
Lord. And he's going to wait in the
midst of these trials. Look at Abram. They're coming.
We're in chapter 16 right now. God's going to give him a seed
that he promised. You know what's going to happen.
He's going to give him Isaac. And what's going to happen? You
know. God's going to try him. He's going to try me. He's going
to try you. But look at 1 Peter. I'll read this to you. I'll read
it if you want to turn to it. 1 Peter chapter 4. Concerning
these trials, verse 12 and 13. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial that is to try you as though some
strange thing happened to you, but rejoice. Now in the midst
of this trial, what does the scripture say? Rejoice. Oh, if
I could remember this. If I could remember this. But
rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that
when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding
joy. Rejoice. When these fiery trials,
and they're fiery. They're tough. They're tough.
But thanks be unto God, He's given us some information here.
Rejoice! Look at Hebrews, Hebrews 12,
11. Hebrews 12, 11. These fiery trials. Now no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. How long has it been since you
went through something this tough? And if you haven't, you're getting
ready to if you know Him. And if you're not right now,
it's coming. I'm telling you. No chastening for the present
seems to be joyous. It's grievous. It's hard. It hurts. Nevertheless, afterward
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which
are exercised thereby. There's some of you here that's
gone through some tough times. I know it. And it wasn't fun.
It's not fun when you're going through it. But by the grace
of God, God delivers His people. He may deliver them temporarily,
or He may deliver them permanently and take them. But I tell you
what it's going to do. It's going to be, again, for
the glory of God, and it's going to be for the good of God's people.
But it's going to happen. It's going to happen. So here
we find Abram, tried and tested, right up to this point. God showed him the stars. He
counted them. And he believed them. Now here
we are. I'm going to give you a seed.
Look at verse 1, Genesis 16. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bare
him no children. And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian,
whose name was Hagar. She had no children. The only consolation that one
would have in a case like this, she had no children. But whatever
the trial would be for a believer, Romans 8.28, all things work together for
good to them that love God. to them who are called according
to His purpose. I've said before, whatever we're
going through, if it falls under the category of all things, then
it works together for good. She had no children. Scripture says that children
are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is
His reward. But if the Lord is pleased to withhold children,
For His people, there's a good reason. There's a perfect reason. There's a wise reason. And His ways are not our ways.
His thoughts are not our thoughts. Why would the Lord withhold children
from Abram and Sarah? Why? Well, in time we're going
to see it. He's going to show His glory
and His power and His majesty in doing that which only He could
do. Her womb was shut up. She was
barren. She couldn't have kids. And now
she's past the age of having kids. Why? Because it pleased the Lord.
Where are you going to go with this? It pleased the Lord. They had a promise. They had
a promise from God. Abram had been promised by God,
I'm going to give you a seat. And the scripture says that she
bared no children, and she had a handmaid, Egyptian, whose name
was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, behold
now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray thee,
go in unto my maid, It may be that I may obtain children by
her." And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. Now this trial was one that was dangerous. A trial that came
through the mouth of one that Abram loved, respected. It was his wife. And it was a
trial that was expressed and it had some truth in it. Here's the truth. Sarai said, the Lord hath restrained
me from bearing. That's true. Oh, but here was the trial. I
pray thee, go unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children
by her. Now, let me say something right
here. Let's remember, there is a way
that seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. We need to be very, very careful
to be wary of trying to justify our ways unto the Lord Himself
by doing something that is contrary to scripture. Sarai was Abram's wife. A union between a man and a woman. And the Lord had given instruction
concerning a marriage in Now turn back to Genesis 2 verse
23. I want you to listen to exactly
what the Lord said. Genesis 2 verse 23-24. I'll start in Genesis 2 verse 22. And the rib which the Lord God
had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man. And Abram said, this is now bone
of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of man. And here's the conclusion. Therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave
unto his wife. and they shall be one flesh
they were both naked man and his wife not wives his wife and
were not ashamed I've had people ask me often
why was it that you find in scriptures where there were multiple wives Let me just answer it by saying
this. That's not what God said in the
garden. That's not what the Lord said. The scripture says back in Genesis
16, I pray thee go in unto my maid, it may be that I may obtain
children by her, and Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. Offering
our greatest temptations, are those temptations from those that we dearly love and
appreciate. And I don't doubt, I don't doubt,
let me say this. Abram believed God. He believed
God. I don't doubt for one second
that he had taught Sarah this is what God said. He believed
God And it's dangerous. It's very dangerous
whenever we began to hedge on what God has to say in trying
to justify what we're doing. Even when we say we're going
to do that which is the will of the Lord. Here is one that heard the voice of God say to
him, I will give you seed. I will give you seed. The same
one that told Adam, for this cause shall a man leave his father
and mother and cleave to his wife. You cleave to her. You
cleave to her. You cleave to her. You'll be
one flesh with her. Peter heard the voice of the
Lord say in Matthew 26.34, Verily
I say unto thee that this night before the cock crow thou shalt
deny me thrice. Peter heard God say that. He
heard the Lord say that. And then he heard the voice of
different ones say, You're one of His. You're one of His. Your speech betrays you. You're
one of His. And Peter did exactly that which
God told him he would do. The scripture says that Sarah
told Abram, the Lord has restrained me from bearing. I pray thee,
go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children
by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice
of Sarah. You've heard me say, I heard
this from Brother Henry, and I know Henry got it from somebody
else. The best of men are at best men. We're frail creatures. We're frail creatures. But she
suggested something that God Almighty spoke in the garden
concerning, and it was contrary to what she was saying, and Abram
hearkened to her. You say, I can't believe he did
that. Don't say that. We do the same thing. We'll do
the same thing. Verses three to six, and Sarai,
Abram's wife, took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram
had dwelt 10 years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her
husband, Abram, to be his wife. Abram came out of He was 75 years
old. Scripture says, well, in Genesis
chapter 16, the last verse of this chapter, chapter 16, Abram
was four score and six years old when Hagar bare Ishmael.
So 11 years after he left Haran, he had Ishmael. He'd gone through
trial after trial after trial, and now here's another great
trial. And the scripture says that she took Hagar, her maid,
the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of
Canaan, gave her to her husband, and he went in unto Hagar, and
she conceived. And when she saw that she had
conceived, her mistress, that is Sarai, was despised in her
eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My
wrong be upon thee. I have given my maid into thy
bosom, And when she saw that she conceived, I was despised
in her eyes. The Lord judged between me and
thee, but Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand.
Do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dwelt hardly with
her, she fled from her face." Now, God had promised. He had promised Abram and his
wife He's been in Canaan now ten years plus, and when Sarai
gave Hagar to Abram, they truly believed that they were doing
that which was honorable in the eyes of the Lord, for her to
have a child. As I said last Wednesday, that
woman Hagar, that was Sarai and Abram's property. And whatever
happened to her was theirs. That was their reasoning, but
waiting on the Lord is usually found to be the greatest of all
trials, the greatest of trials. How often have we seen in Scripture,
wait, wait, wait, wait on the Lord? Waiting on the Lord doesn't mean do nothing. Waiting
on the Lord doesn't mean to do nothing. But rather, as we're
striving, as we're walking after the Lord's will, listening in
the Word of God, walking in His providence, seeking His direction,
walk watchfully. Do not walk contrary to His Word. Waiting on the Lord doesn't mean,
I'm going to go sit down to my Easter, I ain't doing nothing.
We're walking daily, we're in this life, we're waiting on the
Lord, and we know that the steps of a good man are going to be
ordered according to the Lord's will, according to His command,
according to His good pleasure. We wait on the Lord as we walk
in this world, doing what we're doing, praying for His will.
But whenever we start making decisions and they're contrary
to this word, it's not going to go well. When
we think that we know better than God that it's not necessary
to obey that which has been divinely revealed, trouble and trials
follow. Here we're allowed to behold
the immediate consequences of not waiting on God. As soon as Hagar realized that
she was with child, she despised Sarah. She thought herself, because
of pride, I'm better. I'm better than you. I'm the
one blessed of heaven. I'm the one that is going to
be able to give Abram God's promise. And she thought herself to be
surely now more beloved by Abram. And not only was there animosity
between Sarai and Hagar, Abram and Sarah's marriage was now
wrought with trouble. Sarai, unwilling to accept the
blame for giving Hagar to Abram, blamed Abram for it. And it was
her idea. Blamed Abram for the misfortune
between herself and now Hagar. Same thing happened in the garden. Adam, did you eat the woman? that you gave me. He blamed her and blamed God.
Not my fault. I'm just a victim of circumstance. Does the Lord rule though and
overrule for His glory and the good of His sheep? Yes. Yes. Aren't you thankful? Are there consequences for not
waiting? Yes. What happened? In David's
case, David saw Bathsheba. He took her. She was found to be pregnant. David had her husband killed.
Was that right? No. Did he suffer? Yes. Did the sword ever leave his
house? No. But Almighty God overruled through
David and Bathsheba. Who was born? Solomon. Solomon. Solomon. Did God overrule for His glory
and the good of His people? Yes. Was it right what they did? No. Almighty God has set forth to
Abram, I'm going to give you a seed. And when we come to that
point to where we're going to help the Lord, it won't go well
for us. Wait on the Lord. Now here's
his animosity and I'm going to close right here. There was animosity
between Hagar and Sarah and now Abram and Sarah and now Sarah's
telling him it's because of you that there's strife and now it's
going to be animosity within his family and Abram wanting
to reconcile the problem, laid it back on Sarah to deal with
Hagar as she saw fit. And he's the one, he's the householder,
he's the head of the house. And it just, oh, may the Lord
teach us through this the necessity of
walking by faith. Somebody would say, well, what
he should have done. Well, yeah, OK. What should we
have done? How should we have done? Wait,
wait. If anybody hears this, let Marvin
hear it. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Wait patiently. The walk, the path of faith,
is narrow, it's narrow. We believe God and we walk not
by sight, we walk by faith. We walk according to His Word
and remember, walking by faith, waiting on the Lord doesn't mean
that we do nothing. We're walking We're doing all
that we know to do, but whenever it crosses our path to do something,
and it's contrary to these scriptures, may God keep us, protect us,
for our good and His glory. And the Lord will guide us. He
will guide us. Amen.