Sarah, Matriarch of Our Faith
Notes
Transcript
Intro; Last week we looked at the call of “Abraham, Patriarch of Our Faith.” This week we will look at “Sarah, Matriarch of Our Faith.”
Text; Heb. 11:11-12
11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
If the word “faith” means to trust, then “obedience” has to be part of faith! Just like Abraham was called and trusted by faith, so was Sarah as well.
1. Who is Sarah?;
1. Who is Sarah?;
Sarah- Sarai began her life in the pagan world of Ur, in the land of the Chaldees. She was the half-sister, as well as the wife, of Abram. Sarai and Abram had the same father but different mothers.
12 But indeed she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
Sarah was 65 years when God called Abraham [75 yrs. old] to go to Canaan.
According to Adams Syn Chronological Chart and Maps it took 2 years to make the trip from Ur to Canaan by way of Haran.
[View map of journey]
From Ur to Haran is 600 miles, and from Haran to Schechem is 400 miles
The call took place in 1921 BC and they arrived in Schechem in 1919 BC. A famine drove them to Egypt in 1917 BC and they returned in 1916 BC and Abraham and Lot separate. [5 total years from leaving Ur to actually settling in Canaan].
Let me ask you a question, what kind of woman was Sarah? Holy woman, trusted God, submissive wife of beautiful countenance.
5 For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands,
6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.
11 And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance.
Sarah willingly left her home and stepped out into the unknown to follow Abraham, as he followed the directions of a God with whom she was unfamiliar at the time. She endured much to try to provide an heir for her husband and to keep her husband safe in dangerous lands. She lived in a world of danger and confusion but remained faithful.
2. Sarah’s Faith; 11
2. Sarah’s Faith; 11
The true test of Sarah’s faith comes in trusting God with the ability to conceive a child at the age of 90.
You’ve heard many people say that “A faith that is not tested is not much faith at all.”
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
Beyond all the tests of following her husband to an unknown land, and trusting a God they didn’t know much about, her biggest step of faith was with child bearing.
When Sarah left Ur with Abraham, she was 65 years old and barren, but she recieved the same promise Abraham did.
Genesis 12:2 (NKJV)
2 I will make you a great nation;
A nation is a country considered as a body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular area or territory:
Since they were going to be a nation under God, they had to start fresh and that means Abraham and Sarah had to have children of their own.
How would you feel at the age of 65 and being barren, that you were going to have a child?
Now lets go ten years down the road and you are 75 and still childless. You trust God but are getting worried that time is running out for you to have children to start the new nation God promised 10 years ago. So what do you do?
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.
2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
Sarah stepped ahead of God and tried to handle His business on her own by foolishly sending her handmaid, Hagar, to Abraham to bring forth the child God had promised. In so doing, she ignited a feud that has lasted for 4,000 years!
Sarah made mistakes in her faith just like we do, but in the end her faith prevailed! Renewal of God’s Covenant 24 years after it was first given
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.
2 And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”
3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying:
4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
16 And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”
17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
9 Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” So he said, “Here, in the tent.”
10 And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
13 And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’
14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”
1 And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.
2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac.
4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.”
7 She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8 So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.
Sarah stood firm in her commitment to her husband and to God, and her faith was rewarded with blessing as she gave birth to the promised child 25 years after God gave His promise. Sarah lived another 30 years after the birth of Isaac and died at the age of 127.
Close;
We’ve all heard the old saying “that behind every good man there is a better woman.” That is often the case, and especially with Abraham and Sarah.