Growing Sarah’s Faith (Genesis 18:1-15)
Growing Sarah’s Faith
Genesis 18:1-15
April 27, 2013
Well most recently we have been studying the life of Abraham
And how God used Abraham as a model picture of salvation.
We have seen grace in his life
We have seen faith in his life
And most recently we have watched as God began to grow that faith.
Well this morning Abraham gets a bit of a break
Because we get to see God do a little work on Sarah’s faith.
By now you probably realize that
Abraham wasn’t the only one who was chosen.
Sarah was also chosen by God.
• God wouldn’t let Pharaoh CORRUPT her
• God wouldn’t let Hagar REPLACE her
• God wouldn’t let Abraham RETIRE her
And while Sarah’s selection has been understood from the beginning,
It was really made clear in the last chapter.
Genesis 17:15-19 “Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. “I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”
It was obvious that God was choosing Sarah.
We talked about how it was peculiar that God would choose Abraham.
Abraham was an idolater, a worldly man and a barren man.
But you should know that it is just as peculiar that God would choose Sarah
To be the woman through whom His grace would flow.
For not only was Sarah also pagan and barren, but in addition, Sarah didn’t always exhibit the best qualities for a woman to mother a nation.
If you will remember Sarah could be a little difficult.
Whose idea was the whole Hagar affair?
That was Sarah’s idea.
And when it didn’t work out as planned, do you remember Sarah’s response?
Genesis 16:5 “And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.”
Now admit it guys, that is precisely the type of woman
You like to spend time with.
The type of woman that gives you her idea, expects you to take it,
And then when it doesn’t work, blames it all on you.
But that was Sarah
Beyond that, Sarah also had a touch of bitterness.
In the chapter we are studying this morning, after God makes the promise of a child, notice her response:
(12) “Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
Do you detect the bitterness?
There may have been a time when she thought God would do it,
But now she is old and admittedly is a woman with no “pleasure”
So Sarah is old, barren, bitter, and at times a little head strong.
That is NOT the type of woman we would choose to be the mother of a nation.
SO WHY DID GOD CHOOSE HER?
Grace
In case you haven’t realized it yet,
God loves to use the unusable.
Remember the famous missionary of the New Testament?
Acts 9:10-15 “Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;”
Saul (whom you know as Paul) wasn’t exactly missionary material.
• Saul wasn’t a Gentile
• Saul wasn’t a compassionate man
• Saul didn’t even like Jesus
And yet God saw a prime candidate.
Later even Paul would say:
1 Timothy 1:12-16 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”
Paul was chosen specifically because he wasn’t useable.
And of course you realize that was true for all of us.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.”
Sarah didn’t look like a prime candidate to you and I,
But she was precisely the type of person God was looking for.
Anyone could use Hagar to start a nation, only God could use Sarah.
But in order for God to use Sarah, Sarah needed to have faith.
Hebrews 11:11-12 “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.”
Scripture reveals that Sarah conceived “by faith”
And so it is faith that God must teach her.
The first 15 verses of chapter 18 reveal God teaching Sarah that faith.
It is important for you to realize that Sarah didn’t have that faith yet.
It is not far-fetched to assume that Sarah did have a measure of faith,
After all she was still living with Abraham in this land of Canaan.
But we know Sarah’s faith is not yet strong enough.
She looked to Hagar to fulfill the promise, not God.
But God wants to use Sarah and so her faith must grow.
Here we find the event that caused Sarah’s faith to skyrocket.
It was a simple revelation about her God and also about herself.
And through it God would grow Sarah’s faith to the point
Where she could conceive and become the mother of a nation.
Now the first 8 verses of this chapter really just form the setting.
It begins with three visitors arriving before Abraham.
(1-5) “Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. “Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.”
Now we don’t know the purpose for this visit.
It is true that through this visit God will grow Sarah’s faith
And God will teach Abraham the value of righteousness.
Certainly those are valid points, but beyond that, the reason for this visit is not given.
But it is not far-fetched to assume that God simply liked Abraham’s company.
The New Testament calls Abraham the friend of God.
And I don’t have a problem in the world with seeing this visit initially
As nothing more than God fellowshipping with His child.
And I hope you understand that reality.
God does delight in fellowship with you.
He likes to spend time with His children.
That is both simple and yet profound.
It puts you and me in a special category for sure.
But here God comes to visit Abraham.
And we don’t know if Abraham initially recognizes this as God, but he will.
At the very least Abraham has learned to be a hospitable man
And that hospitality is paying off.
Hebrews 13:1-2 “Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
After all Jesus said when you do it for the least of these, you do it for Me.
And if you want special fellowship with Jesus,
Hospitality may just be the best way to have it.
That is certainly true here.
Abraham is hospitable, compassionate, humble, and genuine.
He pleads with these men to stay and they do.
I particularly like the meal portion of this visit.
(6-8) “So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes.” Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.”
I especially like the “Quickly” part.
(It’s no big deal, just go whip up some homemade bread)
Obviously Abraham and Sarah went to a great deal of trouble
To make their guests feel welcome.
By way of contrast these guests won’t get nearly as nice a welcome in Sodom.
But Abraham and Sarah are practicing great hospitality.
And you’ll notice that Abraham did not eat with them but rather stood by them.
Abraham was the waiter.
This story encompasses every aspect of service and humility and hospitality.
If one wanted to study what hospitality looked like
This story would be a good place to start.
But for the point of the chapter, that is really just the setting to get to the point.
It is the after dinner conversation that Moses is particularly interested in.
For in this conversation God is going to work on Sarah.
And I want to break it down a little this morning.
6 things we can see here.
#1 THE PROMISE
Genesis 18:9-10
(9) “Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.”
Now of course this was God.
He knew where Sarah was.
But you know what was going on, He was getting Sarah’s attention.
At the very least Sarah would have wanted to know
What they thought about the meal.
But if you hear your name mentioned you automatically perk up.
Now Sarah is a listener.
And here is the promise.
(10) “He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.”
Now put that in perspective please.
• It had been at least 23 years since Abraham broke the news to Sarah that they were moving to Canaan to become a great nation.
• It had been at least 13 years since that whole Hagar – Ishmael incident.
There may have been a time when Sarah thought she was going to have children, but time had caused reality to set in.
How long are you supposed to wait?
Well, that time is here.
It is finally time.
I don’t know if Sarah just wasn’t old enough before,
But God has finally reached the time when He desires to work the miracle.
And so He comes states the promise specifically.
I’ll be back in a year and when I come back I’ll meet Isaac face to face.
The Promise
#2 THE PROBLEM
Genesis 18:11
Certainly by now we are aware of this detail,
But Moses makes sure you and I realize that the promise which was just made to Sarah was a little on the impossible side.
2 main things stood in her way of having a son.
• One is that she has always been barren
• And two is that even if she were not barren, she is now too old
Even fertile women, don’t have babies at her age.
This promise that God is making is humanly impossible.
It cannot happen by human means.
It falls in the category of absurd
It falls in the category of illogical
By human standards it is not going to happen
And might I remind you that many of God’s promises
Fall directly in this category?
God is not looking for you to believe what you see,
He’s asking you to walk by faith.
This promise will require walking by faith.
And here is why.
I think it’s probably safe to say that at this point in their life Abraham and Sarah have probably stopped trying to have children.
At this point in their life I would doubt that intimacy
Between the two is really a regularity.
You can imagine that to some extent to even go and try to conceive again would probably make you feel a little silly.
The point is that this is no logical promise.
It is a promise in spite of obvious difficulty.
The Promise, the Problem
#3 THE PESSIMIST
Genesis 18:12
Now we have a part of the story that we can relate to.
Sarah laughed
• No she didn’t bust out laughing – this wasn’t funny
• She laughed to herself in doubt and disbelief.
“After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
As we mentioned earlier,
• You can detect a little bitterness there…
• You can detect a sore spot…
• You can certainly detect doubt…
Sarah doesn’t think this is going to happen
And she laughs to herself
IT IS CLEAR THAT SHE DOESN’T BELIEVE.
And if she doesn’t believe she will never conceive,
Most likely because she will never try.
It is pessimism
And this we can all identify with.
I think we’d all be lying if we didn’t admit to having a little Thomas in us.
The very world we live in makes us a little cynical
Every where we look someone is offering us something too good to be true.
But when we take it, it often is.
And when we talk about doubting,
I don’t know that a person in this room can say, “that’s not me”.
It certainly was Sarah.
The Promise, The Problem, The Pessimist
#4 THE PECULIARITY
Genesis 18:13
As I studied this chapter,
This was the verse that really seemed to make a dent on my heart.
You’d think it would be the next verse,
Which really forms the point of the text, but for me it was this verse.
God looks square at Abraham and says, “Why did Sarah laugh..?”
I hope you ponder that for a moment.
• God just spoke words of sober truth.
• God just made a gracious promise
And Sarah laughed – doubted what He said.
And you can see that God is dead serious when He asked why.
Can you feel the disappointment in God?
Can you feel the frustration that came over Him?
Let me put it to you this way:
A LACK OF FAITH IS PECULIAR TO GOD
God knows who He is
God knows what He is capable of
God knows how faithful He is
And it is peculiar to Him that His creation so often doesn’t
How it must puzzle Him to see humanity doubt what He says.
• Has He ever lied before?
• Has He ever broken a promise before?
• Has He ever not been able to do what He said?
• Does He commonly fail?
• Is He routinely too weak?
What reason does Sarah have to doubt God now?
Her lack of faith is peculiar to God.
And incidentally this never changes.
In the Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6:28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,”
When the disciples were in the storm
Matthew 8:26 “He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.”
When Peter sank on the water:
Matthew 14:31 “Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
When the disciples forgot the bread
Matthew 16:8-9 “But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? “Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up?”
A lack of faith is always peculiar to God.
Mark 6:6 “And He wondered at their unbelief.”
I suppose it would make more sense if He routinely broke His word,
But He doesn’t.
He has always done what He says He’ll do.
And so a lack of faith must feel like a betrayal to Him.
What Sarah did cut God deep.
The Promise, the Problem, the Pessimist, The Peculiarity
#5 THE PROPOSITION
Genesis 18:14
Here comes the truth that really sets apart the chapter.
It is that propositional truth that God wants Sarah to ponder.
“Is anything too difficult for the LORD?
Now make sure you understand that He DID NOT SAY,
“Is anything too difficult for you…”
There are people who think that is what God meant.
You’ve all heard that misapplied verse out of 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
And people often say, “I know God won’t put more on me than I can handle.”
That is, “He won’t allow anything that is too difficult for me.”
YEAH RIGHT!
That verse says He won’t let you be tempted to sin, more than you can resist,
But life is full of things too difficult to handle.
That is the point.
If God never put anything too difficult for you in your life
Then you’d never have to trust Him.
The point is that there are all sorts of things too difficult for you.
The question is, “Is anything too difficult for the Lord?”
I had a teacher in college that talked about being in the military and being asked to take charge of a group of soldiers for an assignment.
He looked over the group and asked, “Does anybody in this group think they are tough enough to whip me?”
One man raised his hand and said, “Yes sire, I believe I can whip you.”
He told that man, “You come up here”
That man came forward and my teacher told him, “You’re second in command, does anybody out there think they can whip both of us?”
Look, we aren’t looking for what you can handle,
We are talking about what God can handle.
• Do you really suppose old age to be a problem too big for God?
• Do you really suppose a closed womb to be a problem too big for God?
That’s what God is asking Sarah.
Sarah, you are laughing like I can’t do it.
Is that really what you think?
Well you and I know that we serve a God without limits.
Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,”
That means your ability to dream is more limited than God’s power.
You can’t even imagine as much as He can do.
There is nothing too difficult for God.
“At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
God is promising to do it.
The Promise, the Problem, the Pessimist, the Peculiarity, the Proposition
#6 THE POINT
Genesis 18:15
And again this is just like us.
“Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
I guess in one sense Sarah was telling the truth
Since the Scripture says she laughed to herself.
But God sees the heart and He heard it loud and clear.
Now what does this passage teach us?
It shows us two things.
1) Sarah had a lack of faith
2) Sarah didn’t realize it
God just forced Sarah to look in the mirror.
He just forced her to see that her faith was not yet what it had to be.
She doubted God’s power and she didn’t even realize it.
And friends that is just like us as well.
It is certainly like the children of Israel.
We often fancy ourselves to be people who believe God,
And the reality is we have far more doubt than we even realize.
We are all prone to be pessimists like Thomas or Sarah
We are all prone to let a little delay cause us to think God isn’t coming
Sarah didn’t like it when God revealed to her that she didn’t believe,
But she didn’t, and she needed to know it.
But let me tell you this.
SARAH WOULD NEVER DOUBT AGAIN.
Sarah is about to go to Abraham and conceive Isaac…
Hebrews 11:11 “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”
And after Isaac is born and Ishmael starts to mock him,
Sarah will understand and ask Abraham to send Ishmael away.
Abraham won’t want to, he will vacillate, but not Sarah.
Sarah is firm.
And in chapter 22 when God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac,
You won’t find Sarah running up the mountain trying to stop it.
(like the TV show suggested)
Sarah had small faith, but when God showed it to her,
She kissed it good-bye.
AND THAT IS HOW FAITH GROWS.
Over and over Jesus showed the disciples how little their faith was,
And He did it so that next time their faith might be stronger.
Well my guess is you have a list of failures
Where your faith wasn’t strong enough too. (I certainly do)
Those are painful moments…
• I don’t always like to look in the mirror…
• Sometimes I even argue with God like Sarah did…
But the point behind those failures and times when God exposes you
Is that you recognize that you are what God says you are
And that you grow from that knowledge.
That is also what Sarah did.
God showed her that she had weak faith,
And she allowed her faith to grow as a result.
This is what He asks of you.
WHY?
Because He still has things He desires to do in and through your life,
But it will require faith to accomplish it.
So learn from your moments of confrontation as well.
Maybe your faith was weak, just let it grow so that it doesn’t stay weak.
We’ve all been like Peter and been punched in the stomach
By the reality of how little our faith actually is.
The goal is to return and not to let our faith stay little.
We are called to trust God.
After all, is anything too difficult for Him?
