Tag: Genesis

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Is anything too hard for the Lord? F260- Week 3- Day 1

On By Ben JenningsIn Devotional, F260Leave a comment

Scripture Reading- Genesis 18-19

This Week’s Memory Verse:

(20) He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

Romans 4:20

Highlight:

(9) And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
(10) And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
(11) Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
(12) Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
(13) And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
(14) Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
(15) Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.

Genesis 18:9-15

Explanation:
A key question needs to be answered about this passage.

Who are they?

For sure, at least one of the trio is a theophany, a term we use for an appearance of God in the Old Testament. Abram calls him Lord, which some would say was just a respectful greeting. Yet as you see Abram interact with this man in this interchange, it becomes abundantly clear that this is Jehovah. The man speaks authoritatively about Sarah having a son. He speaks authoritiatively about judgment of Sodom. In verse 17 the name that is used for Lord is Jehovah. Later in chapter 19 two angels head toward Sodom. Is this Jehovah accompanied by two angels? That seems to fit.

What happens in chapter 18?
We see that God affirms his covenant with Abraham, especially that Sarah would conceive and bare a son. When he declares it yet again, Sarah, who is listening in responds in laughter.

(12) Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

Genesis 18:12

Another evidence that this is the omniscient God is that He perceived the internal doubt characterized as laughter that Sarah expressed. He challenged her doubt with a relevant question:

Is any thing too hard for the LORD?

Genesis 18:14a

Application:
What an incredible question! Allowing to be asked in our own lives will generate an incredible answer. No! There is nothing too hard for the Lord. He can do anything that is within His character to do, and since He is holy, righteous, just, omniscient, ominipotent, ominisapient, and omnipresent, He can and will do everything that must be done for His own glory and for the good of those who trust in Him! When God makes a promise He keeps it, even when that promise seems impossible.

What should that cause us to do? We should want to know the promises of God, and to trust God to complete those promises!

Response:
Lord, help me to trust you today with my family, with my time, with the direction of our church. Help me not to go out on my own, but to follow you.

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Avoid Pain through Trust – F260- Week 2- Day 5

On By Ben JenningsIn Devotional, F260Leave a comment

Scripture Reading- Genesis 16-17

This Week’s Memory Verse:

(8)  By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

Hebrews 11:8

Highlight:

(1) Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
(2) And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
(3) And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
(4) And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

Genesis 16:1-4

Explanation:
God had told Abram that he would be the father of many nations. This obviously meant that he needed to have children. I’m sure it must have been difficult waiting for them both to wait for Sarai to conceive. Their faith was put to the limits when God was making promises and the fulfillment of those promises seemed to be delayed. Sarai decided to rely on social tradition for the fulfillment of God’s promise rather than waiting on the miracle. She told Abram to do something sinful in conceiving a child through her servant, and the implications of all that happened through that pregnancy were both immediate and lasting.

Application:
When we rush ahead of God we make life way more complicated. We sin, and suffer the consequences. It is in moments where God does not seem to be doing what He promised that we need to trust God and be faithful and obedient. I’m so thankful that we have the example of people in the scripture to learn from. It’s far easier to read and learn than live and learn. Our God is a promise keeping God. We must believe and behave accordingly.

Response:
God, help me to trust You today, and express that trust through obedience.

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Abram’s Justification by Faith- F260- Week 2- Day 4

On By Ben JenningsIn Devotional, F260Leave a comment

Today’s Reading:
Genesis 15

This Week’s Memory Verse:
(8)  By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

Hebrews 11:8

Highlight:

(1)  After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
(2)  And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
(3)  And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
(4)  And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
(5)  And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
(6)  And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Genesis 15:1-6

Explain:

“(1)  After these things …”

Genesis 15:1a

Today’s verses start out with the expression “After these things” which gives us a chance to refer to what had happened in the past few chapters. Abram was called by God to leave his country and kindred in chapter 12. He and his wife Sarai go to Egypt. There Sarai was noticed by the princes of Pharaoh in an ungodly way. God plagued Pharoah’s house because of this. In chapter 13 we see God was blessing him with wealth. Abram left Egypt and went to Bethel where he had sacrificed earlier. There was a division between his workers and Lot’s so they separate. Lot ends up going into Sodom. Abram intercedes for Lot in prayer and rescues Lot out of that city. Then we see this very interesting figure, prophet, priest, and king Melchizadek, who blessed Abram, and even tithed to Abram.

After all of this happened, God comes to the Abram in a vision and says this expression to him.

“…the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”

Genesis 15:1b

God says this to Abram and certainly it could describe Abram’s past, present and his future. God had proteceted (shielded) Abram. God had exceedingly blessed (rewarded) Abram. By putting this in the present tense it is as if he is stating that this is a constant and ongoing reality for Abram.
But that brings up a question for Abram. God had promised him that He would be the father of a great nation, and that all of the families of the earth would be blessed by him. How is this going to happen if he doesn’t have a child?

(2)  And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
(3)  And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

Genesis 15:2-3

Abram asks the question about his servants child. There were traditions that made chlidren born to the servants part of the lineage of their masters. Was this how God was going to fulfill his promise to Abram? It was a relevant enough question for Abram that He brought it up to God.
Here was God’s answer.

(4)  And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

Genesis 15:4

God was reaffirming this promise. The older that Abram and Sarai grew without children, the more and more implausable the fulfillment of this promised must have seemed to be. Yet God clearly declared to Abram, you are going to have a son. He will be your biological son. He then illustrates this answer with a object lesson.

(5)  And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

Genesis 15:5

What were the objects in the object lesson? The countless stars in the sky that God had made. If you have ever been outside of the city lights on a clear night and were able to see the stars, you know just how countless the stars really are. That many stars must have seemed pretty incredible as a promise to a man who didn’t even have 1 child. Yet look at Abrams response to God.

“(6)  And he believed in the LORD; “

Genesis 15:6a

Abram took God at His word. Even though he didn’t have any kids, he believed that God would give him countless numbers of children. When Abram believed God responded, too.

“and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

Genesis 15:6b

There it is. Justification by faith found in the first book of the Bible. God didn’t justify or count Abram as righteous because of his works. He counted him as righteous because of his faith.

Apply:
We are made right with God by believing HIs word. It’s a good thing, because if we were made right with God because of our behavior, we would be in trouble. Our good deeds can never outweigh our bad deeds. Many of our good deeds are done for the wrong reason and with the wrong motivation. On our own we have no hope. But when we believe God, because of Jesus’s righteousness and His atoning, sacrificial death, we can have his righteousness imputed to our account and our sins taken away. How? By faith. We must have the simple yet profound response to God that says, “God, I believe you. I believe what you say.” And we must then act on what He says.

Respond:
Lord God, I know that you desire for me to grow in my faith and trust in what you say. Help me to do that today. Grow my faith in You. Amen.

The Joy of a Promise Kept- Genesis 21

On By Ben JenningsIn SermonsLeave a comment

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The Joy of a Promise Fulfilled (Grace)

Genesis 21:1-21, Galatians 4:21-31

Connection:

  • Have you ever been promised something and it didn’t come to pass?
  • If you can’t think of a circumstance where that has happened in your life I’ll just give you one word and then you’ll know it has- Politicians!
  • As parents, sometimes our kids take things as promises and you have to be careful because they don’t understand time the way we do.
    • Melana and Cinderella’s castle.  “Dear God, Please let daddy take me to Cinderella’s castle tomorrow.  In Jesus Name, Amen”.  Every day for a week… 🙂

Tension:

  • We all hate when a promise is made and it isn’t fulfilled.
  • In Genesis 21 we see Abraham and Sarah experiencing the fulfilled promise of God.

Truth:

Now to review, let’s look at the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-4:

1Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:2and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:3and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.4So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. (Genesis 12:1-4)

Now, check out when the promise was fulfilled:

Genesis 21:1-7
1And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.2For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.3And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.  4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.5And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.

  • Now, to get a sense of the background of this text you have to understand a couple of things.
  • 1.  This was the fulfillment of God’s Promise.
  • 2.  This was the fulfillment of God’s Promise to Abraham 25 years ago.
    • Imagine believing that you’re about to have a son since 1990.
    • Now imagine living in a culture where you not only have to deal with the emotional pain of not being able to have kids, but the social stigma of being a women in an eastern, ancient culture who has to deal with the shame of not having  a child.
    • Now imagine having told people for 25 years that you’re going to have a child.
    • Also, think about the fact that when you first receive this promise your husband is 75.
    • Born in 1915. Promised in 1990.  Promise fulfilled in 2015.
  • Now, inbetween when the promise was made (1990) and when the promise was fulfilled (2015) Abraham and Sarah got a little impatient.
  • So they tried to help God out- (Hagar and Ishmael).

8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.

12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.

14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.20And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. (Genesis 21:1-21)

  • Ok- interesting story, Ben- but what does this have to do with my life right now.
  • Check this out:

Now:  Look at Galatians 4:21-31

21Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

  • Background of Galatians- Jesus + Law= Grace
  • Jesus + Circumcision etc.etc.
  • So Paul is about to give an illustration, but it’s more than an illustration.  God actually ordained circumstances so that he could later use it to teach us about the law and the promise.

22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.23But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.24Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.27 For it is written,
Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not;
Break forth and cry, thou that travailest not:
For the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
28Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.29But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. (Galatians 4:1-31)

 

Law Promise (Grace)
Hagar (Bondwoman) Sarah (Free-woman)
Old Covenant New Covenant
Mount Sinai Jerusalem
Ishmael- After the Flesh Isaac- Miracle of God
Persecutor Persecuted

Now- Go back to Genesis 21 and let’s look at what the scripture says:
Genesis 21:6

6And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.

  • Just like Sarah experienced the joy of a son and God keeping his promise, we experience the joy of the Lord through the grace of God in His keeping His salvation promise to us.

Application:

  1. There are two ways people try to get to heaven:  By works or by Grace.  The only way you’re going to make it is by the grace of God.
  2. Those of us who know God’s grace through salvation through Jesus Christ should experience the joy of being in Christ.
  3. We should desire for other people to experience God’s grace through Jesus Christ.