God's Mercy and Restoration in Our Afflictions

1. "He was using my affliction to bring him glory. It wasn't until I started walking with him that I began to realize what actually brings on affliction. It's our sin nature. It's sin that surrounds every one of us. As a believer today, I don't look on my mom with anger and hurt. I don't look on her with those things because of what she did to my son. My sister and I, I look on her with a great burden. I see why there's such a great need to advance the good news of Jesus because at some point in our life, whether we realize it or not, we act out in our flesh and in our sinful desires, and we hurt those around us." [08:47] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "Affliction. It's brought on by sin. That's true of the story here with Hagar. I mean, now, she didn't necessarily cause it herself. I mean, she was just being obedient to her masters. But we have to understand the other part of the story, the good parts of the story. We notice there's a God who sees us in our affliction. Our sin nature, it might bring about pain and hurt, but, guys, our God, he finds us as we wander around in the wilderness. And, listen, he comes. He comforts us. That's the main idea of our passage this morning. God and God alone through Christ Jesus, he can bring restoration to the afflicted, and he can redeem us in our sin. He could take the things that we see as hopeless and just broken and a mess, and he can restore it all." [09:37] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Listen, you have to see this. He's the one seeking. Paul says in Romans chapter 3, verse 11, that none of us seek God before we come to know Christ, understand that he saw us in the wilderness, us and understand that he saw us in our sin and he sought after us he found us we were lost we were confused we were dead in our sins according to paul in ephesians chapter 2 he came looking and he found us if you know christ as savior then you realize that you didn't think at any point in your life that i need a little help in my life i'll decide to let jesus be my savior no the son of man didn't come and seek and save those who needed a little help the bible says he came to seek and save those who are what lost that's what we're seeing here it's our sinful pride that keeps us from seeing our true condition that we're lost without it we have to own that fact but the good news is that no one not even a lowly egyptian servant girl is too lost in god's sight the angel lord he found her and listen once he came to her he helped her see her condition where have you come from where are you going" [19:02] (75 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Listen, here's what we can take from these first two verses. Jesus, he sees our afflictions. Listen, he knows better than us what we're really struggling with. He's the good shepherd, right? And as the good shepherd, when one of his sheep wander off, what does he do? He chases after him. Listen, you have to see this. He's the one seeking. Paul says in Romans chapter 3, verse 11, that none of us seek God before we come to know Christ, understand that he saw us in the wilderness, us and understand that he saw us in our sin and he sought after us he found us we were lost we were confused we were dead in our sins according to paul in ephesians chapter 2 he came looking and he found us if you know christ as savior then you realize that you didn't think at any point in your life that i need a little help in my life i'll decide to let jesus be my savior no the son of man didn't come and seek and save those who needed a little help the bible says he came to seek and save those who are what lost that's what we're seeing here it's our sinful pride that keeps us from seeing our true condition that we're lost without it we have to own that fact but the good news is that no one not even a lowly egyptian servant girl is too lost in god's sight the angel lord he found her and listen once he came to her he helped her see her condition where have you come from where are you going" [19:02] (91 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "Listen, God, the very one who made us and knows us, the one who actually knows our real needs, he says your number one need in a time of trials to learn submission. That's submission to me. That's what the Lord calls us to in times of trial, submission to him and and our first response a lot of times is but lord you just don't understand my husband he's awful to me my job my my my boss he he's just so mean he hates christians lord you don't get it my kids they're rebellious guys he does better than you think better than you he says to hagar return to your mistress and submit yourself to her authority and listen hagar doesn't say my body my choice she doesn't say it's my right she's experienced the lord and so what does she do she's just submissive taking this concept applying it to the new testament the book of first peter it's all about submission to authority in times of trial that the christians to whom peter wrote that letter to they were suffering some were slaves some were serving harsh masters some were wives and her disobedient husbands but all of them were citizens serving an unjust government and peter's word to him to these victims it was to submit he sums up his letter in chapter 5 verse 6 and 7 humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of god so that at the proper time he may exalt you casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you your number one need in times of trial or conflict it's to submit to god to humble yourself under his mighty hand remembering that that he's in control of all circumstances right we're actually going to talk more about this going through daniel on wednesday night again i hope you'll join us but we remember that he cares for us even when it feels like he doesn't don't doubt his love for you" [25:01] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "Listen, when you've experienced mercy and kindness it should lead you into repentance i mean that's what paul says in romans 2 4 right he says god's kindness it's meant to lead us to repentance and he says that's what he's doing he's leading us to repentance and he's leading us to repentance he doesn't show us mercy just to show us mercy he shows us mercy so that we might experience his grace so that we might be reconciled to himself and just look at hagar in this situation she experiences god's mercy and kindness and what's it lead to verses 15 and 16 and hagar bore abram a son and abram called the name of his son whom hagar bore ishmael abram was 86 years old when hagar bore ishmael to abram hagar she submitted to god's will she returned to abram and she was able to do what he wanted to do and she was able to do what he wanted to do abram and sarai's submission of course we just talked about it's the proper response when we see god and experience his mercy but listen to this when we do that when we repent and believe when we turn to him place our trust and faith in his promises when we are submissive to his will brings about restoration and reconciliation he restores us he restores our situations that's the picture we get here what started as a train wreck of a story when abram and sarai attempted to take god's plans in their own hands it ends with a happy ending but also notice the gentle jab here at at abram the fact that the text says that abram names his son ishmael it means most likely hagar told him about her encounter with god i mean that god had found her and remember god hadn't come to abram in all this time and so listen here he was coming to hagar it's a gentle rebuke of abram it's a reminder to him who's really in control it's a call for him to repent you've messed up but i'm storing it and here's the deal guys is we the general overview of of this whole passage our affliction when it seems that that god's forgotten about us or we're too far gone i talked to a man this week i mean he's really experiencing just i mean just a a valley like if you could picture what a valley would look like in our like he is at rock bottom right maybe some of you guys have been there and he literally told me i said how do you feel he said i feel like god's forgotten he's a believer there's no doubt in my mind and he's just he's hit so far down he says i feel like god has forgotten about me when it seems that we're depending on our own schemes or in our own plans and and we're in these these valleys of these situations remember we serve a god that does see us and he promises that even in our valleys he will never leave us he'll never forsake us i mean we serve a god that sole aim is to serve a god that does see us our restoration it's our sanctification we can't forget that he is building us up sometimes he allows us to walk through those valleys for the sole aim of perfecting us i i've been through some some terrible things that's hard to forget about but i'm so grateful that i walk through those things because like for my mom for example i'm the husband and father i am today because i walk through that and i'm not perfect i'm not saying hey look at me i'm the mother i'm the son i'm the model husband or father but i can tell you that my kids will never have to worry about that in a very physical way because i've walked through that i've seen how it's how how my family was impacted and i look at that now and i'm thinking god thank you there's reasons why i protect myself from the opposite sex not because i'm scared of women but because i'm i i've seen firsthand what what it what can happen in a couple's life we're sinful people so i prevent that from happening so that my kids don't have to worry about that that's a blessing god allowed me to learn that at a very young age god he's perfecting us in our situations he's teaching us he's disciplining us he's building us up and while he may call us to some of these difficult things we can trust that his plans are always perfect even with this story here that we read about with ishmael abram and sarai they took things in their own hands but you it was still god's perfect plan and he uses it and redeems it and he'll use it for his glory as we'll continue to see in his story but in closing we have to understand that that god's intentions they're not just to redeem our physical circumstances right like you hear the prosperity gospel right like health wealth prosperity he wants us to be rich and healthy that that that's of course god you know he wants us to be healthy and all that but but he he's not his intentions are spiritual he wants to redeem us spiritually he he wants to make us holy set apart to sanctify us in such a way that we can be in his physical presence that's god's intentions listen when when we were out in the wilderness dead in our sins figuratively we have to remember that god found us he came to us he drew us to himself and in that moment he gave us a glimpse" [33:23] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "Listen, if you haven't been convicted in a while you're not you're not seeing god you're not following god are you allowing him to purge the bad stuff as he perfects reflect on the gospel what what god calls us to as believers he calls us to forsake all he calls us to to use our lives as a testimony of the gospel you see our lives they're no longer ours but his to be used for his glory reflect on that or listen maybe maybe you're here and you realize you've never submitted yourself to god's will you've never repented maybe you believe but you've really never turned to him then if that's you then listen again reflect on the gospel right what the bible says while one man's disobedience brought sin to mankind one man's obedience brought righteousness to those who repent and believe god came to us he became like us he lived a perfect life he went to a cross our sins they were they were imputed to him there he experienced our punishment he took on his own wrath he died to death meant for us the death we deserve the bible it says the grave it couldn't hold jesus down three days later he rose listen it tells us that to receive salvation to be born again all we have to do is repent and believe all we have to do is turn to him submit to his will and believe that jesus is living and he's living and he's living and he's living and he's living lord you see we're saved from our problems from our sinful decisions from our bad circumstances not by anything that we do but by everything that jesus did on the cross he takes on our sin he he finds us he communicates the gospel to us in some way through another person we come to faith in him we get his righteousness it's that simple so some of you you're hearing this message and even now the spirit's drawing you to the father and i want you to understand he's finding you in your own wilderness and he's calling out to you in whatever your circumstance may be and he's saying come to me see me see who i am and so my challenge as we close if that's you let go of your pride acknowledge what got you there whether it was you or somebody else's bad decisions let go of yourself and follow him and so listen whatever the lord's doing in your heart right now maybe he's calling you to flex maybe he's calling you to repent maybe it's just to believe whatever it may be whatever whatever the lord's putting on your heart would you just bow your head and close your eyes with me listen our deacons they're going to come prepare the lord's supper for us this morning wendy's going to come play and if you've never done this with us before we do communion at the first of every month so we do it because we believe as believers as christians that that that jesus commands us to constantly reflect on his sacrifice to reflect on the cross and so we we we gather around the table we take the bread symbolically remembering jesus's body we drink the juice symbolically remembering jesus's blood but listen this is something i want to be clear for believers we do this as believers for people who've trusted and put our faith in christ this is something for someone who's been set apart by the blood of christ and as i mentioned just a moment ago you could take this with us by simply repenting and believing that's it putting our faith and trust and Hannah license of believers here and what you remember polls words to the Greek before we take i've had many counseling sessions with people last couple weeks and there's some of you are experiencing bitterness walking through some kind of sin make sure your heart's right makes are you dealt with any center any bitterness seek the lord make sure you're walking in a way that is worthy of the gospel note بعد and so listen as our deacons come they they prepare the lord's supper regardless of who you are this morning i just want you to take this time i want you to seek the lord i want you to confess repent whatever it may be and in just a moment we'll close and then we'll we'll do this together you take this time heavenly father as we close this service and as we prepare ourselves to eat the bread and drink the juice lord help us be reminded not not only of the sacrifice that we read about and we talk about every single week but lord help us be reminded of the moment that you found us in the wilderness we were dead in our sins we were hopeless we were headed to" [38:52] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "Listen, if you haven't been convicted in a while you're not you're not seeing god you're not following god are you allowing him to purge the bad stuff as he perfects reflect on the gospel what what god calls us to as believers he calls us to forsake all he calls us to to use our lives as a testimony of the gospel you see our lives they're no longer ours but his to be used for his glory reflect on that or listen maybe maybe you're here and you realize you've never submitted yourself to god's will you've never repented maybe you believe but you've really never turned to him then if that's you then listen again reflect on the gospel right what the bible says while one man's disobedience brought sin to mankind one man's obedience brought righteousness to those who repent and believe god came to us he became like us he lived a perfect life he went to a cross our sins they were they were imputed to him there he experienced our punishment he took on his own wrath he died to death meant for us the death we deserve the bible it says the grave it couldn't hold jesus down three days later he rose listen it tells us that to receive salvation to be born again all we have to do is repent and believe all we have to do is turn to him submit to his will and believe that jesus is living and he's living and he's living and he's living and he's living lord you see we're saved from our problems from our sinful decisions from our bad circumstances not by anything that we do but by everything that jesus did on the cross he takes on our sin he he finds us he communicates the gospel to us in some way through another person we come to faith in him we get his righteousness it's that simple so some of you you're hearing this message and even now the spirit's drawing you to the father and i want you to understand he's finding you in your own wilderness and he's calling out to you in whatever your circumstance may be and he's saying come to me see me see who i am and so my challenge as we close if that's you let go of your pride acknowledge what got you there whether it was you or somebody else's bad decisions let go of yourself and follow him and so listen whatever the lord's doing in your heart right now maybe he's calling you to flex maybe he's calling you to repent maybe it's just to believe whatever it may be whatever whatever the lord's putting on your heart would you just bow your head and close your eyes with me listen our deacons they're going to come prepare the lord's supper for us this morning wendy's going to come play and if you've never done this with us before we do communion at the first of every month so we do it because we believe as believers as christians that that that jesus commands us to constantly reflect on his sacrifice to reflect on the cross and so we we we gather around the table we take the bread symbolically remembering jesus's body we drink the juice symbolically remembering jesus's blood but listen this is something i want to be clear for believers we do this as believers for people who've trusted and put our faith in christ this is something for someone who's been set apart by the blood of christ and as i mentioned just a moment ago you could take this with us by simply repenting and believing that's it putting our faith and trust and Hannah license of believers here and what you remember polls words to the Greek before we take i've had many counseling sessions with people last couple weeks and there's some of you are experiencing bitterness walking through some kind of sin make sure your heart's right makes are you dealt with any center any bitterness seek the lord make sure you're walking in a way that is worthy of the gospel note بعد and so listen as our deacons come they they prepare the lord's supper regardless of who you are this morning i just want you to take this time i want you to seek the lord i want you to confess repent whatever it may be and in just a moment we'll close and then we'll we'll do this together you take this time heavenly father as we close this service and as we prepare ourselves to eat the bread and drink the juice lord help us be reminded not not only of the sacrifice that we read about and we talk about every single week but lord help us be reminded of the moment that you found us in the wilderness we were dead in our sins we were hopeless we were headed to" [38:52] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "Listen, if you