In Genesis chapter 18, the title
of this message subject to this study is, The Lord Comes to Speak
to Sarah. Or you could call it Sarah's
Salvation or Senator's Salvation. I really do believe that the
Lord revealed Himself to Sarah at this time. Now, the Lord Jesus
Christ is the one that appeared to Abraham as he sat in his tent
door. In the heat of the day, the Lord
had chosen Abraham, called Abraham, revealed Himself to Abraham,
and He loved Abraham and came to him two or three times to
reveal his covenant to him. And here in this chapter he comes
again to sup with Abraham, to eat with him. And Abraham saw
the Lord coming and he ran to meet him. He was so happy to
see the Lord, whom he knew now. And he bowed down and he worshipped
him. He was overjoyed to see the Lord. And he had called on
the Lord, he had sought the Lord, he had asked the Lord to do something
for him, for his son Ishmael. But Sarah did not. There's no
mention of the Lord speaking to Sarah at all up to this point,
is there? No mention at all. No mention
of Sarah calling or speaking to the Lord. No mention of Sarah
calling on the Lord, asking the Lord anything. If she heard anything,
she heard it through Abraham. She heard it through Abraham.
I'm quite certain Abraham went home and told her every time
the Lord spoke to him what wonderful things the Lord had done for
him. But she had not yet heard it from the Lord Himself. So
what a picture this is. The Lord chose Abraham, but He
chose Sarah too. She didn't know it. The Lord
loved Abraham, and Abraham loved the Lord, but the Lord loved
Sarah too, but she didn't know the Lord or love the Lord yet.
She's going to. The Lord foreknew Abraham, and
He foreknew Sarah, but Sarah didn't know the Lord. And, you
know, we love Romans 8, don't we? For whom He did foreknow,
forelove. for choose, for whom he did foreknow,
he did predestinate. He predetermined everything about
them. Them, their soul, their family,
everything about them was ordered in all things and sure. Don't
you love that? For whom he did foreknow, he
did predestinate to be conformed to his end, to be the sons of
God. And whom he did predestinate, he called. They're going to hear
from him. Everyone that he foreloved and
elected, chose, predestined, they're going to hear from Him.
He's going to call them by the gospel, by His Word. Sarah's
got to hear it from the Lord. And whom He did call, He justified. They're going to believe. They're
going to be justified, glorified by putting Christ in them. So
Sarah didn't know the Lord. He knew her. Sarah had not heard
the Lord speak to her, although she heard it through her husband.
And when the Lord came the previous two times, she didn't come to
him. She didn't come to meet him.
She didn't run to meet him, did she? She wasn't overjoyed. She didn't bow down. She didn't
worship him. She didn't call on him. But she's
going to. Sarah was a good wife. She was
a good, devoted, faithful wife. She was moral, I believe. Scripture
says she called her husband Lord. She was a devoted, submissive
wife to her husband. Matthew Henry pointed out that
she was in the tent. She was in her place. She was
a keeper at home. She was faithfully doing her
duty as a wife, but she didn't know the Lord.
She may be a good, moral person, but she doesn't know the Lord.
How many Saros in here? How many in here were maybe like
that, but you didn't know the Lord? A devoted wife, maybe even
a mother, but you didn't know the Lord? You had to hear Him
speak to you. You had not heard His voice.
Christ said, My sheep hear My voice, didn't He? That's not
a figure of speech. That's a reality. The Lord speaks
to His people. Though it's through a man, He's
going to speak to them in such a way that they're going to know
it's the Lord speaking to them. And He's going to reveal Himself
to them. He's going to reprove them of
their sin like He does Sarah here, their unbelief. He's going
to put Christ in them like He did this seed in Sarah. He's
going to put Christ in them, new life in a dead person like
He did Sarah here. All right, you know, Sarah's
name is mentioned nine times in these seven verses. This is
all about Sarah, what the Lord has said he's going to do with
Sarah. He never asked her one thing in all of this, except
why did she laugh? But he never asked her. He's
telling Abraham and then he's going to tell her what he's going
to do with her. Her name is mentioned nine times
in seven verses. Scripture says, He calleth his
sheep by name. And when the Lord deals with
you, you're going to know the Lord dealt with you. All right. Verse 10. Here's where it begins. Verse 9. The men said unto Abraham,
Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And the Lord said to Abraham,
I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of
life. And lo, Sarah thy wife shall
have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent
door behind him. The Lord came and here's what
he said again. He's saying the same thing again
and again. I will, and you shall. Here's what I have purposed to
do, and here's what you will do. Here is what is going to
happen. I have purposed all things. I
have determined all things. I have predestined all things.
I have ordered all things. I will, and you shall, Abraham. I will, and Sarah shall, Abraham. Sarah heard that. She heard that. And as I said, once again, the
Lord is repeating the same message to Abraham. The same message,
not a new message. Abraham had already heard this
two or three times, hadn't he? He's going to hear it again.
Why? Abraham loved hearing it. When he first heard it, it gave
him great joy. He laughed. His laughter was
a laughter of joy and rejoicing. When he laughed, it was It was
like Psalm 126. When the Lord turned our captivity,
we were like them that drink. Our mouths were filled with laughter.
It was like the disciples who when they saw the Lord after
He had risen from the grave said they couldn't believe for joy.
Do you ever say that? And I say it a lot. When you
hear something that's just almost too good to be true, you say,
I can't believe it. I can't believe that. You do,
but you just can't think of anything else to say. They couldn't believe
for joy. They believed, but they were
just so overjoyed, they just laughed. And so did Abraham.
He believed. He believed, but he was overjoyed.
And he laughed. And Abraham loved to hear this. And the Lord told him it again
and again. He needed to hear it again and
again. He's an old man. And he needs to be reminded over
and over again, as we do. We forget. We get downcast. We
need to hear the same good news over and over again. I will,
and you shall. I have, and it shall come to
pass. I have ordered all things, and
it shall. You need to hear that again.
The sure mercies of David, covenant of God with his people. He was
not grievous to Abraham. He loved it, and he believed
it. He needed to hear it. But this time, Sarah's hearing
it. She's hearing it from his mouth. She hasn't heard him say
it yet, but she's hearing it. from the Lord Himself. And that
is what we hope and what we pray for, for those of our loved ones
and whoever, that we want them to hear it. We've told them,
haven't we? We've told them. We've tried
to tell them. We've witnessed to them. We've talked to them,
our children, our parents, our brothers and sisters and neighbors.
We've tried to talk to them. And we can't make them believe
or love or hear it at all. And what we hope and pray for
is that the Lord will speak to them. The Lord will speak to
them. I know that was Abraham's prayer. And here's what she first hears.
Here's the first thing she hears. The Lord says, I will certainly
return unto thee at the time of life. She hears of the absolute
certainty of the Lord's will, the sovereignty of the Lord.
This is what everyone who meets the living and true God and true
Christ hears. This is the first message that
we hear, is that of Him who worketh all things unto the counsel of
His will. We've heard all our lives about
a God who can't do anything unless man will. Man's will. Man's will. That's all we heard
all our life. And then finally, in the Lord's
good time, we hear from God through His Word, through a man, through
a preacher, we hear that no, no, no. God does as He will. When Nathan came to Paul, remember
Saul, he said, he had chosen you that you might know His will. It's all according to His will.
And He's purposed all things. His purpose is in Jesus Christ.
That's what everybody's going to find out. Every one of His
people. So what she heard was the Lord who works all things
after His will, and the certainty of it. He said, I will certainly
return. The certainty of all that He
said in purpose, that it will come to pass. Oh, I love this
in Luke chapter 1. This is what He said in Luke
chapter 1. He said, let me find it here. Alright, here it is. He said, I want to declare unto you those
things which are most certainly, surely believed among us. They delivered them unto us.
And it says, we're telling you that you might know the certainty
of those things. The Lord has told us, declared
unto us these things, the certainty of these things. The God who
works out all things and works all things according to His will
and purpose. Go to 2 Timothy 1. You've heard my dad's story when
he was a young Armenian preacher, you know, how the Lord sent a
preacher named Ralph Barnard to him. And you remember that
story. He's told it many times. I've
told it. Rock Marder, the true preacher, came to town. And Dad was a young, moving up
the ladder, young Armenian preacher. But lost. Didn't know God. And my mother was the same thing.
And this preacher stood up and was preaching from Romans 8 and
had Dad stand up and quote that. Do you remember that story? Dad
stood up and said, we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, and sat down. And Barnard looked at him and
said, young man, you didn't quote it all. Quote it all. Stand up
and quote all of it. And he stood up and said, well,
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God or the called according to His purpose. And Dad said,
as soon as he said purpose, Barnard screamed at the top of his lungs.
which preachers were prone to do back then. Purpose. Purpose. The God of the Bible
does all things on purpose. He said to him, looking right
at him, he said, learn something of the purpose of God, you'll
know something of the God of the Bible. Well, lo and behold,
he and my mother both Went back and opened the book of Romans
and started reading it with that in mind, the God of purpose.
And the Lord revealed Himself to them. Here in 2 Timothy chapter
1, Brother Donnie Bell, he was a Pentecostal, pew-hopping, tongue-talking
preacher. Brother Donnie Bell, most of
you know him, some don't. Pentecostal, I mean, as he would
say, wild as a Red River steer. Literally, a few-hopping, tongue-talking
preacher, but lost. Full of the Spirit, all right,
but not the Spirit of God. And he said he was reading. Now,
he'd heard Dad preach and other men. It was beginning to arrest
his heart and mind, the truth of who God is. And he says he
happened to cross. His hap was the light in this
passage right here. 9 of 2 Timothy 1 says he was reading
this, God who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling,
not according to our work, but according to his own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. And he said it was like an arrow
that hit him in the chest, like a sledgehammer knocked him right
between the eyes. He's the one who worked with
all things, after the purpose of all things, does all things.
This is the God of the Bible. All right, go back to Genesis
18. This is what she heard. Let all be taught this of God. All God's children are taught
of God, that He is God. In the fullness of time, according
to the time of life, like Sarah, according to the time of life,
they're dead. This is life. that they might
know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ their God. And
when He puts His Son in them, the incorruptible seed, the Word,
when I prepared this before I left, and I didn't know what the other
message was going to be until while I was down there preparing
it. I didn't realize how much to
go to get. It is, it shouldn't surprise
me. Alright, so God said to Abraham, and Sarah heard it, I will and
Sarah shall. Now, Sarah has to first repent
of her sins. Salvation, the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. How shall they call on Him whom
they do not believe? They just call for mercy. This
is the first thing that sinners do. Call on the Lord. They call
for mercy. They're not going to call on
Him whom they do not believe. They're not going to believe in Him whom
they have not heard. They're not going to hear without a preacher.
And she doesn't believe this. She doesn't believe this. She
hears it. She's not convicted of sin. She
doesn't fear the Lord. This is the Lord speaking. Look
at it. Look at verse 11. Now, Abraham
and Sarah were old and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with
Sarah after the manner of women. The manner of women, what's that?
Well, what he's talking about here is a young woman full of
life, a desire for her husband, able to have pleasure, concede
seed and produce life. That's the manner. of women.
Sarah is now old. There's not that desire. She
can't have pleasure. And she can't conceive seed.
She's dead. She's dead. She's dead and waiting to die. She can't conceive. She can't
believe. This is a picture of every person
the Lord comes to. No desire for Christ. Scripture
says when we see Him, there's no beauty in Him that we should
desire Him. When you hear about Christ, you
hear the gospel, you hear about God, it's not interesting. We
did. No pleasure. Had no pleasure
in these things. When you hear about salvation
and mercy and grace and the gospel of good news, it's not good news
to you. It gives you no pleasure. You
did. Right? You don't believe it. You don't believe God. You don't
believe Christ. You don't believe you're a sinner. You don't believe
He's coming again. You don't believe any of it. You don't
believe the Bible. You don't believe. You cannot believe.
You cannot conceive. The seed hasn't been planted
in you. You're dead. Right? It's going to take a miracle. What's it going to take for a
100-year-old woman to have a child? It's impossible with man. What's it going to take for her
to receive seed, to conceive, to have pleasure? Long gone. To desire? Long gone. What's it going to take? It's
going to take a miracle. A miracle. Verse 12 says, Sarah
laughed within herself, to herself. She's in a tent. She laughs.
I can hear it. I've heard it before. I've done
it. I've done it. You heard the truth. A laugh of ridicule. Yeah, right. Ever heard that? Ever done that?
Yeah, I heard that, but. It's a laugh of unbelief, a laugh
of mockery and ridicule. It's different than Abraham's
laugh. I can hear Labrand laugh because I've done it too. When
the Lord told him she was going to have a child. That's just wonderful. He believed. She didn't. How can this be? This is ridiculous. This is absurd. Who ever heard such a thing?
That's what she said. That's what she said. She laughed. After I'm waxed old, shall I
have pleasure in my Lord being old? I can't believe that. I've
preached to many people now over the years in different places,
and I've seen smiles of joy. And I've seen people smiling.
Smirking. It's a hard matter for me not
to get mad. I just admit it. Write that. It's hard. I was
preaching somewhere one time, a new place, and I was very serious
about it. I'd gone a long way to preach
this message. There was a bunch of young people in there. And
oh, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that the Lord
would rest their young hearts and reveal Himself to them. There
were a few of them He's cutting up and smirking and smiling and
laughing. First thing I want to do is wring
their necks. And I thought with him, I said, will you laugh at
God? Will you laugh in the face of danger? Will you mock God? You know, God said, God is not
mocked. Are you going to laugh at this? Do you think this is
funny? And I did say that to him. I
couldn't help it. I said, you think this is funny? One of the most striking verses
in all the Bible that I know of is in Proverbs 1, where the
Lord said, I called and you refused. He said, you laughed, you mocked. He said, there's going to come
a time when you're going to call and I'm not going to hear you.
He said, I will laugh. I would laugh. I would laugh. James said this. James said, Let your laughter
be turned to mourning. Better to enter the house of
mourning than laughter. Better to mourn. For those who
mourn, our Lord said, Blessed are they that mourn. Mourn over
sin. The Lord finally And His mercy
and grace reveals to them something that this is life and death.
That your life is in the balance here. That you're weighed in
the balances and found want. Yes, you. And unless the Lord
has mercy on it, you. You're a goner. And then the
Lord says, blessed are they that mourn, they'll be comforted. They'll laugh. All who mourn
over their sin, they're going to laugh. And he who laughs last,
laughs best. Why would Sarah laugh at the
Word of the Lord? Why would anybody laugh at the
Word of the Lord? Why would anyone laugh at and mock God, His Word,
His truth, when it's all good? It's all true. It's all just. It's all mercy. It's all grace. It's all meant for our good,
our well-being. Our eternal good is all good.
What the Lord says is right. It's just. It's good. It's true.
It's for our good. Men laugh in the face of good.
But they do. I did. I did. They'd make a mockery
of God and the truth. They tempt God. You know, they
lie. They defy God. They make a mockery of sin, hell,
and death, and defy God to do anything to them. My, my, my. Isn't God merciful? And such were some of you, me,
but God." Sarah laughed. Sarah laughed. And the Lord said,
and now Sarah heard this, verse 13, the Lord said unto Abraham,
He said it to Abraham and she heard it. Why did Sarah laugh? I hear her laughing. I see him
smiling. Why did Sarah laugh? And then he went on to say, Is
anything too hard for the Lord? Shall I be sure to bear a child,
she said, and watch him old? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? It's a good thing that nothing's too hard. It's a good
thing that no one's too hard. It's a good thing that no one's
beyond His reach. Isn't it a good thing? If we're
left to ourselves, if our children are left to themselves, they're
left their way right into hell, we would too. Is anything too
hard for the Lord? She heard this. She heard this. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? She heard that the Lord said, I will, she shall. She
heard this. Now He tells her through A man,
she overhears this, anything too hard for the Lord? Is not
God sovereign? Is not everything of Him, through
Him, to Him and by Him? Is He not God over all, Creator,
Sovereign Lord and Ruler of the universe? The heavens declare
His glory. Wrath revealed from heaven, you going to laugh at
God? How could you not believe God is God? How could you believe
the foolishness of man? How could you fall for everything
in this world? How could you fall for all of
this, huh? Will you laugh at God? You're not going to laugh
now. He said it again, he said it
again, he repeated it, and now Sarah really hears this. Verse
14, at the time appointed, I will return unto thee. Laugh if you
will, but I will return according to the time of life, and Sarah
shall have a son. I am so thankful. I am so thankful. I heard this
message growing up. I heard it, I heard it, I heard
it, but I didn't hear it. I'm so thankful one day the Lord
said to me, I am and you shall. Buddy, I heard that. Sarah heard
that too. What's she laughing at? I will. And she shall, and Sarah heard
that, and it put the fear of God in her. Look at it. Verse 15. First, she's too afraid. She says she was afraid. She's
too afraid. She denies this. Verse 15. Sarah
denied, saying, I laugh not. She was afraid. We're in denial. You know, when the Lord begins
to deal with us, when a person They don't know what's going
on. It's something new. It's something that's never happened to them
before. They try to deny, and this and that and the other,
but you can't. But the Lord began it. He's going to perfect it.
He's going to finish it. Modern religion, false religion,
you know, says you've got to create the right environment.
You know, don't want the spirit moving. Let's play this song
softly while everybody's heads bowed. Let's keep the spirit. You don't want to, because you've
got to strike while the iron's hot. Now, you've got to strike
with a hiring hog, but God doesn't. When He deals with somebody,
He's going to deal with them. And they can't get away from
it. And they may be in denial, and there may be this and that
and the other, but they're going to hear from Him. And they're going to
admit, they're going to bow, they're going to repent, they're
going to call. Sarah said, The Lord rebuked her fervently. He said, yes, nay, but thou needst
not. I believe Sarah was in that tent.
She's in that tent. She's overhearing all this. She
overhears all this. And the Lord said it, and she
laughs. And then the Lord said, why did
Sarah laugh? And then Sarah sticks her head
in. Now Sarah comes out. She comes out of that tent to
face the Lord. To look in His eyes. And the
Lord looks into her eyes and said, yes, you did. And that's what it's going to
take in it. It's going to take the Lord Himself dealing with
a person face to face and say, yes, you did. Yes, you are. That buddy, he's not laughing anymore. She's
not laughing anymore. She's trembling. Fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Isn't it? What happened to Sarah? Chapter 21. Now, she was old. She had no desire. She had no pleasure. She could
not conceive seed. She could not believe. But she
does, according to the word of the Lord. Look at chapter 21,
verse 1. The Lord visited Sarah as He
had said, just like He said. And the Lord did unto Sarah as
He had spoken. See, faith cometh by hearing,
hearing by the Word. And Sarah conceived and bare
a son in old age at the set time, in the fullness of time, at the
exact time of which God had spoken to him. And look down at verse
6, and Sarah said, God has made me laugh. So with all that's here, what's
she going to do now? What's she doing now? The Lord
put a son in her. The Lord gave her pleasure. The Lord gave her desire for
her husband, pleasure, and those things she had no pleasure in
before, and put a son, a promise in her. Christ in you is the
hope of glory. Paul said, when it pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me. Saul of Tarsus used to laugh until God put Christ in him.
And she said, laugh. And everybody that's going to
hear this from me is going to laugh with me. Rejoice with me. At the appointed time, when it
pleases God, God's people will hear from the Lord. They will
be convicted of their sin, righteousness, and judgment. Christ will be
revealed in them, and they will have the Son. See, they'll have
the Son. That's life. They'll have a knowledge
of the Son, a need for the Son, a love for the Son, a desire
for the Son, a pleasure in the Son. And they'll have Him created
in them. in the image of His Son. It's going to happen. It's all
that God predestined. All He foreknew is going to happen.
And this is our hope. See, this is my story. This is
what happened to me. I'm Sarah. I laughed. I told
you... You want to hear a... Listen to me. Louis, would you
listen to me? This is a very sobering, very sobering thought. We're going to Ashland, my 40th
reunion. 40th. This boggles my mind. The verse kept running through
my head. Go home and tell what great things the Lord has done
to you. Some of those people I hadn't seen in 30 years. I
went to my tenth. And I wasn't going to go. I wasn't
going to go, was I? I was not going to go right up
to the last minute. I said, I'm going to go. So we
are. Well, some of those people I
hadn't seen. I remember one fellow who was my friend, my closest
friend, my best friend. I was telling Brother Kelly about
all of my friends. Mother, you know all these fellows.
You know Gary Clark. He's dead. You know Johnny Morton. He's dead. Mark Ball, he's dead. All my friends, you know, dead.
Looney Wurtz, he's dead. These were my closest, closest
friends I grew up with, ran with all my days. John Lacy. my very, very closest friend. We were going to, you're going
to laugh at this, but we had this plan since our junior year.
We were going to save up all our money and buy motorcycles.
And get on those motorcycles the day we graduated and get
lickety split out of Dodge, you know. We're going to hit the
road and here I'm going to live wild and free like you did in
the 70s, you know. Easy rider, that was us. Seriously,
me and Johnny Leslie, we were inseparable, weren't we, mother?
Inseparable friends. Well, something happened to him
our senior year that he couldn't go, and that just messed up everything.
And then I took off anyway, and the Lord, mercy and grace, to
make a long story short, brought me back, sent me unto the Gospel,
revealed Himself to me, Well, while he was revealing himself
to me at that time, I looked up John Lacy, my friend. Because I had to tell him something. Because the last time I'd spoken
to him, I told him, I laughed at this gospel. I remember telling
him, I don't believe any of that stuff my father preached. I can
just prove it. I laughed at all of that. I made
a mockery of it. And that's what I told him. Well,
I looked him up after the Lord revealed himself, and I looked
up Johnny. We went somewhere together, and
I sat down and talked to him about the gospel. I had that
blessed opportunity to tell him to renounce. John, I was wrong.
The things that I denounced before, I believe, I love, and you need
to. But I found out the other day,
he's dead. I was kind of looking forward
to seeing him. He's been dead 12 years and I
didn't know him. I'm thankful for that opportunity. I don't know what happened to
him. I don't know what happened to him. I laughed for a while. But thank God. Thank God. He came to me at the point in
time. and revealed his son in that. I'm laughing again. I'm laughing now, but not at
him. With him. Maybe I'll see Johnny. Wouldn't that be something? I
don't know what I'd do. Maybe I will. This ain't no laughing
matter.