Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. Go toward the
end of the chapter here and read part of chapter 19 as well. We're getting ready to go into
Jericho and then we're going to go out of Jericho and something's
going to happen on each end and it's all about the Lord Jesus
Christ. All about Him. Let's start with, let's see here,
verse 35. Verse 35 of Luke 18. And it came to pass that he was
come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside
begging. And hearing the multitude pass
by, he asked what it meant. And they told him that Jesus
of Nazareth passes by. And he cried, saying, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before
rebuked him, that he should hold his peace. But he cried so much
the more, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood
and commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come
near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto
thee? And he said, Lord, that I may
receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive
thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received
his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when
they saw it, gave praise unto God. And Jesus entered and passed
through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named
Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was
rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who
he was, and could not for the press, because he was little
of stature. And he ran before and climbed
up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that
way. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make
haste, come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he made
haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw
it, they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be a guest
with a man that's a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said
unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to
the poor. And if I've taken anything from
any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus
said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house. For as much
as he also is a son of Abraham, for the son of man is come to
seek and to save that which was lost. Excuse me. Genesis 21. Genesis
21. Read the first 14 verses here
this evening. And the Lord visited Sarah as
he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age,
at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham
called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah
bared to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son
Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And
Abraham was an hundred years old when his son Isaac was born
unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made
me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. She
said, Who would have said unto Abraham? that Sarah should have
given children suck, for I have borne him a son in his old age. 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. 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. And the thing
was very 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 thy bondwoman. And all that
Sarah hath said unto thee hearken unto her voice, for in Isaac
shall thy seed be called. And also the son of the bondwoman
will I make a nation because he is thy seed. And Abraham rose
up early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water and
gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child
and the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered
in the wilderness of Beersheba." Here in this 21st chapter, we
have Abraham. He has great joy. And then he
turns around and has great sorrow of both. He has both here in
this chapter. And as we journey through this
world, as we're pilgrims on our way to that celestial city, and
we journey in this world as God's blessed people, we never, ever
come. Never can come to a point in
our lives when God has nothing to teach us. Never come to that
place where God has nothing to teach us. And we want to be taught. I want to be taught of the Lord.
You know that our Lord Jesus Christ said, they shall all be
taught of the Lord. And God is constantly teaching
us, teaching us lessons. He keeps coming and these lessons
coming from the Lord about God. We keep learning about God. We
keep learning about life and our relationship to the Lord
and all the relationships that we have. And here he take Abraham. He's a hundred years old. He's
a hundred years old. And he's about to teach Abraham
some things, and he's been teaching Abraham some things. And as he
teaches Abraham, he teaches us, and us through him. And look
at the joy that he first enjoyed here, the joy that he first enjoyed.
And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did
speak unto Sarah, did unto Sarah as he had spoken, for Sarah conceived
and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which
God had spoken. First of all, he had joy because
of the promised seed. You know how many years had passed
since God made promise to Abraham that he's going to have a seed?
Way back in chapter 15, he said, I don't have a seed. I've grown
childless. I don't have an heir. God said, you're going to have
an heir. 25 years, at the minimum, is
how long it took. But God gave him the promise.
This is that promise that God gave him. This is the fulfillment
of that promise that God made to Abraham. And that's what it
says there. It said that the Lord did as
He had spoken, did to Sarah as He had spoken unto her. You know,
God told her that, you know, there's going to be a set time
that I'm going to come back and you're going to have a son. You're
going to have a child. You're going to have a son. And
she laughed in her heart and said, how can I, an old woman,
have pleasure and have a child? And the Lord, remember when the
Lord says, why did Sarah laugh? Abraham went in and said, why
did you laugh? She said, I didn't laugh. And the Lord said, oh
yes, you did. I heard you. And that time it
was a laugh of almost incredulity. You know, this can't possibly
happen. Now when she laughs, it's a different kind of a laugh.
But this tells us this, that when God makes a promise, He's
in no hurry. He's no hurry. When he gives
a promise, he's in no hurry. He has all of his eternity to
fulfill his purpose. What he started in Genesis, even
before the world began, things are just now coming to pass that
he purposed back from eternity to happen today. So God don't
get in no hurry. We get in a hurry. Shirley was
talking about that today. She said, that's one thing God
will teach us as we get older. We learn to wait. When we're
young, we want things now. We want things to happen. We
want to see things. We want this, that, and the other.
We want it right now. But after God puts us and teaches
us some things, we learn to wait. We'll wait on the Lord. We're
going to wait till He tells us what. We're not going to make
a move unless He directs us. And that's why God's no hurry.
He has all eternity to fulfill His purpose. You see, God is
almighty. God's almighty. Is anything too
hard for the Lord? Oh, is anything too hard for
Him? Abraham and Sarah tried to have a son, and they couldn't,
so what did He do? They had one after the flesh.
And our Lord Jesus, that's what Ishmael says, son after the flesh.
And God told our Lord Jesus Christ says, the flesh. Profits nothing. Even your flesh, Abraham, don't
profit nothing. Hagar's flesh don't profit. When
you have a child of the flesh, that's all you ever gonna have.
But this is the child of promise. This is the one that God promised
that at the time, the same time, I'm gonna come and visit you.
And oh, beloved, even the flesh, when Abraham, Sarah gave Hagar
to Abraham and she had that son, Even the flesh didn't stop God's
purpose. Even their sin didn't stop God's
purpose. Even what they tried to fulfill
God's purpose, it never stopped God's purpose. And I tell you
what, our flesh is not gonna stop God's purpose. And how much
we fail ain't gonna stop God's purpose. And you know, we sometimes
think, Lord, I'd like this to happen here, there, and the other,
but listen, there ain't nothing happening until God says it's
time for it to happen. I know a dear brother way up
in his nineties. He wants to go. He wants to leave
this world so bad. He wants to go on so much, but
he can't go. Why? It's not time. It's not
the Lord's time. But when it's time, he'll be
the happiest person on. Oh, he'll wait. Oh my. But look
what God's faithfulness is. What he promised, he performed. Look what he says there in verse
two. For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old
age, and listen to this, at the set time of which God had spoken
to him. Well, there's a set time for
everything. There's a time and a purpose for everything under
the heavens. And what he promised, he said, at the set time of which
he had spoken. What he promised, he performed. And if he makes a promise, he's
going to perform it. And you know, Abraham's faith
was tried and tested. And God tries our faith and he
tests our faith. And why he does it is to show
the genuineness of our faith. A faith that can't endure trials,
a faith that can't wait on God, a faith that can't take God at
his word, a faith that can't endure trial is no faith whatsoever. It's none whatsoever. Look, keep
Genesis and look over here in Romans chapter four. In Romans
chapter four. Here's what happened with Abraham
and Sarah. The scriptures tells us exactly
what happened. Oh my. It was a hard thing that
God promised Abraham. And I tell you what, God kept
His promise. You know, Abraham just waited
and waited and waited and waited. And look what it says here in
verse 19, talking about Abraham now. And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead. No life, no ability
to produce any life out of his body. Not a natural son, not
any kind of a son, not any kind of a flesh. And now when he was
about a hundred years old, and neither yet he didn't even consider
the deadness of Sarah's womb. That's why she said, can I possibly
have a child? But listen to this, he staggered
not. at the promise of God to unbelieve. He didn't back up and say, oh
my, I don't know if God can do that or not. I don't know if
this is gonna happen or not. You reckon this will really happen?
No, no, no, no. But was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. And listen to this, and being
fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also
to perform. If he made a promise, he'd go
to perform it. Did he make a promise? He performed
it. And oh my, God has a set time
for accomplishing his will and fulfilling his word. Nothing,
nothing is ever left to chance. Nothing is contingent upon the
creature. Look what he said over here in
Genesis 17, 21. talking about God made this promise
to Abraham and Sarah. Look what she said here. The
Lord Jesus had done told Abraham when he came and Abraham was
99 years old and made that covenant with him. And then it says, Abraham
fell upon his face and laughed. Cause he said, you know, in verse
16, I will bless her and give thee a son also of her. Yea,
I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nation. Kings
of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face
and laughed and said in his heart, shall a child be born unto him
that is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah bear that that
is 90 years old? And it tells us over there he
is strong in faith, being persuaded that whatever God promised. Look
in Genesis 18 verse 14. Is anything too hard for the
Lord at the time appointed? At the time appointed, I will
return unto thee according to the time of life and Sarah shall
have a son." Told Abraham she's going to have one and told her
at the set time. And everything happens at God's
set time. And I tell you what, that makes
life to me. Now, I don't know what it does
for you. It makes life very simple for me. In this sense, in this
sense, that my life has been ordered of the Lord. Everything
about my life has been ordered of the Lord. Everything about
it. Shirley is ordered of the Lord. Me being a pastor is ordered
of the Lord. The time that I leave here is
ordered of the Lord. My health is ordered of the Lord.
Everything about the hairs of my head is ordered by the Lord.
And there's a set time for everyone. There's a set time for us to
be tried. There's a set time for us to have joy. There's a
set time for us to weep. There's a set time for us to
enjoy the blessings of God. There's a set time that we enjoy
great health. And there'll be a set time when
our health won't be so great. but everything has a set time.
Doesn't that make life wonderful? I'm not going to get up tomorrow
and figure I'm going to have a, that my life is going to be
according to the luck of the draw. My life and your life is
not going to be based on how many cards are dealt to us and
how our cards turn over. That's not the way life is. God,
He didn't give us a deck of cards and we turn them over and remember
how they come out that day. That's not the way life is. Bless
his holy name. Ain't you thankful that everything
that happens in our lives, God has ordered it for us, set it
for us, and we get up of the morning and say, this is God's
day. Let's be glad and rejoice in it. Well, I don't feel so
good. It's still the Lord's day, we're
gonna rejoice in it. And I tell you what, sometimes
the way he brings us is painful, very painful. But oh my, but
that God said at the set time, he said at the set time. And
oh, what did he do? Just like the set time of which
God had spoken to him. He said, I set a time at the
set time. And oh, Isaac was the son of
promise. In verse three here of Genesis
21. Abraham called the name of his
son that was born unto him so whom Sarah bare to him Isaac
and Abraham Circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old as
God had commanded him Now here's this Isaac is the son of promise
He's a miracle child Supernaturally born of God. There's no way that
Abraham could have a child. Sarah could have a child. This
is a miracle child. Supernatural born child. A child
born by the power of God and the promise of God. A child given
to them because God said, I'm going to do it. You can't. They
tried for years to have children. Couldn't have one. But when God
said, you're going to have one, they had one. It was God said,
you're going to. And it was a miracle child. Sarah's
womb was dead. And Abraham trusted the Lord,
circumcised that boy, and what that circumcision marked him
off, this is my son, he's in the covenant with me. God made
the promise to me, and the promise goes back down, goes right on
into Isaac. And then when Rebecca had Jacob,
and Esau, went right down through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, And
that's the way the Jews still pray, God of my fathers, Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob. You go to one of these synagogues
and that's what they say, the God of my fathers, Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. But oh my, but he had circumcision
of the flesh, but God circumcises us. And you know where he circumcises
us at? In the heart. He takes away that old one. He
takes away that. He said, I'll take out that stony
heart and I'll put in a heart of flesh. I'll, I'll, I'll cleanse
you and I'll wash it. And not only that, I heard Tim
James up in Mabscot years and years ago, he preached a message. I forget which one of the, the,
the, uh, minor prophets he used, but he says, you know, rend your
heart and not your garments. And he started talking about
rending the heart. And who can rend the heart? Who
can break a heart? Who can rip a heart apart? Who
can take it apart? Who can break it? Who can rip
it apart? Who can expose it? Who can see
into it? Who's going to rend it? The Jews,
you know, they grieve and they rip their clothes apart. That's
what they do to show their grief. God says, I'll rend the heart.
I can break it open. I can rip it open. I can expose
it. And when you see it, oh, that thing's rotten. Give me
your heart, these preachers say. God don't want your heart the
way it is. He's got to make a new one. And oh, my. And God, He
circumcises our hearts and circumcises our ears. And He said uncircumcised
in heart and ears. You Jews, you got hard hearts
and you got deaf ears. God says we're circumcised with
the putting off of the filth of the flesh by the Spirit of
God, circumcised in the heart, circumcised in the ears. We can
hear and we can feel. We're cleaned. And we're in the
covenant because the Spirit of God put us in. Right? Oh my. Now look what happens here in
verse 6. Here's a laugh. I almost named
this message here. Laughter heard around the world.
You know, this laughter has been preached on all over the world.
Look what it says. Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh. I laugh all the time when I'm
preaching. You all know that. That's the way I express my joy.
I express my joy by laughing. And when I get happy, I laugh.
And when it's blessing my heart, I laugh. Well, that's what happened
to Sarah here. God did make me laugh. She just was overjoyed. She found out she was gonna have
a baby, and she was just overjoyed and just laughed. And look what
she said here. So that all that will hear, and
then they hear that I'm gonna have a son. When Abraham and
I'm gonna have the son of... When they hear that, they're
gonna just joy with me, they're gonna laugh with me, and they're
gonna rejoice with me, and we're gonna just rejoice, oh, we're
gonna laugh. That was altogether different
than the laugh she had when she's over in that tent. Oh my. And all this laughter, what it
means is it's just a joyous laughter. She's satisfied. Oh, she's so
happy. She's so thankful. She's so grateful. And that's why she says, God
hath made me to laugh. God made me to enjoy this day,
to enjoy this child, to enjoy the fulfillment of his promise.
And oh my, she said, who would have said unto Abraham, that
Sarah should have given children suck. I'll tell you who said
it. God told him. Who would have said it? The Lord
did. The Lord did. And oh my, for
I have born him a son in his old age. Now look what happens. And the child grew and was weaned. Now, a child in those days, I
guess they do it this day, you know, they don't wean a child
till it gets up pretty good size youngin' and generally from three
to five years old when they weaned a child. And when that child
grew and she weaned him, she weaned him, Abraham said, oh
my, we gotta have a feast. We got to have a feast. God fulfilled
his promise. I've kept his word, I've circumcised
him. We're just, our home is full
of joy, our home is full of peace, our home is full of the promises
of God. We got to have us a feast. This
is like the father when his prodigal was coming home. Oh, let's have
a feast. And oh man, he had a feast. And
oh, I'll tell you what, it says it was a great feast. I'll tell
you one of these days, we're going to go to a great feast.
We sang that old song that our Lord Jesus Christ will gird himself
and serve us sweet manna all around, holy manna all around. One of these days, we all gonna
be weaned and we're gonna be, you know, you're talking about
a feast, we'll have a feast. And now, oh my, that's the joy
they had. Oh, what joy they had. Sarah
said, God has made me to laugh. God did just what he said he's
gonna do at the set time. Now, but here's the sadness part.
Here's the sorrow part. Abraham had joy, but he also
had sorrow. And ain't that the way it is
with us? We have joy, and then we have sorrow. And look what
happens here in verse nine. On this feast day, when Isaac
was weaned, Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian. This
boy's a pretty big boy now. where she had borne him to Abraham,
she saw him mocking. She's making fun. He is making
fun of Isaac. Making fun of this just young
child. Making fun of him. Mocking him. Didn't like him. See, up to this
time, Ishmael had been the only child. He got all the attention. He had all the power. He got
all the attention. His father Abraham just doted
over him and Hagar doted over him. But all the, I tell you
what, Born unto Abraham was mocking. And here's Abraham's sin with
Hagar now bears fruit. Paul told the Galatians, be not
deceived. God's not mocked. Whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap. If he sows to the flesh,
he'll reap of the flesh. If he sows to the spirit, he'll
reap of the spirit. Here he sowed to the flesh, and
he's reaping of the flesh. Look what happens here. And she
was mocking. She was mocking. He is the only
child. Now he mocks and he persecutes
the child of promise. He's probably 16, 17 years old. And when Isaac came along, Ishmael
lost his power, lost his position. But Abraham, I tell you what,
when the child born of the Spirit came, that exposed Ishmael's
true colors. And ain't that the way it is?
When that child of promise was born, that child of the flesh,
he saw that child of promise and he showed his true colors.
I don't like him. I can't have no fellowship with
him, I'm not. And ain't that the way with us when that new
person comes into existence? O Ishmael, let us raise this
up. Don't like that child of promise, that child that God
gave us. And we don't, we didn't have any problem. Did anybody
have any problem with sin until they got converted? But now look
what happens here now. She said in verse 10, wherefore
she said unto Abraham, when she saw Hagar, the son of Hagar mocking
her son, persecuting her son. Wherefore she said unto Abraham,
cast out this bond woman and her son, for the son of this
bond woman shall not be heir with my son, with Isaac. Oh my, this bond woman and her
son, not my son, her son, not your son, her son. And oh my,
cast him out. And over in Galatians, it tells
us why they do that. The bond and the spirit can't,
that's why Lord's spirit can't get along. Bondage, that's why
we're saved from the dominion. The law and flesh and spirit
cannot get along. That's why we have this warfare,
they can't get along. And that's what happened here.
And Noah says in verse 11, the thing was very grievous. Didn't say just grievous, very
grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. Oh, the thing was
very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. Oh, my. This was his son. He loved this
boy. He loved him. You know he did.
He enjoyed him. And it was grievous to Abraham.
He loved him. Enjoyed him. Probably had a lot
of wonderful time with him. But this was grievous. Oh, it
hurt him so. But look what God did for him.
Look what God did for him. You talk about God's strength
perfected. Look what he said. God said to Abraham, oh, God
always comes. He had all this great joy and
now he's grievous. His heart's hurting him. His
soul's hurting him. He's sorrowful. He's full of
grief. And God said unto Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy
sight because of the lad and because of thy bondwoman. And
oh, God comes to him to comfort him. God comes to him and said,
Abraham, Don't be grieved. Don't let your heart hurt. Don't
weep. Don't have such a heavy heart
over this because of this boy and because of the bond woman.
Oh my, God comes to comfort him. Here's God's wisdom. And he says,
in all that Sarah has said unto thee, hearken unto her voice.
Hearken unto her voice. Here's God's wisdom. You're talking
about God's wisdom. He said there's trouble and strife
in this home. And it's going to be because
of the Son of the Flesh and the Son of the Spirit. The Son of
the Flesh and the Son of Promise, they're going to fight. They
can't dwell together. The bondwoman and the child of
promise can't live together. It's like when Jacob and Esau
was in his mother's womb, there was two different people in that
womb. One of them God loved and the other one He didn't. but
there was a war going on in that womb. Sarah said I've got two
different nations in me. I got two different people in
me and I tell you what and there's in us two different people. There's
the spiritual man and there's the fleshly man but oh God separates
the trouble and the strife that's in this home and that son of
the bondwoman and the son of promise they can't live together. They can't. They're not gonna
do it. But oh, God's promise encourages him. Look what God
says to him there in verse 13. Cause he said in Isaac, in verse
12, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Not in Hagar's son, not
in Ishmael, not in the bondwoman's son. For in Isaac shall thy seed,
the Lord Jesus Christ, be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman.
Well, I'll make a nation. I'll make a nation. Because he
is thy seed. Because he is thy seed. Oh God
encourages him. He says the reason God does this
is because he is thy seed. He blesses him because he's the
child of one of his children. Oh my. I'm going to bless this
boy. He's your son. I'm going to bless
him because he's yours. God blesses us because we belong
to Christ. God blesses him because he's
Abraham's son. He's the son of flesh. He's the
son of sin. But he's the one of his child.
And we cannot imagine how hard this was for Abraham to let this
child go. For Abraham to let this boy go. We can't imagine. You imagine
your children. Let one of your children go.
And he said, it hurt him. Oh, it grieved him. It hurt him
so much. But God came and blessed him.
And I tell you, for him to put away his own child and take him
out of his house, and take him out and say, there you go, there
you go. But Abraham obeys and look what
happens now. And Abraham rose up early in
the morning, got him some bread, that bread means food, it don't
mean just a loaf of bread, it means food. And a bottle of water and gave
it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder and the child, and
listen to this, and sent her away. And she departed. She went and wandered in the
wilderness of Beersheba. Abraham obeyed and did what God
told him to do. And here's something I want you
to notice. Hagar doesn't seem to have resisted. She didn't
say, this is not right. You shouldn't do this. This is
not the right thing to do. She didn't resist. Ishmael didn't
rebel. He said, I'm not leaving. Hagar didn't resist and Ishmael
didn't rebel. And this is all the world, the
best the world can do for a person. And that's other flesh. God,
she gave him a bottle of water and some bread, some food. That's
the best that flesh can give flesh. Flesh can't do nothing
for flesh. Here's your bottle of water.
Here's your little food. That's the best that flesh can
give to flesh. But God's grace, God's grace
is absolutely sufficient for Abraham in all this. He believed
God, his promise was fulfilled. He rejoiced and thanked God for
what he had done. He believed him and he circumcised
his child. And when God told him to cast
him out, he cast him out. And Abraham's grace, God's grace
was sufficient when he rejoiced, and God's grace was sufficient
when he had to cast. Rejoice when he gets the son
of promise and rejoice when he had to cast another one out.
His grace sufficient when you're up, grace sufficient when you're
down. Grace sufficient when you rejoice,
grace sufficient when you're greatly tried. Huh? Is that not
right? And God's grace sufficient, if
it's for Abraham, it's sufficient for us too. Father, in the blessed name of
Christ, thank you for the day. Thank you for the messages. Thank
you for your word. Thank you for the presence of
the Holy Spirit. And I pray that your word was
a blessing that encouraged, that it helped, and instructed. But
Lord, that's in your hands to do. And Lord, it's in your hands
to cause it to be a blessing, not in mine, it's in yours. And
I pray that you cause it to be so, as only you can. Preserve
these dear saints. Keep them as they go. Keep them
as they go. Help us to always, always look
to you and trust you and believe you. and obey you in your precious
word. We ask these things in Christ's
holy name. Amen. Amen.