Even Our Faith: Part 8-Sarah
July 9, 2023
Welcome to episode 8 of our series “EVEN OUR FAITH”, we’re working to discover exactly what it means to live an LIFE of OVERCOMING VICTORY… by living a life full of faith.
We’re getting pretty good at reciting this passage, 1 John 5:4-5—that is our jumping off point. It’s possible you’ve begun to memorize it by now, and that’s part of the goal…our memorization of Scripture is a key weapon that we hold as believers in how we BUILD FAITH (because “faith comes by hearing & hearing by the Word of God”) and how we PRAY (because we can pray the scriptures)... there is POWER in believing and praying the Word…so let’s all READ together and HEAR together…and let our faith GROW together…
1 John 5:4-5 (NIV) :: 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. ::
As we’re studying this VICTORY that is our FAITH, we’ve been looking at the lives of many of the patriarchs listed in Hebrews 11, called the HALL OF FAITH, because each of these, we’re told that it was “BY FAITH” that each of them accomplished what they did.
Last week we focused on ABRAHAM—and tonight we need to talk about Abraham’s wife, SARAH—Let’s jump in, it’s a doozy!
Hebrews 11:11-12 :: And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
I’ll be honest with you right up front and say that this passage poses some fairly hefty problems for people…including me!
The story that is being summarized here in Hebrews is from Genesis 17 & 18 where God actually appears to Abraham (yes, by now God has changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and Sarai’s name to Sarah…) and tells him that Sarah is going to have a son…
Genesis 18:1-3 :: Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, 3 and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by.
…Abraham asks Sarah & some of his servants to fix a meal for these “messengers of the Lord” and then, while they’re having this meal, they start asking questions…
9 Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” 10 He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will 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 Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, 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 will have a son.” 15 Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.” ::
So this part of the story in v. 12-13 is why I said it’s a little problematic that Sarah is included in Hebrews 11 Hall of Faith… because not only does this story in Genesis tell us that she LAUGHED when she heard what God was promising, then she LIED about it!
I would think this is a clear indication that Sarah DID NOT have faith at ALL!
There’s NO WAY I’d describe this story as “By faith…”
In fact, the real truth about this story is that this isn’t the first time Sarah & Abraham have been TOLD that they’d have a child… and TBH the actions of both Sarah AND Abraham when they were told don’t seem like faith AT ALL!
We read Genesis 12 last week where God told Abram “I will make you a great nation,” ::
Then in Genesis 15, God promises AGAIN to Abram “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.” ::
Then in Genesis 17:2, God says AGAIN to Abram, “And I will multiply you exceedingly.” and then further down in vs 5, “I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.” and vs 6 “6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.” ::
Then skip down to 17:15-17 “Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 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 will come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
So not only did Sarah laugh in Chapter 18 when God told them she was about to conceive… but it looks like she got the laughing idea from Abraham… Abraham laughed too! He had ABSOLUTELY NO FAITH for this to take place…
In fact, if we’re honest about Sarah’s reaction (and yes, Abraham too) this seems to be more like DOUBT than FAITH.
“So then how are they included in the Hebrews 11 list of people who lived “BY FAITH…” if what they really had was DOUBT?!?”
And what I think I’m REALLY asking—or maybe what MANY of us are asking is—
“IF I’M HONEST… I believe…but I still have doubt…
Can I live “by faith”... or can I even really HAVE FAITH …and still have doubt?”
And I want us to genuinely just sit in this question for a moment. I think it’s important… I think it’s VITAL to our faith for us to give room for this question…
And before anybody runs out of here even with this QUESTION thinking that I’m teaching some sort of heresy, I want to invite you to stay through the whole message tonight to see what the whole of Scripture says about this…
If we want to take a decidedly “super Christian” stance on things, we’ll say “absolutely not! We can’t have doubt & faith at the same time!” but I don’t really think that’s what Scripture teaches…
And just so we don’t lose sight of the point… let’s remember that we’re still really talking about how Sarah, this laughing doubter from Genesis, gets to be included into the Hall of Faith…
Mt 28:16-17 :: Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
This is AFTER Jesus had walked the earth & ministered for 3 yrs… AFTER His death, burial & resurrection… and this is SPECIFICALLY with the 11 remaining disciples who literally walked with Him through all of this… It’s not really clear what exactly they ‘doubted’ but the remaining verses in Matthew 28 say that THESE ARE THE EXACT PEOPLE… these DOUBTERS that Jesus gives the Great Commission to…
Matthew 21:18-22 :: [Jesus curses the fig tree… the disciples ask him how it withered so quickly…] Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
And still going backward in Matthew,
Matthew 14:28-31 :: 28 Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Clearly Peter BELIEVED that Jesus could allow him to walk on the water just like he saw Jesus doing…
Clearly he HEARD the Word of Jesus, ‘Come’ and he acted on the word…
So by all the definitions of Faith that we’ve talked about over the last few weeks, Peter had “faith”
But something happened when he was ON the water, in the MIDDLE of the trial… he began to doubt… and that caused him to sink.
In each of these scenarios (and others recorded in scripture), The people Jesus is talking to are probably the people CLOSEST TO HIM and if there was a highschool award for “Most Likely to have Faith” it’s them… yet Jesus is saying… “WITH YOUR FAITH… there will be the option for doubt…”
In Jesus’ ministry there seems to be a distinct difference between “DOUBT” and “DISBELIEF”.
DISBELIEF seems to be the DISMISSAL of faith
While DOUBT is simply UNCERTAINTY.
In his teaching, Jesus didn’t rebuke anyone for their DOUBTS.
In fact, Jude 1: 22 :: Be merciful to those who doubt.
Yet scripture says specifically that after Jesus rose from the dead, the ladies saw him at the tomb and went back & told the disciples…but they didn’t believe them… and when Jesus met with them, the Word says in Mark 16, “He reproached them for their unbelief”
So now back to Sarah… and in some ways back to US and whether or not we can live BY FAITH yet still have doubts… I think the answer is pretty clear…
You can…but there’s no power.
James 1 :: If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. ::
The truth is… just like Sarah… sometimes when we’re faced with a questions or a calling from God that we SHOULD believe, sometimes we have very human doubts:
Moses did: Are you sure I’m the right guy to lead the Israelites?
Gideon did: God I’m the least among my tribe… surely there’s someone bigger, better, faster, stronger than me…
Sarah & Abraham did: Are you serious? We’re going to have a BABY when we’re 90 & 100 years old?
Peter did: Lord SAVE ME! I know I’m walking on water but now I’m not so sure it’s stable…
For you & me, what’s our doubt / uncertainty?
Are we willing to bring it before the Lord & be honest, just to say, “Jesus, I BELIEVE you… but I have uncertainty in this area… I have received YOUR SUPERNATURAL FAITH through the Word but I still have doubts…”
Let’s go back to Sarah & see if we can find out exactly how she got from being described as the laughing doubter in Genesis 18 to being included in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11.
The straight up fact of the matter is, we don’t have a lot of specific evidence from Sarah herself on how she moved from doubt to faith. But what we DO have are a couple of scriptures that bookend her journey…
Back in Genesis 18, when Sarah was eavesdropping in the tent… 12 Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” ::
So in the moment, her OUTLOUD STATEMENT OF BELIEF was in HUMAN ABILITY / NATURE …
But that’s not what Hebrews 11 says about her… By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.
The New Living Translation says “She believed that God would keep his promise.” ::
Here in Hebrews, instead of answering with doubt & laughter, she’s described as looking at her situation & believing that God would keep His promise.
First, it seems that somewhere between laughing at the notion that her 90yr old self would have a baby… and holding Isaac in her arms, she considered WHO was making the promise more than the human ability to fulfill the promise… and she changed her mind.
The DOUBT that she experienced when she considered her human ability… the condition of her age & Abraham’s… had now made room for FAITH to believe … because she “considered who made the promise.”
And SECONDLY, she didn’t allow DOUBT to cause DISBELIEF
If we’re going to move to VICTORIOUS faith,
We MUST consider WHO made the promise and
We CANT LET THE DOUBT CAUSE DISBELIEF.