Alright, let's open our Bibles
to the book of Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. I've been
preaching through this chapter and going back into the Old Testament
to see what God's Word has recorded concerning the individuals mentioned
here. Today we're going to look at
verse 11 which speaks about a woman named Sarah who was the wife
of a man named Abraham. We've already spoken of Abraham.
Verse 8 talked about Abraham when he was called to go out
into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance
obeyed by faith. Every one of these individuals,
it's prefaced by the phrase, by faith. Well, look at verse
11. It says, through faith, also
Sarah, herself receives strength, power. To do what? To conceive seed. To have a child. And was delivered of a child
when she was past age. She was in her 90s. And it says, because she judged
him faithful who had promised. And then verse 12 says, therefore
sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead," that's
talking about Abraham, he was in almost a hundred, "...so many
as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the
seashore innumerable." That's talking about his descendants.
Sarah and the promised seed. That's what I want to talk to
you about this morning. Somebody asked me since I've
been going through Hebrews 11, that because this is the Sunday
on which people are thinking about the resurrection of Christ,
if I was going to divert from this and preach a message on
the resurrection, and I didn't, I just thought this, this is,
you know, first of all, every Sunday and every Wednesday that
I preach, I preach on the resurrection. Every gospel message is a message
about the resurrection of Christ. You understand that. The gospel,
the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ. We celebrate the resurrection
every day if we're believers. So that's not really an issue.
The gospel is the presentation, the revelation of the righteousness
of God, Romans 117. Well, that righteousness of God
is the merits of Christ's obedience unto death. as the surety and
substitute of his people. It's what he accomplished to
justify his people before God so that we could stand before
God not guilty, righteous in God's sight, not through works
of our own, and not even through any decisions that we make, but
through the work of Christ on the cross as evidenced by his
resurrection. Why did he arise from the dead?
Because he established righteousness for his people, because he paid
the sin debt for God's chosen people and secured their salvation. Well, the story of Sarah and
the promised seed is the story of what? Life from the dead. And what's the resurrection about?
Life from the dead. But here's the point. Now look
at this again. Through faith, verse 11, Through
faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive C. Now in
this passage, the word faith, and I've told you before, I'm
not here to give you an English grammar lesson, but if you didn't
listen to your English teachers in school, shame on you. Because you may not know the
difference between a noun and a verb, but you probably do,
I hope you do. Hope you listened. What is a
noun? It's a person, place, thing,
or idea. What is a verb? It's an action
word. This word faith throughout this passage is a noun. And it's
not talking about Sarah's believing here. In other words, many would
look at a verse like this and they say, well, Sarah really
believed else she would not have had a child. It was her faith
that brought this child. That's what people believe, but
that's not so. That's not so at all. This is not, Sarah did not receive
strength to bear a child because she had strong faith in the fact
of it. I just believe it's going to
happen, you know, wishful thinking kind of thing. The strength came from God and
because of the promise that God had made already to Abraham to send him a child according
to God's sovereign purpose and will ultimately to bring a Savior
into the world named the Lord Jesus Christ. You want me to
prove it to you? Look back at Genesis chapter
16. the book of Genesis. You know
the story of Abraham, the story of Sarah. And I want you to think about
this. Here's Sarah, verse 1 of Genesis 16. Now her name was
Sarai, and then it was changed later to Sarah. Sarai, Abram's
wife, his name was Abram, then changed to Abraham. Genesis 16,
1. Sarai, Abram's wife, bare him
no children. Now this is in light of the fact
that God had already promised Abraham back in Genesis chapter
12 that he would have a multitude of descendants. And as they grew
older, as a husband and wife, they had no children. Sarah was
barren. Her womb was dead, in essence.
So what happened? Sarai, Abram's wife, bearing
no children, and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
And Sarai said unto Abraham, Behold, now the Lord hath restrained
me from bearing. I pray thee, go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children
by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice
of Sarai. What a stalwart of faith. God hadn't given me a child,
so you go in to the handmaid. Does that sound like a woman
who's believing strongly what God said? And then look over
here at Genesis 17. Look at verse 15, Genesis 17. This is, of course, this is after
the angels of the Lord, the Lord himself and two angels came and
appeared to Abraham about Sodom. In verse 15 it says, And God
said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call
her name Sarai, but Sarah, shall be her name, 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." Now here's a woman
either up in her 90s or close thereof, and God's telling her
husband she's going to be the 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
90 years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, oh,
that Ishmael might live before thee. Abraham, see, he thought
it was going to be through Ishmael. And God said, Sarah thy wife
shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name
Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant
with his seed after him. Now you see that. What's going
on here? And then look over at Genesis
18, right there. Speaking to Abraham, they said
unto him, where is Sarah thy wife? Verse nine. He said, behold,
in the tent. He 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 it in the tent
door which was behind. She overheard what they're saying.
She's gonna have a son. Now Abraham and Sarah were old
and well-stricken in age. It ceased to be with Sarah after
the manner of women. Sarah laughed with it herself,
saying, after I am grown old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord,
being old also? And the Lord said unto Abraham,
why did Sarah laugh, saying, shall I of the surety bear a
child which I am old? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? And 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 laughed. She said, I laughed not. In other
words, she laughed, and then she lied about laughing. Again,
what a stalwart of faith. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not
putting down Sarah. If the Lord came to me and Debbie
right now and said, you're going to have a child, I'd probably
laugh too. I'd probably go nuts. Probably
just say, just shoot me. So I mean, I'm not saying, well,
I'm, you know, we're better than Sarah. You know, we wouldn't
have acted that way. You know, that's what most people, how
they read the Bible. They look at the Jews under the
old covenant and their failures and their sin, and they think,
well, not me. You know how you read the Bible,
the not me syndrome or accept me syndrome. There's none righteous,
no, not one, except me. There's none good, no, not one,
except me. Well, don't read the Bible that way. My point is this. This faith is not the act of
belief. Now, Sarah did actually come
to believe what God said. She did actually come to believe
that. But you see, we're all by nature unbelievers. You're not born into this natural
world as a natural person believing. because we're all spiritually
dead in trespasses and sin. That's why we need resurrection.
You see, when Christ said you must be born again from above
spiritually, that's a resurrection that comes from the resurrection
life of Christ. But over here in Hebrews 11 it
says that Sarah was given strength Where'd that strength come from?
It came from God. It didn't come from Sarah. It
didn't come from her faith. There was no spark of goodness
in her to receive strength. It was God's promise. God said,
I'm gonna do this. And he did it in spite of Sarah. Do you know that if you're saved,
now listen to me very carefully here. If you're saved from sin,
you're saved in spite of yourself. I'm saved in spite of myself.
Salvation is of the Lord. And that's what this is all about.
God made a promise. God kept the promise. And it
wasn't conditioned on or dependent upon anybody like Sarah or even
Abraham or even Enoch or Abel before them or Noah. These were
all sinners saved by the grace of God. That's what they were. They had no goodness, they had
no willingness, they had no righteousness, but that which God sovereignly
gives his people through Christ, the Lord of glory, the resurrected
Christ. But here it says, through faith
also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed. That's a child,
that's what it says, delivered of a child. This is Abraham's
seed. Well, when you read the Bible,
who is or who are Abraham's seed? You ever thought about that?
Well, Abraham had different seeds, descendants. And the context
has to determine who they are. For example, Abraham had a natural
seed, physical, his children. And it includes a man named Isaac. That's the one that Sarah had
in her old age. That's the miracle child, the
child of promise. Born out of due time without
any strength from man or woman. That's Isaac. And out of Isaac
came the Jews, the Israelites, natural. physical. But you know Abraham
also had another child who was called his seed in the Bible
from a bondwoman, an Egyptian named Hagar. And out of Hagar came a man named
Ishmael, and out of Ishmael came the Arabs. So as far as a physical
seed, both Jew and Arabs, are physical descendants of Abraham.
And the Bible teaches that. That's Abraham's natural seed.
Like Isaac, Ishmael also received physical covenant blessings because
he was Abraham's child. You know that God told Hagar
that out of Ishmael would come kings too? Just like Isaac? But there was also a special
covenant blessing reserved for Isaac. And you might call this
Abraham's special natural seed. And that's all the physical descendants
of Abraham through Isaac, later narrowed to a man named Jacob.
Mark read about that in Romans chapter 9. Jacob, you remember
the twin sons of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau. Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. People don't like that. They
say, come on now. God doesn't hate anybody. Well,
the Bible says he does. The problem you have with conceiving
that or understanding that is you look at God's hatred like
your own or mine. And our hatred is wrong, it's
sinful, but God's hatred is not. God's hatred is his rejection
of persons upon a just ground. That's what that hatred is. If
God rejected me, it would have to be upon a just ground. A just
reason to do so. And that's what he did to Esau. He gave Esau what Esau deserved,
what Esau earned. You say, well, that seems fair
to me. Well, it is fair. Is there unrighteousness
with God? Didn't Mark read that? God forbid.
It's fair. It's just. But I'll tell you
what. Do you want God to give you what
you've earned and what you deserve? Because I don't want God to give
me what I've earned or deserved. I want grace. Salvation is by
grace. It's not what I earned and what
I deserve. What have I earned? What do I
deserve? Well, the wages of sin is death.
and all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Grace
reigns through what? Righteousness, justice unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The salvation that I enjoy, the
salvation that I possess was earned and deserved by one person,
the God-man, Jesus Christ, who died, was buried and arose again
the third day. He earned it. He deserved it.
And it's given to me unconditionally and freely. That's it. But Abraham has what we might
call a unique seed or a special natural seed. That's the physical
nation Israel. Remember he made a covenant with
Israel at Mount Sinai through Moses. He gave them the promise
of that physical land, the land of promise. But you know what
the main issue of the covenant that God made with that nation
through Moses on Simon? You know what the main point
of it was? It was through them, that nation,
physically, that the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ would
come. In fact, Matthew makes a big deal of that in his genealogy,
Matthew 1. He talks about how Jesus of Nazareth,
Jesus Christ, was born of David and born of Abraham. The seed
of David, the seed of Abraham. And if you'll look over in Galatians
chapter 3, look here. Let me show you something here.
And my point is this, when you talk about the seed of Abraham,
who's it talking about? Could be talking about Ishmael.
Look at the context. Could be talking about Isaac. Look at the context. But there's
a unique seed of Abraham. A one-of-a-kind seed of Abraham. And look at Galatians chapter
3 and verse 16. Listen to this. Now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. Now what Paul's talking
about here in Galatians is the promise of eternal salvation,
life, eternal life, eternity with God, salvation, justification
before God, being righteous and accepted and right with God.
That's the promise he's talking about here in Galatians. And
to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not
unto seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which
is Christ." And what's that teaching? It's teaching that all the promises
of salvation, all the blessings of salvation, all the promises
of eternal life were conditioned on one person, one unique, one-of-a-kind
person, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the nature
of salvation. That's the nature of the covenant
of grace. It's not conditioned on me, it's not conditioned on
you, it's conditioned on Christ. And the Gospel message is this.
Christ fulfilled all those conditions. He met them all. To the point
that He secured the salvation of God's chosen people, all whom
the Father gave Him before the foundation of the world. Not
one of them will perish. It's what the Bible teaches.
He redeemed them. Look at verse 13 of Galatians
3, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Being made
a curse for us, surety, substitute. You know what a surety is, don't
you? A surety is one who takes the responsibility of another
person's debt upon himself and pays the debt. That's what Christ
is to his people. I ran up a sin debt. imputed,
charged, accounted, reckoned to him, and he paid it in full
by his obedience unto death. How do you know he paid it in
full? He arose from the grave for our justification. That's
how I know. We serve a risen Savior. Not a dead martyr. Not a pitiful example. Oh, he
is our example, don't get me wrong. And he was a martyr. Did
you know what he really was? The Bible describes it in this
word, propitiation. He was a sin-bearing sacrifice
that satisfied justice for all whom the Father gave him. He
said in John 6, 37, all whom the Father giveth me shall come
to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
This is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he
hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. You think He has the power to
raise us up? Well, He arose from the dead. But that's the unique seed of
Abraham. Jesus Christ, according to His sinless humanity, He is
God in human flesh. That's a mind-boggling truth,
isn't it? But you see, that's the kind of person that it took
for sinners to be saved. Turn to the book of Hebrews,
chapter 2. And this brings us to the next
seed of Abraham, his spiritual seed. Abraham's spiritual seed. Abraham
has a spiritual seed. He had a physical seed through
Ishmael, through Isaac. Physical, people, nations. He had a unique seed. The Lord
Jesus Christ himself, God in human flesh. He was made of the
seed of David, according to the flesh. Where'd David come from?
He come from Abraham. So it's the seed of David, the
seed of Abraham, according to the flesh. Why did Christ, who
is God, the second person of the Trinity, why did he have
to have a human body? Well, look at Hebrews 2.14. For
as much then as the children, that's the offspring, That means
life, folks. The children, children of God,
are partakers of flesh and blood. He, Christ, also himself, likewise,
in the same way, took part of the same, that is flesh and blood.
The only difference between him and us is his flesh and blood
is without sin. The sinless humanity of Christ. Why did he have to do that? That
through death he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is the devil. Now understand, the power of death that the devil
has is not power to kill you. I don't care what the movies
say. I don't care what these exorcists say. The devil does
not have power to kill anybody. God is the power of life and
death. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And I know people are shocked
at things like this, but it's just the truth. Was he talking
about the power of death? Well, the devil is identified
in the scripture as the accuser of the brethren. And it's kind
of like this. If somebody would come along
and accuse you of a capital crime in a state where they have the
death penalty, and you're proven guilty of that crime, the charge
sticks, what happens? You die. And that's what the
devil does. He accuses. He issues forth charges. But here's the issue. How did
Christ destroy his power? Christ took the charges of his
people upon himself and died on the cross. That's what he
did. That's what the Bible means when
it says he was made sin. And all the penalty of those
charges stuck to him as our sins were imputed, charged, reckoned
to him, and he died. And therefore the charges against
his children do not stick. The devil can charge me until
he's blue in the face, but I can quote Romans chapter 8, what
is it, verse 32 or 33? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather, is risen again and is seated at the right hand of the
Father, ever living to make intercession for us. You see, I'm a sinner
saved by grace, but God cannot and will not condemn me for those
sins. Why? Because He already condemned
Christ for them. That's the message this world
is missing. You see, the cross is not just
about love and mercy and grace. It is, now listen to me, it is
about love and mercy and grace, but the cross is about love,
mercy, and grace based on justice satisfied. God must be just when
he forgives me, when he sets his love upon me. It's a holy
love. We'll look at verse 15 of Hebrews
2, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. That bondage is a sinner under
the guilt of sin trying to establish his own righteousness. And look
at verse 16, here's the key. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Who's he talking about there?
He's talking about God's elect. Well, who are they? Go back to
that Romans 9 passage that Brother Mark read. And here's the question. I got
two more passages I want you to see and then I'll close. This
one and one other. Who are the spiritual seed of
Abraham? I'll tell you who they are. They're every sinner who
has been brought by God to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether
you're a Jew or a Gentile. If you're a true believer, submitted
to Christ as he's identified and distinguished in this word.
You're one of the seed of Abraham, spiritual seed. Look at it. Verse six, God promised to save
all Israel, but they noticed that the nation Israel rejected
the Messiah and almost perished in unbelief. So what happened? Was God's word not powerful enough
to do it? Verse 6 of Romans 9. Not as though
the word of God hath taken an effect, for they are not all
Israel which are of Israel. What do you mean, Paul? Verse
7. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. What's he talking about? Verse
8. That is, they which are the children of the flesh. That's
the natural seed of Abraham. These are not the children of
God, they're not the spiritual seed of Abraham, but the children
of the promise. What promise? The gospel, wherein
Christ is revealed in the glory of his person and the power of
his finished work, the children of the promise are counted for
the seed. One more verse, turn to Galatians
chapter three. You see, Sarah had a child, a miracle of miracles. His name
was Isaac. Through Isaac, who would come? Ultimately, the Christ child,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of his people. And out of him
All nations would be blessed. We'll see that in later messages. How would all nations be blessed?
Because God has a chosen people out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation, and they'll be born again by the Spirit and
brought to faith in Christ. Look who they are. Look at verse
26 of Galatians 3. For you are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. That's God-given faith in Christ. This includes both Jew and Gentile.
He's not talking about every Jew without exception. He's not
talking about every Gentile without exception. He's talking about
those who believe. Verse 27, for as many as you
as have been baptized into Christ. Now baptism here is not talking
about the ordinance of water baptism. The word baptized means
placed into. That's what it means. That's
why we say immersion. It means placed into. That's
what the word means. Those who have been placed into
Christ. Now when were the children of
God placed into Christ? When he chose them before the
foundation of the world. In Christ. When he redeemed them
on the cross of Calvary. In Christ. And then when they're
regenerated, born again by the Spirit and brought to faith in
Christ. And it says, those who have been baptized in the ground
have put on Christ. What does it mean? It means believe
in Him. Trust Him as the Lord my righteous. I have no righteousness but Christ and what He accomplished. And in there, verse 28, in Christ
there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free,
there's neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus. And look at verse 29. And if
you be Christ, now that's a possessive there, if you belong to Christ,
then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
Do you believe in the resurrected Christ? Truly, as he's presented
in this book, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise. All right, may the Lord bless his word to our hearts.