Andy Davis preaches a verse by verse expository sermon on Genesis 18:1-15. The main subject of the sermon is God’s close interaction with Abraham.
sermon transcript
Introduction: A Deep Thirst for Intimacy with God
We are looking this morning, as you have just heard, at Genesis 18, and as I look at the whole chapter in Genesis 18, we are only going to deal with part of it today. As I look at all of the things that happened, namely this meal together, as I read the text between the Lord and two angels and Abraham, the incredible intercession of Abraham and the Lord, and the encounter they have over the destruction of Sodom, I just see the whole thing in terms of intimacy; that God desires to be intimate with Abraham and He draws near to Abraham in intimacy and that is something we need. You may not be willing to admit it, but you need intimacy, you need relationship. There are people that right now, through acute loneliness, the sense of isolation, know that intimacy is the thing they need the most. Others don’t know that perhaps, caught into the busyness of life. They may not know that what they really are is lonely. I’ve seen a 90-year-old woman with no living relatives and no friends sitting and waiting with a pack of cards in her hand, waiting for my weekly visit. She wasn’t much of a conversationalist at that point in her life, but she knew how to play cards and we would get together every week, and she was waiting for that. I was always convicted when I came around the corner to see her ready and waiting. She wanted a relationship.
I’ve seen a picture of teenage orphans standing in a line, looking at yet another set of prospective parents, hoping, the look on their faces, you can’t describe it, hoping that this might be the time that they would be adopted, but they have been through this so many times before and so they are hoping against hope that today they might be adopted into a family. I’ve seen in another country, another culture, men who are so married to their work that they are never home during the workweek at all. They spend more time with their company employees and with other people, they come home late at night while the wives are left at home to raise the children. Not this culture, but another one, but a total lack of intimacy between the husband and wife. I’ve sat and prayed and cried with and talked to a very overweight seminary student in his mid to late 30s who thought he would never get married, and that there was no one out there for him to share life with, and that broke his heart. I’ve seen a picture of a Norman Rockwell painting, perhaps you have seen it, of a married couple, still relatively young, sitting at breakfast table and the woman is looking toward you, the observer, and the man has got his face buried in the newspaper.
She’s leaning close to the table, her hands close to his, but his hands are on the newspaper and she is looking dejected and rejected, and she wants intimacy with her husband, but he is interested in the current events. I’ve seen these things, but I’ve never seen the perfect and absolute intimacy that the Father and the Son enjoyed before the foundation of the world. I’ve heard about it, I’ve read about it, but I’ve never seen it, and I’m hungry for it. Aren’t you? I want to be drawn into the very presence of God, I want to know Him, and I want to love Him, and I want to feel back the love that He intends to give. And you know, He created the world not out of need, there was no need, and the Trinity, they were eternally blessed. All of their needs for intimacy and friendship, all of them met, but they created male and female, they created man in the image of God, able to receive and give that kind of intimacy, but sin entered in didn’t it, and destroyed everything? It’s been God that has been working to bring us back into relationship, one with another, yes, but ultimately with Him. That we would be reconciled to our Creator, that we would be intimate with Him, and I see that in this chapter and many other places, but I see it here.
God’s Intimate Meal with Abraham
If you look with me at this chapter, beginning at Verses 1 and 2, it says, “The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.” Now to me, Verse 1, is very important. There are lots of different interpretations about who these three individuals are. Some say they are just three angels, some two angels and the Lord, perhaps the angel of the Lord, perhaps Jesus Christ before He was incarnate through the Virgin Mary. That is the way I read it. I read that this is the Lord and two angels. Now, if you have a different interpretation in the text, and if the Lord gives you a chance to preach a sermon on Genesis 18, you can do it differently then, but I’m going to read it that this is intimate fellowship between the Lord and two of His angels and Abraham, because the Lord appeared to Abraham. Do you see that right there in Verse 1? And it is the Lord that remains standing there, or Abraham remains standing before the Lord when He intercedes. There is a continuity in the text here of encounter between God and Abraham and so it says, “The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed down low to the ground.”
God Takes the Initiative in Intimacy
Now, the first thing I want to say about intimacy with God is you only get as far as God permits. Let me say that again, you will only get as far in intimacy with Him as He permits. You understand that, don’t you? And that’s something in effect that works in all relationships. You can only be as intimate with another individual as they open up and allow you to be. And how much more is it true of God than it is of a king or an emperor in the world? When I was living in Japan, you couldn’t just get close to the emperor. You couldn’t wake up and say or make your New Year’s resolutions, “I’d like to be the emperor’s friend this year. I’d like to get close and I’d like us to be friends.” Well, that’s not going to happen if he doesn’t want it to happen. Well, if that is true of a figurehead emperor like that in Japan, how much more is it true of the Eternal God of the universe? You only get as far as God permits and, therefore, what I say is in this text, and in other places, too, it is God who must take initiative in intimacy. He’s the one that comes to us, He’s the one that sets the pace, He’s the one that discloses Himself to us, He reveals himself or He doesn’t.
It is God who takes the initiative here with Abraham. And the beautiful thing is that God has taken initiative with us in Christ, hasn’t He? He has drawn very near, He is Immanuel, God with us. He has come and drawn near to us. He’s tabernacled with us. We have seen Him in the flesh, we beheld His glory. He is God in the flesh. He has taken initiative, and here He is with Abraham taking initiative.
Abraham’s Model of Hospitality
And so, the Lord comes, and we see immediately Abraham’s model of hospitality, don’t we? This is a great textbook here in Genesis 18 on how to be hospitable. There are many biblical commands on hospitality. In 3 John 8, it says, “We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.” One of the major themes, if not the only theme of 3 John, is how church people, Christian people should open their homes up and welcome those that are traveling for the sake of the Gospel. There should be hospitality. Elders in 1 John 3 are specifically commanded to be hospitable, to open their homes to strangers. Titus 1:8 uses the word, which literally means loving the stranger, that we would cherish the stranger, the person we don’t know. And then Jesus in Matthew 10:11, when He sent the 12 disciples out two by two to do gospel ministry, He said, “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave.”
And then at the end of the chapter, He talks about what that worthy person might get for hospitality. And He said in Matthew 10:40-42, “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will never lose his reward.” What an incredible incentive to hospitality, even a cup of cold water will never fail to be rewarded, eternally, God will remember. And so, the key verse on this, I think Hebrews 13:2, which says, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” Isn’t that a little bit of a commentary here on Genesis 18? Did Abraham know who these men were? No. This is just who Abraham was. And if he hadn’t been like this, the encounter would have gone differently, I think. And so, he’s hospitable, he’s ready, and so he gets up and he serves. Now, what are the qualities of hospitality that we see? Well, first, eagerness and preparedness. Look at Verse 2, “Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.”
He’s ready to serve, he’s eager, he’s prepared, he’s got a mindset, and that is not just having all of the guest’s linen out or having a guest room, it really is a matter of the heart, isn’t it? It’s not a matter of how much space you have in your house, or if you have an extra set of china dishes, an extra place setting that you could put out. That’s not it. It’s a heart disposition of eagerness and preparedness. He’s sitting ready, and as soon as he sees an opportunity, he moves. And so secondly, we see humility in Verse 2, “Abraham bowed low to the ground.” Now, keep in mind, if Hebrews 13:2 is talking about this encounter and perhaps the next one with Lot in Sodom, he doesn’t know that they are angels. He doesn’t know who they are. This is just who he is, and so, therefore, he’s a very humble man. Do you see that? He bows low to the ground, he’s ready to serve. He’s got an incredible heart, humility. And then you see graciousness here. Look at Verses 3 through 5, “He said, ‘If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so that you can be refreshed and then go on your way− now that you have come to your servant.’”
There’s a graciousness here, isn’t there? A sweetness of disposition. It’s inviting, it makes you want to come in. And along with that comes cheerfulness. He says in Verse 3, “If I found favor in your eyes, don’t pass me by, give me a chance to do this for you.” There is an eagerness there, a willingness to serve. It is as though they are doing him a great honor and a big favor to come in and let him serve. In 2 Corinthians 9:7 it says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Oh, there’s a big difference between being a giver and being a cheerful giver, isn’t there? Have you ever been on the receiving end of just giving? It is not too pleasant, is it? But on the receiving end of cheerful giving, now that’s a blessing. That’s a great blessing. So, it says in 1 Peter 4:9, “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.” That’s another one of those verses that tells me that not only has God not changed at all, we haven’t changed much, if at all. Offer hospitality without grumbling. Why would you be tempted to grumble when the time for hospitality comes?
Oh, come on, think with me. Why would you tend to grumble, wouldn’t it be because they’re taking up your space, they’re eating your food, you bump into them as you walk around the corner, they may just live differently than you do, they certainly do take up bathroom space. There’s no question about that. And so, all kinds of things go on. Your house is thrown into a different pattern when you are hospitable, and even more so as the time goes on. And, therefore, it takes a certain graciousness and a spirit-filled mentality to offer hospitality without grumbling. Proverbs 23:6-8, so incisive. I love the Book of Proverbs, so honest about human nature, so honest. It says, “Do not eat the food of a stingy man, do not crave his delicacies; for he is the kind of man who is always thinking about the cost. ‘Eat and drink,’ he says to you, but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the little you have eaten and will have wasted your compliments.” He is not thinking about, “I hope you are enjoying this. I really want you to be pleased. I want your needs to be met.” He is thinking about how much it costs to have you over. I don’t think there are many that can be thinking about that and not convey it subtly to the person who’s eating. But Abraham didn’t do that. He is a generous, cheerful, gracious giver, isn’t he?
And look at his compassion as well. He considers the physical needs of his guests, the heat of the day, their tired feet, the need for shade and rest. That involves compassion, getting up out of yourselves, right? Thinking about what somebody else needs, what their needs are. It says in Verse 4, “Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under the tree.” Now, this is interesting to me. “You may all wash your own feet,” you see. Isn’t that interesting? I’m not saying that that’s intensive in the Hebrew, but that’s what it says. You may wash your own feet. Do you remember another foot washing when Jesus did it for somebody else? You see, even the lowest servant didn’t do this for somebody. “Let me provide some water and you can wash your feet,” and it was not expected. No servant would be expected to do this, and there is Jesus down on His hands and knees washing His disciple’s feet. What an incredible picture of lowliness. In John 13:13-15 Jesus says, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
And so, the lowest of the low, that is what Jesus was, lower than any. Even Abraham here didn’t do that, but he said, “Let a little water be brought.” But he’s compassionate, and he’s a servant. He uses terms like, “My Lord” and “Give me a chance to serve.” There is an attitude here of servanthood and of generosity. Look at Verses 6 through 8. “So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. ‘Quick,’ he said, ‘get three seahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread.’ Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf. . .” Now, think about it, a calf. That’s a big animal really, and it’s the best. I mean, he’s giving the best here, the choice, tender calf. “. . .and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.” Now, I’ve thought a lot about this encounter and I wonder how long it took to take the three seahs of flour and knead bread and cook it, and how long did it take to slaughter a calf and prepare it and set it in front of. . . This was not McDonald’s, okay? This wasn’t six minutes. This took a long time. I just think we are in too big a rush. Do you get that feeling? We have become so hurried that we cannot show hospitality to one another, it takes too much time. But these folks were there for hours, literally.
You almost have to go overseas to see this kind of thing, the hospitality, the generosity, the willingness to just be there and be together for a long time. Well, all of that hospitality merely set the table as it were, or set the course for intimacy with God. Hospitality set the door or opened the door for intimacy. God is hospitable to us, and we reflect that to one another by being like Abraham here. Abraham did not know who these men were, it didn’t matter to him, he just wanted to treat them right, and so he opens the door for intimacy with God.
Abraham’s Model of Family Life
Now, along the way, we also see some things about Abraham’s family life too, don’t we? Let’s take a minute and look at what glimpses we can get of the way his family was structured. Okay, Abraham is in this account, the unquestioned head of his household. Do you see that? There’s no doubt about it, he’s the head of the house. He gives orders to his wife, he gives orders to his servants, he takes responsibility for the guests, he doesn’t leave that to his wife, he is out in front meeting the guests, and he himself is serving alongside them. He’s working just as hard as they are, but he’s the head. He’s a servant leader in his house. Sarah graciously submits to her husband. There’s no arguing back, like, “We’re just out of fresh flour.” None of the give and take, you know what I’m talking about? She just goes and she knows she wants to be as hospitable as he does.
They are on the same page here. There’s no difference. And so, she’s ready to go, and he says to her, “Quick, get three seahs of fine flour. Fine flour, the best you have got, and knead it and bake some bread.” Later on in the passage, we are not going to get to it today, but just look at Verse 12. Actually, we’ll get to part of it today, but Verse 12, “So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought,” it says, “After I am worn out and my master is old, shall I have this pleasure?” Interesting what she calls him. “Adon” is the Hebrew word from which we get the word “Adonai,” which is another word for God. It simply means, “my Lord” or “my Master,” one in authority over me, that’s what she calls him. Peter picks up on this very title of respect here in 1 Peter 3, talking about wives, and he says this, “Your beauty should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.” Sarah is a godly role model here, isn’t she? Of a woman who submits graciously to her husband. And then you see Abraham’s servants graciously submit also to his leadership, his authority. He tells the servant what to do, and he obeys immediately.
Look at Verse 7, “Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.” Do you see the hurry? Abraham is able to keep his servants moving along, there is no sluggishness here because the servant loves his master and wants to obey, it is important to the servant that the master look good here with these guests, and so his home is well ordered, do you see that? And what a godly testimony. What a godly testimony is a well-ordered home. What a powerful weapon in the hands of the Lord for the advance of the kingdom. A home like this, a man who is the head, not the passive male syndrome, hanging back, waiting, but he’s leading, he’s a servant. The wife loves her husband, graciously submits, any that are in the household also submitting. And so, we see Abraham taking an active role. He’s a hard worker and his home is well ordered. Look at God’s assessment of Abraham’s family and future, Verses 18 and 19 say, “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
You know what I get out of this? A well-ordered home was essential to the carrying out of the plan of God here. Follow the logic. Look at Verses 18 and 19, note the “so thats” and the “fors.” “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him,” that’s the original Genesis 12 promise. “For I have chosen him,” so God’s choosing of Abraham is the ground of him being a great and powerful nation and a blessing to the ends of the earth, unconditional election for the purpose of blessing the ends of the earth. Well, “I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and household after him, to keep the way of the Lord . . .” Do you see the connection there? In order for him to fulfill that role, he has got to direct his children to keep the way of the Lord so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham, what He has promised, do you see that? How important and essential is a well-ordered home to the redemptive plan of God, and Abraham, our father in faith, an example of a godly home.
God Eats the Fellowship Meal
Then comes the fellowship meal. It says in Verse 8, “He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.” And so, we see this fellowship. The deepest desire of God as revealed in Scripture, in terms of our relationship with Him, is this kind of intimacy and fellowship; He wants to remove the sin barrier so that he can sit at table with us. Isn’t that incredible? “God and Man at Table Are Sat Down.” What a beautiful song, wasn’t that incredible? Encourage Connie later, it was just beautiful. What a great message. “God and Man at Table Are Sat Down.” God has an interest in this over and over in Scripture. For example, in Exodus 24:7-11, don’t turn there, but just listen. “Then Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, ‘We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.’ Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.’” The blood, a symbol of the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross, making it possible for us to sit at the table with him.
You see what I’m talking about? Without the shed blood, there is no reconciliation, there’s no forgiveness. And, if you are sitting today listening to me and you are not saved, you are not in a right relationship with God, there is only one way that that can happen for you. The blood of Jesus Christ, what can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus Christ alone can remove the barrier to intimacy and fellowship, and so this is the blood of the covenant. Then it says “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.” To eat and drink. Isn’t that incredible fellowship? They saw God and they ate and drank, a fellowship meal with God. You get the same thing in Leviticus 3 with the fellowship offerings, portion gets burned up to God symbolically, that’s the part He eats, He consumes it, and then there’s a portion eaten by the priest that are taking part in the fellowship offering.
And then there’s Psalm 23, in which the Psalmist says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” God and man, a table sat down forever, that’s what David wanted out of his relationship with God, and then there is Christ’s teaching, he taught much about this. In Matthew 8, Jesus said, “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” There’s a feast in the kingdom of heaven, and then Jesus’ parables, Matthew 22:2, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.” Do you want to sit at that table? I do. Oh, I want to be there. Not just to taste the food, I wonder what that will be like. I have an interest in that, but especially that the host of table would be adored, that we could worship the one who paid the price to get us there.
He’s the feast, isn’t he? He’s the feast, He is the one that we get when we die. And so, Jesus, the night before he was crucified, “And he said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.’” That is Luke 22:15, an insight into Christ, isn’t it? I wanted to do this; I have yearned to eat this meal with you. It’s interesting to me, and I’ve noted before that after the resurrection of Christ, there are four encounters that have to do with food. I find that interesting. I don’t just take it lightly; I think it is significant that Jesus spends a lot of time eating things after his resurrection. For example, He takes the piece of broiled fish in front of them all in Luke 24 and proves that He has got a resurrection body. He says, in effect, I am set to go for the wedding banquet, looking forward to it. He has got a resurrection body. He can eat fish and consume it before that on the road to Emmaus. Remember, it wasn’t until He took bread and broke it that their eyes were open and they realized who He was, a fellowship meal sitting at the table with Jesus, the resurrected Lord.
Then, in Acts 1:4-5, it says, “On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.’” “. . .the Holy Spirit.” So, He is sitting there eating with them, and then there is the fish broiling thing going on in John 21, as He was making breakfast for them, that is four post-resurrection eating encounters. But how much more than the promise of eternal fellowship with God, Revelation 3:20, says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Intimate fellowship is what that is talking about, and then the final Wedding Banquet, when it says that God Himself will be with them and be their God. It says in Revelation 19:9, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” and he added, “These are the true words of God.” And so, we see the intimate meal, intimate fellowship between Abraham and God. The second aspect of intimacy that we are going to look at this morning is the personal revelation to Abraham about Sarah, essential to intimacy is sharing knowledge.
God’s Intimate Personal Revelation to Abraham about Sarah
The fact that we know things about each other, we know what we are doing, we lay our plans open, and we lay our hearts open to each other. He says in John 15:15, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” There is an intimacy, and that means I am going to share my plans with you.
Advancing Knowledge: The Covenant Gradually Unfolded
And so, there is an advancing knowledge here concerning the covenant. Look at Verses 9 and 10, “‘Where is your wife, Sarah?’ they asked him, ‘There in the tent,’ he said. Then the Lord said, ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.’” Now, this is the advancing of the Covenant, we have seen this, haven’t we? It is just being unfolded or perhaps like a scroll, just rolled out a little more, a little more. A little more knowledge, a little more knowledge every time. “First leave your country and your people, Abraham, Ur of the Chaldeans. Leave your country and your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.”
Then once he gets to the land, He says, “I will give this land to you and to your offspring forever.” And then when he comes back to the land after the time in Egypt, he comes back and He tells him more about the extent of the land after that conflict He has with Lot, or their shepherds have. And then in the great chapter, the covenant chapter, Genesis 15, He reveals to him that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars of the sky. He tells him specifically what tribes are going to be removed from the land so that his offspring can inherit it forever, and the covenant cutting ceremony is so powerful. And then in Genesis 17, a little further with the Covenant, sign of circumcision and more things revealed, He said it specifically through Sarah’s son, Isaac, okay. Hagar? No. Ishmael? No. “It’s specifically through Sarah and through Isaac that your offspring will be named.”
Advancing Knowledge of God’s Timing: “This time next year. . .”
And now, here in this chapter, we have more unrolling, “I’m going to tell you exactly when it’s going to happen, sometime in the next year, I will return and Sarah will have a son.” Oh, the light at the end of the tunnel.
How long has this couple been waiting? He’s 99 years old, he’s going to be 100 years old when Isaac’s born. Sarah is 90, they’ve been waiting an awfully long time, and so the time has come, well, not only is it an advancing knowledge of God’s redemptive plan and his timing, but there is an advancing knowledge here of Sarah’s heart.
Advancing Knowledge of Sarah’s Heart
Sarah reveals her heart a little bit here. Look at Verses 10-15, it says, “. . .Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of child-bearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, ‘After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?’ Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh and say, “will I really have a child now that I am old?” Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.’” Verse 15, “Sarah was afraid, so, she lied and said, ‘I did not laugh.’ But he said, ‘Yes, you did laugh.’”
And so, we see the unfolding of Sarah’s own heart, and this is what God’s redemptive plan does in part as circumstances around you change, you are going to start to get to know who you are, and sin is going to bubble to the surface, and it’s always painful, isn’t it? I mean, the greatest pain in my life and probably in yours, too, is our own sin, it’s my own sin for me, isn’t it? It’s the thing that hurts the most. And we didn’t know it was in there, but it’s been there all along. God knew it, he searches our hearts and our minds. And so, what He does is He creates circumstances that causes stuff to bubble to the surface. For me, it was a great learning time when I went on a mission trip, summer of ’86 in Kenya. I never realized how independent and how selfish I was in some specific ways until I went on the mission field and I saw the giving generosity and the hospitality of other people. I saw how I responded to that in certain situations and at one point I was just broken, I really was, and I just got down on my knees and said, “God, forgive me for who I am. Forgive me for being such a sinner.”
And the Lord is so gracious to forgive because you know He is not looking at our righteousness anyway, that’s a null said, there’s nothing there, He’s looking at Christ, but He has brought me to a deeper realization of how much I needed Jesus. That’s what is happening for Sarah here, the circumstances around, come and she hears the promise, but she doesn’t believe it, and so she laughs about it. Now, you may say, “No, this isn’t fair. Abraham got to laugh.” It was a good thing in Genesis 17, remember how he falls face down and laughs, he’s just marveling there, and God doesn’t rebuke him. The child is named Isaac, which means laughter, and so the whole thing is a positive thing in Genesis 17. This is not positive. And so only God can look at the outside, Abraham laughing, that’s one thing, Sarah laughing, and it’s something else, and only God can stand on the outside and say, “That’s a problem right there. What happened right there? That was not right.” With Abraham, it must have been a laugh of joy, with Sarah, it was a laugh of unbelief, and so He is needing to unfold this and to show it to her. She staggers in unbelief and she uses a terrible weapon of woman kind, and that is the mocking laugh.
And it isn’t a light matter here, it’s a serious matter, when God says something we believe and we trust, and so there can be no mockery when it comes to the Word of God. She is laughing at Him. And so, He brings it to the surface. He confronts her, and I find it interesting here that He confronts Abraham about it, that is a detail you might have missed. He doesn’t talk directly to Sarah about it first, who does he talk to? Sarah’s husband? “Why did Sarah laugh when I said this?” That’s something to ponder, isn’t it? But God always upholds the order in the home, something good to know about sin. It says in Matthew 10:26, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” I can tell you that discerning and uncovering a lie in another person is one of the hardest things you can ever try to do, it is very hard because all we can do is stand on the outside and try to get the person to confess or to reveal what has gone on, very difficult. It’s not so difficult for God. Look at the encounter.
“Why did you laugh?” Or, “why did Sarah laugh?” Then she denies it. She lies and says, “I did not laugh.” And what did He say? “Yes, you did laugh.” End of discussion. Isn’t that interesting? It reminds me of Judgment Day, right? Is there going to be any way to deceive the Lord on Judgment Day, “I didn’t do that.” “Yes, you did.” And that’s it, there’s nothing more after this in the text, right? “Yes, you did laugh.” There is no need to go on because the Lord knows all things. And so, it says in Romans 2:16, Paul, talking about judgment day, says, “This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my Gospel declares.” So, our secrets are going to be laid bare, and then only the blood of Jesus Christ will suffice that we might have forgiveness of sins.
Advancing Knowledge of God’s Incredible Power
Finally, we see advancing knowledge of God’s incredible power, not only Sarah’s heart unfolded and revealed, we also see God. We see God’s supernatural knowledge. He knows the future, He knows exactly when Sarah will have her child, He knows the secrets of the heart, He knows what Sarah said in her own heart.
So, we see God’s supernatural knowledge. We also see God’s sovereign power as a king. God gets to decide when the child is going to be born; He knows the exact best time. The best time was when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah 90. He set the time because He is a king, He is wise, He is sovereign, and He is powerful, and no one can stay his hand or toward his plan, that child will be born in due time. And we see God’s beautiful declaration of His own power. Look at Verse 14, “Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” Nothing is beyond God’s capacity, nothing beyond his power. He can do anything, He can raise the dead, He can save a sinner, and He can give a child to an aged couple, He can do anything. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord. Today, we have seen two aspects of intimacy between God and Abraham. We have seen the intimate fellowship meal with Abraham and how it’s replayed again and again in symbolic ways in scripture. We are going to see in a moment, as we come to the Lord’s table, we are going to see what Christ established as a repeated pattern, so that we would think about the intimacy that waits for us in heaven, our future intimacy with God Himself, and so we saw God’s intimate meal with Abraham.
Secondly, we have seen God’s intimate personal revelation to Abraham about Sarah. Now, God willing, next week we are going to look at God’s intimate public revelation to Abraham about Sodom, and then an incredible encounter of intercession between Abraham and God that you will not want to miss.
Application
Now, in terms of application, can I say first and foremost, as I’ve said twice already, draw near to God, don’t stay on the outside, don’t stay out in the cold listening to the clink of china and the laughter of a fellowship meal and you are not invited. You are invited. I am standing here as Christ’s representative saying, “Come into the feast. Repent, turn away from the sin that separated you from God, trust in the shed blood of Jesus Christ alone and come in to the fellowship meal.” The Lord’s Supper is just a picture of that. When we take the bread and when we drink the cup, we are thinking of a future fellowship meal in heaven with God forever, among other things, and we are thinking about the price that was paid to get us there, and so don’t stay on the outside, and can I say to you, whether you’re Christian or not, both. . . all of us need to come to Christ for the forgiveness of sins and restoration all the time, don’t we?
Even if you have already trusted in Christ, you know that sin has separated you from God this week, and maybe as you are sitting in the pew this morning, you are feeling a lack of intimacy with God, you are feeling separated, and you know why, don’t you? You are going to have an opportunity while the elements are being passed out to bow your head before the eternal God and confess your sin. Don’t miss it. Don’t miss it, don’t pass up the opportunity to be right with God.
sermon transcript
Introduction: A Deep Thirst for Intimacy with God
We are looking this morning, as you have just heard, at Genesis 18, and as I look at the whole chapter in Genesis 18, we are only going to deal with part of it today. As I look at all of the things that happened, namely this meal together, as I read the text between the Lord and two angels and Abraham, the incredible intercession of Abraham and the Lord, and the encounter they have over the destruction of Sodom, I just see the whole thing in terms of intimacy; that God desires to be intimate with Abraham and He draws near to Abraham in intimacy and that is something we need. You may not be willing to admit it, but you need intimacy, you need relationship. There are people that right now, through acute loneliness, the sense of isolation, know that intimacy is the thing they need the most. Others don’t know that perhaps, caught into the busyness of life. They may not know that what they really are is lonely. I’ve seen a 90-year-old woman with no living relatives and no friends sitting and waiting with a pack of cards in her hand, waiting for my weekly visit. She wasn’t much of a conversationalist at that point in her life, but she knew how to play cards and we would get together every week, and she was waiting for that. I was always convicted when I came around the corner to see her ready and waiting. She wanted a relationship.
I’ve seen a picture of teenage orphans standing in a line, looking at yet another set of prospective parents, hoping, the look on their faces, you can’t describe it, hoping that this might be the time that they would be adopted, but they have been through this so many times before and so they are hoping against hope that today they might be adopted into a family. I’ve seen in another country, another culture, men who are so married to their work that they are never home during the workweek at all. They spend more time with their company employees and with other people, they come home late at night while the wives are left at home to raise the children. Not this culture, but another one, but a total lack of intimacy between the husband and wife. I’ve sat and prayed and cried with and talked to a very overweight seminary student in his mid to late 30s who thought he would never get married, and that there was no one out there for him to share life with, and that broke his heart. I’ve seen a picture of a Norman Rockwell painting, perhaps you have seen it, of a married couple, still relatively young, sitting at breakfast table and the woman is looking toward you, the observer, and the man has got his face buried in the newspaper.
She’s leaning close to the table, her hands close to his, but his hands are on the newspaper and she is looking dejected and rejected, and she wants intimacy with her husband, but he is interested in the current events. I’ve seen these things, but I’ve never seen the perfect and absolute intimacy that the Father and the Son enjoyed before the foundation of the world. I’ve heard about it, I’ve read about it, but I’ve never seen it, and I’m hungry for it. Aren’t you? I want to be drawn into the very presence of God, I want to know Him, and I want to love Him, and I want to feel back the love that He intends to give. And you know, He created the world not out of need, there was no need, and the Trinity, they were eternally blessed. All of their needs for intimacy and friendship, all of them met, but they created male and female, they created man in the image of God, able to receive and give that kind of intimacy, but sin entered in didn’t it, and destroyed everything? It’s been God that has been working to bring us back into relationship, one with another, yes, but ultimately with Him. That we would be reconciled to our Creator, that we would be intimate with Him, and I see that in this chapter and many other places, but I see it here.
God’s Intimate Meal with Abraham
If you look with me at this chapter, beginning at Verses 1 and 2, it says, “The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.” Now to me, Verse 1, is very important. There are lots of different interpretations about who these three individuals are. Some say they are just three angels, some two angels and the Lord, perhaps the angel of the Lord, perhaps Jesus Christ before He was incarnate through the Virgin Mary. That is the way I read it. I read that this is the Lord and two angels. Now, if you have a different interpretation in the text, and if the Lord gives you a chance to preach a sermon on Genesis 18, you can do it differently then, but I’m going to read it that this is intimate fellowship between the Lord and two of His angels and Abraham, because the Lord appeared to Abraham. Do you see that right there in Verse 1? And it is the Lord that remains standing there, or Abraham remains standing before the Lord when He intercedes. There is a continuity in the text here of encounter between God and Abraham and so it says, “The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed down low to the ground.”
God Takes the Initiative in Intimacy
Now, the first thing I want to say about intimacy with God is you only get as far as God permits. Let me say that again, you will only get as far in intimacy with Him as He permits. You understand that, don’t you? And that’s something in effect that works in all relationships. You can only be as intimate with another individual as they open up and allow you to be. And how much more is it true of God than it is of a king or an emperor in the world? When I was living in Japan, you couldn’t just get close to the emperor. You couldn’t wake up and say or make your New Year’s resolutions, “I’d like to be the emperor’s friend this year. I’d like to get close and I’d like us to be friends.” Well, that’s not going to happen if he doesn’t want it to happen. Well, if that is true of a figurehead emperor like that in Japan, how much more is it true of the Eternal God of the universe? You only get as far as God permits and, therefore, what I say is in this text, and in other places, too, it is God who must take initiative in intimacy. He’s the one that comes to us, He’s the one that sets the pace, He’s the one that discloses Himself to us, He reveals himself or He doesn’t.
It is God who takes the initiative here with Abraham. And the beautiful thing is that God has taken initiative with us in Christ, hasn’t He? He has drawn very near, He is Immanuel, God with us. He has come and drawn near to us. He’s tabernacled with us. We have seen Him in the flesh, we beheld His glory. He is God in the flesh. He has taken initiative, and here He is with Abraham taking initiative.
Abraham’s Model of Hospitality
And so, the Lord comes, and we see immediately Abraham’s model of hospitality, don’t we? This is a great textbook here in Genesis 18 on how to be hospitable. There are many biblical commands on hospitality. In 3 John 8, it says, “We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.” One of the major themes, if not the only theme of 3 John, is how church people, Christian people should open their homes up and welcome those that are traveling for the sake of the Gospel. There should be hospitality. Elders in 1 John 3 are specifically commanded to be hospitable, to open their homes to strangers. Titus 1:8 uses the word, which literally means loving the stranger, that we would cherish the stranger, the person we don’t know. And then Jesus in Matthew 10:11, when He sent the 12 disciples out two by two to do gospel ministry, He said, “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave.”
And then at the end of the chapter, He talks about what that worthy person might get for hospitality. And He said in Matthew 10:40-42, “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will never lose his reward.” What an incredible incentive to hospitality, even a cup of cold water will never fail to be rewarded, eternally, God will remember. And so, the key verse on this, I think Hebrews 13:2, which says, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” Isn’t that a little bit of a commentary here on Genesis 18? Did Abraham know who these men were? No. This is just who Abraham was. And if he hadn’t been like this, the encounter would have gone differently, I think. And so, he’s hospitable, he’s ready, and so he gets up and he serves. Now, what are the qualities of hospitality that we see? Well, first, eagerness and preparedness. Look at Verse 2, “Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.”
He’s ready to serve, he’s eager, he’s prepared, he’s got a mindset, and that is not just having all of the guest’s linen out or having a guest room, it really is a matter of the heart, isn’t it? It’s not a matter of how much space you have in your house, or if you have an extra set of china dishes, an extra place setting that you could put out. That’s not it. It’s a heart disposition of eagerness and preparedness. He’s sitting ready, and as soon as he sees an opportunity, he moves. And so secondly, we see humility in Verse 2, “Abraham bowed low to the ground.” Now, keep in mind, if Hebrews 13:2 is talking about this encounter and perhaps the next one with Lot in Sodom, he doesn’t know that they are angels. He doesn’t know who they are. This is just who he is, and so, therefore, he’s a very humble man. Do you see that? He bows low to the ground, he’s ready to serve. He’s got an incredible heart, humility. And then you see graciousness here. Look at Verses 3 through 5, “He said, ‘If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so that you can be refreshed and then go on your way− now that you have come to your servant.’”
There’s a graciousness here, isn’t there? A sweetness of disposition. It’s inviting, it makes you want to come in. And along with that comes cheerfulness. He says in Verse 3, “If I found favor in your eyes, don’t pass me by, give me a chance to do this for you.” There is an eagerness there, a willingness to serve. It is as though they are doing him a great honor and a big favor to come in and let him serve. In 2 Corinthians 9:7 it says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Oh, there’s a big difference between being a giver and being a cheerful giver, isn’t there? Have you ever been on the receiving end of just giving? It is not too pleasant, is it? But on the receiving end of cheerful giving, now that’s a blessing. That’s a great blessing. So, it says in 1 Peter 4:9, “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.” That’s another one of those verses that tells me that not only has God not changed at all, we haven’t changed much, if at all. Offer hospitality without grumbling. Why would you be tempted to grumble when the time for hospitality comes?
Oh, come on, think with me. Why would you tend to grumble, wouldn’t it be because they’re taking up your space, they’re eating your food, you bump into them as you walk around the corner, they may just live differently than you do, they certainly do take up bathroom space. There’s no question about that. And so, all kinds of things go on. Your house is thrown into a different pattern when you are hospitable, and even more so as the time goes on. And, therefore, it takes a certain graciousness and a spirit-filled mentality to offer hospitality without grumbling. Proverbs 23:6-8, so incisive. I love the Book of Proverbs, so honest about human nature, so honest. It says, “Do not eat the food of a stingy man, do not crave his delicacies; for he is the kind of man who is always thinking about the cost. ‘Eat and drink,’ he says to you, but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the little you have eaten and will have wasted your compliments.” He is not thinking about, “I hope you are enjoying this. I really want you to be pleased. I want your needs to be met.” He is thinking about how much it costs to have you over. I don’t think there are many that can be thinking about that and not convey it subtly to the person who’s eating. But Abraham didn’t do that. He is a generous, cheerful, gracious giver, isn’t he?
And look at his compassion as well. He considers the physical needs of his guests, the heat of the day, their tired feet, the need for shade and rest. That involves compassion, getting up out of yourselves, right? Thinking about what somebody else needs, what their needs are. It says in Verse 4, “Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under the tree.” Now, this is interesting to me. “You may all wash your own feet,” you see. Isn’t that interesting? I’m not saying that that’s intensive in the Hebrew, but that’s what it says. You may wash your own feet. Do you remember another foot washing when Jesus did it for somebody else? You see, even the lowest servant didn’t do this for somebody. “Let me provide some water and you can wash your feet,” and it was not expected. No servant would be expected to do this, and there is Jesus down on His hands and knees washing His disciple’s feet. What an incredible picture of lowliness. In John 13:13-15 Jesus says, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
And so, the lowest of the low, that is what Jesus was, lower than any. Even Abraham here didn’t do that, but he said, “Let a little water be brought.” But he’s compassionate, and he’s a servant. He uses terms like, “My Lord” and “Give me a chance to serve.” There is an attitude here of servanthood and of generosity. Look at Verses 6 through 8. “So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. ‘Quick,’ he said, ‘get three seahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread.’ Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf. . .” Now, think about it, a calf. That’s a big animal really, and it’s the best. I mean, he’s giving the best here, the choice, tender calf. “. . .and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.” Now, I’ve thought a lot about this encounter and I wonder how long it took to take the three seahs of flour and knead bread and cook it, and how long did it take to slaughter a calf and prepare it and set it in front of. . . This was not McDonald’s, okay? This wasn’t six minutes. This took a long time. I just think we are in too big a rush. Do you get that feeling? We have become so hurried that we cannot show hospitality to one another, it takes too much time. But these folks were there for hours, literally.
You almost have to go overseas to see this kind of thing, the hospitality, the generosity, the willingness to just be there and be together for a long time. Well, all of that hospitality merely set the table as it were, or set the course for intimacy with God. Hospitality set the door or opened the door for intimacy. God is hospitable to us, and we reflect that to one another by being like Abraham here. Abraham did not know who these men were, it didn’t matter to him, he just wanted to treat them right, and so he opens the door for intimacy with God.
Abraham’s Model of Family Life
Now, along the way, we also see some things about Abraham’s family life too, don’t we? Let’s take a minute and look at what glimpses we can get of the way his family was structured. Okay, Abraham is in this account, the unquestioned head of his household. Do you see that? There’s no doubt about it, he’s the head of the house. He gives orders to his wife, he gives orders to his servants, he takes responsibility for the guests, he doesn’t leave that to his wife, he is out in front meeting the guests, and he himself is serving alongside them. He’s working just as hard as they are, but he’s the head. He’s a servant leader in his house. Sarah graciously submits to her husband. There’s no arguing back, like, “We’re just out of fresh flour.” None of the give and take, you know what I’m talking about? She just goes and she knows she wants to be as hospitable as he does.
They are on the same page here. There’s no difference. And so, she’s ready to go, and he says to her, “Quick, get three seahs of fine flour. Fine flour, the best you have got, and knead it and bake some bread.” Later on in the passage, we are not going to get to it today, but just look at Verse 12. Actually, we’ll get to part of it today, but Verse 12, “So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought,” it says, “After I am worn out and my master is old, shall I have this pleasure?” Interesting what she calls him. “Adon” is the Hebrew word from which we get the word “Adonai,” which is another word for God. It simply means, “my Lord” or “my Master,” one in authority over me, that’s what she calls him. Peter picks up on this very title of respect here in 1 Peter 3, talking about wives, and he says this, “Your beauty should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.” Sarah is a godly role model here, isn’t she? Of a woman who submits graciously to her husband. And then you see Abraham’s servants graciously submit also to his leadership, his authority. He tells the servant what to do, and he obeys immediately.
Look at Verse 7, “Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.” Do you see the hurry? Abraham is able to keep his servants moving along, there is no sluggishness here because the servant loves his master and wants to obey, it is important to the servant that the master look good here with these guests, and so his home is well ordered, do you see that? And what a godly testimony. What a godly testimony is a well-ordered home. What a powerful weapon in the hands of the Lord for the advance of the kingdom. A home like this, a man who is the head, not the passive male syndrome, hanging back, waiting, but he’s leading, he’s a servant. The wife loves her husband, graciously submits, any that are in the household also submitting. And so, we see Abraham taking an active role. He’s a hard worker and his home is well ordered. Look at God’s assessment of Abraham’s family and future, Verses 18 and 19 say, “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
You know what I get out of this? A well-ordered home was essential to the carrying out of the plan of God here. Follow the logic. Look at Verses 18 and 19, note the “so thats” and the “fors.” “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him,” that’s the original Genesis 12 promise. “For I have chosen him,” so God’s choosing of Abraham is the ground of him being a great and powerful nation and a blessing to the ends of the earth, unconditional election for the purpose of blessing the ends of the earth. Well, “I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and household after him, to keep the way of the Lord . . .” Do you see the connection there? In order for him to fulfill that role, he has got to direct his children to keep the way of the Lord so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham, what He has promised, do you see that? How important and essential is a well-ordered home to the redemptive plan of God, and Abraham, our father in faith, an example of a godly home.
God Eats the Fellowship Meal
Then comes the fellowship meal. It says in Verse 8, “He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.” And so, we see this fellowship. The deepest desire of God as revealed in Scripture, in terms of our relationship with Him, is this kind of intimacy and fellowship; He wants to remove the sin barrier so that he can sit at table with us. Isn’t that incredible? “God and Man at Table Are Sat Down.” What a beautiful song, wasn’t that incredible? Encourage Connie later, it was just beautiful. What a great message. “God and Man at Table Are Sat Down.” God has an interest in this over and over in Scripture. For example, in Exodus 24:7-11, don’t turn there, but just listen. “Then Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, ‘We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.’ Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.’” The blood, a symbol of the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross, making it possible for us to sit at the table with him.
You see what I’m talking about? Without the shed blood, there is no reconciliation, there’s no forgiveness. And, if you are sitting today listening to me and you are not saved, you are not in a right relationship with God, there is only one way that that can happen for you. The blood of Jesus Christ, what can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus Christ alone can remove the barrier to intimacy and fellowship, and so this is the blood of the covenant. Then it says “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.” To eat and drink. Isn’t that incredible fellowship? They saw God and they ate and drank, a fellowship meal with God. You get the same thing in Leviticus 3 with the fellowship offerings, portion gets burned up to God symbolically, that’s the part He eats, He consumes it, and then there’s a portion eaten by the priest that are taking part in the fellowship offering.
And then there’s Psalm 23, in which the Psalmist says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” God and man, a table sat down forever, that’s what David wanted out of his relationship with God, and then there is Christ’s teaching, he taught much about this. In Matthew 8, Jesus said, “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” There’s a feast in the kingdom of heaven, and then Jesus’ parables, Matthew 22:2, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.” Do you want to sit at that table? I do. Oh, I want to be there. Not just to taste the food, I wonder what that will be like. I have an interest in that, but especially that the host of table would be adored, that we could worship the one who paid the price to get us there.
He’s the feast, isn’t he? He’s the feast, He is the one that we get when we die. And so, Jesus, the night before he was crucified, “And he said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.’” That is Luke 22:15, an insight into Christ, isn’t it? I wanted to do this; I have yearned to eat this meal with you. It’s interesting to me, and I’ve noted before that after the resurrection of Christ, there are four encounters that have to do with food. I find that interesting. I don’t just take it lightly; I think it is significant that Jesus spends a lot of time eating things after his resurrection. For example, He takes the piece of broiled fish in front of them all in Luke 24 and proves that He has got a resurrection body. He says, in effect, I am set to go for the wedding banquet, looking forward to it. He has got a resurrection body. He can eat fish and consume it before that on the road to Emmaus. Remember, it wasn’t until He took bread and broke it that their eyes were open and they realized who He was, a fellowship meal sitting at the table with Jesus, the resurrected Lord.
Then, in Acts 1:4-5, it says, “On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.’” “. . .the Holy Spirit.” So, He is sitting there eating with them, and then there is the fish broiling thing going on in John 21, as He was making breakfast for them, that is four post-resurrection eating encounters. But how much more than the promise of eternal fellowship with God, Revelation 3:20, says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Intimate fellowship is what that is talking about, and then the final Wedding Banquet, when it says that God Himself will be with them and be their God. It says in Revelation 19:9, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” and he added, “These are the true words of God.” And so, we see the intimate meal, intimate fellowship between Abraham and God. The second aspect of intimacy that we are going to look at this morning is the personal revelation to Abraham about Sarah, essential to intimacy is sharing knowledge.
God’s Intimate Personal Revelation to Abraham about Sarah
The fact that we know things about each other, we know what we are doing, we lay our plans open, and we lay our hearts open to each other. He says in John 15:15, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” There is an intimacy, and that means I am going to share my plans with you.
Advancing Knowledge: The Covenant Gradually Unfolded
And so, there is an advancing knowledge here concerning the covenant. Look at Verses 9 and 10, “‘Where is your wife, Sarah?’ they asked him, ‘There in the tent,’ he said. Then the Lord said, ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.’” Now, this is the advancing of the Covenant, we have seen this, haven’t we? It is just being unfolded or perhaps like a scroll, just rolled out a little more, a little more. A little more knowledge, a little more knowledge every time. “First leave your country and your people, Abraham, Ur of the Chaldeans. Leave your country and your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.”
Then once he gets to the land, He says, “I will give this land to you and to your offspring forever.” And then when he comes back to the land after the time in Egypt, he comes back and He tells him more about the extent of the land after that conflict He has with Lot, or their shepherds have. And then in the great chapter, the covenant chapter, Genesis 15, He reveals to him that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars of the sky. He tells him specifically what tribes are going to be removed from the land so that his offspring can inherit it forever, and the covenant cutting ceremony is so powerful. And then in Genesis 17, a little further with the Covenant, sign of circumcision and more things revealed, He said it specifically through Sarah’s son, Isaac, okay. Hagar? No. Ishmael? No. “It’s specifically through Sarah and through Isaac that your offspring will be named.”
Advancing Knowledge of God’s Timing: “This time next year. . .”
And now, here in this chapter, we have more unrolling, “I’m going to tell you exactly when it’s going to happen, sometime in the next year, I will return and Sarah will have a son.” Oh, the light at the end of the tunnel.
How long has this couple been waiting? He’s 99 years old, he’s going to be 100 years old when Isaac’s born. Sarah is 90, they’ve been waiting an awfully long time, and so the time has come, well, not only is it an advancing knowledge of God’s redemptive plan and his timing, but there is an advancing knowledge here of Sarah’s heart.
Advancing Knowledge of Sarah’s Heart
Sarah reveals her heart a little bit here. Look at Verses 10-15, it says, “. . .Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of child-bearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, ‘After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?’ Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh and say, “will I really have a child now that I am old?” Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.’” Verse 15, “Sarah was afraid, so, she lied and said, ‘I did not laugh.’ But he said, ‘Yes, you did laugh.’”
And so, we see the unfolding of Sarah’s own heart, and this is what God’s redemptive plan does in part as circumstances around you change, you are going to start to get to know who you are, and sin is going to bubble to the surface, and it’s always painful, isn’t it? I mean, the greatest pain in my life and probably in yours, too, is our own sin, it’s my own sin for me, isn’t it? It’s the thing that hurts the most. And we didn’t know it was in there, but it’s been there all along. God knew it, he searches our hearts and our minds. And so, what He does is He creates circumstances that causes stuff to bubble to the surface. For me, it was a great learning time when I went on a mission trip, summer of ’86 in Kenya. I never realized how independent and how selfish I was in some specific ways until I went on the mission field and I saw the giving generosity and the hospitality of other people. I saw how I responded to that in certain situations and at one point I was just broken, I really was, and I just got down on my knees and said, “God, forgive me for who I am. Forgive me for being such a sinner.”
And the Lord is so gracious to forgive because you know He is not looking at our righteousness anyway, that’s a null said, there’s nothing there, He’s looking at Christ, but He has brought me to a deeper realization of how much I needed Jesus. That’s what is happening for Sarah here, the circumstances around, come and she hears the promise, but she doesn’t believe it, and so she laughs about it. Now, you may say, “No, this isn’t fair. Abraham got to laugh.” It was a good thing in Genesis 17, remember how he falls face down and laughs, he’s just marveling there, and God doesn’t rebuke him. The child is named Isaac, which means laughter, and so the whole thing is a positive thing in Genesis 17. This is not positive. And so only God can look at the outside, Abraham laughing, that’s one thing, Sarah laughing, and it’s something else, and only God can stand on the outside and say, “That’s a problem right there. What happened right there? That was not right.” With Abraham, it must have been a laugh of joy, with Sarah, it was a laugh of unbelief, and so He is needing to unfold this and to show it to her. She staggers in unbelief and she uses a terrible weapon of woman kind, and that is the mocking laugh.
And it isn’t a light matter here, it’s a serious matter, when God says something we believe and we trust, and so there can be no mockery when it comes to the Word of God. She is laughing at Him. And so, He brings it to the surface. He confronts her, and I find it interesting here that He confronts Abraham about it, that is a detail you might have missed. He doesn’t talk directly to Sarah about it first, who does he talk to? Sarah’s husband? “Why did Sarah laugh when I said this?” That’s something to ponder, isn’t it? But God always upholds the order in the home, something good to know about sin. It says in Matthew 10:26, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” I can tell you that discerning and uncovering a lie in another person is one of the hardest things you can ever try to do, it is very hard because all we can do is stand on the outside and try to get the person to confess or to reveal what has gone on, very difficult. It’s not so difficult for God. Look at the encounter.
“Why did you laugh?” Or, “why did Sarah laugh?” Then she denies it. She lies and says, “I did not laugh.” And what did He say? “Yes, you did laugh.” End of discussion. Isn’t that interesting? It reminds me of Judgment Day, right? Is there going to be any way to deceive the Lord on Judgment Day, “I didn’t do that.” “Yes, you did.” And that’s it, there’s nothing more after this in the text, right? “Yes, you did laugh.” There is no need to go on because the Lord knows all things. And so, it says in Romans 2:16, Paul, talking about judgment day, says, “This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my Gospel declares.” So, our secrets are going to be laid bare, and then only the blood of Jesus Christ will suffice that we might have forgiveness of sins.
Advancing Knowledge of God’s Incredible Power
Finally, we see advancing knowledge of God’s incredible power, not only Sarah’s heart unfolded and revealed, we also see God. We see God’s supernatural knowledge. He knows the future, He knows exactly when Sarah will have her child, He knows the secrets of the heart, He knows what Sarah said in her own heart.
So, we see God’s supernatural knowledge. We also see God’s sovereign power as a king. God gets to decide when the child is going to be born; He knows the exact best time. The best time was when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah 90. He set the time because He is a king, He is wise, He is sovereign, and He is powerful, and no one can stay his hand or toward his plan, that child will be born in due time. And we see God’s beautiful declaration of His own power. Look at Verse 14, “Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” Nothing is beyond God’s capacity, nothing beyond his power. He can do anything, He can raise the dead, He can save a sinner, and He can give a child to an aged couple, He can do anything. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord. Today, we have seen two aspects of intimacy between God and Abraham. We have seen the intimate fellowship meal with Abraham and how it’s replayed again and again in symbolic ways in scripture. We are going to see in a moment, as we come to the Lord’s table, we are going to see what Christ established as a repeated pattern, so that we would think about the intimacy that waits for us in heaven, our future intimacy with God Himself, and so we saw God’s intimate meal with Abraham.
Secondly, we have seen God’s intimate personal revelation to Abraham about Sarah. Now, God willing, next week we are going to look at God’s intimate public revelation to Abraham about Sodom, and then an incredible encounter of intercession between Abraham and God that you will not want to miss.
Application
Now, in terms of application, can I say first and foremost, as I’ve said twice already, draw near to God, don’t stay on the outside, don’t stay out in the cold listening to the clink of china and the laughter of a fellowship meal and you are not invited. You are invited. I am standing here as Christ’s representative saying, “Come into the feast. Repent, turn away from the sin that separated you from God, trust in the shed blood of Jesus Christ alone and come in to the fellowship meal.” The Lord’s Supper is just a picture of that. When we take the bread and when we drink the cup, we are thinking of a future fellowship meal in heaven with God forever, among other things, and we are thinking about the price that was paid to get us there, and so don’t stay on the outside, and can I say to you, whether you’re Christian or not, both. . . all of us need to come to Christ for the forgiveness of sins and restoration all the time, don’t we?
Even if you have already trusted in Christ, you know that sin has separated you from God this week, and maybe as you are sitting in the pew this morning, you are feeling a lack of intimacy with God, you are feeling separated, and you know why, don’t you? You are going to have an opportunity while the elements are being passed out to bow your head before the eternal God and confess your sin. Don’t miss it. Don’t miss it, don’t pass up the opportunity to be right with God.
