Hebrews 11:11-16

Abraham and Sarah's faith conceived an impossible new life, according to God's promises.

Hebrews 11:11–12 ESV

11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

The same faith that conceived new life in Sarah birthed new life in us ~ according to God’s promises. God birthed an entire nation from two people that Scripture describes as “past the age” and “as good as dead”.

When Ishmael was born, Abraham was 86 (Genesis 16:16).

When Ishmael was 13, Abraham was 99. They were circumcised at the same time (Genesis 17:24-25).

Genesis 17:15–21 - And 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 moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

Genesis 18:9–15 - They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Genesis 21:1–7 - “The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.””

Two weeks ago, we looked at Abraham and the covenant God made with him. They packed and moved to an unknown destination. God was the architect of the entire plan. The conduit of the promise is Sarah’s barren womb. When this conversation happened, Ishmael was 13. Very soon, he would have begun to learn the family trade. Very soon, he would have been positioned to take over the family business as the sole heir.

I think Abraham would have been content fulfilling the promise on his own terms. That would be like applying for a new mortgage and telling the bank what interest rate you will pay. Setting our own contract terms doesn’t work in the financial world and it doesn’t work when God makes a contract either.

Ishmael’s life wasn’t where God had the promise. The promise was inside Sarah and only inside Sarah. Ishmael would never secure the promise for Isaac. God blessed Ishmael at the request of Abraham. He was fruitful, became a nation and fathered princes. While that sounds like a pretty good life, Isaac became nations (plural) and fathered kings.

Fourteen years prior to Isaac’s birth, Sarah tried to force the promise in a way that didn’t require patience. She tried to force the promise as she understood natural solutions. She tried to force the promise without the supernatural working of the Lord. If you read the entire narrative of Abraham, you would see that Sarah forcing the promise complicated the situation.

Finally, the Lord revealed the fruit of the promise from Sarah’s barren womb. The life that was naturally impossible for decades became possible according to God’s promise.

Abraham and Sarah's faith refused to consider life without the promise.

Hebrews 11:13–16 ESV

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Abraham and Sarah sought the promise. Isaac and Jacob sought the promise. The Hebrews, as they were slaves in Egypt, sought the promise. They looked forward and embraced what God continued to prepare for them. The times when Israel craved to return to Egypt, they were judged. You can read Exodus 16, Numbers 11, and Numbers 14. In verse 15, we see that thinking about the life we once lived gives an opportunity to go back to that life.

If we spend more time looking into the spiritual rearview mirror of our lives than the spiritual windshield, we’re going to crave the things in the rearview mirror. The sins that were left behind. The addictions that were left behind. The anger and malicious speech that was left behind. When we became a new creation as believers in Jesus Christ, we left behind the life we once lived. All of the things God is still preparing for us will NEVER be found in the rearview mirror. You might have a reminder of the call or a conviction in the mirror, but our best days with the Lord should not exist in the rearview mirror. Our best days should always be experienced by looking into the spiritual windshield.

God is preparing something for you and for me that will abundantly glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. As I say that, we need to remember that sometimes God is glorified through tragedy and rough times. God’s preparation for our life doesn’t always resemble a vacation to the beach. Sometimes, you get to the beach and it rains the entire trip.

What is in my life that I have told God ~ “this is impossible”? The conduit of God’s promise to you might be barren because God hasn’t revealed it to you yet. The promise wasn’t barren. The conduit was barren. God will change that according to his promises. Keep your eyes on the promise. God isn’t going to fail his promises. God cannot fail his promises because that isn’t his character. God is an expert at turning our impossibilities into his mind-blowing possibilities.

Have I settled for something less than God’s intention for my life? I think Abraham might have been content with a nation and princes when God was writing into his life nations and kings. We live in a world that is okay with complacency and mediocrity. We register kids for youth sports leagues that don’t keep score. Because some of those leagues don’t keep score, kids can learn to participate with something less than their capabilities. I know guys that worked in factories ~ They told me when their quota for the day was finished, they played cards or read a newspaper for the rest of the shift. I was sitting at the allergy doctor on Thursday afternoon waiting for my post-shot 20 minutes to expire ~ listening to the three ladies behind the counter scrolling through social media talking about things very much unrelated to work. Our society accepts and teaches settling for less. If you are in this room and you’re a believer, God is not writing a story of mediocrity into your life. I believe God wants to write Ephesians 3:20 into each of our lives. For Abraham and Sarah, that meant not settling for the blessing of Ishmael but living in the future promise of Isaac and the life to come. For us personally, that means not settling into our current walk with Christ but living in the power of Christ for supernatural abundant growth. If you’re not studying the Bible with other people, your growth will plateau.

For our church ~ For about the last year, I’ve been praying that God would allow us to plant a church. I don’t know what that looks like. I don’t know how God is going to work out the details. But I firmly believe that God’s plan for Trinity Baptist Church is bigger than the 48 people that call this their church. Talk about the NAMB demographics report and NAMBs goal for every SBC church to reach 1% of our demographic

It’s time for our faith to conceive new life that we might think is impossible. The conduit might be barren, but the promise is not. It’s time for us to refuse life outside God’s promises.