HEROES OF THE FAITH — SARAH
DR. JIM DIXON
HERBREWS 11:8-19
OCTOBER 25, 1983 (COMMUNION SUNDAY)
She was a woman of great beauty. Pharaoh, ruler of all Egypt, desired her for his wife. Ambimowak, King of the Philistines, did the same. She was a woman in exile. She lived a semi-nomadic life on this earth, dwelling in tents with her husband, Abraham, as they journeyed from Ur of the Chaldees to Heron, to Egypt and to Canaan. She was a stranger, a sojourner, an exile in this world, but she was greatly beloved of God, and she was visited by angels. She was the recipient of the promises of God. She was told that through her seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed, and she was told that she would become the mother of a great nation of peoples. Her name was Sarah, and her name means “royal ruler” or “princess.”
From her life, I have one teaching this communion Sunday and that teaching is this: with God, nothing is impossible.
On October 18, 1956, in Glendale, California, where I was growing up, a woman named Ruth Kissler gave birth to a little baby girl. Ruth Kissler was 57 and 1/2 years old. That tends to make you rethink your retirement plans just a little hit.
I have a friend who’s name is Sam. When he was born, his father was 70 years old. God gave long life to Sam’s dad so that he was able to rear Sam. They didn’t play a whole lot of football together, but Sam’s dad died just recently at 103 years of age. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, on May 15, 1776, it was recorded that a woman named Ellen Ellis gave birth to a child at the age of 72 years. I don’t know whether such incidents are miracles, but I do know that the birth of Isaac to the woman Sarah was a miracle. Sarah was 91 years old when Isaac was born, and her husband Abraham was 100. Sarah had long since given up hope of having a child, but you see, with God, all things are possible.
The Bible tells us that 4,000 years ago, Sarah and Abraham pitched their tent by the oaks of Moreh in the region of Israel that is now called Hebron. The Bible tells us that Abraham was sitting in the door of the tent in the heat of the day and suddenly three heavenly visitors appeared before him, and he recognized them as angelic, and he went and fell down before them and he said “I am your servant. If I have found favor in your sight, I beg you let water be brought that you might wash your feet, sit under the shade of a tree and rest and let me fetch a morsel of bread to refresh you.” The angels agreed. Abraham went to the tent, and he said to Sarah, “Please make three cakes of fine meal.” She agreed. Then Abraham ran to his herd, and he took a calf – tender and young – and he instructed a servant to prepare the calf to be eaten. And in the course of time, Abraham brought meat, three cakes, curds of milk and set them as food before the angels. And he stood by and watched them eat and the angels said to him, “Abraham, where is your wife Sarah?” Abraham said, “She is in the tent.” The angels said. “We will return to you in the spring and when we do, Sarah will bear a son.” Well, all this time Sarah was standing in the doorway of the tent listening. When she heard this, she laughed within herself. She said, “Shall I indeed bear a son now that I am old.” The angels discerned her laughter and they said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything impossible for God?”
The truth is Sarah thought some things were impossible for God. She did not think it possible that God could give her a child at the age of 91. Her faith began in doubt. It grew in hope and the Bible tells us that she came to the point of confident expectation. She considered that He was faithful who had Made the promises. You know the Greek word for impossible is the word “andunatose.” It means “without power.” The Bible is saying that God is never without power. All things are possible to God, and we see this in our Lord Jesus Christ who said He had all power, and He has all power in the heavens and on earth. Through Him all things are possible.
You see, none of you have the power to restore the sight of a man born blind by the mere touch of your hand. None of you have the power to call the fish of the sea into a fisherman’s net. None of you have the power to calm the sea and rebuke the wind at the mere command of your voice. None of you have the power to raise the dead. None of you have the power to change water to wine in a moment in time. But there is one person who has such power. He is Jesus Christ, and He says to all of us who believe in Him “All things are possible.” Jesus said, “All things are possible to him who believes for truly, truly I say to you. If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, you shall say to this mountain ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea’ and it shall be done for you.” The trouble with most of us, we want faith the size of the mountain before we attempt to move a mustard seed. Jesus said, “All things are possible to those who believe.”
One of the great men of faith of our time was a man named Dr. Charles McCoy. He was pastor of a Baptist church in Oyster Bay, New York. He was a tall man, standing 6’4,” very distinguished looking with silver grey hair. He was a highly educated man. He had seven earned college degrees and he had two earned Ph.Ds. from Columbia and Dartmouth universities. He was a bachelor, having spent the greater portion of his life in the pursuit of theological studies. When he was 72 years old, his denomination told him that he would be forced to retire at the end of the year. Dr. Charles McCoy went home, and he was devastated. He laid on his bed and he wept. For all of his degrees, he did not count his life as meaningful. He considered his life to have been barren. He had pastored three churches, none of which he believed had been blessed or fruitful. He was not ready to retire. He was not ready to cease work on this earth.
But that was the beginning of a new work of God in the life of Dr. Charles McCoy. A month later a missionary friend of Charles McCoy came to visit him and said “Charles, after this year why don’t you come to India and begin a whole new career as a missionary in India?” Dr. McCoy said, “That wouldn’t be possible.” He said, “How could I start a new career at 73 years of age and why would people in India listen to me?” The missionary said “Charles, they would respect you for your age.” Now as the days and the weeks and the months passed, Charles McCoy began more and more to be broken. In his journey with Christ, he began to depend more and more on the Lord, and at the conclusion of that year when he quit his Baptist church in New York City, he announced that he was going to become a missionary to India. His congregation thought that he was crazy. The missionary who had invited him to India was no longer there. Charles McCoy didn’t know a single person in India. He had cut the name of another missionary out of an article in a magazine, and he had planned to just stop by that guy’s house and visit him. He sold what little he had and bought a one-way ticket to Bombay. When he got there, he found that the trunk that had all of his earthly possessions in it was lost, and he never did find it. He had then only the shirt on his back, his wallet with a little money in it and his passport. He took a bus to the address where the article in the magazine had said this missionary lived, he got off the bus, the bus left and then he noticed that his wallet was gone and so was his passport. A pickpocket had taken them. Now he had only the shirt on his back. He knocked on the missionary’s door. This missionary had never seen him before and didn’t know what to make of this penniless, retired minister who wanted to be a missionary in India. The missionary said, “Dr. McCoy, why don’t you stay here this night.” Charles McCoy agreed.
He woke up that next morning and he spent an hour and a half in prayer. It’s hard for some of us, perhaps, to understand but God spoke to Charles McCoy in a very special way. He said “Charles, I want you to go and speak to the mayor of Bombay and I want you to do it today.” Well Charles McCoy told the missionary. “I’m going to speak to the mayor of Bombay.” The missionary said, “That’s not possible.” He said, “I’ve tried for years to speak to the mayor of Bombay, and he has no interest in speaking with Christians.” Well, Dr. McCoy went. He said, “With God all things are possible.” He went to the office of the mayor and there he spoke to the receptionist, and he gave the receptionist his card. The receptionist then went into the mayor’s study, and she said “Sir, there is a very tall, distinguished gray haired man from America outside. He has given me this card” and so the mayor looked at the card and saw all the degrees listed. He said “Wow”! He thought to himself “This man must be very special. He’s from America. He may even be a representative of the President of the United States.” And so, the receptionist came out and said, “Dr. McCoy, the mayor will see you at 3:00 pm this afternoon.” At 3:00 pm that afternoon, Dr. McCoy came back and to his amazement, the mayor had invited all the economically prominent, all the politically prominent people of Bombay to a tea in his honor, and they asked him to stand up and speak and he did, and he was anointed by the Holy Spirit. He didn’t say anything particularly academic. He didn’t sound particularly brilliant though he had many degrees, but he simply told them of his love for Jesus Christ.
Many lives were touched in that room that day and after the service, one man came up to him. He was in military clothing, and he said, “Dr. McCoy, would you come and speak to my academy?” Dr. McCoy didn’t know it, but he was being invited to the West Point of India. He came and he spoke and there was a great movement of God’s spirit. He was asked back again, again and again. Five times he spoke at that military academy. That was the beginning of a whole new career for Dr. Charles McCoy. He ministered for 16 years in India, China and Egypt. He founded churches in all three of those lands and when he was 88 years old, he was in Calcutta, and he had just spoken at a luncheon. He was scheduled to speak that night at 7,180 at the Y.M.C.A. He had a friend with him, and he said “Please take me to my hotel. I’d like to have a bit of tea, take a nap before I speak tonight” — perfectly reasonable for an 88-year-old man. His friend took him to the hotel. Dr. McCoy went through the lobby, got on an elevator, went up to his room. No one ever spoke to his again because he passed away. No one was with him when he died except Jesus, whom he loved. Dr. McCoy had fought the good fight. He had finished the race and he had kept the faith. His life was a miracle. The impossible was possible by the power of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ wants your life and my life to be a miracle. What was true of Dr. McCoy is true of all the heroes of the faith. It’s true of everyone who loves God through Jesus Christ. Our lives become miracles. It was true of Sarah. It was true of Abraham. Sarah’s life was a miracle and she lived 127 years on this earth. When she died, Abraham wept, and he buried her in a cave at Machpelah. Abraham lived a long life. The Bible says that he died an old man full of years and he was laid to rest beside his wife Sarah in the cave at Machpelah. They had fought the good fight. They had kept the faith. They had finished the race. God wants your life and mine to be a miracle. There’s not one of you in this room that knows how long you have to live on this earth. God is a sovereign God. He loves us and he has a plan for us. He won’t take us before our time as Christian is ready. But he calls upon us in the years that are given to us to serve Him in faith, to live a life that is not possible by the world’s standards but is possible only by His Spirit, that our life might be a miracle.
Two thousand years ago the Angel Gabriel left Heaven and came to earth to a village of earth called Nazareth. There he appeared to a woman who was engaged to a man whose name was Joseph and the woman’s name was Mary. And the angel said, “Hail oh favored one full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” But Mary was deeply troubled and considered in her mind what kind of greeting this might be. The angel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for behold you have found favor with God, and you shall conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus and He shall be great. He shall be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God shall give him the throne of his father, David, and He shall rule over the house of Jacob forever and of His Kingdom there shall be no end.” Mary said, “How can this be, seeing as I have no husband?” The angel said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born shall be called Holy, the Son of God, and behold your kinswoman, Elizabeth, has also conceived in her old age and she shall bear a son. This is now the sixth month with her who was called barren, for with God, nothing is impossible.” Sarah said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to my in accordance with your will.” With God, nothing is impossible, and He wants to make our life a miracle, but we must say with Mary and with Sarah, “I am the handman. I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me in accordance with your will.”
God wants your life to be a miracle and the blessings of God do not come by claiming what you want in prayer. The blessings of God come by claiming what He wants in prayer. The blessings of God come when we believe the promises of God. The blessings of God come when we obey the instructions of God. The blessings of God come when our life is relinquished to Him and I can guarantee you if every morning when you wake up, if you begin each day as a Christian, by saying, “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me in accordance with your will,” your life will be a miracle. And at your life’s end, people will say, “Apart from God, that life was not possible.” Shall we pray.