Abraham and Abimelech (Genesis 20)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:14.550 Turn to Genesis Chapter Twenty. We continue our reading of God's Word in the 2 00:00:14.550 --> 00:00:22.899 book of Genesis and I will be preaching from this chapter as well. As 3 00:00:22.940 --> 00:00:26.339 we come to Genesis Chapter Twenty, please keep in mind that this follows the 4 00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:34.579 destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the rescue of lot, the great evils between 5 00:00:34.820 --> 00:00:40.609 lot and his daughters. Now the camera, so to speak, if this 6 00:00:40.689 --> 00:00:47.530 were a movie, would zoom or pan rather over to Abraham. I returned 7 00:00:47.609 --> 00:00:53.719 to him and to his the account of his life. Abraham has been observing 8 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:59.240 these things, observing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah from a distance. I'm 9 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:03.549 literally seeing the smoke rising up from the valley as they were destroyed. Now, 10 00:01:03.709 --> 00:01:07.469 after those events, Abraham journeys on. Remember, he is a traveler 11 00:01:07.629 --> 00:01:11.430 in a land that has been promised to him but he does not yet possess. 12 00:01:12.750 --> 00:01:18.659 So let's continue reading of the Lord's Servant, our father in the faith, 13 00:01:18.700 --> 00:01:26.299 Abraham, Genesis Chapter Twenty. From there, Abraham journeying toward the territory 14 00:01:26.379 --> 00:01:32.260 of the NEGEB and lived between Kadash and sure and he sojourned in Gerar. 15 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:38.049 And Abraham said of his of Sarah, his wife. She is my sister. 16 00:01:38.290 --> 00:01:42.849 And Abimelech, King of Garar, sent and took Sarah. But God 17 00:01:42.969 --> 00:01:48.079 came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, behold, 18 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:52.120 you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for 19 00:01:52.280 --> 00:01:57.840 she as a man's wife. Now abimelech had not approached her. So he 20 00:01:57.959 --> 00:02:01.390 said, Lord, will you kill an innocent people? Did he not himself 21 00:02:01.549 --> 00:02:06.310 say to me, she is my sister? And she herself said, he 22 00:02:06.469 --> 00:02:09.550 is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and in the innocence of 23 00:02:09.629 --> 00:02:14.229 my hands, I have done this. Then God said to him in the 24 00:02:14.270 --> 00:02:17.020 dream, yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of 25 00:02:17.060 --> 00:02:21.539 your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. 26 00:02:22.580 --> 00:02:27.340 Therefore, I did not let you touch her. Now then return the man's 27 00:02:27.379 --> 00:02:30.169 wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you 28 00:02:30.810 --> 00:02:34.409 and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that 29 00:02:34.490 --> 00:02:39.289 you shall surely die, you and all who are yours. So abimelech rose 30 00:02:39.409 --> 00:02:44.050 early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things, 31 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:49.479 and the men were very much afraid. Then ablimelech called Abraham and told 32 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:53.080 and said to him, why have you done, or what have you done 33 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:57.120 to us, and how have I sinned against you that you have brought on 34 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:00.349 me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that 35 00:03:00.509 --> 00:03:06.069 ought not to be done. And Abimelech said to Abraham, what did you 36 00:03:06.189 --> 00:03:09.750 see that you did this thing? Abraham said, I did it because I 37 00:03:09.870 --> 00:03:14.219 thought there is no fear of God at all in this place and they will 38 00:03:14.259 --> 00:03:17.500 kill me because of my wife. Besides, she is indeed my sister, 39 00:03:19.060 --> 00:03:22.620 the daughter of my father, though not the daughter of my mother, and 40 00:03:22.780 --> 00:03:27.060 she became my wife. And when God caused me to wander from my father's 41 00:03:27.060 --> 00:03:30.330 house, I said to her, this is the kindness you must do to 42 00:03:30.409 --> 00:03:32.530 me. At every place to which we come, say of me, he 43 00:03:32.729 --> 00:03:38.569 is my brother. Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen and male servants and female 44 00:03:38.650 --> 00:03:43.599 servants and gave them to Abraham and returned Sarah, his wife, to him. 45 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:46.759 And Abimelech said, behold, my land is before you. Dwell where 46 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:51.879 it pleases you. To Sarah he said, behold, I have given you, 47 00:03:52.199 --> 00:03:54.990 I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a 48 00:03:55.110 --> 00:03:59.229 sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and 49 00:03:59.469 --> 00:04:05.189 behold everyone, and and before you sorry and before everyone, you are vindicated. 50 00:04:06.710 --> 00:04:12.699 Then Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech and also healed his wife 51 00:04:12.819 --> 00:04:16.339 and female slaves so that they bore children, for the Lord had closed all 52 00:04:16.379 --> 00:04:35.930 the wombs of the House of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. If 53 00:04:36.009 --> 00:04:43.959 the story sounds a little familiar, it's because it is. Abraham has pulled 54 00:04:44.040 --> 00:04:48.399 this move before and many of the same events have happened before. Previously. 55 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:56.910 It was in chapter twelve in in Egypt. It's important to think about these 56 00:04:56.990 --> 00:05:02.790 events with Sodom and Gomorrah and the rearview mirror, so to speak. In 57 00:05:02.949 --> 00:05:12.180 Sodom and Gomorah we saw so clearly the Lord's judgment on this city for many 58 00:05:12.300 --> 00:05:16.060 different things, but a few or two in particular were highlighted, and that 59 00:05:16.220 --> 00:05:25.329 was for sexual perversion and for injustice, gross sins on both sides of those 60 00:05:25.370 --> 00:05:32.769 things. God had heard even the outcry of Sodom and Gomorah's neighbors and had 61 00:05:33.290 --> 00:05:42.519 punished them. Abraham had so clearly seen how important these things are to the 62 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:49.149 Lord, how these there, how how there exists in this world, we 63 00:05:49.189 --> 00:05:55.870 might say, a broader moral order to which all are accountable, to Sodom 64 00:05:55.910 --> 00:06:02.069 and Gomorrah, Gar are Egypt, wherever Abraham would travel the world all over, 65 00:06:02.310 --> 00:06:09.779 was accountable to these things, to upholding the norms of society that we're 66 00:06:09.860 --> 00:06:15.259 not just normal because they were generally accepted, but were normed by God himself. 67 00:06:16.459 --> 00:06:26.209 Justice, honor in procreation. And what we see is that when these 68 00:06:26.370 --> 00:06:30.889 things, when people undermine these things, there is judgment from the Lord. 69 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:38.680 Well, with those things in mind, genesis chapter twenty is a little bit 70 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:45.319 shocking. What is Abraham doing? What is going on here? In fact, 71 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:49.470 Abraham, I'm sorry, Abimilech, this foreign king who has nothing to 72 00:06:49.550 --> 00:06:54.149 do with the Covenant of Grace, this Pagan King, seems to be the 73 00:06:54.269 --> 00:06:58.589 more moral one, doesn't he? Abraham seems to be the one who's all 74 00:06:58.709 --> 00:07:01.180 mixed up, giving his wife over, saying she's a sister and all of 75 00:07:01.300 --> 00:07:10.060 these things. And as we reflect on Abimilex honor and righteousness, even in 76 00:07:10.139 --> 00:07:17.610 light of Abraham's lack of honor and righteousness, we have several things to learn. 77 00:07:18.730 --> 00:07:21.569 We've several things to learn about our life in this world. About the 78 00:07:21.649 --> 00:07:28.569 covenant of Grace, about our relationship with unbelievers, as we, like Abraham, 79 00:07:28.810 --> 00:07:33.319 sojourn is pilgrims in this world. So what I'd like to do this 80 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:40.120 evening is reflect first on abimelex actions, then Abraham's, and then draw a 81 00:07:40.199 --> 00:07:49.790 few implications from those. So first, notice what happens. Abraham comes into 82 00:07:49.870 --> 00:07:56.269 Garral Garar, and she, he is saying publicly, and we find out 83 00:07:56.310 --> 00:08:00.180 later as well, he says even directly to the king, she is my 84 00:08:00.379 --> 00:08:05.500 sister. The king then goes, sends for Sir Sarah, sends for Sarah 85 00:08:05.579 --> 00:08:09.620 and verse two, and takes her as his wife, but he does not 86 00:08:09.939 --> 00:08:16.529 know her in an intimate way. The Lord then comes to Abimelech in a 87 00:08:16.569 --> 00:08:22.970 dream and says this. Behold, you are a dead man because of the 88 00:08:22.050 --> 00:08:28.360 woman you have taken. Just as a quick note for good interpretation that will 89 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:33.200 hopefully benefit you later on. Notice how the Lord speaks here, in this 90 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:37.919 present tense way. You are a dead man, and yet he's not dead 91 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:41.029 and he doesn't die. Why does the Lord speak this way? Well, 92 00:08:41.110 --> 00:08:46.389 it's a way of speaking prophetically. It's a way of saying this is what 93 00:08:46.590 --> 00:08:50.590 will come upon you if, almost as if saying you are as good as 94 00:08:50.710 --> 00:08:54.350 dead if you continue in this way, and that's in fact what the Lord 95 00:08:54.389 --> 00:08:56.500 does say. He says, but if you do not return her or seven, 96 00:08:56.779 --> 00:09:00.580 if you do not return her, know that you will surely die, 97 00:09:01.539 --> 00:09:03.700 you and all who are yours. That language, you shall surely die. 98 00:09:03.740 --> 00:09:07.779 Of course, reminds us of the language in the garden. If you disobey 99 00:09:07.899 --> 00:09:11.889 this command, you will surely die. He says to Adam and Eve. 100 00:09:11.169 --> 00:09:16.370 There is a moral order which must be preserved, and Abimelech is not a 101 00:09:16.570 --> 00:09:22.889 preserving it, even though by accident. Nevertheless, he's not preserving it. 102 00:09:24.049 --> 00:09:31.360 Next, so first, notice abimelecs response to what the Lord says. He 103 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:37.759 says, Lord, will you kill an innocent people? Did he not say 104 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:43.029 of him himself? To me, she is my sister. Notice what a 105 00:09:43.350 --> 00:09:48.070 notice what a BIMILEC does not do. He does not fight the Lord on 106 00:09:48.269 --> 00:09:50.590 the principle of the righteousness. He doesn't say, what's the big deal? 107 00:09:50.789 --> 00:09:54.700 Can't I have whoever I want? Am I not the king? Now he 108 00:09:54.899 --> 00:10:01.899 in essentially agrees with the Lord's principle from morality here, but he says he's 109 00:10:01.940 --> 00:10:07.100 innocent in the matter because he didn't know he was breaking the law. Second 110 00:10:07.210 --> 00:10:11.169 notice his concern is not merely for himself. The first thing he says is, 111 00:10:11.330 --> 00:10:16.250 Lord, will you kill an innocent people? Here's the actions of a 112 00:10:16.370 --> 00:10:20.370 good king. Why will you judge not only me but of these people I'm 113 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:28.960 caring for when I did not sin against you? Notice how rightly the ABIMELIC 114 00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:33.720 appeals to the principle of justice as well. We've seen this numerous times and 115 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:37.549 Genesis. The Lord upholds a principle of justice. Remember when Abraham was appealing 116 00:10:37.669 --> 00:10:41.629 for Sodom and Gomor and he said, if there are not fifty righteous people, 117 00:10:41.830 --> 00:10:46.789 ten righteous people, will you save this city? God cares about justice 118 00:10:48.230 --> 00:10:54.899 and a BIMILEC appeals to that in as many ways, mirroring God, he 119 00:10:54.340 --> 00:10:58.100 makes his case. He said I did not do these things, and the 120 00:10:58.259 --> 00:11:03.220 Lord upholds what he says. The Lord doesn't say to Abimilech you're making excuses. 121 00:11:03.299 --> 00:11:07.730 You should have known. The Lord affirms him in his appeal. The 122 00:11:07.889 --> 00:11:11.049 Lord affirms him in the Righteous Appeal that he makes and he says, yes, 123 00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:15.169 I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart. 124 00:11:16.210 --> 00:11:22.919 That's a very strong way to speak of an unbelieving pagan king, and he's 125 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:28.639 not speaking of that himself. The Lord says that of this man. It 126 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:35.629 doesn't mean that Abimelech is perfectly righteous or that ABIMILEC has met God standard of 127 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:39.950 perfection, but he does mean that on this level, Abimelech has been had 128 00:11:41.029 --> 00:11:46.870 integrity in the way that we generally mean that. He goes on to say 129 00:11:46.950 --> 00:11:50.419 that it was I who kept you from sinning against me, this providence of 130 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:56.460 all the wombs being closed and whatever it was that kept Abimelech and Sarah apart. 131 00:11:56.580 --> 00:12:00.100 The Lord says, I did not let you touch her. The Lord 132 00:12:00.259 --> 00:12:09.649 gives to him an opportunity to turn from this potential sin, and indeed Abimelec 133 00:12:09.850 --> 00:12:16.320 does notice more righteousness and honor in a BIMILEC. We're a good things worth 134 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:20.240 mirroring in our own lives. When a BIMLEC realizes that he has made a 135 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:26.519 big mistake and is about which has very serious consequences, what does he do? 136 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:30.350 Does he delay? Does he make excuses? No, in Verse Eight, 137 00:12:30.429 --> 00:12:33.549 it says he arises early in the morning. He deals with this right 138 00:12:33.590 --> 00:12:37.230 away. He has a dream. God speaks to him. Let's let's get 139 00:12:37.269 --> 00:12:41.590 to work, he rises, earn their money, he calls his servants. 140 00:12:41.990 --> 00:12:46.580 They're afraid, they call Abraham and he meets with them. He deals with 141 00:12:46.620 --> 00:12:50.779 this right away. He Nips it in the bud, so to speak. 142 00:12:52.299 --> 00:12:58.809 Then notice what Abimelec says to Abraham. He says, what have you done 143 00:12:58.850 --> 00:13:01.490 to us? How have I sinned against you? And again, notice he's 144 00:13:01.529 --> 00:13:07.409 appealing to justice. You know I have not done anything to you. Why 145 00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:15.279 are you doing this to me in this way? Then also know what he 146 00:13:15.399 --> 00:13:18.960 says. Notice what he says to Abraham, very importantly, right before verse 147 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:24.360 ten. He says you have done to me things that ought not to be 148 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:31.029 done. Notice what a mimilect does. He appeals to God's universal moral older 149 00:13:31.149 --> 00:13:37.070 and he says, Hey, man, everybody knows this is way out of 150 00:13:37.190 --> 00:13:45.019 line. Everybody knows this. This is natural law, this is known to 151 00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:50.940 us all. You just don't do this. This is a phrase that is 152 00:13:52.059 --> 00:13:54.809 used in other parts of scripture and a concept that appears in other parts of 153 00:13:54.889 --> 00:14:00.889 scripture. The beginning of Romans, for example, God says that everybody's accountable 154 00:14:00.929 --> 00:14:05.850 to God. There's basic principles in this world that people know they need to 155 00:14:05.929 --> 00:14:09.679 follow. It doesn't matter that they've ever, never come into contact with the 156 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:13.679 Bible, it doesn't matter if they've never met and Abraham before or come into 157 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:18.200 contact with the Covenant of Grace, because we are all built in the image 158 00:14:18.200 --> 00:14:22.240 of God, made in his image. We share this common humanity because of 159 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:28.629 him. We owe him obedience, we owe him, we owe him, 160 00:14:30.230 --> 00:14:33.590 we owe to him to uphold the norms that he is set in place, 161 00:14:33.710 --> 00:14:41.179 norms that he's established even in the covenant with Noah, norms involving relationships between 162 00:14:41.259 --> 00:14:46.580 men, justice, norms regarding sex and procreation, even the animals and the 163 00:14:46.700 --> 00:14:52.929 relationship between man and animals. All these things just normal human behavior and everybody 164 00:14:52.970 --> 00:15:05.690 gets this. So Abraham, what's going on? He was undermining basic moral 165 00:15:07.129 --> 00:15:13.399 decency, basic moral order. The even unbelievers understand. In some ways, 166 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:16.759 this reminds us. This goes all the way back to before God's established his 167 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:20.990 covenant with Noah. You may remember, in Genesis six, two and four, 168 00:15:22.070 --> 00:15:26.110 there's this strange verse that's been interpreted various ways about the sons of God. 169 00:15:26.429 --> 00:15:28.669 Oh, let me read it to you actually, since we're so close. 170 00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:35.980 There the sons of God taking the daughters of men. I'm genesis chapter 171 00:15:37.259 --> 00:15:41.740 six. This is right before the flood, even kind of the occasion of 172 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:46.139 the flood, when man began to multiply on the face of the land and 173 00:15:46.179 --> 00:15:48.980 daughters were born to them. The Sons of God saw that the daughters of 174 00:15:50.090 --> 00:15:58.409 man were attractive and they took as their wives any they chose, and this 175 00:15:58.649 --> 00:16:02.769 results and greater evil, and then you can skim down and you see very 176 00:16:02.809 --> 00:16:07.200 quickly after that the flood. A lot of interpreters have asked you what is 177 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:11.759 going on here. I think most likely the sons of God refer to Kings, 178 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:18.629 kings with great authority, taking women as they please, grabbing women, 179 00:16:19.070 --> 00:16:23.269 grabbing them, taking them as their personal possession, doing with them as they 180 00:16:23.429 --> 00:16:30.309 want, which of course undermines basic family relationships, basic justice, basic principles 181 00:16:30.429 --> 00:16:37.299 about law and order and sexual ethics and all these things. These are the 182 00:16:37.379 --> 00:16:41.100 sin that precipitated the flood. It was the sin and Sodom and Gomorrah. 183 00:16:41.299 --> 00:16:45.820 It's the sin here that's now being highlighted again, and a Billik saying I'm 184 00:16:45.899 --> 00:16:52.330 innocent, I didn't just go take some lady. You said she's my sister. 185 00:16:52.090 --> 00:16:59.049 I'm not committing of those sins. These things ought not to be done. 186 00:17:00.889 --> 00:17:04.799 Then notice what he says after this. He allows Abraham to defend himself 187 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:08.960 in verse ten and a Bimlich said to Abraham, what did you see that 188 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:12.680 you did this thing? Abraham said, I did it because I thought there 189 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:17.269 was no fear of God in this place. Will come to his reaction in 190 00:17:17.349 --> 00:17:21.230 a moment. But no us. After all of this, what is Abimelech 191 00:17:21.390 --> 00:17:26.710 do? Amazing. He takes sheep and Oxen, male servants and female servants, 192 00:17:26.750 --> 00:17:30.859 gives them to Abraham and return Sarah's wife to him. You'd almost think 193 00:17:30.859 --> 00:17:34.779 that returning Sarah would be enough. Right, he took his wife, sorry, 194 00:17:36.180 --> 00:17:41.740 give her back, but he goes much further. He goes above and 195 00:17:41.859 --> 00:17:45.089 beyond to make sure that in the eyes of all he was innocent. Here 196 00:17:45.130 --> 00:17:49.730 he gives the Abraham sheep and oxen, male servants, female servants. He 197 00:17:49.970 --> 00:17:57.170 treats this sojourner in his land almost as an equal. Notice the contrast, 198 00:17:57.289 --> 00:18:02.319 by the way, between again Sodom and Gomorrah and lot. Remember that when 199 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:06.680 they were pressing in on lots house, they they said to hear. Why 200 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:08.960 are you here, you foreigner? You don't belong here. What gives you 201 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:15.750 a right to judge us that those principles of justice and hospitality and again, 202 00:18:15.910 --> 00:18:22.509 basic moral order and decency being ground into dust. They're here. We see 203 00:18:22.549 --> 00:18:27.619 them highlighted. Abimelech doesn't treat Abraham like the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah treated 204 00:18:27.740 --> 00:18:32.099 lot. Instead, he raises him up and he says, here, let 205 00:18:32.180 --> 00:18:37.259 me give to you, take what land you want. And to Sarah he 206 00:18:37.380 --> 00:18:41.140 we read that he gives. He gives to this, to your brother, 207 00:18:41.299 --> 00:18:45.369 a thousand pieces of silver, that it would be assigned to everyone, that 208 00:18:45.650 --> 00:18:49.329 he was vindicated, he she was vindicated. He upholds a her honor as 209 00:18:49.450 --> 00:18:52.970 well. Does Abraham deserve any of this? Not, doesn't seem to any 210 00:18:53.009 --> 00:19:00.440 way, all of these great things Abimilech does. He hears the word of 211 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:04.079 the Lord, he'll bays the word of the Lord. He Bays it quickly, 212 00:19:04.200 --> 00:19:11.869 you'll bays it righteously, and indeed he saves himself and his city through 213 00:19:11.069 --> 00:19:18.670 those righteous actions. So bimile it gets two thumbs up. Also, look 214 00:19:18.670 --> 00:19:23.779 at Abraham. Abraham goes, of course, into this situation and he lies. 215 00:19:26.299 --> 00:19:29.579 It's true that Abraham is his sister, but he doesn't mean it in 216 00:19:29.660 --> 00:19:33.579 the way that he says it. or He, whatever that is. He 217 00:19:33.700 --> 00:19:42.650 is purposefully deceiving, certainly not to protect Sarah, but himself, mind you, 218 00:19:42.690 --> 00:19:45.769 a little bit of a lot, tossing his daughters out to the crowds 219 00:19:45.769 --> 00:19:49.730 of the mob. You do this thing for me, Sirah. You tell 220 00:19:49.849 --> 00:19:56.759 people you're my sister. So this is what he says. Also, notice 221 00:19:56.839 --> 00:20:00.359 that we have, interestingly, in versus nine and ten. This is not 222 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:06.200 my observation, observation of a commentator, this interesting phrase. Verse Nine. 223 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:11.349 Then a Bimileik called Abraham and said to him, what have you done to 224 00:20:11.430 --> 00:20:14.589 us and how I sinned against you that you have brought on me and my 225 00:20:14.670 --> 00:20:18.470 Kingdom of great sin. You've done these things that they ought not to be 226 00:20:18.630 --> 00:20:22.220 done. Firs ten, and a Bimilek said to Abraham, what did you 227 00:20:22.299 --> 00:20:26.740 see that you bring this thing? One commentator I read, I mentioned this 228 00:20:26.900 --> 00:20:33.259 is this is interesting. That why this phrase? Two Times? A bimilet 229 00:20:33.420 --> 00:20:37.210 called Abraham and said a bimilet called Abraham. Why not just start the speech 230 00:20:37.250 --> 00:20:41.049 and continue it all the way through? Why does it insert again in Bamileca 231 00:20:41.089 --> 00:20:45.450 is speaking? One possibility is that he asks Abraham this question and he's not 232 00:20:45.569 --> 00:20:49.680 getting anything back. He says. They Abraham, what is this thing you 233 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:53.599 have done? Why have you done this to me? And Abraham just stands 234 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:59.480 there because he doesn't have anything to say. He doesn't any defensor himself, 235 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.799 so he presses him further. What did you see that you saw this thing? 236 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:07.789 And then we come to another sin of Abraham. Here he says, 237 00:21:07.829 --> 00:21:11.069 I did this because I thought there is no fear of God at all in 238 00:21:11.190 --> 00:21:22.180 this place. At the very least Abraham misjudges, because clearly the fear of 239 00:21:22.299 --> 00:21:26.180 God is in this place. So the very least Abraham gets it wrong. 240 00:21:26.259 --> 00:21:33.690 Worst case scenario, he knew it and then he lied. But either way 241 00:21:33.809 --> 00:21:37.289 Abraham doesn't do what he's supposed to do. We're not supposed to just judge 242 00:21:37.450 --> 00:21:41.089 people like this and sort of call our neighbors a Sodom and Gomorrah when they're 243 00:21:41.130 --> 00:21:47.519 not Sodom and go mora. Yeah, no fear of God, they were 244 00:21:47.559 --> 00:21:49.359 going to do whatever they wanted to do, no matter what. Gar are 245 00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:56.680 different story. Not every place in this world is the same. God extends 246 00:21:56.799 --> 00:22:03.349 his common grace all the time and we are blessed to be able to experience 247 00:22:03.470 --> 00:22:07.910 this day in and day out. Christians have the opportunity to live in peace 248 00:22:07.710 --> 00:22:14.150 and even prosperity all the world over. Garre would have been one of these 249 00:22:14.190 --> 00:22:19.420 places. It obviously was, even despite Abraham Sins, this king is responding 250 00:22:19.539 --> 00:22:25.500 to the Lord of the Lord and blessing and protecting Abraham, even though he 251 00:22:25.660 --> 00:22:30.049 doesn't really seem to deserve it all that much. Abraham totally misjudged. That 252 00:22:30.730 --> 00:22:37.410 imputes to these people something that they did not deserve. The fear of God, 253 00:22:37.609 --> 00:22:41.170 by the way, as a phrase that is most often in the scripture, 254 00:22:42.009 --> 00:22:47.240 distinguished from what we might read as the fear of the Lord or the 255 00:22:47.319 --> 00:22:51.519 fear of Yahway, the fear of God is a phrase that not always, 256 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:56.160 but is most often used as a way to describe a general sense. There 257 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:02.710 is a greater authority, a greater accountability in people's lives, and you know 258 00:23:02.869 --> 00:23:07.710 this, perhaps from your own neighbors don't steal from you, who treat you 259 00:23:07.829 --> 00:23:11.789 with respect, who you might even trust to watch your house while you're away, 260 00:23:11.859 --> 00:23:17.059 or something like that. Why? Well, maybe they're not Christians, 261 00:23:17.140 --> 00:23:22.579 but they have a sense of right and wrong, they treat people with integrity 262 00:23:22.660 --> 00:23:26.579 and honesty. There's a sense in which they fear God. They have a 263 00:23:26.740 --> 00:23:32.650 sense of justice and right and wrong, and they follow these principles. This 264 00:23:32.769 --> 00:23:37.049 is what those midwives did, by the way, in Egypt, those likely 265 00:23:37.170 --> 00:23:45.240 Egyptian midwives serving those Hebrews, when hit Pharaoh went to annihilate all of these 266 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:52.960 babies. These midwives, the scriptures say, feared God and they disobeyed. 267 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:59.390 Also in Egypt, Joseph is, when he says to his brothers, pretending 268 00:23:59.630 --> 00:24:03.789 to be a pagan king, says, don't worry, I fear God. 269 00:24:07.630 --> 00:24:12.339 The AMALEKITES, for their war crimes, are condemned for not fearing God, 270 00:24:12.619 --> 00:24:18.980 for going against again basic moral order. What Abraham is saying here is like 271 00:24:19.180 --> 00:24:25.170 this is a I thought that this would be a lawless place, no fear 272 00:24:25.250 --> 00:24:30.410 of God in this place, a godless, godless place. Of course he 273 00:24:30.569 --> 00:24:37.450 was wrong about that. They were basically decent people, as we see, 274 00:24:37.769 --> 00:24:40.960 not perfect, as we see in other parts of scripture, which will get 275 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:45.200 to, or I'll just mention one now. The King of BIMILECH basically fall 276 00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:51.440 or falls into this same exact thing with Isaac and Rebecca later on, a 277 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:56.549 little weird. There are other examples. There's a problem with a well later 278 00:24:56.750 --> 00:25:00.390 on and his servants that this king is not a perfect king, as servants 279 00:25:00.390 --> 00:25:03.029 are not a perfect people, but generally it sounds like a pretty good place 280 00:25:03.829 --> 00:25:12.180 to live, thanks be to God. Finally, in thinking about Abraham's actions 281 00:25:12.259 --> 00:25:15.460 here, notice what he says. He says, I did this because I 282 00:25:15.460 --> 00:25:18.059 thought there was no fear of God at all in this place and they will 283 00:25:18.099 --> 00:25:22.769 kill me because of my wife. Again we've pointed out that he's giving up 284 00:25:22.849 --> 00:25:29.569 his wife to abuse and danger, which is wrong thing to do. And 285 00:25:29.609 --> 00:25:33.289 then notice what he says here. He gives this like kind of this lame 286 00:25:33.410 --> 00:25:37.519 excuse. This half it's a truth, but it's deceptive, right, he 287 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:41.400 says, he says she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, 288 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:45.200 though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 289 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:48.519 so He's explaining himself. But again he never meant it in that way when 290 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:53.349 he says she's my sister. What's his intention? To hide the fact that 291 00:25:53.509 --> 00:25:59.710 she's his wife. All right, so him explaining the she's actually his sister 292 00:26:00.549 --> 00:26:03.859 does not undo the damage, because he hid that she was his wife. 293 00:26:04.099 --> 00:26:07.900 That's the point. So again we've got some like manipulation going on, him 294 00:26:07.900 --> 00:26:11.980 trying to wiggle out of this, and then he says, and when God 295 00:26:12.099 --> 00:26:17.779 caused me to wander from my father's house, not the most positive way to 296 00:26:17.900 --> 00:26:21.529 put the covenant of Grace with which he's been blessed. I said to her, 297 00:26:21.970 --> 00:26:26.450 this kindness you mean to do me? Every place to which we come 298 00:26:26.650 --> 00:26:32.089 say of me. He is my brother, Abraham. What are you expecting 299 00:26:32.170 --> 00:26:37.079 from your wife, to go to every king and every place and be taken 300 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:48.029 by these foreign men? This is awful and really a very embarrassing excuse. 301 00:26:49.910 --> 00:26:56.430 So this is these are Abraham's actions. What do we make of all of 302 00:26:56.549 --> 00:27:00.829 this? There are many, many, many, many lessons that we can 303 00:27:00.869 --> 00:27:06.299 learn from here, but let me let me draw a few conclusions. Here's 304 00:27:06.380 --> 00:27:12.700 one. We ought to praise God every day for his preservation of this world. 305 00:27:15.140 --> 00:27:18.730 Thank God for that covenant he made with Noah, that justice would be 306 00:27:18.849 --> 00:27:23.210 established in this world, that people would know right from wrong, even though 307 00:27:23.210 --> 00:27:26.809 they don't always follow it perfectly. Even though there's a lot of wickedness in 308 00:27:26.890 --> 00:27:33.000 this world. Though man is totally depraved, that doesn't mean he's as bad 309 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:38.200 as he could be, and that's because of exactly what we see here. 310 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:45.789 In Genesis Twenty, God kept a Bimlec from sinning there are so many ways 311 00:27:45.829 --> 00:27:51.390 in which God does this. It is worth your time to reflect on that 312 00:27:51.589 --> 00:27:55.509 and to give God praise for the peace that we have in this world, 313 00:27:56.670 --> 00:28:03.180 in our city, in our country, to be able to have allegiance to 314 00:28:03.339 --> 00:28:07.859 a heavenly city, a greater kingdom, the greatest God, to be willing 315 00:28:07.940 --> 00:28:11.890 to follow him and disobey even the laws of our own country, if they 316 00:28:11.890 --> 00:28:17.690 are to class with the king and our Lord, and yet to be welcomed 317 00:28:17.730 --> 00:28:22.650 by fellow citizens. It's true, it's not perfect, it's true it doesn't 318 00:28:22.650 --> 00:28:26.410 always go that way, but by and large, at least for this group 319 00:28:26.450 --> 00:28:30.480 of people here, we have a lot, a lot to be thankful for, 320 00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:37.440 to our brothers and sisters, and this world, also made in God's 321 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:42.029 image, though not a part of his heavenly family, and of course, 322 00:28:42.069 --> 00:28:47.750 chiefly to God himself, who makes all of these things right. God preserves 323 00:28:47.829 --> 00:28:55.069 us, God upholds us. Another thing we can learn here is that, 324 00:28:55.630 --> 00:29:02.700 in the same way that God withholds sin, even an unbelieving people, he 325 00:29:02.940 --> 00:29:10.490 upholds righteousness, a righteousness that we can learn even from our neighbors, though 326 00:29:10.609 --> 00:29:15.450 there are people in this world that are many people that are not this Christians. 327 00:29:15.049 --> 00:29:19.490 It doesn't mean that in certain ways they can even exceed us in righteousness, 328 00:29:19.809 --> 00:29:26.720 as Abimilech exceeds Abraham here. One of the chief sins in Sodom and 329 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:30.559 go Mora was the sin of pride. They were going to do no matter 330 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:34.480 what, and one of the chief virtues that we see here in Garre is 331 00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:41.789 that of humility. We would be right to exercise that kind of humility and 332 00:29:41.910 --> 00:29:47.390 that, when we see integrity and a measure of righteousness and goodness and morality 333 00:29:47.509 --> 00:29:51.829 in the world, to recognize it, to call it as such, to 334 00:29:51.950 --> 00:29:56.380 be thankful for it. And so there might be unbelievers in your life that 335 00:29:56.619 --> 00:30:03.299 far outside, a far out, pass you in basic outward morality, and 336 00:30:03.460 --> 00:30:07.289 you can learn from them, you can pay attention from them and thank God 337 00:30:07.769 --> 00:30:15.849 for that. We should have humility about this and be and also be humble 338 00:30:15.490 --> 00:30:23.720 and not misjudging other people when God has blessed them with good gifts. Another 339 00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:29.319 lesson I think we can learn from this is that we bless others, we 340 00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:33.599 bless those who stand outside the covenants of promise, not because of our superior 341 00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:41.630 obedience, but because of our testimony to God's grace. Because notice what happens 342 00:30:41.670 --> 00:30:45.950 in the rest of the story. Abraham then prays to God, and God 343 00:30:47.069 --> 00:30:52.099 heals Abimelech and also his wife his female slaves, so that they bore children. 344 00:30:53.859 --> 00:31:00.539 Why did God answer this prayer? Was it because Abraham was morally superior 345 00:31:00.740 --> 00:31:07.609 to ABIMILEC? No, it was because Abraham was close to God. And 346 00:31:07.849 --> 00:31:15.289 why is Abraham close to God? Because he's morally superior? No, because 347 00:31:15.369 --> 00:31:21.359 of God's grace. Remember how Abraham was initially called all of the same kind 348 00:31:21.480 --> 00:31:26.200 of world in which ABIMILEC was living, out of idolatry, out of paganism, 349 00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:30.000 so that he could worship the one true God. Why did he do 350 00:31:30.200 --> 00:31:33.990 that? How did he do that? Because of His grace. Abraham is 351 00:31:34.069 --> 00:31:40.509 a child of grace. He belongs to God because of grace, and that's 352 00:31:40.630 --> 00:31:45.630 the testimony he gives to Abimilec when he prays for him and when God blesses 353 00:31:45.710 --> 00:31:55.220 him through this man. When we bless our neighbors, the real blessing that 354 00:31:55.339 --> 00:31:59.980 we give to them is not because we stand on some kind of morally superior 355 00:32:00.220 --> 00:32:06.730 ground, but because we know the Lord who blesses people even though they sin. 356 00:32:07.690 --> 00:32:12.289 We know the Lord because he knows us, and we can go to 357 00:32:12.410 --> 00:32:16.480 people and give them that grace. We can show them what it means to 358 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:22.920 be blessed by the Lord, to receive grace as those who have been blessed 359 00:32:22.039 --> 00:32:28.720 by him. We can also bless them and showing that, while it's good 360 00:32:28.839 --> 00:32:34.509 to fear God, it's even better to fear you ah way, and I 361 00:32:34.549 --> 00:32:37.589 don't mean to say that that God is not Yah way or something like that. 362 00:32:37.750 --> 00:32:39.990 They are the one in the same. But it's one thing to know 363 00:32:40.230 --> 00:32:46.019 God is just a higher spiritual power that rules over us and will judge us. 364 00:32:46.619 --> 00:32:51.380 It's another thing to know him through the Cross of Christ, through the 365 00:32:51.500 --> 00:32:54.660 son of promise. It's another thing to know him as the one who has 366 00:32:54.779 --> 00:33:00.329 forgiven us of our sins, to know that we won't have just a measure 367 00:33:00.410 --> 00:33:05.049 of life in this world if we're moderately obedient to the principles of this world, 368 00:33:05.769 --> 00:33:09.410 but that we will have everlasting life, forever and ever blessed in the 369 00:33:09.529 --> 00:33:15.240 Lord, even though we have not been obedient in the world. That's what 370 00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:24.079 Abraham can testify to and that's what we can testify to as well. Abraham's 371 00:33:24.200 --> 00:33:30.549 greatness, Abraham's blessing that he will bestow upon the nation's even as he gives 372 00:33:30.589 --> 00:33:37.910 it here to Abimelec, is not because he is more moral than a Bimelec. 373 00:33:38.670 --> 00:33:44.660 It's because he knows the God of grace and can testify to that and 374 00:33:44.859 --> 00:33:49.140 can say to him, believe and trust in him and you will be saved. 375 00:33:49.180 --> 00:33:57.609 Finally, as those who have that testimony of grace, as those who 376 00:33:57.650 --> 00:34:01.289 have been blessed by the Lord of Righteousness, we ought to be careful not 377 00:34:01.329 --> 00:34:07.449 to undermine that testimony by acting in immoral ways. We not took not to. 378 00:34:07.650 --> 00:34:12.400 We should never look at our position in the Covenant of Grace and say, 379 00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:15.920 well then, I guess I can do whatever I want, because that 380 00:34:15.079 --> 00:34:20.840 undermines that testimony and underminds the promise it. It points to a different kind 381 00:34:20.920 --> 00:34:23.469 of world, in a different kind of life, a life that we've turned 382 00:34:23.510 --> 00:34:31.590 away from. Instead, even as we honor God's grace in this world, 383 00:34:31.710 --> 00:34:37.269 his common grace, we should testify to that special that grace that he is 384 00:34:37.349 --> 00:34:43.659 given to us by seeking to bear its fruit in our lives, by willing 385 00:34:43.739 --> 00:34:49.179 to do the right thing even when we might fear our lives, by doing 386 00:34:49.260 --> 00:34:53.929 the right thing even when we are embarrassed. To do the right thing no 387 00:34:54.090 --> 00:34:59.730 matter what, because we serve the Lord, the Lord who has saved us, 388 00:35:00.170 --> 00:35:02.329 the Lord who is righteous, and that is his desire for our lives, 389 00:35:02.489 --> 00:35:08.760 to train us in these things and to walk in these things. As 390 00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:14.679 I conclude, I just want to say that one of the great blessings that 391 00:35:14.760 --> 00:35:19.159 the Lord gives to us, in addition to forgiveness of our sins, forgiveness 392 00:35:19.239 --> 00:35:24.710 like this, is he puts into our hearts a desire to live this kind 393 00:35:24.789 --> 00:35:30.869 of life, a desire to live for his righteousness, that isn't merely a 394 00:35:30.110 --> 00:35:35.190 concerned with externals and getting things right in the externals of this world, but 395 00:35:35.550 --> 00:35:39.940 truly desires to please him. That happens because he actually changes our hearts and 396 00:35:40.059 --> 00:35:46.900 he changes our lives. So let us approach God in that way. Let's 397 00:35:46.900 --> 00:35:52.210 seek him according to his promises, according to His grace, and as we 398 00:35:52.329 --> 00:35:54.849 go and we treat our neighbors, let us keep God still in mind and 399 00:35:55.730 --> 00:36:00.130 trust him to preserve us in this world, even as he pours His grace 400 00:36:00.250 --> 00:36:02.730 out on even unbelievers