Sarah's life and her covenant with God are presented as a testament to God's faithfulness and Sarah's role as a mother of nations. The sermon highlights God's name changes for Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah, signifying a new covenant and greater purpose. It contrasts the elevated position of women in Israel with other nations, noting how sin can degrade this position, and emphasizes Sarah as one of seven remarkable women in the Old Testament. The narrative also addresses Abraham's use of half-truths regarding Sarah's identity and Sarah's impatience leading to the birth of Ishmael through Hagar, which caused significant strife, contrasting with the eventual birth of Isaac, the son of promise.
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Shall we turn in our Bible to Genesis chapter seventeen please? Genesis chapter seventeen. I want to read a few verses about the wonderful man and the wonderful woman. Verse one of Genesis seventeen. When Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God.
Walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham. For a father of many nations have I made thee. Verse fifteen. And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai, thy wife, Thou shalt not call her name Sarai, 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? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before me, God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac.
And I will establish my covenant with him, for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. I've never spoken on Sarah on Mother's Day. I think we've gone through quite a number of mothers in the Bible. But this one is very interesting. You have a beautiful mother, and the Bible says she was beautiful, and God blessed her. And God made her a blessing. It's very remarkable when you think of how God selected Abraham and selected this woman. As a rule in the Bible, women are given the inferior place.
But I think the women were exalted somewhat when God did this couple, Abraham, Sarai. The women, of course, took the subject plate to the place, subject to their husbands, according to Genesis chapter three, sixteen, and he was told that her husband would rule over her, simply because of her sins. She's the one that sins. Unto thee, he shall be thy desire, and thou shalt rule, he shall rule over thee. But here we come to Abraham, and it's very interesting in going through your Bible how that When God chose the nation of Israel, women seemed to get a more elevated position, still subject in measure to the man.
But when you compare Israel as a nation with all the other nations in the world, there women were just like animals. The women had a very low place in the big nations in the world at that time. But Israel, God, who to his economy, elevated the white. And I'll say this. When Israel as an exalted nation, and God gave the woman a place superior to other nations, when Israel began to fraternize with these other idolatrous countries, Israel descended below these other countries, And the women sank even lower than the women of other countries, showing what sin can and will do.
And so it's a tragic story in taking up Abraham and Sarah. And I want to say this, there are some outstanding women in the Bible, in spite of what we've said, and only in reference to Israel. In the Old Testament, God picks out seven remarkable women. The first one is Sarah. The second one, Rebecca. Rebecca was a lovely woman. Then there was Rachel, Jacob's wife. Then there was Miriam, Boles' sister. Then Deborah. Then Ruth. And then Esther. And practically all of that seven, and seven is the number of perfection, all these women were lovely women, known for their beauty and their wisdom.
And so here is God picking out seven men, like seven mountain peaks. But here is Sarah, and she is the first. And I dare say she is the givens. And we'll notice that as we go along. Whether it was a queen or a commoner, whether chaste or bad, the lives of women are given and frankly portrayed. God doesn't hide things. He's a great writer of biographies. When he writes of a man, he tells the dark side as well as the bright side and the shame about women. Even though they're his children, God tells the truth.
Not like men when they write biographies of other men, especially if they're close friends, they'll hide a lot. God hides nothing. He tells it as it is. That's a common expression of these days. Sarah came from Ur the Khaliz. You read that at the end of chapter thirteen, I think, or chapter eleven of Genesis. That's where Abraham came from. She evidently came from a well-to-do and noble family, indicated by her name, Sarai, meaning princess. So she came from an honored family out of Ur of the Khaliz. You'll notice God changed the names of these two.
Seriai's name was changed to Sharia, and Abram's name was changed to Abraham. And he changed both of them in the chapter we read when he made a covenant with them. He made a covenant with Abraham, he made a covenant with Shariah, and he changed their names. Shariah became, or Shariah became Shariah, a greater princess. Abraham. Abram to Abraham, he became a greater man. And a friend of God. And so a covenant makes all the difference, doesn't it? You remember Peter, his name was changed.
His name was changed, and undoubtedly when he came to really know the Lord Jesus Christ, Simon was changed to Cephas, meaning a stone. Saul's name was changed when he came to know the Lord, and his name was changed to Paul. Here you have four individuals, and their names were changed when they came to know the living God. And I had my name changed. And if you're a Christian, you had your name changed. I was a poor sinner. When I found Christ, I became a saint. Isn't that remarkable? A poor, thus sinner, changed to a saint. All God people are saints.
You say, well, I don't know whether they're all saints or not. You may not think so, but as God sees them, they're saints. They're saints in Christ Jesus. God looks upon those whom he saves as saints in his sight. He starts the book of Corinthians, and he calls them saints. Well, if you read what was going on in Corinth, you wouldn't say they were very saintly. But in Christ, as we've been pointing out in our messages, as in Adam all dies, so in Christ shall all be made alive. God sees us entirely different. He sees us for what we are because of what he's made us in his Son. And so we have their names changed.
Abraham has been called the Father of many nations, and Sarah, the Mother of many nations. Isn't that remarkable? both literally and spiritually. Speaking literally, God said to Abraham, he said, you look toward the sand of the sea, so shall thy seed be. That's the earthly seed of Abraham. But then he pointed them to the skies, he said, so shall thy seed be. The earthly generation, the earthly seed of Abraham, was the Jewish nation. But the heavenly seed is the church, the spiritual. And that's what we're in.
We're not in the Jewish nation. We're not among the sand. God has exalted us. All who are saved today are in the church. We're a heavenly people. He refers to the stars. Abraham and Sarah gave us the Jewish nation, and through that Jewish nation came the Savior, and through Christ there was a heavenly seed known as the Church, those who are born again. You know, this is the first time in our Bible that I know of, that you have God calling a woman by her name and giving us her name or age.
where she was buried. Kind of unusual. I will give you the reason why. Here you have Sarah and Abraham and their brother and sister. Now, you remember the mistake Abraham made. When he saw those kings and he realized that Sarah was a beautiful woman, he was afraid that those kings would take Abraham and put him to death in order to get his wife. In fact, Shabimelech did that. He sinned, and of course Shabimelech wasn't fully aware of the trap, but Abraham said, well, she is my sister because she's the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother.
Kira was the father of both of them. But they practiced polygamy in those days, especially in the religious realm. They practiced polygamy, simply meaning that Tira had more than one wife. He was the father of Abraham and also the father of Sarah, but they had different mothers. So in one sense, they were both from the same father. They were brothers and sisters. But that's a half-truth. It's a half-truth, and Abraham used it, and there's no lie greater than a half-truth. It's the most deceptive.
Trying to get by with a half-truth, but here you find Abraham, and he's speaking of his own wife, Sarah, and he says, she's my sister. You know it shows how these men, as great as they were, they had their mistakes, they made their mistakes, And Sarah went along with this. I don't know why she let Abraham get away with it. Likely she loved them too much. But she had been better off as she had said, Listen. I'm wrong. Tell the truth than to commit this great wickedness in the sight of God.
Just what Joseph said. Nevertheless, she went along. And it's remarkable how God protected Sarah. On two occasions, when she was taken to be a sister, for there were those who wanted to marry, because of her bewitching duties, they wanted Sarah. And on two occasions, here's a repetition of an old sin. The first time, Abram says she's my sister. Unfortunately, they hadn't been for the hand of God. The king would have married her. And that would have broken up God's plan for the promised son. And Abraham did it again.
And the second time, God prayed the king's household. And the king couldn't understand it. Then says, Lord, the woman thou hast is not Abraham's sister. She's his wife. And Abimelech was shocked, and he rebuked Abraham for what he did. And Christ, on these two occasions, God saved Sarah from humiliation. God had a plan. God had promised them a seed. Isaac. And through that seed was the coming Messiah. Here is an attempt of the devil to try and upset God's plan for the coming Christ.
It's remarkable when... You read the story, fear of death seemed to unmanned Abraham at the risk of the honor of his beloved wife. Those are shows sometimes how men put themselves first. Abraham was selfish. He thought more of his own life than he did his own one. He would have seen her humiliated. God's plan and purposes destroyed. just to save his own skin. It was a half-truth that he told me. But here's the thing, although Abraham and Sarah were well off, Abraham was a wealthy man, yet there was the one thing in their life, there was a constant grief to the both of them.
The saw was this, they had no children. That was a very hard thing for Sarah to take. Hebrew women always had the thought, maybe I'll be the mother of the Messiah. But it had been said by God in Genesis, it says plainly that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. That little promise sparked a desire in every Hebrew woman's mind, I may be the mother of the of the Messiah. And it was a disgrace, evidence some kind of divine displeasure when a woman was barren and had no children.
But that was the grief of Sarah. She wanted to have a child for the glory of God, and also for her own enjoyment as well. But why didn't they believe God? Had God not told them? You've made that promise. I'm going to give you a son. Abraham, I'm going to give you a son. And he said, Sarah, I'm going to give you a son, old as you are. I'm going to give you a son. His name shall be called Isaac. Now, all you've got to do is wait. Sarah couldn't wait.
She couldn't. The days passed, the weeks passed, the months passed, the years passed. But with suicidal pride, she threw herself upon the cruelest offer. Ever a woman laid off, she sinned against God. She thought of an ancient custom or a custom that was used in those days. When a woman was bound, it was permissible for a concubine to be taken. And that pontiffine could bear the child. But it really belonged legally to the woman. She was balanced.
She wanted a child. And this was a custom. It wasn't of God. It was a custom that was used then. And here is Sarah. And she used that human arrangement to try and have a child, even after God had told her he was going to give her one. It shows what impatience can do and what havoc impatience can cause in a Christian's life. She not only injured herself, she injured her husband, and she injured an unborn generation. She used this custom. And what did she do?
In chapter sixteen, if you want to read it when you go home, it's right across from where we read, chapter seventeen. She asked Abraham, and you can read there, Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bear him no children, and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian whose name was Hagar. Sarai said unto Abraham, Behold, now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray that you in unto my maid it may be that I may obtain children by her, and Abraham hearken to the voice of Sarah. At times, Abraham's fate soared to great heights. But other times, Abraham's fate sagged to great depths.
Why didn't Abraham, that man of faith, that friend of God, say, Sarah, I couldn't conceive of such a thing? God has told us both. He's going to give us a son. But here is a one occasion when Abraham did what Sarah asked him to do. He should have rebelled against the very boss. God has promised. We can't go back on God's promise. But here is Abraham. Sarah must have been a strong character. For he just obeyed.
And that's exactly how this whole situation came about. So I have to think this chapter sixteen is not too long a chapter. It's a short chapter for the Old Testament. But it's like the shortest verse in the New Testament. If drenched with tears, Jesus wept is the shortest verse in the New Testament. And chapter sixteen of Genesis is full of tears because of this mistake that serenades And Abraham went along with it. Yes, you notice three things.
The folly of Sarah, the flight of Thur Hagar, and the forecast concerning this young man Ishmael. It's all brought about by unbelief, impatience. You notice what Sarah said. My wrong be upon me after it happened. My wrong. be upon me. But she also brings Abraham in. You're as much to blame as I am, Abraham. And let the Lord judge between us. Yes, it's nice, Sarah, to try and work this thing out. You admit you're wrong.
You blame your husband. And now you say, let God be judged. It's too bad you didn't think of that before all this happened. People generally come out and acknowledge the truth when it's too late to correct. But that's what happened on this occasion. How sad to think of what did happen. Distrust. There was distrust. And with that came dishonor. She began or originated a rivalry that has continued through the centuries and oceans of blood have not quenched that rivalry.
Through that childish mill that Hagar had and Abraham fathered, the Arabs are here today. Islam, Muhammad came from Hagar's dream, and Islam's in the world. and think of the damage and the harm that Islam has done to Christianity down the centuries and is very strong today. Look at the strife and the friction and the fighting between the Arabs and the Jews, all because of Hagar's mistake. They are the seed of Hagar's son, Ishmael.
Oh, to think of that one mistake. nations have been drenched with tears, the Holy Land drenched with blood, because Sarah couldn't wait. And thus Ishmael was born. Poor Hagar, she's the real sufferer in this case. She's made the goat. Because when she saw that she had a child by Abraham, she began looking down at Sarah, belittling Sarah, laughing at Sarah.
And Sarah couldn't take it. And so she drove out Hagar and the son. Draw them off. Abraham had to obey her. Get rid of this woman. She and her son are not going to be under my roof. But Sarah, you're responsible for this whole thing. That's what you suggested. Now you're thrown this poor woman out in her son, turning him out into the wilderness where the wild beasts are. Abraham had to do it. And poor Hagar took her flight. What strife between Ishmael and Isaac the two sons? Later on they strode. And also the two women had their frictions.
Sarah and Hagar and Abraham and Sarah his wife had their troubles, all because of a lack of patience and lack of faith in the living God with promise. This is the sad story. You know, it's wonderful how God takes sides in this case. The mercy of God is seen in verse seven and twelve of that chapter sixteen. I'm going to read it to you. Verse seven, and the angel of the Lord found her, that is, Hagar, by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to serve.
And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, quench cometh thou. The widow wilt thou go, and she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. The angel of the Lord said, unto return to thy mistress. and submit thyself under her. The angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitudes. The angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son. Shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thine affliction. And he will be a wild man. His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him.
and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me. For she said, Have I also here looked after him that seest me. Here's God's mercy and kindness to this young woman who did what she was told by those who knew better. And she was suffering. She would have died in the desert. have the age of the Lord not gone to him. Return to your mistress and be subject unto her. God's not going to allow this injustice, injustice to take place.
After all, Abraham is the father of his child. And I'm going to even give you joy. This child is going to be born and there will be a seed. God is taking sides with the one serverly offended Hagar. And also he pronounced a blessing upon her offspring. Abraham was eighty-six when Ishmael was born. Hagar and Ishmael undoubtedly remained in Abraham's house for fourteen years. And then the great day came.
Isaac is born. Abraham is one hundred, Sarah is ninety. And God had fulfilled his word. And Isaac is born. When that happened, Hagar and his son, her son had to leave. But now the happy household, after fourteen sad, tear-drenched years, all because of Sarah's mistake. But now the home happy. All you have to do is read the report in chapter twenty-one. If you want to read it, it's all there.
Isaac is born, and his very name means laughter. It means joy. Abraham and Sarah. They're happy. Here's Isaac, the son of promise. I know many times, I don't know whether they talked it over. They only wish chapter sixteen had never happened. Fourteen sad years was unnecessary. Unmeat. It never should have happened, but it did. But now it's passed. Now Abraham and Esau are happy they've got the Son of Promise.
His name is Isaac. Those that show you what mistakes can do, Think of what they experience, the strike, the hard feelings, the bitterness, the sorrow, the tears, would have never taken place. Has Sarah not made that one respect through impatience of failure to wait God's time? It's wonderful that God has not changed. He called her her name by her name, Sarah. You're the mother of many nations. Here you find her, and he called her when she was old, at eighty-seven.
That's when he gave her the promise. Also at ninety, Isaac is born, and Sarah died at a hundred and twenty-seven years of age. Read that in the first verse of chapter twenty-three. As I said at the beginning, she's the only woman in Scripture whose age is given. I wonder if God knew the sensitiveness of women way back there. It's the only time in the Bible where a woman's age is given and her burial and where she was buried. My Abraham and Sarah had had thirty-seven happy years. Abraham lived to be a hundred and seventy-five.
When Sarah died, what happened? They were nomads, mad. In other words, they lived in the desert and the wilderness, lived in tents. But when Sarah died, great was Abram's love for Sarah. I'm not going to leave her in the desert. For the vouchers in the wild beasts, the hyenas, to devour her flesh and leave her white bones on the wilderness. Abraham said, I'm going to get a permanent resting place for Sarah. And they bought a cave at Machpelah. He paid a price for her. He said, this is where I'm going to bury Sarah.
And this is where I'll be buried, too. And forty-eight years later, Abraham was buried beside his beloved Sarah. Be nice to see an inscription over the cave. This is Sarah. Abram's wife and the mother of Isaac. That's the story, the mother of life. How wonderful to think of this story about Abraham and Sarah. Sarah was, in many ways, a wonderful woman. Over in Hebrews chapter eleven, you read these remarkable words.
Thy faith, for to faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and were delivered of a child when she was past age. because she judged and faithful who had promised. You know the wonderful thing in reading the book of Hebrews in the eleventh chapter, where you find all these wordies right back to Abel, right on to the end of the New Testament. And if you study all those characters, they did dreadful things. Nothing is mentioned about it in Hebrews eleven. All God talks about... is their good thing, their faith, their faith, their faith, the fastest for God.
That's going to be true in God's great hall of fame. All God is going to confront us with in heaven are the things we did that glorified Him by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. Of course, we'll lose some rewards for things we did in unbelief. But here is God telling us about Sarah. And there's another lovely touch about Sarah over in First Peter, Chapter Three. And this is very interesting. Tell me, over to verse five of First Peter Three, for after this manner in the old time, the holy women also, and Sarah comes in here, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling them Lord, Whose daughters he are, as long as he do well, and are not afraid or not permit anything to make you afraid.
That's the meaning of that verse. Undoubtedly, living with Abraham those thirty-seven years, the man who was God's friend, the man of faith, the man of God, had brought about the spiritual loveliness with Sarah. And she called them My Lord. Not in the sense of deity. That was a term used out of a deep respect and affection. Abraham, or Sarah, called Abraham My Lord. His life undone, they had a great influence upon. But the most remarkable thing about this whole incident is that God is using it.
Paul is using it as an allegory. And I'm going to read you some of the most remarkable verses summing up this whole incident between Abraham and Sarah. And it's over in Galatians. Galatians chapter four, and I want you to listen. Tell me ye that desire to be under the law. Do ye not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons and one by a born woman, that's Hagar. The other by a free woman, that's Sarah. But he who was born of the born woman... that was Hagar, was born after the flesh. But he was born of the free woman, was the child of promise, and of the Spirit.
Which things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which is gendered to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem, which is now and is in bondage with her children but Jerusalem, which is above is free, which is the mother of the fall, Sarah. Isn't that wonderful? Here the Apostle Paul summed up this whole history, this sad episode concerning Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael.
You have the two mountains, Sinai or Calvary. What do you want? You want Sinai with its flame, our fierce wrath? Is it a man to keep the law? Or do you want Calvary, the freeborn, Isaac? You have the two monks, two covenants, the old and the new. Two dispensations, long greats, two women, Hagar and Sarah, two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, two citizens, Jerusalem, which is below, Jerusalem, which is above. This brings us right down to the kernel of the gospel.
And this is how people can get saved. Hagar stands for the law. Sarah stands for grace. Hagar never was a free woman. And Sarah never was a slave. Jerusalem below is in bondage. Jews from them above is free. This is the whole story. Paul uses it as an allegory, picking it out of the past with this wonderful truth. Friend, this morning, what do you want? Do you want to try and get to heaven by the law, keeping the Ten Commandments? Do you want to try to get to heaven by way of Sinai?
You will be cast out. As Hagar was. You'll never get to heaven that way. That's Hagar. Do you want Sarah? This is grace. This is Calvary. This is where you get saved. The law is our schoolmaster that brings us to Christ. The law shows us we're lost and condemned and Calvary is the answer, the precious blood of Christ. And this is where everything is remedied. This is where all the past is forgotten. Here's where all our mistakes are forever gone at Calvary.
This is it. Hagar never were free women. The old nature of the flesh is never free. It's in fear all the time. Fearing sickness, fearing death, fearing God, fearing eternity. That's Hagar. Hagar was never free. The old nature can never be free. Sarah is a free woman, always free. The new life in Christ is free. If he shall have to find the Son, the Son shall make you free indeed. How wonderful to be free.
The child of promise. This is Isaac. This is Sarah. And the two cities. How wonderful. the city below and how true it was in Paul's case as Hager speaks of Jerusalem which is in bondage and how the city was in bondage at that time under the Romans and was destroyed but Sarah is of the city which is above and is the mother of us all all that believe and John goes into this and tells us about that great city in Revelation twenty one And also you have it in Hebrews chapter twelve, this great city.
How wonderful it is, and this is what is said. But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven, to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men, made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator, of the new covenant, And to the blood of sprinkling the speaketh better things than that of Abel. Abel's blood calls for vengeance upon Cain who slew it. The blood of Christ calls for mercy upon those whose sins shed his blood. Another similarity between these.
Isaac, who persecuted, or rather Ishmael, persecuted Isaac from the moment he was born. The old nature persecutes the new life. The moment you're born again, the old nature doesn't like the new life in Christ Jesus. There's persecution. Also, you find the flesh persecuting the spirit of the law, persecuting grace, bondage, persecuting those who are free, an earthly citizen, unsaved people, religious and members of the church. are persecuting those who are born again and going to heaven. The old story all over again.
How wonderful is the word of God for God to pull this incident out of a terrible mistake made by Sarah and condoned by Abraham? God said it's all past now. Here's the answer. Believe what Sarah represents. She speaks of Calvary. She speaks of grace. She speaks of freedom. She speaks of glory. The city which is above. All who have believed in Isaac. And Isaac's seed, which is Christ, shall be blessed with self.
She is the children of us all. Remarkable student. Only a God of grace. could take a tangled situation, straighten it up, and teach us a wonderful lesson. Will you believe it this morning? Are you going to stay with Hagar and Israel in the wilderness and to be thrown out? Or you're going to receive Christ and her Savior and be taken in? The choice is yours. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we come into thy presence. We ask thy blessing upon thy word.
We thank thee for thy wonderful truth. How we are amazed and thank thee for the story of Abraham and Sarah. And how wonderful in eternity. We'll see them both. Thy word declares we shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. O Father, we thank thee. For these lessons we learn from the Scriptures, lessons that are eternal, lessons that we can profit from today. And if any are here unsaved, oh, that they may come to know Christ. Know now, whom to know is light eternal. We ask it, giving thanks in his name. Amen.