A decision to be made

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 2 MAY 2021

GENESIS 16 VERSES 1 - 16

In the home of Abraham decisions had to be made.  Maybe you have to make a decision and it is much on your thoughts.  The decisions I have made and the decisions I have to make.  We make some very bad decisions in haste, without much thought or pondering over them.  Decisions can have severe consequences.  It happened 4000 years ago and we can see the consequences of that decision to this day within the Arab nations.

The decision that had to be made.  This episode takes us back to Genesis 12.  God was separating a man from Ur of the Chaldees Abraham.  He gave him a special challenge to leave his country, his nation, his family, everything behind and follow God.  God still calls men and women like that today.  We are to separate ourselves.  Maybe physically we are involved in something we shouldn't be and we need to leave it behind.  Repentance means to step away from something.  Joseph was told "you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins."  It does not mean that you are saved and then go back into you sins again.  He told Abraham to separate himself.  Maybe there is something in your life you cannot give up but the Lord separates us from it.  Genesis 12 verse 1 "the Lord said unto Abraham get thee out of thy country to a land I will show thee."  Then in verse 7 "unto thy seed will I give this land."  Abraham was given the promise of a family.  We read in Genesis 16 verse 3 "and Sarah Abraham's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian after Abraham had dwelled 10 years in the land of Canaan."  Abraham is 86 now, every year it seems less likely that he would have any family.  Sometimes after we are given a great promise  we become convinced that it will never be fulfilled.  The discussion begins about what they are going to do.  I am sure it was something Sarah pondered - am I a hindrance to the blessing of God?  God has promised us a child but something is wrong, after 10 years we have been given no sign of a child.  The devil was not far away, he can get into the mind and thoughts.  That is why this discussion is going on.  Sarah said to Abraham 'There is no likelihood I will give you a child, take Hagar my maid and she will have a child for you and that child will be mine.'  We need to be careful about our decisions.  Maybe there is a decision in your mind and you think that nothing will ever happen.  You decide to take matters into your own hands.  It could cause division and discord in your family, in the church, in prayer meetings.  People begin to say there is no blessing in the church, they try and point the finger.  Sometimes it is the pastor who gets the blame or maybe it is in that prayer meeting when you are praying for souls to be saved and are not seeing them saved.  Jesus himself said "I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  We begin to pick and choose and point the finger.  We pick out a particular person.  God is not going to bless because of that person.  Perhaps God hasn't brought about that promise.  You feel as though the timing is wrong today.  God's timing is not ours.  When God gives me a promise he never gives me a time when it will be done by.

The direction that is taken.  In Titus 1 verse 2 we read "in hope of eternal life in God who cannot lie."  This discussion proved to be a direction they needed to take.  This decision took the attention away from God and focused mainly on the child.  They were no longer looking to the one who had promised it.  It led them away from God.  The decision was placed in man's intellect.  "Let's give God a helping hand."  Do you ever try to do that?  Sometimes we want to do this.  It is dangerous when we get to that stage.  Someone not saved and we bombard them with scripture every turn around.  Abraham listened to his wife, he got his eyes off the Lord.  He had surrendered to the Lord, worshipped the Lord, believed the Lord and now he is going through a trial of faith.  Maybe we can point back to the day when we heard God's word to ourselves, we were following the Lord as closely as possible but now we are having a trial of faith.  God said "I promised you a son, didn't promise you when, now it is 10 years later."  Abraham was beginning to listen to what was happening.  Think of Ruth chapter 1 and the home of Elimelech.  He was living with his family in Bethlehem.  The name Bethlehem means the house of bread.  There was a famine in the land.  Imagine as day passed by into another day you can hear the discussion in that home.  Elimelech had friends in Moab who he heard had plenty of bread.  Elimelech leaves the place God had promised to bless.  We should not leave the place where God would have us to be.  The place of blessing.  Elimelech  is putting his family first but in doing so he is doing wrong.  It is only when we put God first that we can put our families before God too.  We need to be careful about the decisions we make.  The Psalmist said "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass."  It doesn't say when.  We are trusting him yes, committing everything to him but are we waiting on God?  Isn't that what happened to Moses?  He had a burning ambition in his heart to lead the children out of Egypt, to take them into the land of blessing. He got up to do it but he was 40 years too early.  We need to be able to wait.  The suggestion changes the course in this family.  The idea of having a son by the maid was customary in Abraham's day.  Genesis 16 verse 2 "and Abraham hearkened to the voice of Sarah."  He began to listen to his wife.  In verse 4 he went in unto Hagar.  Abraham accepted what his wife suggested.  In so doing he strayed from the Lord.  He wanted to help God along.  In Genesis 3 Eve came with a suggestion to her husband.  The devil had appeared to her, told her she would not die if she ate of the tree.  She took of that fruit and ate it.  Then she persuades her husband to try it too.  1Timothy 2 verse 14 "Adam was not deceived."  Why did he not take the matter to the Lord?  Why did he not ask the Lord for advice?  Adam knew it was wrong but he is going in a different direction.  You will be led on a course that will take you away from God.  Maybe there is a decision you have to make.  Maybe you have listened to others, to a suggestion that has been made to you.  In going in that direction it will take you away from the Lord.   The devil will always give you what seems an easier pathway but remember the price is high to follow the Lord.

The despair that was cast.  "The way of the transgressor is hard."  Hagar got above her situation, Sarah was despised in her eyes.  She got puffed up.  The situation was badly handled.  Sarah blamed Abraham and then Abraham washed his hands off the whole matter.  It ended up with Hagar running away into the wilderness and it was there that the Lord found her.

The decisions we make can have a lot of consequences.  Eve never thought that when she took the fruit that her first son would be the first murderer.  Elimelech went to Moab and lost not only his life but the life of his 2 sons.  The decisions we make have consequences.  Keep your eyes on the Lord today as you make your decisions.