Genesis 17. Let's read verses
15 through 17. I know the title
in the bulletin shows Sarah, Ishmael, and Isaac, but we're
just going to deal with Sarah this morning. It's a great blessing
here. Genesis 17, 15 through 17. And God said unto Abraham, As
for Sarai, thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarah, but
Sarah shall her name be, and I will bless her, and give thee
a son also of her. Yea, I will bless her, and she
shall be a mother of nations, kings of people shall be of her.'
Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his
heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years
old, and shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear?" This is the story of God speaking
to Abraham concerning Abraham's wife Sarai. And also the Lord
speaks to him concerning his sons Ishmael, both of them, and
Isaac. The Lord is telling him what
he had already purposed to do and what he would do. All that
the Lord God said to Abraham, he had already purposed, and
it was as good as done concerning his wife, concerning his sons. And we need to learn that for
our comfort. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world. And we need to commit that verse
to memory, Acts 15, 18, all God's works are known unto him from
the beginning of the world. Just as God purposed all things
concerning Abraham, his wife, and his sons, so it is with us. Everything. What the world does
not like, we love. God's predestinating purpose,
that all things truly work together for our good, the good of God's
people, who are called according to His purpose. Everything is
on purpose. There are no accidents. There's nothing left to chance.
Our God has ordered all things and it's sure. And He says it's
good. And we don't see right now perhaps
how it's good for us, but we will. One day we'll know even
as we've been known. But we are blessed to at least
believe that and know that in our heads and somewhat in our
hearts that the living and true God is the One hands our breath
is, let alone all our ways. That ought to give us great comfort.
Great comfort. Our family, our children, all
things concerning us are in the hands of our sovereign God. Everything. That's not so with
modern religion, with the God preached today. For some reason
I've seen this saying on signs around various religious places
in these days that say this. Several signs have said the same
thing. No problem is too great to put
in God's hands. Have you seen that? It's on the
sign of that little place in Boone's Mill. It's on the sign
of various places. No problem is too great to put
in God's hands. I don't want a God, but I have
to put things in His hands. Do you? What kind of God is that?
In other words, I have control over these things, and then when
I get so desperate, I finally turn it over to Him. And I'm
running the show. I'm the pilot of my life, and
when things get too rough, then He takes over. That's not the
God of the Bible. That's no God at all. How thankful
I am that all things are indeed in His hands from the beginning. He said that in Isaiah. He said,
I've carried you from the womb. I've carried you from the womb."
And he says, to your hoary heads, I'll carry you. How foolish and ignorant and
proud a man is to think that he is in control of anything.
Well, I don't want to be in control. God says to Abraham in verse
15, He said, Ask for Sarai. Sarai. And her name is hard to
pronounce. Sarai. Thy wife. Thou shalt not
call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be." And he says,
I will, bless her, and give thee a son of her. I will, bless her,
and she shall be a mother of nations. Kings of people shall
be of her. God says, I will, I will, and
she shall, and she shall, and this shall happen. God has purposed
it, and it's going to take place. He said in Isaiah 43, I will
work. And who will let it? Who will
prevent it? That's the God of the Bible,
who worketh all things unto the counsel of His own will, saying,
I've spoken it, I'll do it, I've purposed it, it will come to
pass. You say, is man just a puppet, just a robot then? He has no
accountability, no actions? Well, he is accountable. But
the Scripture says it is God. that worketh in us, both to will
and do. Whosoever will, but whosoever
will, will, because it is God that worketh in us, both to will
and to do of his good pleasures. Not of him that willeth, of him
that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. That's God's Word. This is good news. This gives
us hope concerning our lost loved ones. We're not going to look
at Ishmael. We're going to devote a whole message to him on Wednesday
night or whenever. Ishmael was a wild man. The Lord
said he would be a wild man. A wild son. And Abraham was very
concerned about that wild son. And the Lord said, I've purposed
all things concerning him. Don't you worry about Ishmael.
He's under My control. I'm going to do with Israel what
I purposed to do. You just rest in that. So that's
our hope concerning all things, that God has purposed, determined,
ordered all things, and they're sure. And this is our salvation. This is our salvation. And it's
our salvation from despair, from anxiety, from fear, from worry. will save us from much fear and
doubt and worry, believing in our God who has purposed all
things. And whoever it is, they will, if they are one of God's
elect. Now, as for Saria, the Lord God
says, Call her name Sara. Sara shall her name be. The word
Saria, and I will tell you in just a minute, The Lord named her. The Lord
named Sarah. I don't know who gave her her
name when she was born, but the Lord purposed that too. But the
Lord, when He named people in the Old Testament, their names
are significant. They have a purpose. They have
a meaning. The names of the people in the
Old Testament that God deals with for our learning, their
names foretell something. They prophesy of God's will and
purpose concerning that person. All the names of God. Adam. The
Lord named the first man Adam. You know what that means? Man.
Man. God created man. We come from
man. We're the sons of man. And also,
Edom comes from that. It means red earth. That's where
the Lord formed Adam from. Eve means what? The mother of
all living. She's our mother. That is, we
came from her. Ish, Lord, man, that's the Hebrew
word for man. Ish means man. Ishah, of man. Man was not of
the woman. The woman's of the man. Where
did we come up with the word woman? It came from man. keeper of the sheep, and so on
and so forth. Sarai. Sarai. Now her name, that
original name, means dominated. In other words, one
who seeks dominion. One who wants to rule. That was
Sarah's natural born name. Her name meant one who wanted
to have the rule, the dominion. to be the one in power, in charge. And the Lord said, don't change
your name to Sarah, princess, the one who's ruled over. Sarah. Sarah is a type of every person
the Lord saves, every one of God's elect, every believer.
How he must change our rebellious hearts Our rebellious minds,
our ways change us from being free will, rebellious, self-willed
men and women who think we are in charge, who want to be in
charge, to one who says, not my will, but thy will be done. Until we want to say, the Lord
rules, the Lord reigns, and I am his servant. One who wants dominion to Sarah,
princess. The Lord says she's going to
be a princess. Now, there's two ways that you
are a princess. Two ways one is a princess. By birth and by marriage. That's fitting, isn't it? Sarah,
a princess means a daughter of the king. Daughter of the king. One is born, if he's born of
a king, she is born of a king, she's a princess. She's born
a princess. If she marries a king's son, then she's a princess. You see? Either by birth or by
marriage, one becomes a princess. And what a picture that is of
every believer. Born a rebel, but God says, no,
I'm going to change their name. They're going to be a son. my
birth, Son of God. And since we're the female, we're
going to be princesses. The daughter of the King says
in one of my favorite scriptures, Psalm 45, listen to this, Psalm
45 says, the King's daughters are among thy honorable women.
Upon thy right hand, hearken, O daughter, and consider, incline
thine ear. See, you had nothing to do with
your birth. Be glad, be thankful for this
birth. So shall the King greatly desire
thy beauty. He is thy Lord. Worship thou
Him. The daughter of Tyre shall be
there with a gift. The rich among the people shall
entreat thy favor. The King's daughter is all glorious
with it. Her clothing is of wrought gold. And then we're made princess
or a daughter of the king by birth, by being married to the
king's son. Very soon we are going to look
at Hosea and Gomer. I have been listening to my pastor
preach from that and it received a great blessing. Very soon we
are going to look at that, how the Lord told a man to marry
a woman of whoredom and she became his bride. That is us. Now, I want you to think about
this. God has not yet spoken to Sarah. He's speaking to Abraham. He's
not yet said a word to Sarah. Abraham has gone to Sarah and
told her this. God is speaking to Abraham. For
this reason, I don't believe Sarah was yet a believer. Everything
spoken of here is spoken of Abraham. Abraham received the promise.
Abraham believed God and it was counted on him for righteousness.
Sarah's got to hear from the Lord. Sarah's got to be spoken
to. She's got to hear his voice.
And she does in the next chapter. And the way she hears it is he
sharply rebukes her. And that's fitting. But the Lord
said to Abraham concerning Sarah, this is what her name's going
to be. See, He's telling Abraham what all He's going to do concerning
Sarah before He even talks to Sarah about it. Before He reveals this to Sarah. He has
already purposed it. It's going to happen. It's going
to happen. This rebel's going to be brought
down. And there's going to be life created in her. And she's
going to be a blessing. This is a picture. Sarah is a
picture of the church. She's a picture of Christ's bride.
God said to Abraham, what God said to Abraham, He said to Christ
concerning His people. I will bless her. Your wife.
She's going to be a blessing. I'm going to put life in her.
A son is going to come out of her. Go to Galatians 4 with me. Galatians 4. Go over there. Seed
is what impregnated Sarah and brought forth life. Well, Christ
is our husband whose seed God puts in us. Look at Galatians
4. Galatians chapter 4. Sarah is
a picture of the church in general and every believer in particular.
Galatians 4. Verse 26, it says, Jerusalem,
which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. Jerusalem, he's talking about
new Jerusalem. We're going to look at that in
Revelation in a minute. But Jerusalem is new Jerusalem,
that is, true Jerusalem, spiritual Jerusalem is the church. It's
the church. which is above, is free. She's
the church in heaven. We're the church on earth. The
church in heaven is free. Free from sin. Free from suffering. Free from all these things. She's
the mother of us all. As it is written, verse 27, Rejoice,
thou barren, that bearest not break forth and cry. You who
are barren and dead and dry now full of life, thou that travailest
not, for the desolate have many more children than she which
hath a husband. Now we, brethren," he says, as Isaac was, are children
of the promise. We're the children. And you see,
Christ is our husband. He is the Word. He is the seed.
Christ in you is the hope of the Lord. Christ in us, the church. is our hope, is our life. The word, the seed, and this
is what God does through His church, like nations and people
would come out. Go to Revelation 12. Revelation
12. Nations and people came out of Sarah. Will it please God
by the foolishness of preaching? And that in the context of His
church, where His people are born again. and brought forth
and nurtured. This is what this Revelation
12 is all about. It's the church. Roman Catholicism,
which is false religion, which is part of the great whore, takes
this as meaning Mary, the Virgin Mary, who is queen in heaven. No, sir, she's not queen in heaven.
She doesn't have the moon under her feet. No, no. The church. Look at Revelation 12, verse
1. There appeared a great wonder
in heaven, a woman clothed with the Son. That's the church. That's the Bride of Christ clothed
with His righteousness. The Son of righteousness clothed
with Him. The moon under her feet and upon
her head a crown of twelve stars. The apostles. And verse 2. She being with child cried, travailing
in birth, and pain to be delivered. Well, we just read in Galatians
4, didn't we, what that's talking about, didn't we? The church who bears sons through
the preaching of the gospel. Verses 4 and 5, the red dragon,
which is Satan, persecuted her. His tail drew
the third part of the stars of heaven that cast them to the
earth. That's his ministers. who transformed themselves into
ministers of righteousness, Satan's false prophets, which are many.
The dragon stood before the woman, ready to be delivered, to deliver
sons. Nothing Satan wants more than
these children to be aborted. He doesn't want them to hear
the gospel. He knows what the power of God is. Yes, he does. It's
his grand design to keep people from hearing the gospel. He knows.
He sees it happen. He's seen many taken out of his
captivity. through the preaching of the
Word. And there's nothing he opposes more than the preaching
of the Gospel. We're not wrestling with flesh
and blood this morning to try to hear the Gospel. But with
principalities and powers, because this is our freedom. You know
the truth will set you free. Free from yourself. Free from
Satan. Free from fear. Verse 5, She
brought forth a man, child, who was to rule all nations. Christ
is that one chosen from among his people in the midst of his
brethren who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Christ
in the church, in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. All right, go to Revelation 21.
Go over here. Let's look at this. Revelation
21. And this is what we were Paul
was writing of in Galatians 4, verses 1 and 2. He says, I saw
a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, there was no more sea. And I,
John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven. Is that an actual city? No, it's
his church. Read on. Prepared as a bride,
adorned for her husband. And the great voice said, The
tabernacle of God is with men. And that's what the angel said
to John down in verse 9. He said in the last line, Come
hither, I'll show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried
me away to show me that great city, the holy Jerusalem. He
said, That's people. Not a place. We don't worship
a place any more than we worship this We don't worship a denomination. We don't worship a doctrine,
a creed, the Baptist doctrine. We worship God, and His church
is a people. All right, so Sarah is a picture
of the church. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue who are His church. is a picture of every believer
in particular. Every believer. The Lord said
that there's going to be a son in her. I'm going to put a son in her
through you. Amen. You're saved. Isn't that
what God does to us? He that hath the Son hath life. But where did it come from? Christ
is the seed. His Word is the seed. The Gospel
planted in us. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
She's going to be changed from an old woman to a new woman. Birth of a child is a wondrous
thing. It's a miracle of God's grace. It's a miracle of God.
She's going to be a new woman. She's been a barren woman up
to this point. She's been a sad woman. She's
been a bitter woman. She's been a rebellious woman.
She's been a dominating woman. I want to change her. I'm going
to put life in her. This is going to change everything
about her. You know, the old Puritan preachers
and the old Reformers used to call the gospel the pregnant
gospel. The word was pregnant. Pregnant
means full of life. When a woman becomes pregnant,
she's full, isn't she? Full of life. She had nothing
to do with it. She was impregnated. And this
light, God gives this light. And when a woman becomes pregnant,
do you ever notice a sheep takes on a glow? She just glows, doesn't
she? She's full of life. And that's
exactly what God does to a person who's dead and trespassing sin. He puts this glow. He causes
His face to shine upon them. He puts Christ in them, a new
creature. And they become a new person,
pregnant, full of life, Christ in us. Well, look at verse back
in our text. So Sarah represents the church. Sarah represents every believer. Abraham represents Christ, who
God made this covenant with, whose seed we are and whose seed
is in us, from whom we get life. He is our life. All right, verse
17 now. Abraham, when he heard this wonderful
news, he's already heard it. He's already heard it two or
three times, hasn't he? I asked last Sunday, does a hundred-year-old
man, a ninety-nine-year-old man need to hear the same message
over and over again? I looked at you, Mom, and you
kept going. Does an old person need to hear the same promises
over and over again? Oh, you've heard them before?
Surely you believe them fully by now. You don't need to be
reminded, surely. Surely you completely trust the
Lord and you never have a downtime. You never have unbelief. You
never have any doubts or fears. You believe the Lord fully and
you don't need to be reminded of that ever again, do you? Nothing
could be further from the truth. Tell me again. Peter said, I'm
going to remind you and remind you and remind you. These things
must be had in your remembrance. So the Lord again and again and
again tells Abraham. And how do you know that Abraham
knows the gospel, that Abraham loves the gospel, Abraham loves
the truth? God preached the gospel to Abraham.
This is the gospel. How do you know he loves it?
Because when he heard it for the umpteenth time. He fell on
his face and laughed. Me laughing every now and then
may irritate you, but I can't help it. I listened to a preacher
the other day. You listen to him too. He does
it quite a bit. I told you before of a man named
Henry Breedlove down in Sylacauga, Alabama. I'll never forget that
man. What a dear, dear man he was.
Worked in a mill, Avondale, where Robin's grandmother worked in
a garment factory like Ellen worked in. Worked there for years,
30 or 40 years. While he was a pastor, they couldn't
afford to pay him much, but he pastored this church for 40-some
years. Faithful, faithful man. And I went there ever since I
was born. And the thing I remember always about him was he laughed
a lot. He would go to every Bible conference
and he would sit right down on about the second row where the
stands sit. And I was forced, yes forced,
to sit on the front row as a boy where my dad could keep his eye
on again. But I remember that old fella laughing all the time. preacher would be preaching,
he'd just bust out laughing. And I just didn't understand.
Because I did not hear the joke that he was telling. I do now. I do now. And so one of my favorite
verses of Scripture is Psalm 126. It says, When the Lord turned
again our captivity, we were like them that dreamed. In other
words, this is too good to be true. Then were our mouths filled
with laughter, wherein we said, The Lord hath done great things
for us, wherein we are glad. It can't happen. It can't happen. Something so
wonderful. Abraham heard something so wonderful,
so marvelous, so miraculous, so above and beyond what he could
even think or ask for, that he fell on his face and broke out
laughing. Alright, let me ask you something.
Is there anybody who's dead in trespasses and sin in your family?
You got any rebels in your family? You got a mother or a father
who doesn't know Christ? You got a son or a daughter or
a wife or a husband that doesn't know the Lord? What if the Lord
came to you and said, they're going to have life? I'm going
to save them. What would you do? How would you react? Hope up. Hope up. Hope in His mercy. Weeping may
endure for a night. Joy in the morning. Joy in the
morning. See, the story here is of our
God's sovereign purpose, as in every story in the Bible. Our
God's sovereign purpose, electing mercy and grace in choosing a
people to save by His Son and putting His Son in them, putting
life in a dead sinner, quickening them from the dead. That's the
story. That's the gospel story. Always
has been. Always will be. He that hath the Son hath life. Can God save a 99-year-old man? Huh? Oh, yeah. He's able. Can God save a 90-year-old
woman? Yes, he's able. Can God quicken
one who's been long dead in trespass and sin, even stinking? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. He's going to say that to Abraham
in the next chapter. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is there anybody too dead? Is there anybody too dry? Is
there anybody too cold? Is there anybody too old? Oh,
come on. Hope up. Hope up. And as I said, this is a picture
of the church. You know, a church can dwindle. A church can get down and feel
like it's dried up and feel like it's dead and feel small and
that there's no life there. You know, as long as the seed
is there, as long as the Gospel is being preached there, It may
go a long time and seem like, well, is the Lord through here?
No. No. As long as the gospel is preached,
there's hope. I mentioned the church down in
Sylacauga, and that church