Genesis 073 – The God of the Impossible

Genesis 073 – God of the Impossible

By Dr Andy Woods – 03/27/2022

Genesis 18:9-15

Alright! Well, good morning everybody. Let’s take our Bibles if we could and open them to the book of Genesis chapter 18, and verse 9 (Gen 18:9) and I’ll try to cover this morning verses 9 through 15. The title of our message this morning is “The God of the Impossible”, The God of the Impossible and it’s good to be back with you after a couple weeks. I want to thank Paul Scharf and Jim Myers for filling in the last couple of weeks. I’m sure you were blessed by their ministries, Amen. Alright! We’re continuing our verse by verse look through the book of Genesis in our Sunday services together, marching through Genesis verse by verse and of course, chapters 1 through 11, believe it or not, our way in our rear view mirror.

GENESIS STRUCTURE

1. 1. Beginning of the Human race (Gen. 1‒11)
   2. Beginning of the Hebrew race (Gen. 12‒50)

1. 1. Genesis 1-11 (four events)
      1. Creation (1-2)
      2. Fall (3-5)
      3. Flood (6-9)
      4. National dispersion (10-11)

1. 1. Genesis 12-50 (four people)

1. 1. 1. Abraham (12:1–25:11)
      2. Isaac (25:12–26:35)
      3. Jacob (27–36)
      4. Joseph (37–50)

But those chapters dealt with four events: Creation, fall, flood and national dispersion but the important thing, it’s all important, but one of the key things to understand is God is announcing a Savior in those chapters. His coming is announced after humanity fell in Genesis, 3, verse 15 (Gen 3:15), there’s a promise, there’s coming One from the seed of the woman who will crush the serpent’s head and restore everything to how it was before we messed everything up and of course that Savior, we know, is Jesus Christ. But we do have an issue as we continue on in the book of Genesis. We’re trying to figure out, okay, through what nation is God going to send this Messiah and the answer is: Surprise! God is going to create His own nation. The nation of Israel have a special calling on it to bring forth this coming Messiah and the nation of Israel starts with a man, the patriarch Abraham;

Genesis, 12‒19 – Abram’s Early Journeys

1. 1. Unconditional promises (Gen 12:1-3)
   2. From Haran to Canaan (Gen 12:4-5)
   3. In Canaan (Gen 12:6-9)
   4. In Egypt (Gen 12:10-20)
   5. Abram and Lot Separate (Gen 13:1-13)
   6. Reaffirmation of Abram’s promises (Gen 13:14-18)
   7. Abram Rescues Lot (Gen 14:1-24)
   8. Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 15:1-21)
   9. Hagar & Ishmael (Gen 16:1-16)
   10. Circumcision (Gen 17:1-27)
   11. Sodom & Gomorrah (Gen 18-19)

and so Abraham becomes a very foundational figure in the outworking of God’s purposes and consequently, we’ve been studying the life of Abraham and God’s dealings with Abraham and here we are there at the very bottom of the screen, if you can read that and I’m not sure you can, it’s the Sodom and Gomorrah story, Genesis, 18 and 19 and that whole section begins with a visitation.

Genesis 18‒19 – Sodom & Gomorrah

1. 1. 1. Visitation (18:1-15)
      2. Prediction (18:16-33)
      3. Destruction (19:1-38)

Genesis, 18, verses 1 through 15 (Gen 18:1-15) we see a hosting where to Abraham’s tent, shows up two angels, the third angel is the angel of the Lord.

1. Visitation – Genesis 18:1-15
2. 1. 1. Hosting (Gen 18:1-8)
      2. Promise of Isaac (Gen 18:9-15)

I’m going to try to argue, as we move through our material today, that that third angel is none other than a pre incarnate appearance of Jesus.

1. Hosting – Genesis 18:1-8
   1. The appearance (Gen 18:1)
   2. The invitation (Gen 18:2-5a)
   3. The acceptance (Gen 18:5b)
   4. The hospitality (Gen 18:6-8)

It’s Jesus before the manger and so we saw Abraham exercising hospitality to those three, two angels and the angel of the Lord. It was maybe what the book of Hebrews is talking about when it says, some of you have entertained angels unaware and through this hosting comes a reaffirmation of a promise of a child that’s going to be born through the aged Abraham and Sarah,

1. Visitation – Genesis 18:1-15

1. Hosting (Gen 18:1-8)
2. Promise of Isaac (Gen 18:9-15)

his name will be Isaac and it’s through Isaac that God is going to fulfill His covenant that He initially gave to Abraham and so here’s our outline is we’re going to try to walk through this today.

Promise of Isaac – Genesis 18:9-15

1. Focus on Sarah (Gen 18:9)
2. Promise (Gen 18:10a)
3. Sarah’s unbelief (Gen 18:10b-12)
4. Promise reaffirmed (Gen 18:13-14)
5. Sarah’s response (Gen 18:15a)
6. God’s response (Gen 18:15b)

We have a focus on Sarah, verse 9 (Gen 18:9). A promise verse 10 (Gen 18:10). Sarah’s unbelief, the second half of verse 10 into verse 12 (Gen 18:10-12). The promises reaffirmed, verses 13 and 14 (Gen 18:13-14). Then you have Sarah’s response. She laughs at it, verse 15 (Gen 18:15) and then we have God’s response, verse 15 and as we’ll see, God is always going to get the last laugh. 5:20

But notice if you will, the focus now moves away from hospitality to a focus on Sarah and you see that right there in verse 9 (Gen 18:9), it says: Then they said… That’s the angels, said… to him, Where is Sarah your wife? And he said, There, in the tent… Now these angels, particularly the angel of the Lord, knew exactly where Sarah was. It’s sort of a rhetorical question, which is a question asked not for the benefit of the person asking the question but the person to whom the question is asked. Where is Sarah? It’s interesting that the speaker here, presumably the angel of the Lord, knew Sarah’s name, knew where she was, because one of these entities is the angel of the Lord, a pre incarnate appearance of Jesus who is omniscient and the question is asked, where is Sarah, because the focus is now going to be placed on Sarah. Sarah’s reaction to the promise and we move away from the focus on Sarah to the promise itself and notice verse 10 (Gen 18:10), it says: He said, I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him… So you’ll notice that a promise is made here and it’s time sensitive. Within one year, a promise is going to be fulfilled to you, where you, Abraham and Sarah, are going to have a son, his name will be Isaac and through Isaac I will continue the promises I’ve given to you and the nation of Israel will continue to be birthed, continue to grow and will continue to prosper. Verse 10 (Gen 18:10): He said, I will return to you at this time next year… and then it says: Behold Sarah, your wife, will have a son… Now, this becomes one of the reasons why I think one of these angels is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus or God, because a similar promise is made elsewhere by God Himself to Sarah. Over in the book of Genesis chapter 17, verse 21 (Gen 17:21), which we’ve already studied, it says: But my covenant I will establish with Isaac whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year… Now, back in chapter 17, it was very clear who was speaking, it was God. So when the identical promise is given in chapter 18, we would assume that God is making that promise. Who is God here? It’s this preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, Jesus before the manger. Over in Genesis, 21 and verse 1 (Gen 21:1), it says: Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised… So notice that in chapter 21, God is making good on His promise. Well, then who made the initial promise? It must be God Himself. This is the kind of thing that Jesus was referring to in the New Testament when He said to the Pharisees, Abraham saw my day and was glad and that of course, blew their minds because they said, you’re not yet 50 years old and you saw Abraham, who existed two thousand years ago? And that’s where Jesus at the end of John, 8, says: Before Abraham was, I am. I’ve always existed. Probably referring to this identical exchange, this identical encounter that we’re reading about here in Genesis, 18. 10:00

So we have a focus on Sarah and then we have a promise coming from a pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, the angel of the Lord, Jesus before the manger and Sarah of course doesn’t take it very well. You see her unbelief developing, second part of verse 10, into verse 12. Look at the end of verse 10 (Gen 18:10), it says: …and Sarah was listening at the door, which was behind him… And those are the circumstances in which this promise was made.

Promise of Isaac – Genesis 18:9-15

1. Focus on Sarah (Gen 18:9)
2. Promise (Gen 18:10a)
3. Sarah’s unbelief (Gen 18:10b-12)
4. Promise reaffirmed (Gen 18:13-14)
5. Sarah’s response (Gen 18:15a)
6. God’s response (Gen 18:15b)

So Sarah has an opportunity to hear this promise that’s made about her, about her womb, about her own body and quite frankly, she just doesn’t believe it’s true. I mean, how could God do something like this? You know, poor God, He is so limited. You see her unbelief developing there in verse 11 (Gen 18:11), it says: Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age… And then at the end of verse 11, it says: Sarah was past childbearing… So, you know, she had entered what we would call menopause, childbearing age is over. Procreation is over and a promise like this seemed of course, absolutely ridiculous. I mean, how old are they exactly? Well, we’re given a hint, back in Genesis, 17, verse 17 (Gen 17:17), it says: Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed… So it wasn’t just Sarah laughing at this, it was Abraham as well… and said in his heart, Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old… So we’re not dealing with Spring chickens here. He’s at least 100. His wife is ten years younger, she’s 90 and they’re given this promise from God that not only going to have a child, the child is going to be born within a year and it’s through this child that this nation that I promised you, is going to continue on and it’s through that child that ultimately is going to be born a Messiah or a Savior who’s going to fix what got broken, back in Genesis chapter 3. So we have a crisis developing here. This is not the first time this crisis has been introduced to us; it was introduced to us all the way back in Genesis chapter 11, and verse 30 (Gen 11:30), it says there: Sarai… Now that was her name before God changed it… Sarai was barren; she had no child… So we have a promise and a crisis and I’m here to tell you that’s God’s specialty. God specializes in things that from the human perspective look like a crisis, because God is the God of the impossible and He deliberately and intentionally puts His people in situations where there’s no way out and they have to trust God for the result. So you might find yourself today in a crisis, maybe not this identical crisis, but there’s a crisis in your life. There are crises in all of our lives at different times and you say, well, Gee pastor, my life is pretty good and I’m not really having a crisis today, well, take heart! Your crisis is right around the corner, you just don’t know it yet. It could be a relationship crisis, it could be a job prospect crisis, it could be some kind of economic crisis. You can’t pay this or pay that off. It could be a health crisis and I really quite frankly, don’t like crises. I like to have my life figured out, but God really doesn’t operate according to how I think He should operate. He has over and over again in my life and He will do it over and over again in your life, put you in situations where there’s no human way you can get out of it other than trusting God. So rather than getting upset at God, rather than getting angry at God, rather than saying God how dare you intervene this way in my life, my advice to you is just to accept it as the will of God for your life, because that’s His pattern. That’s how He works, because if He didn’t put us in those situations, how could you ever appreciate deliverance and how could you ever see His great hand at work. Your knowledge of God would just be academic. It would be book knowledge. You know it’s one thing to study Daniel, 3 about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace, where the fourth man, who may also be a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus by the way, the fourth man shows up to protect you. It’s one thing to learn about that by studying Daniel, 3. It’s a totally different matter when God actually puts you in the fiery furnace, because now when the fourth man shows up, it’s not a matter of intellect, it’s not a matter of academics, it’s not a matter of book smarts, it’s not a matter of rattling off some information to pass some kind of doctrinal test or doctoral exam, now, it’s experiential and that’s different and God loves us too much to see us get by without growing up and one of the ways He grows up His people is by intentionally putting them into circumstances that they don’t understand and can’t figure out and we spend so much time sort of like a kid in time out, you know, throwing a tantrum when the reaction that God wants out of this is just rest in Me, I’ve got this and I hope this ministers to some of you, because I read all the prayer requests. Some of you are walking through some pretty deep waters. You know, if I had my way I’d wave some kind of magic wand and it would disappear, but that’s not how God works. It’s intentional, it’s the deliberate design of God, it’s for our own benefit and it’s a very different way of looking at trials. That’s why the book of James says in James, 1, 2 through 4 (James 1:2-4): Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the trial is necessary for the perfecting of your faith… Faith is trusting God; it’s like a muscle that has to be exercised. I’m trying to get back into, believe it or not, doing a little bit of weight lifting and you wouldn’t believe how my muscles were complaining against me when I started down that road, started using muscles again that haven’t been used for probably in decades and the soreness in it and all those kinds of things, but it’s necessary for that muscle to be built up. Faith is the same way. Faith has to be put under pressure, it has to be developed or it just becomes lax, lazy, lackadaisical and flabby and God has to reveal to us that He really is the God of the impossible. 18:40

From the human perspective, verse 11 (Gen 18:11), it seems like there’s no way out for Sarah and Abraham, because the promise didn’t make any sense. But there is a way out when you look at it from the divine perspective. You know, Peter when he walked out on the water was fine, as long as he was looking at Jesus. The problem is, the Bible says, he started to look at the wind and the waves. There’s the problem. As the book of Numbers indicates, the children of Israel coming out of Egypt, they were fine as long as their eyes were on God. But they got their eyes off of God and looked at the giants instead and became like grasshoppers in their own eyes. Numbers, 13 and chapter 14 tells us that and as you’re looking at whatever giant is in your life, the spiritual training that you’re under is God wants you to look at it through His eyes, not through your own eyes, because if you keep looking at it through your own eyes, you’ll become very discouraged because the problem is bigger than you or else it wouldn’t be a problem, right? But learn to look at that, whatever it is, through the eyes of God, because God is the God of the impossible. What is impossible for man becomes possible with God. Sarah, of course, doesn’t do that, because you see her reaction to all of this as she’s listening near the tent as this conversation is happening. You see it in verse 12 (Gen 18:12): Sarah laughed to herself… You’ll notice, first of all, her unbelief but you’ll notice that her laughing, she kind of kept to herself. It’s kind of a private party of unbelief, no one knows about my unbelief other than me. Genesis, 17, 17 (Gen 17:17) her husband in the prior chapter, Abraham was no better, because it says there: Then Abram… when he received this similar or identical promise… fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart… You see this? This is unbelief happening in the human heart. Will a child be born to a man 100 years old and will Sarah who was 90 years old bear a child?… It’s private unbelief, It’s a heart issue and I’m here to tell you that God keeps a record of what’s happening in our hearts. In fact, Lucifer’s rebellion which is described so well by the prophet Isaiah chapter 14, verses 12 through 15 (Isa 14:12-15), this is how Lucifer was thrown out of heaven and he became Satan. He indulged in five “I will” statements and yet where did all of this rebellion start?

Satan’s Original State and First Sin

• Isaiah 14:12-15
  • 5 “I will” statements
    • Ascend to heaven (13)
    • Raise my throne above the stars of God (13)
    • Sit enthroned on the Mt. of the Assembly (13)
    • Ascend above the tops of the clouds (14)
    • Make myself like the Most High (14)

It’s very clear in the Bible that it started Lucifer’s heart. Isaiah, 14, verse 13 (Isa 14:13) says: But you… Concerning Lucifer… said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north… God is monitoring the heart. Psalms, 139, verse 4 (Psa 139:4), says: Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all… Jesus, when He was interacting with people, could look into the minds of people and He could look into the hearts of people and understand where they were at just at a heart level. It says in Matthew, 12, 24 and 25 (Matt 12:24-25): But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons… And then Matthew 12:25 says: And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand… Jesus knew what they were thinking before they even said anything. God incarnate as He’s interacting with Sarah knew exactly where her heart was in terms of believing God’s promises before she uttered a word, because the Bible is very clear that she kept this within. She kept it to herself. 23:52

Have you read recently what God said concerning David? The second king of the United Kingdom, when Samuel came to anoint the next king of Israel. It says in 1st Samuel, 16, verse 7 (1 Sam 16:7): But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature… Concerning Saul… because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart… We have to monitor very carefully what’s happening in our heart because God sees it. Proverbs chapter 4, verse 23 (Prov 4:23), I like how the King James version translates this verse, it says: Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life… The issues of life flow from the things that are happening in our heart. I know from personal experience that you have to watch very carefully what’s happening in your heart, because God will make you live out what’s in your heart. The unbelief in your heart, God will show you, is unjustified. I’ve had to live this out several times. I’ll take you back to 1999. I was a brand new student in the Th.M. program at Dallas seminary and there was a very young preacher, I don’t know his name, I haven’t seen him since but he preached a sermon out of Ezekiel, 37, the valley of the dry bones and how Ezekiel spoke to the dry bones and how the dry bones came to life and this young preacher said, some of you are going to be in ministry situations that are dead where you will have to speak God’s word to what looks like death and what’s dead will be made alive. Now, I’m not proud of this but let me tell you what was happening in my heart when he spoke that. I didn’t verbalize it. I said to myself, that is the stupidest sermon I’ve ever heard. It doesn’t fit the context, because the context is not the church but the nation of Israel, and it has nothing to do with ministry in the church age. I don’t know if I verbalized this to a lot of people, but it was an arrogance in my heart that I was not proud of. So what does God do? He puts me right here at Sugar Land Bible Church and if you know anything about the history of Sugar Land Bible church, I mean, this place was on life support because of internal problems and all kinds of things that had gone wrong and here I am right in the middle of it. I didn’t know how to fix anything other than to preach the word. So every single week, I show up, preach the word and you look at Sugar Land Bible Church now and you would never know the trauma that it went through in terms of budget, in terms of personnel, in terms of leadership, in terms of attendance where now one of our biggest problems is we don’t have enough room for people. That wasn’t always the case here. Where we have a ministry online that goes out all over the world. We’re now on radio by the way, in Virginia of all places and I just say, praise the Lord! And the Lord says, you remember that arrogance in your heart? And it’s something that God has made me walk out, because of something that was happening in my heart back in 1999. I’m here to tell you that that’s the pattern of God. That’s how God works. God loves us too much to see us get by without maturing and He will take issues that are happening in your heart, that nobody else knows about, and He will put you in situations where that arrogance and the heart of unbelief starts to get fixed. That’s God, that’s how He works and He’s doing this right here with Sarah. He is not letting her get by with doubting and laughing at what He said, just because from her perspective it seems absurd. Just like that sermon I heard seemed absurd, with God all things are possible and it’s true with this situation with Sarah and it’s true with the circumstances and situations in your life, because God is the same yesterday, today and forever. 30:18

So Sarah laughs but she doesn’t say anything out loud, it’s just sort of internalized and then you continue on there with verse 12 (Gen 18:12): Sarah laughed to herself, saying, After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?… It’s very interesting here that Sarah calls Abraham Lord. Over in 1st Peter chapter 3 and verse 6 (1 Pet 3:6), it says: Just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord… That’s probably what Peter is referring to here, going back to Genesis, 18. Here is something in marriage that’s almost lost today. It is the respect and submission of a wife to her husband, to the point where she actually there in verse 12 (Gen 18:12) refers to Abraham, her husband, as Lord, because we have today within Christianity we have today within American society, marriages that are going up in flames and people show up at the office and they want marriage counseling and the truth of the matter is the way God designed marriage is marriage is a two way street. So you talk to a woman who’s married to a man and she will complain and complain and complain and say he doesn’t love me like Christ loves the church and our answer to her is, well, have you done your part? Are you submitting to and respecting your husband? Because rather than sit and focus on him, maybe the problem is you. Maybe you’re not walking out what God told you to do and then the husband will come in and complain and complain and complain and says, you know, my wife, she doesn’t submit to my authority and our answer to him is, are you loving your wife as Christ loved the church, which is your mandate in Ephesians, 5, which is a sacrificial form of love. Maybe if you love her the way God designed her to be loved in a sacrificial sense, as Christ loved the church, maybe her behavior will change and the interesting thing about marriage is it is as close to hell on earth as you can get when the two parties won’t walk out their responsibilities. Marriage on the other hand, is as close to heaven as you could get when the two parties are committed to walking out their biblical responsibilities together, because that is how God designed marriage. It is never a one way street, it’s never her fault, his fault. It’s something that’s designed where both parties do their part. The husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church and the wife is to submit to the leadership and authority of her husband and when both parties are doing their part, you would not believe what God will do with the marriage, the wonderful existence of marriage and so rather than everybody complaining about somebody else, if you come to me for counseling, and I am trying to discourage counselors from coming to me, so maybe that’s why I’m talking about this, I’m going to ask you about your part. I’m not going to sit to analyze his problem or her problem, what about you? So you’ll notice here that Sarah is actually submitting to the leadership of her husband, although she’s in unbelief concerning the promise, submitting to him to the point where she’s calling him Lord and how important it is today to have role models for women like Sarah. 1st Peter chapter 3, verse 4 (1 Pet 3:4) says: but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God… What brings that unbelieving man around in a marriage is that gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of our Lord. Well, gee Peter, do you have any examples for that? Yes, I do. Peter says in 1st Peter 3, verse 6 (1 Pet 3:6): Just as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord… Our passage right here. A gentle and quiet spirit in a woman. That’s what the Bible exemplifies. That’s what the Bible holds out, in terms of a healthy marriage. Do you think in American society today, that this is role modelled anywhere for young women? It’s not role modelled anywhere. One of the most popular shows in American society is a show called “The View”, if you’ve seen that. I’ve never seen a group of people that are more opposite of what 1st Peter, 3, verse 4 (1 Pet 3:4) is saying. I see people screaming at each other, yelling at each other. The Bible doesn’t promote that. It promotes a gentle and quiet spirit and then a man who sees that will naturally be drawn to that and have an ambition to love his wife as Christ loved the church. The blame game is very easy for all of us. But the truth of the matter is marriage is a two way street. Two people that are married together need to be committed to the principles of God’s word and walk them out mutually or you don’t have a chance. My wife and myself, a wonderful marriage, 23 years, wouldn’t change it for everything but it hasn’t always been easy. We, like anybody else, have our moments and almost every single time where there’s a rift, I have to sit down at the end of the day and I have to ask myself, because I can point my finger at her all day long. Interesting how that doesn’t solve anything. I got to sit down at the end of the day and ask myself, as this 12 hour daylight portion of the day transpired, did I really love her the way Jesus loves me? And nine times out of ten the answer would be: No, and that’s the cause of the conflict, you see? And then when that thinking is adjusted and that attitude is adjusted, tomorrow’s a new day and it’s interesting that what happened yesterday, quickly gets forgotten the following day when my heart attitude changes. People aren’t talking about this today, they’re talking about being rancorous, loud, obnoxious, demanding your own rights and God is saying, this is a two way street. Look at the example of Sarah with that gentle and quiet spirit as she is interacting with her own husband. 38:52

Promise of Isaac – Genesis 18:9-15

1. Focus on Sarah (Gen 18:9)
2. Promise (Gen 18:10a)
3. Sarah’s unbelief (Gen 18:10b-12)
4. Promise reaffirmed (Gen 18:13-14)
5. Sarah’s response (Gen 18:15a)
6. God’s response (Gen 18:15b)

We continue on and we go to verses 13 and 14 where the promises are reaffirmed. Look at verse 13 (Gen 18:13): And the LORD said to Abraham… Now the word here in Hebrew for Lord is Jehovah. So that is another major clue, that is another major hint that while we’ve got two angels, one of them, the third one, is not an ordinary angel, that’s the angel of the Lord. That’s a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus. If you look at Genesis, 18, verse 22 (Gen 18:22), same chapter, it says: Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom… And if you go over to Genesis, 19, verse 1 (Gen 19:1), it says: Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening… So we know the two of these angels are just angels, but one of them is not. One of them is an angel of the Lord, Jehovah. God incarnate, Abraham saw my day, Jesus said and was glad; and what does the preincarnate appearance of Jesus say to Sarah, based on what’s happening in her heart. The Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh? Saying shall I indeed bear a child when I am old?… It’s a rebuke. Now here the angel of the Lord is speaking to Abraham and He is saying, why is your wife laughing at my promise? I mean, I understand that the promise seems ridiculous from the human perspective but I’m God. I’m The God of the impossible. Now, how did this angel know that Sarah was laughing at the promise when Sarah laughed within herself? That’s because this angel is not an ordinary angel, this is an angel demonstrating omniscience. So that becomes yet another clue that the third angel here that I’m referring to is none other than a pre incarnate appearance of Jesus. As you just work through the passage, you start to see the evidence pile up that we’re not dealing anymore with an ordinary angel that is speaking truth into the life of Abraham and Sarah. 41:28

You drop down to verse 14 (Gen 18:14) and it says, and here’s the key verse and this is why I’ve entitled the sermon the way I have: Is anything too difficult for the Lord?… The word difficult here in Hebrew is probably not the best translation. A better translation is probably “wonderful”. Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? Speaking of the fact that concerning things extraordinary, concerning things surpassing wonder itself, God is not at all handicapped or disabled in terms of his ability to bring those things into existence. Arnold Fruchtenbaum in his wonderful Genesis commentary writes:

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 313

“So, the question in verse 14a was: Is anything too hard for Jehovah? The Hebrew word for hard is pele, which means ‘wonderful,’ ‘extraordinary,’ ‘surpassing.’ It is one of those Hebrew words that is only used of God, never of man (Judg. 13:18; Ps. 139:6; Isa. 9:6, 28:29). Literally: ‘Is anything too ‘wonderful’ for God to do?’”

So, the question in verse 14 was: Is anything too hard for Jehovah? The Hebrew word for hard is pele, which means ‘wonderful,’ ‘extraordinary,’ ‘surpassing.’ It is one of those Hebrew words that is only used of God, never of man… And you’ll notice he gives the verses there in parenthesis to document that (Judg. 13:18; Ps. 139:6; Isa. 9:6, 28:29), that’s another hint that we’re dealing here not with an ordinary angel, but the angel of the Lord. Fruchtenbaum says: Literally: ‘Is anything too ‘wonderful’ for God to do?… It’s not just is there anything too hard for God, is there anything too wonderful for him to execute? And the answer of course is no, God can do anything. Matthew, 19, verse 26 (Matt 19:26), the same issue comes up, remember? It says in Matthew, 19, verse 26, it says: And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible but with God all things are possible.” So if all things are possible with God and there’s nothing too wonderful for God to do, why are we always so discouraged about our circumstances, as if God is somehow handcuffed through our circumstances. Yeah, but pastor! Don’t you watch TV? Don’t you see what’s happening? Don’t you see war breaking out? Don’t you know that inflation is hitting the United States? Have you looked at gas prices? As if God is saying, gas prices! Inflation! Oh no, what am I going to do? I never thought this could happen. Do you think inflation and gas prices are a problem for God in terms of him providing for you? Why do we limit God? There’s nothing too difficult for God. There’s nothing too wonderful for God Himself to execute and it doesn’t matter if Sarah is going to believe this or not, which apparently she doesn’t at this point, God is still going to execute His promise and He’s going to do it within a year. You see that in verse 14 (Gen 18:14): Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you… Now when He says, I will return to you, I don’t think it’s another physical appearance of the angel of the Lord. By the way, He said the same thing back in verse 10 (Gen 18:10): I will surely return to you at this time next year… I don’t think He’s saying that the angel of the Lord is going to show up next year at this time, what it’s talking about is that within one year the promise will be fulfilled. The very promise that you’re laughing at will be fulfilled within one year. 45:36

So sometimes the return of the Lord is referred to in the Scripture as the day of visitation. 1st Peter, 2, verse 12 (1 Pet 2:12) talks about this, it says: Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation… You keep your behavior excellent amongst those that mistreat you, there will come a day of visitation, you don’t know when, where God will become obvious to them through your life and they will say, there’s something very different about so and so. That’s the day of visitation, the day of the return. That’s sort of how the concept is being used here. It’s not talking about a return of the angel of the Lord, it’s talking about the fulfillment of a promise which will happen within one year and you start to see the specifics of that promise there in verse 14 (Gen 18:14) and it says: …at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son… So go ahead and laugh it up. Go ahead and worry about your old age. Since I spoke the heavens and earth into existence I’m not limited by your human circumstances and I will do exactly what I said I would do within one year. This is a reaffirmation of a promise given in Genesis 17:21. This is not the first time they’ve been exposed to this, where it says: But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year… And what if that one year time period had transpired yet God didn’t deliver. Well, God’s credibility would be in jeopardy. But the Bible is set up in such a way that when God makes a promise, it happens. This by the way, is exactly what Jesus is doing with the disciples in the upper room. He does the exact same thing with them. He says, and there’s only eleven of them, Judas left the room in John, 13 and he says this and this is not a bad couple of verses to study as we near the season of the year where we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Week, Passion week. Jesus says in John, 13, verse 19 (John 13:19): From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He… And then one chapter later in chapter 14, verse 29 (John 14:29) as if, they didn’t get the point, He says it again: Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe that I am He… Listen up guys in the upper room, I’m going to start making short term predictions, most of which are going to happen this week, Passion week. Predictions about a friend betraying me, predictions about how many times Peter you are going to deny me. Predictions about how I’m going to die. The Jews are going to try to flog me, but they’re not going to be able to kill me and so they’re going to have to turn me over to Rome for execution and then Jesus starts making prediction after prediction after prediction that starts getting fulfilled in real time that week and I’m here to tell you folks, if those prophecies didn’t happen exactly like Jesus said there’s no way these eleven would have gone out into the world and turned it upside down for Jesus. Do you realize that every single one of these eleven disciples died a non-natural death? John being the only exception.

James, who was in that room listening to Christ, the son of Alpheus was ultimately clubbed to death. Simon, the zealot, in Jerusalem was martyred. James, the son of Zebedee, was executed. You can read about his execution in the book of Acts chapter 12. Thaddeus went to Mesopotamia where he was beaten to death. Peter went to Babylon where he was crucified upside down. Matthew went to modern day Iran, Tehran, Parthia, where he was beheaded. John was very stubborn he wouldn’t die. They kept putting him in boiling oil but he wouldn’t die and so he was marooned on the island of Patmos, because John had a different purpose, he was going to receive the book of Revelation at the end of the 1st century. Philip went to east Turkey and was tortured and crucified. Thomas went to India where he was speared to death. Bartholemew went to India where he was flayed, which is a disgusting horrific form of death and crucified. Andrew went to Ukraine, Russia, Greece, where he was ultimately hanged. That’s the best sources we have tells you what happened to these men and I’m here to tell you that they would have never done this, if Christ’s short term prophecies didn’t happen that week exactly like He said and what you’re seeing here in Genesis, 18 is a short term prophecy. One year, it’s going to happen. 52:03

There is a lot of junk food out there in the prophecy world. People are talking about Martians and aliens and all kinds of stuff, junk food, get something like this into your system. Get a book like this. It’s a book by John Walvoord, it’s entitled “Every prophecy of the Bible”.

I have that on my shelf, I refer to it constantly, because in that book he takes you from Genesis to Revelation and shows you every single prophecy in the Bible, every single one and you start to see a pattern where a lot of these prophecies have already been fulfilled and it gives you so much confidence that the prophecies yet to come will be fulfilled as well. It is heartbreaking to look at so many people feeding on junk food. When they could be taking something substantive, like John Walvoord’s book, into their system, because we’re living folks, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, we’re living in the last days and we are headed for a time period which, I think, is unprecedented not only in American history but maybe world history itself and I’m as pre-trib as they come but it doesn’t mean the road can’t get a bit bumpy on the eve of the rapture and you’ve got to be in a position where you believe the Bible is true and you need to believe it’s true not cause a preacher tells you it’s true but because you know it’s true, because God has given you evidence that all of those prophecies happened to the point where the disciples are willing to die because of Christ’s predictions. You look there at verses 15 (Gen 18:15) and you see Sarah’s answer.

Promise of Isaac – Genesis 18:9-15

1. Focus on Sarah (Gen 18:9)
2. Promise (Gen 18:10a)
3. Sarah’s unbelief (Gen 18:10b-12)
4. Promise reaffirmed (Gen 18:13-14)
5. Sarah’s response (Gen 18:15a)
6. God’s response (Gen 18:15b)

You know, the angel of the Lord says, your wife is laughing at my promise, she’s in unbelief. What does Sarah say? Sarah denied it. Here’s the denial. Denial is not just a river in Egypt, right?: Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid… She didn’t want to fess up that she was internally laughing that an omniscient angel of the Lord saw in her heart, because she was afraid. We do a lot of crazy things when we’re afraid. There’s a lot of ungodly decisions that I’ve made just out of fear. Decisions that I’ve regretted. Maybe that’s why the Bible 365 times says, do not fear. Did you know the Bible says that 365 times? Hey 365 times, that’s once for every day on the calendar. Every day you wake up as a child of God and God says don’t fear. When you wake up the next day, don’t fear. Don’t fear. Sarah is sort of bobbing, weaving, covering, lying, because she’s afraid. Now, Abraham wasn’t much better when the promise was made to him, back in Genesis, 17, and verse 16 (Gen 17:16) he just rewrote the promise. Genesis, 17, verse 16 (Gen 17:16), God said to Abraham: I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her… Now, remember they had another son named Ishmael via Hagar. God is very clear, I will bless her, that’s Sarah and I will give you a son by her. That is Sarah and Abraham simply took that promise and rewrote it. In Genesis, 17, verse 18 (Gen 17:18), it says: And Abraham said to God, Oh that Ishmael might live before You!… That’s not what God said. He just rewrote the promise. 56:30

Do you understand that there’s a whole movement today within Christendom called Replacement Theology? That simply does not want to take God at His word, that God is going to restore Israel in the last days. They just don’t believe it could happen. God is going to complete everything He promised to do through the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and what they do is they take God’s promises, which are very clear and they just rewrite them. It’s not scholastics, it’s not academics, it’s not intellect, it’s a heart of unbelief that really doesn’t believe God can do what He said. God did exactly what He said with the birth of Isaac in a year and He will do exactly what He said He would do, concerning the nation of Israel, and Christianity on the eve of the rapture can laugh all they want at it, but God is not limited by human circumstances or human reactions to what He said He would do. So you see there, Sarah’s response and then I like how this paragraph ends, now we get God’s response:

Promise of Isaac – Genesis 18:9-15

1. Focus on Sarah (Gen 18:9)
2. Promise (Gen 18:10a)
3. Sarah’s unbelief (Gen 18:10b-12)
4. Promise reaffirmed (Gen 18:13-14)
5. Sarah’s response (Gen 18:15a)
6. God’s response (Gen 18:15b)

And He… That’s the angel of the Lord… said… Concerning Sarah… No, but you did laugh… God is taking Sarah with her heart of unbelief, just like He did with me listening to that sermon in 1999 and holding her accountable. No you laughed, you laughed because I’m God and I’m omniscient and I can see what’s happening in your heart. God gets the last laugh, because you know what Isaac’s name means in Hebrew? Means laughter. Why give a child a name like laughter? Because God is saying, you’ll laugh with joy when you see the stupidity of your own laughter birthed from unbelief. God laughs a lot in the Bible. Psalms 2, verses 1 through 4 (Psa 2:1-4) is a description of the nations that are conspiring against God. Oh! I don’t believe in conspiracy theories, Pastor. Well, I believe in them cause they are in Psalms, 2. The nations are conspiring against God and what does God do? Does He sit up in heaven and wring his hands and say, I don’t know what I’m going to do, this has caught me off guard. Psalm, 2, verse 4 (Psa 2:4) says: He who sits in the heavens laughs… The Lord will have them in derision. God has a way of getting the last laugh. People conspire against God, God gets the last laugh. People laugh at God’s promises, God gets the last laugh. Right down to the very name Isaac and God loved Sarah so much that He was not going to let her grow up with this heart of unbelief, that’s why He is holding her accountable. God wants us to grow up. Why would God care so much about Sarah not believing him? Why would He care? It relates to the fact that God has chosen to relate to lost humanity on the basis of faith. Was that not role modeled for us with Abram’s conversion back in Genesis, 15, 6 (Gen 15:6)? It says of Abram: Then he believed in the LORD; and He… That’s the Lord… reckoned it to him as righteousness… Well, no Abraham was saved by the Mosaic Law – Eh! Wrong answer. Mosaic Law wouldn’t exist for six centuries. Abraham was saved by circumcision – Eh! Wrong answer. There was no practice of circumcision yet in the life of Israel. That wouldn’t happen until Genesis, 17. Well, then how is Abraham saved? He was saved because He believed what God said. God showed him all of the stars and He said, your descendants will be innumerable and when you factor in Galatians, 3, verse 16 (Gal 3:16) he didn’t just believe in seed, plural, but a singular seed that was coming and the whole promise seemed absolutely absurd from a human perspective but Abram just said, well, if God said it, it’s going to happen. So I think I’ll just trust God and that becomes the definitive statement in the Bible about justification by faith alone. The whole thing is set up in terms of our relationship with God on the basis of faith. That’s why God cares about Sarah’s heart of unbelief. 1:02

If our whole relationship with God boils down to faith, obviously God is going to hold Sarah accountable for internally laughing at His promises because that came out of a heart of unbelief. Have you studied Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6 (Heb 11:6) lately? And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him… The word impossible, adynato, what does that mean? It means impossible. Hebrews 10:4 says: It’s impossible… same word, adynato…  for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin… Just like it’s impossible for an animal sacrifice to permanently deal with the sin problem, it is impossible for a lost human being to have a relationship with God without faith by itself. The Hebrew, 6, and verse 18 (Heb 6:18) says: So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible (adynaton) for God to lie… God can’t lie. God couldn’t lie even if He wanted to lie but God doesn’t want to lie cause His nature is perfect. For God to tell a lie would be an impossibility. For God to have a relationship with a person without faith is an impossibility. That’s why God is so interested in our faith muscle that has to be exercised or gets flabby. That’s why God is holding little Sarah accountable for not taking Him at His word and so may God help us to understand this, the importance of faith, which is a natural segue into the gospel, which is Jesus, as you know, died on the cross two thousand years ago. He rose bodily from the grave to deal with the problem that we couldn’t deal with on our own, called sin. The sin nature separation from God and He asks us to put our trust, not in our own works but His work and that conviction, an exercise of volition in faith, is the only thing that saves a person. Raising a hand doesn’t do it, walking an aisle doesn’t do it, showing emotion doesn’t do it, forsaking all of your sins you’ve ever committed doesn’t do it. Only exercising faith in what He did, does it, because without faith it’s impossible to please God. That’s why God is somewhat dismayed, it seems to me, as He’s interacting here with Sarah who really doesn’t want to believe what He said, any more than Abram wanted to believe it and so a very simple question for you is: Have you and are you trusting in the Messiah? Because if you don’t do that, there’s no hope for you. If you die in that condition, that’s the only sin that God won’t forgive. It’s the only sin that sends someone into the lake of fire, unbelief, and so our exhortation is to hear the gospel message as I’ve tried to proclaim it to you today, to trust in it by itself and suddenly you’re ushered into a relationship with the God that made you. For without faith, it’s impossible to please God. 1:06

God is not going to let Abraham and Sarah get by without maturing in this area any more than He’s going to let you get by with it. You have to exercise faith in Christ to be save. Then, the faith muscle has to be exercised through the trials of life which are beyond your control, which are in your life because God put them there, because God is concerned about our unbelief, just as much as He was concerned about Sarah’s unbelief. He wants us to leave a place like this understanding that with God, all things are possible. Shall we pray? Father, we just ask if anybody here has never trusted in the Savior that they might do it now even as I’m speaking. Help us to understand the significance of faith, the importance of faith through your dealings with this man Abraham so long ago. Help these not to just be stories in a book but help these things to become a reality as we walk these things out this week. We’ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus name and God’s people said, Amen.