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Faces A Setback When You Take Your Life Into Your Own Hands
Message #4 from Pastor Ronnie Floyd's series on "Big Faith"
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This morning I am going to be speaking from the 16th chapter of the book of Genesis, and I hope that you get a copy of God’s Word and turn with me to that passage. But before I get to the 16th chapter of the book of Genesis today, I want to tell you a story.
I love the ocean. Jeana and I this past summer were able to stay at a home that was located right on the ocean. While we have stayed at some wonderful places through the years, especially in our time in Florida, this home was so unique, and we so loved due to it’s close, close proximity to the waters, and we loved it. One night after going out to eat we came back to our home, and we were on the balcony overlooking the beautiful emerald coast of Florida. For some particular reason that night the ocean was roaring. And Jeana and I were talking to one another, and all of a sudden she was just going off on something, and I couldn’t hear a word she said. And I tried to get her attention but she couldn’t hear me because she had turned her face, and her voice straight to the water, and I could not hear what she was saying.
So I finally took her by the chin and brought her chin and her face towards, and we were right by each other, and I said, “I can’t hear you, the ocean is so loud, talk here.” And still, on that particular night, it was difficult to hear because the roar of the ocean, and our proximity to it was absolutely unique to what we had ever experienced before in our lives.
You see the voice of God that speaks to us through the Word of God needs to be as loud in our ears as the ocean was on that specific, unique night on the emerald coast of Florida. His Word, and His voice needs to drown out all other voices that are in our ears at the time. Do you realize that most of the time in your life when you face a setback it is because the loudest voice in your ear moves you to do something that is not the will of God? And does not lead you to the ways of God? This voice takes you into you, and leads you into taking your own life in your hands. That’s exactly what I want to talk to you about today. Because those with big faith, big faith faces a setback when you take your own life into your own hands.
In the 12th chapter of the book of Genesis God extended to Abram a powerful promise. “Abram, I want you to leave where you are in Heron, and I want to lead you to a new and fresh land, called the Land of Promise.” And at 75 years of age, God spoke to Abram, and Abram left where he was to follow the voice of God. Those of you that are 75 years of age today, there is hope, God is still speaking to you, and God wants to use you in a powerful, powerful way.
In Genesis chapter 14 God reveals Himself to Abram and Abram was so overcome that he honored the revealing of the Lord Jesus to him that day with all that he had. And then in Genesis chapter 15 God took the promise that had been given in chapter 12, took that promise to a brand new level in his life, and He told him, He said, “Now Abram, this is not going to, this promise is not going to be fulfilled that the nations of the earth will be blessed through you through Eleazor, as you stated. No, it’s going to be going through your body that one day all of the nations will be blessed.” And with all that God had done in chapter 12, chapter 14, and chapter 15, after all those mighty moments with God, in chapter 16 he faces a setback in his life because he chose to do something that God did not will for his life.
Does this sound like any of us in this room today? Perhaps even you? Maybe you’ve been with God in great journeys and moments, and all of a sudden out of nowhere you find yourself doing something that you would have never imagined. You have made a choice that you would have ordinarily not made when you’re walking with the Savior. And yet, after all of those dynamic and great and holy moments with God, all of a sudden man you find yourself distant. You find yourself not living, and not choosing to live by the will of God. Now we’ve all been there. We’ve been there personally. We’ve been there collectively as a church before.
But none of this should surprise because Scripture gives us a precedent to this, and we should learn from the Scripture. For example, think about Elijah for a moment. Here is Elijah on Mount Carmel, one of the great places in Israel, by the way. And on Mount Carmel he has a mighty battle with the prophets of Baal. Fire from heaven comes, consumes the offering, deals with the issue, and God is God above Baal, and all of the Baals. And wow! Praise was given to God, and yet, the very next day we find Elijah in a cave depressed, and complaining to God that no one’s serving the Lord but me.
And then we come to the man named David, the great king, David. The great warrior, David. The man who slew Goliath, the man who won many great battles, and here is David in the midst of his wonderful kingship being blessed beyond his own imagination due to the promise of God. And here is David one day just strung out, and all of a sudden he saw this beautiful woman, and he decided he wanted that woman, and he chose the will that is in the deep recesses of his heart that was deceitful and wicked, and he could not recognize it, and he went and he committed adultery with her, and that lead to a fiasco of consequences that existed in his life until the day he died! Now he did repent, and listen carefully, God did restore, and I want to tell you today when you make wrong choices, if you will repent, God will restore you too.
And then we see the children of Israel. Oh my soul, what a story. Here they are, they’ve been given the Land of Promise. They go to this great, mighty city named Jericho where the walls were tightly shut. God gave them a word about how they were going to overcome the enemy. They actually obeyed the word of God. It’s a great story in Joshua 6, and they saw the walls come down. They saw the glory of God exhibited, and here they are in the midst of their great victory, and then, the next battle found and discovered in chapter 7 against an inferior and insecure people, the people of Ai. They found themselves losing that specific battle. All because they listened to the voice that they should not have listened to.
And then we dial into the New Testament, and we think about one of the great leaders of the faith by the name of Peter. Here is Peter, what a, what an incredible man, and what an incredible leader, and what an incredible spokesman, and here is Peter who had just had his feet washed by the Savior, and said you’re not washing my feet, and Jesus said well does that mean you don’t want me? He said oh, then wash my head, my hands, wash all of me. And then he participated in the final supper with Jesus! And the next thing you know, just hours before the crucifixion, here in 3 specific situations when he was asked, “Do you know Jesus, this One that’s about to be crucified?” Oh I do not know Him. I have nothing to do with Him. And he denied the Savior 3 times. Wow!
So here were great illustrations of people with big, mighty faith who experienced the setback because they listened to the various voices in their own life, and the voices around them rather than the voice of God. It makes me ask a question, and the question is, what’s the problem? What’s the problem?
Well Genesis chapter 16 tells us what the problem is. And so today what I want us to do is I want to begin this journey with you, and I want us to:
1. Identify the Problem. Let’s identify the problem. Now I asked you to have a copy of God’s Word, and notice there in chapter 16, I want to read verse 1 through the first part of verse number 4. The Scripture says, “Abram’s wife, Sarai, had not born him children. She owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram since the Lord has presented me from barring children, prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave, perhaps I can have children by her.” And then if you will note it in your Bible a very big tragedy to hear, “And Abram agreed to what Sarai said.”
“So Abram’s wife, Sarai, took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband as a wife for him. Now this happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan 10 years, so he was 85 years of age when that happened. He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. And when she realized that she was pregnant she looked down on her mistress.”
Now what does all that tell us? That story tells us that Sarai, who will later be called Sarah, Abram, who will later be called Abraham, but Sarai was barren, and she was blaming God for her inability to have children. Yet, she chose not to take into account what God had promised to her husband, Abram. She became impatient, and so Sarai decided she was going to take her own life into her own hands, including the life of her husband. So she told Abram, “Abram, why don’t you take Hagar and that will be the way God fulfills the promise.”
Well the Scripture says in the Holman Christian Standard very tragic words, “Abram agreed.” Other translations say, “Abram listened to her voice,” another tragedy. And you know what? When he listened to her voice, it was the same account as it was in the Garden of Eden over in the book of Genesis earlier when Adam had listened to Eve’s voice in the Garden of Eden!
You know what Abram did? Abram conceded to his wife’s voice. He conceded to his wife’s will, which was not the will of God. He and Hagar, you know what they did? They went and had sexual relations, and she became pregnant, resulting in one of many more mistakes that would come in days to come. Now why did this happen? What was the problem? Here was the problem; the problem was:
Problem: Abram was influenced by and listened to the voice of his wife, rather than the voice of God. That as the problem. He listened to the voice of his wife. He was influenced by her, and he listened to her rather than the voice of God.
Now as you are noting that today, let me remind you of a few things. In Genesis 12, God has spoken to him personally that all the nations will be blessed through him. In chapter 14 God had revealed Himself to him. In chapter 15 God extended the promise of chapter 12, and even told him it’s going to be through your own body! Therefore, it’s going to involve your wife! He knew all that, but let me tell you what he did. He took the remote control of his life. He pushed mute on God’s voice. He turned up his wife’s voice, and he listened to her! The end result; a setback.
You see there is a spiritual saying that people use quite often today. I’ve, I’ve said it. I’ve told people this, and I’m not going to tell people this anymore. God will use your wife to speak to you. How many of you have heard that? Guarantee it. Many of you have. Some of you wouldn’t admit it. But God’s going to use your wife to speak to you. Now God may use your wife to speak to you, but let me make it very clear, God always doesn’t use your wife to speak to you. At times that may be true, but I want to say that history records that Satan may use your wife to speak to you. Eden. Chapter 16. So how do you know the difference?
Well is she affirming what God says in His Word? Or is she trying to, you know, maneuver the waters, making it sound applicable when it’s not? Making it something that it is really not? Is she leading you to compromise? Now I want to make it very clear, the same can be said of men. How many times have you ladies been told well God’s going to use your husband to speak to you? And yet, your husband is not walking with Jesus? Your husband is not a spiritual man. Or you know your husband is making choices, while he might come to church and be real regular, might even have a quiet time, but he’s just not being what God wants him to be. And so we say, well you know I’m just going to do what my husband said. Let me tell you something, you don’t do what your husband says if it is opposite of Holy Scripture.
God’s voice is more important than his. So can I take you back to the balcony of the beach home in Florida that Jeana and I enjoyed this summer? The ocean was roaring so loud in our ears that it drowned out all the other voices around us. You see here’s the secret. The secret is:
Secret: We can avoid setbacks when the Lord’s voice is roaring in our ears through the Word of God and drowning out all the other voices. Are you with me today? I’m telling you not all setbacks you can avoid. Some setbacks you have nothing to do with. They just come your way. It’s a matter of life, a matter of suffering. It’s a matter of just the facts of life, but I daresay to you today the vast majority of setbacks that we face is because we are not listening to the voice of God through the Word of God. And we’re listening to everybody else’s voice, and it’s more prominent than God’s voice, and we’re making choices that are moving us away from the will of God rather than towards the will of God.
Now let me take this down deeper. Are you with me? The loudest voice in your ear may not be the best voice in your ear. The latest voice in your ear may not be the best voice in your ear. Are you with me? Ah, the sweetest voice in your ear may not be the best voice in your ear. The most deceitful voice that you will ever hear is not a voice with these ears, but a voice that is in your heart that is evil, and wicked, and deceitful, and you don’t even know it, and it leads you away from God rather than towards God, and it’s voice of you declaring your rights, declaring your will, declaring your way, and choosing your way versus God’s way. Because you think you’ve got a better idea than God. Are you hearing me today?
You see we have to be so saturated with Scripture that God’s voice is so roaring in our ears that it is drowning out all the other good intentional voices around us. This is not about good motives, and good intentions; it’s about the Word of God, and it’s voice versus everything else in your life. I mean let me illustrate even further. What are you going to listen to? The Wall Street Journal or the Word of God? The New York Times or the Word of God? The blogosphere or the Word of God? Fox News or the Word of God? Dr. Oz or the Word of God? Oprah or the Word of God? A bunch of Christians or the Word of God? A missionary or the Word of God? A mentor or the Word of God? Which one? Which one will be loudest in your ear and clearest in your ear? It’s not about the loudest, latest, sweetest, but it’s about one thing today, and that is whether or not this book is going to have such prominence in your life it is the loudest in your ear, and the loudest in your heart, and you will never compromise that whatsoever at all in your life. That’s what it’s about.
And it has nothing to do with whether those voices around you have good intentions or good motives. What matters is one thing; all voices must be filtered through God’s Word. I mean if they don’t meet the God’s Word test, it doesn’t matter how good they are. How loud they are, how sweet they are. I mean we live in a culture that is filled with noises. I was talking with a man the other day and he was talking to me about the transition to leadership, and he was saying man leadership is tough! No, I said leadership is a war baby! Because you’re at the beck and call and mindset and opinion of every one around you. But if you don’t have your ears tuned in to the right frequency, I’m telling you you’re going to be a mess. And many of those setbacks you will create in your own life.
So we have identified the problem. Now let’s:
2. Isolate the Consequences, for a moment. The Scripture here is full of consequences. In fact it gives us three consequences that I want to take a moment to speak to this morning. Once Abram listened to his wife, many of those consequences began. The first consequence was he:
(1) Compromised God’s Word, God’s promise. He compromised God’s promise. That’s what happened in the verses that I read a moment ago. You see what many of us like to do we like to decorate the problem. You can’t decorate the problem and try to cover it up like Sarai did. You see Abram compromised what God had said to him. What Abram should have done, he should have stood up and been a spiritual leader in his home! Are you listening to me men? And he should have told his wife, “Now sweetheart here are the facts of life, I appreciate your benevolent and generous spirit, but we’re not going there, and while we can’t see yet how God’s going to do it, God has told me at least twice that He’s going to do it, and we’re going to wait on God, and baby, that’s going to mean even you in your old age. We’re going to wait on God. We’re going to trust the Lord.”
Most setbacks happen in your life when you compromise God’s Word. Don’t forget that. Most setbacks happen in your life when you compromise God’s Word. Well not only do they compromise God’s Word;
(2) Conflict abounded. Wow did it abound? I’m not going to read verse 4 through verse 6, but I, but I want to just simply tell it to you because I think it could really be as effective for you today. Now I want you to listen. Here’s how conflict abounded. This is quite illustrative to me. The moment this occurred, listen to what happened, Sarai looked down upon Hagar. Did you hear that? Now who had made the suggestion? She had! But Sarai looked down on Hagar. Then guess what Sarai did? She did like any good wife, Sarai blamed Abram. Then guess what happened? Sarai believed that Hagar looked down on her. She’s got something I don’t have and she believed that that Hagar was looking down on her. Here she was insecure and inferior to her servant! Do you know why, choir, she was inferior and insecure to her servant? Because she had compromised the word of God in her life. And all of your insecurities, and all of your inferiorities, don’t be psychoanalyzing that thinking you need a pill for it baby. What you need to understand is that you’re going to be that way as long as you compromise the Word of God in your life! Because when the Word is in your life, there is a confidence that comes in your life, and you don’t have to give yourself away to anybody, or see yourself as being insecure. You say well what if somebody thinks I’m arrogant? I’m not talking about arrogance. I’m talking about Christ confidence.
God has spoken this is where we’re going, we’re going baby with or without you! Now that’s a little aggressive and passionate for you, so please forgive me. Then you know what Abram did? He did what most spiritual leaders and homes do, sad to say. I want you to notice what Abram did! Listen to this men, this is such, this is so sickening to me! You know what he said to her? Well you know, Sarai, she’s your slave, do what you want with her! Huh. In other words, you created the problem, go fix it! Men, stop conceding the spiritual leadership of your home to your wife! Stand up and be a leader! We want to talk about I’m going to be a leader. I’m a leader at the business. Well why don’t you go be a leader at the most difficult place in the world; with your kids and your family, and then you might be worthy to be a leader at the business because you don’t deserve to be a leader anywhere if you can’t lead your family to God!
I know that’s a little aggressive. I’m sorry. I didn’t even say that in the first service. I’m kind of worked up. Come on now. Anybody with me today? And then you know what Sarai did? Listen to what she did ladies. She began to mistreat Hagar, and Hagar ran away. Conflict abounded. Now don’t forget what Ronnie’s about to tell you. Compromising God’s Word always results in greater conflict. Some of you have marital conflict because you compromised God’s Word. Some of you have financial conflict because you compromised God’s Word. Some of you have business conflict and job conflict because you compromised God’s Word. Some of you have relational conflict because you compromised God’s Word. Compromising God’s Word will always lead to greater conflict in your life. Get a clue. Take a notice here today. God is saying something to you big guy, and little lady. God is saying something to you teenagers. So what have we learned? We’ve learned that compromise God’s Word. We have learned that conflict occurred and abounded, but notice consequence number three: this choice:
(3) Created a long-lasting problem. Created a long-lasting problem. Now before I talk about this I want to make something very clear to you today. You can have a setback in your life and you can make it right with God, and right with other people to the best of your ability, but sometimes those setbacks will cause you conflict, and create a problem that might be long-lasting in your life. There are many of us that have made choices in life that that we look back and we say wow I wish I wouldn’t have done that. And yet, we may have been forgiven. We may have been restored. We may have been loved and walking with Jesus greater than ever before, but you know what? We have these scars in our lives. We all have scars in our lives over choices we’ve made! And those scars doesn’t mean God hasn’t forgiven you, and God has not restored you; those scars remind you of something, and it is the powerful grace of God that has been given to you in the midst of your situation.
But still it doesn’t matter what happens at times, you create a long-lasting problem. Now let’s read about that in verse 11 and 12. The Bible says, now before I go there, listen carefully, the Angel of the Lord went after Hagar. And she said now listen, you get back home and you put yourself under, under Sarai’s authority, and you know, I’m still going to take care of your offspring. I’m going to bless you because the promise was to Abram. Abram was the one who put the seed in your body. But look at verse 11 and 12. “Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, ‘You have conceived until you have a son. You will name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction. This man, that is this one named Ishmael, he will be like a wild ass. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him. He will live at odds with all of his brothers.’ Wow, that’s pretty interesting, isn’t it?
So I have a question today, who are the descendants of Ishmael? That’s a good question we need to ask ourselves. Since it’s a long-lasting problem, who are the descendants of Ishmael? Those of the Islam religion, and those who follow the Muslim faith believe that Muhammad is a descendant of Ishmael. The Islam faith, which now is comprised of 1.5 billion people in the world, comprising 22% of the world’s population. The herald these words, “God is the God of Abraham, Ishmael and Mohammad. Today, this problem is still alive and results in major conflict between the Muslims and the Jews.
What is the typical conflict over? You know what it’s over? The land. And who was given the promise of the land. Abraham. And who are the true descendants of Abraham? Well, Abraham and Sarai ended up having a baby named Isaac. Isaac had Jacob and Esau. God changed Jacob’s name to what? Israel. You see some setbacks result in long-lasting problems. And what we must do is we must hear the roar of the voice of God in our life. So we’ve identified the problem. We have the isolated the consequences. We close with a third element of the text.
3. Include the Mercy of God. I’m not going to read verse 9 through 15 due to time. But I want to talk about it briefly with you, under the theme including the Mercy of God. The Angel of God told Hagar to get yourself back and submit to the mistreatment of Sarai. The Angel of God told Hagar that God would bless this child she was carrying, and her number would be too many to count! Now wow, that’s interesting, isn’t it? The Angel of God told Hagar that God heard her cry of affliction. And the Angel of God prophesied to Hagar that this child, and his descendants would raise his hand against everyone and everyone would live at odds with his brothers. Who are his brothers? Ultimately the descendants are Isaac and Israel.
Hagar declared God has seen her. Abram named the child Ishmael, the very name that the Angel of God told Hagar to name the child. And this naming by Abraham, listen to this, this is significant, was a public acknowledgement that Ishmael was his son and his heir. Have hope. Abram was 86 years of age when he had Ishmael.
Question: How is the mercy of God extended to Hagar? How is it? Mercy found her. That’s right. Mercy went and hunted her down. Mercy included her. The Mercy of God included a woman that all she was doing was what her leader told her to do. And mercy found her, and mercy included her, and mercy gave her a promise. And mercy blessed her. Mercy blessed her.
Why did God do this? Interesting, huh? Why did God do that? It doesn’t make any sense that God would do that. But I’ll tell you why God did it. Because God was committed to Abraham. And you listen carefully; God was even committed to Abraham in his setback. Now you listen to me even greater today, it doesn’t matter how big a setback you’re in; one that came to you on your own that you created, or one that just came out of the natural part of life, those setbacks that happen, but I want you to understand today, God is committed to you in your setback! Therefore, what I want you to remember today is that the mercy of God is given to you when you go through a setback. The mercy of God is with you when you go through a setback. And you may feel today that there’s not way in the world you could ever find your way back to God. You may feel you’re not that far out, and away from God, but yet you know you’ve made some choices that are not right. You know you, you, you may feel disconnected. Maybe you’re just not where you ought to be right now spiritually, and you know that some of those choices you’ve been making, maybe you’ve not been spending time with God. Maybe this voice has not roared in your ears, and maybe it if has you haven’t listened to it. But I’ve got some fabulous news for you today! It is doesn’t matter where you are in your setback, hear me today, mercy finds you!
And there are some of you today you don’t think there’s anyway in the world that God would ever come into your life and make a difference because of what you’ve done, but I’m telling you the cross is about the mercy of Jesus Christ extended to the vilest, most wicked sinner anywhere in the world! Mercy finds you. And mercy instructs you. That’s right. It instructs you. It tells you how to live. It tells you how to get back when you’re away. And mercy blesses you.
I’m so glad today that God is committed to me even when I may not be where I need to be with Him. I’m telling you, mercy blesses you. You’ve got to stop thinking of yourself as some loser that don’t, you know, there’s nothing out here in life for you, and you know, you’ve just created this mess, or you just get the bad deal. You know half the world and America is a victim. Get over it. Grow up. God doesn’t want that for you! That is a satanic voice that is in your ear, that is the ears of the public, and the ears of many politicians, and they need to get over it as well! And that is one thing God desires to bless you as His people! Get yourself in a position where He will do so significantly and consistently in your life.
So I close with this: let me take you back to a beautiful summer night on the emerald coast of Florida. Join me and Jeana on that balcony for a moment, the water is roaring, a half moon is out that night, and so some of the water can be seen even though it is very, very dark. The ocean is roaring, and God is calling you to worship Him! And all other voices around you are inaudible, or they’re blurred because the roar of the ocean is so magnificent! God and His Word are always roaring and calling you to one voice, and one way; God’s voice, and God’s way!
So the number one takeaway for today: I mean why don’t you wear it this week, huh? When you listen to the roaring voice of God, you will not experience as many setbacks in your life. Simple, but so true. Simple, and so true. And by the way, the only way to come back from a setback is when His voice is so loud in your ears, and His voice is so clear in your heart that it drowns out all the other well-intended good motive voices around you.
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