I think it is notable that from
Genesis 16, the last verse, unto chapter 17, in the very first
verse, some 13 years go by. Thirteen years since Abram, in
impatient unbelief, Listen to the voice of his wife, Sarah. Thirteen years since he turned
from walking by faith and resorted to walking by sight and walking
according to the devices of the flesh. His lapse in faith. And we do, we still, God's people
still have lapses in faith, don't we? And Abrams lapsed in faith. It caused him to go in under
Hagar. And they had a child together,
but not the promised seed. This is a son who will break
their hearts. This is a son who will grow up
and become a mighty enemy. not only against literal Israel,
but also against spiritual Israel. Because from Ishmael come the
Muslims, the Arabs, people who have fought against the God of
all grace and fought against his people for low thousands
and thousands of years. That was not the promise seen.
And Ishmael was born as a result of Abraham having a lapse of
faith. And really, 13 years go by and
there is no record of God appearing to him. God didn't speak to him anymore. And of course, Abram is getting
older now. And one might be made to wonder,
what about the promises of God that He made to Abram? What about
the promise of God, you'll have a seed? Nations, you'll have nations. You'll be the father of many
nations. And if Ishmael, after all, if he isn't the promised
seed, and now Abram is 99 years old, will God still make good
on His word to Abram? That the nations of the earth
will be blessed in his seed? Will God still fulfill His word
that Abram and his wife will indeed have a child in their
old age? Well, they may be old, and indeed
Abram and his wife are old, but it's never too late for God.
The word of God is certain. That which He has set forth,
that which He Himself has promised, He is able to bring it to pass,
and He will bring it to pass. Not one word that God has spoken
will fall to the ground and be unfulfilled. There is no such
thing as age for our God. He's alpha and omega. He is the
eternal God. He's the beginning, He's the
end, and He's everything in between. And nothing is too hard for God. Is Abram too old now, naturally
speaking, to father a child? Certainly. Is his wife too old
now to bear a child, to carry a child nine months, and then
bring a child into this world? Absolutely. She's too old. It
is now physically impossible for them to have this promised
seed. But nothing is too hard for the
Lord. And even when It appears that there are many
obstacles in the way of God fulfilling His Word. Always remember, children
of God, if the Lord has said something, He will bring it to
pass. It may not happen when you desire
it to happen. It may not come to pass when
you think it will happen. In fact, you may yourself forget
that He ever made the promise, but He never forgets. And the
greatest illustration of that is all the way through the Old
Testament, promise after promise, picture after picture, prophecy
after prophecy, prediction after prediction of the seed of the
woman coming. And for 4,000 years, did you
get that? 4,000 years the people of God waited for God's Word
to come to pass. And it may be that a good many
of them throughout all those various generations, maybe a
good many of them finally concluded toward the end of their life,
I don't believe He's coming. I don't believe He's coming.
Because as I've already said, as Abram had lapses in faith,
so we do, and they did as well. But you see, God had given His
Word. The seed of the woman is coming. And the saints of God in the
Old Testament must hold on to that Word. Hold on to the promise
of God. He's coming. He's coming. I know He's coming. How do you
know? God said so. And we at last get to Malachi,
and Malachi says, the last writing prophet, his word is, he shall
come. He shall come suddenly into his
temple. Oh, okay, he's going to come
immediately. Well, it's going to be 400 more
years. But just wait. He shall come. And indeed he
did come. And when Joseph and the infant's
mother, Mary, brought the little baby, Jesus, into the temple,
he suddenly appeared to the delight, to the delight of Simeon, to
the delight of Anna, And then they realized what all of the
saints of God, all the way back to Adam and Eve, they realized
the fulfillment of the Word of God. And all those other folks
didn't get to see that. But they lived in hope of it. Even as we live in hope of the
second coming, which is called the blessed hope. The Savior
said in John 14, I will come again. And what, about 2,000
years have gone by, hadn't come back yet. In fact, in 2 Peter,
the scoffers of the things of God ask, where is the promise
of His coming? Well, God's in no hurry. He runs things on His timetable. not on ours. And I fully believe
that when the last of God's elect, the last of those that have been
redeemed by the blood of the Son of God, when the last has
been called into the fold of salvation, the last lost sheep
has been sought and found, and the shepherd is bringing him
home rejoicing, then, Then he shall come, the chief shepherd. He shall come again and receive
us unto himself. God will make good on his promises. Well, 13 years go by. Why did Abram have to wait 13
years before the Lord appeared to him again? Why so many years? Why must they go by before the
Lord will again speak to Abram and then have it recorded in
the Word of God? Well, the answer is found in
the New Testament. Look at Romans chapter 4. The
book of Romans chapter 4. And I'll begin reading at verse
17. Romans chapter 4 and verse 17. Now this is what the Lord had
said to him. Romans chapter 4 and verse 17,
as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations
before him whom he believed, even God who quickeneth the dead
and calleth those things which be not as though they Amazing statement, isn't it?
And calleth those things which be not as though they were. Now verse 18, who against hope
believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations
according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being
not weak in faith, he considered not his own body, here's some
key words right here, now dead. Being not weak in faith, he considered
not his own body, now weak, now dead. When he was about a hundred
years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb, he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but he was strong in
faith, giving glory to God. Would you glorify God? Would
you honor God? Believe Him. Believe Him. and being fully persuaded that
what he had promised he was able to perform. Here are the key
words, now dead. Now there is no possibility.
Abram has now gone past the age where he could ever father a
child. his body, his flesh, he considered to be now dead. No
life's going to come forth from me. No living seed is going to
come forth from me. I'm dead. I have no physical
ability to father a child. And when there was no possibility
of Abraham fathering a child, when it was beyond his power
to impregnate, Sarah. Then the Lord appeared to him.
You see, before divine power is set forth, Abram must learn
of his own deadness, of his own inability. He cannot bring this
to pass. God said, I'll give you a seed.
I'll bless the nations through this seed. And Abraham keeps
thinking, I'm going to father a child and he will bless the
nations of the earth. But now he's 99 years old and
he's given up all hope of ever doing it. Our flesh is now dead. Okay. Now, now that you have
no ability, watch God work. And this is the way God does
things. This is the way it works in conversion. As long as you
think you can do something, you can make some contribution to
your salvation, you can add something, I can
do it. No. There won't be a manifestation
of the sovereign authority of God in salvation. But I'll tell
you what, when you get to the end of your rope and you see you have no ability,
you have no hope, my will is bound, not free. I'm dead, not alive. God commands
me to believe and I don't have faith. I can't muster it up,
it's not within me. When God brings you to that point
of absolute inability, that's a good thing. Because then He's
going to work. Kind of like Israel at the Red
Sea. It wasn't until they were driven to desperation and despair
that the word of the Lord came to Moses and said, tell the children
of Israel, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Watch
me work. Watch what I do. You see, our
inability is no obstacle to God. In fact, it's when we realize
our own natural inabilities that then God works. But He's going
to show us, like Abraham, our flesh is now dead. And when we're made to see that,
then God makes bare His mighty arm of power and grace. Here's a lesson we need to learn.
We will learn it in conversion and we'll constantly be learning
it through life. We're not through learning this
lesson. God not only does that which
is right and best and wisest for his children, but he always
acts at just the right time. When was it that our Lord Jesus
came? When the fullness of the time
was come. When after 4,000 years, it's
become obvious man by nature doesn't know God. Look at all
the idols he's got. Look at all the false religions
spread throughout the world. After 4,000 years, Man wasn't
better. He was no nearer to God. Why,
he now has many, many idols, many gods. 4,000 years established the fact
man by nature can't know God. He can't know God. Our Lord Jesus came into this
world when it had been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Man
can't find God. Man doesn't fear God. Man can't
know God. All of man's efforts toward salvation
had been proven futile and useless. Then Christ came. Let us who are the children of
God learn this, God's seeming delays are for a reason. Our resources, our human resources
must be exhausted. We must be emptied of any ability We must be brought to the end
of ourselves. And then God puts forth his power.
That way, you see, he gets all the glory. And we don't get any
of it. Turn with me to Psalm 107. Look
at Psalm 107. Let me read a few verses to you.
A glorious, glorious psalm. Psalm 107, first of all, verses
4 through 6. They wandered in the wilderness
in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their souls
fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. Look at verse 12. Therefore He
brought down their heart with labor. They fell down. There was none to help, none
to help. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. Drop down to 23. They that go down to the sea
in ships that do business in great waters, these see the works
of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and
raiseth a stormy wind which lifted up the waves. They mount up to
the heaven, they go down again to the depths. Their soul is
melted because of their trouble. They reel, they reel to and fro. They stagger like a drunken man. They're at their wits end. Have
you ever been at your wits end? I have. I bet you have too. And you just reel to and fro. You just stagger. It's like you're
hit with blow after blow after blow. And you're at your wits
end as to what to do. You come to the end of yourself.
Verse 28, then, then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses. He bringeth. That ETH is, if
you have the new, King James Bible. It takes the
ETH out. But I like the ETH because it
teaches us basically this is something that goes on and on
and on and on. That's what it means. He bringeth
them out of their distresses. How many times has he brought
you out of distress? And ETH is there for a purpose,
for a reason, because he does it for us. He brings us out over
and over and over again. And then we'll go back again,
and we reel to and fro, the troubles. the afflictions, the distresses,
the trials, and all of these things, mental distresses, physical
illnesses, and it's like a boxer hitting you over and over and
over again, and then your arms are too heavy and you can't even
throw a blow, and you're at your wits end, then, oh Lord, help
me! He's always there. Hadn't forsaken you, has He? Well, I'm not saying that things
will get easier. It may get harder. But I will promise you this.
He's always with his people. And he will come to our aid when
we have reached our wit's end. Now notice the name by which
the Lord appeared to Abram. Go back to our text. Here's the name by which he revealed
himself to Abram. I am, verse one of chapter 17. When Abram was nine years old
and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram. It said in him, I, the
Almighty God, I, the Almighty God. The name which God now introduces
to Abram is a new name, El Shaddai. It hasn't been used before in
the Old Testament. And you know, it's amazing when
you get to the book of Exodus, the Lord reveals Himself as Jehovah. And He says to Israel, I've not
been known this way before. What this is, is a progressive
revelation of the glory of God. And the people of God are continually
seeing more manifestations of the magnificence of our Lord.
And this is what Abram is seeing. It says God Almighty. El Shaddai. El, God. And then there's the
word Shaddai. S-H-A-D means breast. Breast
is the root word. He's the one who nourishes His
people like a mother feeds her hungry child with the milk of
her breasts. And we come to our God, who is
always nourishing us. And Abraham here, he needs nourishment. What kind of nourishment? Not
physical nourishment, but spiritual nourishment. He needs to have
another revelation of the greatness and the glory and the might of
God. And the Lord comes to him. Here
is the Son of God, He comes to him. I the Almighty God, El Shaddai. The name identifies our God as
being that one who has all power, whose power is infinite, whose
power is exhaustless, whose power is unlimited. But more than that,
it's a name which presents to us this one who has all power,
has all power to nourish his children. It's a sweet thought. Nothing can hinder him from speaking
peace to your heart. El Shaddai. He's the one who
nourishes us. Hold your place here and look
at Genesis chapter 49. Look at Genesis 49, 25. This
is speaking of Joseph. Genesis 49, 25. Even by the God
of thy father who shall help thee, And by the Almighty, and there's
the name again. By the way, the name of Almighty,
I think it's used five times if I remember correctly in the
book of Genesis, but it's most often used in the book of Job.
Because Job needed to be nourished. He was a man afflicted more than
any man that we see in the Word of God other than our Lord Jesus
at the cross. And our Lord appeared to him
and referenced his own name. He said, I'm the Almighty God.
I'm El Shaddai, Job. I'm here to nourish you. Stop
feeling sorry for yourself. Who do you have to take care
of you? Well, Lord, it's you. Who do you have to feed you? Lord, it's you. Who do you have
to be with you all the time? Lord, it's you. I'm El Shaddai. I'm the Lord who nourishes you,
Job. I'm the Lord who nourishes you,
Abraham. Watch this. Even by the God of
thy father who shall help thee, and by the Almighty who shall
bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the
deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. We come to our God. The illustration
is of a hungry baby. Crawls up. Mom picks up the little
baby and embraces that precious, beloved child to her bosom. And that child drinks of the
milk from her breast and is nourished, and he huddles there safe protected, provided for. That's how we are
with our God. We just crawl up in the lap of
God. Oh, Lord, feed me. Feed me. Lord, nourish me. Lord, I need
you. How many times have you crawled
up in the Lord's lap? Many times, haven't you? And
He's never too busy to turn you away. He's always there. Always there. With blessings
upon blessings. He's El Shaddai. He who is God
our Savior is God all sufficient. Robert Hawker describes Him this
way. He's the God of many breasts
of consolation. for His faithful ones to suck
at and draw from in an endless supply. I like that, an endless
supply. How often can I go to Him? As
often as you want. Oh God, help us to just stay
there. El Shaddai then, first of all,
means God who nourishes. Secondly, it means the God who
pours out abundantly, who pours out abundantly His blessings. There's a word in the second
verse, and I'm not going to be able to finish this whole chapter
tonight, but I want to draw your attention to this. in the second
verse of chapter 17. And I will make my covenant between
me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly. I give you
a challenge. Take your concordance and go
through the word of God and see how many times the word exceeding
or exceedingly is used with reference to God. Because you see, he doesn't
just barely do things. He gives us, it's written in
the book of Ephesians, we pray and He blesses us exceeding abundantly
above all that we could ask or think. He's not miserly with
us. He gives and gives and gives
and gives abundantly. He gives us of the riches of
His grace and the riches of His grace never go down. They're
never exhausted. And while you draw from the riches
of His grace and you're, as it were, sucking milk from the riches
of His grace, there are many others of the Lord's children
also drawing nourishment as well. And the level of grace never
goes down. He's always full of love and
care and concern for all of His children. Our God is a fountain overflowing
and gushing forth with grace like a mighty river that flows
from the throne of God, the riches of His mercy. And then this name
means the all-sufficient one. He's our all-sufficient Savior. His person is all-sufficient
to save because He's God and man. His grace is all sufficient
to save us because it's almighty grace. It's frequently and sovereignly
bestowed. His blood is sufficient, exceeding
efficient and sufficient to put our sins away. His righteousness
is sufficient to make us acceptable and accepted before God. His
Spirit is sufficient to lead us to Christ Jesus and be with
us always. His power is sufficient to preserve
us forever. And His daily grace is sufficient
for all of our needs. He's El Shaddai, God Almighty. The Almighty God. And His power
is irresistible. and he's able to save, and he's
also able to destroy. And none can turn him back from what
he has set his heart to do. Folks, this is our God. This is our Lord. This is our
Savior. always there to nourish us. Come
again to Him tonight. Draw forth from Him, out of His
bounty, out of His exceeding wealth, draw forth those things
that you need. You say, I'm so weak. Oh, He's
so strong. In fact, His strength is made
perfect in your weakness. Oh, what an amazing Savior we
have in the Son of God, El Shaddai. Lord, bless the word that has
gone forth this evening. May your people be refreshed.
May we be strengthened. Oh, Lord, the milk that we draw
forth from Thee, from the breasts of Your love, that nourishment that we get
from You. Lord, it saves us forever. We have life from You. We have
righteousness from You. We have full forgiveness from
You. And therefore, all is well. Forgive
us forever murmuring, forgive us forever complaining. For the
Almighty God, He's our Savior. Oh, if we could just take this
home and roll it over and over again in our minds, and Lord,
if your Spirit would put it in our hearts, we'd be so refreshed. We'd be so blessed. We thank
you for Christ Jesus, our Savior. Do with us what you will. Bring
us to our wit's end. If that's what it takes for us
to call upon you, for then you are always ready to hear and
ready to answer. Do good for all of us and magnify
your name through this message. I ask in the name of Christ our
Savior, amen.