FALL INTO GRACE

Part 1: “I Told You So!”

Genesis 17:15-19 NLT

Then God said to Abraham, “Regarding Sarai, your wife, her name will no longer be Sarai. From now on her name will be Sarah. And I will bless her and give you a son from her! Yes, I will bless her richly, and she will become the mother of many nations. Kings of nations will be among her descendants.” Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. “How could I become a father at the age of 100?” he thought. “And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?” So Abraham said to God, “May Ishmael live under your special blessing!” But God replied, “No, Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant.

1.   Sarah encountered grace through association.

Genesis 12:1–5 NLT

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” 

4 So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth, his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran, and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan,

 Genesis 17:15–16 NLT

God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 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.” 

2. She learned to follow before she saw fulfillment.

Hebrews 11:8–11 NLT

⁸ It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. ⁹ And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith, for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.¹⁰ Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. ¹¹ It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise.

3. Her doubts did not have the final word.

Genesis 18:9–15 NLT

⁹ “Where is Sarah, your wife?” the visitors asked.

“She’s inside the tent,” Abraham replied.

¹⁰ Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. ¹² So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master, my husband, is also so old?”

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh.”

But the Lord said, “No, you did laugh.”

 Hebrews 11:11 NLT

It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise.

“Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” — Genesis 18:14, KJV

4. She experienced fulfillment through God’s faithfulness.

Genesis 21:1–7 NLT

The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised.² She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. ³ And Abraham named their son Isaac. ⁴ Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. ⁵ Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.

⁶ And Sarah declared, “God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me. ⁷ Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!”

Galatians 4:23 NLT

The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.

Galatians 4:28 NLT

 And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac.

5. Fall into grace, means trusting the One

who gave the vision and made the promise.

Hebrews 4:16 NLT

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

 Ephesians 2:8–9 NLT

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Hebrews 11:11 NLT

It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise.