Last time we were talking about how God desired to have Abraham separate from 7 different things. And through the course of these separations, God would reveal His will and His purposes for Abraham and in turn Abraham would worship God in a greater measure.
These 7 separations we all must go through in order to be mature… to be who God wants us to be.
We went over 5 separations of Abraham so far. Separation from your Country… separation from your Family… separating from the World's systems. Separation from having an outward appearance of righteousness, but still desiring the things of this world and the separation from a desire to obtain wealth. But like last time the main point I want you to get if you don't get anything else is "Separation leads to revelation which leads to a greater dimension of worship."
Questions:
What areas of your life seem like they've taken forever to happen?
Have you ever tried to manipulate a situation so that it would happen faster?
Have you ever heard the phrase, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."? This separation is all about that phrase.
The Separation from Ishmael
This is the self-effort of our own HUMAN WISDOM and STRENGTH to bring about the PROMISE
Gen 16:1
16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you want your own thing bad enough, God will allow it to happen. It was a miracle that Abraham and Hagar conceived, after all, Abraham was 86 years old. Miracles can happen. But just because they do, doesn't mean that God is behind them. What is the fruit of it? Sarah kicked out Hagar while she was pregnant and sent her into the wilderness.
Verse 7 states:
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,[a] for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward[b] all his brothers.
The Amplified Bible says it like this:
12 And he [Ishmael] will be as a [b]wild ass among men; his hand will be against every man and every man’s hand against him, and he will live to the east and on the borders of all his kinsmen.
As we learned last week east is where they came from. That's where Ai was. Ai means ruins. When we try to accomplish God's plan through our own reason and in our own strength we create an ass and become ruined. Usually that ass is ourselves.
Sidenote: Like we said in previous weeks, this is where we get Islam. Muslims are direct descendants of Ishmael. Here's the thing… if Abraham hadn't used his own strength and Sarah's own wisdom to accomplish this, they wouldn't have created the thing that has been a thorn in the side of Israel even up until this day.
Sometimes we think we know better than God. Sometimes we go ahead of God and try to do things ourselves in our own strength. You put those two things together and you are asking for a world of hurt.
You don't think that Abraham was walking around, his chest all out when Ishmael was born saying, "Look what I did! You see what I produced? I produced a child and I'm an old man aren't I cool?" And God said, "Yes, look what you did. And because of what you did, I'm not going to speak to you for 13 years." 13 is the number of rebellion. If you want to increase the amount of time it takes for God to accomplish something in you or for you, just try to do things on your own… by your own ideas, by your own power. You will just prolong that which God is trying to accomplish in your life. Don't run ahead of God. You'll note here that Hagar is an Egyptian. Separating from Egypt was our 3rd separation. And what separation was that? Separating from doing things the way the world does them. The idea of having Hagar produce the promised child sounded good to Sarah, but what it actually was, was attempting to do God's will the way the world would do it. So Sarah's reasoning and Abraham's strength created a wild man who had the heart of his Egyptian mother.
So how does Abraham feel about Ishmael?
Genesis 17:18
18 And [he] said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!
You can sum up Ishmael by saying that he represents doing things "MY WAY".
So what happened to Ishmael?
20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.”
Again, if you want something bad enough, God will give it to you. God blessed Ishmael because of Abraham. But His Covenant… what God wanted to do… would be done through Isaac. That's why you can be successful on the outside and God not be in it. You can do things your way and maybe God will bless it, but it won't be what God wants. And that thing will be a constant thorn in your side until you separate from it. We need to learn that there is only one way and that's God's way. Woe to you if you tell God you want to do things your way. That's why it's hard to judge things from an outward appearance. It's easy to think that someone is righteous and being blessed by God when their outward circumstances look great. It's also easy to judge people who are going through tough times and think that there must be some sin in their life that is leading them to suffer. Remember, God looks at the heart. Don't be fooled by outside appearances.
So Isaac is born but there still is the issue of Ishmael. Genesis 21 Verse 8
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.
Sidenote: Notice that they celebrated the birth of Isaac when the child was weaned. It was their custom to celebrate the birth of their children when they were old enough and healthy enough to eat solid food. You want God to celebrate you? Move on from only drinking spiritual milk and move on to eating spiritual food. God celebrates the most when a Christian starts becoming mature.
9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.
When we give up doing things our own way, it can be quite distressing. We do things our own way because we don't really trust God with our lives. So when He asks us to give up doing things our own way, it's quite difficult.
12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[b] will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
This is the Separation!
Now the revelation and the greater dimension of worship that comes with this separation is also caught up in the next separation.
Questions:
What do you love the most in life? Could be a person, a thing, a hobby or a hope?
How would you feel if God took that thing away?
The Separation from Isaac
Why are you serving God? Is it because He saved you? Is it because He healed you? These are great things. But these are wrong motives when it comes why we serve God? For those of you who have felt God's presence… if you never felt His presence again, would you serve Him? If God never blessed you from this day forward, would you love Him?
What is Isaac? Isaac represents the PROMISE.
Genesis 22
Abraham Tested
22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
Say what? God had just brought Abraham through the 6th separation. 6 is the number of man. Ishmael was made by man so that's why he was number 6. So now that God had brought him through that, God was ready to perfect Abraham's dedication. Do you love Isaac more than you love God? Do you love what God has promised you more than you love Him? Would you love God if after He gave you the promise, He took it back? Do you love God or do you only love what God gives you?
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
This is the separation!
11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.”
This is the revelation!
Verse 5 is the first mention of the word Worship. True worship doesn't take place if you always are receiving from God. True worship takes place when you give to God.
This is the greater dimension of worship!
When we worship God. When we commune with Him, He reveals more and more about who He is. In this place, Abraham learned that God is Jehovah Jireh, His provider.
Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice
Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
God did provide the lamb. He provided His one and only son, Jesus. Just like He asked Abraham to do. You think God was overjoyed by Abraham's faith… that Abraham was willing to give up the one thing He loved more than anything? You think God was happy because now He had found a friend. Someone who God could talk to and would understand what He would have to do for all of mankind. You think they talk together up in heaven about this? That God had found someone He could relate to. Someone else who had to potentially sacrifice his one and only son?
Why was Abraham willing to sacrifice that which He loved for God?
Hebrews 11:17-18 says
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
He trusted God with not only His life… but with that which He loved. Abraham trusted that God had a plan and that it was better than His own. He had already gone through 6 separations… each one stripping away His own self-sufficiency. Stripping away the belief that He could do it without God… that He knew better than God. Once you get through this 7th separation, you realize it's all about God and that God can be trusted to accomplish what He said He would accomplish. Once you've gone through these 7 separations, God doesn't have any more requirements for you. This is the place of maturity. When you can say to God, I give everything I am to you. There's nothing in me you can't have. It's all yours, God. Do with it what you will.
Philippians 3:12-14
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Abraham forgot about Ur of the Chaldeans. He forgot about Ai… The ruins of his past. He pressed on toward Bethel… the House of God. God told Abraham that God himself was His great reward… that is the goal we are pressing on towards… the prize for which God has called us heavenward.
Are you tired of trying to make things happen your own way? Are you tired of striving and running around and over thinking every aspect of your life? Are you ready to trust God? Trust that He has a better way for you. Trust that He's going to take care of you. Trust that He is going to come through with what He's promised.
One of the biggest questions in the christian life that God asks us is this: would you still love me… would you still serve me if I never blessed you with anything else the rest of your life? What if you never got the job that you want? What if you never got the husband or wife that you want? What if you didn't get the children you want? Would you still love God? Would you still serve God? If college doesn't go the way you want or if God takes a loved one from you? Would you still love Him? Would you still serve Him?
We love and serve God because of who He is… not because of what He's done for us. If you base how you feel about God on whether He blesses you or not, the moment you fail to receive what you want or have what you love taken from you, you'll turn away from Him. Think about this in relationship terms. Do you love that boyfriend or girlfriend, that husband or wife, based on what they do for you? Or do you love them for who they are? Is it about what you get out of them? Is that what motivates you to love? Or do you see the person… see them for who they are… and realize you want to love them… just based on who they are.
Do you know what Worship means?
It means giving adoration and reverence based on being worthy. We worship God because He is worthy. Not for what we can get from Him.
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