Against All Odds

It is easy to believe God when we can see a physical answer to our situation. Such as believing for :

A job when unemployment is low,

Healing when your doctor has prescribed medicine,

God’s provision when you just inherited $1 million.

On the other end of the spectrum, some things are difficult to believe for.

They seem impossible & hopeless.

Finish this sentence "The situation that appears hopeless to me is _______".

Hymn - "Got any rivers uncrossable, got any mountains too high, God specializes in things thought impossible".

Abraham faced an impossible situation.

He had hope because he knew his God. He knew...

I) THE POWER OF GOD

Psa 62:11 KJV God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.

Abraham knew when God acts, He acts :

A) WITH ALL POWER (omnipotence)

He alone is Almighty – 57 X in KJV, only applied to God.

pantokratwr pantokrator – Strong’s : The all ruling one.

God as absolute, universal, sovereign, omnipotent.

Vs. 17 He "...calls things that are not as though they were".

Hopelessness and omnipotence can not exist together.

They are contradictory.

If we truly believe He is omnipotent, how can we have a hopeless situation?

Is anything hopeless to Him?

B) IN SOVEREIGNTY – He alone is King.

Sovereignty and omnipotence go together.

If He is the all powerful king, nothing is too difficult for Him.

God promised them a son (Three men on the plains of Mamre):

Gen 18:14 KJV Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Is your situation too hard for the Lord?

C) EFFORTLESSLY - All His acts are done w/o effort.

Easy and difficult acts are the same to Him.

He can do anything as easy as anything else.

His energy remains undiminished after He works.

Vs. 21 "being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised"

Presbyterian Pastor A.B. Simpson – broken in health, deeply despondent, ready to quit the ministry heard – "Nothing is too hard for Jesus, No man can work like Him". The message sped to his heart carrying faith and hope and life for body and soul. He later founded one of the largest foreign missionary societies in the world. He labored fervently for Christ. His faith in the God of limitless power gave him the strength he needed to carry on.

II) THE ETERNITY (TRANSCENDENCE) OF GOD

Psa 90:1,2 KJV LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

A situation may look hopeless to us, but not to God.

Abraham knew...

A) GOD IS ETERNAL

We are taught that everything came from something.

Where did God come from?

Novatian - On the Trinity - "God has no origin"

He has attributes of an eternal being...

Omnipotence – all powerful

Omniscience – all knowing

Omnipresence - all present

Immutability – unchanging

His care for you is eternal....

Deut 33:27 KJV The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms...

B) GOD TRANSCENDS TIME

C.S. Lewis – Think of a sheet of paper extended endlessly, a short line is time.

He never began to exist – He never ceases to exist,

He has no past or future.

Simultaneously He appears at the beginning and end of time.

He can say :

Isa 46:9,10 KJV Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

C) GOD SEES THE SOLUTION TO THE SITUATION AS A COMPLTED ACT

We measure time by events, for Him everything that will happen has already happened.

He looks at your problem as though it is already solved.

He knew the outcome before you knew the problem.

If you could look into the future and see the solution to your situation completed,

would it be a problem to you today?

You don’t need to know the future, only the One who holds the future.

III) THE GOODNESS OF GOD

He is kind, benevolent, tenderhearted, sympathetic, & merciful.

Psa 136:1 KJV O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Abraham knew that God is good. He…

A) GIVES HOPE TO THE HOPELESS

Story of the three trees

1 - Treasure chest

2 – Sailing ship for royalty

3 – Tallest tree

1 – Feed box for animals