Now let's turn in our Bibles
to Genesis chapter 18, and I want to just read verses 9 through 15. And they said unto Abraham, that
is, these three men, of whom was the Lord in their midst,
they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said,
Behold, in the tent. And the Lord said, I will certainly
return unto thee according to the time of life and lo Sarah
thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard in the tent door
which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old
and well stricken in age and it ceased to be with Sarah after
the manner of women. She couldn't have children. Therefore
Sarah laughed within herself. Nobody heard her do this. She
laughed within her own heart. She laughed within herself, saying,
After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure in my Lord, that is,
Abraham, being old also? And the Lord said unto Abraham,
Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child,
which am old? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? At the time appointed, I will
return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall
have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I
laugh not. For she was afraid. And he said,
No, but thou didst laugh. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Would you think it's something
too incredible for the Lord to be able to cause a woman like
this, past the age of childbearing, to be able to have a child conceived
in her womb and bring it forth? There's something pictured here
that's even greater than this, and that is
the Lord's ability to create life within a dead sinner, and
to cause that sinner by his power to repent from all our sin and
all our unbelief, and to cause that sinner by his power to come
and believe on the Lord. Is there anything too hard for
the Lord? And not only that, but to increase
that faith, so that that one he's brought to Christ to believe
on will go forth in this world doing what God would have us
do, trusting that the Lord is able to provide. Is anything
too hard for the Lord? The Lord God has made the heaven
and the earth by His great power and by His stretched out arm
and there is nothing too hard for the Lord. Nothing too hard
for the Lord. In Daniel 4.35 it says, All the
inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he does
according to his will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say
unto him, What doest thou? He said in Isaiah 43.9, Remember
the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like
me. declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times
things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,
and I'll do all My pleasure. He called Christ Jesus His Son,
called Him from eternity to come forth into the earth, the God-man,
the man that executeth my counsel from a far country. Yea, I've
spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I've purposed it. I will also do it. Is there anything
too hard for the Lord? Without faith, it's impossible
to behold It's impossible to behold all that the Lord is able
to do. It's impossible to believe and
trust Him and see the glory of the Lord in bringing to pass
exactly what He's promised. Our text here tonight is dealing
with Sarah. This is what I want you to see
tonight. One of the ways that the Lord shows us that nothing
is too hard for Him is by His power to give us life and faith
and to increase that faith through His Word and through His providential
dealings with us. Our focus here is on God's dealing
with Sarah. Now the text begins in verse
1, and it says, The Lord appeared
unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre. And he sat in the tent
door in the heat of the day, and he lifted up his eyes and
looked, and lo, three men stood by him. Now one of these men
that stood by, that came there that day, was one of the pre-incarnate
manifestations of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That's
before he was incarnate, before he came in human flesh. This
is one of those manifestations of him to Abraham. He said here,
the Lord appeared unto him. The Lord appeared unto him. Now
these other two men were angels of the Lord, preachers of the
gospel, men. They appeared as men. That's
what they were. Look down at verse 22. It says,
And the men turned their faces from thence, and went towards
Sodom. But Abraham stood yet before the Lord. Two of these
men left and went to Sodom, but the Lord stayed there and spoke
with Abraham. Look down at Genesis 19 verse
1. There came two angels to Sodom
that evening. You see there? These two that
left, they went to Sodom and came there at evening time. Verse
10 says, and these were men. But the men put forth their hand
and pulled Lot into the house to them and shut the door." So
here's the first thing I want you to see in the way that the
Lord works this faith. He gives faith through His gospel. The Lord God does this. The Lord
Jesus does this through His gospel. In these two men, we see an example
of gospel preachers. They come along and they're bringing
the Word of the Gospel. They come to tell Abraham what
the Lord's going to do. The Scriptures tell us clearly,
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Now
Abraham believed God. He was given faith to believe
God. And we're told in Galatians 3.8, The scripture foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before
the gospel unto Abraham. That's how Abraham was given
faith. Preached the gospel to him, saying, In thee shall all
nations be blessed. That's how Abraham came to believe
the Lord, by the gospel. But a man can't give another
sinner anything. of ourselves. We can't give another
sinner faith, or repentance, or life, or anything. And so
we see here, the Lord's got to do the teaching. He's got to
do the teaching in the heart. So we see, with these men, the
Lord came also. He came. Matthew 18, 20, the
Lord said, where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them. That's what we have a good picture
of right here with Abraham. Jesus came and spake unto them,
saying, All powers given to me in heaven and earth. He said,
Go forth and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And He
said, And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.
So one reason that the gospel is taught through men is because
God's preachers that come forth preaching that gospel as under
shepherds, as under bishops, are a glorifying picture of Christ
our head, of Christ our shepherd, of Christ our bishop, who actually
does the teaching. He does the teaching as the gospel
goes forth. Abraham here, we see another
example of this. Christ is our husband. He's our
husband. And Abraham here, the Lord taught
Abraham, and Abraham was teaching Sarah. It says there in verse
13, the Lord said unto Abraham, wherefore did Sarah lack? The
wife's taught to learn of her husband in the home, not to be
usurping authority over the man in the church, but to learn in
silence and to learn from her husband at home. Why is that?
Because that's a picture of the woman, the bride, learning from
her husband is a picture of Christ the husband who's teaching his
bride, who teaches his bride. God's order of saving through
preaching is not to exalt man, it's to exalt Christ. to exalt
Christ. The dishonor that comes in rejecting
God's chosen means is dishonor to Christ. He's our bishop and
our husband. He's the one that does the teaching
and he's the one that's glorified even in the means which God ordained. You see that? That's the first
thing. This teaching, this faith comes
through the hearing of the gospel. When I study to find a message
for you, I've seen that. I know this to be a fact. When
God gives the message, He's given me a heart to be set on a text
to bring to you. And He shows me things in it
to bring to you. And he does it because he knows
what his people need to be taught. I don't know that. I don't know
it. Not like he knows it. He knows what his people need
to hear. And he applies it through the
word into the hearts of each and every one of his children
as they sit and hear that gospel declared. He's able to do that. I can't do that. He can do that
though. And he does that in power. Well
then secondly, through the Gospel, the Spirit of the Lord discovers
to us our sin and our unbelief. That's what happens through the
preaching of the Word. The Lord discovers to us our
sin and our unbelief. The Lord said when the Spirit
has come, he will convince all of his elect children of sin
because they believe not on me. Now, we see here as they sat
there, it said verse 9, they said unto him, Where is Sarah
thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. Now, Abraham believed God. Abraham
believed God. Scripture tells us that Abraham
left Ur of Chaldea through faith. When God called him, God gave
him faith and he left there through faith. And then later on in Genesis
15, it tells us that Abraham's justification was connected with
him believing on the Son of God. And it says there that because
Isaac, this son that was promised, that was coming through Sarah,
is a picture of Christ in whom all the seed, all the chosen
elect children of Abraham, Jew and Gentile, would be blessed.
because he's that promised one that's coming forth. That's the
picture of Isaac here. And Abraham believed the Lord
and it was counted to him for righteousness. That's not the
first place he believed the Lord. He believed the Lord when God
called him when he was yet in the land of Chaldea. He manifested
because he left that place and he followed the Lord through
faith, Hebrews 11 tells us. But it was told here that he
believed the Lord and it was counted to him for righteousness,
because there is the first place is connected with him believing
on the Son of God. And that's where all our justification
is from, is from the Son of God, who gave Himself a ransom, who
purged His children of all our sins and justified us of all
our transgressions. So, now, but concerning faith,
concerning Sarah, I want you to see this. Hebrews 11. Turn
there and look with me. Hebrews 11. Concerning Sarah,
the Holy Spirit tells us here of her faith being connected
with her conceiving that child. Now watch this. Hebrews 11.11.
Through faith also, Sarah herself received strength to conceive
seed. It was through faith that Sarah
received strength of the Lord to conceive seed and was delivered
of a child when she was past age. Because here's what faith
does. She judged God faithful who had
promised. That's where her faith is connected.
But now, here we see Sarah sitting here at this point, and when
she hears what the Lord says He's going to do, she laughed
at it. She didn't believe Him. She didn't
believe Him. Abraham believed God, but our
Lord's dealing with Sarah right here. Proof that Abraham believed
God is whenever he beheld the Lord come to this place, and
these three men that came there, Abraham went, he asked them to
sit there and stay with him. He brought water to wash their
feet. He said, stay here, let me prepare
a meal for you. Let me refresh you and comfort
you and then you can be on your way. Because he said, because
you've come to your servant. You've come to your servant.
And he went about hastily doing all that, getting it all prepared.
He went to the house and he said, Sarah, prepare some cakes. And
he went and he got one of his men and he said, go get this
good young calf and kill it and bring it. And so he made all
this preparation. But once he made all that preparation,
you know what Abraham did? Look there at the end of verse
8. And he stood by them under the tree and they did eat. He
sat down at the foot of the Lord and ate with them and sat there
with them. And they said, where's Sarah?
Where's she? She stayed in the tent. She was
in the tent. She didn't come out there with
them. I know somebody will say, well, that wasn't a custom of
the day. Women stayed away while the men ate. Well, maybe that's
the case, but the grace of our God overcomes the customs of
men. The grace of the Lord overcomes the customs of men. Mary sat
down at his feet. and Martha was cumbered about
with much serving. That's what I'm reminded of when
I see Abrahams here sitting with them and believing on the Lord
and Mary sitting back in that tent door. Well, how's she going
to be saved from that? She's going to have to be made
to see what unbelief is. She's going to have to be convinced
of her sin. Unbelief is not believing the Word of God. It's not believing
God's Gospel, His promise, His Word. Look at verse 10. He said,
the Lord speaking here, He said, I will certainly return unto
thee according to the time of life, and lo, Sarah thy wife
shall have a son. You see, He's there talking to
Abraham, but He's talking to Abraham because He's talking
to Sarah. That's who He's talking to. He's
there teaching, talking because He wants Sarah to hear what He's
saying. He said, I will, I will. How is a sinner born again? How
is a sinner made alive? How is a sinner regenerated? I will, he said. I will. It's
not by man's will. It's not by man's wisdom. It's
not by man's work. It's by God's will. I will. How is a sinner made willing
to bow to the Lord? It's not that you just hear this
gospel and all of a sudden one day you decide, I'll believe
him. He said, my people shall be made
willing in the day of my power. It's I will. I will. Sarah had
been taught this. She had begun to be taught this
back in Genesis 16.1. Look back there with me. Genesis
16.1. Now Sarah, Abraham's wife, bare him no children. And she
had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarah
said unto Abraham, Sarah came up with this. She said this.
She looked to her will. She looked to her wisdom. She
looked to her strength. Sarah said to Abraham concerning this
thing, God had already said He's going to give Abraham an heir.
And Sarah said, Behold, now the Lord hath restrained me from
bearing. She said the Lord's done that.
He's restrained me from bearing, from having a child. I pray thee,
go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children
by her." And Abraham hearkened to the voice of Sarah. If Sarah
knew the Lord had restrained her from bearing, why then didn't
she look to Him for wisdom? Why didn't she look to Him to
give her child, to make her bear? She was looking to her own wisdom,
to her own will. Unbelief is not believing the
Word of God. He said, I will return. Back
in our text, He said, I will. I will. He said, look there at
verse 10. He said, I will certainly. I
will certainly. Just as salvation is by God's
will, just as regeneration is by God's will, just as faith
is a gift of God, by grace, it's certain. It's certain. Absolutely certain. God is going
to call out all of His elect. He's going to call every one
of them out. Romans 4, let's look there. Look
there, Romans 4. This is who we're talking about.
This is God we're talking about. Look at, this is speaking of
Abraham's faith. He's talking about he believed
God. And look at what's said about God. Romans 4, 17. As it
is written, I've made thee a father of many nations. You see, he
believed the Word of God. Abraham did. Before him whom
he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead. You see that? That's
who quickens the dead. That's our problem. We're dead
in trespasses and sin. Who quickeneth the dead and calleth
those things which be not as though they were. Keep your place
there in Romans 4. We're going to look back. What
I'm saying to you is this thing is certain. If God says, I'm
going to do it, He's certainly going to do what He has said
in His gospel He will do. Look at the next word. Genesis
18.10. He said, I will certainly return
unto thee. God shall accomplish His promise
in each one of His elect by God returning to us. Sinners won't
return to God. We've gone away. Our sins have
separated us from our God. We've gone away backwards. There's
none that do us good, not one. We've all turned away. We're
like sheep gone astray. That's so of every chosen child
of God whom He's going to save, just like He's true of every
person in this world. Every person in this world. but
we're going to only be returned to Him and repent of all our
sin and all our unbelief and brought to trust Him when He
comes to us. When He comes to us and by His
power in coming to us regenerates us and gives us faith and repentance
to turn to Him and believe Him. God shall fulfill the word He's
spoken. Look at Genesis 18 and look there
again at verse 10. He said, I will certainly return
unto thee according to the time of life. according to the time
of life. And lo, Sarah thy wife shall
have a son." God has appointed the time that He's going to regenerate
His children, that He's going to form Christ in us as He formed
Isaac and Sarah. He's appointed the time. It's
a set time. He said back in... told Abraham
back in Genesis 17, He said, Sarah shall bear unto thee at
this set time in the next year. That's what he told him. Christ
shall be formed in his child of grace at the appointed time. It's coming at the appointed
time. But Sarah didn't believe his word. She didn't believe
his word. And Sarah didn't believe the
word because she was looking at her and at Abraham's ability
rather than at God's ability. Look at verse 10. And Sarah heard
it in the tent door which was behind him. She's behind the one speaking.
She's behind the Lord who's speaking. She's behind Him. She thinks,
He doesn't see me. He doesn't know what's going
on with me. Not only is He behind her, she's behind Him. Now Abraham
and Sarah were old. They were well stricken in age.
It would cease to be with Sarah after the manner of women. But
she's looking at herself and saying, I can't have children.
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, after I'm waxed
old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord, being old also? You see,
she's behind him, and she laughed in herself. She didn't laugh
out loud. She didn't laugh out so that
he could hear her. This was in her heart. And everything
she said is true. She couldn't produce a child. No more than you and I cannot
produce any fruit unto God. We can't produce any fruit that
will be pleasing unto God. The fruits of righteousness are
by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God. He works this
in us to bring forth fruit. Paul said in Romans 7, when I
was under the law, and I thought I could be saved by the law,
by my obedience to the law. He said, I was going about and
if you saw me, you would have thought there's a Pharisee of
Pharisees. He said, as touching the law, I was blameless. But
he said, in everything I was doing, I didn't bring forth any
fruit unto God whatsoever because it was all of my will and my
work and my wisdom thinking that the way to God is through the
law, by my doing, by my works. God won't have your works. Our
works are full of sin. Our works are full of rebellion
and trying to come to God by those works are works of iniquity. He said, in that day, many will
stand before me and they'll say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do many
wonderful works? Didn't we cast out devils? Didn't
we do all this in your name and preach in your name and do all
these things in your name? And he said, and I'll say to
them, right then at that time, depart from me ye that worketh,
you that continue to work iniquity by sitting here praising yourself
and everything you've done, you work in the same iniquity right
before me in judgment that you work when you walk the face of
the earth." That's what he said. But Sarah was rebuked here by
the Lord for her laughter because she laughed in unbelief. Now
you remember before this, Abraham laughed. When the Lord told him
this, Abraham laughed. But there was a difference with
Abraham. Abraham hid his face in faith.
Abraham hid his faith in reverence and he laughed with joy. He laughed
not in unbelief but in amazement and astonishment at what God
promised to do for him. That's not how Sarah laughed.
Sarah laughed here differently. And we know that Abraham's laughter
was in faith because back there in Romans 4, look there again,
Romans 4. Look down at verse 19. The Spirit
of God tells us plainly, verse 19, being not weak in faith,
Abraham considered not his own body now dead, when he was about
100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He
staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded
that what he had promised he was able also to perform, and
therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. The Lord shows
us that in his answer to Sarah that her laughter was different
than Abraham's laughter. He shows us because He rebuked
her because of it. And then we see it was different
laughter too because she tried to deny that she even laughed
at the Lord. Well, in that we're seeing here
that the Lord is going to convince us through the Holy Spirit, not
only that our sin is not believing God's Word, but that it's not
believing God's ability. It's not believing His ability.
Look at verse 13. The Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore
did Sarah laugh? saying, shall I of a surety bear
a child which am I? She didn't say any of that out
loud. This was all in her heart. As you're hearing this gospel
preached, you that don't know our Lord, you that haven't bowed
to the feet of Christ and cast all your care into His hand,
are you sitting there in your heart thinking, well, this is
not how God say. I don't believe this is how God
say. that He saves by His power and His wisdom alone? That He
saves by Christ alone? That He's able to regenerate
by His power alone? That He calls and turns a sinner
by His will and His work alone? Are you thinking in your heart
that that's not so? But God knows the heart. He knows
the heart. He said, where did she land?
Why did she land? And look at verse 14. Is anything
too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for the
Lord?" And he said, at the appointed time, I will return unto thee
according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. And
then Sarah denied, saying, I laugh not. Why did she do it? For she
was afraid. The fear of God is the beginning
of wisdom. Sarah's being taught something right here. The Lord's
teaching her. And she was afraid because she
tried to deny it at first. And that's what sinners will
do. Sinners will try to deny it first. Lord, I haven't denied
you. I believe you. I trust you. But
the Lord's going to convince us of our sin that we have not
trusted the Lord, that we have not believed on Him. He said,
no, but you did laugh. You did laugh. You see, God knows
the heart. God looks on the heart. He knows
that laughing of our flesh. He knows that laughing in the
heart. He knows that laughing of unbelief. He knows it. God
knows it. But let me tell you something,
that's a good thing. That's a good thing. You know
why that's a good thing? Because the Lord knows the heart
of those that He's determined to save, and therefore the Lord
knows best how to cure that heart of unbelief. He knows just what
He needs to put into the heart of His child to make us believe
Him. It's a good thing for a child of God that God knows the heart.
It's a fearful and dreaded thing for the unbeliever. But for a
child of God, this is a great, great thing that God knows our
heart. Now, is anything too hard for the Lord? God the Father
purposed before this world began that He was going to send His
Son into this world to redeem a people for Himself. God created
the heavens and the earth for that purpose. And all hell, from
the very beginning, endeavored to stop Christ from coming into
this earth. Tried to stop Him. Yet in the
fullness of time, in the time appointed, Christ came. God's
faithful. Is there anything too hard for
the Lord? The Lord Jesus Christ promised His Father in eternity
before anything was made that He would come forth and He would
accomplish the redemption of His people, purging them of all
their sin and present them to the Father faultless, holy, spotless,
without blame. That He would do that. And there
He sits. He's at the right hand of the
Father. Though all hell endeavored to stop Him from doing His work,
He finished the work. And there He sits at the right
hand of the Father, having obtained eternal redemption for us. As Art read there in Hebrews
10, expecting from henceforth till His enemies be made His
footstool. Is he frustrated? He shall not
fail until he's set judgment on the earth. Is anything too
hard for the Lord? And then Christ promised that
God the Holy Spirit would convince all of His elect children of
sin, because they believe not on Me, He said. Of righteousness,
because the work's finished and I go to my Father. And of judgment,
being completely, thoroughly satisfied for His people because
because it was satisfied in Christ Jesus. He said He's going to
convince all of that. And He's going to bring them
so that none will be lost, but every one of them. God's not
willing that any should perish, but that all should be brought
to repentance. You see, without faith it's impossible to please
God. And God's going to bring all His children to repentance
to believe on Christ Jesus the Lord. He's going to do that. For what if some did not believe?
Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
God forbid. Let God be true and every man
a liar. Quit looking at men to determine
if God can do what he says he can do. for the gifts and calling
of God are without repentance. He told them both. The time's
already set. The time's set. Now, who's going
to be turned? Is God going to be turned so
that He has to change His set time and do this at another time?
Or is Sarah going to be turned to believe the Lord? Which one?
She's going to be turned. The gifts and calling of God
are without repentance. God's not a man that He should
lie. Neither the Son of Man that He should repent. He hath said,
shall he not do it? He spoken, shall he not make
it good? Shall my word, he said, my word
that goes forth, he said, it will not return unto me void.
It will accomplish the thing whereunto I sent it. That's exactly,
and it'll prosper, he said, if we believe not. Yet he abideth
faithful. He cannot deny himself. God's
salvation is everlasting. God's election of grace is unchangeable. His love for His elect is everlasting
love. So that God's grace, His salvation
is everlasting and it's unchangeable. God has not left the security
of His saints to depend upon our feeble frames of dust. He
just has not done that. He hadn't left His everlasting
purpose to depend upon our faithfulness to Him. He hadn't done that.
But the faith of faith, The faith of faith, the faith of that faith
that God gives depends upon His unchanging faithfulness toward
us. There's a great difference in
that and what the world is preaching, what the world is teaching. But
we read in Hebrews 11.11 that through faith Sarah received
strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when
she was past age because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
But when we see Sarah right here in our text, she's a long ways
from that, isn't she? Is there anything too hard for
the Lord? Anything too hard for the Lord? Here's the third thing
I want you to see. Not only does He do this work
through His gospel, they came there and declared this word.
Not only does He convince us of sin through that gospel unbelief,
but God teaches us His gospel and is able to work everything
in providence to bring us to the end of ourselves so that
He sweetly forces His child to trust Him. You want to see God
do that? In everything that took place
before this, and everything that takes place after this, after
Mamre, God has providentially overruled everything. The sin,
the rebellion, the unbelief, He's overruled everything to
make Sarah experience her inability and God's faithfulness. He had
already showed Sarah her folly in her trial with Hagar and Ishmael.
Abraham went to Hagar and she had a son named Ishmael. But
salvation is not by our works. It's not by our will. It's not
by our wisdom. And Ishmael was a picture of that. And Hagar
was a picture of the bond woman, a picture of trying to come to
God in the law. And God said, that's not going to be how you're
saved. You're going to be saved through the son of promise, through
Isaac, that one who is a picture of Christ. And now, this omniscient
Lord that's sitting there has told Sarah. He's told her. Verse
15, Sarah denied, saying, I laugh not, for she was afraid. And
He said, no, but you did laugh, Sarah. You did laugh. You remember
the woman at the well? The Lord sat there and told her
everything about herself. And she ran from there and she
said, come see a man that told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Well,
immediately, no sooner than the Lord has rebuked Sarah and told
her this, look what happens. Genesis 18, 16. And the men rose
up from thence and looked toward Sodom. They looked toward Sodom. Sarah is in need of deliverance
from her unbelief, just like Lot was in need of deliverance
from Sodom. That's what she needs. That's
what every chosen child of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ,
needs to be able to trust Christ alone. You've got to be delivered
out of this Sodom world, and this sodomy of unbelief, and
this Sodom world of looking to yourself and ourselves. We've
got to be delivered out of that. Do you remember what the Spirit
of the Lord taught us to learn from Lot's deliverance? In 2
Peter 2.9, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations. That's what we learn from God
delivering Lot out of Sodom. Now that's what God's doing for
Sarah. Now watch this, Genesis 18.16, And Abraham went with
them to bring them on the way. And the Lord said, Shall I hide
from Abraham that thing which I do? Shall I hide from Abraham
what I'm about to do in Sodom? And here's one reason why he
said, I'm not going to hide it from him. I'm going to tell him
what I'm about to do. Verse 19, For I know him, that he will
command his children and his household after him. He's going to teach them what
I'm teaching him. And they shall keep the way of
the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon
Abraham that which he's spoken of him. He said, I'm going to
teach this to him. That includes his immediate household.
The Lord's teaching Abraham what He's about to do because that
includes Him going and teaching Sarah and continuing to teach
Sarah in this whole year coming up. That God's going to do this. God's going to do what He said.
I can picture how many trials and you've seen God call one
of His sheep out. We've seen that happen as we've
been here together. You've seen that. You've seen
it. And so you're reminded that God does deliver His child out
of captivity. He does work this work of grace
in the hearts of His people. How many times have you been
in trial yourself and seen God's work, God's hand at work to deliver
you out of that? So that you're reminded again
and again, He does deliver His children out. He does that. Well,
I can just picture Abraham this whole year that's going. They're
within a year of this happening, of this son being given. And
I can just picture Abraham with Sarah that whole time, continually
rehearsing to her the faithfulness of God, the faithfulness of God
to fulfill His Word, the ability of God to do everything that
He promised by reminding her. We saw it with Lot. Lot was down
there. He couldn't deliver himself,
and God brought him right out of there. God brought him out
of there. God delivered him out. And he's continually reminding
her of this. But you know when we learn that God's able? When
we experience it. We experience it. That's when
we learn God's able. By personal experience, we learn
that God can deliver His children Himself. That's when we're brought
to believe Him. Now let's go to Genesis chapter
20. Genesis chapter 20. In chapter 20, Abraham and Sarah
go to Gerar where Abraham and Sarah make Abimelech the king
of Egypt to think that Sarah is Abraham's sister. That's what they tell him. Again,
this was fleshly wisdom because it was a covenant Sarah made
with Abraham that she would do this when they went forward so
that she would lie about their relationship and say that she
wasn't married to him, that she was his sister. Sarah was beautiful. So that men wouldn't kill Abraham
to take her to be their wife and rather they would show kindness
to Abraham as they tried to woo Sarah. But when they did it,
the king of Egypt, Abimelech, he sent and he took Sarah. When they came in and they did
this, he sent and he took Sarah, took her captive. Now there's
Sarah and she's captive just like Lot had been captive. She's
captive. And he took her for a purpose.
It's shown in verse 4. Abimelech had not come near her. That means She was 89 years old
at this time. Sarah was. But she had no children
and we're told in Scripture she was a beautiful woman. She didn't
look her age. She was a beautiful woman. And
he took Sarah to make her his wife so that she would bear children
by him. That's why he took her. That's
why he took her. Do you know why the king wished
to do this? Do you know why the king wished
to do this? To take Sarah to bear children by him, because
the king's own wife and his handmaids, so he couldn't look to a Hagar
in his house, his own wife and his handmaids had been made barren. Look down. Does God do anything
by accident? Does He do anything by accident?
Look down at the end of Genesis 20, verse 18. For the Lord had
fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because
of Sarah, Abraham's wife. You see that? He did this because
of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Now, I don't think this was done
as a judgment against Abimelech for taking Sarah. I don't think
that because in such a short time, how could they have known
that all the wombs had become barren? You see what I'm saying? I think it was done by God beforehand
as part of God's purpose. Which led to the very reason
that the king took Sarah. So that when the king took Sarah,
God could deliver her from his hand and teach Sarah to trust
him. Teach her to trust him. And he
did it using the same problem with the king's wives and his
handmaid that Sarah had with herself. She couldn't bear children.
Now here's what Sarah was taught by this trial, by personal experience.
God Himself had the ability to restrain that king and made that
king deliver her. Look at verse 6. In the middle there, He said,
I also withheld thee from sinning against Me. He's talking to the
king. Therefore suffered I thee not
to touch her. I didn't allow you to touch Sarah.
He said, verse 7, Now therefore restore the man his wife, for
he is a prophet, and he will pray for thee that thou shalt
live, and if thou restore her not... See, he's dealing with
Sarah. If you don't restore her, know
that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine. God restrained
him. God made him deliver her up.
And then God used this Egyptian king to reprove Sarah and to
humble her. Look at verse 14. And Abimelech
took sheep, and oxen, and men's servants, and women's servants,
and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
God just delivered Sarah out of captivity from this Egyptian
king. And Abimelech said, Behold, my
land is before thee. Dwell where it pleaseth thee.
And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand
pieces of silver. A thousand pieces of silver.
He is rebuking her. This one you lied and said was
your brother. I have given him a thousand pieces of silver.
Behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes unto all that are
with thee and with all other. And thus she was reproved. He
is telling her, Take this silver and get a veil and put it on.
And come under the power of your husband. So men won't be led
to do what I've done. But by this whole thing, Sarah
was reproved. She's humbled. And God used Abraham
then to show Sarah that by faith in God, by depending wholly upon
God, she was going to bear a child. And that's the only way. Look
at verse 17. And so Abraham prayed unto God. You see, prayer is
not us turning God to us. Prayer is God turning us to Him,
to believe Him. That's what prayer is, us casting
all our care upon God to do what He's pleased to do. And Abraham
prayed unto God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife. He healed them both, and his
maidservants, and they bear children. and they bear children. Verse
18 says, For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the
house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Is anything
too hard for the Lord? Do you see what the Lord has
done here? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Did Sarah remain
in unbelief? No. She didn't. Because by all
this work of grace, by teaching her the Gospel, what He was going
to do, by revealing her sin to her, and by bringing her to experience
His own saving hand, delivering her out, by humbling her through
the reproof of this King, by making her to see Abraham cast
all his care upon the Lord, and the Lord gave Abimelech power
to bear children and gave his wife power to bear children,
and all his maids. The Scripture says, through faith Sarah also
herself received strength to conceive seed. Through faith
she did. And she delivered a child because
she judged Him faithful who had promised. Did all this work of
God's grace work? Was God able to use everything
at His disposal, including Lot down there in Sidon to show His
delivery, including this Egyptian king to show His power to deliver
and make this word effectual in Sarah's heart? Was He able
to do so? It said through faith she believed Him. What's the
very next word? Genesis 20 verse 1. And the Lord
visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as
he had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bare
Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God
had spoken to him. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is God able to turn his child and bring his child to
faith in him? That's what he did for her. Now
let's look at the application over in Psalm 107. Psalm 107
verse 5. You go through some trials. You
go through painful trials. Why do you hear this word? Why
do we hear this word and then we experience those kinds of
trials? Like Sarah did. Why do we do that? Notice this
pattern. Psalm 107 verse 5. Hungry and
thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the
Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.
Look at verse 12. He brought down their heart with
labor, they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their
distresses. Look down at verse 18. Their soul abhorreth all
manner of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death,
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saith with
them out of their distresses. God has a reason for His delays,
not until God has brought us to the end of our wit. We've
got a lot of wit, we think, but He's going to bring us to our
wit's end. Not until God has brought all our devices to fail,
all our efforts to nothing, not until He's brought us to see
our powers are dead, that the womb of our flesh is unable to
produce fruit. Then, when He turns us to trust
God and brings us to cry unto the Lord in our trouble, He shows
us His power to perform everything He's promised. Verse 7 says,
for He satisfies the longing soul, and He filleth the hungry
soul with goodness. You see that? He makes His power
and grace evident to do everything He's promised, even in the power
and the wisdom He uses to bring us to trust Him. Isn't that right? Well, there's one more thing.
This child, God said, name him Isaac. You know what his name
means? Laughter. Laughter. So that though now
we believe God and we become the laughingstocks of this world,
he's filled our hearts with the joy of laughter, the joy of faith,
of knowing all our salvation is accomplished by Jesus Christ,
the righteous one. And he makes us to remember that
our laughter of unbelief, He makes us to be ashamed of
that and to rejoice in Him. So that we say, ah, Lord God,
behold, Thou has made me a brand new creature by Your grace, by
Your work, by Christ Jesus' full redemption through the Holy Spirit,
by Your great power in Your stretched out arm. And I know there's nothing
too hard for Thee. Amen.