Righteous And Submissive

Today we are going to learn about Abraham and Sarah.

Abraham was born around 2166 B.C. we are going to learn one quality from Abraham and Sarah,

Righteous Abraham

Abram believed in God and that was credited to him as righteousness.

Abraham believed in God when the whole world was involved in idol worship, witchcraft and so on. The fact that Abraham believed in God itself was radical faith.

Genesis 12:1-5
1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
2 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.
5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

God promised Abraham that he would become a great nation at the age of 75, Abraham left Haran and went on to the promised land Canaan.

But now you see for a long long time God did not talk to Abram, here Abram is living like an alien in Canaan and for 24 years Abraham was not even having a son thru Sarah.

Forget about a nation. We see that thru this long time Abram still believed that God would keep his promise

Genesis 17:1-8
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty ; walk before me and be blameless.
2 I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,
4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
5 No longer will you be called Abram ; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
8 The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."

Here God had finally met Abram after 24 years.

But God is still not blessing him immediately. God challenged Abram to walk before God everyday and be blameless before God.

If Abram did the above than God would fulfill his promise that God made to him 24 years ago. Now onwards Abram became Abraham.

God expects his people to walk with God everyday and be blameless before him everyday.

Genesis 17:15-27
15 God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.
16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"
18 And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"
19 Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.
21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."
22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.
24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,
25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen;
26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day.
27 And every male in Abraham's household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.

Here Abraham laughed at the point that he would become a father at the age of 100. Abraham could just say forget it, its hard to believe that God would do such a miracle and carry on his own business.

But Abraham went and circumcised himself and his entire household.

He went thru that painful operation at the age of 100. God gives an incredible victory

Genesis 21:1-5
1 Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.
2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.
4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him.
5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

Here we see that God blesses Abraham with a son at the age of 100, 25 years after the promise God made to Abraham.

Ask yourself would you be faithful to God like Abraham.

The key for Abraham to be called as a righteous man was that he was faithful to God at all times.

If we remain faithful to God at all times ( be faithful to the church ) he will fulfill his promises to us and we will be able to taste his goodness in our lives.

Submissive Sarah

Sarai is an excellent example for humility and submissiveness.

We see that Sarai followed Abraham wherever he went.

She did not pass on her opinions or stop Abraham from doing what God had told him to do. She followed Abraham when God told Abraham to move from Haran to Canaan.

Genesis 12:10-20
10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are.
12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live.
13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."
14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman.
15 And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.
16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.
17 But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai.
18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!"
20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

Sarai was also the half sister of Abraham. Abraham was scared that he would be killed because Sarai was extremely beautiful.

Abraham asked Sarai not to tell Pharaoh that she was married to Abraham and she obliged the same. Here Abraham and Sarai were being shrewd.

They were indeed half brother and sister so they used that relationship to save their skins, but we see that God dealt with the family of Pharaoh for the Pharaoh desired to take Sarai as his wife.

Genesis 21:6-7
6 Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me."
7 And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

Sarah finally becomes a mother. Sarah was happy that God had let her desires come true at a ripe age of 90 years,

1 Peter 3:5-6
5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands,
6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

Peter uses the example of Sarah as a great example for submissive wives 2600 years later. Women are called to be like Sarah with their husbands.

The challenge for each one of us is to have a submissive heart like Sarah.

Conclusion

Lets decide to have the faithfulness and righteousness like Abraham.

Lets imitate his faith and learn to have a submissive heart like Sarah.