As we've been looking at the series, Walking Together in Married Life, as we have been laying a scriptural foundation for understanding the roles of husbands and wives and children and parents in marriage. As we've looked at that, we've answered a few questions. The first question, why were we created? We were created for fellowship, for stewardship and to worship and glorify God. The second question, why were we created male and female? We're still in the process of answering that question. We were created male and female for lifetime partnership through marriage for a lineage through parenting as we looked last few weeks at God's purpose for children. We've also looked at God's plan for child rearing having a proper view of parenting training up our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. This week that message title of the message is God's providential exception, a proper view of the barren womb. This is really going to be a scriptural survey of what the Bible says about barrenness, because I am afraid that most Christians today really don't have a clue what the Bible actually says. About being barren, as we looked at it, God has commanded that we be fruitful and multiply. We looked at that command in its context given to Adam and Eve, given to Noah and his family after they came off the ark, obviously, so that the human race could continue. But we know that this command is a command from God in his purpose for marriage, that we are fruitful and that we multiply. But we have to understand, as we studied a few weeks ago, that being fruitful and multiplying does not always mean having children. It refers in a much more broad scope to the context of how you live your life, how your home is built, how your family is run, whether or not you yourself are being spiritually fruitful and multiplying. It does involve, to some degree, having children and raising them up properly, training them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. But it also involves living a life filled with the Holy Spirit. There is a providential exception, though, what spurred on this study for my personal self was another minister friend of mine asking the question, why would God command us to be fruitful and multiply and then not allow some families to have children? How are we to really view the barren womb, women who cannot have children? I spent some time studying, pulled out concordance, concordances, Greek and Hebrew lexicons, did word searches and looked for every instance that I could find that the scripture talks about being childless or being barren, not having children, having your womb closed by God himself. And I've come up with four points that I want us to look at this morning so that we can have a proper view of the barren womb so that we can see what the scriptures actually say. I will have available for you. I don't have it this week, but I'll have it next week. I'll have a printed copy of all of the verses I'm going to go through because there's actually quite a few that we're going to look at. The first point is that God alone opens and closes the womb. We've established this as we've looked at God's purpose in marriage, as we've looked even a few weeks ago at God's sovereignty, his involvement in our day to day lives, the fact that God forms us in the womb. He knits us together in the womb. He sets the time of our delivery. So we know that God alone is the one who can open or close a womb. And we have to start with the sovereignty of God if we're going to understand his purposes in barrenness. But let's look at his sovereignty just a moment. Some of this will be a review, but I want to look at these verses were start in Isaiah, chapter forty four. Two verses there, the first is verse two and the second is verse twenty four. And Isaiah, forty four, Isaiah writes, This is the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you. Fear not. Oh, Jacob, my servant, and you, Jehoshua, whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, there cannot be any doubt in the life of believer that God is the one who has formed us, not just that he is actively involved in forming us, but that if any baby is ever to be born, he must be first formed by God in his mother's womb. In Isaiah 44, 24, the writer says, This is the Lord, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb. I am the Lord who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by myself. God reaffirms for us not just that he has made us, but he says, I am the Lord who makes all things. Now, the immediate context is that he stretches out the heavens all alone and spreads abroad to the earth by himself. But we have to understand that this means exactly what it says. I am God. Nothing is made unless I make it. We know that that's true when we read about Jesus being involved in the creation in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God in the gospel of John. Matter of fact, turn there with me. In John, chapter one, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. We understand that it is Jesus, our Redeemer, who has given to us life. Without His creative work, none of what we know as this creation would exist. None of us would exist. It's very interesting in Isaiah 44 that God says, This is the Lord, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb. I am the Lord who makes all things. And then John identifies this as Jesus Christ. It is not just in our understanding of God that he has created all things, but specifically through the second person of the Trinity. God, through being Jesus Christ, is our creator. He formed us in the womb. He's involved in creation. Another scripture tells us very specifically that he has created all things and in all things in him, all things consist. It is Jesus who literally holds all of this together. In Genesis chapter 20. Verse eighteen, there's a verse that we'll look at again in another context in a moment. But that verse reads for the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. We're going to look at that specific instance of a curse where a whole group of people were barren and could not have children because of a certain circumstance. But the point for this context in this point that God alone opens and closes the womb, it says, for the Lord had closed up all the wombs. If a woman is to be open, it is God who opens it is to be closed. It's God who closes it in Genesis twenty nine thirty one. When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb. But Rachel was barren. There is an instance of both opening and closing and looking at Jacob with his wives, Leah not being loved by Jacob, being despised by her. But God sovereignly opened her womb. Now, can we say that God was actively involved in opening her womb? Who were her children? Her children were part of the twelve leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel, were they not? These were substantial people in the history of Israel. God opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Rachel, whom we know Jacob loved, was not able to have children. In Genesis 30, verse 2, it says, Jacob's anger was aroused against Rachel and he said, Am I in the place of God who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb? As we look at that, Jacob was angry and he said to her quite bluntly after her reply was give me children or else I die. His response was, am I God? Am I the one who is withholding? Fruit from your womb, Jacob identified it, it's not the husband's fault, wasn't Rachel's fault. Jacob understood it was God who was withholding the fruit. It was God who had closed the womb. The good news is that Genesis chapter 30, verse 22, It says, Then God remembered Rachel and God listened to her and opened her womb. It is very significant as we go through this study to take note of the number of times that barren women in the scriptures. prayed for children, and God heard and answered. We'll look at the role of prayer later. But then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb. She had been barren. He had closed the womb, but this was not a permanent circumstance because God and his purposes was just as sovereign later to open the womb. And who were the children that were born? The children that were born to Rachel were Joseph. and Benjamin. What is the significance? Well, Joseph saved the known world under the famine as he helped rule in Egypt. Benjamin, from his line, was born the Apostle Paul. He was a descendant of Benjamin. So from God sovereignly opening the womb for Rachel, we have the salvation of God's people. And the rest of the world at that time, through Joseph and later through the line of Benjamin himself, came Paul, who gave us most of the New Testament. We can see that God has a sovereign purpose in opening or closing the womb. In Genesis forty nine, verse twenty five, by the God of your father, who will help you and by the Almighty, who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath and blessings of the breasts and of the womb. He's saying here that God is the one who blesses with children. He's the one who opens or closes. It's of him. It's of his decision in his sovereignty to use his providential right in our lives because he's actively involved in the birth of children. In First Samuel, chapter one, verse five and six says, But to Hannah, he would give a double portion talking about her husband Elkanah. He would give her a double portion for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival, another wife, also provoked her severely to make her miserable because the Lord had closed her womb. There was something going on here in a rivalry, something that goes on even to this day, where the woman who was having children thought that the woman who wasn't was cursed, and sadly, the woman who was barren believed the lie. Barrenness, as we're going to look at, is very rarely ever a curse. Matter of fact, by the time I'm done this morning, I'm going to give you five specific reasons that barrenness is actually a blessing from the hand of God. But we've been taught to believe that if a woman doesn't have children, something's wrong with her. If you happen to be a barren woman or in a family where you're a husband and wife and you can't have children, how often do you go to God and say to him, why won't you give us children? What have we done? How often do you pray, God, what is the sin that I need to repent of? What is it that I need to forsake? What is it that I need to change so that you will give me children? But we understand here in God's sovereignty, God closed Hannah's womb. She was mistreated by other people because of that. But we're going to look at Hannah's understanding of this and where she went with this grief in a moment. But we have to understand this is God being providential. It's God in his sovereignty opening or closing the womb. There's not an instance of a birth, the loss of a child or the lack of a child that catches God by surprise. He's actively involved in creating every child who's born. Job 31 15. Here's the question that is asked. Did he did not he who made me in the womb make them did not the same one fashion us in the womb? Just a general question. The answer is, of course, anybody who was created, who was born, anybody who's been formed in the womb was formed there by God. Psalm 139 verse 13 says it this way for you formed by inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb. The idea here is that you were covered. You were hidden in the dark places there and you were knit together fashioned by God himself. Isaiah sixty six verse nine, shall I bring, God says, to the time of birth and not cause delivery? Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb, says your God? We looked at that a few weeks ago. God's not just involved in forming each baby in the womb. God is involved in causing the delivery of each baby. It happens on his timetable exactly when it's supposed to happen. We have to be able to grasp the immensity of God's sovereignty in our even being alive, if we're ever going to understand his purpose purposes in withholding life through barrenness. Jeremiah, chapter one, verse five, God says to Jeremiah, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you before you were born. I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations. This is what the word for knowledge means, by the way, when he says before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. This is for knowledge. I knew you. I had a personal relationship with you before you were even created. Because you were mine, he says, before you were born, I sanctified you. I set you apart. I ordained you a prophet. God had a specific purpose in the birth of Jeremiah. What we're going to learn here is that God has a specific purpose in the birth of every child. God has a reason that every child is born. That child, when he is born or she is born, is born for a reason. The challenge for parents is to discover that reason and train that child so that they can effectively go about the business that God has called them to. Exodus chapter twenty three verse twenty six. There's a promise that goes out from God to his people. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days, a specific instance where we understand not only that God opens and closes the womb, but God is actively involved in whether or not the child is born by causing the time of delivery or where the child is even lost through miscarriage, because here's a promise. And God says, don't worry about it. Nobody here in these circumstances is going to suffer a miscarriage or be barren. I will fulfill the number of your days. We have to take that to understand that that means that God also has a hand in the loss of children. He gives life and he takes life as he sees fit. And we can't accuse him and we can't find any wrong with that. We can't question his purposes. I don't think it's wrong to ask why I've said that before. Jesus on the cross. Ask God why? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's not that we're not to grieve if we do suffer this loss. But under that grief, we have to be undergirded by a peace and an assurance that God is sovereign. And his purpose will be accomplished. We also have to trust him and take him at his word that whatever he causes to come to pass is either for our good and his glory, or there's no other reason that anything is done. God doesn't just do things to do them. He only does things for his glory and for our good. The question is, do we really believe that? In Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse fourteen, you shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock. A promise to the people if they keep the covenant and obey the law of God, you'll be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be a male or female barren among you or even your livestock. God says, I'm going to bless you to the point that I'm not even going to withhold fruit from your animals. So we understand God alone opens or closes the womb. The word I keep using is that God is sovereign. Do you believe that this morning that God is the sovereign giver and taker of life? If you're alive, it's because he meant it to be. If you are barren, it's because he's meant it to be. If you have children, it's because he's meant it to be. Because he alone will accomplish his purpose by giving, taking or preventing life. The second point, I want us to look at the specific instances in scripture where barrenness is actually mentioned as a curse. Usually you'd think there would be a whole bunch of them, because everybody thinks that to be barren means that you're cursed by God. And that's simply just a misunderstanding of God's sovereignty. If God is doing this for our good and his glory, how in the world can that be a curse? James tells us that the gifts that come down from the father of lights above what every gift is a good gift that he gives. But let's look, because there are specific verses in the scriptures where barrenness is a curse. The first was the verse I referred to in Genesis chapter 20, verse 18. Turn with me there to Genesis 20. In Genesis chapter 20. We know what happened here happened a few times with a few of the patriarchs, starting in verse one, says Abraham journeyed from there to the south and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur and stayed in Gerar. Now, Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, she is my sister. The fear here Abraham knew when he was traveling into this land that That his wife was a very beautiful woman And he knew that if this was a pagan country and things happened like what? What he thought was going to happen and somebody would decide that they wanted her For their wife and they'd kill him figure if the husband's dead then they can take his wife So he lies to them says she is my sister It is true by the way that There was some relation there that Sarah actually was a half-sister from the same family. But here, it's a full-out lie. He's trying to deny that they're married, and he says, she is my sister. So Abimelech the king sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, indeed, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife. He decided that Abimelech was just going to take Sarah for himself, and Abraham didn't have to get killed because of it, because after all, he's just a brother. But God comes to him and tells him you're a dead man. This is another man's wife, but a bit like had not come near her. And he said, Lord, will you slay a righteous nation? Also, Abimelech hadn't done anything yet, so to speak. He hadn't hadn't taken advantage of the situation. And so he asked, God, are you going to slay a righteous nation? Did he not say to me, she is my sister. He pled his case. Look, I didn't know that she was married. And she even she herself said he is my brother. of him like says in the integrity of my heart and in the innocence of my hands I have done this and God said to him in a dream yes I know that you did this and in the integrity of your heart for I also withheld you from sitting against me therefore I did not let you touch her now therefore restore the man's wife for he is a prophet. And he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not restore her now, or know that you will surely die, you and all who are yours, God just lays it out. If you do this thing, what's the danger of pollution here? What's the promise that's been made to Abraham and to Sarah at this point? They've been promised a child, a child of promise, who we know later is Isaac, right? Isaac hasn't been born yet. What happens if Sarah gets taken to be the wife of somebody else off in the south? God, in order to fulfill his promise, comes to Abimelech and says, If you do this, I'm going to kill you, so you better not do it. So in verse 8, Abimelech rose early in the morning. You know, God comes to you in a dream and tells you he's going to kill you if you do something. Don't do it. Just a hint. Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing. And the men were very much afraid. Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, What have you done to us? How have I offended you that you brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done in a bit like said to Abraham. What did you have in view that you have done this thing? And Abraham said, because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place and they will kill me on account of my wife. But indeed, she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father and not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife. It came to pass when God caused me to wander from my father's house that I said to her, this is your kindness that you should do for me in every place wherever we go. Say of me, he is my brother. So then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, a male and female servant, and gave them to Abraham. And he restored Sarah, his wife, to him. And Abimelech said, See, my land is before you. Dwell where it pleases you. Then Sarah said, Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Indeed, this vindicates you before all who are with you and before everybody. And thus she was rebuked. So Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, that they bore children. For the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. What happened here, there was a chance, so to speak, we know God sovereign in the birth of every child, but there was a chance looking at this from a human perspective that something was going to get severely messed up in the Abrahamic covenant. God made a promise that a child was going to be born, a child of promise, a child through whom would come a great nation. And Abraham, in his deceit, put Sarah in a position where she could have been compromised. And God, as a result, struck a whole nation of people barren. Nobody is going to be having any children here until this situation is resolved so that there's no confusion at all about the fact that the child who is given a promise is a specific fulfillment of promise between Abraham and Sarah, not between Sarah and anybody else in this land while they were there. Basically, God does not give anybody an opportunity to count nine months back and figure out when Isaac was conceived. Abraham was Isaac's father. God caused this barrenness on all of these people. Was it a curse? Yes, it was a specific curse, but it was to preserve a specific promise. It wasn't because of an action that they did. It was to prevent man interfering with God's plan and we know that Abraham had already messed with God's plan once when Sarah brought Hagar and said here. Have my servant, she can have a baby and I'll adopt it. That'll be mine. We know how that all worked out. We're still dealing with the issues from there. But in Genesis 20, verse 18, it says, For the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Amalek because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. So very specifically, the curse here was to preserve a promise. The next instance where there is a specific curse of barrenness is in Second Samuel. So turn with me to Second Samuel, chapter six. In 2 Samuel 6. There's a circumstance where the ark is returned. It's been captured. The ark is returned. David is being joyful. He takes off his kingly garment. He actually puts on the garment of a priest and he goes and dances before the ark as it's being brought into Jerusalem. He's praising God. He's dancing, not doing anything inappropriate. Some people have said that David shouldn't have danced and shouldn't have done what he did. But it's the point that David humbled himself, took off his kingly garments, put on a priestly garment, condescended, didn't act like the king, acted like a priest in his praise to God. And his wife, Michael, who was Saul's daughter, Michael saw him dancing, saw that he had taken off his kingly robe, saw that he was basically humbling himself in the way he was dressed. In verse 20, it says that David returned to bless his household, and Michael, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself. Some people have taken that to believe that he was inappropriately dressed, but that's not what this means. You study this and what this means was he wasn't dressed like a king. He made himself look like a common person with the common people to dance and to praise the Lord. It was an act of humility before God. And Michael, in her pride, said, What are you doing? Why are you taking off this robe and not being who you're supposed to be? Why are you acting like this? You've humbled yourself, you've shamed yourself. She didn't even understand what David was doing in worship. So in verse 21, David said to Michael, it was before the Lord who chose me instead of your father and all of his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord over Israel. Therefore, I will play music before the Lord. What did David say? God chose me to be king. He chose me to worship him. I'm going to play music before him. I'm going to worship God in humility. And then he says, I will be even more undignified than this. Because I will be humble in my own sight, but as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken by them, I will be held in honor. He says, Nobody else is despising me. It's just you in your pride. And in verse 23, it says, Therefore, Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no children to the day of her death. Specifically here, because of her pride in her rejection of the true worship of God, She was barren. She had no children. This was a specific curse, a specific result of sin. She sinned against David. She sinned against God. She rejected true worship, and as a result, God closed her womb. That's not the end of the story. Now, we have to understand something that was going on here back in first Samuel 18. We understand that Saul was going to give his daughter to David, but instead he was going to give one daughter named Merib to David. But instead, Saul decided to give her to someone else, to a man named Adriel. And so then David went to Saul, tried to work it all out, because basically the same thing happened to him that happened to Jacob. Jacob went to Laban, wanted to marry Rachel, and Laban deceived him and gave him Leah for his wife. And then he was told that he had to work another seven years for Rachel. Well, here Saul deceives David, gives him a different wife, offers him Michael instead of the daughter that he had promised. But what we have to understand is that something happened along the line there, because in 2 Samuel 21, it says, So the king took Ammoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Ai, whom she bore to Saul, and the five sons of Michael, the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel, the son of Basrilai, the Mehalothite. And we know that Michael didn't have any children, but it says that she had five sons. But the specific verse says whom she brought up for Adriel. Michael's older sister and husband had five sons. We don't know what happened, but the older sister obviously is no longer there. probably died or was killed. Something happened and she was not there. So Michael adopted and raised these sons for her sister and her husband. So we know that even while Michael had no children, the curse is the result of her sin. She was still actually given the opportunity to raise five sons by adoption within the family there to meet a need in Hosea nine. Moving on to look at specific curses of bareness, Hosea nine, verse fourteen, Want to read this in context, because this looking at it as a curse, this is something that is prayed to God about the enemies of God's people. And later on, judgment on Israel itself in Hosea nine, Israel is being judged. God is talking about the appointed day of judgment, the day that they're going to be punished and recompensed for their sin, for their spiritual idolatry. These things are going to happen in verse 10. He says, I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first fruits of the fig tree in its season. But they went to Baal Peor and separated themselves to that shame. They became an abomination. Like the thing they loved, the people made an abomination of themselves. As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird. No birth, no pregnancy and no conception, though they bring up their children. Yet I will bereave them to the last man. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them, just as I saw Ephraim like tire planted in a pleasant place. So Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer. Give them, O Lord, what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. There's a curse here pronounced and a prayer that these people would not have any children because their children were going to be killed. And we know what happened because of the spiritual idolatry that was taking place here. What was happening? Have you heard of the god Molech? There was a god who was an idol built in a wooden pit. It was lit and burnt. It was hot. It was made of metal. So it would glow red with heat and the pagans would come and sacrifice their children to the god Molech. They would bring their young children and lay them on this hot metal idol and they would burn up. And what is happening here is God is telling them you become an abomination. You've committed adultery. I'm going to cut off. children, you are not going to have children, because the point is, you're going to take the children that you have now and you're going to offer them up to the murderer. So there's not going to be any birth. There's not going to be any pregnancy. There's not going to be any conception. And the prophet is praying that if anybody was going to have children, that they would rather miscarry and not be born rather than be offered to an idol. So while we understand that this might have been a curse in truth, it was an act of mercy. So that this sinful people would not take the children that they were going to be having. and offer them to an idol. Three more verses, specifically the talk about being childless, that I need to explain. Turn with me to the book of Leviticus. We're going to start in Leviticus, chapter 20, verse 20. You know, by the time we're done, there's only six verses in all of Scripture that talk about barrenness being a curse. And we're finding out that so far, there's only been one that was a curse for a specific sin committed. That was Michael, and she was even given an opportunity to adopt children. So put out of your head the myth that God is cursing you if you've not had children. In Leviticus 20, verse 20, it is written, If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness. They shall bear their sin. They shall die childless. There are a few verses like this in the law that talk about how you are to be related to people in your family. It's the idea that you don't marry somebody who you're directly related to. You don't marry your uncle and aunt. You don't marry your brother and sister. You know, years ago, they would allow for for cousins to get married. I've seen the gene pool I come from. I'm not interested. Thank you very much. But here we go. There's a specific command here that if there is this sin that takes place. They shall bear their sin and they shall die childless. But we have to understand that this word childless is not speaking about barrenness as in never having children. This is a specific Hebrew word that means that any children they do have will be considered illegitimate. They will be cut off from the covenant people and they will have no inheritance. It would be the same as if you had no children in Israel at this point in time, living as a covenant community being together. You were born into the nation of Israel. You were born into this covenant under Moses. And as this happened, if you got cut off from that because of specific sin, you had no inheritance, no place, no people, no belonging. You became like the man without a country. You didn't belong anywhere. There was no inheritance. There was no lineage. There was no heritage. So this is specifically talking about if God's principles for marriage are abused, even if you do have children, they will be cut off with you put out of the covenant community and they will lose their inheritance. So it doesn't mean they will die without having children. It means if they do have children, they will never see their children part of this inheritance with the people. Leviticus 18, 29 says, For whoever commits any of these abominations listed above, you can read those for yourselves. Whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people. That's the same phrase that's translated childless. They'll be cut off from the people. They'll be put out of the camp. They'll have no inheritance. One more verse that talks about barrenness as a curse in Jeremiah, Chapter 22. Turn with me to Jeremiah 22, verses 24 through 30. At the same time, I would like for someone to turn to Matthew chapter one, verse twelve. We're going to read that verse in a minute, and as it specifically relates to this in Jeremiah, twenty two, starting in verse twenty four. It talks about this guy named Kaniah. This is actually Jeconiah, the king. Kaniah is a shortened. It's actually a disrespectful way to say the guy's name. He says, As I live, says the Lord, though Kaniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet of my right hand, yet I would pluck you off and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life and into the hand of those who space you fear the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. and the hand of the Chaldeans. So I'll cast you out and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born and there you shall die. But to the land to which they desire to return, they shall not return. Is this man? Can I despise broken idol, a vessel in which there is no pleasure? Why? Why are they cast out? He and his descendants and cast into a land which they do not know. Why are they cast out he and his descendants and cast into a land which they do not know? Oh, earth, earth, earth. Hear the word of the Lord. This is the Lord. Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days for none of his descendants shall prosper sitting on the throne of David and ruling anymore in Judah. Jeconiah, the king who, when they were taken off and carried into captivity, he was ruling in Judah. He was captured. God says to them, because of the sins of Jeconiah, I'm going to cut you off. He says, even if you were a signet ring on my right hand, even if you were that close to me being used to me because of your sin, I'm going to pluck you off. I'm going to throw you away. You're going to be captured by Nebuchadnezzar. You and all of your people are going to go into captivity. He says, you're going to be despised. And then he says, write this man down as childless. It's the same word cut off. He's cut off. He doesn't have an inheritance. Now, what's the problem here? The problem here, he's from the line of David. What was the promise in the covenant between God and David? One of your descendants will sit on the throne, right? And we know that's ultimately fulfilled in Christ being the son of David, sitting on the throne, ruling forever. But what happens here? He says, for you, Jeconiah, you're going to be considered childless. You're going to be considered cut off from the covenant and from the promise because none of your descendants are ever going to prosper. None of them will ever sit on the throne of David. None of them will ever rule my people. Now, in Matthew, chapter one, verse 12, somebody had that for me to read. Somebody read Matthew one, twelve. If you've got it, if not, I'll read it. Matthew one twelve. After they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. Now here we're talking about those who were captured, Jeconiah. Why is it important that his name is mentioned in Matthew chapter one? What is Matthew chapter one? It's the genealogy of who? Christ. Well, wait a minute. I thought none of Jeconiah's descendants would ever sit on the throne of David. And Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of that. Why is he in Jesus's genealogy? Let's take a look. Guess who descended from Jeconiah? You read through the book of Matthew, chapter one, and you read through all of this, you read about Jeconiah there causes some concern, but you keep reading and suddenly you realize in the last verse, verse 16, there of that genealogy, Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Did Jesus physically descend from Joseph? No. So did he physically descend from Jeconiah? No, what is that? That's a defense for the virgin birth. He had to be born of a virgin, because if Joseph had been his father, he would have been disqualified by this curse. He could never have sat on the throne. So even though the curse reads they will be childless, we have to understand that that means literally they will be cut off. They will not have an inheritance. They will not rule. So how many verses then are we finding where there's actually a curse? of barrenness as a result of a sin. There's only one in the whole Bible. Only one. And so many people make such a big deal thinking that they're cursed when they're barren. There's only one verse in the Bible of a specific instance. And even there, God was merciful because Michael was able to adopt her sister's five children and raise them. Be very careful if anyone says to you that barrenness is a curse, ask him to back it up with scripture and know in the back of your mind that they won't be able to do it. You can't prove it biblically. Moving on point three this morning, we're going to talk about the patriarchs and the prophets. We're going to move through this rather quickly with this. We're all familiar with. We've looked that God is alone is sovereign. He alone is open and closes the womb. We've looked at what the Bible actually says about barrenness as a curse. Now we're going to look at those who were born when the barren gave birth. In Genesis chapter 11, verse 30, we know that Sarah was barren and she had no child. Abraham and Sarah were old and she didn't have any children. These are the specific women in the Bible other than the ones you've already talked about who were barren. The first is Sarah. She was barren. She had no children. But in Genesis 21 the Lord visited Sarah as he had said and the Lord did for Sarah as he had spoken for Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him and Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him whom Sarah bore to him Isaac. What happened Sarah was barren but God and his purpose and his sovereignty with a specific goal in mind in their old age. It says at the set time that God had spoken to him about Sarah conceived and bore Isaac. A child of promise. So Sarah wasn't there anymore was she. She was barren for a time. But we understand God's unfolding of his purpose through the covenant with Abraham and giving them a child. He says, I have born him a son in his old age, a specific fulfillment to a specific promise. In Genesis 25, verse 21, Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord granted his plea. And Rebecca, his wife, conceived. Rebecca was barren. Isaac pleaded. This is an urgent active, anxious plea. He pleaded with the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And what happened? The Lord granted his plea and Rebecca conceived who was born as a result of that conception. Jacob and Esau, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. How does God identify himself in the Old Testament often? I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And we know that in the instance of Isaac and in the instance of Jacob their births were absolutely sovereign because their mothers before they were born were barren. But God opened their womb to accomplish a specific purpose in the birth of these men whom God would use to found a nation in fulfillment of the covenant. In Genesis, chapter 30, verse one. Now, when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob, no children, Rachel envied her sister and said to Jacob, Give me children or else I die. Jacob's anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, Am I in the place of God who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb? We talked about this already. Rachel couldn't have children. She got frustrated. She went to Jacob with that frustration. Jacob got angry at her response and said, Look, I'm not God. It's God who's doing this. In verse twenty two of the same chapter then God remembered Rachel and God listened to her and opened her womb and she conceived and bore a son and said God has taken away my reproach. So she called his name Joseph and said the Lord shall add to me another son. We know then we've talked about that already Rachel was barren. But God was sovereign and Joseph and Benjamin were born. And we know that the birth of Benjamin, the other son she talks about later on, we know that the birth of Benjamin cost her her life. She died giving birth to Benjamin. But look at what happened. She was barren. But when God opened her womb, look at the babies that she had and look at what they accomplished for God. In Judges 13, 2, there's another woman in the Bible who specifically it is said was barren. There was a certain man from Zorah of the family of the Danites whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, Indeed, now you are barren and have born no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Later, further in the chapter, verse 24. So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the child grew and the Lord blessed him. Samson, one of the mighty judges in the Old Testament ruling over the people of Israel. His mother was barren, but the angel of the Lord appeared. Write that down. Write down Judges chapter 13. I want you to go and read that this week. This is one of the Old Testament appearances of Christ when it talks here about the angel of the Lord, this was Jesus in the Old Testament before he was come and born in Bethlehem, Jesus appeared to bring them a special message. This was not Gabriel or Michael or one of the other angels. This was the angel of the Lord. And if you work at what look at what happens here in Judges 13, Manoah and his wife recognized who he was. They recognized that he was God because they offered him a sacrifice. And they say in the context of that chapter, we've seen God and have lived to tell about it. That gave them the faith to believe the promise that she would bear a son. This was so specific, such a specific show of God's sovereignty that Jesus himself came to this barren woman to tell her, you're going to bear a child. And that child was Samson. Probably the one everybody's the most familiar with and first thing you'll chapter one. There was a certain man of Ramathane Zofim of the mountains of Ephraim and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jehoram, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuf and Ephraimite. He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Penaniah. Penn and I had children but Hannah had no children this man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh also the two sons of Eli Hoffman Phineas the priest of the Lord were there and whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering he would give portions to Penn and I. his wife and all her her sons and daughters. But the Hannah he would give a double portion for he loved Hannah although the Lord had closed her womb and her rival also provoked her severely to make her miserable because the Lord had closed her womb. So it was year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord that she provoked her. Therefore she wept and did not eat. Then Elkanah her husband said to her Hannah why do you weep why do you not eat and why is your heart grieve and I know better to you than 10 sons. Husbands don't ask your wife if you're better than children. Because husbands, you are just another child to your wife. OK, and he says, am I not better you than ten sons? Falcon was a man, he didn't get it. She wanted a son. So Hannah rose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh and Eli the priest was sitting on a seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord and she was in bitterness of soul and pray to the Lord and wept in anguish and she made a vow and said O Lord of hosts if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant remember me and not forget your maidservant but will give your maidservant a male child and I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life no razor for come upon his head. It happened as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli watched her mouth. Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli thought that she was drunk. So Eli said to her, How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you. Good old pastorly rebuke. But Hannah answered answered and said No my Lord I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink but it poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now. Then Eli answered and said Go in peace and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of him. And she said Let your maidservant find favor in your sight. So the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad. I want to point out something here. If you do not have children, it is not wrong to complain and grieve to God about it. Don't think it's a curse, but also don't think it's wrong to grieve. We'll look at another verse in Proverbs in a moment specifically about that. Going on in 1st Samuel 1. Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her. So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked for him from the Lord. Now the man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, Not until the child is weaned, then I will take him that he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever. So Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Do it seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him. Only let the Lord establish his word. Then the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him. Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her with three bulls, one ephah, a flower, a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young. Then they slaughtered a bull and brought the child to Eli and said, O my Lord, as your soul lives, my Lord, I am the woman who stood by you here praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed. And the Lord has granted me my petition, which I asked of him. Therefore, I also have lent him to the Lord as long as he lives. He shall be lent to the Lord. So they worshiped the Lord there. Think about the exploits of Samuel as a prophet. Think about the things that Samuel accomplished for God amongst the people. Samuel, one of the greatest leaders that Israel ever had. Hannah went. She asked. God heard. And he answered. He was sovereign. I would hope that every woman would have this attitude about children that she would pray to the Lord for every child that they have and that they would lend every child to the Lord understanding that they were just stewards of those children. Raising them to be used of God. And I prayed. In her prayer of rejoicing, she talks about the things that God has done. In Second Samuel. And specifically, she says there, even the barren has born seven, but she who has many children has become feeble. God can turn our circumstances completely around a person who has many children who we think is fruitful and really blessed can absolutely see their life fall apart. And the barren woman can have seven children simply because God decides to make it so. God is sovereign and he's going to prove himself sovereign in our lives. The last woman specifically in the Bible who is talked about as being barren is in Luke chapter one. In Luke chapter one, starting in verse five, there was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous before God walking in all the commandments and ordinance of the Lord blameless but they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and they were both well advanced in years. But the angel said to him Do not be afraid Zacharias for your prayer is heard in your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness and many and many will rejoice at his birth for he will be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine or strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before him in spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and she hid herself five months saying that the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among people. Now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered. She brought forth a son when her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her. They rejoiced. Look at the significance here as we look at the women in the Bible who were specifically we're told were barren. The first was Sarah. She had Isaac. Next was Rebecca, she had Jacob and Esau. Then there was Rachel who had Joseph and Benjamin. Then there was Manoah's wife who had Samson. Samuel's mother, Hannah, had Samuel. And then Elizabeth had John the Baptist. Look at the progression there. I titled this Patriarchs and Prophets. Each one of these where the wife or the mother was barren when she had a child in God's plan and his purpose, bringing along each of these were a picture for us of Jesus Christ. And John the Baptist was the fulfillment of the promise in Malachi. He was the prophet who had come in the spirit and power of Elijah to foretell and to make ready the way of the coming of Christ. Each of these women who was barren in the scriptures played a specific role in being used of God to prepare the people to receive their Messiah. Remember that each of them played a specific role in God's plan to eventually be fruitful, to have children, and those children specifically played greater and greater and greater roles in preparing for the coming of the Messiah. So we've seen the first point, God is sovereign, he alone opens and closes the womb. The second point, we looked at what the Bible specifically says about barrenness as a curse. We found out that there's actually only one instance in the scripture where it was a curse for sin. We looked at the patriarchs and the prophets, those who were told in the scriptures were barren and the results when God did answer their prayers, they had children. Now the last point is titled barrenness as a blessing. Turn with me to Psalm chapter 113. We're going to read this whole Psalm 113. We have to remember, as we studied Psalm 127 a couple of weeks ago. Actually, I'm going to read that verse, then we'll look at Psalm 113. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. We talked about the fact that it's God who has to build our home. He has to build our family or else we're just wasting our time laboring in vain trying to build it. We have to allow him to build it and he will build it. That is his role in his job. He will build our family. By the way, what else has God told us that he's going to build? Jesus also says that he's going to build his church, doesn't he? The gates of hell will never prevail against it. It's his job to build a church. What does that mean? If we try to use the methods of man, if we try to market it, and if we try to do it our way to build a church, that's a violation of Psalm 127. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. We have to do things God's way. We have to walk by faith and let him accomplish his purpose. He has specific roles for us to play in that. In Psalm 113, this is what is written. Praise the Lord. Praise those servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore from the rising of the sun to its going down. The Lord's name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations. His glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God who dwells on high who humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth. He raises the poor out of the dust he lifts the needy out of the ash heap that he may see him with princes with the princes of his people. He grants the barren woman a home like a joyful mother of children unless the Lord builds the house they labor in vain who build it. What's the application here. This does not say he grants the barren woman children. It says he grants the barren woman a home like a joyful mother of children. If God is building your house. Listen to this. If God is building your house. Is he capable of giving you or not giving you children according to his will. Is your house any less built because you don't have children. Is that what building a house is all about. No. He says he grants the barren woman a home like a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord. A mother who has children and a woman who is barren, both can be completely satisfied and joyful in the home that God has given them and is building for them. When we rest in that sovereignty, we can see his purpose. And even if we don't understand it, we can still walk by faith. And understand that even the barren woman can have a joyful home, just as a mother with children. Children do not dictate the level of joy in a home, whether or not God is building the home dictates the level of joy in the home. Turn with me to Proverbs chapter 30, verse 16. In Proverbs 30, verse 16. Just a statement about the things that are never satisfied. from the writer of this proverb. He says the grave the barren womb the earth that is not satisfied with water and the fire never says enough. What does that mean. There's always going to be people dying. The grave is never completely full because we're all still alive in these fallen bodies. We're all still going to die. All going to be buried. The barren womb is never satisfied until children are born. The earth that is under a drought can't get enough water and the fire Never has enough to burn. The fire always burns on and on and on. Think about all the wildfires burning right now out in Arizona and out in Nevada and California. All these fires that are burning and burning and burning. And there's just so much going up in smoke. It's never enough. The writer of the Proverbs says these four things never say enough to say enough. There means these four things are never satisfied. The grave, the barren womb, the earth that is not satisfied with water and the fire. They are never satisfied. According to Matthew 5, verse 6, what does God tell us? Jesus, in preaching the Sermon on the Mount, says in Matthew 5, verse 6, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. You know what that phrase there, for they shall be filled, means? Literally, what Jesus said, blessed are those who are hungering and thirsting for being right with God, because they will be satisfied. What does the writer of Proverbs say? Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the writer of Proverbs says there's four things that are never satisfied. They never say enough. The grave, the barren womb, the earth that's under a drought, and the fire. It's never satisfied. But what does God also tell us? If you're hungry and thirsting for righteousness, if your whole drive and desire in life is to be right with God, there is a promise that in Him you will be filled, you will be satisfied. Where is the satisfaction for the barren womb? in seeking to be right with God. You hunger and you thirst after righteousness and you are guaranteed you will be satisfied. Can you be satisfied and still have a longing? I believe that you can be satisfied in God and still have a longing for children. It doesn't mean that the desire is taken away, but it means that you find your fulfillment not in meeting your own desires, but you find your fulfillment in walking with God. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They will be satisfied in Isaiah 54. A few verses he's a single man you have not born break forth in the singing and cry out you who have not labored with child for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman says the Lord for your maker is your husband the Lord of hosts is his name and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel he is called the God of the whole earth. No weapon form against you shall prosper. Every tongue which rises against you in judgment, you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is from me, says the Lord. In Isaiah 54, he's talking about coming judgment. He's talking about the desolate, those who have been deserted, those who are being judged. And he says, if you're barren and if you've not had children, you need to sing. You need to break forth into singing. You need to cry. You need to rejoice. Because we have to understand something in this context. Those who have been deserted may seem to have all the children. Have you ever noticed that barren couples? This just seems to be the case. The more wicked people can be, the more children they seem to have. Have you noticed that? From the perspective of a barren couple, when God will not open the womb, everybody you know who is as nasty and as sinful as can be seems to be the ones who just have children, one right after another. The scripture says that the children of the desolate are more than the children of the married woman the legitimate woman says the Lord but he says you need to remember something. Your maker is your husband we're the bride of Christ the Lord of hosts is his name your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. He says, No weapon formed against you is going to prosper. Every tongue which rises against you in judgment will be condemned. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. Here's what we have. We may not have as barren couples. We may not have the heritage of children. But what heritage do we have? We share the heritage of the righteousness that is from Christ. This verse is quoted. Isaiah fifty four one is quoted by Paul in Galatians four. He says, For it is written, Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear, break forth and shout, you who are not in labor, for the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. In this context, it's talking about the difference between Isaac and Ishmael, the child of promise and the child who brought about judgment. We need to understand that our righteousness comes from Christ. We're to rejoice. Number one, he's sovereign. Number two, those who are desolate, those who are deserted, those who are forsaken, those who live sinful, horrible, depraved lives. We think that God is blessing them by giving them children. We looked at Psalm 127, though, and no, The children who are a blessing are the children who are sought after, prayed for and trained correctly. But what we understand here is that it is the desolate who are going to suffer the judgment of God. He says no weapon they formed against you is ever going to prosper. You're never going to be judged. Why is that? Can you be desolate if you are in Christ? The word desolate in Hebrew means to be deserted. Can you be deserted if you are in Christ? What does he promise? I will never leave you and I will never forsake you. A woman can have a lot of children and be deserted. But the hope for the mother and the barren both the hope is this imputed righteousness from Christ, because when he has given you his righteousness, he will never leave you. He will never forsake you. You will never be deserted. In Luke 23. This is Jesus being taken to Golgotha, carrying his cross. Now as they led him away they laid hold of a certain man Simon a Cyrenian who is coming from the country and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus and a great multitude of people followed him and women also who mourned and lamented him. But Jesus while he is burying God's wrath for our sin on his way to the cross. Jesus turned to them and said daughters of Jerusalem do not weep for me but weep for yourselves. and for your children. For indeed, the days are coming in which they will say, Blessed are the barren wombs that never bore, and the breasts which never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills cover us. For if they do these things in the greenwood, what will be done in the dry?" What is this talking about? Jesus turns around to those who are following Him to Calvary, and He says there's going to come a time when if you are barren, you're going to be blessed. Why? What is Jesus talking about? Well, here we know specifically It's in their rejection of the Messiah. God judged the people. What happened in AD 70? Jerusalem was destroyed. Not one stone was left upon another. What happened to the people who were living there? Most of them were killed. This is what Jesus is saying, you're weeping for me. But he says, you need to weep for yourselves and you need to weep for your children, because there's going to come a day of judgment. And when that day comes, the saying in the street is going to be blessed of the barren, blessed of the wombs that never bore. Why? Think about it this way, how is bearing this a blessing here? If you know judgment for sin is coming, We believe that's going to happen. Jesus is going to return and there's going to be a judgment of sinners. Correct. At the Great White Throne, sinners will be judged. We know a day of judgment is coming. It's impending, just like this was for 70 A.D. Judgment is coming. Would you rather think about this for a moment? Would you rather have children and lose them in the judgment or not have children? What mother do you know who would want their children to be judged and to not know Christ? But how many children will there be? How many families will there be? How many people will there be who don't know him when he returns? They don't recognize him. They have not a clue. The impending judgment. When we talk about the fact that Jesus is coming back, we understand that there is a day of judgment coming in the future. And what we have to understand about that is Jesus said, when it comes down to it, if you are not in Christ, if you've not had His righteousness imputed to you, and you face the day of judgment, it will be true at that point you would have wished you'd never had children. And to see any of them grow up and bear the penalty for their own sin rather than come to Christ. I've known married couples who have prayed that God, if you're not going to give us children, you know, you don't give us children. Because there is a grief and physically losing a child to death, but what is the grief of a child growing up and never knowing Christ? There is a day of judgment, and when you look at judgment, if your children grow up and don't know Christ by the time they're grown and they don't know him and they've rejected him. It would have been better for you to have been there. So how, then, is barrenness a blessing? Five ways. Barrenness is most often an opportunity for us to experience blessing and not a curse. Here are five blessings that we see in barrenness. Listen to these closely. This is a summation of everything we've gone over. First, barrenness shows us that God is sovereign over the womb and in the birth of every child. He is not only sovereign but he has a specific purpose in opening or closing the womb. He also has a specific purpose in the birth of every child. Look at those in the Bible who were previously barren but whom God blessed with children. What did their children do for the kingdom of God? If you are struggling with barrenness, pray and hope that God will give you a child like Isaac. or Jacob or Joseph and Benjamin or Samson or Hannah who had Samuel or John the Baptist pray that they will be someone used mightily of God. Just because you're barren now doesn't mean you're going to be barren forever. If you are there's still a need to trust in the sovereignty of God. But look at God's sovereignty and look at what he accomplished in the Bible through those who were barren and then who had children. The second way that barrenness is a blessing barrenness gives us an opportunity to truly trust God to build our home and our family. It really gives us an opportunity to find out what kind of faith we have. Is it going to be God who builds our family or are we going to try to do it in labor in vain? Barrenness gives us an opportunity to truly trust God to build our home and our family. Third, barrenness gives us an opportunity to be satisfied by God. We can find full and complete satisfaction in him. We don't need anything else in this world to be satisfied, but Christ. Barrenness gives us a real opportunity to know that. Because there is no satisfaction for the barren womb. But in God, we can all be completely satisfied. Fourth, barrenness reminds us that we do have a cause to rejoice. Because we are never left desolate if we are in Christ. As desolate and as deserted as we may feel not having children, we can take joy in the fact that Christ will never leave us. He will never forsake us. And fifth, barrenness gives us a motivation to witness. How is that? That was the last point, the coming judgment. It reminds us that many will be lost and many will lose their children in the coming judgment for sin when Christ returns. What greater motivation do we need then to preach the gospel? In our barrenness, we can find a blessing because it gives us motivation to be a witness. to the coming judgment for sin and the escape that has been provided through Jesus Christ. Five specific ways that barrenness in the scriptures is given to us as a blessing, not a curse. If you don't have children, if you can't have children, walk by faith. Ask God for children, pray for children, let God know the desires of your heart. But walk by faith. Trust him. He's sovereign. He knows what's best. Whatever he causes to happen is going to happen for your good in his glory, whether you see the good in it, whether you see the glory in it. It's there. So barrenness shows us that God is sovereign. It gives us an opportunity to trust him to build our home and family. It gives us an opportunity to be satisfied completely by God. It reminds us that we do have cause to rejoice because we are never left desolate if we're in Christ. And it gives us a motivation to preach the gospel. So that others will be spared wrath and the coming judgment for sin. Any questions or comments about anything we covered this morning? Anything at all? Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for your word. I do pray that you would use it to settle our hearts and to encourage us and to instruct us, father, to give us true sympathy for couples around us who cannot have children. Father, I pray that you would help us to be an encouragement to them to take the truth of your word, that this really is an opportunity for blessing. It's not that you hate us and curse us, and that is why we don't have children. But father, it's that your sovereign and that your will is going to be accomplished for our good and your glory. Help us to trust you in that, whether you give us children or not. Because we know you're sovereign in both instances, we know that your will is done in both cases. Both give us an opportunity to walk by faith, either to trust you that you don't want us to have children at this point or to trust us that the children you have given us, you have given us with a specific purpose in mind to further your kingdom. Father, for those this morning who have children, I pray that you would remind them the importance of the fact that you have called and have a specific purpose for their children, that they would train them up effectively in the word so that they could impact the world for your kingdom. And for those who are struggling with barrenness, I pray that you administer grace, that you would overwhelm us with your sovereignty and your mercy, and that you would indeed show us how blessed all of us are because we are in Christ Jesus. Help us all to find our satisfaction in you, to hunger and thirst after being right with you, because then you promise we will be satisfied. We pray that this morning in Jesus name. Amen.