A Truly Beautiful Woman – Sarah
Introduction
A. Genesis 12:14 Moses wrote by inspiration of, 400 years after Sarah was buried in the Cave of Macpelah. “And the woman was very beautiful”
B. God’s inspired word declared that Sarah was “very beautiful.”
C. What made her so beautiful? Was it her eyes, the shape of her face, or the way she fashioned her hair and makeup? What does the Bible say about any of these things? Nothing.
I. 1 Peter 3:4-6 The Apostle Peter writes about TRUE BEAUTY and thinks of Sarah as a great example.
A. True beauty is the adorning of the face, hair, or body: clothing, makeup, or jewelry.
B. God in heaven who knows us and all men best says, “but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is God’s sight is very precious.”
1. True beauty is adorned by imperishable beauty – that never grows old, fat, wrinkled, or gray.
2. True beauty is the hidden spirit which is shown by a gentle and quiet spirit.
3. God says that it is VERY PRECIOUS.
4. The only time that she appears to not be gentle and quiet is when Hagar is pregnant with her husband’s son and she taunts Sarah for being barren. And when Ishmael made fun of her son Isaac.
II. Sarah is an Example of True Beauty.
A. Like the holy women of old, she hoped in God, not in the vanity of attentions that men might shower on her because of her natural or physical beauty. Women who do not hope in God trust rather in self-promotions such as the “selfies” of social media.
B. Holy women are adorned by the beautiful way they submit to their husbands.
C. Sarah shows us how when she obeyed her husband (Abraham).
1. She called him “lord.” Genesis 18:12
2. When he commanded, she obeyed. Genesis 18:6. When the three men, who we learn are God’s angels, appeared to Abraham, he commanded, “Quick!” Seven quarts of fine flour! “Kneed it, and make cakes!” He commanded her, and she did not balk or hesitate. She was not offended nor did she lament he lack of respect or her equal rights before the angels who had come from God to tell her husband that she was going to have baby.
D. God rewarded Sarah with the pleasure of motherhood, when she had been barren almost a century. Genesis 18:12, she laughed, “So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”
-- The LORD re-phrased her words, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD?”
-- The next year, Sarah gave birth to Isaac, which means, “Laughter.”