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Presentation 30

Recently, someone said, “I have many acquaintances but no one I can really call a friend”. And my heart went out to them. Friendship is a valuable commodity. Ralf Waldo Emerson says of it, “A friend is a person with whom I may think aloud”. There is no need of pretence, no fear of ridicule. Here is a relationship where one person shares their mind and their heart with another. A minister said, “My wife is my best friend!”

Whether we’re married or single, friendship is vitally important. There is another dimension to friendship. In 3 different places in scripture Abraham is described as the ‘friend of God’. The passage before us throws some light on that remarkable truth.

Introduction

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Circumcision was the sign given by God to Abraham and his descendants - a seal of God’s covenant promises. Abraham obeyed and both he and the males in his household were circumcised. God always blesses obedience . Shortly thereafter Abraham is visited by three strangers in human form. One of whom was God [an O.T. theophany]. Some see an echo here of Gen.3 which describes God walking with Adam in the garden in the cool of the day an intimate face to face communion.

Abraham didn’t recognise the identity of his visitors at first as he offered themhospitality. God drew near to Abrahamin this very unique way, which reveals the intimacy of friendship. FriendshipWhich grew out of obedience.

The Friend of God

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Jesus also made it clear in his upper room discourse with his disciples that intimacy of relationship with the 3 persons of the Godhead and the obedience of love are closely intertwined.

“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever - the Spirit of truth… you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you… If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him… You are my friends if you do what I command. 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”. Jn 14v15ff

The Friend of God

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If we are not aware of God’s friendship, if there is no intimacy of relationship with him then it is not God’s reluctance or inaccessibility that is the problem. The answer most likely lies in our low levels of obedience. That’s surely worth pondering.

Is there a need for some repair work to be done to a relationship that we have damaged by our lack of unswerving obedience?

The Friend of God

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What was the purpose of God’s house-call to Abraham? It seems to have been twofold. First, it was for Sarah’s benefit. Sarah was a true helpmeet to her husband in many ways. Indeed her role as a wife is commended in the N.T. but at this point there was one problem area. She does not seem to have shared Abraham’s confidence that God could keep his covenant promises.

When a married couple are not on the same wavelength spiritually speaking, then one partner discovers that there is an important part of life that they cannot share with the other. And that’s not only frustrating but spiritually draining.

Sarah’s Laughter

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Sarah overheard Abraham being told that she would give birth to a son within a year. This caused Sarah to laugh within herself, [v10-12] not a joyful laughter but the cynical, derisive laughter of unbelief. Abraham did not hear her laughter but the Lord did and asked ‘why did Sarah laugh? – is anything too hard for the Lord?’ v13-14

Sarah’s unbelief is exposed. Perhaps she did not realize that it was God, who was speaking to Abraham but her laughter was still inexcusable because Abraham had undoubtedly explained,why God had changed both their names. God would miraculously fulfil his covenant promises to them by giving them both a son and heir.

Sarah’s Laughter

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Sarah had a problem in accepting that she could be a mother! Indeed, to laugh in this way is to call God ‘a liar’ and to say that he cannot be trusted to keep his promise of a child. Unbelief will always leads to other sins. And here it led to outright lying. Note that in v15 she denied the fact that she laughed.

God does not treat unbelief lightly. He does not gloss over it. He placards it publicly, ‘yes you did laugh’ v15. We might think, ‘that’s a bit harsh!’ But unbelief is not neutral. It is much more than the absence of faith. It is the wilful rejection of God’s revelation of his person and purpose.

Sarah’s Laughter

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God did much more than deal severely with Sarah’s unbelief he also unveiled his grace. He does not say, ‘Your unbelief is such a turn off that I will find someone else through whom I will fulfil my covenant promise’. Instead, he turns her gaze away from the circumstances that fed her unbelief – the fact that she and Abraham were very old – and asks the greatest rhetorical question in scripture, ‘Is anything too hard for the Lord’.

Is there a problem in your life or a difficulty that you face that is too hard for God? Can you imagine any circumstances over which he has no control?Sarah was given faith and was equipped by God to be a true helpmeet to her husband.

Sarah’s Laughter

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In Heb. 11.11 we read: “Through faith Sarah also received power for conception, giving birth to a child when she was past the age of childbearing because she considered him faithful who made the promise”. Both Abraham and Sarah came to share the same confidence in God!Sarah also learns that the child to be born was to be called ‘Isaac’. The name Isaac means ‘laughter’; not the cynical laughter of derision but the laughter of unbridled joy, the delirious wonder that comes through God’s goodness. It is, as we exercise faith in God, that we discover a great reversal in our emotional life. Again and again the Psalmist makes this point. Ps.126 speaks of God transforming the despair of bondage into laughter and tears of grief into expressions of joy. This reversal of emotions is something that God does again and again.

Sarah’s Laughter

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I know of a man who spent hours every night, when they came home from work, pouring out his heart to God in prayer. He was overwhelmed by a sense of sin. He longed for forgiveness and knew that Jesus’ death on the cross had made it available.

The family of this despairing man convinced that he was having a nervous breakdown called in the doctor but to no avail. And then one evening as he prayed, he seemed to hear God say, ‘I hear you, stop constantly asking and instead receive my forgiveness; Is anything too hard for me?’ The emotion of despair was replaced by one of peace and overwhelming joy. The next day his family found it hard to believe he was the same man.

Sarah’s Laughter

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Not all unbelieving men and women respond to God’s gracious revelation as Sarah and countless others have done and this brings us to the second reason for God’s visit. It was to inform Abraham of what was about to happen to Sodom and Gomorrah. It was about to fall under the judgment of God. Abraham was the friend of God. Friends talk to each other and share their thoughts and so in v17 God asks, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” Sodom was the place, where Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family lived. God thus created the opportunity for the first prayer of intercession in scripture.

Judgement and Intercession

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What is an intercessor? “An intercessor means one who is in such vital contact with God and with his fellowmen that he is like a live wire closing the gap between the saving power of God and the sinful men who have been cut off from that power.”

What drew Abraham into the spiritual drama of intercession? Clearly, God placed such trust in his friend that he was prepared to involve Abraham as a partner in his plans. Abraham not only had first hand experience of God at work but lived in such a vital relationship with him that he dared, because of that relationship, to make bold petitions.

Judgement and Intercession

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Such people are not always available in times of crisis. Listen to what God says through the prophet Ezekiel.

Judgement and Intercession

“I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so that I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.” Ezek.22.30

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God continues to look for people to stand in the gap. Men and women whose love for God is expressed in their obedience to him. Men and women, who can be counted among God’s friends. Those he can trust to intercede for the needs of others. People who will be intercessors on behalf of a land or on behalf of a church that is ripe for judgment. The Chronicler tells us in 2 Chron. 16.9 that ‘the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him’.

The God who singled Abraham out to be an intercessor can strengthen and equip you for the task. What might God yet accomplish through your prayer?

Conclusion

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