Genesis 21, let's begin reading
in verse 14. And Abraham rose up early in
the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it
to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered
in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the
bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And
she went and set her down over against him a good way off, as
it were a bow shot. For she said, Let me not see
the death of the child. And she set over against him
and lift up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the
lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said
unto her, What ill of thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard
the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and
hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation.' And
God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she
went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
And God was with the lad, and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness,
and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness
of Perah. His mother took him away out of the land of Egypt. Well, verse 16, let me not see
the death of the child. Well, in her mind, she was going
to see his death, that's for sure. She had already come to
that conclusion, no doubt. And you know, I imagine if you
and I read through the Holy Scriptures, we could find all sorts of places.
where people's situation, where their dilemma was so serious
in their own minds, at least to their perception, they could
see no way that they could be delivered. Like this poor woman
here, they despaired to live as she did, both of herself and
her son. David said one time, this is
the conclusion that The sweet psalmist of Israel read, he said,
I shall one day perish at the hands of Saul. And he despaired
to live in Israel and fled to the land of the Philistines and
live there. Those lepers that we read about
during the great famine, they said, let us fall into the hands
of the Philistines. We can but perish. If we stay
here, we're going to perish. We may perish if we go there.
That was their perception of their case. The Lord had told
His disciples to go get in a ship and cross over the sea. In the
midst of the storm, they said, Behold, we perish. We perished. But you know, in all of these
cases that we find in the Scriptures like this, it was only in their
perception. It wasn't a reality. None of
those people perished. Neither did this woman, neither
did her child. How many fears has the children
of God had to endure? And how many tears have they
poured out? And how many dilemmas have they
faced? And how much worries have they had in their heart? And
yet, all that they worried about, and all they feared, and all
they anticipated, never came to pass. Let me not see the death
of the child. Well, dear woman, you won't see
it. And you won't die yourself. Let me not see the death of her
child. This was in her own perceptions.
It never took place. Never would, but it was so real
in her imagination, it caused her, here in verse 16, to weep
out loud. But while she feared, and I want
you to notice this, while she feared, and while she trembled,
and while she wept, The means of her deliverance was right
next to her. It was already prepared. All
she needed was her eyes open to see it. And the Lord opened
her eyes and she saw a well and she went and filled her bottle
with water and they drank. All the anxiety that she faced,
the anticipation of her death and the child, it was only imaginary. Her remedy lay right next to
her. You remember when those dear
ladies had gone early in the morning to anoint the body of
our Lord? And one of the things they were
so anxious about is something that never came to pass. They
said, who's going to roll the stone away? They said among themselves. And don't you know how anxious
they were about that? It was a great stone, and they
talked among themselves while they were going there, who's
going to roll the stone away? And they were so anxious about
that, but Mark says, when they got there and looked, the stone
was rolled away already. All their talking was for naught,
and all their worries and their concerns, and all the time, the
stone was already rolled away. But there's something more than
perception here with Hagar, What she faced was reality. And it
seemed to be a hopeless reality. Because it says there in verse
15, the water was spent in the bottle. She was out of water
and she was in the wilderness. That wasn't just her perception,
that was reality. She could feel the heat of the
sun. Her eyes could look out over the wilderness and see the
barrenness of it. She was sweating, she was hot. The evidence proved that the
case was desperate. She had every reason to believe
that her and her son would soon perish. She could not exist in
this condition. That was reality. And yet, in
spite of all that, she never died. Let me not see the death
of the son, of my dear son. And she never. She never. The
means of her deliverance from such a real and immediate danger
had already been prepared and was close by her hand. All she
needed was opened eyes to see it. But what ailed her most,
and look at this in verse 16 again, Not just that she was
in this dilemma, but it was her child. Let me not see the death
of the child. You know, sometimes it's not
what we face ourselves that so burdens us and seems to overwhelm
us, but it's what a dear loved one faces. It's what a dear family
member faces, our relative, our friend faces. Their burden becomes
our burden. Their dilemma becomes our dilemma.
You remember when that woman went to the Lord Jesus and her
daughter was possessed of the devil? And she said, Have mercy
upon me, O Lord. Have mercy upon me, my dear woman. You're not the one that's possessed
with the devil. It might as well be me. She's
my daughter. She's in my heart. I carry this
burden for her. I have no rest until I know that
she finds rest. Did you ever get that burden
for a friend? Did you ever get that burden for a loved one?
That you had no rest because you knew they had no rest? And
you took them to yourself to the point that you poured out
your soul, Lord have mercy upon me. It's me. That's the way Hagar
felt. She was burdened for her son,
I guess more than she was even burdened for herself. Many came
to the Lord Jesus when He was here upon this earth. And so
often they cried out for their children. Come and heal my little
daughter, for she's at the point of death. The devil takes my
son and casts him into the fire and into the water. If you can
do anything, help us. Have compassion upon us. See
how we bear a burden sometimes? Come down and heal my servant,
for he's grievously tormented. Have mercy upon my friend, he's
taken with a palsy. My mother-in-law is sick with
a fever. Come and have mercy upon us. You and I have loved
ones that we're burdened for. And sometimes we may be tempted
like poor Hagar just to despair. And say we might as well cast
them under a shrub. Their case is hopeless. Their
case is hopeless. And this ought to encourage us.
You know there was not a single person came to the Lord Jesus
with one of their loved ones on their hearts, and they were
burdened for them, that that loved one died, He healed all
of those that had need of being healed. You say, Bruce, you mean
to tell me if I take my loved ones and their burdens, and especially
my lost loved ones, to the Lord in prayer, He's going to save
all of them? I'm not saying that. But I'm saying this order encourages
us, that here was a woman, When she thought of her son, she thought
surely he's going to perish. But he didn't. And nobody that
ever brought their child or their loved one to the Lord Jesus went
unhealed or unhelped. And that ought to encourage us,
don't despair. Don't despair. The case may seem
helpless, and it may seem real. Aguilar's did. But she still
found deliverance when her eyes were open. when her eyes was
opened, the very remedy that they need may have been already
provided. That loved one that you are burdened
for, the remedy that he needs may have already been provided.
That is, Christ may have already made reconciliation for him. All he needs is for his eyes
to be opened to see it. Hagar's well of relief was already
dug, wasn't it? It was already done. Nothing
needed to be done, but her eyes opened to see it. I thought,
what a wonderful thing this is, as I was reading this. Everything
was already provided. The case was desperate, and she
thought there was no hope. She just cast him under a shrub
and said, he's dead. He's dead. But the remedy, the
relief that was soon coming was so close to her. that she could
have seen it if she'd had her eyes open. And did, as soon as
her eyes were open. Listen to this verse of Scripture.
They which were ready to perish shall come. Now that's a desperate
situation to be in, isn't it? Ready to perish? That's a desperate
situation. But he says, they shall come.
They shall come. The situation is desperate with
your loved ones, with my loved ones, with a child. or whoever
it may be, but he says they're ready to perish, but they shall
come. They'll hear the trumpet, and
they shall come and worship the Lord in Jerusalem. I think one of the greatest surprises,
to me anyway, one of the greatest surprises, when the Lord saved
me, and there was a few of them, three or four that I can name
right off the top of my head, but one of the greatest surprises
was to me, when the Lord saved me, that the remedy for my salvation
had already been provided. And I didn't even know it. It
was there all along. I'd been trying to save myself,
been trying to find a remedy, and the remedy was there all
along. And when I had my eyes open to
see it, I was amazed. Why, it's already done. Reconciliation's
done, been made. Sin's done, been atoned for.
The well's already been dug. I just didn't have eyes to see
with. Those poor disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke chapter
24, they were so sad and cast down, but the very one that their
soul craved was walking right next to them. But they didn't know it. Their
eyes were holding. But as soon as they sat, and
He break that bread, He opened their eyes, And they knew him. Don't you think they were amazed?
Why, he was there all along. He's been walking with us. We
could have reached out and touched him. He is so close. But we didn't
know him. We didn't know it until our eyes
were open. Why am I emphasizing this this
evening? We think sometimes the remedy
for our troubles, whatever they are, the remedy for our burdens
and our needs, is so far off. We think if the Lord does help
us, it's going to be a slow process. It's going to take so long for
Him to do it. After all, He's in heaven. But
brothers and sisters, that's not always so. The remedy may
already be provided, and it may be next to us already. And all
that's needed for us to see it is for our eyes to be opened. Now ain't that so? And you've
found that so in your own experience. I asked the other day, I read
Spurgeon was telling a story about a man who was locked in
a dark room, and he about starved to death before he found out
he was locked in a pantry. I thought that was funny. He
didn't know there was food there, but he was locked in a pantry.
And that's the way we are sometimes. Our pantry is there. Our well
is there. The very means to meet our needs. But we need our poor eyes open
to see it. And notice something else about
this passage and this incident here. How easily her desperate
situation was remedied as soon as her eyes was opened. Now notice
this. How easily her desperate situation was remedied as soon
as her eyes was opened. In verse 19, And God opened her
eyes, and she saw a well of water, and look at this, and she went
and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink. See how
simple and easy that was? We're not told she needed a rope.
We're not told she needed a bucket. There was no effort. There was
no labor. As soon as her eyes was opened,
she saw the well and she went and filled her little bucket,
her little container, and she drank. What was impossible before. Now become as easy as taking
cold water into a thirsty belly. That's how easy it was. The blessings
of the Lord maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it. No
sorrow. No labor comes with it. That's
how free and easy the blessings flow. I was reading a story the
other day about these celery. They were in the Atlantic Ocean.
and they ran out of water and they sailed out of the Atlantic
up into the Amazon River, and that's a huge fresh water river.
But they had no idea where they were. And they were dying of
thirst. And a ship came close by and
they ran up their signal that they needed help upon those old
sails that they had. And the ship saw their distress
signal and sailed by and said, what's your need? And they said,
we're dying of thirst. We're dying of thirst. And the
voice came back and said, let down your bucket and drink all
you want. You're in the freshwater river.
Just let down your bucket. That's how easy it is when we
see Christ. That's how easy it is when He
reveals our remedy to us. It's that easy. What we could
not do before now becomes as easy as drinking in water to
our thirsty souls. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me For I am meek and lowly, and you shall find rest for your
soul, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." It's easy. Don't you feel this evening,
don't you feel if you had a thousand souls, you could trust Jesus
Christ with every one of them? There was a time when you couldn't
even trust Him with yours. But you've come to that well,
your eyes have been opened and you've tasted that living water,
and it's been so easy to you, you wonder why you didn't do
it before. But now that you've done it, don't you feel like
if you had a thousand souls, I could just trust Him with every
one of them? That's how easy it is when He opens the eyes. You can't believe, you can't
repent, you can't walk, you can't do anything until He gives grace. But ain't it easy, ain't it easy,
when He gives grace and when He opens the eyes to do it. I
remember poor Luther. I read after Martin Luther quite
a bit. And Luther says, I fought within myself. I had to do a
thousand things to save my soul. I had to do a thousand things. Poor fellow, he sat on sharp
sticks. He laid on cold brick meket. fasted himself half to
death, and one day he was crawling up these stairs there in Rome,
on his hands and knees, crawling those stairs, trying to be humble
before the Lord. And that verse of scripture fell
into his heart, the just shall live by faith. And Luther said,
I saw right there, I saw right there, it wasn't doing, it was
believing. And there he trusted Christ with
his soul. trusted the Lord Jesus Christ.
What was impossible for that man to do before, now became
the easiest thing in the world. Trusting Christ. I never could
trust Him, could you? Because we couldn't see. We didn't
have our eyes open. Oh, whatever situation we're
in, whatever burden we have, whatever anxiety we have in our
hearts, when the Lord opens our eyes, our remedy will be so easy
to take into our hearts. All the remedy for all our perplexities
and anxiety that we suffer is so easy to take in once our eyes
are open. I remember when the Lord first
saved me. I don't know if this is your experience or not. Maybe
it's not. But I remember when the Lord first saved me. All
I knew was that I was a sinner. A poor sinner and nothing at
all. I was brought to Christ to rely upon Him, and I saw that
He was my all in all. But my problem was I had a knowledge,
I felt the condemnation of sin, I felt the guilt of sin, and
I saw it taken away in the blood of Christ. But it was sometime
later until I began to see the pollution of sin. And boy, when
I began to feel that, I was so troubled about it. I wasn't taught
about that. I was so perplexed, what is going
on? What's going on within me? I
thought I was saved from sin, but here I see such working,
I see such pollution, and I was so confused about that until
I began to go back to the well and taste another well. And over
in Ezekiel 36, when the Lord said, I'll give them a new heart
and a new spirit, and He went right ahead to say, and they
shall abhor themselves for their iniquities and their abominations.
And that's what I was doing. I saw the working of sin, and
I began to abhor myself, and I began to think, if I'm this
bad, how in the world does the Lord look upon me? I didn't understand
that warfare that was within. But I tell you, as soon as I
had my eyes open and I went back here and drank of that well,
I found so much comfort. And that warfare then wasn't
confusion anymore. I knew what was going on. And
when the Lord first saved me, I'll tell you something else
that perplexed me. I didn't understand that the
Lord had secured me for all eternity. I didn't understand that. One
man tried to get me to drink out of that old bitter well of
modern day security and I didn't like the way that tasted and
I just spit it back out. I didn't understand that God
was faithful to work in you and never ceased that work until
the day of Jesus Christ. I never had read the verse, where
the righteous shall hold on his way. I began to think the righteous
might fall and yet perish. I had to go back and drink of
the well. We have some dear grace brethren, bless their hearts,
and they're better preachers than I'll ever be, but they sometimes
wonder how fellows like us can ever be saved. They seem to go
to this one well, and they gulped all the water down at one time,
and they wonder why we didn't do that. We weren't raised close
to these wells like some of those dear brethren were. They were
raised next to them, they were taught of them, and boy, I tell
you, they begin to draw from them quickly. That wasn't my
experience. I went to the well, and I love,
I think it's Isaiah 26, verse 3. With joy shall they draw water
out of the wells of salvation. Out of the wells of salvation. You mean there's more than one
salvation? There's just one salvation. There's just one Christ. There's
just one gospel. That's the gospel of His grace.
But I tell you what makes that gospel up is several wells. And we drank of these different
wells on our way. And the first well we drank of
is the well of justification. Now ain't that so? God be propitious
to me, a sinner. And he went down to his house
justified. Until we drank of that well, we may seek to drink
of these other wells. But we'll deceive ourselves.
That's the first well we must drink of. The well of justification. But you know when we drink of
that well, we go to another well, we go to another well. And what
I did in my own experience, and I don't know if this is yours
or not, I went to the well and I found out that I have two natures
within me. I was two men. But that was such
a joy to find that out. And then I went to the well of
election, and I began to see the Lord chose me before I ever
knew it. Before I knew Him, He knew me,
and it set me apart. And all that was such a sweet
well to drink out of, and it was so easy, I had no trouble
with that. And then I began to see on top
of that, that the same God who predestinated me to be conformed
to the image of His Son, in His purpose had already glorified
me. And as I began to drink out of these wells, I tell you, just
every time I had a problem, every time I had a burden, an anxiety,
I'd just go here and say, Lord, open my eyes. Let me drink again. Let me drink again. the whales
and the Lord opened her eyes and she saw a whale and she went
and filled it and it was so easy to drink because she was thirsty.
Are you thirsty? Are you still drinking? Are you
still seeking the whales? I'm worried about people who
aren't thirsty. I'm worried about those who took one big giant
gulp and that finished them off. They're not thirsty anymore.
I like to see people thirsty. Because that's the very people,
the Lord opens their eyes, and they'll find a well. The well
of living water. Well, may the Lord bless His
Word. Our Father in Heaven, gracious and wise Father, we thank You
for Your Word. We thank You for the water, the
precious water of life, and the wells that fills our hearts with
joy when we taste them. Thank You for Your Word, the
water of life, the milk of the Word, that strengthens us and
blesses our hearts. We thank You, Lord, tonight for
Your kindness, Your kind providence for letting us gather here as
we are this evening. And Lord, You know the coldness
and difficulty that we have in prayer. How often we're lost
for words. lost without a heart to pray. Lord, we thank you that we have
an advocate, a mediator. We thank you for the Holy Spirit
that upholds us, works in us to will and to do
and believe and to keep praying and to keep believing and to
keep following. Thank you that you know the hearts
of all. Thank You that You're one who's able to heal the broken
heart, bind up their wounds. Thank You for Your instructions.
Thank You for Your chastening hand. Thank You for the promises
of Your Word that You'll finish what You've begun. Lord, if You
leave it to us, we'll despair. We're hoping and we're waiting.
We're looking to You to finish that which You've begun in the
hearts. And You're faithful to do it, and You'll do it. And
grace begun as heaven won, and we praise you for such a promise.
As we remember your death this evening, the shedding of your
blood, as we remember you, our Lord, help us to lay aside the
memory of everything else. What in other times would be
precious to us, help us tonight to lay it aside and thank only
of you and remember only you until you come again. Oh, our
Father, thank you for sending us a Savior, a great one, to
deliver us. Thank you for causing us to hope.
Thank you for stripping us and afflicting us and breaking our
bones, leaving us nowhere to go, kicking every prop from under
us. laying our guilt upon our hearts to the point we could
not bear it anymore, until we cried to be washed and made clean. Oh, we bless you for conviction
of sin, it's so needful in our day. We pray you'll not, the
Lord, cease to work. If you have any people in this
place who are yet not called, oh, we pray you'll call them.
For your glory we ask these things. Amen.