Conflict Of The Seeds

I neglected to mention that one of the newest additions to this congregation, Ziva is here today, Danny's little girl. So if you get a chance and the mother lets you say hi to her, I know how moms are with those babies. Hand in your blood test before you say hello. So anyway, take your Bibles and turn with me this morning to Genesis chapter 21. Ask you to bow in prayer with me as we ask the Lord to open up this text to us. thank you father that we have the freedom to open this book together freedom or not we desperately need to hear from you and so we open this word because it is your word to us this day although it records something that happened centuries ago it is written in such a way that you have addressed us in the day in which we live, so that we might understand the Lord Jesus Christ and his Father and the Spirit, so that we might live better.

We might live lives before you that honor you, that glorify you, that show the world that there is light in this world. So we pray that this text would do that for us this morning. Thank you for your word. Thank you for loving us by giving us your words so that we would not be lost. We would know how to live before you and before men. We thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen. Have you ever heard of reveal parties? Some of you know what they are. Reveal parties. Now, for an old man like me, they're one of the strangest things this younger generation has ever invented. For some of you old folks who are still in the dark, let me explain to you a reveal party.

Because of the technology we have today, young parents know before the baby's born whether it a boy or a girl So when the young couple finds out which it is they excitedly go home and write out invitations to their friends and family to come to a reveal party So you all come to the party and someone like Grandma gets a box and she gets to open it And when she opens it, pink balloons come out, and everybody squeals and claps and cries and everything else. It's a girl. Even though the baby's not been born yet, they all are happy about the fact that it's a girl.

Now, in the day, that is, when I was younger, you would open your mailbox and find a birth announcement there. This is after the baby is born, telling you whether it's a boy or a girl. And it would be blue or pink, and it would be very festive. and you would look at it and I will hope I can look at it if my notes would turn here. I knew this was going to happen someday.

Will you look at it? Let's just go home. I don't... I knew someday this was going to happen. Anyway, let me try again. No deal.

I'm going to have to go by memory, I suppose. This is truly, truly, truly embarrassing. I guess I will go by memory so you get these birth announcements and they tell you whether it's a boy or girl and it's very festive it's very very much an exciting thing it's got lace on it it has all kinds of things on it and so forth but we have a birth announcement in our text before us today The announcement about Isaac's birth.

Let's look at it together in Genesis chapter 21, verses 1 through 21. The Lord visited Sarah as he had said and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, God has made laughter for me. Everyone who hears will laugh over me. And she said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age. And the child grew and was weaned.

And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. So she said to Abraham, Cast out this slave woman with her son. For the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman.

Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you. For through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring. So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder along with the child and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

When the water and the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off about the distance of a bow shot, for she said, Let me not look on the death of the child. And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy. And the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, What troubles you, Hagar?

Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation. Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the boy and he grew up He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow He lived in the wilderness of Paran and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt All right, now, here is the birth announcement of Isaac.

But it's a no-frills affair. There's no balloons, there's no lace on the card, there's nothing. It's a really kind of a no-frills affair altogether. You would think that there would be two chapters describing the arrival of the Son of Promise. You would think that there would be chapters talking about the party and the gifts from all the dignitaries that Abraham knew.

You would think it would talk about the parents' emotions and everything that went along with that. But no, all we have is this simple announcement of the birth of the child of promise. And so we find Isaac lying in the arms of his mother, Sarah. The child of promise has finally arrived. But what is this story about Isaac and his irritating older brother Ishmael?

What is that all about anyway? What's going on here? What is happening in this story? Isn't it interesting? I think as you go through the book of Genesis, and I was thinking about this yesterday, I thought, you know, as I read through the book of Genesis, there just seems to be all these stories. But they all are connected.

They all have a theme. They're all telling us something about God and the faithfulness of God and Abraham and so forth. So what is this story about this baby Isaac and his irritating older brother Ishmael? Well, here's the first thing we need to understand on this. You can count on the reliability of God's promises. You can count on the reliability of God's promises.

Here we have this birth announcement in this first seven verses. This no-frills birth announcement about Isaac's birth. The long-awaited child of promise has arrived, and yet there isn't any fireworks accompanying it. It's just a simple announcement of the birth of Isaac. Why is that? Why is that?

Okay? When I would open up the mailbox and see birth announcements, they would always be these colorful, brilliant kind of cards. And you might sit down and pen the letter of congratulations to the couple who sent you the card. But here it's just Isaac's born. Why do you think that is? Clearly it's about God keeps his promise.

It's as simple as that. God keeps His promise. Notice, the Lord visited Sarah. Something miraculous happens here. This is not a normal birth. The Lord visited Sarah.

Something supernatural went on so that she could bear a child to this couple. But notice what else He says in these verses, in these first two verses. The Lord visited Sarah as he had said the Lord did to Sarah, as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. Do you see that emphasis?

It's all about God keeping his promises. God being faithful to his promise. It's not so much about the child. It's about God. God's reliable. He will keep his promise. the emphasis here falls on that.

God did exactly as He said He would do. I don't know about you, but do you ever get embarrassed about the fact that you're surprised that God does what He says He's going to do? Are you ever embarrassed by that? Are you ever embarrassed by the fact that when God does exactly what He says to do, you go, wow, this is amazing. I can't believe it. You should be.

God keeps his promises. He's reliable. When he says he's going to do something he actually does it. Now notice what results from God keeping his promise here. It results in worship, obedience, joy. First of all, Abraham responds in the way that he's supposed to.

He responds with obedience He names the boy Isaac like he was commanded to do And he circumcises him on the eighth day The grace of God should lead to our obedience and according to the covenant that we saw in chapter 17 where God says to Abraham walk before me as blameless and here's what you're to do every male born into your household you're to circumcise and so Abraham in response to the marvelous grace of God responds in obedience. He does what God says. But most of the press here is given not to Abraham, but to whom?

To Sarah. Notice what it says here. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, God has made laughter for me. Everyone who hears will laugh over me. And she said, who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children, yet I have born him a son in his old age.

Here is the worship and the praise of Sarah. God has made laughter for me. Everyone who hears will laugh over me. She's recounting the fact that when Abraham was told in Genesis chapter 17, right when he was told that this son by the name of Isaac was going to be born to him what did he do he laughed in disbelief he even said to God after that point well surely you mean Ishmael no you're going to have a son named Isaac and then you remember in the next chapter Sarah also laughed in disbelief when she overheard the conversation between the Lord and Abraham that she would have a child within the year.

She laughed in disbelief as well. But now she's talking about everyone will laugh with praise and with joy to God for what he's done. This is the laughter of praise and of joy. This is an entirely different kind of laughter. She names her son Isaac, which is the word for laughter and she says everyone will laugh with me or over me everyone will laugh and praise to God people will give praise to God because he is reliable God will keep his promise isn't it amazing here's a dad with one foot in the grave and a wife who's not far behind and they have a baby They have a baby It impossible People who are 100 years old and 90 years old do not have children But God keeps His promise even when the situation is impossible Again, what is faith?

Faith is taking God at His word, even when the situation seems impossible. It's not a leap in the dark. It's not, I believe sincerely God will do something. It's, I believe God will do the impossible because he's told me he's going to do the impossible. And so here she is saying, we laugh before God in praise to God because he is reliable. Do you know the promises of God?

There's something working on it in my mind and it's a study that I'm intending to do. It is this. We have to live more by promises. We know a lot about the commands of God, but do we know the promises? We need to live by faith in the promises of God. What are those promises?

I think part of our problem with faith is we don't know what to believe in. God's made promises to us and they oftentimes seem impossible, but we believe them. we believe them so she laughs and prays to God and calls everyone else to laugh with her but of course in this story not everybody's laughing not everybody's laughing three years later as we see in our text beginning in verse eight three years later the encampment of Abraham is a noisy affair. Everybody's rejoicing.

There's a great feast made because Isaac has reached a milestone in his childhood. It's the day he's weaned. Now, I know we don't have those milestones here like they did and so forth, but that was a big milestone in the child in in in in everyone's childhood so abraham puts on a great feast to celebrate the fact that now at about three years old from what we can put together that's probably around between the ages of two and three isaac is weaned and they have a huge party celebrating this milestone so as they celebrating sarah looks up and she sees someone else laughing It Isaac 16 brother Ishmael He's laughing, but she's not happy about that.

As you note, it says, But Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. so she said to Abraham cast out this slave woman with her son for the son of this slave woman will not be heir with my son and the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son but God said to Abraham be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman whatever Sarah says to you do as she tells you for through Isaac shall your offspring be named Sarah looks at Ishmael sees him laughing and says we have to get rid of him and the hard part to take at this point is God agrees with her is this cruelty? is this harsh? what's going on here? if I'd come home one day and Becca had said to me this has been a day Tim I just can't believe it what? What? Calvin has been tormenting Annie all day.

Now that in itself is not unusual, I can tell you right now. Calvin's been tormenting Annie all day. He's been relentless in his ridicule and making fun of her and just poking at her and just mocking her. honey we got to get rid of that boy I'm telling you right now whether we give him over to the state give him up for adoption or just abandon the kid we have to get rid of that boy you would think she was being harsh and cruel wouldn't you and he wouldn't but you would all right you would think at that point this is the utmost of cruelty you do not abandon your children because one of them is mocking the other.

It doesn't even matter if one's three and one's 16. You don't do it. But you see, there's something more going on here. And I think it's key that we understand that. The first thing is, look at that word laughing. Now, it's not evident in English. translation.

But you remember that the word, the name Isaac and laughter are very similar. Isaac means to laugh. So there's a pun here. There always has been with Isaac's name. But this form of Hebrew, when it uses, when it takes the word laughing and puts it in this form, it's kind of an intensive form. It means to laugh malevolently or maliciously.

So he's not just making fun of his little brother. If you can imagine Ishmael saying something like this, Yeah, child of the promise, yeah. Air? Yeah. We'll see about that. Now that's entirely different, isn't it?

The issue is there's danger in the household. There is danger here. This is not just an irritating older brother. This is a dangerous older brother. He's laughing in a malicious way. But that's not the main thing.

You need to think about this. Now think carefully. What is he saying about the God of promise? You see, Isaac is the child of promise. Ishmael should know that. God had said to Abraham, I know Ishmael is your son, but this other son that's yet to come, He will be the channel of worldwide blessing.

He is the one upon whom I have set my mark. He is the one who will be the channel to bless the nations. What is Ishmael saying with his malicious mocking? He's deriding the promises of God. By the way, who is supposed to be the recipient of the blessings? Right?

The world? Right? He is deriding, treating with scorn, treating God with contempt because of his promise. Instead of thanking God for his grace, he is showing contempt for God's grace. So Isaac is not just a baby that's being born. Isaac is the son of promise because God says to Abraham what?

It is through Isaac that we're going to reckon your name. It is through Isaac that everything comes He is the child who brings the promise of redemption And Ishmael is treating that with contempt and with scorn So you see, it's not so much that he's, it's not that he's making fun of his little brother, let's send him to the desert. The fact is that Ishmael is dangerous and secondly, is showing contempt for the promises of God made to Abraham in the covenant.

And that's why God agrees with Sarah. Now, all the way through this book, what have we seen? What's one of the recurring themes through this book? What is it? Larry read it to us this morning. It is the story of the promised seed.

Is it not? Have we not seen that all the way through this book? God made a promise there's going to be two lines of seed the seed of the woman and the seed of Satan and there will be what enmity between them all the time there will be hatred between them and so here again we find that happening all the way through we've seen this God has made a promise of a seed and he protects that seed does he not and so what we've seen all the way through up to this point is that God says there will be two lines of seed.

When the sin and corruption arrived, God said, I'm going to deal with it through a seed. We saw that that corruption became overwhelming in its power, and God rescued that seed by rescuing Noah. And then after Noah's story, what do we find? We find God saying, by the way, that seed now is going to come through this one man by the name of Abraham. And through that seed, I will bless all the nations of this sin cursed world, of this world under judgment.

And so once more, we see the inevitable conflict between the seeds. There's inevitable conflict and division between the two seeds. There will always be conflict between these two seeds. You know what that means? That means that if you're connected by faith to the promised seed, Jesus, you will attract hatred, derision mocking all the things that go with it You as part of that promised seed will always attract that kind of treatment Isn't that what Jesus says in John chapter 15?

The world hated what? Me. So what? So it will hate you. It's got to happen. It's the story of the seeds.

And what did we read in Galatians? If you want to turn there again, Galatians chapter 4. The Apostle Paul picks up on that. Galatians chapter 4, when he refers to this very story, he says, verse 28, Now you brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit by the way there's another new testament commentary on what was going on at that time it was more than just making fun it was actual persecution persecuted him who was born according to the spirit so also it is now but what does the scripture say cast out the slave woman and her son for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman so brothers we are not children of the slave but of the free woman There will always be conflict between those two seeds.

It's inevitable. It will happen. Know that. Don't be surprised at it. Okay? And then notice this as well.

That if you reject the promised seed, if you reject the promised seed, as Ishmael did, then you too will be cast out. Again, the theme of the story continues through the rest of the book. You too will be cast out. Do not treat the chosen seed with contempt. Do not mock it. How many of you know people who mock the Lord Jesus today?

They mock him. They hate him. Oh, they just don't pay attention to him. Right? They too will be cast out. It the story that continues over and over and over again Jesus is the chosen seed He the ultimate of the chosen seed Therefore all who reject him will be cast out What you see here is the reliability of God protecting his promise.

He not only fulfills the promise, he protects it. So he's going to protect that seed. The reliability of God is not only that he fulfills the promise, but he makes sure that it will be fulfilled. And thus says, Abraham, the boy has to go. Now that's not the end of the story because now we follow Ishmael. You know what you see there?

Not only do we see here you can count on the reliability of God's promise, but this, you can count on the reliability of God's grace. what you see to the end of the chapter is the grace of God. His grace. Abraham doesn't want to get rid of Ishmael. And I can understand that. This is his 16 year old boy. This is the boy that he has spent his time with.

Right? This is the boy that he's gone hunting and fishing with. This is the boy for the last 16 years that he's herded sheep with. This is the boy that he sat around fires with. This is the boy that he's taught to be a man. This is his son.

This is his son. He doesn't want to get rid of him. But God says to him, Abraham, I'm going to tell you two things. The first is this. You won't be able to take care of him, but I will. I'll make of him a great nation.

I will keep that promise that I made to you before. Remember, he made that promise in chapter 18. I will make him into a great nation. By the way, do you know who the great nation that came from Ishmael is? It's the Arabs today. The Arabs are the descendants of Abraham and Ishmael.

Did God keep his promise? I guess. Yeah, they cover half the world, it seems, right? So God did keep that promise. He says, I'm going to make him a great nation. And second, he said this, you have to deny your human desires in order to embrace the supernatural program that I have going.

You have to give up. You have to deny yourself and embrace what I'm doing. And I say, I'm bringing redemption through Isaac. And in order for you to embrace that, you have to let go of your natural desires. So he tells him those two things. It's through Isaac that I'm going to reckon everything. so the next morning abraham and abraham seems to be the kind of guy that when there's a difficult thing to do he gets on it you're going to see that in the next chapter as well that when there's a really difficult thing to do he doesn't procrastinate he gets he gets on it right now so in this difficult thing the next morning immediately in the morning he um he gets Hagar and Ishmael ready he gives them some food and some water now I have no biblical authority to say this but it's a hunch I don't think Abraham gave them just enough food to get them out in the desert where they're going to die I think Abraham gave him what he thought was necessary to get them to a place of refuge where they would find provision.

Abraham's not a cruel man. And so I think he gives them enough water and enough food to get them to a place where they'll be able to get more. But the point is, they end up wandering. They end up wandering in the desert under the relentless heat of that scorching desert sun. They get lost, they get turned around, but eventually they've run out of water, they've run out of food, and they're at the point of death.

And when it says that Hagar puts Ishmael under a bush, don't get the idea that the word put there doesn't mean she kind of just picked him up and dropped him off. It can have the idea of, you know, you've seen people stagger around the desert, two guys, one guy has his arm over the other, and the other one's trying to help the other fellow as he's stumbling around. I think that's how you need to think this story through.

And so she helping her boy and she gets to the point where she knows she can help him anymore She knows he going to die She knows she going to die So she puts him under the shade of this scrub tree or whatever it was And then she goes a bow shot away because like any other mother she does not want to see her son die So she there and she weeping And her son is way out over there a bow shot away either weeping or maybe even praying because it says that God heard the voice of the boy and an angel from heaven says to Hagar these words, right? And God heard the voice of the boy and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

Up, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation. God is going to keep his promise. And so he opens her eyes and she sees a well that she didn't see before. And they get their provisions and they survive. This is the grace of God to someone outside the promise. Do you see that?

By all counts, Ishmael should have died in the desert. for his for what he had done but god has grace on him by the way he has he has grace on him even though he's not part of the promise even though he's not part of the promise this is god's common grace what do i mean by that God's common grace is the grace that he shows all men. All right. God's special grace is the grace that he bestows on his people.

It's the grace that called you to Christ. It's the grace that you now live in before God. But this is not grace given to one of God's people. This is common grace. This is grace God gives to all men. Do you realize that God is gracious to all men?

He is. Look over Matthew 5 for a moment, where Jesus takes this idea of God's common grace and applies it to us and says, you need to be gracious like God. Matthew chapter 5 Matthew 5 verse 43 Others do not even the Gentiles do the same. You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Be like God. Love people who don't deserve it.

Show grace and kindness to people who are your enemies. Because God does that every day. And so we have here a real life view of God being kind and gracious to one who doesn't deserve it. He's being gracious to him even though he'll never be part of the promise. What does God do for him? He keeps him alive.

Right? He gets him a wife. He gives him a necessary skill. He becomes a great archer. He gives him a prosperous life. And many descendants.

And Ishmael doesn't deserve any of it. But this is God's grace. You know that God is so gracious to unbelievers. You work with them. You live them. We live with people who don't believe in Christ.

Is God gracious to them? He certainly is. He gives them children and grandchildren to enjoy. Do you know unbelievers who just delight in their grandchildren? Sure you do. God's good to them.

He lets them enjoy good things, good things to eat. He lets them enjoy the beauty of creation. Some of the best expressions of the joy in creation have been created by unbelievers. As God allows them, as God in His kindness lets them enjoy all the marvelous things that He has done. God is gracious to those outside of the promise. And so that's what we see here.

You can count on the reliability of God's grace. You can count on the reliability of God's grace. God is gracious and kind all the time to all men. I'm glad for that, aren't you? Oh, certainly you can see the misery of sin and the horrible things that happen in your unbelieving friends lives You see the scars and the hardships and the trials that come just because they living in sin But nevertheless you still see that they enjoy so many things because God is kind to them And so should we.

So you see, God's grace is evident, His kindness is evident everywhere. In fact, Romans chapter 2 verse 4 says God's kindness is intended to lead people to repentance. So here we have it. Here we have God keeping his promise. God being gracious. Here we have the conflict of the seeds again.

Listen, never be surprised that people hate you. It's the storyline of the Bible. You belong to the one chosen seed. And because of that, you will be hated. Conflict is inevitable. Don't feel bad when people hate you because you are a follower of Christ.

That's what we ought to expect. And so we ought not to be those who try to curry favor. To change, to conform, to bend so that people will like us because it doesn't matter what we do. There is this inevitable hatred between the seeds. The seed of Satan will always, there will always be enmity there. Always until Jesus comes again.

So let's not be surprised at that and let's not worry about that. It's the story of God's people. It's inevitable. it will happen. But in the midst of that, there is the seed, Jesus. Everything hinges on that. And there are people who, despite the kindness of God, will continue to deride, mock, hate, and ignore the promised seed, Jesus.

That shouldn't surprise us either. but we, by the grace of God, ought to be what God's called us to be. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this narrative that tells us the entire story in a nutshell. We thank you, Father, that you are one who not only promises but protects. You fulfill the promise and you make sure you protect so that the promise will be fulfilled all within the arena of great conflict. we thank you for your grace we thank you for the grace that you show to our unbelieving family and our unbelieving friends lord help us to show the same kind of kindness and grace and in the process father to lead them to repentance but if that does not happen help us to remember the inevitability of the conflict Lord we thank you that we can count on you because you will keep your promise and we can count on your grace help us to form our lives around that and we thank you in Jesus name Amen