A Mocking Spirit #2 Series

Spirit of Ishmael

A mocking Spirit

Text:

Gen 21:8-20

8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.

10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.

12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.

14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.

17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.

18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. (KJV)

Intro: I want to look tonight at another curse linked to this spirit of Ishmael

Look at mocking spirit

Vs 9 says, “Sara saw Ishmael mocking”

It was this that caused them to be cast out

- This was the spirit that drove them away from Abraham

- Away from the spirit of God

- This was the spirit that cause them to be “cast out”

When you first look at this you think that Sara is being a bit harsh

- Kids will be kids right

- But you have to realise Isaac is just a baby between 2-3 years old

- Ishmael is between 14-16

- It is not natural for a young man in is late teens to be mocking a baby

- There is a maliciousness to this

The Hebrew word for mocking here is (metsachcheq)

- Implies “always mocking”

- This is not just something that happened just this one time

- But this had been going on for a couple of years

Mocking is a display of bitterness

- Anger

- Mean spirited

- Jealousy

Why? Why was this mocking spirit at work in his life?

- Why was he mocking this little baby?

Attention that he had once received is now being placed on Isaac

For years he had it all

- He had the attention

- The eyes of the father were on him

- But now this baby is getting all the attention

- Truth is babies always need more attention

Over the years I have seen this spirit at work in the church with out really knowing what it was

People bound by this spirit always kill new converts

- They attack them

- They do not show them the same grace that they received when they were a new convert

- They burden them and place weights on them they are not able to bear at that age

- They are mean spirited towards them

The root of the problem is jealousy

- The attention they once received is now being placed on someone else

- Pastor spends more time with them than he does you now

- This spirit is even more at work in older churches that have not seen growth for a time

ILL> we see this at work in our own children

- When a new born comes into the home

- The older siblings become jealous

- Many times they will begin to act up to gain attention

- And it is the fathers role to correct that child to let them know they are still loved, and to check and weed this spirit out