Promised Heir & Inheritance

He visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised.

And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him.

Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.

And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

And Sarah said, God has made laughter for me.

Everyone who hears will laugh over me.

And she said, who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children?

Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.

And the child grew and was weaned.

And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.

So she said to Abraham, cast out this slave woman with her son.

For the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.

And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son.

But God said to Abraham, be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman.

Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you.

For through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also.

Because he is your offspring.

So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar.

Putting it on her shoulder along with the child and sent her away.

And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes.

And then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bow shot.

For she said, let not me look on the death of the child.

And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.

And God heard the voice of the boy.

And the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her,

What troubles you, Hagar?

Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

Up.

Lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand.

For I will make him into a great nation.

And then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.

And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

And God was with the boy and he grew up.

He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow.

He lived in the wilderness of Paran.

And his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

At that time, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham,

God is with you in all that you do.

Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity.

But as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.

And Abraham said, I will swear.

When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized,

Abimelech said, I do not know who has done this thing.

He did not tell me and I have not heard of it until today.

So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech.

And the two men made a covenant.

Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart.

And Abimelech said to Abraham,

What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?

And he said, These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.

Therefore, that place was called Beersheba because there both of them swore an oath.

So they made a covenant at Beersheba.

Then Abimelech and Thichol, the commander of his army, rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines.

Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.

And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.

Abraham!

Well, good morning, everyone.

Good to see you, Chelsea.

Yeah, there you are.

Good to see you, Chelsea.

Well, will you pray with me as we come to God's Word?

Come to God's Word.

Heavenly Father, as we sang in our first song, that this is God's only plan.

I pray that as we read Genesis and sit under Genesis 21,

fill us with the conviction that this is your only plan to bring life and blessing and salvation to us and the whole world.

So give us understanding and faith, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, Genesis is the first book in the Bible.

Profound, isn't it?

You're starting to think, what are we paying this guy for?

We ask him to go study so that he could share what he's found with us.

Genesis is the first book.

Now, it is profound, okay?

It sets the foundation, the framework for understanding the rest of the Bible.

This is God's only plan.

As we come to the birth of Isaac, the heir of all God's promises, of God's plan,

we've got to remember the larger story going on here.

Sin entered the world and brought God's curse, God's judgment, instead of blessing.

We've seen in Noah's flood, we've seen the fire at Sodom,

that the judge of all the earth must do what is right.

He is just.

How will God redeem and save his world?

Enter Abraham.

Not because Abraham is any better than the rest of the world,

but God graciously calls him.

He makes a covenant with him.

God is creating his own family,

calling them out of the world,

a people for himself of all nations.

He says all the nations will be blessed through him,

through this family.

Now how will God's saving purposes for the world be achieved?

The tension in Abraham's story has been,

there's no son, there's no heir.

How can God's purposes be achieved if there's no heir to carry out God's purposes?

And here in Genesis 21,

we're going to see three crucial things to understand about God keeping his promise

in providing an heir to save the whole world.

Here's what we're going to see.

In verses 1 to 7,

the Lord keeps his promise by doing himself what's humanly impossible.

In verses 8 to 21,

the one who is going to inherit everything is the son of promise,

not the son of human ability.

And then in verses 22 to 34,

the inheritance is just a matter of time.

It's coming because God's everlasting.

So that's where we're headed.

So with the birth of Isaac,

we're coming to the climax,

one of the climaxes in the story.

And there's something obvious.

If we know the story well,

you've heard it lots of times,

we can take it for granted.

We're told in verse 5,

Abraham was 100 years old

when his son Isaac was born to him.

It is repeated a few more times,

so we get the point.

Verse 2,

in his old age.

Verse 7,

in his old age.

When we're first introduced to Abraham and Sarah,

back in chapter 11,

we're told she has no children,

and she is now 90 years old.

She's past menopause.

The way of women has ceased,

we heard earlier.

And yet it's repeated here

as if it's kind of

offending our intelligence.

It's just repeated so much.

Verse 3,

Sarah,

Sarah conceived

and bore Abraham a son.

Verse 3,

who was born to him,

to Abraham,

whom Sarah bore him.

We get the point, right?

At the end,

verse 7,

it finishes with Sarah's astonishment.

Who would have said to Abraham

that Sarah would nurse children?

Yet I have borne him a son

in his old age.

We get it.

It's Sarah and Abraham's child.

Abraham was 75

when God first called him,

back in chapter 12.

What if God had given Abraham and Sarah

the heir straight away

when they were 75?

They would have rejoiced,

wouldn't they?

They were no newlyweds.

They'd had a lot of heartache already.

They would have been rejoicing.

Wow.

Instead,

God keeps showing up

and just

reaffirms his promise.

You will have a son.

Look toward heaven.

Number the stars.

If you're able to,

so shall your offspring be.

And Abraham believed the Lord

and it was counted to him

as righteousness.

Still no child.

At 86,

they get sick of waiting.

They want to help God

keep his promise

by their own ability,

using Hagar as a surrogate.

And they make an absolute mess

of things.

Then at 99 years old,

the Lord makes the covenant

in chapter 17,

and Abraham,

the man of faith,

hears Yahweh's promise again,

I will give you a son

by Sarah,

and he laughed.

He laughs

in disbelief.

Chapter 18,

the Lord promises Sarah,

she laughs.

They can't believe it.

They're very much like us,

aren't they?

They can only imagine

that God can do

what they think is possible.

How much are we anxious today?

Because we just can't see

how it could possibly,

how he could possibly

look after us.

They're just like us.

They're too afraid to hope.

It just hurts.

It actually hurts too much

when you just cling

to God's promises

and they don't come true

for 25 years.

They can't believe it anymore.

So what are we meant

to be seeing here?

What would they have known

now that they're holding

Isaac in their hands?

What would they have known

that day?

I think they would have known this.

They had nothing,

we had nothing to do

with the birth of this child

whatsoever.

We had nothing to do with it.

And nothing is too wonderful

for the Lord.

He can do anything.

This is impossible.

When things seem hopeless,

Yahweh visited.

He did it.

He did it himself.

Mercifully.

Impossibly.

The Lord has done this

and it is wonderful

in our eyes.

every time they

or someone else

use Isaac's name.

Remember,

it means laughter.

Hey, laughter,

come wash your hands

before dinner.

Laughter,

tidy up your tent.

It would have reminded them

every day

about two things.

When they heard

God's promise,

they both laughed.

They didn't believe God.

It would have reminded them

of Hagar incident.

It would have reminded

of putting Sarah

in danger

with Abimelech,

what we saw last week.

If God had left it up

to them

and their faith,

Abraham would have

stuffed it up.

Every day

they would have had

that reminder.

They laughed.

But the second thing

and the more important thing,

every time they heard

laughter,

his name is a daily

reminder of the Lord's

gracious faithfulness

to keep his word,

his promise.

Let's emphasize here,

verse 1,

as he had said,

as he had promised

at the time

of which

God had spoken

to him.

And here we see

Sarah laughing again.

She's laughing.

This is the laugh

that God's grace

gives you.

God has made

laughter for me.

What's the right response

to God keeping his promise?

I think we see here

in Sarah and Abraham.

If you see how wonderful

God keeping his word is,

you praise.

You just,

wow,

that you are a God

who keeps your word

so graciously

despite my lack of faith

and lack of obedience.

You praise.

You make me laugh

and the right response

is obedience.

Abraham obeys.

He names and circumcises

Isaac in covenant obedience.

Praise and obedience.

So what are we seeing

here in Genesis,

the first book

of the Bible?

How will God save

all the nations

of the earth?

He will graciously

keep his covenant promises

by doing what's

humanly impossible,

visiting himself.

There's a trend

at the moment

of evangelical,

I don't know

if you know or not,

we're an evangelical church.

We're all about

the message,

the promise

fulfilled in Jesus.

That's at the heart

of evangelical Christianity.

There's a trend

of evangelicals

going to Catholicism

and Eastern Orthodox,

just that tradition

way of doing church.

Are we just

one different branch

of all the different

types of Christianity

out there

in the marketplace?

Is this just

one way

of doing Christianity?

I'm going to say no

because Genesis

is the first book

of the Bible.

John Woodhouse,

he's the former principal

of Moore College.

He came and spoke

at our church camp

a number of years ago.

He wrote a tiny book

but it was profound

in my understanding.

It's called

God of Word

and he says this,

it is not that we

evangelicals

emphasize the Word

of God

while Catholics

emphasize sacraments

and charismatics

emphasize the Holy Spirit

and liberals

emphasize good works.

God of God

Woodhouse says this,

this is really simple

but it's profound.

Where you have

the Word of God

creating faith

in God,

there is all

of biblical Christianity.

That's what we're

seeing here.

It's God

keeping His Word.

That is Christianity.

That is how

He's going to

fulfill His promise.

Well,

verse 8,

the second thing,

the second foundation

we learn here.

How many,

how common is it

at weddings

or special family events,

Christmas Day

or something,

at some point

there's some family

bust up,

isn't there?

Like,

there's something

about those

special days

that,

I don't know,

emotion,

maybe it is because

it's the special day.

Emotions are high

and just those

old jealousies

and grudges,

they can't,

they just wait

for that day.

Here we've got

that day,

verse 8,

this is Abraham

and Sarah's

greatest celebration

in their life.

They're throwing

a party

with the birth

of Isaac

when he's weaned.

In our culture,

it might be the first

birthday party

but Isaac here

is probably two,

maybe three,

little infant.

Ishmael would be

13 or 14

and just as

Hagar

taunted

Sarah

back in

chapter 16,

here we've got

Ishmael

laughing,

maybe mocking.

It's not quite,

it's hard to know

what to imagine

here.

The word laughing

is different

to previous verses.

It's the same

word that

when Lot

was warning

his sons-in-law

get out of Sodom,

they thought

he was jesting.

And then Potiphar's

wife,

which we see

later in Genesis,

she uses this

word as

Joseph was

making sport

of her.

So jesting,

making sport,

something's going

on here.

It's Isaac's

big celebration,

he's the heir

and Sarah

sees Ishmael

doing something

that's,

it's just not

befitting the

moment and she

flips out.

Drive out.

This is

forceful language,

drive that

slave woman

out.

Like she can't

even use her

name,

like even

though she

used Hagar

as a surrogate,

she can't

even use her

name.

This is

deep anger.

With her

son.

It's also

Abraham's

son.

Now verse

11,

Abraham is

deeply

distressed.

He has

deep affection

for Ishmael.

But the

shock,

isn't the

shock,

verse 12,

what God's

response is?

Be not

displeased

because of

the boy

and because

of your

slave woman.

Whatever Sarah

says to you,

do as she

tells you,

for through

Isaac

shall your

offspring be

named.

God's

love.

The Lord

agrees with

the wisdom

of these

boys parting

ways but

he's not

agreeing with

Sarah's

jealousy or

pettiness.

We shouldn't

equate those

two things.

Now this

feels so

wrong,

doesn't it,

to send

off a child

in the care

of his

mother like

this.

It must

have hurt

Abraham

incredibly,

likely never

to see

them again.

But he

did have

this

reassurance

that the

Lord would

look after

him.

He would

become a

great nation.

If we

look at the

end of this

section,

I suspect

a lot of

people would

be happy

with the

blessings

Ishmael

receives.

If you

got this

from God

in life,

I think a

lot of

people would

be content.

He gets

a family,

his name,

he's got a

legacy,

he's going

to have a

nation after

his name,

he's protected

from disaster,

that's pretty

good,

he gets

provided for,

we're told

God is with

him in

all he

does,

so somehow

God gives

him a

measure of

success in

his life,

he becomes

even an

expert with

the bow,

like he's

powerful,

don't mess

with Ishmael,

he becomes

powerful.

I think a lot

of people would

be happy with

those blessings.

things.

So what are

we meant to

see here?

How are we

meant to make

sense of

Ishmael being

sent off?

It's hard

for us to

understand today,

but the

firstborn back

then in a

patriarchal,

agrarian time,

the firstborn

became the

heir of

the land

and as

the heir,

as the

head of

the family,

it was the

heir's job to

look after the

family.

The problem

we've got

here,

we've got

two

heirs.

firstborns.

It's a

problem of

their sinful

making,

by trying to

take matters

into their

own hands.

We've got

two firstborns.

One is

chosen ahead

of time by

God, the

one provided

by God

himself,

impossibly

provided,

simply because

God promised.

The other is

the son of

Abraham and

Sarah, what

they could

humanly do.

Ishmael is

the son of

human effort,

Isaac is

the son of

God's

promise.

We've got

two heirs.

Now, Ishmael

is blessed

a lot with

earthly things,

but he

doesn't have

the covenant

promises.

Now, if

we've got a

problem with

this not

being equally

distributed,

I think we

don't get how

free.

God choosing

Abraham in

the first

place is,

it's totally

free, he

didn't have

to do

that.

His covenant

with Abraham,

it's free,

he didn't

have to do

that.

Choosing

Isaac, it's

God's free

choice to

choose Isaac.

The promise

is God's

free choice,

it's his

choice.

But here

in Genesis,

Ishmael

and Isaac

represent two

polar opposites

and the

Apostle Paul

picks this up

in Galatians

4.

He says,

the sending

off of Ishmael

is a picture

illustration,

salvation by

human ability

and salvation

by faith in

God's promise.

They are

incompatible,

they can't

dwell together.

this isn't

some later

theology of

the Bible.

This isn't

evangelicals

imposing the

whole, it's

just faith.

It's right

here in

Genesis.

Only by

promise, only

by faith in

the promise,

is there

blessing and

inheritance.

It is not

the son of

human ability

that will

inherit.

Well, at the

start of the

Great Awakening,

mass, mass

revivals in

America and

the UK,

there was a

group who

met together

one night,

John and

Charles Wesley,

we sing some

of Charles

Wesley hymns

still today

and they're

reading the

preface of

Martin Luther's

commentary on

Galatians and

they're reading

aloud this

sentence.

When it

comes to

salvation,

what have

we then

nothing to

do?

know nothing.

Only to

accept of

him who

of God

is made

unto us

our

wisdom

and

righteousness,

sanctification

and redemption.

And William

Holland, who

was there that

night, he

said,

at those

words there

came over

me such

a power

that I

cannot

well

describe.

My

great

burden

fell off

in an

instant.

My

heart

was so

filled

with

peace

and

love

I

burst

into

tears.

I

almost

thought

I

saw

my

saviour.

My

companions

perceiving

me so

affected

fell on

their

knees

and

prayed

and

when

I

afterwards

went

into

the

street

I

could

scarcely

feel

the

ground

I

trot

upon.

No one

will

ever

inherit

salvation

by human

abilities.

salvation

we're

seeing

here

salvation

is by

the

son

of

promise.

It's

always

been

faith

in

the

promise

of

those

who

inherit

everything.

Have

we

got

nothing

to

do?

Nothing.

Nothing.

Just

accept

of

him.

Here

it is

right in

the first

book of

the

Bible.

The

third

thing

verses

22

to

34

we've

got

this

abrupt

scene

change

where

Bimelech

turns up

again

who we

saw last

week.

What's

he doing

here?

Twice

we're

told

verse

24

and

then

at

the

end

in

verse

34

Abraham

he has

no rights

he's

not a

citizen

he's a

sojourner

he's

got a

temporary

work

visa

to put

it in

today's

language.

We've

just seen

one

exile

so

Abimelech

turning up

with his

commander

by his

side

you might

start to

think this

could be

intimidation

he's

another

exile

but

he's

got his

muscle

next to

him

but

no

this

king

wants

to make

a

treaty

with

this

foreigner

Abraham

owns

no

land

and

yet

Abimelech

seems

concerned

for his

people's

future

his

posterity

he

even

mentions

the

land

so

Abimelech

as we

saw

last

week

he's

experienced

God's

blessing

of

Abraham

first

hand

even

when

Abraham

didn't

deserve

it

he'd

been

taught

to

submit

to

Abraham

as a

prophet

to

intercede

for him

to be

blessed

perhaps

he saw

Abraham

still

prospering

perhaps

he heard

the news

of this

child

that

that

is

impossible

if

God

is

with

him

in

giving

this

air

I

better

do

something

for

my

people

Abimelech

a king

of the

nations

is

seeing

this

foreigner

with

the

eyes

of

faith

God

is

with

Abraham

I

think

he's

like

Psalm

2

urges

kings

be

wise

kiss

kiss

in

peace

God's

chosen

one

I

think

we're

starting

to see

God's

promises

to

Abraham

come

true

he is

a

nation

coming

for

peace

and

blessing

then

we've

got

this

grievance

Abraham

raises

a

grievance

about

a

well

that

he

dug

and

so

he's

got

the

right

to

use

it

but

Abimelech

servants

have

taken

it

Abraham

is

not

content

with

peace

faking

he's

not

going

to

make

a

peace

treaty

and

just

ignore

this

grievance

he's

not

breaking

he's

not

refusing

to

enter

this

peace

agreement

they

reconcile

and

they

make

this

peace

treaty

I

think

the

emphasis

is

on

the

land

here

they

made

a

covenant

at

Bathsheba

verse

32

Bathsheba

is at

the

southern

end

of

the

promised

land

now

maybe

I'm

not

quite

sure

but

maybe

that's

the

significance

of

planting

a

tree

it

takes

decades

generations

for a

tree

to

fully

grow

and

here

Abraham

is

calling

on

the

name

of

God

calling

him

the

everlasting

God

he's

worshipping

he's

saying

Yahweh

history

is in

your

hands

the

nations

are

in

your

hands

the

earth

belongs

to

you

my

offspring

my

future

it's

it's

you

you're

the

everlasting

God

I

think

calling

God

the

everlasting

God

makes

us

recall

the

covenant

in

chapter

17

verse

8

I

will

give

to

you

and

to

your

offspring

after

you

the

land

of

your

sojournings

all

the

land

of

Canaan

for

an

everlasting

possession

and I

will

be

their

God

I

think

what

we're

meant

to

be

seeing

here

he's

got

the

air

he's

got

the

nations

coming

for

peace

and

blessing

and

here

he's

planting

a tree

and he's

worshipping

the

everlasting

!

God

he doesn't

own

land

yet

but he's

basically

going

it's

as good

as mine

already

the

inheritance

is

just a

matter

of

time

if

the

everlasting

God

has

made

a

covenant

with

me

it's

just

a

matter

of

time

the

full

inheritance

!

is

coming

if

you

could

imagine

going

up

to

Abraham

in

this

moment

he's

worshipping

beside

this

tree

he's

planted

and

just

asking

what

are

you

doing

I

think

this

foreigner

might

say

I'm

going

to

possess

all

this

land

one

day

further

than

your

eyes

can

see

like

he's

got

a

well

that's

great

that's

all

he's

got

would

you

think

he's

crazy

Abimelech

took him

seriously

he saw

God

was

with

him

now

that

promise

becomes

even

clearer

later

on

in

Psalm

Psalms 2:8

2

verse

8

the

Lord

says

to

his

son

ask

of

me

I

will

make

the

nations

your

heritage

the

ends

of

the

earth

your

possession

in

Israel's

history

they

were

a

small

player

on

the

world

stage

like

you

take

even

the

highest

points

of

their

history

it would

still be

crazy

to believe

that

promise

but

especially

when their

land got

conquered

they had

no

king

no

heir

on

the

throne

is it

crazy

to believe

that God's

heir

is coming

he will

possess

the whole

earth

it's not

crazy

if it's

by the

Lord's

impossible

doing

because he

keeps his

promise

and he's

the everlasting

God

he visits

again

at the

exact

appointed

time

saying

to

Mary

a young

virgin

more

impossible

than

Sarah

behold

you will

conceive

in your

womb

and bear

a son

and you

shall

call

his

name

Jesus

he

will

be

great

and will

be

called

the

son

of

the

most

high

of

his

kingdom

there

will

be

no

end

everlasting

we

find

another

man

calling

on the

name

of

the

Lord

in

Luke

Luke 23 · chapter mention

chapter

23

beside

another

tree

Jesus

is being

crucified

on a

tree

and God

the

father

is not

with

him

he's

cursing

him

he's

casting

him

out

and this

criminal

dying

beside

him

looks

at

that

guy

and

says

remember

me

when

you

come

into

your

kingdom

is

he

crazy

is he

right

to think

this

cursed

man

is the

promised

son

who

will

inherit

the

earth

and

does

he

really

think

after

all

the

sins

he

is

guilty

of

he

admits

that

that

he

has

any

share

in

that

inheritance

is he

crazy

are we

crazy

this

morning

worshipping

the name

of

Jesus

as

Yahweh

that he

is the

heir of

all the

earth

that we

are

co-heirs

of the

world

to

come

not

we're

not

crazy

if we

see

who

God

is

in

Genesis

the

son

of

human

ability

will

not

share

in

the

inheritance

!

It's

always

and

forever

been

by

faith

in

God's

promise

when

he

visits

and

he

does

it

it's

all

his

doing

and

it's

impossible

and

he's

the

everlasting

God

whose

plan

to

rescue

the

whole

world

is

doing

what

is

impossible

for

you

and

I

can

do

and

we

are

caught

up

in

God's

story

simply

by

faith

in

the

promised

son

that

all

the

covenant

promises

are

yes

and

amen

they're

yours

they're

mine

whether

our

story

is

dull

or

full

of

darkness

we

can

laugh

with

joy

and

wonder

our

life

and

future

is

bound

up

with

this

son

of

promise

because

God

does

the

impossible

he

always

keeps

his

word

where

we

have

God's

promise

and

faith

in

God's

promise

that's

all

that's