"Nothing is too hard for the Lord"

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Hymn 14:1
Psalm 85:1
Psalm 25:6,7
Psalm 105:1,2,3
Psalm 72:10 & Hymn 15:3,4

Beloved Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ!

The world is gearing up to Christmas, and with the world we are too. Buy now, pay later; the message comes out that you can have what you want.

A moment’s reflection tells us that things just are not that way. It happens to each of us; we find ourselves in a spot from where we know what we’d like, but realise to our frustration that we can’t have it. The worst of it is that, in our difficulties, we come to wonder whether even can God help us…. Why doesn’t He, then? Is the matter too difficult for Him?

The Lord had long ago promised Abraham and Sarah a son. They had (we may expect) embraced that promise eagerly, happily, when God first announced it years and years ago. But month after month had ended in disappointment – till Sarah’s child-bearing years gave way to menopause, and the way of women ceased with this senior citizen of Canaan. How many prayers had Sarah and Abraham sent to the throne of grace, pleading with God to grant the promised pregnancy, the child they longed for? How much shopping had Sarah done after the promise was first made, purchasing the crib and the change table and the nappies and the toys and the singlets the infant would need? We can, I think, understand something of the emotional roller-coaster Abraham and Sarah experienced as they came to grips first with the promise of a son, and the repeated disappointment month after month…. And that’s to say nothing of the hurt caused by God repeating the promise no less than eight times (Gen 12:7; 13:15; 15:4,13,18; 17:8,16,19). One would say: this is surely enough to drive Abraham and Sarah totally away from the God who does not keep His promises, who does not help in time of need. In the heat of our own difficulties, this is a message we find so very disappointing….

Yet, brothers and sisters, this is not at all what your God is like. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Abraham by the terebinth trees of Mamre, and impressed upon Abraham and Sarah that He was utterly faithful, and almighty to save also. Nothing, He assured them, was too hard for the Lord. As they waited and waited for the promised son who did not come, this was a gospel they did well to hold on to. As we await deliverance in our hour of need, this remains a gospel we too do well to cling to.

I summarise the sermon with this theme:

1. the cause of this statement
2. the call of this statement
3. the comfort of this statement

The Cause of this Statement

Why, congregation, did the Lord ask Abraham whether anything was too hard for the Lord? What caused His question? The context tells us. Sarah in the tent behind the Lord had laughed at His (repeated) promise that she would bear a son. She knew so well that she was long past the age of childbearing. So she responded to the news with a silent snicker. But the Lord heard the laugh, and so addressed Abraham (for he was responsible for his wife) and asked: "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

Yet, brothers and sisters, there is more behind this question than simply the Lord’s response to Sarah’s laugh of unbelief. Notice the question the Lord asks. "Is anything too hard for the LORD"? The last word of the question is written in capital letters, and so denotes the Hebrew word Yahweh, that special name of God that describes Him as the God of the covenant. God’s question in our text, then, needs to be seen in the light of the covenant God had earlier made with Abraham (cf 17:1).

That covenant is described in detail in chap 17. God spoke to Abraham these words: "I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly" (vs 2). This covenant, God continued, would be an "everlasting covenant" (vs 7), and its content was that God would "be God to you and your descendants after you" (vs 7).

We understand the phrase "be God to you" as a rich and significant phrase. If God would "be God to [Abraham]", that surely does not mean that the Lord would neglect Abraham, or avoid him or curse him. Rather, the phrase has a positive content; to "be God to you" surely means that the Lord would envelope Abraham with care and faithfulness, would supply Abraham’s needs. The phrase means that with respect to Abraham God would be all that God stands for, would use His almighty power for Abraham’s protection, would demonstrate His faithfulness for Abraham’s benefit, would pour out His grace for Abraham’s salvation, etc.

Now this same God asks in our text whether anything is too hard for the "LORD". That question, then, asks this thought: can and will the God who promised to be God-to-Abraham in fact supply Abraham’s every need? Can and will He use His almighty power for Abraham’s protection, can and will He demonstrate His faithfulness for Abraham’s benefit, can and will He pour out His grace for Abraham’s salvation? Or shall He speak empty words, lead by the nose, deceive, dash the expectations He arouses? "Is anything to hard for the LORD?"

As it turns out, brothers and sisters, this God had shown already that the answer to the question is No, nothing is too hard for the LORD. That, at bottom, was the message of the meal God had eaten in Abraham’s presence.

We read what happened. In the heat of the summer’s hot sun, Abraham had been sitting in the shade of his tent door when –behold- three men stood before him. As soon as he saw them, he dashed out the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground (18:2). Then he greeted his visitors with an offer of refreshments, food and rest. Because his guests accepted the offer, Abraham hurried to organise a meal and, once it was ready, set it before his guests while he waited on them.

We’ve been conditioned to hear in this account an example of Near Eastern hospitality. We’re reminded that even today it’s the done thing amongst the desert dwellers of Arabia; any traveller through the desert is royally treated. Yet, brothers and sisters, the Lord tells us about Abraham’s behaviour for more reasons than simply informing us that Abraham showed Bedouin hospitality to strangers. I draw your attention to the following:

The Holy Spirit tells us in vs 3 how Abraham greeted the three men. "My Lord," he says, "if I have now found favour in Your sight…." The word Abraham uses for "my Lord" appears in the Bible only as a reference to God. That leaves us with no alternative but to conclude that Abraham knew very well at the start who the one Visitor was. He knew: this was the God who had made His covenant Abraham in chap 17.

Further, Abraham offered hospitality to his guests. But it was a striking hospitality.

Abraham organised for his three guests "a tender and good calf", or, as we should better translate, a "fine tender bull". That’s certainly more meat than three visitors require; for three visitors a lamb or a goat would have been more than adequate. Further, I draw to your attention that in the tabernacle of Exodus, the people of Israel were to present to God only top-quality animals – like this "fine tender bull". Like Abel did, so Abraham too presented to God nothing but the best.

He told Sarah to make ready "three measures of fine meal." The term translated for us as ‘measure’ describes a measurement of about eight litres. Three such quantities for three men is eight litres per man; that’s far, far more than any man would need. Here again is indication that Abraham knew his Guest to be unique. Further, the three measures consist of "fine meal", says our translation. This fine meal is actually "best wheat flour", and appears elsewhere in the first five books of the Bible only in cereal offerings to the Lord in the tabernacle and for making the bread of the presence which stood before God in the tabernacle.

Altogether, then, what Abraham set before his guests made plain that Abraham knew very well Who had come to visit him. Hence also the rushing around described in vss 6 and 7.

But if we are, brothers and sisters, to understand that Abraham knew well that God Himself had come to visit, the meal described in the first part of this chapter becomes wonderful in its content. This is not just Bedouin hospitality; here God came to Abraham and God moved Abraham in such a way that God could sit down to eat in Abraham’s presence! God had made His covenant with Abraham in chap 17, had promised to "be God to [Abraham]", and so promised to supply for Abraham’s every need as a father cares for his son. And see: in the very next chapter (and chap 18 occurs only a couple of months after chap 17) God sits down to eat in Abraham’s presence! Here’s the riches of the covenant of chap 17 come alive!

Now we’re also to know that a meal had an enormously rich significance in the Bible. When Abraham and Abimelech made a covenant, they sealed that covenant with a meal; that meal spelled out friendship (Gen 26:30; cf 31:46; Ex 18:12). After God made His covenant with Israel on Mt Sinai, the leaders of the people ate and drink in God’s presence on the mountain; that meal spelled out friendship (Ex 24:11). The people of Israel had to come to God in the tabernacle with a peace offering and eat it there in God’s presence; that meal was symbol of the peaceful relation they enjoyed with God (Lev 3; 7:11-21). In the New Testament, Jesus ate and drank with tax-collectors and sinners, and in so doing communicated to them that He had come to save the lost, them. To the Laodiceans Jesus points up the significance of eating together with these words:

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Rev 3:20).

We understand, that meal speaks of friendship, of harmony between the believer and the Saviour. And what is the Lord’s supper celebration all about? Well has the church learned to confess –I quote from Article 35 of the Belgic Confession- that "this banquet is a spiritual table at which Christ makes us partakers of Himself with all His benefits and gives us the grace to enjoy both Himself and the merit of His suffering and death." That is: friendship, peace, harmony between the Saviour and the sinner. That is also why we look forward with John to the Last Day when we shall sit with the Lord at the banquet celebrating the marriage of the Lamb (Rev 19); there is peace, harmony, bliss.

Gen 18 speaks of a meal. That meal is far more than hospitality; this feast is revelation. And it’s a most wonderful revelation; God Himself comes to eat in the presence of man! What glorious gospel is communicated to Abraham in this event! God, holy and divine, the God who destroyed the world with the flood, who scattered the nations at Babel: He comes to man to eat! God, holy and divine, the God whom Abram had offended when he took Hagar to wife instead of trusting the promises of this God about Sarah bearing him a son: this God comes to Abraham to eat in his presence! How wonderful, how absolutely wonderful this event is!

Now God asks Abraham in our text whether anything was "too hard for the LORD." The term translated as ‘hard’ does not describe an intricate or difficult task; the term means ‘hard’ in the sense of wonderful, awesome, unexpected, glorious. That’s why some translations render the question as, "Is anything to wonderful for the LORD?" (NRSV). What caused that statement? Why did God ask it? Sure, God is responding to Sarah’s laughter. But we understand: there’s much more behind it. Was it too hard for God to make a covenant with Abraham? Was it too wonderful for God to visit Abraham, too awesome to eat in Abraham’s presence? Admittedly, God was holy and Abraham a sinner. Yet that did not hinder God from reaching out to Abraham, visiting him, eating. Holy God came to the sinner Abraham, and He sat down in His presence to eat and drink, and that’s because this wonderful God had an answer to the problem of sin, the problem that kept God and man apart. "Is anything to hard for the LORD?" Given the meal the LORD had just consumed in Abraham’s presence, surely, surely, nothing was too wonderful for this God-of-the-covenant!

That brings us to the heart of our second point:

The Call of this Statement

Did you notice, my brothers and sisters, that there was something incomplete about the meal of vs 8? The text is clear: Abraham did not participate in the meal. Instead, "he stood by them under the tree as they ate." For distance remained between God and man, reconciliation between holy God and sinful man had not yet been achieved.

How wonderful it was that God came to eat in Abraham’s presence; here was friendship, peace. But it wasn’t complete, God and Abraham could not yet eat together, and so the material of our chapter was a call, a cry for more. Here was a cry that God would please do what needed to be done to work full reconciliation between holy God and sinful man, so that the sins that stood between God and man would be taken away.

And see: this is point that God addresses in the conversation that He had with Abraham after dinner. Vs 10: "Behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son." Then it’s true: God knows very well that "Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age;" God knew very well that "Sarah had passed the age of childbearing." But to God that’s neither here nor there. If He has what it takes to overcome the sin that has driven God and man apart in Paradise, He surely has what it takes to cause conception in Sarah’s dead womb and bring the promised infant into this world. More, with this promise of a child God was actively doing something about the distance that remained between Himself and His people-by-covenant; by promising a child to Abraham and Sarah God was labouring to overcome sin – so that in turn God and man might eat together. In achieving that goal, "is anything to hard for the LORD?", too wonderful? And the answer is obvious: certainly nothing is too hard for this God-of-infinite-mercy-and-power, nothing is too marvellous, too wonderful for this God.

That is why we need to hear more than a call in the question of our text. Implicit is also a promise, the promise that God shall do whatever needs to be done to remove the sin that stands between His people and Himself. Nothing is too hard for the LORD, and that’s why Sarah shall have a son, and that son in his turn shall beget a son, and so in turn through the generations until the Son of God Himself is born in the likeness of man. "For with God nothing will be impossible" (Lu 1:37). And that Son, conceived without the involvement of a man, conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary, would go to the cross of Calvary. There, Jesus Christ, son of man and Son of God, would atone for the sin that prevented Abraham from sitting at table with the LORD, God of the covenant…. For God is Yahweh, is LORD, and for Him nothing is too hard, too wonderful, too marvellous. That brings us to our last point this morning:

The Comfort of this Statement

Nothing was too hard, too wonderful for God. So, when the time had fully come, the Son of God came to earth. And see: for thirty-three years He walked amongst us, was one with us – true God amongst man! He talked with sinners, sat with sinners, ate with sinners, lived with sinners! And it’s not so either that sinners waited on Him while He ate – as did Abraham with God in Gen 18. Rather, there was a oneness, a togetherness in that Jesus ate with sinners, lived amongst sinners.

But His own received Him not. The day came when the Immanuel –God-amongst-men- was rejected by men and nailed to the cursed cross. Yet even then nothing was too wonderful, too hard, too marvellous for the LORD. Though rejected by men, the Lord did not reject men in turn. He rather laid down His life on the cross for the benefit of sinners (Rom 5:6ff). Before He went to the cross –He knew He’d be rejected and crucified!- He instituted the supper of the Lord, and told His own to eat His body, drink His blood, Yes, told His own that He would eat and drink with them in the kingdom of His Father (Mt 26:29).

And that’s what happened. On the cross He bridged the distance between God and man, reconciled sinners to God. After His work was done and He arose from the dead He ate with His disciples (Lu 24:30,43; Jn 21:13). That same eating occurs today; at the table of the Lord the exalted Saviour has sinners sit at table with Him – and so He drives home the unity, the friendship, the peace He established between holy God and sinful man.

How different things are today, compared to the meal of Gen 18. But this we know: our God hasn’t changed. In Gen 18 God took another step in bridging the distance we generated between God and ourselves through our fall into sin. He took another step toward the birth of God-in-the-flesh. He acted in the Old Testament with a view to us and our salvation! For that purpose, nothing was too difficult for the Lord. And it still isn’t!

Christmas looms before us, and the world presses its ungodly message upon us: buy now, pay later; have what you want. The Lord has a better message for us. He has a gift for sinners, free, without price; He’s given His Son whose name is Wonderful (Is 9:7), and this Wonderful Redeemer has ransomed sinners from slavery to Satan and made us children of God. With God the LORD as Father-for-Jesus’-sake we lack nothing; He promises to provide our every need, every day. Free of charge. For "nothing is too hard for the Lord." Amen.