Spirit of Ishmael
Blinded by Emotion #4
Text:
Gen 21:9-19 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.
(KJV)
Intro: I want to look tonight again at this spirit of Ishmael
- This spirit of illegitimacy
We have looked at a mocking spirit
- An improper view of the father
- And a spirit of rebellion
There are two other spirits linked with this and we see the link in
Several scriptures in the word of God
Ezek 12:2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house. (KJV)
Here we see the link
- Rebellion
- Blindness
- Deafness
Lets look tonight at the spirit of blindness
I. Emotion
One of the greatest causes of blindness is
- Emotion
You can be blinded by all kinds of emotions
- Anger
- Hatred
- Bitterness
- Resentment
- Love
There are a multitude of emotions that if we are not careful have the power to blind us spiritually
In our text: we have Hagar and Ishmael and they have been cast out
- Ishmael was caught mocking Isaac
- They are forced to leave
- Cast aside by his father
- Sent away
Can you see how this must have affected them?
- They have lived with Abraham for years
- Ishmael has been his son for 14-16 years
- He was once thought to be the promise child
- He was once his fathers pride
Can you feel how they must have felt?
- The anger
- The betrayal
- The hopelessness
- The since of loss
This was a devastating blow
I want you to notice
- Abraham loved this boy
- He did not wish him any harm
- He was not sending them out into the wilderness to die
In vs.14 he provides for them
Gen 21:14 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. (KJV)
He gives them water
He gives them food
Abraham was a wise man and I do not believe that he did not give them enough to make it
- He knew how far the next well was
- He new what supplies they would need to get there
So what happened to them?
I believe they were blinded by their emotions
- The tears
- The anger
- The heat of the moment had blinded them and caused them to loose their way
I have dealt over the years with many people who were bound by this spirit
I have dealt with young men who were raised by a single a mom and it has always amazed me how emotional they are
Ex. Women are emotional
- This is not a bad thing just how God made them
Men tend to function more on reason
- They have to rationalize everything
Women tend to judge things by how they feel
In counselling I have sat with couples and the woman says
- I don’t feel he loves me any more
- No real reason why, this is just how she feels
Men on the other hand say, “she should know I love her without me saying it”
- I bring home a pay check
- I don’t cheat on her
- I haven’t told her I don’t love her
This is how God created us
The problem is when you have a young man or women that has been raised without a father
- They have no balance in their lives
- They become over emotional
- Over sensitive
- They are ruled by their emotions
- All their decisions are based on how they feel
This is the spirit of Ishmael at work
- They allow their emotions to blind them to everything else
- They have a difficult time being able to see the truth
- They become so absorbed with their selves (within) they cannot see without
This is what has happened to Hagar and Ishmael
They are right there in front of the well and can’t see it
- Truth is right in front of them
- Life is only a few feet away
- Yet they are dieing of thirst because they can’t see it
Notice what happens the moment they cry out to God
Gen 21:17-19 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. (KJV)
The goal of this spirit of Ishmael is to cause you to loose the vision
To take your eyes off God and place them on yourself
II. Lost vision
There are three prime examples in the Old Testament of men who lost their vision
Isaac lost his vision
Gen 27:1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. (KJV)
Eli lost his vision
1 Sam 4:15 Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see. (KJV)
Both of these men lost their vision
- And as a result there was a loss of birthright
Isaac placed the blessing on the wrong child
Blindness will always have you
- Blessing the wrong things
- Promoting the wrong things
- You will not be able to rightly discern the truth
- He blesses Jacob the schemer
Latter God was able to get a hold of Jacobs’s heart and change his name and nature
But Isaac’s blindness caused lots of problems
We look at Eli’s life
- His sons are sinning
- Stealing from God
- Fornicating in the church
He is unable to see this even when he hears of it he does not judge it
As a result of this God judges his house and the priesthood is taken from him and passed to another named Samuel
The goal of blindness is to cause you to loose your ability to see and judge the truth
- It is to disqualify you from being able to be used by God
Lev 21:17-18 "Speak to Aaron, saying: ’No man of your descendants in succeeding generations, who has any defect, may approach to offer the bread of his God.
18 ’For any man who has a defect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a marred face or any limb too long, (NKJ)
We see another example of this in Sampson
- He is chosen of God
- He has a calling of God on his life
- He is to be the deliverer
Yet he is blinded by emotion
- He refuses to listen to his parents
- He refuses to listen to God
And as a result he falls to sin
He becomes a
- Murderer
- Fornicator
- Thief
- Liar
All because he allows himself to become blinded by emotion
- Eventually this leads to his capture and physical blindness as well
One of the things I have seen is that people that are bound by this spirit
- Who are ruled by their emotions
- Ruled by what they feel
They are very hard to correct
They wear their emotions and feelings on their sleeve
- If you try to correct them
- If you try to discipline them
- Or restrain them in any way
They blow up
- They are easily offended
- You have to walk on egg shell around them
- You can not disciple them
- You can’t give them any direction
- They take everything as a direct assault against them
Deut 32:28-29 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! (KJV)
Prov 4:19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. (KJV)
This is all linked to this spirit of Ishmael
- They were rejected by a father or mother
- Never corrected
- Never disciplined
As a result this spirit has rendered them spiritual cripples
- Rendered them blind
- Rendered them useless for the kingdom
If a man or women can not be corrected
How can they be discipled?
And if they can not be discipled
How can they be used of God?
You see how this spirit works it wants to blind you
1 Sam 11:1-2 Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee.
2 And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. (KJV)
Nahash is an Ammonite
- He is a descendant of Ammon
- The illegitimate son of jobs daughter
- His goal is to blind the people of God
You cannot live for God with this spirit at work in your life
- You can not cut a deal with it
- You can not come to some kind of agreement with it
- The only deal it is interested in is bringing blindness to you and rendering you unfit for service
III. Open your eyes
Ps 119:18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. (KJV)
Just as Hager and Ishmael
- You may feel lost tonight
- You may feel rejected
- Cast off
- You may feel like all hope has been lost
- You may feel like giving up
- You may even feel like dieing
As I have been ministering this message you may have recognized yourself
- Emotional
- Touchy
- Hard to approach
Let me tell you tonight there is an answer
You do not have to stay bound by this spirit
If you will cry out to God he can set you free
Look what he did for Ishmael
- He made him a great nation
- He opened his eyes
- He brought life
This is the very reason Jesus came and sacrificed His life For us to be set us free
Isa 42:7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. (KJV)
You do not have to continue your life in blindness
- You do not have to stumble your way through your Christian walk with God
- You can walk in power and dominion
- You can walk in the light
Col 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: (KJV)
The problem with this spirit is that once you have been bound by it
- It is very difficult to be set free
- The reason is because you are blind
- You can not see it in you
I can see it others around you can see it
- Your husband can see it
- Your wife can see it
But this spirit has blinded you to itself
Prov 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (KJV)
You need to open your heart to God tonight
ILL> the Roman philosopher, Seneca, wrote a letter to his friend: “my wife has a ignorant child, who has suddenly became blind. What I am about to tell you will be difficult to believe, but is true. We cannot make her understand that she has become blind and no change in her environment will help her. She insists that her nurse take her to a house where it is not dark. It seems to me,” continued the philosopher, “that what has happened to her is happening to all of us. Not one of realises he is blind.”
Macartney’s Illustrations
This spirit works so slowly in a life that many times it catches you unaware
I have talked to people over the years that have asked me
- How did I end up like this
- I did not see this coming
- “I once had a calling of God on my life now look at me pastor how did this happen”
1 Pet 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (KJV)
