Let us turn back to the book of Genesis chapter 16, and let us look particularly at words we find in verse 13. And we will look at these words in their context and as the Lord enables. Genesis chapter 16 and verse 13. And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, thou God seest me. For she said, have I also here looked after him that seeth me? Look at these words in their context. And in this chapter, we have we have the veritable marital triangle, Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. But we have also here in this chapter an illustration of the church in its better qualities and in its weaker qualities. the church represented by Abram and Sarah, you could speak of them as professing people within that church, and Hagar the Egyptian, the maid whom they had picked up during their days in Egypt, possibly as an adherent within the church. And having said that, we can look at this portion tonight under the following headings. First, the godly household. And as I said, the household representing the church in a measure. So we can speak of it not only as a godly household, but a godly church. And then secondly, a backslidden church. That household falling into sin. And then thirdly, a divided church, the fruit of sin in that household. And then finally, a word of application to ourselves, and in that order. First then, the godly household. This is taking place approximately 450 years after the Noahic deluge. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He was still alive until shortly before the birth of Abraham, because they lived such long years in those days. Despite the fact that he had been a preacher of righteousness, despite the fact that the Lord had visited the unrighteousness of the world at that time with a flood, the world, as far as we can see, had returned in large measure to unrighteousness again. Particularly that was so in Ur of the Chaldees, in Babylon, where Abraham was brought up. It was given over to idolatry. But it was there that God called Abram, converted Abram, called him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and told him to go forth unto a land that was not specified, and he went forth on the word of God by faith. He had the promises of Genesis 12 that we have already looked at today. I can just quickly mention them. The promise of a great posterity, the promise of the Messiah who would come from that posterity, one in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed, and the promise also of a a land, a homeland, where the posterity that would come from him would find a place of abode. And Abraham believed these promises. He believed these promises implicitly. He staggered not with unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. the letter to the Romans, it says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And my own view there, and whenever a view comes to you from the pulpit, you are to sift what you hear. You have to try the spirits. But my own understanding would be that When the scripture says, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, it wasn't just the act of believing that was accounted to him for righteousness. That would be a work. And it wouldn't be salvation, can't have salvation by works, can only be by grace. My own understanding would be that he was looking to that one in whom the nations would be blessed as the one in whom he also must be blessed. and that there, as he looked at the Christ who was to come, that's what we find with many of these saints of the Old Testament. They were looking to the Messiah who was to come. It was there that he found righteousness, counted to him for righteousness. He believed that promise. He believed the promise concerning the posterity as we looked at already today. There was no question in his mind, but that that posterity would be his. There was a question with him about how the promise would be brought about, how the accomplishment of it would be brought about. The more he saw the years passing, the more he saw himself unable to, himself and his wife, to bring a child into the world. the more he began to question, how is this promise going to be brought about? And he began to wonder, was it going to be through a legal heir, through Eleazar, who was the heir to his household? Was that the way that God's promise would be brought about? And we looked at already today, God made clear to him It would not be through a legal heir. It would be through a congenital, a biological son of his own, one who would come forth from his own bowels, that that heir would come. And he was given the promise that as the stars of the sky are numerous, so would his posterity be. There was also beginning to now be a question with him, and maybe I'm going a wee bit ahead into the next heading, but nevertheless, we'll touch it here. Question in the same way, how is this child going to come? It's not going to be through a legal heir. Is it possibly going to be through a surrogate mother, one other than my own wife? and that begins to take root, and we'll see that that root leads to sin later on. But here we have a godly man. He went forth on the word of God from Ur of the Chaldees, the age of 70. He stayed in a place called Haran for five years, His extended family, a large measure of his extended family had come with him. And there he shut the eyes of his father, Abraham, in death. And after five years, still no son. And they went forth. and they went forth towards the land of Canaan, they came to a place called Siham, they went from Siham to a place called Bethel, and from Bethel they went to a place called Hebron. 10 years had passed, 15 years from the time that they set off from the land of Ur, still no sun. And there's the question arises, how is this child going to come? Is it going to be in a way other than through my own wife, Sarah. Well, a godly man, a godly man that we have here, believing the promises implicitly. God showing us that in his own word, counted to him for righteousness and stating elsewhere in the Old Testament, he saw my day and he rejoiced. What about the other side of the family? What about Sarah? Well, another godly woman. The wife of his youth. Setting off with him, it looks as if she set off with him from Urge. Although it's possible it was in Harran that their marriage began, we don't know. But the wife of his youth. And a godly woman, as I say, Scripture gives proof of that. In 1 Peter chapter 3 and verses 3 to 6 of that chapter, there's reference to her as being marked with a not the ornamentation, not the external ornamentation, not being adorned with external ornamentation such as the priesting of the hair, or the wearing of gold jewellery, or the taking to a ralph of fashionable clothing, apparel it speaks of in the AV, No, it was not that external or adorning that characterized her at all, but not the external, but the inward, marked with marks of meek and quiet spirit, and marked also with a good wife giving place to her husband as the head of the household, set before us as a godly woman, godly wife and a godly husband. Tranquil years these were in the household of Abraham. And if we think of that as the visible church, as the church of that time, a representative of that church, tranquil and prosperous years in the life of the church. Not having any place that they could call their own, living in tents, but looking for that city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Secondly, a backslidden church, a backslidden church, a household falling into sin, that godly household falling into sin. And I've already mentioned hardly how that happened. I think the sin that it fell into was not even the sin of surrogacy. taking another person to carry your child for you and to bring a child into the world, to be used through a different mother than the wife that you have, and to become the child of the family. It went beyond that. It went from surrogacy to polygamy, because he was to take this other woman as his wife. and to have a child by her. Now, it wasn't lustful sin. It wasn't lust that provoked, that brought about this sin. It was indeed his wife, Sarah, who had suggested that this program should be followed by him. She loved her husband. You can imagine them over the breakfast, over the dinner, day by day, years passing, what are we going to do? How is this promise going to be brought about? And Sarah's the one who suggests to him that he take Hagar, the maid, An Egyptian maid, probably picked up by them during his stay in Egypt. There had been a blip there that we're not going to go into just now. Even at a godly household, that can be. But Hagar was that maid, and Sarah suggested, take Hagar, my maid, take her to yourself, ask your wife, Have a child by her, and that will be, I will regard that as my own child." And that is what he did. He hearkened to his wife. He listened to what she said, and that was what happened. And Hagar conceived. But what happened in that household from that point on is division, because from the time that Hagar is carrying a child, Sarah is full of jealousy towards her, and is not being kind to her at all. And not only is that the case, but Hagar herself, she's not able to handle the matter very well. She becomes rather proud and arrogant, and not only teases, but hurts. Poor Sarah. I've been able to conceive a child and you haven't. There was a bad spirit arose between the two women. You find Sarah then bringing the matters to Abram and blaming Abram for this. She herself had asked Abram to go ahead, and now when she finds the fruit of it, she blames Abram for it. And Abram, poor Abram, he should have rebuked both of them. He should have brought them both into prayer meeting within the home. And he should have put their heads together. But no, he gave in to Sarah. You can do with her as you like. And the result was that But Sarah became very harsh towards Hagar, and eventually Hagar left the home. And, well, you find her on her way towards Egypt again, away from the home, that godly home, towards the desert, into Shur, by the fountain there, going headlong away from the house. Notice that Abraham had not consulted the Lord in prayer over this matter. Notice that in the case of Sarah, she had wronged God in this matter. was doing something that was contrary to the will of God, as we understand it. In Genesis 3 speaks of one leaving the father and mother and cleaving to his wife, and they two becoming one flesh. And the understanding throughout that period was that one man, one wife. Well, here she was going against God's word, God's world as it was understood. She was wronging Hagar. She said, I was wronging Abraham. She meant well. It was love, but it was violating love. She went well, but when you go against the will of God, it's not really love at all. Perceived love was damaging real love. It was wronging herself. It was wronging Hagar, treating her as a commodity rather than as a person, as if she had no right in this matter. It was sin had come into the household. It was a backslidden household. It was a backslidden church. And when it was that backslidden church, you find the division. You find Hagar in full pursuit away from the home, away from Sion, as it were, away from the church, as it were, away from the godly home, away from where the word of God was. Would be morning and evening worship, no doubt, away from that altogether. away towards Egypt, into the world, back into the world. That was the result. A home that had fallen to sin and a home that was divided. And that's where we come to our text. The angel of the Lord is in full pursuit of Hagar as she goes in full pursuit away from Zion, as it were. The angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur, on the way to Egypt. Egypt representing the world. And notice this great, the angel of the Lord is the Christ of God. It's a Theophany again, you might say. It's Christ appearing before the Incarnation, not in human nature yet, but appearing in different ways and speaking as the Son of God. The angel of the Lord encompasseth all those about that do him fear, and them delivereth. Different parts of the Scripture speak of the angel of the Lord in this way. The angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Sheol. Oh, the graciousness that he had pursued her at all. And then he said, Hagar, gracious words that he uses to her, Hagar, Sarah's maid, whence comest thou? Where have you come from? And whither wilt thou go? And where do you intend to go? This poor soul on the way, away from the church, away into the world. Been hurt within the church, but here she is in full flight from it. Hey, Garcia's maid, whence comest thou and whither shalt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress, Sarah. and the angel of the Lord said unto her, return to thy mistress and submit thyself unto her hands." Can we just apply that? Return to the church. Return to the place where the Word of God is read, where there is worship of the Lord with all its faults. That is where the Word of God is. And return there and put yourself once more unto the Word of God. What is the point of going away from that into the wilderness and into the world? Where will be any good for your soul there? The angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress and submit thyself unto her hands. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, and this is not really what I wanted, this is not the thrust of what I want to get at tonight, but here it is nevertheless, it's in the Word, and let's look at it because of that. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, behold thou art with child, and thou shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy afflictions. And he will be a wild man. His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. And so on. And that has been accomplished, that has been fulfilled. This is where the Arab nations come from. The Arab nations who have taken control of so much of the world, especially through their prophet Islam and his teachings and Islam, and it's there still. A wild nation. and almost untamable, and we see it, part of its fruits today in the warfare that's going on in the Middle East. But that's not what I wanted to touch upon. It's this flight of agar, and it's this pursuit of her by the angel of the Lord, and the application that I wish this night. Is there a Hagar in our midst here? Is there one who feels that she has been wronged, that she has been hurt, maybe by something said from the pulpit, maybe by something that somebody has said to a professing person in the church? Shame upon us if that is the case. But is there a Hagar who has been attentive on the means of grace, and who is now in full flight away from it and into the world. Do you hear the word of the Lord saying to you, whence comest thou? Whither are you going? Return, submit yourself to the word of God. For all the faults that may be in the church, this is the word, where the word is found. And this is where we must seek to find solace for our souls. And so the concern of the soul goes much beyond the concern of our bodies. And as an ambassador of Christ in your midst this night, I speak to you, return, submit, bring yourself under the authority of the Word of Truth. Seek to know Him whom to know is life. Is there a Sarah here? A godly woman, professing woman? be a professing man represented by her. Is there somebody here who's putting, for example, his marriage or her marriage before the concerns of Christ? Because the believer is part of the bride of Christ, and that must be the marriage that has paramount importance with you. You may very well be misconstruing things, thinking that you're doing the right thing, thinking that this is the best thing, but there is one who says, my son, my daughter, give me your heart. Give me the first place in your order of priorities. And it's the Rane Brahman, Godly man, no doubt, believing the promises, that great promise particularly, that the kingdom of God will come, that there will be an increase in the numbers in the church. We have such promises confessionally given to us regarding the Norse ancient people, and that through their instrumentality there will be a wide growth in the church. Is there one who is heeding these promises with good intent, just a good intent that Abraham had? But are you finding things as Abraham found them? No, son. No child coming. We're looking for souls to be added to the church, to the communion role of the visible church on earth and in heaven. And then communion after communion passes. And oh, we feel the weight of it. Is there the danger like Abraham We take things into our own hands and seek to bring that addition to the church about by human instrumentality. You know the different ways that are tried. They will not avail. There's the Word of God speaking to the Abrams still in our midst. that we seek to have our priorities right, that we wait upon the Lord. His clock keeps perfect time, not indolently waiting, but prayerfully waiting, and obediently waiting, and doing all that's called upon you as a professing child of God in our midst. Remembering that there's a word that says, when Sion was in labor, children were born, and that's what we must attend to. Prayerful, diligent, obedient, watchful behavior, looking unto Jesus, the one who gives the addition to his church. because there is these words that Hagar spoke that belong to every one of us. Thou, Lord, seest me. We are under his watchful eye. And then there's the words that followed. I closed my Bible, but they come to the effect of, and what is my response to that watchful eye? What is my response to that gracious watchful eye upon me? Let us pray. Thou, Lord, seest me. Before, behind thou hast beset, and set on me thine eye, Such knowledge is too great for me, too high to understand. There is no escaping thy presence. Awesomely, the psalmist says that even if he seeks rest, hiding place in hell, thou art there. But thou art there without an intermediate, without a, without a, without a, without one to interpose, without an intermediator between us and the living God. Or that we might flee from the prospect of being found there. Or that we would seek Thee, O Lord, to be found and call upon Thee, O Lord, near. Or that Thou would come with Thy Spirit this night and accompany Thy word and speak unto us individually from whence comest thou, and whither are you going? And that we could say, thou, Lord, seest me. And what has been the response? What has been my response to that gracious oversight? Overcares. Receive us with a pardon of our many sins, in Jesus' name, amen.