Faith: Faith Is Tested, Flesh Fails, God Prevails - Genesis 16:1-9

Introduction

Let me begin with a discipleship question: will we trust and obey Jesus in the real decisions of everyday life? Christ forms us through truth received, repentance practiced, and obedience lived out.

Main Points

Family Discipleship

we are now going to look at a story in the book of genesis so if you have your bible turn to genesis chapter 16. you're thinking to yourself last week we're in genesis chapter 19 and we're working our way through genesis and this week it's like three chapters forward two steps back right uh let me explain we are um going through genesis in pair with our wednesday service so each wednesday service we also look at a passage of genesis we cover genesis 20. actually kirk taught it so if you if you didn't make that service i would love for you to be blessed by his teaching get to know him through the teaching of the word in genesis 20. and i had all intentions of looking at genesis chapter 21 this morning but what i realized at my reading of genesis chapter 21 is that genesis chapter 21 is a story of two mothers the joys and the pains of motherhood and so i realized also that according to our culture calendar that would be a great thing for us to look at next week because happy early mother's day moms and also i realized that one of the mothers in genesis chapter 21 could use an that we did not get to enjoy in our sunday uh journey through genesis because her story is introduced in genesis 16. so uh stay with me the organizational brain that i have we're going to look at genesis chapter 21 next week and one of the women in that story his name is hagar who's introduced in genesis 16.

Grace and Justification

so that's what we're looking at this morning genesis 16 is again a story of these two women and the interactions that we initially experience through their story the bible tells so much about what we know about god and ourselves through story that's what i love about the book of genesis it's the story of humans interacting with god and this story specifically to get into it i think maybe i can tell a story of my own to kind of set up what we're going to draw from this story in genesis chapter 16. how many of you were around yesterday outside in boise maybe glancing through your windows and saw an extreme windstorm and rainstorm come through most of you i was outside in the park in ann morrison enjoying creation and the sunshine and like often happens in idaho with the snap of the fingers it was everyone running to their collective shelters cars and bikes and everyone was scattering and on my way home from the park as i was studying god's word i got home to find out that for many people myself and my family included how many of you experienced a small power outage because of that wind storm some hands go up in my neighborhood there was about a hundred houses affected and it wasn't a you know it wasn't a simple fix for idaho power they didn't just get to unplug and plug it back in or you know reset the router of the power however that works what happened my neighbor told me the pine tree just a couple of streets down from me fell and knocked over the telephone pole completely in my neighborhood and the wires came down and there was trees on top of trees so it took from 3 p.m ish to the middle of the night to fix in that i got a reminder of how much i take power for granite i got home and my wife's like hey let's cook some dinner what do you feel like and she goes to turn on the stove and she's like oh yeah we don't have power so you can't cook and then i was like oh yeah we don't have power and i'm thinking through my day and it's like tomorrow's church so i should probably get some clean clothes throw some stuff in the wash and i'm like oh yeah laundry machines take power too that's right and then it was like okay what should we do it's like family time saturday night what should we you know all the kids no school tomorrow maybe do a movie night and we're like oh yeah televisions take power and if you've ever had an extended power outage you'll you're with me in this reminder of all of the things you just take for granted and you go to turn on you're like oh yeah that takes power and the refrigerator takes power and the stove takes power on the television and the laundry machine and charging my phone and all of these things take power and most of the time we never think twice about it but when a power outage happens you think it is so important for us electricity without electricity my house goes down driving home last night it was like the whole the whole neighborhood was just black why do i share that story before we get into our story this morning there is a verse in the bible that completely correlates to some of the stories in genesis with abraham and his family and it's this hebrews chapter 11. it will be the thesis verse of our morning hebrews 11 verse 6 says this without faith it is impossible to please god for he who comes to god must believe that he exists and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him in other words if you remove the element of faith in your pursuit of god in your seeking of god that you actually believe he's alive he exists he hears prayers and you remove the element and faith of your relationship with god when he says and you believe by faith that he rewards your seeking this morning he rewards whatever he wants to give you through his word and then he says believe it's my promise it's as good as done here's my spirit so it's a guarantee when you lose the element of faith in god it says it's impossible to please him it's a good reminder for us this morning because we're doing a lot of things today in seeking him and even in expressions of belief in him that is almost taken for granted there's many things we could do this morning in the worship through song you're listening some of you taking notes very diligently you're here hopefully to cultivate fellowship in the community of christ and yet you remove the element of faith that you actually in all of this you do this because you believe god is alive and he rewards those who seek him and none of this actually matters sermons don't matter songs don't matter church sanctuaries don't matter you remove faith and it's like removing electricity of the house and you go to switch on lights and plug things in and it's like oh yeah there's no power here and we start with that this morning from hebrews because hebrews 11 is actually overlaid from the writer in genesis talks about abraham in his diligent seeking god he's a man that is described as a man of faith but when we study the man of faith abraham and eventually the family of faith sarah and isaac and jacob those who come to form this initial family of faith by which we belong we also study the reality that faith is always tested that there is something about the faith of man that is fickle and it's small and it's sometimes it's like trying to grasp at the wind because it leaves our grasp so quickly so this morning we're gonna study in a precursor to next week's mother's day two women who give us a story about faith that is tested i want to give you the outline that i have for you this morning because it really does set before us a truth statement when you put the outline together which we're going to do the first part of this story is sarah questioning in herself the ability to fulfill the promise of god faith is tested it's the first part of the truth the second part of this story is the way that sometimes when our faith is tested we try to help god be god and we come up with plans and we come up with schemes and strategies to go from faith that god has given us a promise in to the fulfillment where we meet god halfway and that is the results of that seen in this outline is that the flesh fails when you do that with your life it is impossible to please god and it is impossible to live the life in the spirit that takes you to life abundant and joy and satisfaction and ultimately the reward of the promise so we have faith tested and we have flesh fails but as in all stories that the bible presents before us there is a reminder of the fickle nature of man in our faith and the danger of our flesh or in the bible term for flesh is in our natural ability and our what we are capable in our own strength and ideas but there is this constant reminder that where the flesh fails the spirit brings life and for the purpose of our life outline it will say god prevails so we put it all together as one truth statement from this story faith is tested flesh fails god prevails it's something that is worth studying in this story because this is your journey with christ this is your journey and your interaction with church regardless of your response you will have a test of faith initial faith saving faith cleansing faith that keeps you going you'll have moments in your life where you will fail and you will have reminders invitations from the preacher reminders from the word of god reminders from the evangelists that you meet in your life that in the end god prevails faith tested flesh fails god prevails let's look at the first part of this outline which is faith is tested this requirement to please god love god will be tested all the time in your life and we get stories of that throughout the story of abraham and his family we see the testing of abraham's faith when he initially goes into the land that he's promised and it's a famished land so he goes to egypt and what does he do in egypt there's a king and i have a beautiful wife so my faith is tested and i'm going to offer my wife so that he doesn't come after me there's a faith that is going to be tested now in his wife almost in the opposite way look what it says in chapter 16 verse 1. now sarah abram's wife hold on to that phrase because the author of this story is going to continually remind us that sarai is abram's wife sarah has borne him no children and she had an egyptian maidservant whose name was hagar so sarah said to abram see now the lord has restrained me from bearing children please go into my maid bible words for i want you to make a baby with hagar the bible says what last week's sermon perhaps i shall obtain children by her sarah's mind is if you and hagar can form a union almost a surrogate pregnancy then we can take the child and our family will be formed and we'll take the child and it'll be the fulfillment of god's promise for us and abram heeded the voice of sarai so abram says okay good idea i'll do it verse three then sarah abram's wife again we find a phrase double emphasis of scripture is telling us something because we're slow of hearing abram's wife is sarai not hagar uh in verse three then sarah abram's wife took hagar her maid the egyptian and gave her to her husband abram to be his wife after abram had dwelt ten years in the land of canaan the faith is being tested in verses one through three faith is tested because of the promises that have been given wherever there is expectation the promises of god setting forth expectation there will be the temptation for our manipulation and the expectation given to abram and sarah to restate it's important not just to the book of genesis but the entire biblical narrative leading to the fulfillment of christ is that god is going to bless the whole world through this one man he's going to call abram out of the land that he lived he's going to bring him into a land of promise which will eventually become israel and through abram and his family and his wife sarah he's going to bring a child that will turn into many descendants and ultimately the christ will come through this family that's the promise it's restated in chapter 15 leading us to the faith that they are supposed to have in the promise and now the testing of the faith what's the testing this outlet this story gives us three ways that faith is tested and in their challenges with the promise yet realized your faith is tested in very similar ways and a reminder this morning god has given you promises both as believers and as people who have come to seek him this morning with ears to hear one of the promises that god loves you and that god has sent his son into the world so that you would not die but that you would have life and he's provided a way for that life to live in you to his glory and to your joy he says i tell you these things so that your joy may be full that's a promise of scripture and it's a promise that sets an expectation that is not always clear in the moment and so three ways that faith is tested for your promises that god has created you in his spirit for good works that you should walk in that he's prepared beforehand here's a call on your life and when you're called and you love god all things will work together for good that promise that's an expectation that will be tested all the time three ways that's tested in sarai's life abram's life and that all of us will relate to over time one it's tested in our waiting two it's also tested in our weakness and three your faith will be tested this is the hardest one in our wisdom it's hard because wisdom is a good thing but it's also a dangerous thing apart from god so we start with faith being tested in our waiting look what it says built into the story it says now sarai that's a very important word that the author is saying bring them up to speed and now it still hasn't happened the end of verse 3 says what this plan was conceived and then executed why because at this point in the story abram's already been waiting 10 years abram i'm going to give you a son i'm going to bless you and you're going to have descendants look at the stars if you ever forget just look up and you're going to see stars that you can't count and that's your descendants and abram the man of faith believes god and it's counted to him to righteousness except for one small problem there is the problem of patience in all of us in the in the in the realities of your life whatever god has called you to you have been called not simply to walk in the promises of god but to wait on the promises of god this story is a story that comes to us and it says 10 years what do you do 10 years of waiting and now is the time where sarai says i think i'm done waiting i don't want to wait anymore i got some ideas and i've got some plans and i've got some good reason and logic to why i don't want to wait anymore this is one of the challenges of the day and age that we live in i think it's always a challenge because the bible is full of reminders of the benefits of waiting on god in light of people crying out in the psalms how long god how long must i wait for your presence how long until you deliver your people or for our day and age how long before you return can we please get on with the headlines that are going to point us to the coming of christ so that we can get out of here we sense it as the person who's you know going through the word i get the uh eagerness from you guys all the time like when are we gonna remind us that jesus is coming and he's coming quickly amen and yet we are still waiting we're waiting on the promises of god and we wait in a culture that hates to wait we one of the things that so many people build their daily routine around is an application called instagram it's like get it all right now look at your friends are doing this and all the motivation for that and anything you want to look at is right in front of you and it really is just a picture of everything that's instant you guys don't have to wait for anything if you wanted to get into genesis chapter 16 and hear a sermon this morning you could have woke up and said alexa play a sermon in genesis 16. and it would have come on it's everywhere and it's not just a religious problem there's all sorts of ways that god has created our bodies and our rhythms that require time to mature and one of the ways that the internet shows us the depravity of our instant culture in the inability to wait is in the way that the bodies that god has given us that now have been elevated to make all of us want to be gods and goddesses so that we can have beach bodies to share for our photo feed they're available now the design is that you grow into a certain stature and then based off a healthy work and rest rhythm god gives you the body he gives you but now it's like okay go through this program and if you don't have the body you want right now download photoshop just get it just pull the center in and pull the middle out and bring a tan and brighten the teeth and you can have the you can live in instagram verse reality it is a picture of ways that we struggle with waiting but here's the thing god has called all of us every single one of us into a lifelong journey with him with promises that will be fulfilled in his perfect timing in the church calendar right now we are living in between that those bookmarks of easter and pentecost and in between easter which we celebrated as death losing its victory sin losing its sting we now have a god that we know because the grave is empty is alive and the disciples meet that god and he shows them the word and it fulfills all the prophecies of the people who were waiting for the christ and what do they say okay is now the time to restore the kingdom of israel and what does jesus say it is not for you to know the time or the hour it's built into his plan that is under the authority of the father it's true of the disciples then and it's true of us now the time and the hour for the things that you're waiting for and many of you come and you relate specifically to this kind of waiting for a family dynamic a relationship to form a family a child to grow a family a family member who's lost and you're crying out for the redemption of god to bring them back and you're waiting and you're waiting and you're waiting and here comes the test of faith why don't you just help god out let's just do it yourself at this point you've waited long enough and that's what the disciples say can we do can we get on with the program i'll sit on your right and you sit on the left and jesus says this to restore our test of faith now and to prepare our hearts and minds for your challenge and your problem of patience your job is to wait for the power of the spirit if you go before the power of god in your life the time of god in your life to fulfill everything according to his perfect sovereignty you will deal with failure of flesh but when you wait on the power of god the word and the promise that we cling to in the challenges of our faith is that he gives us the strength to commit to the promise here's a verse for us to be renewed in our waiting chapter 40.

Grace and Justification

this sermon is going to be full of verses that you've probably heard if you've been around any kind of church service but isaiah 40 is quotable because it's so needed because we struggle with waiting isaiah 40 verse 30 even the youth shall faint and grow weary this is not a problem necessarily of age this is not a problem necessarily of time it happens in a week it happens in 10 years and it happens to the young and it happens to the old the young men shall utterly fall but those who wait on the lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wing like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint wait on god and you will be renewed and every church age has a challenge of waiting on the power of the spirit because when the spirit comes it comes in a mighty rushing wind and it fills the disciples with the power to go from being afraid of a nine-year-old girl that was calling peter out for calling for following christ and when he's filled with the spirit he's preaching on pentecost and three thousand gets saved and the difference is the power of the spirit in him you go without the spirit and you walk towards the failure of the flesh but when god moves according to his time pentecost was very sovereign in that timing were mounted up with renewal to actually proclaim the power of god to fulfill the promise and so we have in one way the test of faith in waiting the second way it is the test of faith in our weakness we see the example of sarah in verse 1 again it says sarah abram's wife had borne him no children why remember when we study in genesis chapter 11 and we had a very seemingly plain genealogy given to us to introduce us to the family of abram and in genesis chapter 11 there was a verse that should stand out to you now as we read this that said in the genealogy nehor married this wife abram married sarah and sarah was barren it's setting the stage for who god called it was not a mistake by god that he called a barren woman and now we get fast forward 10 years and sarah says i don't know if god realizes this or not but i'm barren in fact she actually gives credit to god as a way to find a solution for god because it says in verse 2 so sarah i said to abram see now the lord has restrained me from having children god's given me these limitations so allow me to give god a answer for how to break through them because god has given me my limitations why don't i just suggest someone on the other side of baron womb hagar she sees young vital hagar and she comes to abram and says i'm weak but she's not and this is one of the great challenges of faith for my life i think anyone who's been honest about the call of god in their life to really pick up a cross and follow him you must struggle with the reality that god calls the weak things of this world it's kind of a sad verse when you think about who god is after god is not calling those who are wise in this world established in this world great in number and might in this world but as he'll later say to the nation of israel i didn't call you because you were strong i called you so that you were weak let there be no misunderstanding about where the power comes from and the people that god uses he calls the barren womb he calls the disciples who are living in fear apart from the power of his spirit in their life and he calls each and every one of you this morning not to just encourage the things that you're naturally gifted in your flesh but he calls you be totally brand new a new creation in him to do things that you would never be able to do without him he calls us in our weakness he has specifically called abram and sarai in their weakness and look what it says of his call on abram from hebrews chapter 11. he says therefore from one man hebrews 11 verse 12 one man and him as good as dead were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore he called from one man a mighty nation and the one man was as good as dead it seemed to be his qualification that he could do nothing apart from the miracle of god in his life and yet sarah in the test of her faith uses her weakness as a reason to manipulate the situation and don't we all feel it i will use myself for example because i'm the one talking i've always loved the picture of moses as he is called from being a shepherd in the wilderness to of sheep to go and be a mouthpiece for god to pharaoh and you remember his response he says god i don't talk good why would you have me be your mouthpiece it was his way of saying i think you have the wrong guy and in so many ways i say almost weekly as i open the word and think about proclaiming the grace of god the love of god the kindness of god to bring people closer to god i think i don't talk good and then it's a constant reminder that in my weakness i seek god and this is what the apostle paul gives us a picture of for all of us who are tested in our faith because god has called you not to do something hard but to do something impossible only made possible by the god of impossibilities get a test of faith that points us to god this is what the apostle paul says of his own life in his ministry he says lest i should be exalted above measure a thorn in the flesh was given to me a messenger of satan to buffet me lest i be exalted above measure concerning this thing i pleaded with the lord thr

Conclusion

We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.

Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.

Conclusion

We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.