24-1225wc Transcript

Teacher: Mike Mathis

(0:04) In the 16th chapter of Genesis, I got the idea for the lesson tonight from a video that I was watching. (0:16) During the sermon he had on that video, he referred to what was going on here in chapter 16. (0:34) In the first verse, it says, (1:05) These go in to my maid.

Perhaps I shall obtain children by her. (1:14) And Abram heard the voice of Sarai. (1:20) Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, (1:27) and gave her to her husband, Abram, to be his wife after Abram had dwelt.

(1:37) Ten years in the land of Canaan. (1:41) So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. (1:46) And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.

(1:56) Then Sarai said to Abram, (2:00) My wrong be upon you. I gave my maid in to your embrace. (2:07) And when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes.

(2:16) The Lord judged between you and me. (2:22) So Abram said to Sarai, Indeed, your handmaid is in your hand. (2:31) Give to her as you please.

(2:36) And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. (2:44) You know, some of our actions sometimes have far-reaching effects, (3:02) and you never know just how far-reaching they will be. (3:08) This occurrence here, that Sarai gave Hagar to Abram to be his wife, (3:24) and Hagar conceived, it caused problems.

(3:36) And it continues to cause problems in the Middle East, (3:44) where Israel, the state of Israel is, and most people are, (3:52) they’re continuously fighting. (3:56) They were fighting even long before this time, (4:02) but we find out that this action really caused some problems, (4:12) because Hagar, when she saw that she conceived, (4:25) Now, I notice that in some people’s minds that they say that it was Sarah (4:39) who despised her handmaid, who despised Hagar. (4:47) But it seems that when Hagar conceived, she saw that she conceived, (5:01) and Sarai was unable to, then it is Sarai who became despised in the eyes of Hagar, (5:18) because Sarai said to Abram, (5:25) My wrong be upon you.

I gave my maid into your embrace. (5:33) And when she saw that she conceived, I became despised in her eyes. (5:44) So if we read this carefully, we can see that it was Hagar that looked down upon Sarai, (5:55) because she couldn’t bear children, and she conceived.

(6:10) But now Sarah tries to put all the blame on Abram, her husband. (6:22) My wrong be upon you. (6:27) And not the wrong be upon both of them, because he listened to her, (6:35) and she willingly gave Hagar over to it, and he accepted it, (6:44) so both of them shared in what has happened.

(6:54) And so she said, I gave my maid into your embrace, (7:03) and when she saw that she conceived, I became despised in her eyes. (7:10) The Lord judged between you and me. (7:16) So Abram said to Sarai, Indeed, your maid is in your hand.

Do as you please. (7:26) And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. (7:36) So when Sarai then starts dealing with her in a harsh way, (7:49) then Hagar flees now.

(7:53) In the 8th verse he said, or in the 7th verse, it says, (8:01) Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, (8:10) by the spring all the way to Shur. (8:15) And this Shur is later spoken of in Exodus 15-22, (8:23) when the children of Israel were leaving Egypt, (8:30) they were in the wilderness on the way to Shur, in Exodus 15-22. (8:43) And the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in this wilderness.

(8:57) And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going? (9:08) She said, I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai. (9:18) And the angel of the Lord said to her, (9:24) Return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hand. (9:31) Then the angel of the Lord said to her, (9:36) I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for a multitude.

(9:46) The angel of the Lord said to her, (9:51) Behold, you are of a child, and you shall bear a son. (9:57) You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction. (10:06) He shall be a wild man.

(10:10) His hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. (10:17) And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. (10:25) So the angel then is speaking to her, the angel of the Lord, (10:33) and asked her where she came and where she was going.

(10:42) And she told him. (10:45) And then the angel of the Lord told her to return to her mistress. (10:57) And promised he would multiply her descendants.

(11:04) So the angel was told the child she would bear would be called Ishmael. (11:15) He would be a wild man. (11:20) Now, in verse 13, she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her.

(11:33) You are the God who sees. (11:36) For she said, Have I also here seen him who sees me? (11:46) She realizes now that the one who is speaking to her is God. (11:59) We know, as we studied this and as Jim has brought out, (12:06) that this angel of the Lord is the second member of the Godhead (12:17) who we come to know as Jesus.

(12:22) And we find that Jesus then tells her, (12:28) or the angel of the Lord in this case, (12:32) tells her that I will multiply your descendants. (12:38) And of course, it is God who can multiply the descendants of anyone. (12:50) It would be his will that those who are born, (12:57) those who come from the people will be descendants.

(13:06) And he said that your descendants shall not be counted for multitude. (13:18) That’s the promise that God gave Abram when he promised him (13:28) that his descendants would also be numberless. (13:40) But she realizes that the person that was speaking to her is God.

(13:52) You are the God who sees, she said. (13:57) That’s the title of my lesson. (14:00) The God who sees.

(14:07) Therefore, the well was called Beir Leroy. (14:18) Observe, it is between Kedesh and Beir. (14:25) Now, the name of that well means literally (14:31) well of the one who lives and sees me.

(14:38) And the Lord does indeed see. (14:45) And she is realizing this. (14:54) And of course, Abram had a son.

(15:00) And Abram named his son whom Hagar bore Israel. (15:07) Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Israel to Abram. (15:17) Let’s speak a little bit about the God who sees.

(15:25) In Isaiah 47-10, through Isaiah, the Lord is speaking to his people, the Israelites, (15:47) and speaking concerning the things that they were doing. (15:54) In Isaiah 47-10, it says, (16:04) You have trusted in your wickedness. (16:09) You have said, No one sees me.

(16:13) Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you. (16:19) And you have said in your heart, (16:23) I am, and there is no one else beside me. (16:30) So it seems here that they’ve come to the point of thinking that the things that they’re doing (16:44) are done in secret or no one sees me.

(16:50) Perhaps some of the fellow men do not see what they’re doing, but God sees them. (17:07) And as God has reminded them over and over that He is God, (17:19) He says, I am. (17:22) And He says, there is no other God besides me.

(17:29) But they’re saying, I am, and there is no one else besides me. (17:36) In other words, they’re becoming deceived in their own minds. (17:45) And then in Jeremiah 23, (17:52) I’m going to look at this in verse 13 and 14.

(18:17) It says, and this would be God speaking, saying, (18:29) I have seen bodies in the prophets of Samaria. (18:36) They prophesied by Baal and caused my people Israel to err. (18:43) Also, I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem.

(18:52) They commit adultery and walk in lies. (18:57) They also strengthen the hands of evildoers so that no one turns back from his wickedness. (19:08) All of them are like Sodom to me, and her inhabitants like Amora.

(19:19) So the Lord is saying that He’s seeing what is going on. (19:31) And He sees just the adultery and then walking in lies. (19:42) And they’re strengthening the hands of evildoers.

(19:46) He says, they’re like Sodom to me, and also Amora. (19:56) And if we’re familiar with Sodom and Gomorrah, (20:00) that’s when what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. (20:10) And Abraham’s nephew Lot was there in Sodom.

(20:18) But the Lord destroyed those cities after sending Lot and his wife and two daughters out, (20:35) ordering them not to look back. (20:38) But we know what happened when Lot’s wife looked back. (20:45) She became a pillar of salt, which led Lot and his two daughters.

(20:55) But the cities were destroyed. (21:01) And then in verse 23 and 24 of Jeremiah 23, (21:14) it says, Am I a God near at hand, says the Lord, and not a God of all? (21:26) Can anyone hide himself in secret places so I shall not see him, says the Lord? (21:37) Do I not feel heaven and earth, says the Lord? (21:43) So in this, saying they can hide, they can find these secret places to hide themselves, (21:59) but he still knows where they are. (22:03) He still knows, and he still sees.

(22:11) And we have this in Psalm 139 about, you know, there is nowhere that we can go that God isn’t there. (22:31) You know, you can go to the depths of the sea and he’s there. (22:41) And we can go up to heaven and he’s there.

(22:55) And there’s not a place that we can go. (23:02) It says, Where can I go from your spirit? (23:06) Or where can I flee from your presence? (23:11) So he’s saying, If I ascend into heaven, you are there. (23:16) If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there.

(23:21) If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the outermost parts of the sea, (23:28) even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. (23:35) If I say, Surely the darkness shall fall on me, even the night shall be light about me. (23:46) Indeed, the darkness shall not hide you or shall not hide from you.

(23:54) But the night shines as the day. (23:58) The darkness and the light are both a light to you. (24:05) So, we may hide ourselves from our fellow man and doing the things that we don’t want them to see (24:16) because we know that they’re not light.

(24:23) We want to hide under the cover of darkness. (24:29) And it may be that we can hide ourselves from our fellow man when we do that. (24:40) But as Moses said to the people, he said, Be sure your sin will find you out.

(24:51) But then, there is another side to God seeing us. (25:00) And perhaps next week, I will further this in talking about the God who sees (25:15) and the things that he sees. (25:18) There’s some things we would like God not to see out of us.

(25:30) But then, there are some things that we can be glad that he does see. (25:37) And in the case of Hagar, he saw her. (25:46) He knew what was happening.

(25:49) He just wanted her to tell him why she ended up where she is. (26:02) Knowing that this angel of the Lord is really God. (26:11) And she realizes that.

(26:14) So, I may next week pursue this concerning the God who sees. (26:26) And if I don’t, then there will be another lesson. (26:30) So, I’m going to end this lesson now and close us in a word of prayer.

(26:44) Oh, Father in heaven, we come before you thanking you for the lesson that we had, (26:54) for those that are on the phone and the ones that are here physically at the building. (27:08) We pray that this lesson has been beneficial to each one of us. (27:16) We’ll take this lesson from your word and apply it to our hearts and our lives.

(27:28) We pray, oh Father, that let us be thankful indeed that you do see. (27:39) Sometimes you see us doing things that are not right in your eyes. (27:47) We need to come to you and ask your forgiveness.

(27:54) And pray that as we go on that we will make every effort to please you. (28:08) Help us in following your commands. (28:14) And Father, also let us know that we can be comforted knowing that you do see (28:27) not only the things we do, but we can do, if we do the good things, you bless us.

(28:41) You see what is done to us by our fellow man. (28:52) Father, we ask that you help us and strengthen us and may we be bold enough to stand up for you. (29:01) Father in heaven, we ask that you be with us as we depart here (29:12) and that you’ll be with us as we make every effort to please you.

(29:20) These things we ask in the name of Christ our Redeemer. Amen.