of you, poor thing.
Grab your Bibles, I want you to turn to Genesis chapter 16.
Genesis chapter 16.
You know, God has a plan for my life.
God has a plan for your life.
And he'll show us how to live out that plan through his word.
And if you're a Christian today and you've surrendered your
heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ and committed to live
for him, when you did that, you were blessed to have the Holy
Spirit of God indwell within you to guide you through the maze of
daily decisions and discouragements and temptations and
hindrances.
But the reality is we don't always agree with God on what
he's doing in our lives and how he's doing it.
And when it does not suit us or when it does not feel right, we have a
tendency to try to fix it.
And sometimes that means we yield to temptation.
And when I mean yield, that's a real kind way of saying we mess up.
We fall to it.
We go our own way instead of God's way.
Even though his word is clear about the matter, even though his guidance
through our own time with him and our own relationship with him, and even the
utterings of the Holy Spirit to our heart that are not audible but are louder
than that, even with that sometimes the questioning of the timing of God causes us to go our own
way.
And, man, some folks do a good job of justifying it.
I mean, just ask them.
They'll tell you how it's justified.
Or they'll blame somebody else.
Or they'll try to wash their hands of it.
But in our passage today, it's dealing with such as that.
And it teaches us, I believe, a lot of lessons about what will happen when we try to fix God's
plan by doing things our way instead of the way God has shown us to do it.
God has told us to do it.
And God has even spoke to us individually, given us guidance of how his word is personalized into our lives
and how we ought to follow it.
If a man of faith like Abraham can mess up in that plan, so can we.
Genesis chapter 16, beginning in verse 1, it says,
Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children.
She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.
And Sarai said to Abram,
Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children.
Go into my servant.
It may be that I shall obtain children by her.
And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
So after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan,
Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, his servant,
and gave her to Abram, her husband, as a wife.
And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived.
And when she saw that she had conceived,
she looked with contempt on her mistress.
And Sarai said to Abram,
May the Lord, may the wrong done to me be on you.
I gave my servant to your embrace,
and when she saw that she had conceived,
she looked on me with contempt.
May the Lord judge between you and me.
But Abram said to Sarai,
Behold, your servant is in your power.
Do to her as you please.
Then Sarai dealt harshly with her,
and she fled from her.
Man, I wish I could clean this up for Sunday morning
because it's kind of messy.
But I am thankful that God tells the truth in His Word.
He just puts it out there and shows us
so that we can learn from it.
I want you to notice this morning what happens
when we fall to the temptation of overstepping God
or fixing God's plan, at least attempting to.
Because we sometimes miss God's plan.
We overstep it or we try to fix it
when we listen to people instead of God.
This story starts long before this particular incident.
Before Sarai offered her servant to Abram,
it started when Abram went to Egypt during a famine.
Egypt had plenty.
And when you're hungry,
you want to go to a land of plenty,
and Egypt looked like it was a good spot.
But you find that,
as I spoke of when we talked about that passage,
Egypt was never a good place to go in the Bible.
It just wasn't a good place to go.
It looked good all the time,
but it was not a good place to go.
It was dangerous.
It was dangerous to Abraham,
who was called Abram at the time.
And to protect himself,
Abram called Sarai his sister.
Now, she was his half-sister,
and until somebody asked for her hand,
nobody would kill him to get his wife
if she was just a sister.
Therefore, he was good.
But when Pharaoh,
when she caught the attention of Pharaoh,
and he wanted to bring her into his home,
then that caused a problem.
And it just proved that he never should have lied
about the thing to start with.
Now, you say, well, I mean,
he said it was a sister and half-sister,
and that ain't half a lie.
Well, half a lie is a whole deception, you know.
And plagues came to Pharaoh
and started ruining his life,
and when he finally realized
that it had been due to his interest in Sarai,
he told Abram to get her and get out
and take all that he had been given.
Take the sheep,
take the goats,
take the cattle,
take the donkeys,
take the male servants,
and take the female servants,
and the camels.
Take them all.
It's what Genesis 12, 16 says.
And one of those female servants
was named Hagar.
And Sarai said,
since apparently I can't bear the child
that God has promised to us,
have one with her,
and that'll solve it.
And that seemed like an acceptable solution
to not having a child,
therefore the world would have applauded
Sarai's willingness
to be open-minded
about such a situation like that.
I mean,
why not put feet on God's promises
instead of merely waiting on them?
I'll tell you why.
Because that's not a fulfillment
of God's promise.
That's manipulating our way
and trying to make it look good,
and it never works like that.
Sarai was wrong to suggest it.
Abram was wrong to go along with it.
Because when God speaks
through His Word
and personalized to your life
by the Holy Spirit of God,
listen to God,
not to others.
People mean well.
And some of them
are looking out
for your best interest.
But they only have
their own personal insight,
which might be good,
but it's not great.
And God's insight's not only great,
but it's perfect.
And so listen to God.
It's a bad day
when somebody tries
to fix God's plan
because they,
by listening to other people
instead of God,
that's when we try
to fix God's plan.
I'll tell you what else
can happen
when we try to fix God's plan.
We try to justify
what is blatant sin.
Because this sinful plan
was contrived by Sarai.
God had given them
a promise of a coming child,
and she felt like
it was her job
to make it happen.
And when it seemed
she had failed,
she turned to other means,
and her mistake was
she tried to fix God's plan.
If God makes a plan,
He don't need you
to fix it.
God will see it through.
And it is,
if it's from God,
it does not depend on you
to make it happen.
All you have to do
is to obey the Lord.
do what He tells you to do.
Do what He tells you to do
and trust Him.
It will not be
on your timetable.
I can't prove it's,
it'll always surprise you,
but I can tell you
it'll probably always surprise you.
God will move quicker
than you think He will.
God will move slower
than you think He will.
It's not your timetable,
it's His.
He developed chronology.
He can handle it.
And when you try to fix it,
it'll cause problems.
That's what happens.
Hudson Taylor put it this way,
he said,
God's work done in God's way
will never lack God's supply.
However,
having said that,
I want you to understand
that what they did
was completely normal
and acceptable
in their society.
It was the custom
for a childless wife
to permit her husband
to take a servant
as a second wife.
And the offspring
from that relationship
was actually thought of
as the child
of the first wife.
But I want you
to hear me, folks.
In 2023,
it is just as relevant
as it was in that year,
I promise you.
I want you to hear me.
When society says it's right,
it does not mean it's right.
When society says
that we can
choose our gender
and ignore
the chromosomal makeup
that God gave us,
that's not right.
You can't do that.
When society says
that you can murder
a child in the womb
because it's your choice,
that's not right.
completely normal
to think that way
in our society,
but it's not right.
When the moral codes
of sexual acts
are not based upon
Scripture,
but instead on the
slippery slope
of society,
and that'll
consist of
unthinkable things
that are accepted
and applauded
that does not
make it right,
if you're trying
to figure out
from the winds
of culture
what's right
and what's wrong,
just wait a minute.
It'll change.
But God's Word
never changes.
And I want you
to hear me today.
When society says
that a Bible-believing
and preaching church
is one that's filled
with bigotry
and hatred,
that does not
mean it's true.
Truth and love
is Scripture.
But I'm telling you,
I feel a responsibility
when you get inundated
daily
through our world
in confusing matters
that are
making our world
into a chaotic,
perverted place,
you need to hear
the truth.
and it needs
to be clear.
All of these matters
are blatant sins
and God does not
ignore it
and we cannot
justify it.
Sarai was just
listening to society.
That's what she did.
However,
if Sarai's going
to get thrown
under the bus,
so is Abram.
But they can't
because they didn't
actually have a bus.
So,
she's trying
to please her husband
but you don't
sin against God
to please anybody.
And Abram knew better.
He knew better.
He had been living
in Canaan
for 10 years.
He knew God
would provide.
But it's when
we second guess
God
that we get in trouble.
This is the time
that Abram
should have taken
to sit down
with his family
and to lead them
and to look
at his wife
and say,
honey,
this is not
how we're going
to do it.
I believe God
will provide
what he said
he will provide.
I mean,
I'm going to trust
God in this matter.
Now,
he's an old man.
So,
it's easy
to see
why he's
listening to voices
instead of to God
but
because he's
giving up hope
but you never
have to give up
hope on the Lord.
He's always faithful
and he's always
on time
and it's never
going to be
on your timetable.
It's always
going to be
on his.
Abram
should have
just told his
family that.
Should have
told his wife
that.
Thank you,
ma'am,
for looking
out for me
but no,
I'd rather not
but he didn't
and I want
you to understand
that it was
Abram
that God
had come to.
It was Abram
that God
had spoke to.
Sarai
had not
experienced
that covenant
experience.
She wasn't
there when the
presence of the
Lord came
through in that
fire.
God's
working in
him.
She was
just going
along with
the flow
that if it's
normal in
society,
I guess it's
okay and it's
not.
And when we
try to fix
God's plan,
we will try
to justify
blatant sin.
But not only
that,
when we try
to fix
God's plan,
we'll cause
contention.
we will.
We get
petty when
we act
in the
flesh.
I mean,
we do.
We become
jealous.
We become
angry,
become
paranoid,
selfish.
We just
get ugly.
And now
there's a
rivalry between
Hagar and
Sarai and
no wonder
because now
Hagar is
holding this
over Sarai's
head.
And so
Sarai blames
Abram.
Now remember,
she's the one
that came up
with a plan.
But she
blames Abram.
Ladies,
it's never
our fault,
okay?
What does
Abram do?
I mean,
he's like a
lightweight boxer.
He's bobbing
and weaving
and trying to
stay out from,
you know,
y'all work
this out,
you know.
Sarai mistreats
her and
Hagar runs
away.
Why?
Because they
wanted to fix
God's plan.
God does
not need
our help.
What's
you trusting
God for
today?
what is it
in your life
that you're
holding on to
that you need
to let go
of?
What is it
about God's
plan and
about what
His word
has shown
you and
about how
what He
has convicted
you of
or has
He given
you direction
of and
you
and you're
going to
pause
and you're
going to
wait and
try to
fix it
first.
That's
what I'm
talking about.
Whatever
that is.
Let me
tell you
what God
wants.
God does
not want
our help
in fulfilling
the plan
that He's
promised to
us.
God wants
our obedience.
And
sometimes
He holds
out a
little
longer or
a lot
longer than
we wish He
would to
grow our
faith and
trust in
Him.
You say,
well, that
wouldn't be my
plan.
He didn't
ask you.
It's His
plan.
We follow
His plan.
What God
comes up
with, God
can handle.
He don't
need your
help.
He just
wants your
obedience.
It's not
too hard
for Him.
But when
we sin in
an effort
to fix
the plan
of God,
we cause
damage
bigger
than it
first appears.
Israel.
This is an
out-of-wedlock
birth that
started a
war-torn
relationship
between Israel
and the
Arab people
that make
up so much
of history.
Ishmael
would be
born and
the twelve
tribes of
Ishmael
would be
absorbed into
the Assyrians
and then the
Babylonians.
And if you
know anything
about biblical
history, you
know that they
always caused
havoc for the
people of
Israel.
In verse 12
of this passage,
Ishmael, the
coming offspring
is described as
a wild donkey
of a man, his
hand against
everyone and
everyone's hand
against him and
he shall dwell
over and against
all his
kinsmen.
A donkey is
resourceful unless
he's wild and
against everybody.
God says,
that's what your
son will be.
And history
has proven it's
true.
Sin and its
ramifications are
kind of like the
side mirrors in a
car.
Long time ago,
when they put
mirrors on cars,
they had a little
message on the
bottom of it.
Some of y'all
remember it.
It said,
objects are closer
than they appear.
It means stay in
your lane is what
it means, okay?
They didn't have
blindside monitors
to go on off in
your mirror.
You just had to
trust it and it
was saying don't
trust it.
And I will tell you
the ramifications of
sin are always
larger than they
appear.
They are.
But thank God,
when we try to fix
the plan of God,
God's not absent.
He's not absent.
This sense that God
was not responding
and was not going
to led to this
whole problem,
but God knew what
he was doing.
He also didn't give
up on them when
they messed up.
Hagar went away.
The abuse and the
rivalry was too much
for her and she went
away and I want you
to notice what
happens.
It's in verse 7 of
Genesis 16 it says
this, the angel of
the Lord found her
by a spring of water
in the wilderness,
the spring on the
way to Shur.
And he said,
Hagar, servant of
Sarai, where have
you come from and
where are you going?
And she said, I am
fleeing from my
mistress Sarai.
The angel of the
Lord said to her,
return to your
mistress and submit
to her.
The angel of the
Lord also said to
her, I will surely
multiply your
offspring so that
they cannot be
numbered for multitude.
And the angel of the
Lord said to her,
behold you are
pregnant and shall
bear a son and you
shall call his name
Ishmael because the
Lord has listened to
your affliction.
He shall be a wild
donkey of a man, his
hand against everyone
and everyone's hand
against him and he
shall dwell over against
all his kinsmen.
So she called the
name of the Lord who
spoke to her.
You are a God of
seeing for she said
truly here I have
seen him who looks
after me.
Therefore the well
was called Bir-la-hiro.
It lies between
Kadesh and Baird.
And Hagar bore
Abram a son and
Abram called the name
of his son whom
Hagar bore Ishmael.
Abram was 86 years old
when Hagar bore
Ishmael to Abram.
We mess up and feel
the effects of it but I
want you to understand
when we're feeling the
effects of it God does
not abandon us.
You say well it sure
does feel like it.
Well I want you to
understand something that
I've told you before.
God's presence is not
based upon your feelings.
It's based upon his
promises and he will
not leave you.
I want you to notice
something here this
angelical question.
Where have you come
from and where are you
going?
Does God not know where
the girl's been?
I mean you know he knows
where the lady's been.
So why is he asking that
question?
Why would God ask any
question?
God never asks a
question to get the
answer.
God asks a question so
you can think about the
answer.
So you can answer it for
yourself.
He already knows the
answers.
He asks it so that we can
grapple with those
questions in our hearts and
then God tells her to go
home and get back after
it.
And I want you to get
this and I'll close.
When we make a mess of
our lives by not allowing
God's plan but instead
trying to fix God's plan and
we pout about it and we
go off by ourselves it
does us no good.
And God came to her and
said go home and get
after it.
Don't alter the plan of
your life.
Follow the plan of God for
your life.
Now listen for some this
morning that may be major.
I mean God told Jonah to
go west and he turned
around and went east.
He did exactly the opposite
of what God told him to do.
That's major.
It could be what you
consider minor.
It could be stuff that
you're dealing with just
disobediently quite honestly.
You don't think it's a big
deal.
God thinks it's a big deal.
God went to the cross for
the sins in your life that
you think are small.
He died for.
So it is a big deal to him.
Maybe you're dealing with
stuff disobediently or
stuff that you're not
dealing with when God's
telling you to deal with
it.
If so, I want you to do
what God told Hagar to do.
Get up and come home.
He told her you get up and
go back and serve your
master.
God's plan for your life.
And I'm telling you today,
if you know God's plan for
your life does not involve
what you're dealing with and
what you're in the midst of
it, get up and come home and
serve your master and trust him.
Don't try to fix God's plan.
Don't try to alter God's plan.
Don't try to change God's plan.
Trust God's plan.
Follow God's plan.
Honor God's plan.
And God will bless your life.
God's plan.
Because a life of obedience is a
blessed life.
It's not our job to fix God's plan.
It's our job to fix our eyes on
God's plan.
To fix our minds on God's plan.
To fix our hearts on God's plan.
And then to do it.
Whatever it is.
With every head bow and every eye
close this morning.
I'm not going to even try to
guess this morning.
Where this hits you.
Because for some you need to
make a bold step of obedience.
It's not about that there's
things in your life that are
just you know blatant sins
against God.
It's just that God's leading
you in an area and you're you
kind of struggle to follow
through with that and it's time
to follow through with that.
You know.
Man we live in a society of
uncommitted people and the
reality is if you're not
committed to Christ you're
committed to something and so
we just need to be committed.
Maybe you're here this morning
and that there is some blatant
sin in your life and maybe it's
blatant but nobody else knows
about it but you but I mean it's
real and it presses on you and
you know it's not part of God's
plan for your life and you've
done your own deal and went your
own way and you not wanted to
give up that little area of your
life.
Well it's time to give it up.
It's time to get up and come home
and serve the master in that area
of your life.
Maybe you're here this morning and
you've never surrendered your life
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
You never have.
Never been a time when you can go
back and say Lord I committed my
life to you and I trusted you and
asked you to forgive me and to save
me.
And if that's never happened to
you I want you to know that today
is the day of salvation.
We're going to stand in just a
moment and we're going to sing and
the most important thing you can
do is obey God.
You come down this aisle I'll be
happy to help you know what it
means to have a personal
relationship with Christ.
Maybe you've done that but there's
areas of your life that you need
to get right with God.
You deal with that.
You can deal with it where you
are.
You can deal with it at this altar.
You can have a pastor pray with
you.
However God tells you to do it.
Maybe you're a guest with us and
you feel like God's drawing you to
be a part of this fellowship.
As a matter of fact you know
that's God's plan.
You're just kind of putting it
off because you're not sure.
Just follow God's plan.
Just do what he tells you to do.
Maybe you've made a private
decision for the Lord but you've
never made it public through
baptism.
We had the joy last week of
baptizing.
Have more candidates that we're
counseling now.
Maybe when you look at your life
the reality is that you've never
been baptized as a believer and
you need to obey God in that.
I have no idea what God's doing
in your life today but I pray that
he is and I pray that you'll be
obedient.
I'll never ask you to do anything
more than what God tells you to do
and I never want you to be
satisfied with doing anything less.
Lord Jesus I love you and I thank
you for your love for us.
I thank you Lord for your love for
every person in this place today.
And I ask dear God that you'll move
and you'll work in their lives.
That you'll speak to them
individually dear God.
Let them know exactly what you'd
have them to do and give them a
boldness and a surrender as can
only come from you dear God.
To just simply follow you Lord I
pray.
In Jesus precious name.
Amen.