I want you to turn with me this
morning to the book of Genesis chapter 21. Isn't it amazing? I call Genesis the
gospel according to Moses. The Old Testament is full of
the gospel. And most all of you are familiar
with the story of Abraham. God had promised for 25 years,
God had promised him a child, a son, and 25 years. And after some 11 years, at the
age of 86, Sarah and Abraham, his wife, decided that they were
going to help God out in the fulfillment of His promise
to them. But God doesn't need any help.
Never has. Religious men and women today
are still trying to help God fulfill his promise of redemption
to some. So, Sarah recommends that Abraham
lie with her handmaid, a bond slave by the name of Hagar, so
that the promise of a son might be fulfilled. But as I said,
God is well able to fulfill his own promise without our help. I wish men and women could learn
that, don't you? So, Hagar, the bondwoman, gives
birth to Ishmael. But Ishmael is not the son of
promise. Don talked about that briefly
last night in his message. And you see the son of promise
cannot come by the work and the devising of man. So God calls
Abraham and Sarah to wait another 13 years until Abraham is nearly
100 years old. Sarah is 90. And Paul tells us
in Romans chapter 4 that it's then that Abraham, at nearly
a hundred years old, he learned something that you and I must
learn. He learned, and he came to grips with the fact, that
his body was now dead. And so was the womb of Sarah.
And this is the place that God's going to bring all His people.
He's going to bring every chosen sinner, He's going to bring them
to know that they're dead, they're unable, They're incapable of
doing anything that might cause God Almighty to be gracious to
them. Yet men keep trying, don't they? Now here in Genesis chapter 21
verse 1, we read, And the Lord visited Sarah, notice those next
words, as he had said. And the Lord did unto Sarah as
he had spoken. Truly, God is faithful that promised. My mother used to tell me, my
mother was the disciplinary person in our family, she would wear
you out. And she said, David Lee, I mean
what I say, I say what I mean, and I mean what I say. God says
what he means, and he means what he says. And we can trust him
because he's faithful that promised. Verse 2, For Sarah conceived
and bare Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which
God had spoken to him. Now Abraham would tell you that
he had waited 25 long years for this son. But God's word said that the
son of promise came at the set time which God had spoken and
predestinated. expecting mothers go to the doctor
in their early stages of pregnancy, and the doctor gives them a due
date. He says, your child is going
to be born around this time. And most mothers, if the child
comes after that due date, they say the child was late. And if
the child comes before that due date, they say, oh, the child
was early. But no. And the purpose and providence
of God, that child came right on time. God always does things
right on time, doesn't He? According to His will and His
purpose. So this child is born at the
set time of which God had spoken. In verse 3, And Abraham called
the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bared
to him, Isaac. Now look down at verse 8. And
the child grew, and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast
the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar,
the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking." Now,
Ishmael here was mocking. If you look at that word in the
original, it means making fun of, making sport of, laughing
at, ridiculing. You get the point. And in verse
9, And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne
unto Abraham mocking, wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out
this bondwoman and her son. For the son of this bondwoman
shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. Now I want you
to try to imagine what this request from Sarah did to Abraham. Ishmael was his son. He loved that boy. He loved him
dearly. For 13 years or more, maybe 14
by now, he'd been at his father's side. And now, he's got to cast
him out. And look at verse 11, and the
thing was grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. And
God said unto Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy sight,
because of the lad and because of the bondwoman, and all that
Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice, for in Isaac
shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman
will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. And Abraham rose up early in
the morning, and he took bread, and a bottle of water. And he
gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder and the child,
and sent her away. And she departed and wandered
in the wilderness of Beersheba." Now I want us to also try to
understand how devastating this was to Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham
was a wealthy man. God had blessed him so. And Hagar
and Ishmael, they lived a good life. They never wanted for anything. And one day, what seemed to be
out of the clear blue sky, they're thrown out of the only family
that they've ever known. Now listen, Ishmael was cast
out of the family of his father by his father. sin in the form of mockery, ridicule,
and scoffing at the air. And the son of the free woman
is what brought about this casting out. Does that story sound familiar
to you at all? Is that not what happened to
Adam and all his descendants? Adam mocked, ridiculed, scoffed
at the command of God. and was cast out of the garden
and cast out of fellowship with God and all his descendants afterwards
in the same condition. Friends, we've been alienated
from God by our sin. Genesis 323, therefore the Lord
God sent him, Adam, forth from the garden of Eden to till the
ground from which he was taken. So he, God, drove out the man. He drove him out. And he placed
at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming
sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of
life. And Adam wasn't only cast out,
but he was kept out. By a flaming sword which turned
in every direction to keep the way of the tree of life, Scripture
says. And this shows us that life and
salvation are not to be had unless the law of God and the justice
of God is satisfied. That's our dilemma. We cannot,
in and of ourselves, keep God's law. And God requires justice. Holy justice, His justice has
to be satisfied. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. The wages of sin is dead. That's
what awaits all who are found in their sin. It's a great dilemma. No sinner can make their way
back to God in and of themselves. You've got to see to it. And
because of Adam's transgression, we've all been cast out. And
we're now alienated from God. And that's not all. Those that
have been cast out by God are found to be in a desperate and
a hopeless and critical condition. And not everyone is made to see
his or her fallen in desperate condition. If God's shown you
something of what you are, you're such a blessed sinner. You'll
never see your need of Christ until you see your need, your
condition. Not everyone is able to see his
or her spiritual plight. Now, Hagar and Ishmael were dying
of hunger and thirst. Look at verse 15. And the water
was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one
of the shrubs. The bottle of water which Abraham
had given them had been spent, had all been drunk. And the last
crumb of bread now gone. Ishmael's weak and he's faint
and the majority of his weight, I can just picture this, he's
probably 17 or 18 years old at this time, so he's not like she
was carrying him, but I can just see his arm around his mother
and she's supporting the majority of his weight. And when she couldn't
hold him any longer, she lets him fall and he goes under a
shrub in a desperate attempt to protect him, I'm sure, from
the sun and the elements, whatever. And I pictured that in my mind. I couldn't help but to think
to myself, how feeble are our efforts to sustain life in and
of ourselves. We endeavor to cover ourselves
and others by a work of righteousness that we do, and it proves to
have no lasting effect. Our righteousness truly filthy
rags, and men's attempts at saving themselves are truly futile. Nothing but fig leaf righteousness
and shrub religion. Shrub religion. And lest God
intervene, and involve himself in the matter of our salvation.
We call it divine intervention because that's what it is. The
divine one, intervening in our lives, making us to differ from
others. If it wasn't for that, friends,
we'd perish trusting our pathetic efforts of saving others and
ourselves. You know it so, and so do I.
We all have those that we love who are doing just that. So here
we find Hagar devastated. And any parent would be at the
thought of losing their child. Ishmael is now all that Hagar
has. He's everything to her. And look
at verse 16. And she went and she sat down
over against him a good way off, as it were a bow shot, for she
said, let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over
against him and lifted up her voice and wept. Now, there can
be no doubt that Hagar thought Ishmael was going to die. Or
she would have never prayed, let me not see the death of the
child. Now let me give you my first point to consider and don't
be concerned after that lengthy introduction because I only have
three points and they'll be three. But my first point that I want
us to consider in light of these verses is that God always, always
hears the broken and the weeping heart of a desperate sinner.
Always. I can't find anywhere in scripture
where somebody came to the Lord Jesus truly desiring help. Came in desperate need that he
didn't do for them what they need. I recently read an article
about crying. I don't know how I ran up on
it, but it stated that research has proven that the most common
reason for crying is first sadness, followed in succession by happiness,
and then anger, sympathy, anxiety, and fear. But it seems that nobody
much is crying over his or her sin. No one seems to be talking about
crying over their spiritual condition before God. Truly, if a sinner
perishes, as Brother Don said last night, it's no one's fault
but their own. You know why? Because God is
plenteous in mercy. For thou, Lord, are good and
ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all them They call
upon me. Psalm 86 5. And as I live, saith
the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but
that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye
from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? Look at verse 17, the first part. And God heard the voice of the
lad. Now I'm not sure if Ishmael was
praying or not, we're not told. But I do know one thing, I'm
certain that he was moaning and he was sighing and he was crying
in misery and distress while he's dying, he's famished, he's
starving, he's thirsty. I'm certain of that because if
he hadn't been I don't believe the Lord would have heard him.
Out of the depths Out of the depths have I cried unto thee,
O Lord, Lord, hear my voice." Oh, will you cry? Will you cry
unto the Lord, to those of you who see you need? David said
in another place, I'll praise thee, for thou hast heard me,
and art become my salvation. God always hears the cries, the
moans, and the sighing of sincere sinners. Aren't you glad? Verse 17 again, And God heard
the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar
out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar?
Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he
is. Now, just a couple brief comments
here. This angel that calls out to
Hagar from heaven is not a created angel. This is the Eternal One,
the Angel of the Covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ. And his question
is, what elethy, Hagar? Did you notice that he calls
her by name? I think of that passage in 2 Timothy that says,
nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this
seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His. So the first question
most every parent asks, made me think of this. I was in Walmart
the other day and there was a little four or five year old boy following
his mother or grandmother, one, and she was pushing a cart and
she stopped real quick and he kept right on going and ran right
into the cart and hit his head. He let out a cry and he's holding
his head. The first question every concerned
parent asks when she hears her child crying is, what's wrong?
What's wrong? Why are you crying? Then when
you see that the child is okay, the parent usually then says,
it's all right, you're fine, you're fine, we've all done it,
haven't we? You're all right, everything's
gonna be fine. And that's what the Lord's doing
here. What a comforting comment we find here from the comforter
himself. What illeth thee, hey God? Fear
not. Hagar, don't distrust the power
and the providence of God. Oh my! I love to hear those words
in my spirit and in my heart. They fear not. I'm still on the
throne. I'm in control. I'm working all
things together for good, for you. You're my child. I love you. Oh my, hey God don't
concern yourself. God has heard the voice of the
lad where he is. And here's some more good news.
And my second point. God is everywhere. You know that. God is everywhere. He's able
to hear the cries of his people wherever they are. I'm so glad
that the Holy Spirit added those last three words in that verse,
where he is. Aren't you glad that it says
that? He hears them where they are, regardless of how desolate
a place, regardless of how desolate their condition is. God always,
always hears the cries of the destitute where they are. And
again, the psalmist said, He'll regard the prayer of the destitute
and not despise their prayer. Psalm 102, 17. God always provides for his people
wherever they are. Lazarus was in a tomb. The young man from Maine was
in a casket on his way to the grave. Bartimaeus was sitting
by the highway side begging. That impotent man was laying
beside the pool of Bethesda with hundreds, maybe thousands of
other sick and needy folks. Scripture said it was a certain
man. The demoniac of Gadara was among
the tombs. Zacchaeus was up in a tree. Christ came to where they were. He always comes to where we are.
He comes to where those who need Him are. You know why? Well,
one reason, very apparent from Scripture, is that because they
cannot come to Him. Can't come to Him. You cannot
come that you might have. And the second reason is they
will not come. You cannot, you don't have the
ability, and even if you did, you wouldn't come. That's just
how dead we are, friends. We're dead in trespasses and
sin. A dead man can't do anything. Oh, what grace! This is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. And Paul said, of whom I am chief.
Oh, I'm glad he added that too, aren't you? That's one thing
that Bob Morrell and I will disagree on, is who's the chief of sinners. Of whom I am chief. Oh, what
grace. Christ came to where we are. Where we were. How think ye if
a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray? Doth
he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains,
and seeketh that which is gone astray? Now look at verse 18. Arise, the Lord Jesus speaking,
arise, lift up the lad and hold him in thy hand, for I will make
him a great nation. Now you know as I was looking
at this, I was reminded that this was not the first time Hagar
had heard this from the Lord concerning her son. This was
a renewal of a promise that he had made to her before he was
even born. He had talked about her being
blessed and having a great nation coming from her, the same as
God had promised about Isaac. How quickly we forget God's promises. When His present providence seems
to contradict what He's promised. Boy, I tell you, I'm just so
weak in faith. Man, I'm telling you. Lord, I
don't believe, but help thou my unbelief. Often times when
God sends us providential trials, that's what they are, He sends
them, troubles, which seem to be contrary promises. He does this to see if we'll
remain steady in our faith and trust Him regardless of what
circumstances suggest. You think about this. How could
Abraham believe that he'd be the father of many nations and
father of the faithful? God had said your sea to be as
the dust of the ground and as the stars in the sky. But how
could Abraham believed that that would be so, well you remained
childless. Only by faith. Only by believing
God. Abraham believed God and it was
imputed unto him for righteousness. And that's the only way you and
I will ever obtain the righteousness of God. By trusting in He who
was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Oh, I'm so glad that Christ died
for the ungodly, aren't you, and gave them His perfect righteousness.
Fear not. Oh, when you begin to doubt,
worry, and fret, remember those words that the Lord Jesus spoke
to Hagar. Fear not. Everything's going
to be fine. Why? Because your Heavenly Father
loves you, and He's going to see to it. what confidence I
can have in him. May God enable me and Todd today
to comfort you with these words and these thoughts. Hagar Nishmore
vanished with lack of food and water, yet very close to her
is the very thing that she needs most, a well of water. We just sung about that. That
brings me to my third point. The very thing that every sinner
needs, the very most, is very near us. But we can't see it. Can't see
it. Hagar and Ishmael are thirsty,
yet very close to them is a well of water. The problem is Hagar
can't see it. Not until her eyes are open.
Did Hagar do anything that would cause God to open her eyes? No. Did Hagar do anything at all
to deserve a drink of water from this well? Well, absolutely not.
Verse 19 says, And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.
What a picture! What a picture we have here of
every begging sinner. There is a way that leads to
life, but the sinner can't see it. Christ is that way, but we
can't see Him. Jesus Christ is the truth that
directs and leads chosen sinners to life everlasting, but we can't
hear that truth or see it unless God makes it so. There's a life
in a to the Savior, but the blind sinner can't see Him unless God
Almighty opened their eyes. And God opened her eyes and she
saw the well of water. What a beautiful picture of God
opening the eyes of His chosen. Turn with me, stick your marker
here in Genesis 21, we'll come back to it briefly, but I want
you to look at Luke chapter 24 with me. Luke chapter 24. Now there are two fellows, disciples
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're walking down the road
to Emmaus. You know that story very well.
After the crucifixion, death, and burial of their master. And
in verse 14, we're told that they talked together of the things
which had happened. And then verse 15 says, and it
came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned,
Jesus himself drew near and went with them. Verse 16, but their
eyes were holden. And that word means seized, shut. Their eyes were shut. They couldn't
see. Their eyes were holden that they
should not know Him. Oh, they could see a man, but
they didn't see Him. I'm telling you, they couldn't
see that this was their savior. They couldn't see that this was
their master. No doubt that it was some mysterious and divine
power that held their eyes shut, but I'm telling you, I've thought
about this so much, I am convinced that the main reason that their
eyes were holding, seized, shut, was because of unbelief. If they had been expecting to
see Christ, I believe they would have recognized Him. If they
had gone to Emmaus fully persuaded that He was alive as He had promised
He would be. I'll rise again in three days.
This is the third day. If they had gone to Emmaus fully
persuaded that He was alive as He had promised, if they had
believed His promise that in three days He would rise again
as soon as they saw Him approach, they might have least thought
to themselves, perhaps this is the Master. He said He would
arise again today. Perhaps this is Him coming unto
us, approaching us. You know, that's the way true
faith thinks, right? Absolutely. When trials, troubles,
and sorrows come, our attitude should be, here's an opportunity
for me to believe my Lord's Word. Here's an occasion for me to
cast all my care on Him, because He careth for me. There's nothing,
I'm telling you friends, there's nothing that blinds the eyes
of men and women more than unbelief. It's the one sin that's really
unpardonable, unbelief. Nothing that blinds the eyes
of men and women more than unbelief. Now the Lord had promised Hagar
good things concerning Ishmael since before he was born. I alluded
to that a moment ago. And you consider this, she is
where she is in the state that she's in, crying and weeping
and begging for the life of her son because she didn't believe
the things that God had already told her. Our unbelief has often hid the
Lord from our eyes. And it's the same with these
two disciples on the road to Emmaus. If they had believed
all that the Lord had told them, concerning himself, they'd have
been rejoicing and looking for him instead of being downcast
and sad. You remember what the Lord told
Philip. He said, Philip, have I been so long with you, and
yet hast thou not known me? Has the Lord not time and time
again proven to be faithful? Has he not time and time again
proved himself to be God? Sovereign and certain. Look at
verse 17 here in Luke. And He said unto them, What manner
of communications, this is Christ speaking, what manner of communications
are these that you have one to another as you walk and are sad?
And the one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering said
unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known
the things which are come to pass there in these days? And
he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed, and
word before God, and all the people, and how the chief priests
and the rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and
have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been
he which should have redeemed Israel, And beside all this,
today is the third day since these things were done. And what
they're saying here is we're just so disappointed that what
he told us wasn't so. Verse 22, Yea, and certain women
also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher.
And when they found not his body, they came saying that they had
also seen a vision of angels, which said he was alive. And
certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher, and
found it even so as the women had said, but they saw him not.
Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses,
and all the prophets, he expounded unto them, and all the scriptures,
the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village,
whither they went, and he made as though he would have gone
further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for
it is toward evening, and the day is spent. And he went in
to tarry with them, and it came to pass, as he said it, meet
with them. He took bread, and he blessed it, and break, and
gave it to them. verse 31, and their eyes were
opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished
out of their sight. Now we just read how the Lord
opened up the Old Testament Scriptures and He expounded, that word simply
means preached. He preached, that's what we do
when we preach, we expound God's Word. He expounded unto them
the Scriptures and He showed them in the Scriptures, all the
things that concern Himself. It's become a little cliche,
I remember the first time I heard it. This is a hymn book, but
it's spelled H-I-M. It's all about Him. And I don't
doubt that the Lord showed them, as He's expounding in the Scriptures,
I don't have any doubt that He showed them our text. Right here
in the writings of Moses, in Genesis chapter 21, I don't have
any doubt that he said, that well of water that Hagar found
in the wilderness, that's me. That's me. But friends, we'll
never see him if he does not open our eyes that we may see.
Now turn back with me to Genesis 21 and I'll finish. Verse 19, God opened her eyes and she saw
a well of water and she went and filled the bottle with water
and gave the lad drink. I have to mention this before
I finish. God opened Hagar's eyes and she
saw a well of water. When God opened her eyes She
saw what she needed most. I think about old Bartimaeus
that day. The Lord said, what would you
like for me to do? He said, Lord, that I might see.
And the Lord gave him sight. What was the first thing he saw?
The one that had given him sight. When God opens the saved sinner's
eyes, they'll see the one whom they need the most. First saying,
his blind eye saw was the very one who opened his eyes, speaking
of Bartimaeus, also that young man in John chapter 9 who was
blind from his birth. Now we who believe the doctrines
of grace, the gospel, we know that grace is unearned, it's
unmerited, it's undeserved, we know that. We know all too well,
we think about the passage in Ephesians 2.8, Saved by the grace
of God. It's the gift of God in the opening
of His people's blind eyes. Yet, in one sense of the word,
our salvation doesn't stop there. God opened Hagar's eyes and she
saw a well of water. But that's not all we read here.
Look at the last part of verse 19. And she went and filled the
water with water. and gave the lad drink. You know,
faith without works is dead, being alone. God showed to the
well just the same as he shows his people Christ. And that water
in the well would be life to Hagar and Ishmael. Christ the
living water is what gives us life and is what sustains us. But we have to go to the well. We have to fill our hearts just
as Hagar filled that bottle. We have to drink that living
water just as Hagar gave that bottle to Ishmael to drink. Now I know we have no power,
we have no ability, we have no willingness to do these things
until God opens our eyes, shows us Christ, strengthens us in
Him, and causes and enables us to drink. And whosoever drinketh
of the water from the well that Hagar and Ishmael drank shall
thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the
water that Christ shall give shall never thirst again. For the water that Christ shall
give shall be in him a well of water springing up and to everlasting
life. And you know what my prayer is
this morning, for you and for me. Lord, give me this water. Give me this water that I thirst
not. Oh lost one, hear me if God enables
you. Ask Him to give you this water. Ask Him to give you His Son.
And here we are. You can count on it. May God comfort you and I with
these words.