Last week, as we looked at the woman with the issue of blood, we found that she spoke. We talked about our confession, our words last week. We looked at a bunch of scriptures that talked about the importance of our words.
Tonight, I’m taking a dive into another aspect of her words, that we looked at last week. I know her words are actually a tiny part of her story, but as we’re going to see tonight, they are the foundation of the life of faith.
for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will get well.” – Matthew 9:21 NASB
She spoke and acted on the end she desired. Of course, this end was also based on her understanding of God’s will, so to speak. She had heard of this Man of God who was healing all the sick who came to Him.
We could say, she called those things that were not as though they were.
Tonight we look at 2 things that changed Sarah and Abraham’s lives and they will change our lives too.
Let’s turn to Romans 4 and we’ll start reading at vs 17. Tonight I’m reading from the NKJV at least for this first portion.
(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; 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.” 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. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” – Romans 4:17-22 NKJV
Thing 1: They Called
Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. “I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.” Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations. “No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. “I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. – Genesis 17:1-7 NASB
99 years old – picture a man of 99 years. Let’s make this real. Let’s not leave it as a page out of a Sunday school coloring book. Conjur up a picture in your mind of someone you know who is 99.
God comes to the man when he’s 99 and tells him, I’m changing your name.
Name changes are significant in the Bible, not to be ignored. It’s not like God just was tired of his given name.
Think for a minute about God’s name.
He said to Moses, my name is “I AM,” then He spent the rest of the Bible filling in the blank. The Hebrew word for this was written with no vowels since they considered it to Holy to speak. They wrote it in the manuscripts as YHWH. Some translations filled in some vowels so they could pronounce it, and it came out as Jehovah. Most Bible translations replace it with the word LORD in all caps. In any case, God used His name to teach Israel, and later the Church who He IS.
There are many of these throughout the OT, but there are seven that are considered to be the seven “redemptive” names of God. Each one starts with this “I AM” word, meaning it is eternal. He always was, He is, and He always will be, throughout time and eternity. These names and attributes of God DO NOT CHANGE. They are presently true and will always be presently true.
In the Old Testament…
- Jehovah-Rapha, The Lord our Healer – (Ex 15:26; Isa 1:5-6; Jer 17:9; Lk 5:31)
- Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord our Banner [or Refuge] – (Ex 17:8-15; Ps 20:5)
- Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord (who) is Present – (Ezek 48:35; Ex 33:14-15; 1 Chr 16:27; Ps 16:11; 97:5)
- Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness – (Jer 23:5-6; Ps 11:7; 89:14; 1 Cor 1:30)
- Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord our Peace – (Judges 6:24; Isa 9:6; Lk 1:78-79)
- Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord our Provider – (Gen 22:8-14; Joh 1:29; Gal 3:8; 1 Cor 2:7)
- Jehovah-Ra’ah, the Lord our Shepherd – (Gen 48:15; Ps 23:1; 80:1; Isa 40:10-11; 1 Pet 2:25)
John picked up on this method of introducing us to God and applied it to His introduction of Jesus to us. His Gospel contains seven more of these “I AM” statements:
From John’s gospel
- “I AM the bread of life.” (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51)
- “I AM the light of the world.” (John 8:12)
- “I AM the door of the sheep.” (John 10:7,9)
- “I AM the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25)
- “I AM the good shepherd.” (John 10:11, 14)
- “I AM the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
- “I AM the true vine.” (John 15:1, 5)
As you can see God used His own name to help us understand His amazing and infinite nature.
Names are a big deal to God.
God comes to Abram when he was 99 years old and said I’m changing your name. Don’t introduce yourself as Abram (exalted father) anymore. At this point, he had only one son, and Ishmael was born to his wife’s handmaiden. (Thanks for that, arm of the flesh. Ishmael is what you get when you try to keep God’s promises for Him.)
So what is God up to. Is He going to rename Abe “Father of Failure,” or “Faithless Father,” or maybe just “Lonely Old Man”
No – God changes his name from “Exalted Father” to “Father of many nations,” Abraham.
And here’s the key to faith. Abraham accepted this name from God. Abraham no longer called himself Abram but began calling himself what God called him.
Let me say that again, because that is our first main faith principal tonight.
Abraham called himself what God called him.
Then God changed Sarai’s name.
Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. “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.” 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?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will 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. “As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. “But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” When He finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. – Genesis 17:15-22 NASB
1 – He called himself what God called him against all the evidence. God’s name change changes us to the core, the bitter, sweet, the sick, healed, the poor, rich, the bound, free.
We have to get it in our hearts.
We call things what God calls them. We call ourselves what God calls us.
There are things in our lives we need to rename!
I call it paid for
I call it healed
I call it strong
I call it restored
I call my cncer healed
I call my heart strong
I call my eye’s perfect
I call my car paid for
I call my mortgage paid off
Faith says these things done before they look like it.
Maybe God has not given you a new name, or you don’t know it. But He has made promises by which you can rename yourself, and that which impacts you.
Based on what God has said, I call my self healed. I call my joints pain free. I call my eyes 20-20, I call my hearing 100%, I call my house, my car, my student loans, my credit cards, paid for. I call my heart strong, I call my cancer gone, I call my immune system powerful and strong.
Hallelujah
The next thing Abraham and Sarah did is more of a – what they didn’t do.
Thing 2: They did not Concider
They did not consider the clear evidence that they looked at every day in the mirror.
Let’s read the Romans 4 passage again. Look closely at verse 19.
(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; 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.” 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 o Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” – Romans 4:17-22 NKJV
Keith Moore uses the illustration of not getting fixated on an instrument that is not working. If you are flying, and one of your instruments is wrong, it’s easy to get stuck on it and keep looking at it and trying to reconcile it with everything else. You have to abandon looking at the indicator that is not telling you the truth, and ONLY look to the truth for your information.
It’s easy to get our eyes on a doctor’s report, rather than the good report of the Lord.
It’s easy to get our eyes on the blood pressure monitor, or the glucose reading, or the numbers and stats. But the truth is found in the Word of God. It is the only indicator that never lies.
It’s really an amazing story.
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. …9- Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” 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. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’ “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.” Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.” – Genesis 18:1,9-15 NASB
We see the aftermath a few chapters later in Genesis 21:
Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” – Genesis 21:1-7 NASB
Something was going on. Sarah at age 90, was an object of desire for the king who could have taken any woman. He wanted Sarah, and Abraham knew he would. She was desirable at age 90. God was up to something. Her body was changing. When she was 20 she could not conceive. When she was 30 she could not conceive. Now she was past the age of childbearing, and in fact, hot flashes were a distant memory.
But her body was changing. What would it take for her 90-year-old bones to be flexible enough to allow a child to move through the birth canal? Imagine the extent of the changes in Sarah’s body to be able to deliver a baby. And then we find that AT AGE 90 she was nursing.
This is no small miracle. (OK – there are no small miracles.)
I want you to see that Abraham’s cooperation with God began with Calling those things that were not as though they were. God told Abraham, “I have made you…” and Abraham took it as truth.
He did not focus on the mirror, or the status of his wife’s ability to bear children, or her age, or his age, or any of it. He focused on what God said. That was His reality.
It has to become our reality.
How are you feeling? – I don’t ask my body how it’s feeling, I tell it who it is – the healed, the healthy. I don’t get my financial status from my bank account, I get it from my promise. I don’t get my standing before God, righteous or not, from a list of my behaviors, I get my identity from His word. I am a saint because He said He washed me. I guess that means I’m clean.
If I’m a sinner, He’s a liar – and we know He can’t lie.
Did you hear what I said? If I’m a sinner, He’s a liar. This is for someone in the room. I know this came as a revelation as I prepared for tonight.
By the same logic, if I’m sick, He’s a liar. So if I confess (my confession) that I’m sick when He said I’m healed, I’m calling Him a liar.
I’m not saying you don’t have symptoms, and I’m not suggesting you deny the symptoms, and if you have to tell a doctor what hurts to get some relief -that’s perfectly alright. But you must Hold on to your confession of the truth God has spoken over you. What the Bible says is WHO YOU ARE. Your circumstances are brief fleeting and subject to change.
Let the weak say I am strong
Let the poor say I am rich
Call yourself what God calls you
Do no consider the lesser realities of life.
for we walk by faith, not by sight– – 2 Corinthians 5:7 NASB
We must get our eyes off the waves and on the Lord.
See you again soon.
Thanks for coming by
Ben