The Lord had me stirred all week about Abraham. He's the father of our faith, and the more I sat with his story, the more I saw a connection to something else God has been putting on my heart: living in the realm of the impossible.
If we're honest, most of us drift back toward what's possible. We venture out into the impossible for a minute, somebody gives us a look, and we retreat back to a life we can manage on our own.
Living in the realm of the impossible means refusing to settle for a life that only stretches as far as what we can accomplish on our own. If we catch ourselves living in the realm of the possible, we're actually not in God's realm of thinking to begin with.
I had a great time with my kids the other night. We pulled up a house tour on YouTube for a ten million dollar house, and they loved every second of it. My four-year-old finally said, "Dad, let's just crush this house down and build that."
What struck me is that they never came up with a reason it couldn't happen. As adults, we get really skilled at coming up with reasons why something can't happen. We talk ourselves out of what God is drawing us into.
God is not interested in the possible. What we can do on our own really isn't that much. Ephesians tells us in chapter 3 that we can never outdo God, that He goes far beyond our wildest imagination (Ephesians 3). What looks impossible to us is actually the realm of possibility to Him, because He's the one who created the heavens and the earth.
I'll tell you, I've gotten some strange looks for believing God for some pretty extravagant things, including the church building we're working on right now. If you knew how practical my mind actually is, you'd understand why those looks used to bother me. I was Dave Ramsey certified. We paid off all our debt and never deviated from the plan.
But I found out that being that rigid is what you have to do if you're not going to rely on God. I got done wrestling with my practical side, so I gave it up, and I have more peace and joy than I've ever had. That's part of why we call ourselves No Limits Church.
When God's promise seemed to be taking too long, Abram offered God a backup plan instead of waiting on the original one. We pick up the story in Genesis 15, when God makes a covenant with Abram.
"Sometime later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.'
But Abram replied, 'O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don't even have a son? Since you've given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth.'
Then the Lord said to him, 'No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own to be your heir.' Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, 'Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you will have.'
And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith." (Genesis 15:1-6)
Abram had already heard God's promise, but time was passing and it looked like it wasn't going to happen. So he offered God an alternative: his servant Eliezer as an heir. How many of us have done that? God tells us something, it doesn't happen on our timeline, and we hand God our backup plan instead.
God didn't take the alternative. He took Abram outside and told him to look at the stars. That's how many descendants he would have. God drew him right back into the realm of the impossible.
God also confirmed the land covenant with Abram that day, including a prophecy about 400 years of slavery in Egypt long before it happened.
"You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction." (Genesis 15:13-16)
That's exactly what happened to the Israelites in Egypt. The Bible is the only book with prophecies that have all been fulfilled, and there isn't one that's left unfulfilled that won't be. This is God's word. He authored it and He preserved it.
Sarai offered her own alternative plan when God's promise still hadn't come true ten years later. Now it's the wife's turn to give God a backup plan.
"So Sarai said to Abram, 'The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have a child through her.' And Abram agreed with Sarai's proposal." (Genesis 16:2)
This happened ten years after Abram had settled in Canaan. That's a long time to wait on a promise. If you've been waiting more than ten years for something, let this encourage you to keep holding on.
When Hagar became pregnant, she began treating Sarai with contempt, and things fell apart in Abram's household. Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that Hagar finally ran away. These are great men and women of faith, but they weren't perfect people. That should encourage you that you haven't messed up the plan of God either, even when you make mistakes trying to help Him along.
The angel of the Lord found Hagar running away and told her to go back and submit, then gave her a promise of her own. God wasn't denying that she'd been mistreated. He was getting her back in alignment with His plan.
"The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness along the road to Shur. The angel said to her, 'Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?' 'I'm running away from my mistress, Sarai,' she replied. Then the angel of the Lord said to her, 'Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.'" (Genesis 16:7-9)
There's more for us to learn in submission than there is in badmouthing an authority we don't like, even one that's mistreating us. God's plan doesn't mean you'll always be under an authority you enjoy. Part of why the American church struggles is that we've come to expect a church where we only ever like what's being said and never get corrected.
The angel also gave Hagar a prophecy and a promise.
"You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your cry of distress. This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives." (Genesis 16:11-12)
Hagar responded by giving God a new name.
"You are the God who sees me." (Genesis 16:13)
Even when we throw our own plan into the mix, the plan isn't over. God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him, because everything we bring to the table isn't perfectly in line with His plan, and He takes it all and works it together for good anyway.
God changed Abram's name to Abraham when He renewed His covenant with him at age 99, and the name change came with a call to obedience. Abram was 86 when Ishmael was born. Now he's 99, and God appears to him again.
"I am El-Shaddai, God Almighty. Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants." (Genesis 17:1-2)
"This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. What's more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful." (Genesis 17:4-6)
Abraham had already heard a version of this promise 24 years earlier, and God was reminding him. Along with the covenant came a responsibility.
"Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: each male among you must be circumcised. You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you." (Genesis 17:9-11)
Circumcision was such a significant issue that it became the greatest argument in the early church as believers worked through what the new covenant meant. Eventually they came to understand that circumcision points to something deeper: cutting off who we used to be so we can be born again. Your job is to cut off the old life, not just add Jesus on top of the life you were already living.
God also renamed Sarai.
"Then God said to Abraham, 'Regarding Sarai your wife, her name will no longer be Sarai. From now on her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and give you a son from her.'" (Genesis 17:15-16)
Abraham laughed to himself in disbelief. How could he become a father at a hundred? He was teetering again between the impossible and the possible, and instead of receiving the promise, he offered God his existing alternative.
"So Abraham said to God, 'May Ishmael live under your special blessing!' But God replied, 'No, Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant.'" (Genesis 17:18-19)
God still blessed Abraham's alternative even though it was never the plan.
"As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will make him extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will be confirmed with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year." (Genesis 17:20-21)
Abraham obeyed that same day. He and every male in his household were circumcised, just as God had told him.
Romans 4 looks back at Abraham's life and says his faith never wavered, even though we just read about him offering God two different alternatives. Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation, and Romans asks what he discovered about being made right with God.
"If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God's way. For the Scriptures tell us, 'Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.'" (Romans 4:2-3)
"When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners." (Romans 4:4-5)
David spoke of this same thing.
"David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it: 'Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.'" (Romans 4:6-8)
You do not get saved by your goodness. There is no salvation in your goodness. But when you have faith in Christ, He comes to live in you, and things change. Faith produces change. Change doesn't save you, but faith produces it.
"Clearly, God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God's law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith." (Romans 4:13)
A right relationship with God isn't a perfect person with a halo who never says anything wrong. Abraham argued with God, gave Him two different alternatives, and still is described this way.
"This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and creates new things out of nothing." (Romans 4:17)
"Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping, believing that he would become the father of many nations, just as God had said to him, 'That's how many descendants you will have.'" (Romans 4:18)
"Abraham's faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead, and so was Sarah's womb." (Romans 4:19)
"Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises." (Romans 4:20-21)
God isn't bringing up any of Abraham's mistakes here. When God looks back at your life, He doesn't see what you see. Our prayer should be, "God, give me eyes to see the way You see."
Hebrews 11 shows Abraham obeying God without knowing where he was going, and eventually trusting God enough to offer his own son. By faith, Abraham left home for a land he'd never seen.
"It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going." (Hebrews 11:8)
Sarah's faith is included too.
"It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise." (Hebrews 11:11)
By the time Abraham was asked to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, he had grown through the journey enough that he had no problem doing it, because he had finally settled the question of what God said.
"It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, 'Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.' Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again." (Hebrews 11:17-19)
This is how Abraham grew across a twenty-five year journey. When he was faced with something that looked contrary to what God said, he reminded himself of what God had actually said. That's how we should answer the enemy too: this is what God said, and that's what we stake our faith on.
We have to trust that God will help us, because we're going to make mistakes on the way to the impossible things He's calling us into. If we don't understand that He bails us out, we'll struggle to pursue the impossible, because we're going to make mistakes along the journey.
What is God looking for from us? For us to go to Him. He's never been looking for something polished and pretty. He wants us to come to Him for help and trust that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.
So don't be troubled by what you're looking at right now, by what you did yesterday, or by what you did ten years ago that's still causing problems today. God is working it all together for good. Who's up for living in the realm of the impossible?
What does it mean to live in the realm of the impossible? It means refusing to settle for what you can accomplish on your own instead of what God is drawing you into. If you catch yourself only living in what's possible, you're not actually in God's realm of thinking, since He goes far beyond our wildest imagination.
What was Abraham's alternative plan when God promised him a son? When the promise seemed delayed, Abram told God his servant Eliezer would inherit everything instead. God rejected the alternative and told Abram to look at the stars, promising that many descendants would come from his own body.
Why did Sarai give Hagar to Abram? Ten years after settling in Canaan, God's promise of a son still hadn't come true, so Sarai offered her Egyptian servant Hagar to Abram as her own alternative plan. Abram agreed, and Hagar became pregnant with Ishmael.
What did the angel of the Lord tell Hagar to do? After Sarai treated her harshly and Hagar ran away, the angel of the Lord found her by a spring in the wilderness and told her to return to Sarai and submit to her authority. The angel also promised her more descendants than she could count and told her to name her son Ishmael.
Why did God change Abram's name to Abraham? God changed Abram's name to Abraham when He renewed the covenant with him at age 99, telling him he would become the father of many nations. The name change came alongside the covenant of circumcision, which every male in Abraham's household was required to keep.
Does Romans 4 say Abraham was saved by his good works? No. Romans 4 says Abraham was counted as righteous because of his faith, not because of his good deeds, and that when people work, their wages are earned rather than given as a gift. Salvation comes through faith in God, who forgives sinners.
Why does the Bible say Abraham never wavered in his faith, even though he made mistakes? Romans 4 says Abraham never wavered and that his faith grew stronger over time, even though the same passage records him offering God two different alternatives to His promise. (Note: this reflects the pastor's specific point that God does not recount Abraham's mistakes in Romans 4, even though earlier chapters record them.)
What does Hebrews 11 say about Abraham offering Isaac? Hebrews 11 says Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac by faith, reasoning that God was able to raise him back to life even if he died, because God had already told him his descendants would come through Isaac. Hebrews 11:8 also says Abraham obeyed God's call to leave home without knowing where he was going.
