Downstream from a Miracle

Father, I ask that you would gently but powerfully pour the Holy Spirit upon myself and upon all who are watching this video, listening into this sermon.

We ask, Lord, that you would draw us close to yourself, that you would help us to understand that you are God, that you are sovereign over all things, that you are good and loving, and that you keep your word.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

So, one of the things which is regularly talked about in movies and in literature nowadays is whether or not we are, in fact, just controlled or pushed around by blind, uncaring fate, or whether we have significant choice.

And, of course, it would be a pretty depressing movie or story if at the end of it it was the case that it was just pure and utter blind, uncaring fate.

So, usually when movies talk about it, in a sense, they try to say that there is some type of a choice.

We also see, in small ways but increasing ways, discussions about whether the world is empty or full.

It goes along, actually, with the previous type of question in the sense that if, in fact, everything is just a result of Allah's will, if, in fact, everything is just the working out of karma and karmic destiny,

if, in fact, the world is, as certain naturalistic scientists describe it, that there's just cause and effect, then, in a sense, the world is empty.

But we don't feel that the world is empty.

We feel at times that there's things which are beautiful and loving and that when you see certain types of things,

it's not just that you're imposing your desire for meaning and significance onto the event,

but you have a sense that you're recognizing something which is there.

At the same time, there's also questions about whether or not, and this is sort of going to sound like it's a bit of a left turn,

but they're actually a bit connected with each other.

Some people think, and some Christians think, that God only answers their prayers.

And, of course, if you aren't a Christian, that's going to be very, very offensive,

the idea that somehow or another God only answers your prayers.

Like, that just seems wrong.

And, in fact, many people, if they had the comfort to say that to a Christian who seems to talk as if that's the case,

would actually say that not only is that arrogant, George, if I was the one making that claim,

but it's actually not true.

Like, George, if you just look at it,

if it was true that God answered Christians' prayers but not non-Christians' prayers,

and, by the way, I have to be careful.

Like, if God answers, because it's not as if, like, on one level you can sort of divide the world into Christian and non-Christian,

but, obviously, everybody in the world doesn't think of themselves as non-Christians.

They think of themselves as themselves.

And so, really, a better way to put it is, you know, the Buddhists would say,

you know, George, I think, you know, God answers Buddhist prayers.

I think he answers Hindu prayers.

I think he answers secular people's prayers, spiritual people's prayers,

boutique religious people's prayers.

And, in fact, George, it doesn't even seem as if there's any evidence for the idea

that God has any particular desire to answer Christians' prayers,

because, I mean, if you look around,

Christians aren't richer, more powerful, more successful than non-Christians.

And, in fact, actually, if anything, it looks as if God is answering everybody's prayers other than Christians,

because the Christian church is declining, and it's not very popular.

So, anyway, we're going to look at a very, very old story,

and it's in Genesis chapter 21.

Genesis 21 · chapter mention

This is the second to last of our series of sermons on the life of Abraham.

And this story is a very simple story,

but, like, a lot of these stories, like, all of these stories, of these Abraham stories,

they're simple, but they're deep.

And there's lots of different ways you could,

there's lots of things you could mine from these particular stories,

but we're just going to look at one aspect of this story.

But it speaks into this whole thing of fate, of choice,

of the world being, the universe being empty,

or it being full of prayer and different people groups

and their different understandings of God.

And this one story actually has some very profound insights

into each of these questions.

So let's look.

We're going to be looking at Genesis chapter 21.

Genesis 21 · chapter mention

And what happened just before this is Genesis chapter 20

Genesis 20 · chapter mention

was a story which helped us reflect upon the question

of why it is that people do wrong things,

like why do I gratuitously sometimes do something which I know is wrong?

And the other thing about that story is it gave some profound insight

into the religious and spiritual imagination

and how the gospel subverts our religious and spiritual imaginations,

our natural ones.

But even while it subverts them,

it actually fulfills the deepest longing

of the spiritual and religious intuitions.

That was in Genesis chapter 20.

Genesis 20 · chapter mention

We looked at it last week.

So let's look at this story, Genesis chapter 21.

Genesis 21 · chapter mention

And it begins with a simple, beautiful verse that,

I mean, that's a verse if you're a Christian.

If you're from another type of faith commitment or searching or skeptic,

this is a verse which in many ways captures the essence of the Christian life.

And for Christians, it's a verse that captures

one of the essences of the Christian life.

And it's very simple.

It goes like this.

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said,

and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised.

Very, very simple.

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said,

and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised.

Here's a very, very beautiful, gentle image of the Lord visiting.

And the Lord visits to act, to deliver, to meet, to connect.

And he visits Sarah,

and he does exactly what he had said that he was going to do.

He makes promises to Sarah

that Sarah sometimes doesn't believe,

but at other times sort of has believed.

She's not a perfect person,

but he has visited her,

and he does what he's promising.

In fact, this first verse, in a sense,

summarizes all of the chapter.

And it's also something which is very important

because it helps to explain the gospel.

You see, for Christians, the gospel is this good news

that even though you are very, very far from God,

the triune God, the true and living God,

and even though he has no obligation

to love you or to care for you,

and even though you have done many things

that make you not deserve his love,

and even if there are things about you

which are very shameful or very, very unsuccessful,

that the promise of the gospel is that Jesus,

the God, the Son of God, visited the human race.

And just as he had promised in the 39 books

of what we Christians called the Old Testament

and our Jewish friends called the Tanakh,

there's this constant promise

that God would do something

that human beings could not do for themselves

that he would deliver,

and that he does this in the person of his Son,

in not just the life that Jesus lives,

but most importantly, his death that he dies,

and then his resurrection.

And that this is God's means

to reconcile people to himself.

It's God's means that when we put our faith and trust

in the person of Jesus and what he's done,

that God makes us his child by adoption and grace,

that he visits us, so to speak,

and that now the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

in a sense, now live within the Christian,

that Christ is our hope of glory,

and that we now live as the child

of our Heavenly Father in his world.

And that's the gospel,

that God visited us,

just as he said he would,

and he keeps his promise,

which is if we put our faith and trust in Christ,

that we will be his child by adoption and grace,

that he doesn't weigh our merits,

but pardons our offenses.

And so in some ways,

this very, very simple little verse,

which encapsulates a story,

also encapsulates what you'll see time and time again

in the stories that come,

and ultimately in the story of the New Testament,

of the gospel,

and the promise of the New Testament.

And in this particular case,

what we see is that God has promised

that he was going to do something

which was humanly and naturalistically impossible,

that God was going to intervene

in the natural world

in a way that we would call a miracle,

that Sarah,

who has been barren for a long, long, long time,

never able to bear children in her entire life,

even when, in a sense,

her reproductive capabilities were there,

but long after that has ceased to exist,

and she's truly barren,

that God would create a miracle baby,

that she would, in fact, have a baby.

And so that's what's going to happen

in the rest of the story.

Let's just look at it.

The next verses are very, very simple,

just to show that, in fact,

God, who's promised that he would do a miracle in Sarah,

that he would bring life out of barrenness,

he visits her and keeps his promise.

Look what it says, verse 2.

Abraham was 100 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 born him a son in his old age.

And so God has performed a miracle.

Now, in fact,

actually sort of even emphasizes

that not only that the baby is born,

but she's going to nurse the baby,

like there's a whole...

One of the things I like to say,

and it's very true,

is that the more science develops,

science doesn't disprove the miracles,

because science can't disprove miracles.

Science increases the wow.

Science increases the wow.

Now, bringing up this thing of the miracle,

and another thing,

if the Bible just ended here,

what we would have is a classic story

that could be turned into

a blockbuster Hollywood movie.

You know, Abraham is 100,

Sarah is 90,

God has visited Sarah,

he's kept his promise,

a miracle has been performed,

Isaac is born,

and they all lived happily ever after.

And there you go,

you have a classic Hollywood movie,

and they all lived happily ever after.

But one of the things about the Bible

is...

Actually, on one level, by the way,

the story ends

with that those who are God's children

by adoption and grace

live happily ever after

into eternity

in the new heaven and the new earth.

But that prophecy,

which is still in the future for us,

the Bible is a very, very,

very realistic book.

A very realistic book.

And in fact,

part of the problem we have

with the Bible

is how realistic it is.

And the Bible is

both a realistic mirror

and a realistic window.

It is a mirror

in the sense that

it helps us to see ourselves

as we really are,

and it's a window

in the sense that

it helps us to see the world

as it really is.

A world where there really is a God,

the triune God,

who really exists,

who has created all things,

who sustains all things.

That that's the world

that we actually live in,

even if it's not the world

portrayed by academia,

by government,

by the courts,

by the media,

by the public intellectuals.

That in fact,

the real world

that actually is the one

that we inhabit

is one where

the triune God

has created

and sustained all things,

and we human beings

live in it.

So in this particular thing,

you have a miracle.

Now,

you actually,

the story in a sense

just can't end here

by saying,

and they all lived

happily ever after,

because if you've been

reading the story,

if you've read the story

from chapter 12,

13,

all the way on to here,

you'll see that God

has made a couple of promises.

He's promised not only

that this boy will be born,

but that he's going

to be the heir.

He's going to also be

the beginning of a line

that will culminate

with God blessing

the whole earth

through this seed,

this offspring,

this line.

And there's also been

promises made

about the land.

And so those things

still have to be dealt with.

They have to be wrapped up.

They have to have something

that talks about how,

it's not just that the birth

is going to be enough.

But the other thing is

is that miracles

have consequences downstream.

And so what we're going to see

is that if a miracle

actually happens,

it's going to have

consequences downstream.

And it's not,

in a sense,

going to be enough.

Now, what do I mean by that?

And let me help you

to try to understand

how it works

and how it all fits in

with science.

I love,

you've heard variations

of this analogy before.

If you've heard me preach

many times,

you know,

Lord have mercy.

And one of the analogies

I like is of the pool table.

And so you can imagine

you have a pool table

and it's a very,

very large one

and you have a machine

which is designed

to have the cue

hit a particular ball.

And assume for a second

that in principle

scientists could study

the felt on the pool table,

study the,

how bouncy

the edges

of the pool table are,

knows the roundnesses

and everything about the balls

and they place the balls

in a particular,

you know,

the balls are placed.

and scientists

in theory

could have the machine

use the cue

to hit the first ball

to send the ball

in motion.

And in theory,

scientists could

mathematically plot

how that ball

is going to move,

what balls

it's going to hit

and how those different balls

will all be hit

and how they'll bounce around.

And it would in a sense

be able to map

how all of those things move

and where they end up.

And so one of the ways

to understand,

and that's how science works,

right?

It figures out,

it studies

how these natural processes work.

But science can't say

anything at all

about a miracle

because just as

in this experiment,

which is all,

let's say,

perfectly done,

let's say a millisecond

after the cue

hits that first ball,

a millisecond after it,

your six-year-old

adds an extra ball

on the table

right in the middle.

Now,

now all of your predictions

aren't going to be correct.

Now,

the laws of motion

and all of those other things

are all still true,

but there's now

an extra ball

on the table,

which means now

that those balls

that you've calculated

their directions

are going to,

some of them

are going to hit that ball

and they're all going to move

in different ways

and the end result

will be a very different thing

than you had predicted.

And that,

in many ways,

is one of the best ways

to understand

what the Bible understands

as a miracle.

It's not that it suspends

the laws of science

or the laws of nature.

It is that God,

who sustains all things

and is sovereign

over all things,

occasionally he does

a new thing.

He puts,

in a sense,

a new pool ball

or billiard ball

onto the table.

And when the miracle comes,

there's now going to be

consequences downstream,

right?

The balls were all going

to end up in a different place

than if God had not done

the miracle.

And so,

one of the things

that we have to,

in a sense,

look at,

like,

see,

what this starts

to point us to

and what this story

is going to do,

because the story

doesn't just end

with the miracle.

The story looks

at what happens

downstream

from the miracle.

In fact,

if I have a title

for this talk,

it will be

downstream

from a miracle.

And that's what

this story

is going to show you.

The miracle happens,

but one moment,

like,

there's Ishmael,

there's Hagar.

You might not know

who these people are

if you're watching this

and haven't followed

any of the other stories,

but if you have,

there's these other people

around.

There's consequences

for them,

like,

how's this miracle

going to affect them?

And so,

what this story

at a very simple level

does,

it shows that

for Christians,

and this,

this,

by the way,

I think,

perfectly fits

our experience.

You see,

when I said,

you know,

earlier that,

you know,

if you have a world

of pure cause and effect,

whether it's from

the will of Allah

or karmic destiny

or just cause and effect,

it's hard to see

how there could be

really beauty

and meaning

and significance

in the world,

yet we feel there is

beauty and meaning

and significance.

And we feel

that we have choices,

but the fact

that we have choices

doesn't mean

that there's no longer

other cause and effect

or consequence.

And so,

how do you put

all those things together?

And the Bible

presents this wonderful picture

in the sense of a dance,

guaranteed by God,

a dance of providence,

which is where God

acts in the flow of events

to bring about

a result that he wants,

where miracles,

where God intervenes,

and also human beings

that God has endowed

with the dignity

of causality,

in other words,

that we can actually

freely choose.

And so,

the world isn't

simplistically reduced

to cause and effect,

nor is it simplistically

reduced to mere choice,

because,

by the way,

if the world was reduced

to mere choice,

once again,

the world would be empty.

It would not really have

inherently some type

of beauty or meaning

and significance

that we are to recognize.

And so,

the Bible,

in stories like this,

wonderfully puts together

this dance

of the existence

of the triune God,

of cause and effect,

of human beings

being able to choose,

of providence

and of miracle.

And let's see how this now

starts to work itself out

in this story,

because Abraham

has another son

who's about 12 years older

or something like that,

10 to 12 or 13 years older.

What happens?

Well,

we'll look at verse 8.

And the child grew

and was weaned,

and Abraham made

a great feast

on the day

that Isaac was weaned.

And in the culture,

archaeologists

and anthropologists

and scholars tell us

that probably was

somewhere between

the ages 2 1⁄2 and 3,

close to 3,

that the weaning

would have happened.

Verse 9,

But Sarah saw

the son of Hagar,

the Egyptian,

whom she had born,

sorry,

but Sarah saw

the son of Hagar,

the Egyptian,

whom she had born

to Abraham,

laughing.

Now,

just sort of pause here

for a second.

In this particular version

of the Bible,

which I've read,

it's one of the most

literal versions,

the ESV.

And sometimes

the literal versions

aren't very helpful,

because there's a

very, very strong

connotation

in the original language

that it's cruel,

mocking laughter.

laughter.

So it's not

the laughter

of a 12-year-old

having lots of fun

or a 14- or 15-year-old

having lots of fun.

It's the laughter

of the bully.

It's the laughter

of the powerful

in terms of ridiculing

and shaming

the weak.

It's the laughter

of not only shaming

the weak,

but the promise

or the hope

of the person laughing

that harm

and damage

will be done.

And that's what's

being communicated

here in this

particular text.

So,

what's going to happen?

Well,

what we see here

is these next

two verses

are a really important

way to help us

to understand

how God interacts

with the world.

How there can still

be both human freedom

and there also

can be,

like as some Christians

say,

God only has plan A.

He doesn't need

a plan B.

Human beings

still have freedom,

but God still

sometimes,

not sometimes,

He superintends

events towards

His desired end.

Verse 10,

So,

she,

that is Sarah,

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.

Now,

some of you

who are very familiar

with the Bible

will know that

those words of Sarah

end up becoming

very important

as part of an argument

in the book of Galatians,

but we're not going to

necessarily go there

right now.

The point is

that Sarah

means harm

to Hagar

and her son Ishmael.

She does not desire

their good.

She desires

to hurt them.

She is a

tigress

in a sense

when it comes

to standing up

for her son.

And even if,

and from her point

of view,

Abraham's not

doing enough

about it,

she's not going

to stand idly by.

She's a tigress.

She's not a labradoodle.

And she's going

to defend

her son.

Now,

by the way,

this also ends up

having a bit

of an impact

because if you go back

and you read

all of the earlier things,

it's very,

very clear

from the earlier

parts of the story,

the earlier stories

that make up

the story of Abraham,

that in fact

the promise is

that God was going

to provide

one son

of promise,

the line

that would eventually

culminate in

Jesus the Messiah.

And so,

how is this going

to work out

if there's

Ishmael

and if there's

enmity

and how they're

going to be

with Isaac?

And Abraham

doesn't like

what Sarah

wants to do,

but what's going

to happen?

Is Sarah

going to win

or is Abraham

going to win?

Well,

as we see

in the moment,

well,

let's see what

happens.

Look at

verse 13.

Verse 12.

But God

said to Abraham,

be not displeased

because of the boy

and because of

your slave woman.

It's really

more of a sense

of,

he can still

be in a sense

displeased.

The implication

of this

is more

in the original

language that

it's part of

his promise

that I'm going

to do something

about this

on God's part

through providence.

Continues on,

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.

Now,

if you've

watched some

of these

other sermons

on the

life of

Abraham,

one of the

things I

say constantly

is,

I mean,

not only in

a sense

is this

a story,

but it's

a story

within

a bigger

book,

which we

now know

of as

the book

of Genesis.

And the

book of

Genesis

is also

part of

a larger

story,

which is

the five

books,

all ultimately

and primarily

written by

Moses,

Genesis,

Exodus,

Leviticus,

Numbers,

and Deuteronomy.

And of

course,

part of a

larger book

still in

terms of the

rest of the

Old Testament

and the

New Testament.

But Genesis

50 ends

with a

very,

very important

story,

and we

can see

that this

story here

is foreshadowing

this,

and it's a

very important

thing for us

to understand

a little bit

about how

we have

human freedom

and how

God interacts

with our

freedom while

still being

sovereign.

There's a

story at

the end

in terms of

Joseph and

his brothers,

and his

brothers hate

Joseph,

and so

they sell

Joseph as

a slave to

some wandering

traders.

They literally

take their

younger brother

and give him

to these

traders.

They take

money for

it, and

they sell

their son

into slavery.

And then

the story

proceeds,

and all

these other

things happen

in the story,

but at the

end of it,

by a series

of providential

events,

Joseph ends

up becoming

the second

most powerful

person in

the nation

of Egypt,

and there's

a famine,

and his

brothers come

back, and

his dad

comes back,

and all of

that stuff,

and it

ends up

that Joseph

is able to

save the

life of his

family.

And after

Joseph's

father dies,

the brothers

say, by

the way, we

want you to

know that

before our

father died,

he privately

told us not

to hold

against us

the fact

that, you

know, like,

we sold

you into

slavery a

little bit,

because, you

know, they're

pretty worried.

Joseph is the

second most

powerful person

in Egypt,

and they

sold him

into slavery.

And there's

a very, very

powerful phrase

there that

Joseph says,

that you

meant it

for ill,

you meant

it for bad,

but God

used it

for good.

You meant

it for evil,

but God

used it

for good.

And what we

see here is

the same type

of a story

being told

here in this

thing.

Sarah means

this thing

for Hagar,

for evil,

but God

is going to

use it

for good.

Let's see.

how this

works.

And by the

way, if you

think about it

for a second,

this is going

to be very

important for

us to

understand when

it comes to

the gospel.

You see,

this story,

in a sense,

is preparing

us for the

gospel in a

very, very

subtle way.

You see,

what happens

in the gospel

is, like,

how does

Jesus end

up being

born where

he's born

fulfilling

prophecies,

and how does

he end up

dying where

he dies

fulfilling

prophecies,

and how does

he rise from

the dead,

and everything

like that?

And a lot

of these

things are

completely and

utterly out

of control.

Well, what

happens is an

emperor in

Rome just

decides that

he wants to

do something,

and all these

people groups

happen to

move around.

But he

makes his

decision because

for whatever

reason he

wants to have

more power or

just show how

powerful he is,

but the result

is that Jesus

is born exactly

where God has

prophesied that

the Savior would

be born.

And that when

it comes time to

the Jewish

religious leaders

and the Roman

leaders,

they all are

just acting out

of their own

agenda, and in

every case of

those agendas,

they're desiring

harm for Jesus,

but the result

of them acting

out of their

own agendas

and acting to

wanting to

harm Jesus

is that once

again, multiple

scripture texts,

the prophecies of

them is fulfilled,

and Jesus ends

up dying just as

he has also

predicted.

One of the

reasons you can,

in a sense,

trust the words

of Jesus is that

when you look at

the eyewitness

biographies of

Jesus, Jesus

himself predicts

he's going to

die in a way

that he can't

orchestrate,

because it's

something that

has to be done

by Roman power.

He doesn't say,

I'm going to

kill myself,

because then you

could just say,

well, I mean,

I don't know,

he's sitting up

and he's a bit

of a scam,

but he predicts

he's going to

die in a way

that only the

pagan Roman

authorities can

actually do,

and he dies that

way, vindicating

his words,

and then he

rises from the

dead.

And in all

those cases,

whether it's

the emperor,

whether it's

the Romans,

whether it's

the leaders,

the Jewish

leaders,

everybody is

acting according

to their free

will, and

they all act

in a way

which means

harm.

But it ends

up that God

uses it for

good, because

the death of

Jesus upon the

cross is his

death as the

Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the

world.

And his

resurrection is

the promise of

the vindication

and the promise

of life and

the hope of

glory for the

Christian.

And so

everybody uses

their freedom

freely, but

God superintends

the events by

providence that

even though

everybody in the

story means evil,

God brings great

good out of it.

It's one of the

ways that God

intervenes in the

world.

So what happens

to the child?

Well, let's look

verse 14, what

happens to

Ishmael.

So verse 14,

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.

Now Abraham is

taking God at

his word that he

will do as he

said and as he

has promised.

We don't know

how much bread

she had.

Archaeologists,

anthropologists say

that she probably

had about what

we would now

consider almost

12 litres of

water, which is

going to last a

couple of days

maybe in the

wilderness, but

it's not going to

be enough.

God has to

intervene in

some ways, whether

it's through

providence or

miracle, if that's

going to happen.

And we can see

that Sarah's

intent was

murderous.

She hasn't had

this word from

God that Abraham

has.

She's quite happy

if Sarah and

if Hagar and

Ishmael meet

their doom.

So what

happens?

Well, let's

listen.

And this story

which happens, it's

a beautiful

illustration of

the fact that

Christians believe

that there's only

one God, and

the one God who

really exists and

truly exists is the

only God who can

answer prayer, and

that he answers the

prayer of Christians

and of Buddhists

and of Hindus

and of the

Jewish people and

of people with

boutique

spiritualities.

He's the only

God to hear your

prayer, the

triune God.

There is no

other.

And whether you

acknowledge him

or not, there is

only that triune

God who can hear

your prayer, and

only he can

answer them.

And it's a

longer sermon, and

a different sermon

to say that

sometimes he says

no, sometimes he

says yes, sometimes

he says not yet, and

sometimes he says

yes, but he

answers it in a

very, very

unexpected and

unanticipated way

that you might only

realize many, many,

quite a bit later

how he'd answered

your prayer in an

unexpected way.

But let's listen to

the story, verse

15.

When the water

and the skin was

gone, because

they'd been wandering

in the wilderness,

she put the child

under one of the

bushes.

Now, I just have to

pause here for a

second, and this

is one of the

problems, this is

actually one of the

ways that this

version of the

Bible is very

helpful, because

throughout the story

there's two different

Hebrew words, and

when the word boy

is used, boy

basically means, so

later on in the

Bible, Solomon, when

he's 40, calls

himself a boy.

And so boy

really doesn't

describe an actual

age, it describes

not being capable,

it describes not

being mature enough,

it describes not

being worthy enough

and competent

enough, and that's

what the word boy

means.

And the word child

captures this idea

of the biological

and, in a sense,

the maternal or

the paternal

relationship.

And so throughout

this story, when

it's emphasizing, I

mean, if you, you

know, Louise and

I, all of our

children are older,

like quite a bit

older, but I just

said all of our

children, I called

them my children,

even though some of

them are, you know,

have children of

their own.

But they're still,

they'll always be our

children.

And so throughout

this whole story,

when you see child,

it's emphasizing the

relationship between

Hagar and Ishmael.

And whenever you see

boy, it's emphasizing

the fact that they're,

in a sense, of their

weakness and not being

competent.

So back earlier, it's

not that, in the

original language, it's

not the case that

somehow or another,

Ishmael got on

Hagar's shoulders.

No, no, they left

together.

The skin of water, the

bread was given to the

two of them and they

go wandering off.

And when here, when it

says, when the water,

verse 15, of the skin

was gone and she put

the child under one of

the bushes, the word

put is all right, but

it's actually better to

understand it as

thrown.

And if you've ever

watched any movie of

two people or a group

of people and they're

wandering in the

desert and they're

about to, their water's

gone and they're

getting very, very weak

and close to the point

of exhaustion, you

see them holding

each other and

supporting each other

up and at the end

it might be that they

just sort of like put

the person down because

there's a tiny little

bit of a shade.

And that's what's

being communicated here

is that Ishmael is

close to death.

The water is, the

lack of water is

affecting him more

than Hagar.

Verse 16, then she

went and sat down

opposite him a good

way off about the

distance of a

bow shot.

For she said, let

me not 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.

He's not Jewish.

He's not, in a sense,

from this point of

view, part of God's

people, so to speak.

He's not Jewish.

He's, yeah, he's not

Jewish.

But God hears his

prayer.

Listen again, verse

17.

And God heard the

voice of the boy and

the angel of God, in

a sense, another way of

referring to 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.

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 and

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 in Egypt.

So one of the things

that we see here is

that God answers

Ishmael's prayer.

You see, there's only

one God, the Father,

the Son, the Holy

Spirit, three persons,

one God.

He alone is the

creator of all things,

the sustainer of all

things, sovereign over

all things.

And so there's only

that one true and

living God that any

prayer can go to.

And he hears the

prayer of the wicked

and the good, the old

and the young, of the

gay and the straight,

of the Buddhist and the

Hindu and the Muslim

and the Christian.

There is only one God

who can hear everybody's

prayer.

And you might wonder

about that.

And it doesn't necessarily

the case that he answers

the prayers of Christians

with more yeses than

non-Christians.

Now that, of course,

maybe requires a longer

whole sermon.

I just want to point at

how this...

Take a step back to

understand why this is.

And it connects with

the gospel.

Imagine that you have a

friend.

And you have a friend.

We'll call her Sue.

You know, and Sue's

pretty.

And she's nice.

And she's pleasant.

And, you know, she has a

job.

And she's kind.

And she's creative.

And all of that.

But for some reason, no

guy ever asks her out.

And no guy wants to

marry her.

And she'd love to

marry.

But just no guy asks

Sue out.

Well, one day, Sue's

grandmother decides to

buy her a lottery ticket.

And Sue, to everybody's

surprise, wins $60 million.

And, of course, it's in

the paper.

You know, Sue Smith or

Sue Sinclair wins $60

million.

And within the next month,

20 guys want to date her.

20 guys want to date her.

Now, you can almost

begin to see how, in

some ways, winning $60

million would actually be

more of a curse than a

blessing.

Sue has wanted to get

married.

Now, do they want to

marry her because she's

Sue or because she has

$60 million?

How would she even know

whether that's the case?

I mean, she might actually

even have to go and live

somewhere and change her

name and pretend she has

no money so that she could

at least find somebody who

would love her for herself

and then have to navigate

the fact that she

misrepresented herself and

that she's actually Sue

Smith and is worth $60

million plus whatever

interest has been made over

that time period while it

went on.

You know, because, you

know, in a sense, isn't

that more what we desire?

That we desire to be known

for who we are and either

have people be our

friends for who we are,

not just for what we can

give them, or to have that

love relationship with

another person who loves us

for who we are.

And in fact, actually, if you

think about it for a second,

wouldn't you say that if you

met somebody who'd say they'd

rather have a million dollars

than a husband or a wife who

would love them, know them, and

love them?

Wouldn't you think that that

person was shallow?

And you see, this basic

intuition that we have about

ourselves, that we want to

have people love us for

ourselves, you see, that's

ultimately what God's end game

is.

That God wants us to begin to

love him for who he is.

He calls us into a love

relationship with him.

And you see, that's one of the

reasons why God doesn't

necessarily say yes to

Christians' prayers more than

non-Christians.

See, if it was in fact the

case that, I don't know, every

time I prayed, or most of the

time I prayed, God gives me a

yes and I get it, people would

start to notice, good grief,

you know, George is very

successful, he has lots of

money, like things are working

out for him, how's it going?

I'd say, well, I just pray,

you know, I'm a Christian, and

as a Christian, when I pray, God

just says yes.

And people will say, I want to

become a Christian.

Well, they don't want to become

a Christian because they want

to know the triune God.

They don't want to become a

Christian because they realize

that they're far from God and

rebel.

They want to become a Christian

so they can get the stuff they

want.

But God's desire is to have this

relationship of love with you.

Now,

just this final story, I'm very

conscious of the time, I took a

couple of minutes to introduce

it, but the Bible doesn't have a

jaundiced view of the human race

that we only want to do evil

things, and it's just a matter of

God merely working through the

evil things that happen so that the

things that he wants to have

happen, happen.

The Bible is realistic, and to be

realistic, it isn't just that people

desire evil things and that God,

something happens as a result of

it.

In fact, the Bible recognizes that

sometimes people want to have fair

treaties and do things which are

fair, and that actually happens,

and it's very interesting.

Look what happens in verse 22, and

it begins by at that time.

So it's actually saying that the

same time this thing is going on

with Hagar and Ishmael, at the same

time this other thing happens as

well.

So it presents, on one hand, it's

showing that there's this dance,

there's this dance between causality,

that we can cause things, there's this

dance, that there's an ordered

universe, there's this dance of the

fact that God is sovereign, there's

this dance that sometimes God acts by

miracles, but that there's this

providence, and that people, not only

do they act out of evil, but they act

out of good things, and it's going on

at the exact same time.

And look what it says, just very, very

briefly.

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.

Now God is using providence downstream.

He's used providence downstream to make it

now that there's only going to be Isaac.

It's very clear who that seed is, but also

now that the land is becoming more, in a

sense, a place where Abraham has a true

claim to it.

Verse 25, 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.

You 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, a treaty, a contract.

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, Abraham 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 Phicol, 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.

In other words, he worshipped the Lord.

And he worshipped the Lord, the everlasting

God.

And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of

the Philistines.

So we have this wonderful picture.

You see that the dance that on one hand,

sometimes people wish real ill, but God will

turn that ill into good.

God is provident even though human beings are

using their free will for evil.

And sometimes human beings just want to have a

fair treaty and they want to have friends and

they want to be good neighbors.

And this is also in a way that God can use

sovereignly to have his purposes fulfilled

because he will visit his people and do as he

has said and keep his promises as he has said.

So here's the thing just in summary.

Yes, I've said that God answers the prayers.

If you're a Buddhist or a Hindu or a Muslim,

the triune God hears and answers your prayers.

And if you're an atheist and you pray,

he hears and answers your prayers.

There's only one God and he's a God who hears

and he's a God who sees.

But what difference does it make to be a Christian?

See, this is all preparing us, as I said earlier,

about the gospel, about how it all works,

where Jesus died on the cross,

and how even this beginning bit about God has visited us

and done what he had said he's done,

done what he's promised,

and he's promised a savior and a deliverer,

and he's done that.

And he's promised that if anyone turns to Christ,

that he will turn no one away,

that he will take you,

and he will be your savior and your Lord.

He will take you into himself,

and he will come and live within you,

and he will be yours.

And just like others,

we Christians are called to pray,

but here's the difference that it makes to be a Christian.

There is an everlasting God,

the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

the same God who is everlasting,

the same God who heard Abraham,

who heard Ishmael,

is the only God.

There is an everlasting God.

But he, to me,

as a Christian,

is not just the everlasting God.

He is my Father.

He is my Father in heaven,

and I live in his world.

Every day I wake up,

and I wake up in his world.

And I am his child

by adoption and grace.

He,

when I put my faith and trust in Jesus,

I become adopted as his child,

and I only become his child

by his grace to me.

I become his child

because of John 3, 16.

For God,

the words of Jesus,

for God so loved the world

that he gave his only begotten Son

to the end that all who believe in him

will not perish,

but have everlasting life.

So,

the everlasting God is my Father.

I live in his world.

He is with me,

and he loves to hear my prayers.

And he holds me in the hollow

in the palm of his hand.

And nothing will ever cause him

to let me go.

And I have the hope of glory

because even if I have very hard things

that I have to face,

I don't have to face them alone.

I face them with my Father,

and he will bring me,

he will bring me

into his kingdom

and into eternal glory,

not because of my strength,

but by his.

So,

every day,

I am invited to live.

And you,

if you are a Christian,

are invited to live

in your Father's world.

Let's pray.

Father,

pour out the Holy Spirit upon us.

Help us to know

that you hear our prayers,

that you love to hear

the prayer of your children.

Help us to know

that this is your world,

that you are our Father in heaven,

but this is your world,

and that you are sovereign,

and that we can live today

and every day

as your child

by adoption and grace,

following Jesus,

our Savior and Lord,

the one who redeemed us,

and empowered by the Holy Spirit,

that you give

willingly and lovingly

and powerfully

to all who become your children

by adoption and grace.

Help us, Father,

to live in such a way.

And we ask this

in Jesus' name.

Amen.