The sermon passage this evening comes from Genesis chapter 16. Hear the word of the Lord. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go into my servant. It may be that I shall obtain children by her. And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So after Abram had lived 10 years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram, her husband, as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram, may the wrong done to me be on you. I gave my servant to your embrace. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me. But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, your servant is in your power. Do to her as you please. Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, I am fleeing from my mistress, Sarai. The angel of the Lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit to her. The angel of the Lord also said to her, I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.' And the angel of the Lord said to her, Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael because the Lord has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him. And he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen. So she called the name of the Lord, who spoke to her, you are a God of seeing. For she said, truly here I have seen him who looks after me. Therefore, the well was called Beher-le-hai-roi. It lies between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore Ishmael. Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. This is the word of the Lord. Praise be to God. I have to admit that as I was growing up and throughout my early life, and honestly, even until the last few years, whenever I read this chapter in the book of Genesis as I was reading through the Bible, I always thought it was kind of a sideshow, that it didn't have much significance in the grander story of Genesis. but I was very surprised that I could not have been further from the truth. This is a chapter rich, full of significance for us this evening with great redemptive themes that really point us to salvation by God's grace, not salvation by works and not salvation by what we think is right, not doing in our own eyes what we think is best, but trusting in the providence and salvation of God. Ian Duguid, who is an Old Testament professor, wrote a book on Genesis called Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality. I'm going to draw from it much this evening. But here we have clearly a gap between what Abram has been promised and the reality. Verse one tells us the problem. Of course, before we even get there, we know that he has been promised Offspring, remember, as many as the stars in the sky, the sand in the seashore, so his offspring will be. That's the promise that Abram's been given, but what's the reality? The reality in verse 1 is that Sarai had not born a son. What did they do? Now, verse 3 tells us that they had been living in Canaan for ten years. Can you imagine having been in Canaan for 10 years, having trusted the Lord for 10 years after this promise, and you're wondering, God, are you listening? Are you here? Did you really promise me, children? So the question becomes, are they going to do what they think is best, or are they going to trust in God's salvation? In the previous chapters, we've seen, for the most part, Abram at his best. He's a great man of faith, a man who trusts God, who believes in the promises of God. But here, we see Abram the failure, who doesn't trust. Now, we should take comfort from that, because like Abram, or Abram like us, was tempted, tried, and failing, just like us. He was a man, a sinful man, who needed a Messiah, just like us. But there's also the challenge, of course, that Paul says, if you think you are standing, take heed lest you fall. That's the warning to us. Any of us, no matter how high or exalted you might appear, especially for people in positions like me, people look at me and Pastor Johnson and other pastors as men of faith, it's a challenge to remember, take heed lest you fall. Because all of us, just like Abram, could easily, easily do what he did. Verse 2 tells us the temptation. It tells us that Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. Now, they have this problem, and Sarai says, well, perhaps you could take Hagar, and perhaps the Lord would bless us through her, and it's through her that we could bear children. That may sound somewhat good, I don't wanna dismiss it as a terrible idea for this reason. I mean, it was a terrible idea, but it was plausible because taking a concubine in those days was a typical cultural custom, okay? It was a wrong custom. It was not the way of the Lord. The Lord had not sanctioned it. The Lord created man and woman, male and female. He joined them together in the bond of marriage, one man, one woman for all of life. And the whole idea of polygamy or bigamy or concubines, all of that was against God's plan. So, you see that here in Genesis. Anytime you see bigamists or polygamists, it never ends well for them. God did not sanction this, it was not a good idea, it was not God's idea. But it was plausible, and that was what was the problem. It also tells us that Abram hearkened to the voice of his wife, which sounds much like Genesis 3.17, Adam listened to the voice of his wife, almost the same words. Not only that, but the devil doesn't tempt or come, I should say, the devil doesn't come in the way that we often think he would. We don't expect him to come as an angel of light in those people whom we love and whom we trust. My family and I have been going through the book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and there's an interesting part when all four children, Susan, Peter, Lucy, and Edmund, go into the wardrobe for the first time, or they're all there for the first time together, and they start talking about the White Witch, and Edmund's planting the seeds of doubt in his siblings' minds. Well, who says the White Witch is really bad? How do we know she's really bad? Do you think she could really be bad? Well, how do we know the faun's telling the truth? He's planting these seeds of doubt in his brother and his sister's minds, and of course, they love Edmund, and they trust Edmund, right? Or at least somewhat trust him. Now, I should say, too, that both women took and gave, that those same words took and gave are also used with Eve. And of course, remember, Satan tempted Eve and came to tempt Adam through Eve. But what I wanna paint a picture here is that it's not always bad, of course. In fact, it's usually good, majority of the time, to listen to your wife. It's usually good. And, in fact, in Genesis 21, verse 12, I won't have you turn there, Abram is specifically told and commanded by God to listen to Sarai, his wife. How do you know when to listen to your spouse and when not to? It's simple. You need to listen to God's Word first. You need to have God's Word hidden in your heart so deeply that You can question any voice, no matter who it comes from, that's in conflict with God's Word. That's the solution. It takes a long time, it takes a lot of work, but that's the only solution. So they come up with, of course, the wrong answer, that is to take Hagar. At first, it sounds as if Hagar's gonna be on the same playing field, because the very last word in verse three, or phrase, is gave her to Abram, her husband, as a wife. So is Hagar gonna be Abram's wife? But then, the next verse, it uses the word mistress. So what you have in Hagar is someone who was treated as a second-class wife. She was a slave. She was not on, she was certainly not treated on the same playing field as Sarai. Nor, the whole situation should never have happened in the first place. But of course, Hagar gets pregnant, Sarai feels despised, and she proceeds to make Hagar's life a wreck. It's awful, this whole thing is a mess. Sarai blames Abram in verse five. Abram in verse six essentially says to her, do whatever you want with Hagar. It's not my department, not my problem. He wants to distance himself from this whole scenario. He even says, excuse me, I believe it's in verse six where it says that Sarai dealt harshly with her. That could mean that she even beat her servant, her slave. This was not the common culture of today. This was an ancient culture, and Hagar could have been treated horribly. We should put a pause here and ask the question, what do we do when we have a good goal, like God's promises, and they don't seem to be fulfilled, because that's really the problem, isn't it? The problem is, Abram and Sarai are trusting in the promises of God, but they haven't come to fruition yet. Here's what Ian Duguid has said. What should you do when the promises of God seem slow in being fulfilled? Certainly, you may need to examine your own motives and obedience to search your own heart for hidden sins. Sometimes the desires of our hearts are turned in entirely wrong directions. But what do you do when it seems that the desires of your heart are good and proper, yet they remained as unfulfilled as ever? You must continue to wait for God's timing. God is not slow. but neither is he in a hurry. Do good gives some good, no pun intended, do good gives some great examples. For example, what about marriage? If your goal is a marriage, and perhaps you're a man, you're a guy, and you're wanting to marry someone who's a Christian, but you're tired of waiting, the temptation could be to marry someone who's not a Christian. Wouldn't that be a temptation? Or if you're a girl, you're tempted perhaps to marry a man who's not going to be a spiritual leader or even a Christian at all. Certainly those could be temptations. You want what's best, but you're tired of waiting. Or a sickness. Perhaps you get a sickness which throws a whole wrench into your plans, it tears your life apart, and you're tempted to be angry at God. There is a proper anger, a righteous anger, but there is an anger which is unholy against God, you don't wanna submit to His will. There's all kinds of temptations if you don't, your plans for a spouse or a job or health or, whatever, don't plan out the way that you want, there's a temptation to try to take a shortcut. And the answer sometimes is that we have to wait, year after year after year after year after year. They had to wait 10 years. In fact, they'll wait even longer than that before Isaac is born. Having said the story about Abram and Sarah, or given an overview, Sarah, Let's consider Hagar. When I first read this, I thought Hagar was really the innocent party in this. And I think as far as blame goes, certainly there's a fair share of blame to be given to Abram and to Sarai. But Hagar is not completely without innocence in this. Here is what S.G. de Graaf has said about Hagar. Remember, Hagar flees from Abram's house. De Graaf says, Hagar not only removed herself from the covenant circle, but also removed a child that was to be born within that circle. The Lord does not quickly let go of anything He claims as His own. Ultimately, He was interested in Hagar and her child for the sake of Christ, of whom Abram was to be a forefather in type. It was for Christ's sake that God had made the covenant with Abram. And for Christ's sake, the Lord did not want to forsake Abram or anything belonging to him. The Lord feels the same way today. Anything bound up with the Lord Jesus Christ will never be forsaken. If someone belongs to Christ, the Lord will search for him for a long, long time and only give up when that person has completely hardened himself against the Lord. There is a clue in the text that Hagar is drifting towards something that is not good. Because we are told, I believe it is in verse seven, that the angel of the Lord finds her by the spring on the way to Shur. Now you may not know where Shur is, but that's on the way to Egypt. Throughout Genesis, there's a theme. The theme is that Egypt represents prosperity, it represents security, apart from the covenant blessings of God. It also represents the foreign gods of the pagan people. So here we have Hagar, who's being enticed to go to Egypt. And of course, if you remember back in Genesis 12, when there's a famine, Abram goes to Egypt to seek security. Or when Lot, I think it's in Genesis 13, when Lot lifts up his eyes to see the Jordan Valley and it's well watered, it says, it's well watered like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. It represents prosperity, security, Hagar is wanting that apart from the covenant blessings of God. But I think we see here the compassion and tender care of Jesus, because the angel of the Lord – who is the angel of the Lord? Well, He's not Jesus, I should say. He's not the Son of God come in the flesh just yet. It's a pre-incarnate Christ, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. What he says is not doom and gloom, hellfire, brimstone, judgment. It's not a consuming fire. He comes to her, I think gently. He asks her, where have you come from? Where are you going? What are you doing here? Essentially, what's going on, Hagar? And she answers, well, I'm fleeing from my mistress. Then the angel gives her a command which is quite hard for us to accept, return to your mistress and submit to her. Now how could God give a command like that? Here she is, she's perhaps even being beaten. How could she be ordered to go back to that situation? S.G. de Graaf says this, it is better to put up with injustice if it means retaining a link with the promise and the Lord. She would have to bury her pride, which made her want to keep the child for herself. She should instead desire the child for the Lord. The Lord would comfort her in times of injustice, but first she would have to submit for the Lord's sake. We, too, may have to suffer injustice now and then. But when we suffer, we must never lead us, but what we suffer must never lead us to cut our ties with the Lord by turning our backs on his people and church. In thinking about this question, I was reminded of the passage in 1 Peter 2, verse 18, that says this, servants be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten, for it you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. I think Hagar's calling here was a very hard calling. It was a calling to be under submission to someone who is treating you unjustly. And I don't think that we will be in the same circumstances, her, under slavery. At least I hope that's not the case with anyone. But it could be the case that you or I, or someone we know, does have to submit to leadership or authority that they find unjust. or consequences of something that they feel like is unjust. And it is not always the solution to go outside the authority that God has set in place. Sometimes we have to submit to that authority, even if it seems to us unjust. And that is hard. That is really, really hard. But it doesn't come without faith. That's the only way that you're able to do that. The final part of this story is really about Ishmael and about Hagar being seen. There are a few names that I would like to consider very briefly with you that give us a portrayal of a God who cares for his lost and straying sheep. In verse 11, we're told that Hagar will be pregnant, or you are pregnant, and shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Ishmael. Now, Ishmael's name means God hears. S.G. de Graaf says this. It shows that God had not overlooked Hagar's oppression in Abram's tent, and that he would not be with her, I'm sorry, that he would be with her. That name was also intended to put Abram to shame, for God does not permit the sins of his children to go unpunished. The name Ishmael was an indictment of Abram and Sarai. Here you have Hagar, she's an Egyptian, she's not a Hebrew, she's, a slave, not free, she's a woman, not a man, she's being mistreated and exploited, and God wants her to know that he hears, that he cares. In verse 13, Hagar gives a name to the Lord, a God of seeing. Truly here I have seen him who looks after me. Then she names the well, the bir lahai roi, which means the well of the living one who sees me. So all of this gives a picture, the name of Ishmael that God hears, the name she gives to the well, the living God who sees me, the name she calls God, the God of seeing, all of this gives us a picture that God cares. for the least of us. God cares for those who are being unjustly oppressed, unjustly treated. He sees into not just the figureheads who are in authority, but he sees all the way down to the very least of the servants. He sees you too, and me too. Verse 12 gives us Something that I think gets misinterpreted, is it a blessing or is it a curse? Ishmael shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen. Now is that a blessing or is that a curse? Here's what Eschatograph says, unfortunately, Let me back up. These words contained a wonderful blessing. They spoke of power and freedom and courage, but how would that blessing be used? Would it be used for freedom from sin for Christ's sake? Unfortunately, Ishmael pitted his strength against Christ. Out of Ishmael were born the freedom lovers of Arabia, the land where Islam arose. The physical and spiritual posterity of Ishmael has lived in continual conflict with the people of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, the blessing given to that people turned into a curse. Eschatograph says it's a blessing, but because of Ishmael's sin, it's been turned into a curse. But she is blessed in that you can see in verse 10, it even says that, I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for a multitude. There is a blessing in this, but it's twisted and turned into a curse by Ishmael. What does that mean for you and I? One thing it could mean, in my mind, is that it doesn't really matter who or where or what circumstances to which you were born. Some of us are born inside the covenant community, and you grow up hearing the gospel, and you should be blessed by hearing the gospel, but If you turn your back on that, on all that you have been raised in and all of the things that you've learned and all of the things that you've heard, that very heritage can turn into a curse. Or, of course, you could be born outside the covenant community. And you could hear the gospel and come in, and it's a glorious thing. Remember the genealogy of Jesus. Jesus had Rahab, he had Ruth, the Moabitess in his line, Bathsheba. He had all sorts of people who were born outside of the covenant body in his own lineage. The big question is, are you for or are you against Christ? That's the question. Not where you were raised or to who you were born or what circumstances. Are you for or against Christ? Let me end by suggesting a few ways how we see the Lord Jesus Christ exalted and his humiliation and his exaltation here. Remember, Abram and Sarai were tempted to take a shortcut and they failed, they took it. And it had disastrous consequences. By the way, those consequences lasted forever. They're still going on in some ways. He couldn't pretend like this thing didn't happen. There was a child that was born out of this. The consequences of sin can and often do last throughout our lives, unfortunately. The Lord Jesus Christ was, of course, tempted to take a shortcut. He was taken at one point in His life up to a tall mountain, and He was told, the kingdoms of the world can be yours, they can be yours now. And the subtext of that temptation was, if you don't take the shortcut, then suffering, death, the cross, that's what's going to be yours. But Jesus didn't take the shortcut. Jesus resisted the temptation. He didn't take the kingdoms. And he did what was in his father's will. We also see in Jesus Christ the God who sees. Remember that moment in Jesus' life when he met the woman at the well? Remember he met another woman at a well? And that woman said, I have no husband. And he said, well, the one who you are with, you've had five husbands, the one you're with now is not your husband. He sees right through her, he knows exactly everything about her, and she even says, come and see the man who told me everything I ever did. But Jesus was also tender and compassionate with her. He was like a shepherd who was seeking a lost sheep who had strayed. We also see that Jesus is the one who's really rejected. Sadly, Ishmael must have had a life full of rejection. If you can imagine being born first, but the circumstances are not great, and for the rest of your life, you're never the favored son. It's always Isaac, not Ishmael. It's always Isaac being celebrated, not you. And what do you think that would do to you if that was your lot? Ishmael's life was sadly one long experience of rejection. We won't turn there, but there is a chapter about six weeks from today, we'll go over it, I think it's chapter 21, I think, where it says that God heard Ishmael's cry. So even the quote unquote rejected Ishmael, God hears him. But Jesus Christ lived a life full of rejection. And when he was on the cross, he was not heard. the Lord forsook him. He was the favored son. He was the one of the line of Isaac, the one of the line of Abram, but he was treated as the rejected son. He was treated that way so that you, even though you deserve to be rejected, even though you deserve to be mistreated, that you would in fact find comfort and favor and blessing even though you don't deserve it. So if you have found yourself tempted, straying, even in sin, I would encourage you to find your comfort and your hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other authority figure who will love you so much that He would search you out and pay for the penalty of your sin. There's no other Savior, there's no other God, there's no other Shepherd, there's no other Father that would do that or could do that for you, but the Lord Jesus can. And praise God for His grace He trusted in the Father's will, and therefore we are rescued by His grace, by His work. So put your hope and find your comfort in Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Almighty God, we confess before you that we often, like Abram and Sarai, we wanna take shortcuts. We wanna do the things that are good in our own eyes, things that seem plausible, things that are wanting perhaps even the right goal, but the wrong way. And we confess before you that we have sinned in seeking to take shortcuts. We've sinned in fleeing from the covenant community, the body that we are blessed by. We often find ourselves wanting to run away from, not simply from other people, but from you. We pray that you would prick our hearts where we have sinned against you. I especially pray that where we have sinned and the consequences of that sin lives on. I pray that you would give us the encouragement to bear with and submit to your will. even if that means being treated unjustly in some circumstances, if it is your will. Help us to know that, help us to have wisdom to see when it is right and good to submit. Help us to find our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that he searches for his sheep and that he even lays down his life for us. And we pray this all in Jesus' name, amen.