Learning To Wait, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ.

What's happened Abram and Sarai is what often happens to us. He's sick and tired of being sick and tired about a certain whenever your net position. You are bondable making enormous mistakes just enormous. And that's exactly what they did, not only to have these consequences to deal it even gets much worse. Joining us today on this additional Fellowship in the Word pastor Bill Gebhardt Fellowship in the Words the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now is once again he shows us how God's word are you sure you're not hearing this first time, but life can be messy and none of us really like it that way at all. We all face predicaments and what appears to be no wind scenarios. Often we find ourselves facing what we call a dilemma. The occupational dilemmas you have a job that you don't enjoy at all, but that job. Support your family and your family likes whether living and then the company comes and offers you and another job. An interesting job in a job that pays you a whole lot more money, and the only part of the job that doesn't seem exactly right is that the job is in Nome Alaska. You have a dilemma. You have a relational dilemma here single and as you been reminded you're not getting any younger and you finally start dating someone and it appears to you that that person wants to marry you, but there are so many little signs and and little inconsistencies that you find yourself very reluctant to spend the rest of your life with this person. So what you do, do you overcome your fears and just do it anyway or or do you break it off on me, maybe to find it. You won't find someone else in the future. You have a dilemma. Financially, you find yourself in a tight budget and then all of a sudden something comes along a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is by something that no one would ever not want to buy the problem, though, of course, is it it will stretch your budget to the limits and it will also eat up the lion's share of your savings. You have a dilemma. All of us face dilemmas. All our life but today I want to talk about a particular kind of dilemma, one that I know that we all share. I want to talk about a spiritual dilemma.

You know what that means. That means this is one of those things that you've prayed about and and prayed about and prayed about one of those things where you find yourself waiting and waiting for the Lord to move, but all you do is wait and nothing seems to be happening at all. When you jump in when you jump in and do something yourself.

That's a dilemma. Open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 16 Genesis chapter 16 when dealing with the life of Abraham, the friend of God. The context by the way, for Abram and Sarah eyes dilemma is found in chapter 15 verses two and three and four, so I read that first Abram said, oh Lord God.

What will you give me since I am childless in the air of my house is Eliezer of Damascus, one of his servants.

It's been 10 years since he's left the Chaldees, he says, Lord, what are we going to do about this is Eliezer the air. God says behold, the word of the Lord came to him in verse four, saying, this man will not be your heir, but one who shall come forth from your own body.

He shall be your heir. There's the context goddess told him God reinforces the Abraham make covenant this child will carry your DNA. That's what God says doing, but he and so I've been waiting 10 years as a dilemma. See you wait and you waiting you say look, I don't think anything is going to happen. He's 85. She is 75 so in chapter 16 they decide to do something about it and the consequences of their decision are with us even today two major points are made in chapter 16, the first one is found in the first six verses and it's this trying to accomplish God's plans by worldly methods. Inevitably leads the unwanted consequences trying to accomplish God's plans by worldly methods inevitably leads to unwanted consequences. Verse one.

Now Sarah I Abram's wife had borne him no children and she had an Egyptian made whose name was Hagar. By the way that verse describes the very application of all chapter 16 that verse is a consequence if you remember when we study this early on there was a drought in the land than that Abram decided to go to Egypt and so he went and we went to Egypt, he said to Soraya's wife looked you're such a beautiful woman that the Egyptians are going to want you and negative put your one of the royal family harems and if they do that, they'll kill me because you're my wife so I want you to tell them and I would tell them that you're my sister and so he did that and she ended up. By the way, it sort of in an incubation. In Pharaoh's household. In other words, they put them away for about nine months to make sure that they're not with child and then she would become part of pharaohs Heron now. God then intervened and brought disease upon Pharaoh's household. Pharaoh then got really upset and let them go. But one of the things that happen is apparently Hagar was a maiden in the royal household. She became the servant of Sarai, and she had to leave with them when they left Egypt and went back into the land of Canaan. So that's the context now. What's the first solution. What seems like a good idea. So Sarai said to Abram. Now, behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children she could amend that anger. I can't tell by the verse where she could of been sincere about it. I've just not had a child. So here comes the idea please go into my made perhaps I shall obtain children through her. There's the idea, and it seemed like a good idea. This look at the facts. She couldn't have children. That's clear. Secondly, Abraham was still to be the father of the nation, and that Abraham this this air of Abraham has to come from him. It has to be is DNA waiting longer by the way, may even jeopardize Abram's ability to have a child so she said I think of come up with a good idea and she's back up completely by culture. While Dieffenbach writes this, the culture of that day provided the means to accomplish satirizing tensions. Ancient documents reveal that when a woman could not provide her husband with a child she could give her female servant as a wife and claim the child of the union as her own and the code of having Hammurabi talks about the other siblings and documents to talk about this practice. So she said the child will be mine, and certainly the child will be yours. Sounds like a good idea.

I give her a B+ for creativity, but I give her an F for theology is not God's will in all this is something else then the saddest part of that verse. The last sentence in Abram listen to the voice of Sarah while one of the messages that I'd heard on this is entitled would a real man stand up when he's doing by the way, don't think for a moment that he's a very wimpy guy, because of the two episodes were looked at in a chapter that I skipped over lot was taken captive by several armies and Abram pursue them got lot back he's a man's man when it comes the battlefield, but it's like a lot of men, he's all men outside the home, but not a man inside on Max's problem.

He just holds up. He just listens to her voice that sounds like a pretty good idea to him, and as soon as that happens, the consequences begin trying to accomplish God's plans by worldly methods inevitably lead to unwanted consequences.

Now they begin after Abram had lived 10 years in the land of Canaan. Abram's wife Sarah took Hagar the Egyptian are made and gave her to her husband as his wife. He went into Hagar. She conceived, and when she saw that she had conceived her mistress wasn't despised in her sight. So what are the consequences in just a couple verses there. One is Abram is now an immoral man is an adult or is practicing polygamy there something also, Hagar conceives the child and now it says at the end of verse four when she saw that she conceived her mistress was despised in her sight had a garden now hates Sarah I in fact, that were despises an interesting work. The Hebrew word to choose their means.

Small were little. In other words, Hagar belittled Sarah. I she saw Sarah. I as insignificant, or we would say she saw Sarai is nothing. Now all the things you could be in the world it would be good to be a slave, that's for sure. But I'll tell you what the worst thing you could be a woman whose barren of all the different things that can happen on the totem pole of their society, a woman who can't bear children would be the lowest and so she despises her she makes her little in her eyes I would imagine she even sees herself as better now than Sarah.

The consequences begin verse five and Sarai said to Abraham made a wrong done me, be upon you might've heard this before. It's all your fault, that's what you saying it's all your fault she's partially right.

You see she's partially right. She seemed to look.

It's all your fault me the wrong done to me be done upon you. I gave my made into your arms.

But when she saw that she had conceived.

I was despised in her site may the Lord judge between you and me, but I don't ever see that someone normally you're jointly responsible for problems and if you want the Lord judge you might not really like the Lord's judgment when it comes out, but she's upset she's very emotional. Understand the consequences here. What has Sarah given up for this man. Remember he came home one day they were in the Chaldeans, they were typical pagans and he said oh I the God who is not the God we worship. But the God who is told me he wants me to leave and she said what you mean the woebegone. He said women tell me where so what you do. She left with them. She she left with. She goes nearly a thousand miles ends of the land of Canaan, now a drug comes they have to go to Egypt.

So what you say door see you have to tell them you're my sister. She gave up her family.

She gave up her friends. She give up her home. She give up her dignity for this man. So then she comes up with this idea so you can see she's emotionally and that's part of the problem. By the way, we have dilemmas we try to make emotional choices instead of spiritual choices and that's always deadly. You gotta love Abram of verse six and Abram said to Sarai, behold, your mate is in your power, do, nor what is good in your sight that hey is your ideal and it you deal with it you can always count in the context of a marriage. The capacity of men look I don't want to do with that you deal with it. She's you made the decision she she's your servant I think of this for her. That's a license. She was worried because remember they think the air will be with. She thought Abram will not let me do anything but treat Hagar as well as possible because the years there, but he says the procedure servant so Sarai treated her harshly how harshly that were dear harshly is the same word Moses uses how the Egyptians treated the slaves from Israel for 400 years when God says I hear their cry, not before me because they have been treated so harshly in Egypt same word she made our life miserable. How miserable. Notice the next statement she made our life so miserable that she fled from her presence think that civil I don't know exactly what that means. Well, when you find out the context, she decides to leave and she's going to go back to Egypt.

Pregnant girl who's a slave by herself.

Land of Canaan. Once the golems going to leave and go back to Egypt. The chances of her survival zero. She has no chance she'll never make it, but her life is so miserable was Sarai, she decided to do it. So think of all the consequences here that have already happened because somebody had a good idea and so I think I know how to solve this dilemma. Look at the mistakes that Abraham made. He failed by not taking God and his word, he fell by not taking got God told him I'm going to do this I will do this. He felt why he was tired waiting why he waited 10 years. I'm tired of waiting. Secondly, he failed, by listening to his wife's ungodly advice. You see, and I'm sure she could got a couple of the people together and send this make sense. A lot of people do that, you know there are people all over the place to do this. He also failed the test. Sarai's advice against what he knew about God. He never interacts with it at all. And lastly and most tragically he failed to go to God for wisdom and guidance is no prayer here is a prayer renting. You see what's happened to Abram and satirize what often happens to us. He's sick and tired of being sick and tired about a certain dilemma in his life. Whenever your net position, you are vulnerable to make enormous mistakes just enormous mistakes and that's exactly what they did, not only to have these consequences to deal with it even gets much worse trying to accomplish God's plans by worldly methods inevitably leads the unwanted consequences and now for the rest of the chapter God requires faith that waits when it comes to his promises and his plans.

By the way the poor girl was in a dilemma. In verse seven and now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness by the spring on the way to assure Dr. would look at a map, you would find out that sure is part of the caravan trail that leaves all the way from Syria down through Canaan goes the Egypt she's trying to hook up with the caravan if she can and find a way which is completely alone and pregnant, look who takes the initiative here. This is divine intervention.

It says here that the angel of the Lord found her, the angel of the Lord that not in an angel of the Lord.

This is the angel of the Lord. This is the second person of the Trinity. This is the son of God becomes our Lord Jesus Christ shows up all the way through Genesis the angel of the Lord seated next to the CC and second Samuel Cid and Zachariah once Jesus Christ comes on the scene. Never in the New Testament is there ever a reference again to the angel of the Lord.

This is the theophany and notice that the Lord takes the initiative here and by the way, he could see the authority of God, because the son of God is God, the whole way through this narrative. Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness by the spring on the way to assure and he said Hagar satirize made wherever you come from where you going it interesting how he comes and ask questions.

Member Genesis 2, Adam, where are you with these rhetorical questions.

God already knows the answers and I gotta believe she stun he asked her to questions where we come from, where you're going. She only answers one question that sufficient to him.

She only answers one question she says where she's from. Just imagine how she feels she has to be stun.

Remember, she's an Egyptian so she's in Pharaoh's court. Everything is going well. Another ladies being added to the harem. Nothing unusual there. Your assigned to her. All of a sudden everybody in Pharaoh's court. Getting sick, Pharaoh's representatives command say to this one woman this Sarai woman you got a leave take this handmaiden with you.

So instead of being in the palace. She's intense in the land of Canaan now vague comes up part of the deal because she has no rights. My husband is going to conceive a child with you. She does, then they start hitting heads between her and Sarai. Now she's on her way to Egypt and out of all this God that Abram talked about that, I'm sure she was very skeptical of shows up and begins a doctor I'm sure she's despond by this whole thing, but it does say something about the Lord doesn't it really showed us God really does care even in the middle of our dilemmas bathroom the radio ministry fellowship Lord, if you ever miss one of our broadcast or maybe you just like to listen to the message one more time.

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