I'm back to Genesis 18. Is there anything too hard for the Lord? Boy, that was enough for me. Just reading that was enough
for me. And he's not asking a question
in a sense that he's revealing something here. Is there anything
too hard for me? But here's the scene. Abraham is sitting in the tent
door in the heat of the day. And there's three strangers,
three men. And it says here, three men stood
by him. And I think what happened at
a distance, they just appeared. I think these are three angels,
and one of them is the Lord. And they appeared in bodily form,
human form. And He sees these men at a distance.
At this time, He doesn't recognize exactly who they are or what's
going on. But He is an example to us, and
I did not want to pass this up. He is an example to us of hospitality. Strangers. Here's three strangers. Paul said over in Hebrews, forget
not to entertain strangers, for some have entertained angels
unaware. Unaware. I thought back to my
childhood, and I'm not saying this man was an angel at all,
but I can remember when I was a boy, That was just Mom and
all of us kids at home, and it was about 10 o'clock at night.
It was dark. We lived in the country, and it was country dark.
You know how that is. It's dark. Once you get past
the porch light, there's no light. And here comes this man out of
the darkness. He walked up on the porch, knocked on the door,
and he said, can I have something to eat? So Mom, you know, just
us kids, it was all little kids too. So she went in the kitchen,
fixed him something to eat, gave it to him. He said, thank you,
and walked off the porch, back into the darkness, and gone.
And I've never forgot that. I've never forgot. I've never
forgot that mom didn't shut the door in his face or she just
fixed him something to eat and he thanked her and walked off
the porch into the darkness and left. So every time I read this
Scripture, when I read this Scripture, I think of that, it just sticks
in my mind. Forget not to entertain strangers.
It's easy to be hospitable to brothers and sisters. Strangers? Well, Abraham is an example of
hospitality. Hospitality is a mark of grace
in the heart. It's not an infallible mark,
but it's a mark. Those who are born of God have it. They have
it. And so he runs to meet them.
He was ready. Here's a 99-year-old man running
to meet these men in a hurry. Ready to show hospitality. Ready
to extend a hand to them. Oh, what an example he is to
us. And when he gets to them, he recognizes, he recognizes
there's one of them that's above the other two. There's one that's
higher than, that's the highest of the three. And he calls him
Lord at this time. He calls him Lord. He recognizes
there's something different. And he invites them to come in
and stay with him. Come to his tent. And he washes
their feet. This man, this patriarch. Now,
this is the patriarch. This is Abraham. He humbles himself
and washes their feet, which is an act of kindness. And I'm
telling you, it's an act of humility also to do this. It's an act
of humility. If you remember, Simon the Pharisee
would not wash the Lord's feet. Remember when the Lord, he said,
you gave me no water to wash my feet. You gave me none of
the common courtesies at all. But Abraham, the patriarch, he
invited him to his house and he said, bring water and he washed
his feet. And then he fed them. He fed them. And then he tells Sarah, he goes
to Sarah and he says, drop what you're doing. Ladies, how would
you like for that to happen? I thought, how would you ladies
like for your husband to come in and say, drop what you're
doing and fix supper right now? Well, that's what he did. That's
what he did. He came in and he said, Sarah,
drop what you're doing. Start cooking. Start cooking. We have guests. We have guests. And she did. She did. And he fetched a calf there in
verse 7. He went out. He hurried up and he fetched
a calf. It said, tender and good. Tender and good. He went out
and He got the best calf he had in his flock there. He got the best one. He gave
unto the Lord the best he had. And then he stood by them while
they ate. He served them. He served them. He is an example. I didn't want
to pass this up. I started reading this and I
was headed to verse 14. I thought, you can't pass this
up. You can't do this. This is a mark of sonship, this
hospitality. Look over in Romans chapter 12. Look at a few scriptures here,
then we'll go on. In Romans 12, verse 10. Be kindly affectioned
one to another with brotherly love in honor, preferring one
another, not slot for business, fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing interest
in prayer, distributing to the necessity of the saints, given, absolutely given to hospitality,
given over to it, given over to it. Actually, it's a requirement
in a bishop. Look over here in 1 Timothy. Over here in 1 Timothy chapter
3, in verse 2, a bishop then must be blameless, the husband
of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior. And there's
that word again, given, given to hospitality. I don't know.
I thought about this. I don't know how a man can be
a preacher of the gospel or a pastor. I don't know how he can be a
pastor and not love people, not be given to be hospitable, open-armed
to people. It's a mark of sunshine. Well,
they asked Abraham, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he replied,
She's in the tent. She's in the tent. She's taking
care of the home. She's in there taking care of
the home and what's going on in the home. She's in the tent.
But they knew. They knew where she was. They
knew where she was. Here's what I think happened.
Sarah has never heard the promise. It was never given to her. It
was always given to Abraham. And so the Lord is here. and
is dealing with the head of the house. But he says, where is
Sarah? And guess who hears her name?
Sarah hears her name. And what does she do? She sticks
her ear to the door. What would you do if your name
was called and you heard somebody say your name out here and you
was in the other room? I know exactly what you'd do.
I know what I'd do. You'd be sticking your ear to
the door to see what was going on. So the Lord knew that. This
is the wisdom of God. So he calls her name. He gets
her attention. And so she listens and pays attention.
She's going to listen and see what they have to say. Her name
has come up. So he's going to deal with this
promise thing here. But he's going to reveal something
here. He's going to reveal unbelief. But he's going to deal with it.
And here's the promise he gives after he says, where's Sarah?
And she hears it. Then He gives His promise. Because
something has to be cleared up here before things can move on. I will certainly count on it,
Abraham. Count on this. Mark it down. Put it on your calendar. Mark
it on your calendar the day I set it. You mark it on your calendar. I will certainly return unto
thee according to the time of life. And lo, Sarah, and she's
listening, Thy wife shall have a son." She's going to have a
son. And Sarah heard it in the tent
door. She's behind the tent door there
listening. Which was behind him. The Lord purposely, He purposely
meant for her to hear this. And we'll see as we go along.
Now He says, I will return. I will certainly return. Our Lord said this in John 14.
And you and I can count on it. Mark it down. He said, if I go
away and prepare a place for you, I will return and receive
you to Myself. You can count on it. The Lord
Jesus Christ is going to return. And He's going to receive His
children to Himself. But what He's saying here, there's
a fixed time There is a fixed time to be born. There is a fixed
time for this promised Son here to be born. There is a fixed
time for everyone to be born in this life. No one comes into
this life by accident. I know people say they are, but
I've heard that many a time. Well, it was an accident. No,
it wasn't. Might be on your part, but not on God's part. Who gives
life? Who is the giver of life? Who
is the one who gives the Spirit? It's God. It's God. There is a fixed time for everyone
to be born in this life, and there is a fixed time for every
one of His children to be born. Not a minute sooner, and not
a minute later. There's a fixed time to be born
again. God's going to save a man. There's
a fixed time to be born. He has no children by accident.
Not at all. All His children have a fixed
time in the purpose of God to be born in time. Born of this
flesh and then born of the Spirit. There's a fixed time. And let's not do what Sarah and
Abraham tried to do. They tried to produce the child
before its time. They tried to produce the child
before its time. We cannot give birth We cannot give spiritual
birth to anyone. That's an absolute work of God
to give a new birth, a spiritual birth. Try and get a confession
out of people before it's time. Wait on the Lord. Wait on Him
in these matters. Now Sarah heard this promise,
and she heard this promise now for the first time. Now Abraham
may have told her about it, I don't know. I assume he did, because
they were trying to produce that one child. But this is the first
time she heard it from the Lord. Abraham heard it more than once,
but this is the first time she heard it. And that she would be the mother.
See, she thought it was over with for her. I'll tell you what,
that's the best time. It's when you can't do anything
about it. When you feel like it's absolutely over with for
you, then that's when God will do something. And here's her
response. And her response was totally
different than Abraham's when God told him. When God spoke
to Abraham and said, you're going to have a seed and all the nations
of the earth are going to be blessed with that seed. You know
what Abraham did? Believe God. It says Abraham
believed God. It says he staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. But here's what she did. She
laughed. She laughed. She laughed. It was a laugh. Now listen, it
was a laugh of unbelief. It was like, you've got to be
kidding. I'm old. That can't happen. She thought,
I'm an old woman. How can this be? Who else said
that? Nicodemus. How can a man be born
when he's old? Can he enter the second time
through? Sarah said, how can I have this child? I'm an old
woman and it ceases to be with me in childbearing. That's the same attitude. That
is the same attitude that caused her to give Hagar to Abraham
to try and produce a child. That same attitude, that same
unbelief. It's amazing. Truly, it would
scare us to know how much unbelief is in us. It would be scary to
know that. And the Lord said to Abraham,
this reveals who he is. He said, why did Sarah laugh?
You know, she didn't laugh out loud. It says she laughed within
herself. She did not laugh out loud. She
laughed within herself and the Lord read her heart. This proves
who He is. It proves who He is. Why did Sarah laugh? It's evident
who He is. Omnipotent God. Omnipresent. He's God Almighty who knows all
things. He knew that Sarah laughed at
the promise in her heart. He knows the thoughts of Scripture.
He knows the thoughts. and intense of our hearts. He
knows them. One writer said, no thought,
I believe it was over in Psalms, no thought can be withholding
from thee. No thought. He said, here's the
Lord giving this promise. I'm going to return at this fixed
time next year in the time of life. And Sarah's going to have
a son. And she's in there behind the
tent door That ain't going to happen. I don't see how in the
world that could happen. I'm old. Abraham's old. It's
not going to happen. And the Lord reads her heart
and He reads it out loud. He reads it out loud. He knows
her thoughts. And what did Sarah do when He exposed her? She lied. She just flat out lied. She said, I did not laugh. Out
loud? No. In your heart? Yes. Yes. All our sins are inward. That's where they start. God knows our hearts. He knows
the thoughts and intents of our hearts. And when her sin was
exposed, she lied. One sin. always leads to another
sin. You can just mark it down. One
sin always leads to another sin. Not until we say guilty can we
put a stop to it. Not until then. Sin. This sin here of her lying
to God is a fear. It's a fear of God that's not
good. This was not a godly fear. And
her sin was exposed. It was a fear of exposure. It's
like being stripped naked. You don't want that, do you?
You wouldn't want that. She didn't want that. She didn't
want that exposed, so she lied. Sin gives wrong understanding of God and His glorious attributes. This is the Lord speaking. This
is the Lord giving the promise. This is the Lord saying, I will
return. I'm going to make this happen,
Abraham. I will return. This is going to happen. And
Sarah's going to have a son. And she disbelieved that. She
believed it was not possible for her to have a child even
if God said it. Even when the Lord said it. But here's the question our Lord
asked. Said all that to get to this. Is anything... Well, that just covers everything,
doesn't it? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? See, this problem here, this
matter of unbelief, is going to have to be settled before
the Lord goes any further with His promise. This has got to
be dealt with. Before the Lord repeats the promise, he asks
this question, and this has to be settled. Is anything too hard
for the Lord? You just pick anything, going
on with you, anything. Is it too hard for the Lord? See, the promises of God are
for those who believe. It's not for those who believe
not. It's a searching question. Is
anything right now, right now in the present, is
anything too hard for the Lord? Well, first, let's consider who's
asking the question. Who's asking this question? The
Lord. The Lord. Not some creative spirit. Not one of the two angels standing
with Him. The Lord Himself is asking this question. The One
who created all spirits is asking this question. Is anything too
hard for the Lord? Look over at Colossians chapter
1. Here is the One asking the question. Verse 16. For by Him were all
things created. The vast universe. Go over to
Job 38 and read there where the Lord said, Job, where were you
when I created the heavens and the earth? And He goes down this
whole list. Where were you when I did this?
For by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions,
principalities or powers. All things were created by Him.
and for Him. He is the head of all things
and by Him all things consist. That word means held together.
The reason this world keeps rotating is because the Lord is holding
all things together. The reason we are not bombarded
by meteorites is because the Lord holds all things together.
I know you watch TV and they give you these You know, showing
how you're going to have this disaster, this meteor hits this
place, that place. By Him, all things consist. This is the One asking the question. He's the One. Whatever exists,
the Lord created it. And He holds it together by His
power. Now, if He holds all this together by His power, is it
too hard for Him to take an old man and an old woman and give
them a child? No. No. You know, Abraham lived to
be 175. Matthew 28, 18. All power is
given to me in heaven and earth. He can do all things. All power
is given to him. Our Lord talking about a rich
man. How hard it was for those who have riches to enter into
the kingdom of heaven." And the disciple said, boy, this is a
hard saying. He said, with God, all things
are possible. Yes, even an 89-year-old woman,
because she was 10 years younger, even an 89-year-old woman can
have a child if God's in it. If God's in it. Look at creation and say, Is
anything too hard for the Lord? Look at Providence. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is this economy too hard for the Lord? Is the war in Iraq
and Afghanistan and all the wars that we've had before, is that beyond His control? Is
anything too hard for the Lord? He said, I make wars to cease
unto the ends of the earth. I'm the one who stops them. If
He did not put an end to wars, World War I, II, Vietnam, and
all those others, civil war, if He didn't put a stop to it,
they'd still be fighting. It would have never ended. They
would never end if He did not put a stop to it. Is anything
too hard for Him providentially? I'll never find myself in a position,
in a situation that's too hard for the Lord to bring me out
of. But what about salvation? What
about the salvation of my soul? Now that's the most important
of all. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Is anything too hard for the
Lord in the saving of my soul? There's God's holy law. There's
not a law like it. You know, we take the law of
the land and we twist it The courts do. The lawyers do. They
twist it. I mean, they just do all kinds
of stuff with it. Not God's law. God's law is holy. God's law is strict. It demands
perfection. I read that to you. Be ye holy,
for I am holy. It demands perfection. It demands
perfect obedience. Can the Lord, can the man Christ
Jesus, Satisfy such a law? Can such a law be satisfied by
a creature? Well, not by me and you. But
there is a man, there is a man in glory seated at God's right
hand that has absolutely satisfied, pacified God's law. Every jot
and tittle, every bit of it. He's able to do it. Scripture
says this, He magnified the law and made it honorable. This man
did. The man Christ Jesus, the God-man.
He magnified it and He made it honorable by His obedience. He did that. The Scripture says
over in Romans that He is our peace. Well, if He's our peace
with God and we are reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
then that means He's satisfied. Yes, yes, there's one who can
satisfy the law of God. Is there anything too hard for
the Lord? Is His blood sufficient to cleanse
us from our sins? Is the stain so deep that it
cannot be washed out? Have you ever had something that
was stained that you couldn't get it out? I don't care what
you put on him, he couldn't get it out. And they say blood is
one of the hardest stains to get out. Well, I have more than a stain.
I have a life of sin. I have a wretched nature. Can
His blood cleanse me from all my sins? Can His blood cleanse
Sarah from laughing Yes, it can. Is it sufficient? Is there anything else that needs
to go along with it? Is it enough? Look over in, I'll just read
you one, I wrote down several, but turn over to 1 John chapter
1. One's enough if God says it, isn't
it? Now verse 7, But if we walk in
the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all
sin. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is he able to give this dead
rebel life? Is he able to give this sinner
here, who was by nature an enemy of God, in my mind? My wicked
works, it says. Is He able to conquer me? Is He able to subdue me? Is He
able to bring me to Himself and make me a son and give me life? Is He able to do that? Is He
able to create in me a clean heart and a right spirit? Is
that too hard for the Lord? The Lord said in John 17.3. Let
me read it. John chapter 17. John 17.3. And this is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom Thou hast sent. Verse 2, that's the verse I wanted.
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Can he
do that? Word of God says he can. And
experience says he can. Those who've tasted of the Lord
and found him to be gracious. Turn back to John chapter 5.
I want you to see this in the Word
of God. John 5 and verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but
is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For
as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to
have life in Himself." He's able to give it to whomsoever He will. Is He able? He sure is. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is He able to keep me saved? Is He able to keep me? As you go through this life as
a believer, you journey through this life by the attacks of sin,
within and without. Is He able to keep me? He says
over in John 6, verse 39, that those whom the Father gave Him,
He would lose nothing, not one of them, but raise them up again
at the last day. He's able. Is He able to subdue
my indwelling sin? Is He able to conquer the power
of indwelling sin? Well, the Scripture says in Romans
6, sin shall not have dominion over you. It will not have legal
dominion over you, and it will not reign over you. He breaks
the power of cancelled sin. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is He able to deliver me from the grave? Let's go over
1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, listen to this
in verse 53. Well, this corruptible must put
on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? Is he able to raise me from the
grave? He sure is. He sure is. And then last of all, is He able
to present me faultless before His throne? Now think about who
and what you are. I thought today about who and
what I am by nature. Is He able to take someone like
us and present us absolutely faultless before the holy presence
of God Almighty? Turn over to Jude, the book of
Jude. In the book of Jude, in verse
24, Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, falling
away, And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory,
listen, with exceeding joy. Not standing there trembling,
not afraid, but I mean to present you faultless
with exceeding joy. A joy that exceeds anything we've
ever experienced here. Is there anything? Anything too hard for the Lord? That's what he asked when Sarah
laughed. When Sarah laughed. He said, she's going to have
a son. And she laughed in unbelief. He straightened this matter up.
Is there anything too hard for the Lord? Absolutely not.