God's Faithfulness When We Disbelieve | Promises Made, Promises Kept | Pastor Joe Coffey

Genesis 17: 15 through 21

And God said to Abraham, as for Sarai, your wife,

you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.

I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her.

I will bless her, and she shall become nations.

Kings of peoples shall come from her.

Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself,

shall a child be born to a man who's 100 years old?

Shall Sarah, who is nine years old, their child?

And Abraham said to God,

oh, that Ishmael might live before you.

God said, no, but Sarah,

your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.

I will establish my covenant with him

as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

As for Ishmael, I have heard you.

Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and multiply him greatly.

He shall father 12 princes, and I will make him into a great nation.

But I will establish my covenant with Isaac,

whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.

Everybody, good

morning and welcome to Christ Community Chapel.

I'm really glad you're here. Welcome.

Those of you here in West

and those of you over in the East service as you tuning in online.

Welcome, everybody.

This is the fifth week.

We are right smack dab in the middle of our ten week series.

In the Old Testament, we're looking at the life of Abraham,

and we're calling this series Promises made, promises Kept.

A promise, by definition, is something

that's going to happen in the future.

And one of the tricky things about a promise is the timeline.

How long between when a promise is made

is going to pass before the promise is kept?

If you've ever made a promise to a child, you know how tricky that can be.

Three weeks ago, Jimmy Cosey preached here

in West, and then, Jamie Stewart preached in East.

And in Jimmy's message, he used the illustration

of how he and his wife, Carolyn, decided to,

give surprise their kids with a trip to Disney.

And they, we're going to take the trip later on in the year.

But they wanted to give them this gift at Christmas,

so that's when they made the promise, knowing that they were going to be

taking the trip several months later.

But if you put Mickey Mouse

ears under a Christmas tree,

with a promise to a five year old that you're going to take her

to the happiest place on earth, she thinks you're leaving in minutes, not months.

That's a problem. And timeline.

That's what Abraham is experiencing in Genesis chapter 17.

Genesis 17 · chapter mention

So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to Genesis 17.

If you want to use one of our Bibles, have something in your hand.

It's on page 11. Page 11.

Or you can just wait

for the verses to come up on the screen that I'm going to highlight here.

My my three points that I want to use to kind of guide our time

together is a pretty simple, the first point is God delays.

The second point is Abraham laughs and the third point is God responds.

God delays. Abraham laughs,

and then God responds.

First.

Abraham delays.

There are a couple problems that people kind of have

with God and his promises.

The first problem that people can have is

they assume that God has made

a promise to them that he never really made.

And that can kind of sneak up on you.

It can happen without warning

because it's almost a subconscious assumption of the promise.

When my little brother was killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of 20,

I got really angry, with God.

And it was hard for me to even figure out

why I was so angry.

And, let me just have a sidebar here and talk to you as a pastor.

I remember, counselor telling me that anger

was a secondary emotion, not a primary emotion.

A primary emotion is is hurt or pain.

And then the secondary emotion is anger.

You don't have anger without pain.

Like, if I were to walk up to you and kick you in your shin

this morning, well, you'd probably leave the church, but

you would feel pain.

And then right after pain, you would feel anger,

pain, primary, anger secondary.

The problem with anger is that anger pushes people away.

So I was so hurt

when my little brother was killed, but I couldn't bring that hurt to God.

I couldn't be comforted by God.

Now the psalmist says God

is close to the brokenhearted, not God is close to the angry.

Nobody can get close to somebody who's angry. But.

But I finally started to figure out

that I was assuming that God had made me a promise that he had never really made.

And the subconscious assumption was that the promise would be that

nothing really bad would happen to people that I loved.

But of course, God never makes that promise.

Do you read the Bible?

God never says he will keep us from pain.

He says that he will walk with us in pain.

He says that one day he will overwhelm and redeem pain.

In John chapter 16, verse 33, Jesus says this

John 16:33

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation.

But take heart.

I have overcome the world.

Well, that's a different promise than what I was assuming.

And once I was able to see that and lay aside

kind of that promise that I was assuming,

then finally, in the anger subsided, I was able to take my hurt

and my pain to God

and be comforted and begin to heal.

If you're here this morning

and you are angry with God,

what I've just said might be the most important thing you hear this morning.

And it might be that you're angry with God because you're assuming he

made a promise to you

that he never really made.

That's the first problem that people have with God and promises.

The second thing is timeline.

The time lapse between when God makes the promise and God keeps the promise.

And that's what Abraham is experiencing

in Genesis 17, because in Genesis chapter 12, God makes a promise to Abraham,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

and his promise is that he's going to make Abraham

into a great nation, that he's going to have many, many descendants.

And the problem in Genesis 12 is that Abraham didn't have any children

yet, and Abraham was 75 years old.

Let me ask you this

if you were Abraham and God appeared to you when you're 75

and told you you're going to have children,

how long before you think your wife's going to give birth?

I would guess right around nine months.

But, you know, Abraham went home to Sarah and said, God appeared to me, great news.

We're going to have a baby. Let's get started.

Let's get let's get this thing going right now.

Here's this. That's Genesis 12.

Genesis 17 is 24 years later,

24 years.

And still Sarah

has not become pregnant.

Why? Why would God

delay 24 years after making a promise?

Why does God

make any of us wait for what

we are longing for God to do?

There are at least three answers, I think for that least that I can think of.

One I'll called the delayed flight reason.

The second, the fullness of time reason, and the third, the Lazarus reason.

All right, first, the delayed flight reason.

I hate when my flight's delayed.

I don't think I'm alone.

Right?

I mean, it's just I remember sitting on the tarmac one time,

and I was just so frustrated because we're just sitting there

and I'm looking at my watch, and I'm just going, this is just silly.

This is silly.

So I, I grabbed one of the flight attendants and I just say, what?

What's going on?

Why are we sitting here waiting?

And she said, well, well, sir, they're they're deicing the wings

of the plane for the safety of our flight.

And I suddenly felt a little sheepish,

I because I went from being frustrated

to being grateful because it seems like a pretty important thing

to do to de-ice the wings of a plane in Cleveland.

When you're leaving in the middle of winter, right?

There is a good reason for the delay.

I just didn't know it.

There might be a good reason

why God is not giving you what you long for.

You just don't know it.

The second reason is that the fullness of time is.

And there's a verse in Galatians

that says this in the fullness of time, God sent his Son,

born of a woman, at just the right time.

God sent his son, born of a woman.

Every once in a while someone will ask me, why was Jesus born in the first century?

Why not a couple of hundred years earlier?

A couple hundred years later?

And historians and theologians point to three things

that have kind of converged in the first century

that had never happened before in the history of the world.

The first was what was called Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome,

the Roman Empire was so powerful at that time

that there was there were no skirmishes, no conflicts

for about 180 years, right smack dab in the first century.

The second thing

that had happened was that Greek had become

the the language, the trade language of the entire empire,

which means that everybody in the civilized world spoke the same

language, understood the same language.

And the third thing that had happened was that Rome had taken on it itself

to build a road system that would connect the entire empire.

That's where the saying says all roads lead to Rome.

So when Jesus resurrected the news of his resurrection

could and did spread like wildfire

very quickly throughout the known world, because there was peace,

there was a single language.

And the roads, in the fullness of time,

God sent his son, born of a woman.

Why would God wait 24 years

to fulfill this promise to Abraham?

Well, a lot can happen in 24 years.

The world can can change in a day.

We all know that there are a thousand variables

that could happen just today, let alone 24 years.

People change. The world changes.

Maturity changes.

In the fullness of time.

God sent his Son

to Abraham.

All right, that's the second.

The third reason, though, is the Lazarus reason.

Like in John chapter 11, where we read the story of Lazarus and Jesus.

John 11 · chapter mention

Lazarus is a friend of Jesus. He's sick.

His sister sent word to Jesus.

Your friend Lazarus is sick. Come now.

Jesus doesn't come for a while.

By the time he gets to Bethany, where Lazarus was living,

Lazarus has died and he's been dead for four days.

When Jesus arrives in the movie The Princess Bride,

miracle Max,

played by Billy Crystal, said, there's a big difference between

someone being mostly dead and being completely dead, right?

If Lazarus had just been mostly dead,

there might be some other reasons why he got better.

His immune system finally kicked in the medicine

his sisters have been giving him.

Finally began to take effect.

But with Lazarus being completely dead,

well, that means it's only Jesus.

It's got to be 100% Jesus.

You know, with Abraham,

why would God wait so long to fulfill the promise of Abraham?

Well, Abraham says it.

Can a man who's 100 and his wife,

who's 90, have a baby?

Well, now, now,

now it has to be 100%.

God, there are some things in your life

where God waits until you know

that it's unmistakably 100% him,

100% grace.

And that's hard.

And that brings me to the second point.

Abraham laughs.

So God makes this promise in Genesis chapter 12,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

24 years later, he restates the promise and Abraham responds two ways.

The first thing is he laughs.

He laughs.

Now what's interesting is that next week I'm going to speak on

Genesis chapter 18, where Sarah laughs.

Genesis 18 · chapter mention

But Sarah's laughter is more cynical than Abraham, I think.

Abraham laughs because now he he knows that it's a promise

that it's almost too wonderful for him to believe, because he knows

he's aged out of participating in this promise.

Now it has to be 100% God.

It's got to be 100% grace

and and laughter sometimes

is the most appropriate response to grace.

My wife, Karen and I went to a graduation this last week.

It was a graduation that was held at,

Restore Addiction Recovery kind of center.

It's a

residential place where we actually was.

We helped start it.

Right. It's what we're doing.

The five k run to help fund restore all of that.

But it's a program where

men who are struggling with addiction going,

and it's a year long program, which is a super long program.

And if you go the whole year

one, you are completely transformed.

But two, they have a graduation for you.

And there are two men who are graduating who had spent a whole year

in the program, and their names were Jake and James.

And one of the things about addicts

is that they realize they understand grace better than most,

because they know they can't do it themselves.

But they asked me to pray at the end of this graduation.

So I was and, Jake and James were up with me.

And so I was praying for them,

and I was thinking, Jesus, I was just saying Jesus, I'm so grateful.

You're the kind of God that leaves the 99 sheep to go after the one.

Because you went after Jake, you went after James.

And when I said you went after James, James was standing next to me

and he said, Amen.

And he kind of chuckled.

And that was exactly the right response, because if I talked to James

and I said, James, how is it that you're a Christian?

He would say, yeah, it's crazy.

And it it's crazy that Jesus would come after me.

Come after me. Listen, I have news for you.

If you are a follower of Jesus right now, you weren't part of the 99.

You're the one.

No one comes to Jesus.

It's a 100% Jesus going after you.

Every one smile, the sheer wonder of that.

That Jesus knew you before you were you.

And he called you by name and he went after you

should make you just laugh.

Just laugh.

And that's the first thing.

The second thing that Abraham does is the first thing is laugh.

The second thing is he, he tells God that that he's covered

God with plan B, that's what he this is what he says in verse 18.

So God restates the promise, you're going to have a son.

And then Abraham says this.

And Abraham said to God, O that Ishmael might live before you.

Remember last week Zach preached on this,

and and, if you haven't listened to that sermon, you should.

It's a really good sermon.

But plan B was just a mess all the way around.

It was like God had promised Abraham and Sarah they were going to have a sign.

He delays. They lose patience.

They decide to hatch their own plan.

And that involves Abraham sleeping with a slave girl named Hagar.

And the result of that is a son named Ishmael,

and that's what Abraham says to God.

I got you covered.

Plan B is in effect right?

And, what's interesting is that

God, doesn't he?

He blows right past that

plan B, it doesn't throw him out of whack.

What he's telling Abraham is, I have plans for you, Abraham.

I have plans to absolutely change you,

to transform you and through you,

to change the whole world.

And of course, that's the promise,

the plan that he has for you to if you're a follower of Jesus.

And that brings me to my third point,

which is God's response that God responds,

So God promises Abraham a son in Genesis 12.

He waits 24 years.

He restates the promise in Genesis chapter 17.

Genesis 17 · chapter mention

Abraham laughs, and then he says to God,

listen, I understand the promise.

I just want you to know I've enacted plan B.

You're welcome. Right.

And this is God's response.

This is verses 19 through 21.

It says, God said, no,

but Sarah, your wife shall bear you a son,

and you shall call his name Isaac.

I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant

for his offspring after him.

As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold,

I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly.

He shall.

Father 12 princes.

I will make him into a great nation.

But I will establish my covenant with Isaac,

whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.

A couple of things I want you to notice.

One is God doesn't get mad at Abraham.

He doesn't tell Abraham how disappointed he is that he hatched this plan

because it's like God is says to Abraham, yeah, yeah, I saw plan B

and it's a mess.

But I want you to know I'm going to I'm going to help you

with that mess.

But the promise I made you

is the promise I'm going to keep.

Because when the God of the universe has a plan and makes a promise,

there's absolutely nothing that can stop him.

You've got.

God has a plan for you, and he's made you a promise.

This is the promise.

This is from Philippians chapter one, verse six.

It says this, and I am sure of this,

that he who began a good work in

you will bring it to completion

at the day of Jesus Christ,

that God is going to complete what he started in you

when you came to faith in Jesus.

And what it means is that God is promising

that he's going to make you into something you're not.

He is in the process of making you like Jesus.

His plan is to fill you with love

and joy, peace, patience, goodness.

He's going to make you good and gentle and patient and faithful.

All the things that you're not.

I feel like I'm constantly coming up

with Plan B's that will somehow make my life good.

And God is saying, listen, I'm going to blow right past plan

B, I, I can even incorporate some of what you've done.

I will fix your messes.

But I want you to know

that the promise I've made to you,

I'm going to keep

right now.

I remember as a kid playing a game called risk,

and if you ever played that board game, it looks something like this.

The whole idea of the game is

that somehow you you're going to slowly take over the world as a player.

You're going to it.

You go country by country, region by region.

The game of risk is not a board game that you can play quickly.

You can't play it an hour.

It takes a day, sometimes two days, right.

To actually and I think that's the way God works in our lives,

at least in my life.

Like there's all kinds of things that I'm doing.

But he is slowly moving,

slowly taking them slowly, making me more like Jesus.

Country by country, region by region.

And there's no variable in my life, no experience that he cannot use

to make me like there's no experience in your life, no plan B that will derail

his promise to you,

to make you like Jesus

and in the fullness of time,

when we finally realize that grace is seeping

deeper and deeper into our souls,

we will realize that our entire lives

God has been working his plan

and fulfilling his promise.

So no matter how long you have been waiting for

God to do something in your life,

no matter how messed up your plan

B has made, your life,

I just want you to know

that God has a plan and a promise for you.

And when the God of the universe has a plan, it makes a promise.

There's absolutely nothing

that can stop him.

Promises made

and promises kept.

Would you pray with me?

Father in heaven, I come to you.

And I am so grateful.

First, I want to pray for anybody here.

Anybody, listening or watching that, struggle

or struggling with anger towards you.

I pray that today might be a day,

that they put aside the anger.

Look at your real promises, the promises that you have made

and that they would find comfort and healing with you.

I pray for those of us

who just need to be reassured that you are progressing,

that you are fulfilling your promise to make us more like Jesus.

I pray that we will be more like Jesus tomorrow than we are right now.

I pray that you would fill us more with love and joy and peace.

All of that make us into what we are not,

so that one day we will praise you.

And when we do,

we will be like your Son Jesus.

Thank you for giving us such a wonderful Savior.

We pray this in his name. Amen.