“When You Hit a Wall, Look For A Door”
Gen 18:11-14
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
13 And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
14 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. KJV
Intro: According to our text today, both Abraham and Sarah had hit a wall. They both knew that they were past the child bearing age. Sarah looked at the reality of what time had produced to both their lives. Sarah thought it comical and not knowing that the angel could hear her, she laughed. She saw the wall but she had no idea that there was a door. At the appointed time the door would open. Not only did Sarah bare a son, but after her death Abraham remarried and had six more children. I would say that When Abraham and Sarah faced the wall of “Old Age”, God didn’t just open a door, He opened a flood gate.
As we grow older we will face walls, walls that old age all by its self produces. Some may be walls that we may have thought that were only for other people, like the wall of “Old Age.” Old Age is for others and not me. We may have spent most of our adult life work for and looking forward to retirement and perils of old age kind of fell by the way side. We never looked forward to old age, just retirement and the so called, Golden Years. The “golden years” were not supposed to include the aches and pains and restrictions of old age. The stiff and inflamed joints, the dim eyes, the stopped up ears, and other things that were supposed to happen to our neighbor. Soon we learn and experience that old saying, “what don’t hurt, don’ work.”
The syndrome of old age has now, all of a sudden turned to reality. We may have let it slip from our mind but now, much sooner that we imagined there it is like a wall telling us that we are stopped, down to the last drop. It can be thought of as the end of things and life is over, or it can be thought of as a new dimension and we are still going forward.
Believing that we are entering a new dimension will open new doors and guide us on paths that we haven’t seen.
1. Ex 14:15-16. And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
God said to Moses, why are you crying to me? Tell them to “Go Forward.” Stop your crying, lift up you rod, stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
Sometimes we may not be able to see over our wall. But a wall is there for a purpose. Some say it’s there to keep others out. But every wall must have a door or a gate of some sort. Some walls are just a dividing line that helps us to know that we have entered a new territory. As it is with the walls that have been placed there by our God. The wall of old age is put there by God and is for all of His creation. Old age can be a stopping place where life begins to deteriorate and grows stale or it can be a launch pad that will launch us into a new dimension and we will discover that just on the other side of the wall there are treasures we’ve never experienced. The children of Israel could not see across the wall they faced. The challenge was monumental, they had never faced such a thing. But when God said, “Go Forward” He had already prepared a door.
Some murmured, they wanted to turn around and go back through the door of deliverance they had just passed through. Now at this time two doors were open and they had to make a decision. One door, the back door would be much easier they could just slide through it but it would lead back to slavery. The forward door meant, wrapping up, tying it up and walking forward with God. If we choose to go forward with Jesus, He will keep our back and He will destroy the enemy that is in pursuit.
Go Forward! God can and will take that wall in front of you that may be stopping you place it on each side of you as a weapon of protection and then use them to destroy the enemy that is pursuing you. We cannot stop old age, but we can control its effect. We don’t have to let it become a stopping place. God has always declared to His people that they must continue to go forward. We must look for and find the door in the wall and pass through it as we “Go Forward”
Ex 14:21-29.
21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,
25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
26 And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
Now look at verse 22. That vast body of water that once was like an impossible wall unto them God took and made a wall of protection on each side of His obedient children. Did it happen? Did it really happen just like Moses recorded in the Book of Exodus? Today as I deliver this message, there are chariot wheels, some still attached the their axles standing at attention covered by sea carol at the bottom of the Red Sea that were found in 1998, proof that God destroyed the enemy and the event took place just like to Bible said it did.
2. Who sends the Walls, and Where do they come from?
A. Walls are there to test us.
B. Walls challenge us while they may test us.
C. Walls offer us a goal to reach.
Not every wall comes from the Devil. Some walls are sent from God. It may seem like some walls are sent to kill, steal and destroy but at times God will allow the Devil to throw up a wall that will rock us back on our heels. If God allows Satan to throw up a wall, He will put a limit on what Satan can do. Satan may have been cast out of Heaven but God still has a leash on him. Job is a prime example. Job was doing the best he possible could and boom, all of a sudden there was a wall that seem impossible to scale.
Sometimes we may see the wall coming and may be given the chance to avoid it, but sometimes we don’t. We weren’t looking for that one. God said, Satan have you considered my servant Job? Job wasn’t expecting that wall. But God had confidence in Job. Wouldn’t it be a great honor for God to say to Satan, Satan have you considered my servant, Pastor _______________? (Your Name)
When a person joins the Marines they have to go through Boot Camp. There they are challenged every day. A great many may be challenged by trying to figure out why they are here in the first place? But there are those that take it day by day, meeting the daily challenges as they come. There is a wall that every marine must scale. It’s about 15 feet high. You cannot go around it. There are no footsteps, no stairs the wall is smooth and is hard to get a foot hold. But they have provide a large rope hanging from the top. The only way over the wall is by using the rope and hand over hand you pull yourself up until you can throw a leg over the top. They have provide a pile of sand on the back side so you can jump off. Then you have to run as fast as you can then there is a long pool of water that no man by his own strength can jump over, but if you look there is a rope they have provide so you can jump on the rope and swing yourself over. Some make it and some don’t, all had the same opportunity and the same provisions to use. For those that made it marched in the graduation day parade showing that they had finished their course and be known as a Marine for all the days of their life. Those that didn’t make it went on a different road, that road had walls also but they would never be known as a Marine, a member of the United States Marine Crops of which I am. (Not active)
From the beginning, so to speak, there has always been walls. Some placed there by the Lord and some by the enemy. One way to know the difference is that the purpose of every wall that God creates will strengthen our faith and bring Him glory if we find His door. Satan’s walls will steal, kill and destroy and his door will send us back into bondage.
3. If the wall is there, so is the door.
The Bible gives is a story of Abraham and his most beloved son, Isaac. God told Abraham to take Isaac into a called Moriah and there upon one of the mountains that I will tell you and offer him there as a burnt offering. So off they go to a place that God would show Abraham. So Abraham provided the wood. Abraham provided the fire. Abraham provided the knife. Perhaps Abraham thought that sense God had miraculously given his Isaac then Isaac would be the sacrifice. Isaac didn’t understand and ask his father where the sacrifice was and Abraham replied, God will provide.
One could say that Abraham was faced with a wall. He got there by following God and through obedience to the voice of God. He went through all the motions of the sacrifice to the point of raising the knife which he had provided, to take his son's life when a voice from heaven called out and told Abraham not to do the boy any harm. Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and there was the sacrifice caught in the bushes. A ram that Abraham didn’t see until he looked. The sacrifice that God had provided. The sacrifice was the Door though the wall, to a new dimension of blessing and multiplying that would affect the whole world. From there, Abraham went forward. The ram was the prototype of the sacrifice and Door of what was to come.
Conclusion: In today’s world we will face walls of peculiarities but all will have one thing in common, there WILL be a door the door is always present, sometimes we just need to look and the best direction to look is up. The door in the wall of old age will not change the number of birthdays you’ve had but it will give you continued purpose and more strength, stronger faith and everlasting hope. The Door may be in the bushes or maybe in the storm or it could be a scarlet thread as in the case of Rahab. (Joshua 2) But the Door is always Jesus, the Son of the Living God.
Rev 3:8
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Col 4:3
3 Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:
1 Cor 16:9
9 For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.
When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them. The Holy Ghost will guide us and let us know if a door is closed.
Don’t stop knocking. God will answer. Have faith!
Is your wall tiredness? Read Matt. 11:28-30.
Is your wall sickness? Read 1 Peter 2:24
Is your wall Financial? Read Malachi 3:10-ll
