Okay, Genesis 18. And the Lord appeared unto Abraham
in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent door in the heat
of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and
looked, and, lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them,
he ran to meet them from the tent door. and bowed himself
toward the ground and said, My Lord, if now I have found favor
in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.
Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet
and rest yourself under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of
bread and comfort you, your hearts, after that you shall pass on.
For therefore are you come to your servant. And they said,
So do as thou hast said. And Abraham hastened into the
tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures
of fine meal. Knead it, and make cakes upon
the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd,
and fetched a calf tender and good, the best he had, and gave
it unto a young man, and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter,
and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before
them. And he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. And
they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said,
Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly
return unto thee according to the time of life. And lo, Sarah
thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent
door which was behind him. Now, Abraham and Sarah were old
and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after
the manner of women. Therefore, Sarah laughed within
herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my
Lord, being old also? And the Lord," capital L-O-R-D,
Jehovah, this is our Lord speaking, And the Lord said unto Abraham,
Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child
which am old? Because I want you to note this,
what she's laughing at is the promise of God. Is there any promise that God
has given us that's too hard for Him to fulfill? That we cannot
hang our hat on? That we cannot cling to? Whatever may be going on, is
there 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." Then Sarah denied. She lied, saying, I laughed not, for she was afraid. And he said,
no, no, you did. Now Sarah, you did laugh. You did laugh. At my promise. At my promise. Let us pray. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed, holy, be thy name. Father, I pray this morning that
you'd grant unto us a spirit of worship, that you would teach us by thy
Spirit and that we would grow in grace and in knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Send thy word into our hearts
in power. Enable us, Father, to give unto
thee this morning the glory due unto thy name. Enable us to rejoice in God our
Savior. And for all those who are out
preaching this morning, Father, bless. bless, enable all of us
who stand this morning to preach in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thank You, Father, for all You've given us in Christ. Everything
we have, we acknowledge and we recognize Thou hast given. Thank You for it. In Christ's
name we pray, and amen. Here's the scene. is sitting in the tent door,
says, in the heat of the day. It's hot. And he's sitting there. And he looks up and there's three
strangers coming toward him. It makes me think of that scripture
in Hebrews. Forget not to entertain strangers,
for some have entertained angels unaware. Abraham runs to meet them. Now
remember, he's an old man. You notice how quickly he did
everything? He told Sarah, hurry up and quickly drop what you
are doing and fix this calf. We've got some men here. He recognizes one of them and
calls one of them Lord. And listen, he rightly did so
because he was the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, a pre-incarnated
appearance of Christ. And he addresses that one as
Lord, and he bows to him. And listen, he washes their feet,
which is an act of kindness and humility. This shows and says
a lot about Abraham. Remember when our Lord went to
the house of Simon the Pharisee? He wouldn't wash his feet. The
Lord said, I came and you didn't wash my feet. You showed me no
kindness. You showed me no courtesy. And here's Abraham. And he takes and he washes their
feet. And then he feeds them. He tells
Sarah, drop what you're doing, start cooking. And she does it
without an argument. No doubt she does this without
an argument. And he goes and he fetches a calf, tender and
good, the best. The best he had. He gave unto
the Lord the best he had. And he stood by them while they
sat there, those three men, they sat there and they ate. He stood
there as a servant, as a humble servant, he stood there. But the thing that stood out
to me when I was reading this is, first of all, the hospitality
that he showed our Lord. You know, hospitality is a mark
of a believer. Look over in Romans 12. Let's
not overlook things like this. I let them so often just go right
over my head, but I tell you, it's a mark of a believer. It's
a mark of grace in the soul. In Romans 12. Look in verse 10 through 13. Be kindly affection one to another
with brotherly love in honor of preferring one another, not
slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord,
rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing in instant
in prayer, distributing to the necessity of the saints, given, given to hospitality. Abraham did not hesitate to open
his home, to go get the best he had, and to serve these three
strangers that walked up to his tent. Now they asked Abraham,
where is Sarah thy wife? And Abraham replied, in the tent. She's in the tent, taking care
of the home. That's where she's at. She's
in the tent. The Lord did not ask for that
for information. When he said, where is Sarah,
thy wife? He got her attention. She heard her name and the Lord
purpose for her to hear this promise. He's dealing with the
head of the house, but he wants he purposes for her to hear this
promise. And it reveals a lot about us.
We'll see this. He said, she's in the tent. And
here's the promise. Where's Sarah, thy wife? Sarah,
here's her name. And now he's going to give the
promise. I will certainly. And if God says certainly, you
can count on it. Now you just count on it. I will certainly return unto
thee according to the time of life, the appointed time of life,
and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son." Remember, they're
old, and it is past time for her to have any children. And
Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind her. Now, here's
the promise. First of all, I will return. Our Lord promised that in John
14. I go away to prepare a place
for you. And if I go away to prepare a place for you, I will
come again and receive you unto myself. Do you believe that? Do you really believe that the
Lord Jesus Christ is coming back to get us? To many, that sounds so far-fetched. I was talking to someone not
too long ago. I was talking to them about the
end of the world, new heaven, new earth. And their expression
was like, what are you talking about? Are you serious? Yeah, I'm serious. I'm serious. He's coming back. I'm looking
for him to come back. I believe he's coming back. He says, I will return unto thee
according to the time of life. There's a fixed time to be born
into this world. There was a fixed time for Sarah
to have a son. There's a fixed time for every
child of God to be born. God has no children by accident. I know a couple that are around
my age. But they had a child late in
their thirties. And I was talking to the father
and he said to me, he said, that was an accident. No. No one ever comes into this life
by accident. And God has no children by accident.
No one will accidentally walk into this room and hear the gospel
and be born again. It's a fixed time of life. It's
a fixed time to be born. And I don't stand in the pulpit
and try to get people to make a decision. That's not life. That's not life. Life is when God commands it.
Life is when God says live. And when He says live, That person
lives. And he lives at the time God
commands it and purposed it. And he tells him here, I'll return
according to the time of life. It's a fixed time. Now, Sarah
heard this promise for the first time, that she would become a
mother. She's an old woman. She's an elderly woman. Old woman. And she knew She was way past
having children. She knew that was past. But here's
her response. And it's totally different than
that of Abraham, because the scripture tells us, Abraham staggered
not at the promise through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. But Sarah laughed. She laughed
at the promise of God. Now, I know that people are going
to read this, or they hear this, and they say, well, you know,
there was nothing really meant by that. I mean, if you heard
that and you were old, you'd just, you'd kind of chuckle,
say, no, really? But, you know, there's a real
seriousness in this. It reveals a lot. The attitude that was behind
this came out later when she gave Hagar to Abraham. She said, later she believed,
I'm not going to have a child. I'm too old. This is not going
to happen. This is how we're going to do it. You're going
to go into Hagar. She laughed. It was a laugh of
unbelief. She thought, I'm too old for
this. How can this be? How can this be? Nicodemus, the Lord said to him,
You must be born again. He said, how can that be? When
you're old, can you enter the second time to your mother's
womb and be born? How can how can this be? And
Sarah, she's old and she's thinking, how can this be? I'm too old
and Abraham's too old. How can this be? And the Lord said to Abraham.
Why did Sarah laugh? She didn't laugh out loud. I
don't believe she laughed out loud. It was within herself. She laughed
within herself. She just chuckled within herself.
And just like, this can't be. This can't be. The Lord said, why did she laugh? He knew her
heart just like He knows our heart. Just like He knows our heart.
And He knew that she laughed at the promise in her heart.
He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Every one of us would just automatically, I mean, we just
automatically say, well, no. No. But I can tell you by my
own experience that I'd be guilty of Sarah. Doubting. Am I going to get through this?
Am I going to come through this? I'd be just as guilty as she
was. He knows the thoughts and intents
of the heart. And no thoughts, the Scripture says, can be withholden
from him. And what did she do? When the Lord exposed her, what
did she do? She did exactly what every one of us would do. She
lied. She lied. The Lord exposed her and she
said, I didn't laugh. You didn't hear me laugh. She
was afraid. We got exposed. I tell you, that's
a fearful thing when somebody exposes you. Especially when
the Lord exposes you. I didn't laugh. Not out loud.
In her heart, yes. Out loud, no. But in her heart,
yes. God knows our hearts. And when
her sin was exposed, she lied. Listen to this. One sin always leads to another
sin. When Adam fell, what did he do?
He tried to hide. Tried to sow some fig leaves.
Try to cover up the first one. One sin, just remember this,
one sin always leads to another. If you tell one lie, you've got
to tell another one to cover it, and then another to cover
it. It never stops. It just does not stop. It always
leads to another. It's not until we say guilty.
If she would have just said guilty, boy, it would have been a whole
lot better, wouldn't it? It would have been a whole lot
better if she would have just said guilty. And that put a stop to it. And I'll tell you something else
here. Sin gives a fear of God that's not right. It gives us
a wrong fear of God. And it'll cause us to sin even
more. And here's something else about sin. Sin gives a wrong
understanding of God. It gives us a wrong understanding
of God. She believed it was not possible
for her to have a child, now listen, she believed it was not
possible for her to have a child at her age even though God said
it. God said it. Oh, the evil of unbelief. Unbelief
is the root of all sin. But now here's the question.
Here's the question. Here's what she. She when she
laughed at that statement, the Lord said, you see, you'll have
a child. And she laughed, and the Lord says, is anything. Anything. Too hard for the Lord. That's a question, isn't it?
And that's a question to be answered. Is anything too hard for him?
Before the Lord repeats the promise the second time, this gets settled. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? The promises of God are not for those who believe not.
It's for those who believe. Those who believe. It's a searching
question. He said, is. Is right now. Right now, is there
anything too hard for the Lord? Is there any case too hard for
the Lord? Let's consider who's asking this
question. Capital L-O-R-D. Jehovah. Is there anything too hard for
Jehovah? Is there anything too hard for
the self-existing one? Is there anything too hard for
the Creator? Is there anything too hard? Will
I ever come up against something that's just too hard? Will I
ever come into a situation that's just too hard for Him to deliver
me out of? Our Lord, when you read the Gospels,
Our Lord never met a case that was too hard. There was a man
who brought his son to the disciples, and he was demon-possessed. And
the disciples could not cast him out. They could not cast
out that demon. The boy was throwing himself
in the fire and the water. He was trying to commit suicide.
And the Father came to our Lord and he cried, if you can have
mercy on me, if you can have compassion on me and help me.
And the Lord said, oh, you have little faith. And this is one
scripture that just one day jumped out at me and I've thought of
it ever since. He said, bring him to me. Bring him to me. And the father
brought his son to him, and the Lord cast out that demon. Cyprus
couldn't do a thing. They could not do a thing. But
he cast it out. He said, that father, you bring
him to me. You will not read a case in the
gospel where our Lord came up against something that he couldn't
handle. The disciples do it all the time. We do it all the time. But is there anything too hard
for the Lord? No. No. This is the Lord. This is not some created spirit.
This is the Creator of all spirits. This is the One who created all
things, speaking. Whatever exists, the Lord created
it. He has power over all things. He said, All power is given to
me in heaven and earth. I have all power. I've said this before, it's not
a matter of God's power, it's a matter of God's will. Because
there's nothing too hard for the Lord. Look at creation. Coming down
here. He's coming down 64 way. And we're looking at those mountains.
I mean, oh man. God created that. And you know
how He created it? His Word. Now, that's power. Power is when
you speak and it happens. That's power. Power is when you
say, let there be life and there's life. That's power. Oh, just look at creation. Look
at the vastness of it. Look at the universe, what you
can see of it. And the Lord created that by
His power. And you know how it keeps going?
By the Word of His power. That's how it keeps going. This
world hangs in space by the Word of His power. I'm not afraid. I am not afraid of this world
getting out of control. Or the universe being out of
control. Or some meteor smashing into us and getting out of control.
It's under His power. the power of our Lord. There's
nothing too hard for him to handle. But what about salvation? What
about salvation? Is anything too hard for the
Lord in saving a sinner like me? Anything? Am I a hard nut to crack? We
like to think we are, don't we? We like to think we're tough. I can remember when I was a young
man, a young teenager. I think I was the only one in
my family that had not made a profession. And I remember my oldest brother,
him and another man, they went to a place called the Independent
Missionary Baptist Church. That's where they went. And they
came down one night and caught me at the house and witnessing
to me attempting what they called at that time. At that time they
didn't know what they was talking about. I learned that later. But they were trying to get me
into a profession. And I tell you, I held out. I
held out. I really felt like I was tough.
I did. I felt like I was tough. I was holding out. I was the
only one who hadn't made a profession. I didn't want anything to do
with that. And then one day I heard the gospel. I heard my pastor,
Henry, preaching on television and it scared me to death because
I realized God doesn't have to save me at all. I realized God's sovereign and
He can save me or damn me. He ain't begging me. He's not
begging me to accept Christ and to do all that Armenian mess
tries to get you to do. I realized for the first time
God could leave me alone. And for the first time, I became
the beggar and not God. I was the beggar. I was the one in need. I was
the one seeking after Him. I found myself looking for Him. Which you find out later, He's
the One who sought me. You find those things out as you go along. Oh, is anything too hard for
the Lord? To have a wayfaring child? Is anything too hard for
Him? The Lord can save. He can save our children. He
can do that. I don't care how tough they are
I don't care how far out there they are. They can be way out
there. And you think there's absolutely
no way there's any hope. God can save that one just as
easily as He can save one sitting here under this teaching all
the time. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? What about God's law? That law
demands perfection. That law demands my death. It demands absolute obedience. Here's the question. Can that
man, Jesus Christ, do what this man can't do? Can that man, Jesus
Christ, can he, in my place, can he keep the law? Can He honor
the law? Can He magnify God's law on my
behalf? Can He do that? Can I trust Him to do that? Can I look to Him as my righteousness,
my obedience? Can I look to Him for that? Is
there anything too hard for Him? I can assure you this. It's way too hard for me and
you to keep the law. We can't do it. It's too demanding,
too strict. And you and I are too sinful.
It's too holy. Put it that way. It's holy. It's not too holy,
it's holy. No such thing as too holy. Holy
is holy. Can he keep that law? Can he
magnify the law and make it honorable? You realize how strict it is?
Has it really dawned on us how strict God's law is? You look
at this world. I know I'm starting to take too
much time, but you look at this world. You look at all that goes on
and all the sinfulness and all the wretchedness and all the
murders and the rapes and all the unbelief and all the evil
that goes on in this world. You know, that came from one
act of disobedience. One act of disobedience. And from that one act of disobedience,
this whole world fell under condemnation. One. It wasn't one act, and then
I'll give you another shot, and I'll give you another chance,
and another, and another. You know, that's the way we do our
children. Don't do that, well, we do it. Don't do that, well,
we do it. Well, I told you three times
not to do that, so I'm going to have to do something about
it. God told Adam one time, don't do it. He did it, and the whole
world fell under condemnation. Can you keep that kind of law?
Do we understand the strictness of God's law, the holiness of
God's law? There cannot be, I mean a minor,
a minute, what you and I would call minute infraction. It cannot be. Can the Lord Jesus
Christ keep that law? Absolutely. Absolutely. Is His blood sufficient to cleanse
us from all our sins? All of them. Now, only a believer
has any understanding of what sin really is. Can His blood,
the blood of the Son of God, the blood of that man, Jesus
Christ, can His blood truly wash me from all my sins? Can He present
me, now listen, can He present me spotless before the throne
of God? Can He do that? Can He do that? Yes, He can. Yes, he can. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Christ. I have several scriptures written
down, but it would take too long to go to Ephesians 1.7. In case
you're writing down Romans 5.19, Colossians 1.14, 1 John 1.7. My, we have plenty of scriptures
that teach us His blood can wash us from all our sins. Cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. Cleanse us. Is He able to give
this dead rebel, that infant lying out there in the field
covering in His blood, is He able to give me the life of God? Eternal life. You know, that's
not what I'm talking about how long it is. Talking about the
quality of it, it's the life of God. Is He able to do that? Can He
speak life to me and I live? Can He speak life to a dead sinner
here, to a young person, son or daughter, sister, brother,
mother, father, grandparents? Can He speak life? And that will
live. Absolutely. Absolutely. Is He able? Here's one that's
really ought to peak our attention. All of them should. Is He able
to keep me from falling? Is He able to keep me saved? This life's tough. This life
is tough. Is He able to keep me? Is He
able to keep me believing? Is He able to keep me looking?
Is He able to do so? Yes. He's able to save unto the
uttermost them that come unto God by Him. Seeing He ever lives,
to what? Pray for them. Make intercession
for them. I desire your prayers. But my
soul, there's one, there's one that I desire to intercede for
me. And that's this man, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's one speaking
to Abraham. Is he able to subdue, and I'll
close here, is he able to subdue indwelling sin? Oh, my soul, we've got so much
of it. I tell you what, I've got just
as much sin in me now as I ever have. That's the day I was born. Sinful, also the old wretched
man that I am. When I would do good, evil is
present. That which I would do, I don't.
That which I would not do, I do. Oh, is he able to subdue indwelling
sin? Yes, he is. Sin, he says, shall
not have dominion over you. You're not under the law, you're
under grace. It's not going to have dominion over you and it's not going to
reign over you. You are His. And as powerful as sin is. And
I know that we cannot grasp the power that sin has on this flesh,
on this old man, his old nature. I mean, the power of that. Is he able to subdue that? Everybody has a besetting sin.
Everyone has one. Is he able to subdue that? Absolutely. Absolutely. He's able to subdue all things
to himself. That's why I say, look over Philippians.
Let me read this, over Philippians 3. Philippians 3. Look at verse 21. Let me go to verse 20. For our
conversation is in heaven, from which also we look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it
may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the
work whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. He's able. He's able to deliver me from
the grave. I have to die. There's a point
when the man wants to die. I have to die. I realize that.
And the older I get, the more I realize it. Someday I'll be at the funeral
home and someone will be preaching my funeral. I've preached several funerals
over the years. And someday it will be mine.
Is He able to bring me out of that grave? Is He able to give
me a new body and present me before the Father spotless? Absolutely. Is anything, no matter what it
is, whether it be the salvation of
my soul or something I need here right now,
Is he able to deliver? Is there anything too hard for
him? Absolutely not. Sarah? Abraham? You notice he dealt with the
head of that house. He didn't just call Sarah out.
He dealt with Abraham. The head of that house was Sarah
Heard, and then she denied it, but he said, why did you laugh? Why did you laugh? Why did you
laugh at my promise? Why do you laugh at my promise?
You think I can't do that? You think, well, I'm too old.
That can't happen. You think I can't make that happen? I can say through experience,
there have been times I've doubted Him. There have been times I
didn't think I was going to come out. And I imagine some of you
who've lived a while, there have been times Is there anything
too hard for the Lord? Anything? No. No. Okay.