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I’m going to invite you to Genesis. Chapter 20 is where we’re at together today, Genesis chapter 20. And I’m going to be honest and tell you, this is a this is a messy chapter. I’m actually going to be honest all the way through this. But but this is a this is a messy chapter of Scripture. It’s not good to lie as a pastor. Um, uh, Genesis chapter 20 is a messy passage of Scripture we’re going to find in this chapter, Abraham is, uh, really living out a sin that he’s we’ve already seen him do in Genesis chapter 12. And, uh, he’s he’s has this habitual problem in the sin that he falls in and the struggle in his life. And, uh, you know, for Abraham, you think about his story that he went on this journey, that God called him out of the Chaldeans to go to this promised land, to pursue God and all the dreams in front of him. And yet Abraham finds in this journey the the same old struggles with his life and and some of the struggles he encounters and going to a foreign land. You know, last night I had one of the a beautiful privilege of going down to downtown Salt Lake to speak to an international community that had gathered for celebration of Christmas. These were Christians that want to honor the Lord, having this common interest of coming from an international location to to America in order to, uh, see their lives improved and to pursue God and are thinking about not just themselves, but their generations to follow.
And I couldn’t help but think as, as we’re worshiping the Lord last night and they’re honoring Christmas and they’re having this celebration, just how much of their lives are, are pictured with, with Abraham and and seeing the struggle that Abraham had, you had all this anticipation of what could await. But even when you get there, you can’t fully understand some of the struggles you’re going to be experiencing. And and no matter how many times you might move in your life, you still are dealing with you and the the battles that you have within yourself. But, you know, one of the beautiful things that we, we find as Christians is that, uh, God relates to us in that that he left his throne in heaven to become the servant of servants and the most humble of forms as a child in a manger. You got to think, if you’re the King of glory and you had to picture your arrival into this world, I don’t know about you, but in the time of Jesus, I would have picked interior plumbing with heating, you know, and and some something a little more fancy than what he did. But but the path he chose to walk was to demonstrate the idea of the servant of servants to to be here for, for our need to, to help us in the midst of our struggle to become flesh as we are to relate for us and ultimately give his life for us.
Uh, Christmas is a the idea of Christmas, and what it represents for us is a a beautiful story of hope. And I find it particularly important this time of year because at the end of the year, I notice as a pastor, I tend to get an increase of of phone calls and people that are struggling. Uh, it’s something about this season of year going into winter when there’s more darkness. And, and sometimes you think about family and friends getting together. And maybe this Christmas doesn’t look like last Christmas for you because of some struggles in your life. And it it becomes a, a difficult time of year. And if I’m being frank for, for my family, this year was this past week was not easy. Wife’s down with sickness for a few days. A kid is having surgery and then I’m entering into this season getting phone call after phone call with people that are struggling, which I’m happy to get phone calls. Just so you know, if you struggle and if you got something going on and you just want to share some of that burden, that’s fine with me. But but in that there’s also just you get this sense of weightiness. Right. But but at the same time, there’s also a tremendous amount of joy because people are tends to be, especially this time of year.
They’re more mindful that sometimes it’s just difficult for people. And so while on one end of the phone, you’ll get calls of people struggling, on the other end, you have people that that want to be a part of, of moving forward and and encouraging people and coming alongside of them. And, and so you get these really high highs and these really low lows and, and Genesis chapter 20 I think is, is a chapter much like that you’re seeing in this mess, uh, the struggle of Abraham. But it turns out to be a really a beautiful mess because the Lord enters into it and God’s involved, and he doesn’t abandon Abraham where he’s at, but he he desires for him to to grow in the Lord and and to live out what God has called him for. I mean, could you imagine in this world if, if if we all walked faithfully with, with Christ what that would look like? I mean, you just take the the beautiful way Jesus taught what he desired for his people to do and the way that he wanted them to live in this world. If we all just grabbed a hold of that and trusted in him and and live the kind of life that God called us to, how beautiful this world would be. In fact, uh, Charles Swindoll in his book One Nomad’s Amazing Journey, he says it like this.
He postulates that idea, and he says this in page 159. He said, wouldn’t it be great if we could suddenly become instantly mature and completely perfect? Imagine how different the world and our churches would become if trusted. And Jesus Christ made us intellectually astute, morally flawless and spiritually wise. Sinners from birth and sinners by nature immediately transformed. No more struggles with impatience or greed or lust or other selfish, self-serving motives. No more complaining. No more gossip. No more passive aggressive politics. No one trying to control other people’s lives. The instant we trusted in Christ, we become a model of flawless integrity. Wouldn’t that be great? And yes, it would. That would. I think we’re going to have to call that heaven. But it would be wonderful if we could turn our lives to Christ, and we would be so transformed that by faith we would forever follow Jesus faithfully. But in recognizing that’s just not reality. Uh, there’s there’s another man by the name of Chad Bird who wrote a book called limping with God, and that sounds like more like my style. Limping with God? What? What does that look like? Well, he says this. Show me a church and I’ll show you a hotbed of hypocrisy, self-interest, many political parties, the jockeying for power, the flexing of holiness, and all manner of unscrupulous activities. In other words, show me a church and I will show you a truckload of sinners pastored by a sinner, usually tottering on the brink of implosion.
And yet there, Sunday after Sunday, in the middle of that congregation of disciples, the Lord drives up, walks into the church, gets to work doing what he does best forgiving, cleansing, discipling, helping, loving, and through it all, making sure his good and gracious will is done. I love the truthfulness, the candidness of that statement. It’s saying to us when it comes to your walk with Jesus, there is no game to play and there’s no facade to put up. And God, he really wants to meet you where you are, and God wants to walk with you on this journey of knowing what it means to to follow after him and mature in the Lord as you come into relationship with Jesus. But here’s here’s what we find in Scripture is that there are some struggles in our lives that that tend to just beat us down, like we tend sometimes to be prone to certain temptations. And in fact, it doesn’t take long to read through Scripture that you’ll often see these great saints of of the Bible falling victim to the same thing over and over again. They they give up to the to these certain sins in their lives repeatedly. In fact, in the book of Exodus, in chapter two, you find in chapter two the story of Moses. And Moses gets angry at this Egyptian soldier that is attacking the Hebrew people to the point that he he takes matters into his own hands and he kills the soldier.
And then Pharaoh finds out about it, and he goes after Moses and Moses out of that anger, now having led to murder, Moses has to run away from the Pharaoh, and he goes into hiding for 40 years because of it. And you would think that Moses had learned from his anger issue that that would have been enough from him after having to go into the wilderness for for 40 years. But all of a sudden, when you get to the book of judges and excuse me, numbers, chapter 20 and numbers chapter 20, it tells a story again of Moses who gets angry at the children of Israel, and he acts out of that anger. And then acting out of that anger, God tells Moses that you won’t go into the Promised land, that Moses becomes this repeat offender. Even in other stories of the Bible, like the idea of Samson. Samson in the Book of Judges, if you remember Samson. Wonderful, beautiful hair, very strong and impressive. But Samson had this temptation in which he would give in to women. In fact, the very first words that Samson is quoted as saying in Scripture, he comes off more like a meat head than anything else. And he he talks about a woman. He’s like it says in in judges chapter 14, a young Philistine woman caught my eye.
I want to marry her. Get her for me. That’s that’s Samson’s opening line in Scripture. And you see, he’s he’s prone to that, to the point that what leads to Samson’s demise is that he finds later on another woman, and he and and he eventually she’s she gives him over to authorities, betrays him, and his hair is cut. He loses his strength. And so it leads to to Samson’s downfall. Even King David. King David, referred to as a a man after God’s own heart. Uh, but when you look at King David’s life, this is kind of an uncouth way of saying this, but he collected women like trading cards. And we find in the book of Samuel that David gives into the temptation with Bathsheba and second Samuel, chapter 11, that here we are, this, this individual described as a a man after God’s own heart. But his his career becomes soiled by this scandal with Bathsheba and even in the New Testament. And if you were to read through the Gospels this time of year, people typically like to read the Christmas story and the book of Matthew and Luke, and we start the the book of Matthew. It’s a a glorious unfolding of Jesus juxtaposed against King Herod, King Herod, a tyrannical king, and Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, just born in a stable, beautiful story. The way he pursues people gives his life for people.
And then at the end of Matthew, after he’s chosen these particular followers and and Matthew chapter 26, you see, as Jesus goes on trial, Peter betrays Jesus to the point when Peter curses about Jesus and betrays Jesus, he denies Jesus three times. And finally, at the third time, when he denies Jesus. The story. The way the story is told is, is if he makes eye contact. In that third denial of Jesus, he makes eye contact with Jesus when he’s on trial. And Jesus looks back at Peter and Peter realizes what he’s done and he runs away weeping, and you think that would have been enough for Peter to be like, I’m never doing that again. But when you get to Galatians chapter two, it tells you in, in Galatians two that the apostle Paul had to oppose Peter to his face again because Peter was denying the gospel. Throughout Scripture you see this, this picture of repeat offending that we are prone to temptations and to to repeat sins over and over. And Alan Redpath is a British pastor and he says this the conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment. But the manufacturing of a saint is the task of a lifetime. It’s a beautiful work that God does when you put your trust in him. I mean instantaneously, not not because of what you do, but because of what Jesus has done for you. You have this new identity in Christ.
You belong to God forever. The Bible tells you you’re you’re adopted in him. You have this new position in in the way that you’re to live your life. And second Corinthians five, you’re an ambassador in Second Peter chapter two, you’re a royal priesthood. That nothing the Bible tells you in Romans chapter eight can separate you from the love of God in John chapter ten, that he holds you in his hand, that you belong to him forever. Nothing will ever rip you away from the Lord. So that is your position in Christ forever, a beautiful, instantaneous transformation in your life. But then to live that out, that’s where the struggle is. How to, as Colossians three says, to to put off the old self and to put on the new self, to live in light of now who you are, because you’re in Christ, that that’s where the struggle takes place. And this is exactly where we find ourselves in Genesis chapter 20, that Abraham once again is in this position of struggle. In fact, as a repeat offender. Point number one in your notes is this. And we’re going to keep these points simplistic today that Abraham flees. Abraham flees. In Genesis chapter 20. As we start this story, Abraham has gone through some significant change in his life. If you remember, chapter 19, uh, Sodom and Gomorrah has just been destroyed. This is the next town over for Abraham and Abraham.
Rather than see this as an opportunity for ministry, rather than run literally to the fire, rather than to counsel and console people as they’re dealing with this struggle and point people to the Lord in this Abraham, the way that he deals with it is to walk away. Now, it’s a little bit speculative as to whether or not Abraham’s intentions are godly in Genesis chapter 20, when he moves. But, but let me say this when you read Abraham’s about Abraham’s journey in the book of Genesis, starting in chapter 12, you see, there’s times where God very clearly told Abraham to to go, to move, to, to go to a new destination. And there are other times where Abraham just simply did it. And any time God said to Abraham, you should do it, it was for godly reasons. And Abraham obeyed. But any time Abraham just ups and packs and moves, and there’s no indication that God has told him, told him to do so. Abraham, in those moments, he falls, he sins, he does something wrong. And that’s what we see in Genesis chapter 20, the Abraham. Rather than step into the adversity to help people in their struggle to counsel people through this, to face his own concerns, Abraham moves away from from what he’s experiencing, and it ultimately leads to to challenges in Abraham’s relationship with the Lord. And it impacts people around him. And so in Genesis chapter 20, verse one, it says this.
Now Abraham moved on from there, there into the region of the Negev, and in between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Garar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, she is my sister. Then Abimalek, king of Girar, sent for Sarah and took her. Here we are again, Abraham doing the same thing that he did in Genesis chapter 12. If you remember in Genesis 12, that’s the story where God told Abraham to move from earth, the Chaldeans, which is in modern day Iraq, to go to the land that he had promised him. Abraham didn’t know where he was going, but he followed God faithfully, ended up in the Promised Land. As soon as he got there, there was a famine. And Abraham, out of concern for the famine. Rather than listen to God, he packed up and moved, and he moved to Egypt. And as soon as he got there, he shared the same story with Pharaoh. That Sarah was was not his wife, but rather his sister. And in sharing the story, the Pharaoh took Abraham’s wife. And you would think in Genesis 12, Abraham learned from this story God had to intervene, rescue Abraham. But here you find again in Genesis chapter 20, Abraham repeating the same sin, the same exact thing that that Abraham was tempted and fell victim to. In chapter 12. It’s the same thing in Genesis chapter 20. What is it going to take for this guy to learn? And when you when you see this kind of thing taking place, I mean, there was a serious thing for Abraham to do in chapter 12.
He almost lost his wife. God had to rescue her in order to bring her back. Abraham, what are you thinking? Is this really how God’s people behave? Can you even call yourself a follower of the Lord? Do God’s people really repeat sin? Is that for a Christian? If you if you are given over to the same kind of temptations, if you have struggles in in your life that you repeat over and over again, can you really call yourself a Christian? Are you even a Christian? How do you know? Well, one of the most encouraging texts, I think, in, in Scripture, there’s a, there’s a few I could point to, but one that I want to highlight is Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter seven. This is the Apostle Paul writing about the struggle that he finds within his own life. Romans chapter seven, verse 21. Listen to what Paul says, for I find this law at work, although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law. But I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. Here’s the apostle Paul, the Christian of Christians. We might declare him who refers to himself in this passage as the the chief of sinners. And here’s here’s the relief for us as believers is not necessarily the Apostle Paul is sinning, but he’s saying to you, if if the Apostle Paul can struggle, so can we. And in fact, I would say that the most important part in the midst of our struggle as believers is is understanding the motive within our heart. Like what happens to you once once your sin is found out? How do you respond to that? Once you realize the mistake that you’ve made or or the sin that you’ve conducted? Like what is your typical reaction? Are you are you just mad or upset that you got found out? Are you embarrassed that your your friends and family might know? And so you change your behavior in order to look better to to someone else? Are you genuinely broken? Because you understand the heart of God. And then so understanding the heart of God, your heart is to draw near to his heart and to honor him. In either case, someone’s someone’s behavior might change, right? If you’re if you’re upset because, well, other people found out and it was embarrassing to you, your behavior can change and look good.
The religion teaches you that this outward facade of performance. Or is it is it something that led to a certainly an alternative behavior as well? Your your life has changed. But but it wasn’t because simply because of what other people thought it was, because of what the Lord thought. And you, you carried the heart of God towards it, and you grieved. The motive of your heart in those moments are ultimately what matters, because it determines why you’re doing what you do. And the Apostle Paul and reflecting this in Romans chapter seven, he’s grieving over the fact that his life is in conflict with what God desires. And rather than live out the desire, he longs to live what God desires for him. What is the motive of your heart? You know, often I get to have conversation with people as we struggle to live the Christian life. And immediately what I want to discover. Is, is why do you feel broken over the things that happen? What makes it a struggle for you is because your heart desires to reflect God’s heart. Or is it simply because you did something and now regret that other people look, look at you and and maybe think less of what you’ve done? The motive of your heart is is an important reflection of the health and the direction in which you are to pursue. And God. God knows that we as people, we aren’t perfect, but God’s desire is to continue to walk with us in in the struggle of our life.
That’s why the. In Philippians chapter one verse six, the apostle Paul says to us, he who began a good work in you will bring it about to completion. It’s as if Paul is saying, look, you might feel like giving up on you because, well, you just you just can’t seem to get where you want to be. But God still wants to continue to to move in your life in order to produce what it is that he desires. And Abraham is really pointing out something that all of us struggle with. Our tendency when we face adversity is to deal with the temptation of taking convenience over what is right. And when integrity and convenience are opposed to one another, it’s important that we take integrity every time. I mean, all that Abraham is doing by taking what is convenient is he’s punting his problem. And what he’s going to discover is that his problem is simply going to snowball. And in so doing, he’s going to have a greater issue to deal with down the road. And it’s possible in this passage, verse two, that the reason Abimelech is taking Abraham’s wife is because he’s recognizing who. Abraham. Who Abraham is. If you remember, in in past chapters, we’ve read how Abraham went to battle with just a little over 300 people, and he was able to defeat five kingdoms with with an army of a little over 300 people.
Abraham, no doubt, is recognized in this land as a powerful man, and it was customary during those days to intermarry between different groups of people in order to have peaceful relationships between kingdoms. And so it’s possible that Abimelech is doing this, but nevertheless, Abraham, in the steps he’s taking, he’s fleeing from God. He’s being dishonest. He’s putting his his family in a compromising position. And what God does here is incredible. Point number two in your notes is this that God pursues. God hasn’t given up on Abraham. He’s interested in continuing that good work that he brought as Philippians chapter one, verse six. He wants to bring it to to completion. And the way that God pursues Abraham is very humbling. And you see it in verse three. It says, But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, you are as good as dead, because the woman you have taken, she is a married woman. Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, she is my sister? And did she also say he is my brother? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands. Here’s what’s incredible. Abraham is considered the man of God. If you remember how Abraham was chosen in Genesis chapter 11, you had the Tower of Babel where people had turned against God again, and they were building something for their own glory.
And God comes down and confuses the people there and produces different languages. And out of that the nations are born. But from those people groups that had rejected God, God chose one person, this one person, to be the way that God would work for the future, to bless all nations. This was the person that was supposed to be the godly person. This is the person that people in this land were supposed to listen to, to hear what God desired for the people to know. But what does God choose to use instead? A pagan man. God chooses to work through a pagan man, because the one that he had chosen had moved away from him. Abraham was walking in sin and so God works through someone else. How humbling this would have been for Abraham to hear that it was the man who doesn’t follow after God who is choosing to still honor God. And I think for you, sometimes when we fall. How humbling it is sometimes when the people around you may be able to call it out. I got to tell you, and this is just me being totally truthful as a father. Sometimes some of the hardest things to to see are your own faults played out in your children. They become these parrots of of reproducing your imperfections, sometimes mimicking your behaviors.
Some of the most humbling things I’ve had as a parent is when your own children, even at young ages, can see things for the way they are and just call you out on it. And here you see Abraham in this story and a pagan man, this guy doesn’t know God, and yet he’s speaking honestly for the Lord. And look at this, these next, these next few verses, how it unfolds. Then God said to him in a dream, yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. This is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die. Early the next morning, Abimelech summoned all his officials, and when he had told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid when it comes to the Christian life. Um, really, to be faithful in the Lord, it doesn’t take much other than the idea of I’m going to surrender my life to the Lord, and I just want to do what he says. If you want to know what it means to follow Jesus, let me just give you the the the best advice. Read the Bible and just do what it says.
That’s it. Just read the Bible and just follow the Lord. Do what it says. It’s that simplistic. And here you have a man that God has poured into Abraham. He’s likely been a disobedient to God for months. You’re going to see in a minute. And some of these verses, it likely indicates that Abraham gave Sarah over to Abimelech, and he let Sarah be in Abimelech’s kingdom for several months. For several months he’s walking in disobedience to God and being like, Sarah, let’s just keep playing this story. Please tell people you’re you’re my sister. You don’t don’t let them know we’re married. I’m really afraid for me, right? Several months he’s been walking in this. And yet. Abimelech. Abimelech in just one night of God confronting him, immediately wakes up early the next morning to address what God called him to address. How humbling that must be for Abraham to see God working through a pagan king. As you think in your own life. There are times that I can think what God had to use in order to awaken my soul to my need for him. God used some of the most interesting things in my faith journey for me one to put my trust in Jesus and then to follow after him with my life. And and to to to hear this from a source that you wouldn’t expect. I mean Abraham this this would be his place to boast.
Don’t you know who I am? You know, I’ve got the all the theological degrees in comparison to you. Look how great I am and all the things I’ve accomplished and all the wealth I have. It’s because God has been with me. Who? Who am I to listen to you? But yet, in the midst of this horrible situation, it’s Abimelech that God uses to speak to the heart of Abraham. Because can I just encourage you to maybe ask you? Is there anywhere in your life where your heart’s been hardened against the things of God? Where he just kind of excuse the sin that you’ve been involved in, as if like, okay, God, I’ve given you 80%, but I’m just going to keep this 20% for me. That God’s just been prodding you about. It’s this place of God bringing you to a situation of humility. To recognize God doesn’t call you just for you to give half of yourself to him, or a portion of yourself to him. God’s heart is that all of you would be given over to him. And what you find in point number three in your notes is that Abraham excuses. Abraham excuses. He makes excuses for for what he’s doing in Genesis chapter 20, verse nine. Abraham’s lie is is discovered. And here it is. Abraham took convenience for the moment, and he thought this convenience was going to bring him pleasure. And temporarily it did, but all it really did was avoid the situation.
And and he punted the, the problem down the road. And it snowballed and got bigger and bigger. And verse nine, then Abimalek called Abraham and said, what have you done to us? How have I wronged you, that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should have never been done. Could you imagine that? I mean, hearing that kind of a statement from someone that doesn’t even know the Lord. You have done things to me that should have never been done. Like not even the not even the pagan world treats other pagans as what you could have said. And who are you? This person claiming to be a man of God to to bring this compromise to my kingdom that could have brought the destruction of all people and guys, I hope you’ve seen this in the book of Genesis. I’ve I’ve repeated this idea to us multiple times, but any time you live for your glory in this world, you you will destroy relationships and people around you. But when you live your life for God’s glory, it becomes a blessing to the people around you. When you live for your glory, you treat other people like they’re tools in order to serve yourself. But when you live for God’s glory, you take the tools that God has given you in order to bless those around you.
And here you see in this sin struggle, this is exactly what Abraham has chosen for his glory. And through living for his glory, it’s brought not only compromise to his relationship with his wife, but compromise to relationships all around him and ultimately could lead to the destruction of the people. And so for Abraham, very humbling statement. Could you imagine, uh, being told this and in verse ten, And Abimelech said to Abraham, what was your reason for doing this? Abraham? Why would you do this? And in verse 11 you get Abraham’s reply, now I’m going to I’m going to be a little bit frank here and let you know, um, some commentaries in verse 11, when Abraham starts to give his response, they’re very critical of him. They say Abraham is actually not he’s not confessing his sin. He’s simply making excuses for it. That could be true. Um, but I tend to think the more and more I read it, I think Abraham is a little reluctant, but starting to be honest with what he did. And in bringing it to the light, that’s where God brings healing. And in Genesis chapter 20, verse 11, Abraham replied, I said to myself. There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father, though not of my mother. And she became my wife. And when God had made me wonder for my father’s household, I said to her, this is how you can show your love to me everywhere we go.
Say of me, he is my brother. Um, there’s a couple ways you could look at this. One is when when you think about Abraham making excuses. This is what Abraham is doing when he makes an excuse. If you think you go that trajectory. Uh, Abraham first starts off by insulting the people. There’s no fear of God in you. You guys are just terrible people, right? That’s what Abraham is saying. And, and and because of that, when he’s saying there’s no fear of God in them, what Abraham is also saying is because there’s no fear of God in you, I’m actually afraid of you. And Abraham reacts out of his fear. Can I tell you in your faith journey, God tells you in first Timothy chapter one, God doesn’t call you to a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. Anytime you’re making a decision, what God desires for you based on fear, you’re making a poor choice. God desires you to be a people that live by faith. Sure, it acknowledges things could be difficult, but we walk by faith, not by fear. And so Abraham, first he insults the people and then he tries to to justify the situation. Well, she’s my sister. And technically Abraham’s right. She is his half sister, which I’m not going to touch with a ten foot pole right now, but she is his half sister.
But but more than that. She is his wife. And God. Abraham is being he’s being honest. He’s being truthful to a degree by saying he’s she is my half sister. He acknowledges that. But he’s not being truthful in the spirit of the law. Abraham. She’s more than that. She is your wife. And there is a responsibility as her husband to provide, to care, to protect, to nurture the relationship that God has given you. And what you have done is not honoring. So Abraham, he tries to to justify where he’s what he’s done with his wife. And then he says, and to be honest, in verse 13, Abraham says, this is something we have just decided to do from day one. Abraham is telling us all the way back from the ur of the Chaldeans. Before they left, he told Sarah, Sarah, look, we’re going to go to some scary places and I don’t want to die. I don’t care what happens to you. I don’t want to die. And if you don’t want me to die, right? This is what he says. Just lie. Right? Let’s just lie. And so Abraham is saying, this is the decision I made. And so you can look at this and say Abraham is excusing by just simply saying this, but this narrative doesn’t really tell us if the motive and Abraham is saying this is if it’s a confession or it’s an excusing.
But I happen to believe that Abraham, by coming clean in this, this story, he’s being honest and he realizes where he’s messed up. In fact, Abimalek identified that for him directly, and he knows he can’t hide it anymore. And so Abraham shares everything, even the thoughts that he had from the beginning. And I think Abraham, in this passage, I think he most likely comes to this place of repentance. And when it comes to repentance, there’s a there’s a beautiful thought. Um, in James, in dealing with repentance and what it does for us. There’s a there’s a way in religion that we think about repentance that is not healthy or good. Typically when we use the word repentance, we think penance. That’s not biblical or healthy. Penance is you have to go through this, this, this stages of of feeling shame and guilt and carry feeling bad enough long enough to where you think all of a sudden God might become happy with you. Like if you go a number of months because you’ve done something wrong, just feeling enough guilt and shame, maybe God will start liking you again. And so you pay this penance, or you do this amount of work in order to to try to make God happy so that you can be good again with with your relationship with the Lord. Uh, like you, you you can do something more than what Jesus has done for you on the cross.
Penance is not biblical, healthy, or good. The Bible tells us that when Jesus died for you on the cross, he died for all of your sins. And in Hebrews chapter ten, verses 12 to 14, it reminds us he died for past, present, and future sins. And so to think there’s anything that you can add to that is to undermine what Jesus has done for you and to say, you may not understand the gospel. Um, and to carry guilt and shame is to recognize that you you don’t understand what Jesus did for you. What what what the gospel is. Jesus bore your guilt and shame. And so repentance isn’t this idea of penance, but rather repentance is agreeing with God. It’s turning your heart to the Lord and seeing things the way God sees them. And when we do that as people, I think God not only brings healing to our relationship with him, but he brings healing to our relationship with others. Sin has this nasty way of creating distance in our relationships. It can affect your relationship with God though your position in him. You’re always a child of God adopted in his kingdom if you belong to Jesus, but it can impact your fellowship with the Lord. The same thing is true with your relationships in this world. Sin will impact your relationships around you. But when we’re willing to confess our sins, there is healing.
In fact, in James chapter five verse 16, it says, therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective, and some people read this verse and say, well, what James is actually saying is, if you go around, just confess all your sins. If you have some kind of ailment in life and you just go around just confessing all your sins, magically, your ailments just go away, right? And maybe, I mean, God’s a miraculous God. Like, he can heal. He can do things like that. But but I think James is is really saying more than just go confess your sins to people. In fact, that that may get messy. It may not be the wisest thing to do. Um, but what James is saying is when we identify where we struggle and where we’ve sinned to people, it brings this place of humility and opportunity for the restoring of relationship. What I what I mean is, you know, as a father, I like to think that I have been the best at I could possibly be. But I could tell you, I’ve not been a perfect dad. And there are times I mess up, but I and I want the best for my boys. And one of the things that God has given me the opportunity to do in the middle of my mess up is is not run away from that like Abraham does in the story, but run to it and go to my kids and say, look, boys.
Um. This is who God calls me to be. And this is what I just did. And I ask for you to forgive me because this is what I want to strive for. And it does a few things. One, it helps my my, my boys. In my home, I got four boys to understand what the target is like, what God desires of me as a father, what God desires for them as young men as they mature. But it also helps them see dad’s not perfect and dad’s willing to confess when he messes up. And and we can reconcile that and and move forward. And and the same is true for them. It gives them an opportunity to do the same. You ever been in a situation where someone has wronged you or someone has done something wrong? Maybe not to you directly, but you think, are they are they crazy? Like, what’s wrong with these people? Right? Oh, that looks a little weird. I’m just going to take a note of that and maybe not be near this person because they got some issues. Right. But then if that person comes to you and they’re humble about it and they confess it, then you realize, oh, they’re not as crazy as I thought they were.
I mean, everybody’s a little crazy, right? But but they understand that that’s not who God wants them to be. And they’re showing the target. And it just it brings this endearment in that moment of humility that maybe there was some trust broken. Maybe there has to be some some work towards rebuilding that trust. But now there’s this drawing back together because you’ve just acknowledged before each other the elephant in the room. And because the elephant has been acknowledged, you can address it and figure out the healthy way to move forward and be able to do that. I think this is exactly what James is saying in James chapter five, that when we confess those sins to one another, when we’ve had those struggle and relationship, and we’re willing to come to this place of humility for the benefit of each other, God does a beautiful work in that. In fact, in another verse in first John chapter one, verse eight says, uh, if you say you have not sinned, the truth of God is not in you. So to think you’re going to be perfect as a Christian, like you’re not even a Christian. If you think that that’s a possibility, you can’t do that. Right. But then he goes on in first John chapter one, verse nine, it says, if we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, a beautiful work that God desires to do.
And so here’s the last point in your notes. Then God heals. God heals. You think with Abraham if he’s giving an excuse, what a pathetic excuse. And you would maybe ask the question how? How should a abimalek respond? I mean, he just put the whole kingdom at risk. How should Abimalek respond to Abraham and historians like this? And Abraham or Abimalek, excuse me, brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham. And he returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimalek said, my, my land is before you live wherever you like. To Sarah he said, I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you. Before all who are with you, you are completely vindicated. Hear what Abimalek does is he actually blesses Abraham. Let me just say he’s not blessing Abraham in his behavior, but rather I think he’s blessing Abraham as a person. I mean, God has already told told Abimalek the position of Abraham. He is a man of God that God wants to work through. So Abimalek desires to honor the God of Abraham because Abimalek already had an interaction with him and honoring the God of of Abraham the way he does it is by honoring Abraham. So he’s not he’s not blessing the behavior of Abraham, but he’s blessing the position of Abraham. And the same is true for us in this world.
People may wrong you. People may be difficult to get along with, but we’re never to degrade another human being. And the reason is because everyone’s made in the image of God, doesn’t mean people can’t be accountable for what they do. They certainly can be accountable. But it also means we don’t stoop to the level of degrading another human being, because everyone is made in the image of God, and Jesus gave his life for us. There’s no greater value that can be placed on us than what God has placed on us. And so the way that we honor God is seen in how we treat others, even in adversity. And Abimalek demonstrates this, and God brings healing. It goes on from there and says, verse 17, Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimalek his wife and his female slaves so that they could have children again. And for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelech’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife, Sarah. This is how we know, verse 18, that most likely Sarah had been with Abimalek for some time because people started to notice that of all Abimelech’s wives, none of them were getting pregnant anymore. And for that to take place, you need you need some months to transpire for everyone to realize, wait a minute. No one’s pregnant. In the in the castle, something must be happening. And so Sarah had been there for for a while.
But here’s here’s what’s incredible is that God wasn’t done with Abraham. The Abraham in the end comes and prays for Abimelech, and God blesses it. And here’s the encouragement for you and for me. God uses crooked sticks that just because you mess up, God’s not finished with you, that God wants to continue to do a beautiful work within you. If we as God’s people would be humble before him. You know, one of the most powerful psalms in all of the Bible comes in the in the midst of the most broken position. I think we find someone in Scripture in second Samuel chapter 11, when David has his sin with Bathsheba and his child dies, he writes Psalm 51 and Psalm 51 is a psalm that just pierces right to the heart, because here you find a man in the midst of his sin coming before God and confessing. Because can I tell you, in the midst of our struggle, one of the closest hearts to the Lord is a heart of repentance. The Bible says in in Psalm 51, A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. So rather than see God as being distant to me when I’m broken, what Psalms actually tells me is God is right there with me. That what God wants is that heart. More than anything. God wants the rawness of your heart. And David in that psalm confesses God against you and you alone have I sinned.
You have a place to go before the Lord and not to try to perform to earn his love, but just to be honest with the struggles that you face. Because sometimes those demons, they reoccur. But God is for you. And a broken and contrite heart he will not despise. Let me. Let me end with this illustration. I think one of the most beautiful pictures, maybe, of what it is to live the Christian life is the idea of a footprint, and a footprint communicates a few things when you when you see it. One it demonstrates where someone is going. It reminds us they they weren’t where they once were, but it also declares to us they’re not where they used to be that they’re on a journey. And the same thing is true with your relationship with the Lord. We can look at the idea of the footprint as if to say before the Lord God, thank you. I’m not who I used to be, and God, thank you. I’m not where you have fully called me to be, but rather you desire to continue to walk with me in this journey as I as I seek to honor you. A broken and contrite heart. God, you do not despise. What a beautiful thought to think. In this Christmas season, God would pursue you for relationship, even in our sin that he would give his life.