Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20080629.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Genesis: Explaining The Foundations Of History
Part VII: Explaining God's Plan To Bless Men Regardless Of Apostasy
E. Relying On God's Help Versus Man's Reasoning For Blessing
(Genesis 16:1-16)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Probably every Christian seeks to be a blessing in his life and service. However, many find their best efforts to do so fail to fulfill:

(1) Last Sunday, one of the members of our Church reported how a Christian in another church in our area told her she is trying to help a fellow believer be happy by helping her divorce her husband!

However, besides being opposite God's will in Matthew 19:4-6, studies have shown that divorce does not bless: an editorial in the January 2, 1996 issue of the Waterbury Republican-American reported that William Galston, professor of public affairs at the University of Maryland and director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy asserts that "Almost without fail, children of divorce are worse off after their parents divorce." (Ibid.)

(2) At the local church level, the best efforts of people to be a blessing often create more problems. D. Michael Lindsay's February 11, 2008 USA TODAY article, "A gated community in the evangelical world," p. 13A reported that, on an increasing basis, gifted leaders are leaving local churches to minister in upper class organizations and businesses, leaving local churches more impoverished of good leaders. The reason is that "executives and politicians are often distressed by the way churches are run" with "inefficiency of church meetings" that are "unproductive" and "focused on the wrong things." (Ibid.)

However, 1 Timothy 3:15 calls the local church at Ephesus (cf. 1 Timothy 1:3 with 3:15) "the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Christ's message to each of the churches of Revelation 2-3 is applicable to "the churches," local bodies similar to each named Church, not to parachurch groups! The local church is the key vehicle of God's ministries of blessing to believers and to the world today!

Thus, when gifted leaders leave the local body for parachurch organizations out of frustration over the human inefficiencies they see at that level, they only create greater needs in the local church by draining the local church of quality help!



One might then ask, "I do my BEST for God, but OFTEN this only leads to a lack of blessing! What needs to change?!"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "My best efforts to do what blesses often seem futile -- why?"
  1. After waiting a long time for God to fulfill His promise to give him a son, Abram relied on human reasoning to gain a son, Gen. 16:1-3:
    1. The Lord had promised Abram in Genesis 15:2-4 to fulfill His initial Genesis 12:1-3 covenant to Abram to give him a son by his own body.
    2. However, ten years later, Abram still remained childless, 16:3b, 1a.
    3. So, to address this need in accord with the custom of the era, Abram's wife, Sarai gave her Egyptian maid, Hagar to Abram to have a son by her, Genesis 16:2-3; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to Genesis 16:2-3.
  2. However, relying on human reasoning led to great trouble, 16:4-16:
    1. Using human reasoning led to severe short-term troubles, Gen. 16:4-7:
      1. When Hagar conceived by Abram, she viewed Sarai with scorn, so Sarai mistreated her and Hagar fled into the wilderness, 16:4-7!
      2. This left Abram's only unborn son in Hagar defenseless and subject to deprivation, and Abram and Sarai with a strained marriage!
    2. Using human reasoning led to vast long-term troubles, Gen. 16:7-16:
      1. The Lord met Hagar and told her to return and submit to Sarai, and He would bless her son, making of him a great multitude, 16:7-10.
      2. God said her son would be 'a wild onager man,' i.e., a nomad, Ibid., ftn. to Gen. 16:12; H. C. Leupold, Exp. of Gen., 1974, v. I, p. 504).
      3. He would initiate conflict with all men, all would oppose him, and he would even live in enmity with all his relatives, 16:12 NIV.
      4. Hagar's son would be named Ishmael (Gen. 16:11b). To this day, Muslims say (a) the Bible's text was unjustly corrupted by biased scribes to favor Isaac over Ishmael, so (b) Ishmael, the forefather of many Arabs and Muhammad, is heir to the Abramic Covenant so that (c) the religion of Islam came from the Bible's God, Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Genesis 16:11; Jean-Pierre Isbouts, The Bib. World: An Illus. Atlas, p. 68f; www.why-christians-convert-to-islam.com (a pro-Islamic site)! [We later assess these claims in this sermon!]
      5. Thus began the Arab-Jewish conflict that afflicts the whole world!
  3. Accordingly, God TAUGHT Abram and Sarai to TRUST and ASK HIM for HELP VERSUS RELYING on HUMAN REASONING:
    1. The name of Hagar's son, Ishmael, means "God hears," for God had heard Hagar's cry of woe, Gen. 16:11; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Gen. 16:11.
    2. Hagar called the place of this divine revelation "Beer-lahai-roi," "well of the Living One who sees me", Gen. 16:13-14; Ibid., ftn. to 16:14.
    3. These names critiqued Abram and Sarai: when Hagar told them of the names, they would have realized God knew of their childlessness, so they should have asked Him for a son, Bib. Know. Com., O. T., p. 57!
    4. After Abraham died, his son Isaac, heir of God's covenant, lived in submission to the lessons of Hagar's names: (1) Isaac dwelt by Hagar's well, accordingly trusting God would see his own need (Gen. 25:11), and there (2) he called on God in line with Ishmael's name re: his own wife's barrenness, and God gave her twins, Gen. 25:21-23!
  4. Finally, opposite Islam's claims, the Bible's record on Ishmael has been proven to be true by fulfilled prophecy and internal evidence:
    1. The Bible record on Ishmael is proven true by fulfilled prophecy:
      1. The Genesis 16:12 prediction that Ishmael's seed would live in enmity toward all, including all its own kin, has proven true: his line of many Arab peoples has lived in enmity both with non-Arabs and with those within its own clans as attested by centuries of violence between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims (cf. Islam expert Robert Spencer, The Truth About Muhammad, 2006, p. 184, 192).
      2. Also, the Genesis 12:3 Abramic Covenant provides for Abram's seed to achieve the opposite of such enmity: ALL FAMILIES of the EARTH must be BLESSED through him, an impossibility with Ishmael's line if it is constantly at ENMITY with all others !
      3. Then, Muhammad, Islam's alleged heir of the Abramic Covenant via his ancestor, Ishmael, taught that Islam was to be spread by force, a view popular among Muslims worldwide, so Islam is NOT a peaceful, blessing-causing religion for all the world's peoples from the God of the Genesis 12:3 covenant, Ibid.!
    2. The Bible record on Ishmael is proven true by internal evidence: as we learned that (1) the Bible critiques its own heroes of the faith in Abram and Sarai by names given by Ishmael's mother, and (2) the lessons of these names, including Ishmael's own name, are seen to be heeded by Isaac, the Bible's heir of God's covenant in how Isaac even related to God, the Bible's text is not unjustly biased against Ishmael!
    3. Thus, (1) the Bible is true, (2) Isaac and not Ishmael is the heir to the Abramic Covenant and (3) Islam did not arise from the Bible's God!
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ, Abram's God, to be saved from sin, cf. John 3:16 with 8:56-58. (2) Then, instead of resorting to human reasoning, may we call on God, trusting Him to provide!

Lesson: By relying on human reasoning versus calling on God for their needs, Abram and Sarai reaped trouble both for them and for the world!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

We had many wonderful illustrations of this message in our Vacation Bible School ministry involving all our V. B. S. workers. However, I mention just a few of them relative to our V. B. S. teacher:

As you may recall, Phil Giramonti was the V. B. S. Bible teacher this year, and he worked hard to prepare his lessons.

However, about three weeks before V. B. S., he testified he had seriously considered giving up the assignment, for he hadn't taught in years, and he was hampered by the effects of his joint replacement surgery and ensuring health crisis that occurred a few years ago.

However, Phil chose to rely on the Lord, and to stick with the teaching assignment he had assumed in faith before the Lord, and is he ever glad he did! Much to his joy as well as ours, Phil led three and possibly four children to make professions of faith in Christ as Savior!

In addition, he found that several children did not have a Bible of their own, so he and Chris Slate came to me to ask if I had any spare new Bibles on hand to give them! I didn't, but, concerned that these children, especially the impressionable new converts, have their own Bibles, I took six Bibles from the front pews of our Church with the intent of later talking to the Board about replacing them.

We have since learned a believer who was aware of the need has purchased replacement Bibles for our pews, a very gracious deed!

I then recalled having visited Phil in the hospital not many years before where he lay unconscious due to negative reactions he had to his knee replacement surgery. I remember how we all had looked to the Lord in prayer for his recovery! Recalling how all of this pointed to the value of looking to God in faith for our needs versus relying on human reasoning and power, I knew I had to use this illustration here!

[Incidentally, on the last day of V. B. S., Phil told me every man in the Church should take a turn teaching the V. B. S. lesson to enjoy the blessing he had in that ministry!]



So, like we found this past week in V.B.S., if we have needs, may we NOT resort to HUMAN REASONING or STRENGTH to address them, but TRUST, HEED and CALL on the LORD for HIS HELP! As it was in the case of Hagar as well as Isaac, GOD SEES our NEED, and HE will HEAR if we CALL on HIM!