Abraham and Sarah

August 22, 2021   /   Larry Meshew   /   South Tongass Alliance Church

                                                                                                                                August 18, 2021

ABRAHAM AND SARAH

I. What was the secret of Abram’s success?

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, and make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;  3  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse.  And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  14 So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him.  Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.  – Genesis 12:1-3,14

 Abram ________ God and was obedient.

 II. Abram made mistakes when he relied on his own judgement.

5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars if you are able to count them.”  And He said to him “So shall your descendants be.”  6 then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.  Genesis 15:5-6

Abram and Sarai’s lapse in faith: 

So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children.  Please go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children through her”. And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.  3  And after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.  4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.  5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you.  I gave my maid into your arms; but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight.  May the Lord judge between you and me.”  – Genesis 16:2-5

“For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”  – Genesis 2:24

The passage tells us that God instituted marriage and that it is to be monogamous, heterosexual, and the complete union of the two persons.  

6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.  15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.  – Genesis 16:6,15

III.  God’s covenant with ABRAM:

“No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.”  10 “This is my covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.  11 “And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.  14 “But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”  – Genesis 17:5,10-11,14

SARAI –  Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.  16 “And I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her, Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.  18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before thee.  19 But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac, and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.  – Genesis 17:15-16,18-19

10 and He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.”  And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.  11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing.  12 And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, After I have become old, shall I have pleasured my lord being old also?  13 And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child when I am so old?’  14 “Is anything too difficult for the Lord?  At the appointed time I will return to you at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”  – Genesis 18:10-14

Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised.  2 So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.   – Genesis 21:1-2

IV.  The offering of Isaac:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.  9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So, are my ways higher that your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.”  – Isaiah 55:8-9

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold to obey is better than sacrifice.  And to heed than the fat of rams.”   – 1 Samuel 15:22

“And in your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.- Genesis 22:18

V.  John the Baptist:

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, He said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  8 Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 And do you suppose that you can say to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.  10 And the axe is already at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.            – Matthew 3:7-10

VI.  Abraham was the first Hero of the faith listed in:  Hebrews 11:8-19 

VII.  Justification by Faith:

 For what does the scripture say?  “And ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”  10 How then was it reckoned?  While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised?  Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.  13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.  – Romans 4:3,10,13

Abraham’s faith was in God. 

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth , and the life; no one comes the Father but through Me.”  – John 14:6

that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; 10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation.  – Romans 10:9-10

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