Genesis 082 – Life from the Dead

Genesis 082 – Life from the Dead

By Dr Andy Woods – 06/19/2022

Genesis 21:1-7

 

You want to talk about a tough act to follow?

Well, let’s take our Bibles this morning and open them up to Genesis chapter 21, which means we’re making progress. We’re not in chapter 20 anymore. Happy Father’s Day, of course! The title of our messages as  we look this morning at verses 1 through 7 (Gen 21:1-7) is “Life from the Dead”. Life from the dead. Of course, at this time in the book of Genesis, God is raising up a new nation, the nation of Israel; it’s the only nation that God Himself directly created for the purpose of bringing His Savior ultimately to the world and when God does a work, He selects a person. Not a perfect person as we’ve seen. God is not so much interested in our ability, as He’s interested in our availability. Abraham was available, God chose this man Abraham to start this new nation, the nation of Israel and so we have been looking carefully at the life of Abraham and we come this morning to a very pivotal part of Abraham’s pilgrimage, his journey and it deals with the birth of Isaac, the child of promise. So as we look at verses 1 through 7 this morning, we’re going to work our way through this outline, Lord willing. 2:08

But notice first of all, Isaac’s birth.

Genesis 21:1-7 Isaac’s Birth

1. 1. 1. Promise fulfilled (Gen 21:1-2)
      2. Name: Isaac (Gen 21:3)
      3. Circumcision (Gen 21:4)
      4. Abraham’s age (Gen 21:5)
      5. Sarah’s laughter (Gen 21:6-7)

Take a look if you could at verse 1 (Gen 21:1): Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised… It’s kind of interesting that God closed and opened the wombs of the household of Abimelech in the prior chapter, Genesis chapter 20, verses 17 and 18 (Gen 20:17-18) and now we’re seeing how that event logically leads into our chapter where now God is opening the womb of the ninety year old woman, a woman named Sarah and she gives birth to Isaac. Arnold Fruchtenbaum says of this:

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 340

“He that opened the wombs of the House of Abimelech now opened the womb of Sarah.”

It’s an absolute miracle that is taking place here and if you look at verse 1 very carefully, it says: The LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised… And then you go down to verse 2 (Gen 21:2) and it says: So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him… Three times in just those couple of verses it says, “God said” or “God had spoken”. Arnold Fruchtenbaum writes:

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 340

“Three times it is stated in these verses that God had said or God had spoken, emphasizing the fulfillment of His Word.”

All the way back in Genesis, 18, verse 14 (Gen 18:14) God gave His Word that this would happen. It says there: Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son… God even put, I guess we could say, a statute of limitations on the whole thing. This prophecy or this promise, this miracle, cause who’s ever heard of such a thing? The father and this is a wonderful passage to talk about on Father’s Day, isn’t it? The father is one hundred, the mother is ninety. I mean, who would have thought that they could conceive and have children and God said, it’s going to happen and it’s going to happen in one year’s time and exactly what God said transpired. I’m here to tell you that if God in His Word says something, you can take it to the bank. It is just a matter of time before exactly what God said transpires and I think we need to understand this because we are people in the church age that live on the promises of God. 5:26

There are probably around seven thousand promises that God has made you and you can take every single one of those promises to the bank, because of the mouth from whom they come. Hebrews chapter 6, and verse 18 (Heb 6:18) of God says, it is impossible, not it’s unlikely, not it’s improbable. It’s impossible for God to lie and this is an example of what we call a short term prophecy. God made a similar type of prophecy to the disciples in the upper room and He said to them 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 happen, you may believe that I am He… And then one chapter later to the same group he says the same thing, John, 14, verse 29 (John 14:29): Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe… And what He says to these disciples, eleven of them, Judas the only unbeliever having left the upper room, as they’re together in the upper room, Jesus says, I’m going to start making some predictions, many of these predictions are going to happen this week called passion week. Prophecies related to my crucifixion, my arrest, resurrection forty days from that, my ascension and you’re going to sit here and you’re going to watch like clockwork everything that I say transpire and you’re going to need to know this because most of you, if not all of you, are going to go out and you’re going to live for me in the church age and I’m going to use you as the foundations and the pillars of the church but most of you will die martyr’s deaths. Every single one of those apostles, the only exception being John, did not die from natural causes. They went to their graves under some of the most grueling conditions a human being can imagine. Read that, if you get time, Fox’s book of martyrs, documenting how these men, the masters men, died; and I can guarantee you that if the prophecies that Jesus made to them during that week hadn’t happened in real time exactly like He said, they would never have the evidence that they needed to die the way they did, to live the way they did for Jesus. There’s a lot of books floating around out there that really aren’t worth your time. I try to bring to you solid things that you can use in your life, I’ve mentioned this many times, it’s a book by. Dr John Walvoord it’s called “Every prophecy of the Bible”, that’s quite an ambitious title, isn’t it?

But what he does in this book is he goes through all these predictions, sort of like the one reading about here in Genesis, 21, and he shows that every time God says something, it happens; and that gives us so much evidence and courage to defend the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible. No other book in history does such a thing. It gives us so much evidence and the courage we need to have faith in the prophecies yet to come, because God has a track record. God said to Abraham and Sarah, mark it down, you may not believe it, you may not understand it, but within one year, Isaac is going to be born and it happened. That’s why Moses, as he writes this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, keeps saying just like God said. 9:57

You know, we talk a lot about truth telling. The fact of the matter is there’s only one truth teller, who is 100 % percent right and that’s God Himself and as we go down to verse 2 (Gen 21:2), I read it earlier but we can reread it, says: So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him… Notice it mentions his old age. He’s over the hill. She’s over the hill. I mean, they’re not just over the hill, they’re like in the downward slide to the bottom of the hill. I mean, who’s heard of such a thing where a couple in that stage of life could have a child? I mean, you look at that and you say, it’s got to be God; and I think it’s very interesting that God really doesn’t use us so much in the prime of life when we think we have everything figured out. You know, we’re young and dumb and energetic and full of, you know, ambitions and ideas and it’s almost like God waits until we kind of start the slide down the hill, where we realize that our life is temporary, we realize exactly what God said in Eden, that from dust you are, to dust you shall return and we start recognizing that life is short and it’s kind of interesting, the longer you live, your parents become like geniuses. When you’re young, they don’t know anything, mom and dad. Wow! Mom and dad as the decades pass, they sure were smart, they sure had a few things figured out and we sort of lose our pride and our independence and God says, okay, I’m ready to use your life now. I can’t use you as long as you have your own plans, but now you’re sort of in a position where you’re ready to depend upon My plans and I think that’s why Abraham’s old age is highlighted here. You’ll notice that this prophecy, verse 2, was fulfilled, the birth of Isaac, at the appointed time. What is the appointed time? One year and it’s going to happen and God was right on time. Back in Genesis, 18, verse 14 (Gen 18:14): Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son… There’s one thing to understand about God, it’s that His timing is absolutely perfect. It’s impeccable. God doesn’t act on my time schedule. That’s one of the greatest frustrations I’ve had many times in my Christian life as I expect God to sort of work His ways into my calendar. I noticed that God doesn’t work that way. He works according to, not my time but His time and I notice that when I look back on what God has done, I say, wow! I’m glad you weren’t working on my calendar but yours cause your timing is absolutely perfect. The book of Galatians chapter 4, verse 4 (Gal 4:4) says of the birth of Jesus: When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law… You’ll notice that Jesus Christ Himself could not have been dropped into history at any random time. He had to come in the fullness of time and it is just fascinating to see exactly what that verse means. When Jesus came into our world, the Romans had come to power and there were now Roman roads, something that didn’t exist before all over the known world. When Rome came to power there was something called Pax Romana, general Roman peace, and circumstances were perfect for the transmission of the gospel once the son of God accomplished His mission through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. In fact, prior to Rome coming to power, a man named Alexander the Great had come on the scene and he had made the Greek language  the known tongue, the lingua franca, if you will, of the known world. The Greek language is very interesting, it’s one of the richest, deepest, fullest dialects the human race has ever had. As you probably know there’s one word for love in English, in Greek there’s four words: Eros, romantic love; Storge, family love; Agape, the deepest kind of love you can have; Philia, Brotherly love. What kind of love does God have for us? It’s Agape, it’s the deepest kind of love you can have recorded in the Greek language and essentially what you have transpiring is the richest dialect known to man was now in place to record God’s love for us in the preciseest way possible. That could not have transpired had Jesus come into the world prior to Alexander the Great. God’s timing with the revelation of Jesus was exactly perfect. 16:30

Jesus often chided His disciples for not respecting the time clock of God. In John chapter 2, verse 4 (John 2:4) Jesus said to His own mother Mary: Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come… In John chapter 7, and verse 6 (John 7:6) He says this to his own brothers: My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune… It’s interesting that the prophecy or the promise that was fulfilled in Genesis 21 happened exactly on God’s time frame and this is why, I’ll mention it a little bit later, we have to learn to wait upon God. I’ll be completely honest with you, I hate waiting on God because I’m a very impatient person. My prayer typically is, Lord, give me patience and give it to me right now, but patience and learning to wait upon God is such a big deal, because you have to understand that in life God will not succumb to our schedule. He will execute His will in our lives in His proper timing and this is exactly what is taking place in verses 1 and 2 (Gen 21:1-2). You go down to verse 3 and you see this child’s name, his name is Isaac. It says verse 3 (Gen 21:3): And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac… This is not the first time the name Isaac is given back in Genesis, 17, verse 19 (Gen 17:19), there was a prediction made and the name at that time was given before the child was born, Genesis, 17, verse 19 (Gen 17:19) says: But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac… What does Isaac mean in Hebrew? It means, he laughs. It means laughter. Why would you name a son laughter? Well, Isaac is named laughter for two reasons: (1) The original promise as given to Sarah was so ridiculous, it was so outside of the box. I mean, who could have a child when they’re ninety? This is an absurd promise, she just laughed at it. She actually laughed in her heart and God confronted her heart of unbelief, as I’ll show you in a little bit, and that’s where the name Isaac comes from. It was just sort of a laugh of unbelief, but as we’re going to see in this paragraph, by the time we get to verse 6 ,Sarah is laughing for an entirely different reason. She’s laughing out of joy. She’s not laughing out of ridicule anymore, she’s not laughing out of unbelief, she just is so overwhelmed with what God has done that she just begins to laugh. Laughing first of unbelief, laughing second out of joy after God fulfills His promise. Unbelief when God made the promise, laughing at joy when the promise was fulfilled and so what better name could there be for a child like this other than Isaac? And had Isaac not been born, the whole lineage leading to the nation of Israel ultimately leading to the birth of Jesus Christ could not have transpired. This is why Isaac’s birth is so significant and God executed the whole thing, not by succumbing to man’s agenda, not by succumbing to human agenda, but operating according to His own timetable and then you go down to verse 4 and you see Isaac’s circumcision. Notice verse 4 (Gen 21:4), it says: Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him… Now the command for circumcision happened already, you have to go back to Genesis, 17 to see that and this is where a lot of people get the cart before the horse, because they somehow think that circumcision is what saves, that is not true. That is a false gospel. Abraham was saved, not in Genesis, 17, when circumcision was implemented but in Genesis, 15. Genesis, 15, and verse 6 (Gen 15:6) says, he, that’s Abraham who then was named Abram: Then he believed in the Lord; and He credited it to him as righteousness… Obviously, Abraham was not personally justified before God through the practice of circumcision because he was circumcised two chapters after he was justified. In fact, Paul the apostle as he’s dealing with legalists. Who is a legalist? A legalist is always someone that gets the cart before the horse. They always want to, because of pride largely, because they want to brag about their salvation, they always try to insert some sort of human work other than faith alone into justification. Paul had his share of legalists and the legalists were quoting Genesis, 17. Look, Abraham was saved by works, faith plus circumcision, and Paul says you need to read your Bible a little bit more carefully, because chapter 15 comes before chapter 17. Do you guys agree with me on that? That’s exactly how Paul argues. In Romans, 4, verse 11 (Rom 4:11) he says: How then was it credited? In other words, how did Abraham receive justification before God? How then was it credited? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised but while uncircumcised? 23:50

We have the same kind of issue going on in the church age related to baptism. Many, many people think that they’re justified before God because of baptism. As if baptism saves somebody and then, they start to have doubts about their salvation. Well, maybe I wasn’t baptized the right way so they sign up for the next baptism or they go to the next church and get baptized again and they get themselves as my friend, Dennis Rockser likes to say, waterlogged all the way into hell, because baptism, like circumcision doesn’t save anybody. Faith alone in Christ alone saves, period. Circumcision wasn’t even on the books yet when Abram was justified. The moment you place your personal faith in Jesus Christ for your salvation, at that moment in time, in an instant, you were justified before God. Baptism had nothing to do with it. Well, should you get baptized? Sure, but it’s not salvific. It’s a step of obedience, it’s an outward sign of an inner reality but if a person never gets baptized and I don’t recommend that by the way, but if a person ever gets baptized upon death, absent from the body is to be what? Present with the Lord. I mean, it doesn’t take much to prove this in the Bible, just look at the thief on the cross. Jesus died between two thieves. One thief, towards the end of his life, was ridiculing Jesus. The other thief asked for salvation. He, in other words, believed in Christ and Jesus didn’t yell down from the cross, quick! Throw water on this guy before he dies as we got to get him into heaven. He had no opportunity for baptism, it’s a kind of difficult to get baptized when you’re nailed to a cross. He’s just a person that was guilty before God and he exercised faith in Jesus Christ at the very end of his life. No opportunity for baptism, no opportunity for church membership and Jesus said: Today, you’ll be with me in paradise. He gave them an instantaneous assurance of his salvation and so this is very important to understand when we see the circumcision of Isaac. God never outlined the practice of circumcision for the Jews by some sort of way of salvation. They corrupted it, made it into that but that’s not what God originally said. But we see Abraham not for salvation but for obedience, circumcising Isaac on the eighth day. Arnold Fruchtenbaum writes:

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 341

“Genesis 21:4 deals with the circumcision of Isaac: And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac. The timing was: when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Now the token of the covenant was being applied on the day that it was commanded, and Isaac is the first one recorded to be circumcised on the eighth day, since all those circumcised in chapter 17 were beyond the age of eight days.”

When Abraham circumcised his household in Genesis, 17, he didn’t do it on the eighth day because everybody was grown beyond the eighth day. Isaac is the first one who is circumcised as an infant on the eighth day in fulfillment of Genesis, 17. If you don’t have an Isaac in your Bible, you don’t have a nation of Israel and you don’t have a Savior, because the Savior, prophecy says, is going to come to the world through the nation of Israel. Isaac is a big deal. 28:21

So we have here in verse 5 Abraham’s age. I mean, exactly how old was he when this all happened.

Genesis 21:1-7 Isaac’s Birth

1. Promise fulfilled (Gen 21:1-2)
2. Name: Isaac (Gen 21:3)
3. Circumcision (Gen 21:4)
4. Abraham’s age (Gen 21:5)
5. Sarah’s laughter (Gen 21:6-7)

We’re told these old, verses 1 and 2, particularly verse 2, but how old is old? Look at verse 5 (Gen 21:5) his age is given: Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him… Well, how old was Sarah then? Well, there’s ten years between Abraham and Sarah. Where am I getting this from? It’s in Genesis 17:17, it says: Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?… You’ll notice that Abraham is one hundred, Sarah is exactly ten years younger which would make her ninety. I mean, it’s not just telling us that they are old, it’s telling us he was a hundred years old and she was ninety and God fulfilled His Word, which means this is a miracle. Unless God had intervened here, we wouldn’t have an Israel, we wouldn’t have a nation, we wouldn’t have a Bible cause the Bible itself came to us through the hand of the Jewish people, we wouldn’t have Jesus and we wouldn’t have the hope of a coming kingdom, which by the way will not be headquartered in Washington DC, it will be headquartered in the city of Jerusalem. All of it is cut off if God is not acting here in a miraculous manner. That’s why their ages are given and how long did it take for them to wait for God to fulfill His Word? I mean, how long exactly have they been walking with God before this promise is fulfilled? 25 years. See, you might be, in your life, very impatient with God, that God has not done what you think He said He would do for you. Put yourself in Abraham and Sarah’s position here. I mean, they’re waiting and they’re waiting and they’re waiting and they’re waiting for 25 years. No doubt the Bible doesn’t give every detail that they may have just forgotten the promise or maybe they just reasoned to themselves, I guess God really didn’t mean what He said He was going to do or maybe we misheard. I mean, think of all of the groundwork that Satan can lay and whisper in their ears that what you heard was wrong, the promise is wrong and to create seeds of doubt. Yet God, in fulfillment of His Word, is right on time. Arnold Fruchtenbaum says:

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 341

“Genesis 21:5 specified the age of Abraham: Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. It was a twenty-five year wait before the promise of God was fulfilled; the promises of God are not always immediate, but they are always sure.”

Boy! That’s hard for us to hear in America, isn’t it? Because we are the instantaneous culture, where we put our order in and you’d better serve it up and you’d better serve it right and you better serve it quick and don’t get my order wrong and I want it now. I want it all, I want now. That’s the current culture trajectory of the United States of America. Had Abraham and Sarah been Americans, they probably would have given up on God a long time ago, but God did what He said and kept His Word in His timetable and not theirs and that’s why Dr. Fruchtenbaum says: The promises of God are not always immediate but they are always sure… Have you read lately what Peter says? In second Peter, 3, verse 9 (2 Pet 3:9) towards people who in the last days will say, Jesus will never come back, cause it’s been two thousand years. He’s not coming back, give up that hope. What does Peter say? Second Peter, 3, verse 9 (2 Pet 3:9): The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance… Hey! There’s a reason. Peter says, God delays His coming. It’s that He loves people and He wants as many people in heaven with Him and He’s giving as many people as possible the opportunity to believe and so be saved, that’s why He delays His coming, but do not confuse a delay with a denial. He’s coming back as God cannot lie and now we have to take on this difficult subject of waiting on God. I mean, if God is not going to work in my time table, I have to develop the discipline of learning to wait on His timing in my walk as a believer. 34:39

There are many, many things that I believe, this comes from my own subjective experiences, that I believe God has promised me. I take these largely as promises because they are deep desires of my heart. The desires do not seem carnal or misdirected, they seem like God shaped, God created desires. They continue to nag at me. They never seem to go away. I don’t know what to do with them other than to take them as promises from God. Do I have a direct voice from God on the subject? No, but there are things that God has put in my heart that I know He’s going to do. In fact, the Psalm, 37, and verse 4 (Psa 37:4) says: Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart… You know, people from age 20 to age 30 and they’re not married, they just panic. They are or beyond that, hit the panic button. Something is wrong with me. I must have missed the will of God. How do you know you’re supposed to be married? Cause I want to be married. It’s the desire of my heart. Okay! Then wait, wait on God. I went through that same struggle myself and just at the right time, God put into my life the perfect help mate for me. That’s not something that happened on my schedule and my timing. In fact, you know, where I was when I met my wife? I was teaching a Bible study. I wasn’t out there shaking the bushes. I had done my share of bush shaking and it wasn’t working too well, so forget the bush shaking. Forget it. Lord, you put this desire in my heart to be married. I’m just going to go do your will and just at the right time. I mean, you know, hindsight is 20/20 right? You look back on your life and you can see, wow! God really had that orchestrated, He really had that worked out. I can give you that example multiplied over multiple times in my life. Attendance of seminary would be another example. Desires that I had that just didn’t seemed like they might never be fulfilled. Yet God, gives us the desires of our heart. If you’ve got some sort of aching desire, you think that it’s of God and not yourself and it doesn’t seem to go away, I don’t know what you do with those things, I take them as promises from God and if it hasn’t materialized today, don’t let Satan whisper in your ear that that’ll never happen. Abraham and Sarah waited twenty five years. Most of us would have difficulty waiting twenty five minutes. It’s called delayed gratification and yet, in hindsight, God is right on time. We have to learn to wait on the Lord. Psalm, 27, verse 14 (Psa 27:14) says: Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD… Of course, there’s the chariots of fire verse, right? And the young people are saying, chariots of what? Google it, rent it, watch it. This is back when they made movies that were really edifying, not a lot of them but this is a keeper, The Chariots of Fire. What’s the theme of the whole movie? It’s Isaiah, 40, verse 31 (Isa 40:31). This is Eric Liddell’s verse: Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary… Who do these promises apply to? Just to the average Christian that’s impatient? Not at all, it’s very clear, those who wait on the Lord. The discipline of waiting on the Lord. This is what you’re seeing happen here in Genesis, 21 with Abraham and Sarah. They waited twenty five years. Amongst promises, it seemed bizarre and irrational. If you’re sensing something it doesn’t make sense to anybody else, yet it’s in your heart, don’t dismiss what’s in your heart, because oftentimes God will promise you the impossible, because that’s who God is, isn’t He? He’s the God of the impossible. You just take the desire to the Lord. You say, Lord is this from you? I think it is. I’m going to give this over to you and in the interim, I’m going to learn the discipline of waiting on the Lord and then you go down the verses 6 and 7 and you have the laughter of Sarah. 40:48

Genesis 21:1-7 Isaac’s Birth

1. Promise fulfilled (Gen 21:1-2)
2. Name: Isaac (Gen 21:3)
3. Circumcision (Gen 21:4)
4. Abraham’s age (Gen 21:5)
5. Sarah’s laughter (Gen 21:6-7)

Verse 6 (Gen 21:6): So Sarah said, God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me… Now compare that to Genesis, 18, verses 10 through 15 (Gen 18:10-15) when the initial promise came to her and Abraham and she was standing, you remember? Nearby and when she heard the promise of the birth of Isaac at her advanced age she just laughed in her heart, cause it seemed absurd. It didn’t make any sense and then God, you remember, confronts Sarah. Why did Sarah laugh? I mean, is she laughing because she doesn’t think I can pull this off? After all, is there anything too hard for the Lord? And Sarah said, I didn’t laugh and the angel of the Lord says, you did laugh, you laughed in your heart and when you laugh in your heart towards God, we know who’s going to get the last laugh, right? God got the last laugh through the birth of Isaac and then Sarah now is laughing again, chapter 21, not out of unbelief, not out of derision but out of joy, she is rejoicing and she wants everyone to laugh with her. That’s why this name Isaac is given, laughter. 42:32

You look at verse 7 (Gen 21:7) and it says: 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… Now, notice the distinction between born and nursing. If you see the distinction between birth and nursing what you’ll see are two miracles here. Sarah’s body was rejuvenated to bear a child but was also rejuvenated so that she could nurse that child once it was born. Charles Ryrie of this verse says:

Charles Ryrie – The Ryrie Study Bible, page 27

“Sarah’s body was rejuvenated not only to bear a child but also to nurse him.”

And the New Testament when it refers to this miracle that we’re reading about here calls it life from the dead. That’s why I entitled this sermon “Life from the Dead”. Romans chapter 4, verse 17 (Rom 4:17) halfway through the verse says: Even God who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist… You’re too old to have children, you’re too old to bear children, you’re too old to nurse children. Isaac doesn’t exist but I’m going to call him into being, God says and I’m going to give Myself one year to execute the promise and it happens. Life from the dead. Hebrews, 11, verses 11 and 12 (Heb 11:11-12) describes the same miracle and it says: Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE… The prior verse says: By faith even Sarah herself received the ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life… See, if God doesn’t work outside of human operation how in the world does God get glory for what He’s doing here? He’s got to go outside the parameters, He’s got to go outside the box, He’s got to go outside the norm or else man jumps up and takes credit for what God did. God put them in a circumstance which was so unlikely, improbable, in fact, impossible that if it ever happened, it had to be God. That’s kind of a different way of looking at our problems, isn’t it? Boy, pastor, my problems are impossible. Praise God, that gives God room to show up in such a way that you don’t get the credit, God gets the credit. But my job situation is impossible, my economic problems are impossible, praise God. What’s God going to do? Yeah, but pastor He hasn’t answered me within twenty four hours. Praise God! You’re getting an opportunity to learn to wait on God. Those that wait upon the Lord, will renew their strength. Mount up on eagles wings, run and not grow weary. Do you want that in your life? I mean, you want to be a miraculous person like that? You have to wait on the Lord. That’s how it works. That’s how He operates. Life from the dead, this is what’s happening here. Not just in the birth but rejuvenating her body at age ninety, so that she could nurse him. Now think about this for a minute, life from the dead. Isn’t that a great summation of Christianity? I mean, I can’t think of a better way to summarize Christianity than that. Isn’t that what God promised to the nation of Israel in Ezekiel 37:11-12? He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off… Sounds like they are dead… Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I will open your graves… Bring you back from the dead in other words… and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel… I’ve used this quote many times. I used it this morning in Sunday school. It’s just Mark Twain, 1867 going to the land of Israel and saying:

There’s nothing here. There’s no thriving economy, there’s no Jewish nation, there’s no Jewish currency, no one speaking Hebrew over here. In fact, we can’t even find a human being over here and look at Israel today. Look at her gross domestic product relative to her surrounding neighbors.

It’s life. It’s life from the dead. 48:34

Isaiah, 66, and verse 8 (Isa 66:8) says this: …Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once?… Rhetorical question meaning: Who made the promise? I mean, if the promise just comes from another fallen person, another politician, it’ll never happen but this promise came from God and for over, roughly little bit under, two thousand years, it seems like that promise would never be fulfilled. In fact, if you taught that it would be fulfilled and could be fulfilled, you were probably looked at as someone that is a taco short of a platter. French fries short of a happy meal. I have about fifteen of those so I’ll stop there. But it happened. Not on the time schedule of the world community but on God’s timing. Life from the dead. Do you realize that there’s a prophecy in Ezekiel, 47: That a river is going to flow out of the temple and into the Dead Sea and the whole Dead Sea is going to come to life biologically?

I’m not making this up. It’s in Ezekiel, 47, you can read it for yourself. Today, who would believe that that could happen? I mean, there’s a reason they called it the Dead Sea, right?

The high salt content pushes you right to the top. I thought I would be the first person to sink in the Dead Sea but it works and that salt kills everything and make sure you don’t have any major cuts on your body when you go into the Dead Sea cause it stings and yet, God says that’s the current condition of the Dead Sea but the day’s going to come where the Sea won’t be dead. Do you believe that could happen? I believe it, because of God’s track record. I mean, if He brought life to Sarah’s womb, the Dead Sea to me isn’t much of a problem. Life from the dead. They took Jesus as you know, they nailed Him to a cross, they killed Him. He was as dead as a doornail. In fact, they made sure He was dead. They would go, as the victims on the cross were dying in agony and they would actually go and break the legs of the different victims dying on the cross because they would push themselves up in grasp the next breath of air and the Roman and Jewish authorities say, we got to get these people dead, so they can get off the cross cause we got to go to church. It’s basically what they’re saying. We got to respect our religious traditions and that’s a whole other sermon, about how religious tradition can get right in the way of reality. Let’s get all these people dead so we get on with religion and so they started to break the legs of the victims dying on the cross. They got to Jesus and He was already dead. So they didn’t have to break His legs, which actually was a fulfillment of the Passover prophecy that none of His bones would be broken, Exodus, 12, verse 5 (Exo 12:5) but let’s just make sure He’s dead. Let’s take a spear and let’s drive it into His side and John, 19, I think it is, records that both water and blood separated and came out of His side. People in medicine tell me, that’s a medical symptom or definition of a ruptured heart. You couldn’t get Jesus any more dead than what it was and they put Him in the tomb and that’s it. Everybody went back to life as usual. Even the disciples, can you believe that? After He told them over and over again, I’m coming out of the grave. Nobody believed Him and we know how that story ends. Resurrection Sunday. Life from the dead. Do you realize that as you sit here and listen to me this morning, that you’re in a body that’s decomposing? I seem to get a lot of agreement on that. Romans, 8, verse 23 (Rom 8:23) says: Not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body… And these very nice young people up here have no idea what I’m talking about. But your time will come, if the Lord tarries and do you realize that because Jesus rose from the dead in a glorified body and He was the first fruits, which guarantees all the other harvest on the harvest cycle, that your resurrection is a done deal? I mean, you are on a fast track towards a resurrected body and you say, well, I don’t feel like it. Well, you don’t feel like it because the promise has been given but it hasn’t been executed yet, but when it happens and it will, It’ll be life from the dead. The theme of Christianity. 54:51

Sugar Land Bible church, I was with the VBS group all week. I was watching with great eagerness and expectations to the performance that we saw earlier and the videos that we saw presented. What is that other than life from the dead? Because I remember a time where we didn’t have VBS at this church. That was pre Casey Cunningham days and I remember, oh, I don’t know, 2010-2011, just sort of being discouraged, because all the other churches had VBS’s and we didn’t. I prayed, Lord, we need a VBS and Gabe and Fabi came along, started it. Casey came along, pushed it to the next level. That’s what I see when I look at this room filled with kids all week long. I see life from the dead. I remember when I first came here we did a candle lighting service and hardly anybody showed up. I think it was myself, my family, a few others. I remember there being not lights but actual real candles. I remember my daughter, very little, some of the candle wax kind of oozed down on to her hand and I remember her just screaming at the top of her lungs and I was thinking to myself, how can a kid so small have such big vocal cords? And because the room was empty it just reverberated everywhere and today, you look at our candle lighting services. I mean, you can’t even find a place to park. Now people say, well, gee pastor, what are you going to do about the parking problem? And I’m thinking to myself, do you think that’s a problem? That’s not a problem. That’s an answer to prayer. I remember when we were struggling with the budget to the point where a very small amount of money would come in and we thought that sum of money was a big deal, as the elders. I’m not here to boast or brag because I’m not taking any credit. Today that sum of money comes in, in house, every single week times two or three and if you factor in the online givers, the number goes up. What do you do with that? It’s life from the dead. It’s the specialty of God. I feel sort of worshipful to God because He just sort of put me with the good seat in the house to watch Him work, which is where I want to be. I don’t want to be doing my own thing, pressing my own agenda. I want to be on the ground floor watching what God’s going to do next. It’s life from the dead and the truth to the matter is if we stay out of God’s way, you ain’t seen nothing yet. This is what God does.

Speaking of life from the dead, you can experience life from the dead right now if you don’t know Jesus. You can trust in His provision and as the Bible says, you’ll be transferred from death unto life. We encourage everybody that’s listening, everybody in the house, everybody online, everybody watching after the fact, who’s unclear of their salvation to place their faith in Christ and Christ alone for salvation and experience life from the dead, because that’s the specialty of God. Shall we pray? Lord, we’re grateful for this story, this historical account of what you did. Help us to not take this as something you did but something you’re continuing to do, because you’re the same yesterday, today and forever. We ask that you’ll keep doing this great work among us, bringing back life from the dead. Calling into being the things that are not and 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.