The Grace Faith

“And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. Therefore she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.’ And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son. But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called’” (Genesis 21:9-12). Ishmael was fourteen years older than Isaac and, therefore as he started mocking Isaac, it displeased Sarah and realised that Ishmael might demand Isaac’s inheritance. Ishmael is the illegitimate child; therefore he has no claims of the inheritance since there is the legitimate child. Sarah, in order for her to avoid the squabbles at a later stage, she chased Ishmael and Hagar his mother. Abraham was enraged by this saying of Sarah to chase them out bec...

The son of the promise is born, and is born fourteen years later after the son of the flesh (law) was born. At this stage Abraham must have been thrilled and puzzled at the same time because, there are two sons now born of different women. The first son was promised to the mother in wilderness (the picture of Sinai) and the second son to Abraham after he had bowed down to worship the Lord. Many people have not realised the blessing therein worshipping, many miracles in the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus occurred after men bowed down to worship Him. This is not to enforce that we should always kneel down when we pray. Abraham was very old at that time together with Sarah and Sarah was barren. The Lord said to them, “Is anything too hard for the L ORD …?” (Genesis 18:14). The same remains true even today, the Lord still possesses the power to change the unchangeable. Our role is to trust in Him, not by saying but by resting. When we rest, the Lord works and when we work the Lord rest...

  The first thing we remember about Jesus’ cross is that through it all our sins were forgiven. I am going to explain this today further in this manner, God is living outside time. With His infinite view of things, He is able to see the past, present and future. It is like looking at a train from above on the curve in the hill, if I am riding on a helicopter I am able to see the beginning and the end of the train. So God’s view of our lives is like that. We cannot see the future, but God can. Therefore, God’s all cannot be as man’s all. He will forgive all because He can see all of your life. Man’s all is different because he cannot see what is coming, while God knows the beginning of one’s life to the end. For example, I personally forgive my child for all the wrongs she did and not the one’s she will do simply because she hasn’t done them and I don’t even know how fierce they are going to be. Either way, when she does the wrong I am bound to forgive her because I love her and als...