Is Anything Too Wonderful for the LORD?
Download MP3If you would, open in your bibles to Genesis chapter 18. Genesis 18. I'll begin reading in verse 1. And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, 3 men were standing in front of him.
Jeffrey Heine:When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves. And after that you may pass on, since you have come to your servant. So they said, do as you have said. And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, quick, 3 seahs of fine flour, knead it and make cakes.
Jeffrey Heine:And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man who prepared it quickly. Then he took Curds and Milk and the Calf that he had prepared and set it before them, and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, where is Sarah your wife? And he said, she is in the tent. The Lord said, I will surely return to you about this time next year and Sarah your wife shall have a son.
Jeffrey Heine:And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself saying, after I am worn out, my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure? The Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh and say, shall I indeed bear a child now that I am old?
Jeffrey Heine:Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son. But Sarah denied it saying, I did not laugh for she was afraid. He said, no, but you did laugh. Pray with me.
Jeffrey Heine:Lord, we want to hear from you tonight. I have a lot of friends here, my family's here, but they don't wanna hear from me. That's not why we came. We came because we long to hear your voice. We long to hear a fresh word from you to us.
Jeffrey Heine:So God, I asked that you would remove me from the picture that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. 24 years earlier, God had called Abram at the time, now Abraham.
Jeffrey Heine:God said he was going to use Abraham to bless the entire world. Unlike the times of Noah, when the world was filled with sin and filled with evil and God brought a flood to destroy all the earth, now when the world is still filled with evil, still filled with saying God doesn't destroy the earth, he says, no, this time I'm picking you, Abram. And I'm I'm going to save, I'm going to redeem the world through you. You'll be a blessing to all the earth. I will make you a great nation.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm I'm gonna multiply your descendants. You're gonna have more than you can count. This will happen. But that call happened 24 years earlier than this text. I mean, his wife, he and his wife were both old back then when they got the call.
Jeffrey Heine:Now they are really old. They're way past the age of bearing children. They have endured what we would call a long Advent season. A long period of waiting and waiting for God's promise to be fulfilled. Chapter 18 tells us why God had them endure such a long time for their promised child.
Jeffrey Heine:It begins with Abraham. He's sitting at the door of his tent during the heat of day. The, the picture I have is of my granddad who lived in Jenkinsburg, Georgia, and he had an old house there without air conditioning. And when it was the heat of the day, he would sit out on the front porch with his iced tea and he would just kind of watch life go by. And that's kind of what Abraham is doing here.
Jeffrey Heine:It's the heat of day just sitting in the front of his tent and he's just waiting and watching. And some strangers come, 3 of them. And Abraham, he he quickly jumps up and he just springs into action and he gives every hospitality you can imagine. Mean notice how just how fast he's moving, all the things that he's doing here. Because at this day, entertaining guests, showing hospitality was extremely important.
Jeffrey Heine:Abraham doesn't recognize these visitors at this point as being God. The narrator, as he's telling the story, is really good to keep saying, and they said and they said. Abraham's just being a good host here. But then something changes in verse 9 and 10. Verse 9 starts with, they said to him, where is Sarah your wife?
Jeffrey Heine:And he said, she is in the tent. And then notice 10, verse 10 says, the Lord said, I will surely return to you about this time next year and Sarah your wife shall have a son. And so we move from the they to the Lord said. And it's because at this point it becomes apparent to Abraham that these aren't just 3 strangers, because they said, where is Sarah your wife? Sarah had just been given this name.
Jeffrey Heine:How did they know her name? How did they, how did they know her new name? It's got to be the Lord. And they're not asking Abraham, where is your wife? Because we don't know where she is.
Jeffrey Heine:Once again, you know, picture my granddad. He's at his house and he's preparing food and you can hear his wife, my grandmother, stirring around in the kitchen, whipping things into shape. And you got to know, Sarah's right on the other side of this tent wall. He's saying this for her benefit. What he's saying is, where's your wife?
Jeffrey Heine:Sarah, listen up. Just like if ever you're at a party and you hear your name being mentioned across the room, first thing you do is, you know, you just kind of, you listen up. So Sarah listens to this word to Abraham that is really meant for her. The Lord tells Abraham that he will return next year at this time and that his wife, Sarah, is going to have a son. Sarah hears this and she just kind of quietly laughs to herself.
Jeffrey Heine:Isn't that out loud? Just a, just an inward little chuckle. It's not one of those kind of laughs you're like, wow, I'm so excited. This is really gonna happen, and you're just, that's, that's not the kind of laugh at all. This is, this is a laugh of disbelief.
Jeffrey Heine:This is a laugh of somebody who's endured 24 years of bitter disappointment. This is the laugh of a wise old woman who knows not to clutch at straws when a stranger comes and says this. She's laughing in total disbelief here. She has long given up dreaming at this point and she's not about to just hold on to this and say, Yes. She knows that what this person is saying is impossible.
Jeffrey Heine:It's impossible because of verse 11. Look at verse 11. Says, now Abraham and Sarah were old. Just in case you don't know what old means, it says old, advanced, and years. And the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah, meaning she is past menopause.
Jeffrey Heine:She cannot have children. It's impossible. But but if you read carefully, there's even more going on here. Look at verse 12. When it says, so Sarah laughed to herself saying, after I am worn out and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?
Jeffrey Heine:Now now the word that's used here to describe the word pleasure here is not just a general joy. It's not the word that one would use from having a child, the pleasure of having a child. It's it's used throughout scripture. It's the Hebrew word that talks about pleasure and sex. And that's what she's saying here.
Jeffrey Heine:Shall I shall I once again be intimate with my husband? That's not gonna happen. That's not gonna happen. I'm old. And when when she says I'm advanced in years and and talking about how she's worn out, that's the language you would use of a garment that's been worn too much and has holes in it and there's nothing pretty about it.
Jeffrey Heine:And she says, I'm old, I'm I'm worn through. This is something that stopped a while ago. We don't have a child? Hey, you actually get a hint at what's going on in their relationship at this point. That Abraham and Sarah's relationship has been fractured.
Jeffrey Heine:In previous weeks, we had talked about the importance of bearing children in this day. How if you were a woman, having children was everything. Give me a child or I will die. I mean, that's what they felt. And Sarah didn't have a child for a long, long time.
Jeffrey Heine:And the weight of this had just been more than she could bear. It had to just suck out all of her joy and she had you could see over the the last few chapters, she had increasingly become bitter. I would even go so far as to say she's becoming malicious. She she reaches a point of desperation and says, hey, take Hagar, you can have a child with her. She's pretty, she's young, have a child with her.
Jeffrey Heine:And then when Abraham does, she hates it. She treats Hagar bitterly. Hagar has to flee for her life. Sarah isn't ever presented as like, you know, nice gentle kind believing Sarah. This is weighed on her.
Jeffrey Heine:This has weighed on her. And so all of this would have had a profound effect on their marriage, I believe. You know, Lauren and I, after we got married, you know, we thought we had our everything scheduled out just the way we wanted it. And we decided, alright, we're gonna have kids, you know, at, you know, such and such time, you know, 2 and a half kids or something and the dog. And but when we decided to have kids, it didn't happen.
Jeffrey Heine:It was one of those where we're like, we just kinda thought, you know, you just plan those things, and you have a kid, and it didn't happen. And, and you know, a year went by, 2 years went by, and several years went by, and we could not have a child. And let me tell you, there's a stress that goes into that. There's a stress. And so things like us, you know, where sex was once always for pleasure, sex all of a sudden became, no, it's it's, it's it's less of recreation and it's more procreation.
Jeffrey Heine:This is, this has got to work. And every time you would have sex, you're reminded of, I don't have a child. I don't have a child. This isn't working. And it even begins, you know, Lauren and I, just through the smallest degree, can relate a little bit to what is going on in Abraham and Sarah's life, who have been married for likely 70 years, got God's call 24 years ago, and they still don't have a child.
Jeffrey Heine:So she laughs. That's not us anymore. It's not who we are. It's not who we are. God's gonna restore her marriage and the joy that should be there.
Jeffrey Heine:The Lord heard Sarah's laugh and I love it. He calls her on it. He loves her enough to bring it up. Hey, Abraham, why did your wife Sarah laugh? So he kind of picture right there.
Jeffrey Heine:And Sarah, she's like, I don't know why she does it. She's got to know this person from the Lord. But she says, I didn't laugh. And so the Lord doesn't let her get away with it. And goes, no, but you did.
Jeffrey Heine:End of discussion. She doesn't argue anymore. God buster on it. She laughed. Now this story raises a number of questions.
Jeffrey Heine:One of the questions that I have when reading through this is, okay God, so you're doing this, but why? Why wait so long to fulfill your promise? Why make poor Sarah wait 24 years? And actually, I mean, she's probably been waiting 70 years to have a child. Why?
Jeffrey Heine:Why wait till they're old? Why wait till their bodies are as good as dead? Why wait till the relationship is beginning to fracture? The answer to all of those questions is in verse 14. Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Jeffrey Heine:Is anything too hard for the Lord? God had all of this go on because he wants to answer that question. Is anything too hard for him? And actually he wants you to answer that question because he doesn't just declare it. He does that in other places in scripture.
Jeffrey Heine:Nothing is too difficult for the Lord, but here he asked it. Do you, Sarah, do you believe anything's too difficult for the Lord? Do you believe that? He's waiting for an answer. Do you believe that, you know, there's any sin that you have committed that's too great for him to ever forgive?
Jeffrey Heine:That there's any marriage that's too far gone for him to restore. That there's any depression that's too deep for him to pull you out of, or any loneliness that's too severe for him to work joy back in? Do you feel like you're too anxious about money, that God can never really free you from that, or that your sexual past is just too dark. God can't make you white as a driven snow. He can't do that.
Jeffrey Heine:Do you believe that everything is possible for God or do you think some things in your life are a little too difficult for him? I've talked with so many people who have stumbled sexually and they always believe that God can restore other people as white as snow, but they never believe God can restore them. Like God can make you white as snow. Do you believe he forgives? Do you believe he throws your sins as far as the east is from the west?
Jeffrey Heine:Do you believe anything is too difficult for the Lord? And the answer to that is no. Nothing is impossible to him. Nothing is too difficult for him. And the reason God loves doing this, God loves going against the odds.
Jeffrey Heine:Because he knows when he does so, he gets the glory and man doesn't get the glory. What glory would he have gotten if if Sarah had a child, let's say when she turned 22? You're reading the Bible and Sarah turns 22 and she has a child and names him Isaac. What glory is there? And so he does difficult things.
Jeffrey Heine:God is glorified when he does the impossible and he is even more glorified when he, when we believe he will do the impossible. One of my favorite examples of this, you could draw from so many different places in scripture, but Gideon, you know, in Judges 6, you don't have to turn there. But I love it when, you know, we think of Gideon, you know, he's this brave warrior. He becomes kind of a king like figure. But when you find Gideon, he's hiding.
Jeffrey Heine:He's a scared farmer. He's hiding, beating, beating his, his grain up against a winepress so the Midianites can't find him. And so the Lord appears to him and I love it. It says, Gideon, oh man of valor. It's like he's hiding, you know, oh man of valor, who's hiding behind the the winepress there?
Jeffrey Heine:And tells him, alright, you are going, I'm gonna use you to save all of Israel. To which Gideon responds, are you crazy? The Lord has left us. We are gonna fall into the hands of the Midianites. To which God responds, Gideon, go in this valor of yours and do as I have said.
Jeffrey Heine:It's like, are you valor. There's nothing there. I mean, that's that is as crazy that's as crazy as calling a man Abraham who has no children, and saying, you're the father of a multitude. You're the father of a multitude. You're the man of valor.
Jeffrey Heine:Go. It's as crazy as telling a couple who is too old to have children, whose marriage is fractured, a woman who is worn out, who is past menopause, who is lacking faith and saying, hey, you shall have the promised child. From you and your descendants, the messiah will come. It's impossible. That's what God does.
Jeffrey Heine:He loves going against the odds because he receives glory. God could have asked the question, Sarah, do you believe you were too difficult for the Lord? Do you believe changing your heart, changing your body, changing your marriage is too difficult for the Lord? We see throughout scripture that God delights in doing the impossible with impossible people. He does it over and over.
Jeffrey Heine:And I hope our prayers reflect this, that our prayers reflect God's greatness. So many times I think, you know, we get up there and we we pray and we're like, oh, mighty God. We we have no clue of the power we evoke when we say, Mighty God. The God who who knows the name of every single star and they just release, they think there is, what is it, 3 with 23zeros after it, is how many stars there are in the sky, and God knows all of them because he declared them, he named them into being. And we're like, and mighty God.
Jeffrey Heine:We have no clue. And so the power we evoke, that's who he is. I think we we so often treat God like he's just some kind of maybe powerful politician who can maybe help us a little with health care. Maybe, you know, shed his little influence on some people. Maybe move some bad situations around, but nothing too great.
Jeffrey Heine:And when we pray to him like that, we insult him. God can't do so much more than just those things. He can not only change hearts, he can change the hearts of nations. He's God. And I think if we don't have the faith in our prayers to pray like this, what makes us think we're going to have faith in our actions?
Jeffrey Heine:If we're not praying these big things, treating God as the Almighty God in which nothing is impossible, we're going to go to places like Woodlawn, we're going to go to places like Eastlake, and we're gonna give up after 2 or 3 years in which we see no results because we're gonna think, hey, it's impossible. Nothing's gonna change. I gave it my best shot. We're not gonna take up the 24 years like Abraham. We're just gonna give it a few years and give up.
Jeffrey Heine:Do you pray until you believe that nothing is impossible with God? As a church, I hope, I hope we hold on to this. The story has a lot of implications, has a lot of application. I could land there for a while, but what I want to do, especially during this Advent season, is point us forward. Which is what this story does.
Jeffrey Heine:Look at verse 14. It says, is anything too hard for the Lord? That, you know, a lot of times your word hard there is gonna have a little footnote. I haven't come across any translation that translates it as wonderful, but it means wonderful. Almost every translation has a little footnote says this can mean wonderful.
Jeffrey Heine:Why don't you put it in there? I don't know. But it's literally, is anything too wonderful for the Lord? Wonderful. And I think this gets to the heart of the matter.
Jeffrey Heine:Because for Sarah to have a joy and to have her relationship with Abraham restored, That's that's too wonderful. That's too wonderful. But God is going to do something even more wonderful than the birth of Isaac in a restored marriage. This story points us to Christmas. Points us to the most wonderful time of the year, Christmas.
Jeffrey Heine:Another story in which God tells a woman, you're gonna have a child. And when she asks how how how is this gonna happen? How's and he says, well, you know why? Because nothing is impossible for God. Go to Luke chapter 1.
Jeffrey Heine:We'll begin reading in verse 30. It says, and the Angel said to her, do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in the womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom.
Jeffrey Heine:There will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I'm a virgin? And the angels answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. Man, we don't have time to go there, but that word overshadow is the same word that's used when the Shekinah glory would come and dwell in the midst, and God would meet with people. He overshadows.
Jeffrey Heine:What a picture. Will overshadow you. Now I forgot. I shouldn't have even, you know, pull this out. It's so good.
Jeffrey Heine:And the babe and the, therefore, the child to be born with will be called holy, the son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son. And this is the 6th month with her who was called barren, for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.
Jeffrey Heine:We have almost the same situation as with Sarah, to whom this story points. Both should not be able to have children, but God says, you will. Mary says, how is this possible? God points to her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who is also in her old age, also is now pregnant.
Jeffrey Heine:She's described just like Sarah was, advanced in her years. She's past the age of childbearing, bearing yet she bears a child because, verse 37, nothing shall be impossible for God. Nothing shall be impossible for God. And when the angel says this, he is reminding Mary, he's reminding Mary of Sarah. Says, remember Sarah?
Jeffrey Heine:She shouldn't have a child, but we said you're gonna have a child and she had a child because nothing's impossible for God. You're living proof of that because you are a descendant of Abraham. You know, your cousin Elizabeth, just like Sarah, she was old, passed through years for bearing children. I said she will have a child. She has a child.
Jeffrey Heine:Mary, you will have a child, a wonderful child. This child will be called the Son of the most holy God. And she believes. She believes. The story doesn't end here.
Jeffrey Heine:The story doesn't end here, it's a wonderful story. It's a story that's, if it was in some kind of fairy tale book it would be too good to be true. Now, God's gonna come, he's really gonna come, he's gonna come as a baby. This little baby that speaks the universe in existence is now gonna have to cry out for his mother's milk. It's just, it's just too wonderful that something like this could happen.
Jeffrey Heine:But the whole world is not blessed just because Jesus came. The story doesn't end here. Abraham's promise isn't fulfilled that you'll be a blessing to all the world just because Jesus came and wrapped in swallowing clothes, lying in a manger, it doesn't end there. And so the story of Sarah points forward to one more event. If you would turn to Mark chapter 14, Mark 14.
Jeffrey Heine:This is an event which tells of a grown up Jesus the night before he is killed. Jesus is deeply troubled. I'm actually troubled. It's probably not the best word for it. He is, his body's going in shock.
Jeffrey Heine:He is so stressed. His capillaries are beginning to to burst, and he's beginning to sweat drops of blood. He is in severe shock. He he's he's troubled beyond anything you can imagine at what awaits him. And so he goes into the garden and he's praying because he does not want the wrath of God to fall on him.
Jeffrey Heine:He's not scared of death. He's scared of the wrath of God falling on him on the cross. And we come to verse 35, and going a little farther he fell on the ground and prayed, that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me.
Jeffrey Heine:Yet not what I will, but what you will. Jesus reminds his father of, hey, do you remember what you said to Sarah? Nothing's impossible for you. You remember that? You you said it other places in scripture too.
Jeffrey Heine:We've seen nothing's impossible for you. You know, my cousin, his birth showed that nothing was impossible for you. My birth shows that nothing is impossible for you. So father, I know that nothing is impossible for you. So father, I know that nothing is impossible for you.
Jeffrey Heine:So father, I know that nothing is impossible for you. That nothing is impossible for you. So remove this cup. You know this this verse, nothing is impossible for you, is gosh, is so abused in churches. It's so abused by football coaches, you know.
Jeffrey Heine:Hey, you you can hit that 55 yarder because nothing shall be impossible for God who's on our team, you know. Or it's used for churches on capital campaigns. We can get this huge building. Why? Because nothing's impossible for God.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not what this is talking about here. That's not what it's talking about in Genesis 18. It's not what it's talking about with Mary. It's not what it's talking about all the times you come across in scripture. What he's talking about is it's his declared promise.
Jeffrey Heine:When I promise something, take me at my word, nothing will stop me from fulfilling my promise. Heaven and earth, if they were to go against me, they cannot stop me from fulfilling my promise. You can count on my word. Sarah, you will have a child. Elizabeth, you will have a child.
Jeffrey Heine:Mary, you will have a child. And so Jesus comes and he's he's saying, Father, if you can remove this cup from me, I know you can do all things. And his father's like, that's right, I can. But your death is necessary for me to keep my word. I promise to bless the world.
Jeffrey Heine:To bless the world, I've got to get rid of the curse of the world, and the curse has to fall on you. Jesus understands that. And I love it. Most most people don't get this connection. When he prays, not my will but your will be done.
Jeffrey Heine:It is so much like Mary. Lord, let it be done to me according to your word. Father, this is what I want. And I know you can do all things, willingly taking on our curse, so that he might become the seed of Abraham that blesses the whole world. And nothing is impossible.
Jeffrey Heine:Don't ever think there is any sin in your life that he cannot that he cannot forgive, there's any marriage that is too far gone that he cannot restore, there is any loneliness he cannot pull you out of, Jesus has gone to hell and back in order to bring our redemption. Pray with me. Lord, first off, I I just wanna say, forgive us. Forgive us. Almighty and then offering such weak prayers.
Jeffrey Heine:Forgive us for not believing that you can do all things. Lord, I think sometimes when we hear what you have to offer us, we think it is too wonderful. It's too wonderful. But Lord, you are the God of wonders, and I pray that we would embrace your promises. We would embrace your goodness for our lives.
Jeffrey Heine:We love you Jesus. You bless even people like Sarah who seems to lack it at first. What a comfort to us. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
