This is a message I preached about three years ago at Light the Bay church in Pittsburg, CA. It’s based on Hebrews 11:11 where Sarah gained the ability to conceive seed because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

The audio gets better when they hand me another mic. 🙂

Sarah

Romans 4:16-22 ¹⁶ Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all
¹⁷ (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed–God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
¹⁸ who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”
¹⁹ And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
²⁰ He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,
²¹ and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
²² And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

We talk a lot about the faith of Abraham, and how He didn’t waver at God’s promise even when his body and His wife’s said that there was no way they could have a child.  But Sarah had an equal, and maybe even greater part to play in that miracle.

You see, it was proven that the inability to have children was a problem with Sarah when Abraham was able to father Ishmael through Hagar. Even after Sarah died, Abraham remarried to Keturah and fathered six more children (Genesis 25:1-2).

So the reason Abraham and Sarah could not have children was because there was something wrong with Sarah’s body. She was barren (Genesis 11:30). So a miracle had to happen in her.

Sarah is listed in Hebrews 11, the chapter containing the heroes of faith.  Every person listed in that chapter are there because they had faith.

Hebrews 11:11 ¹¹ By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Notice the wording – “By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed…”   Sarah had faith. She wasn’t just riding on the coattails of Abraham. She had faith for her own self.

Now she didn’t start out that way. There are a couple of places listed in the Bible that shows she had her doubts. First of all, it was her idea to give her handmaiden Hagar to Abraham.

Genesis 16:1-5 ¹ Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.
² So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
³ Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.
⁴ So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.
⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”

God’s promise was that Abram would have a son through Sarai. But Sarai was having a hard time with that, and resorted to a superstition of the day that if a woman delivered a child while sitting upon the lap or knees of a barren woman, that the fertility would be passed on to the barren one. We see Rachel resorting to the same superstition when she could bear no children to Jacob:

Genesis 30:1-3 ¹ Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!”
² And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
³ So she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear a child on my knees, that I also may have children by her.”

So Sarai comes to Abram says, “I want you to take Hagar my handmaiden, have sex with her, and father a child by her, so that maybe I can have children also by her.”  The Bible says that Sarai was beautiful, even in her old age, but Hagar was a much younger woman. So Abraham says, “Now wait a minute, let me get this straight. You’re asking me to take Hagar, make love to her, and father a child by her?”  “Yes, that’s right.”  “Well, OK, if you say so.  It will be a sacrifice, but sometimes a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”

Wives, listen to this:  Abram loved his wife Sarai. And he felt the pain she felt from being childless.  But there was nothing he could do about it, he was helpless.  Men will do a lot of stupid things on their own, but there is something about having your wife in pain either emotionally or physically when we feel helpless to do anything that will cause us to do things without thinking them through. We will do stupid things, out of the will of God, just to be doing something that might help.  So wives, be careful and use judgment over what kind of pressure you put on us. We might do something that both of us will have to pay for later.

And there was a price to pay. Hagar started taking on airs, it says that “her mistress was despised in her eyes.”. Ishmael was born to her, and there would be enmity between the descendants of Ishmael and the descendants of Isaac for centuries.  Also, there is no recording of God speaking to Abram until he was 99, a gap of 14 years.

Laughter

In Gen 17, when Abram was 99, the Lord appears to him and renews the promise of the covenant with him. He changes his name to Abraham, and Sarai’s name to Sarah, and gives him the covenant of circumcision.  He also repeats His promise that Sarah will have a son, and pinpoints a timeframe.

But the years of silence had an effect on Abraham; he is not so confident of the promise as he once was, and tries to talk God into accepting Ishmael.

Genesis 17:15-22 ¹⁵ 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 also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”
¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”
¹⁹ Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
²¹ But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”
²² Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

Not too long afterwards, the Angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ, was on His way to check out Sodom and Gomorrah along with two angels. Abraham sees them coming and recognizes them for who they were, and persuades them to stay a while.

Genesis 18:9-15 ⁹ Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” So he said, “Here, in the tent.”
¹⁰ And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)
¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
¹² Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
¹³ And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’
¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
¹⁵ But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”

Sarah, like all good wives, was eavesdropping while the men were talking.  Actually, it was known to all that she was listening since Abraham said she was “here in the tent”, obviously close by, and they were just canvas walls.

Sarah laughed within herself when the Lord said she would have a son by next year – just like Abraham did in Gen 17:17. Actually, Sarah just laughed within herself, it says that Abraham fell on his face and laughed.  And what did Sarah find funny?  Look at her words – she’s laughing at the prospect of having sex. I guess it had been a while; but they were both old and well advanced in age.

Even though she spoke nothing out loud, the Lord heard what was in her heart, and called her on it: “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, when I am old?’” That was what was at the core of her heart – she had doubt about the promise that she could conceive and bear. Even if she had not been barren in the first place, she was well past the age of childbearing.

Sarah speaks up and denies laughing – she was afraid. Think of it; she hears the promise of God, and within her own thoughts she’s in unbelief, “Yeah, like that’s really going to happen”, and the Lord tells her what she is thinking in her heart.  That would scare me, too. 

So both Abraham and Sarah laughed incredulously at the promise that they would have a son. And that was what the Lord told them to name him – “Isaac” means laughter (Genesis 17:19).  But it was a different kind of laughter, a laughter of joy and rejoicing at what God had done.

Genesis 21:1-7 ¹ And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.
² For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
³ And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him–whom Sarah bore to him–Isaac.
⁴ Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
⁵ Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
⁶ And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.”
⁷ She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Sarah was around 91 when Isaac was born.  She lived to be 127; even if you scale her age to a more typical lifespan for our time of 90 years, she would have been the equivalent of 64 years old.  That’s still a miracle.

Doubt to Faith

Abraham is lifted up in the Bible as the primary example of a man of faith.  From Hebrews 11:11 we see that Sarah is also.  It is very encouraging to me to learn that they were not perfect – they both started out in unbelief.  But they changed. That means there is hope for us also!

That change, to where they began to really trust in God and His promise, must have come very soon after the events of Gen 18.  And then they had to act on what they believed. This was not to be an immaculate conception like Mary having Jesus – Abraham and Sarah were going to have to make that baby.  And remember that Sarah had laughed at the prospect of having sex at their age.  And that was probably something that had to change on Abraham’s part.  Rom 4:19 “Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb…”   Why do older couples stop having sex?  It’s because the husband can no longer perform.  The Message Bible comes right out and says it:

Romans 4:19 MSG ¹⁹ Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say, “It’s hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.” Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up.

Actually, that is exactly what Abraham did when he laughed.

Genesis 17:17 ¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

They didn’t have Viagra back in those days. In the 14 years between when Abraham and Sarah made Ishmael and Gen 17, Abraham’s plumbing must have stopped working.  The promise of them having a child must have seemed more and more impossible. “Oh God, if only you could accept Ishmael!”

But God couldn’t accept Ishmael because he was conceived as man’s attempt to fulfill the promise of God in his own power and manipulations. Ishmael would be a fulfillment of part of the promise to Abraham as the father of many nations, because he would become a great nation (Genesis 17:20).  But he was not to be the son of the promise, to inherit the blessing.

Judging God

Hebrews 11:11 ¹¹ By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Before she received strength to conceive seed, before they even started their sex life back up, Sarah did something on the inside.  She judged God. Does a man or woman dare judge God? Oh, yes.  But realize there are several meanings to the word judge.

To judge (from Microsoft Encarta):

3. transitive and intransitive verb assess: to assess the quality of something or estimate probabilities Each proposal has to be judged on its own merits.

4. transitive verb form opinion of somebody or something: to form an opinion of somebody or something, especially after thought or consideration She was judged to have the best qualifications.

Everybody judges God – they form an opinion of Him.  They assess or make a decision about what He is like. The question is, do you have an accurate judgment? Have you weighed correct evidence?

Some have become bitter against Him because they think He is responsible for a tragedy in their lives. Others think that if they followed after Him, their lifestyle would be boring and they would not have any fun.  Others call Him a bigot because He calls homosexuality a sin. People do not believe He is a good God.

Many have judged God by looking at what those who profess to belong to Him have done and what they believe. That is an awesome responsibility – that we reflect the character of God to others. We don’t have to be perfect, but it is imperative that we extend the same mercy and forgiveness to the world as we expect God to extend towards us.  It is the goodness of God that brings men to repentance.

Now, our opinion of God has no effect on what is the truth about Him really is.  There are so many people that think that what they believe constitutes the truth. Some people don’t believe there is a God, and so they think that is what the truth is.  Others believe there might be a God, but He is impersonal and you can’t really get to know Him.  Still others believe in different ways to approach Him.  Some think He is a good God who wants good for us, others see Him as harsh and judgmental.  Others have a confusing mixture where they say God is good, yet they accuse Him of doing bad things in people’s lives, saying if God did it, it must really be good.

God is an absolute. What anybody believes does not change the truth of what He is and what He is like.  But, what we believe – the opinion we have formed of Him – has a great effect on how we will interact with Him. It will determine what we can receive from Him.

So should we judge God? If you want to be a man or woman of faith, you must.  You must judge His quality, and after careful assessment and deliberation you must form an opinion of Him.   And we should endeavor to make that opinion as accurate as we possibly can.

God is Faithful

So Sarah judged God – she assessed His quality and formed an opinion about Him – but specifically she judged God faithful.

The word in the Greek is pistos, which is closely related to the word for faith, pistis.  It comes from a word that means a support or that which stands under.  The implication is that it is something that provides a firm foundation, you can stand on it, lean on it, rely on it.

faithful  (from dictionary.com)

1. strict or thorough in the performance of duty: a faithful worker
2. true to one’s word, promises, vows, etc.
3. steady in allegence or affection; loyal, constant: faithful friends
4. reliable, trusted, or believed
5. adhering or true to fact, a standard, or an original; accurate: a faithful account, a faithful copy
6. full of faith, believing

Deuteronomy 7:9 ⁹ Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

Psalms 37:3 ³ Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

Psalms 89:1-2 ¹ A Contemplation of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.
² For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.”

Psalms 89:8 ⁸ O Lord God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds You.

Psalms 143:1 ¹ A Psalm of David. Hear my prayer, O Lord, Give ear to my supplications! In Your faithfulness answer me, And in Your righteousness.

Lamentations 3:22-23 ²² Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
²³ They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

Romans 3:3-4 ³ For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?
⁴ Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, And may overcome when You are judged.”

1 Corinthians 10:13 ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

2 Timothy 2:11-13 ¹¹ This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him.
¹² If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.
¹³ If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ²³ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
²⁴ He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

2 Thessalonians 3:1-3 ¹ Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you,
² and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith.
³ But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

Hebrews 10:23 ²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

1 John 1:9 ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Revelation 19:11 ¹¹ Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

So we can say that God is faithful, but faithfulness is always measured in relationship to something. What is He faithful to?

You could say, “God is faithful to us”. But what does that mean?  You could ask a hundred people what that means and receive a hundred different answers. It is ambiguous. I would say He is faithful to us only indirectly. What He is really faithful in regards to is His promise.  God is faithful to us because He has made promises to us, and when He is faithful to keep those promises, He shows Himself faithful to us.

And notice what it says about Sarah in Hebrews 11:11 – she judged God faithful who promised.  Her judgment, her assessment of God’s quality, was specifically centered around the promise He had made to her – that she and Abraham would bear a child. And it was that decision and her faith in that promise that gave her strength to conceive seed.  Notice the wording:  “By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.”

I am not just playing semantics making a distinction between “God is faithful to us” and “God is faithful to His promise”. Almost every one of God’s promises are conditional. There is a part for God to play, and a part for us to play. What if Abraham and Sarah never changed to believe God’s promise? What if they had stayed in the attitudes they had when they laughed?  Would that promise have come about?  I suppose God would have found a way, but it would have made things much more difficult. And we wouldn’t have had Abraham and Sarah held up in the Bible as shining examples of faith.

With a conditional promise, it is possible for us to block the result so that it is not fulfilled in our life, and it is not because God was unfaithful to His word. It’s because we didn’t fulfill the conditions.

Want some examples?  James 1:5, asking for wisdom. God promises to give it if you ask. But, there is a condition in vs.6: ask in faith without doubting. If a person believes “God doesn’t talk to me”, they are going to have a hard time receiving wisdom.

Philippians 4 talks about not worrying and receiving His peace. First of all the promise is not that He would take worry away from us; but there is a commandment for us not to worry. And Paul tells us what to do: make our requests known to God through prayer, give Him thanks, and think on things that have a good report. If we do these things, the peace that passes understanding will come.

In His home town in Mark 6, Jesus could do no mighty work because of the unbelief of the people.

A whole generation of Israelites never made it to the promised land because of their unpersuadableness. God did ultimately fulfill His promise, but that first generation did not get to experience it.

We Must Be Faithful Also

God is a faithful God. He is trustworthy. He is the firm foundation and support that we can lean on and rely on, who will not let us down.  He keeps His word.

But faithfulness is not to be one-sided. We are required to be faithful also.  Faithfulness on our part is a sign of spiritual maturity.

Galatians 5:22-23 ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Certainly if you desire to do any kind of ministry on the Lord’s behalf, whether or not you are called to the five-fold ministry or “clergy”, you must be faithful.

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 ¹ Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
² Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

1 Timothy 1:12 ¹² And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,

2 Timothy 2:2 ² And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Faithfulness is a requirement for promotion. Be faithful in the little things, and you will be given greater responsibility – and rewards.

Matthew 25:21 ²¹ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

Luke 16:10-12 ¹⁰ He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.
¹¹ Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
¹² And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?

Psalms 31:23 ²³ Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person.

Proverbs 13:17 ¹⁷ A wicked messenger falls into trouble, But a faithful ambassador brings health.

Proverbs 20:6 ⁶ Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, But who can find a faithful man?

Proverbs 28:20 ²⁰ A faithful man will abound with blessings, But he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

The more we are faithful to God, the more He will be able to show Himself faithful to us. Look through the scriptures – whom does the Lord do mighty exploits through and for?  It is those that are faithful to Him, who take a stand for Him even in the midst of opposition. Those that put their trust in Him, even when it looks like all hell is breaking loose around them.

Feed on His Faithfulness

I want to repeat a verse here, because it gives us an admonition.

Psalms 37:3 ³ Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

Feed on His faithfulness.  Study it out.  See the examples of God’s faithfulness in the Bible.  Listen to testimonies of God’s faithfulness to other people.  Rehearse and remind yourself of the times in your own life when God has been faithful and come through for you. Doing these things will feed your trust, and make it grow.  And you will be able to judge God faithful, even as Sarah did.