So, this morning we are continuing and returning after a few weeks to our study in the book of Genesis. And we, this morning, come to Genesis chapter 21. I found a challenging section, but we are, I'm not going to dodge it. That's the beauty of preaching through books. You have to take what comes next. So, 22 through 34 of Genesis chapter 21, that's found on page 20 in your pew Bible. Let's give our attention this morning to the word of the Lord. Beginning of verse 22 of chapter 21. At that time, Abimelech and Pichol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, God is with you in all that you do. Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity. But as I have dealt kindly with you, so you deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned. Abraham said, I will swear. When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized, Abimelech said, I do not know who has done this thing. You did not tell me and I have not heard of it until today. So Abimelech took sheep and oxen and gave them, so Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech and the two men made a covenant. Abraham set seven ewe lambs of flock apart and Abimelech said to Abraham, what is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart? He said, these Seven, you lambs, you will take from my hand that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well. Therefore, that place was called Beersheba because there both of them swore an oath. So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Bichol, the commander of his army, rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines. May the Lord bless the hearing of God's Word. There is something that is said about Abraham in Romans chapter 4 that I believe really captures this morning. the main point and the thrust of what this passage is all about. Paul writes in Romans chapter 4 that Abraham did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. Abraham was strengthened in faith. That's it. That's this passage. What Paul is saying is that there was, in Abraham's life, a strengthening that was happening as he was learning in all circumstances to trust the Lord, that the Lord would do what he had promised that he said he would do. You know, this is something that God is continually after from His servants and His people. The frustration with the pilgrim life is that it doesn't feel like much of it is strengthening. I mean, honestly, we read pilgrim's progress, but it feels more like pilgrim's regress. It feels more like we're going backwards. It seems more like we're not going anywhere, but we're taking giant steps backwards and we're deeply concerned about this. And that has certainly been a problem in the life of Abraham, hasn't it? It's a story of human struggle with the promises of God. It's a struggle with faith in the promises. God had said over and over throughout Genesis, and we've seen this, he keeps saying it, that he would do his work. He would accomplish his work. He would send his promised son. And that in Abraham, all the Gentiles, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And God says, I'm giving you this land, which we know is a sketch, if you will, a type or a shadow of eternal life, the true heavenly land. Abraham's fought against this. Oh, Abraham has really fought against this. And all this fighting that we've seen in Genesis has resulted in all kinds of setbacks for this man, hasn't it? He lied twice about his wife. And then in chapter 16, you remember, and it's so important to set these in front of us again. In chapter 16, his wife and Abraham, they were tired of waiting. And so they said, let's do it ourselves. And they raised up a seed themselves. And last time, What did we see happen to that son and the bond woman? Cast out. Abraham, I want you to send him off. Do it. And the New Testament picks that up, and the New Testament applies that, and the New Testament says this is illustrative of something. This is symbolic of something. It's teaching us something about us. It's teaching us about our human efforts, and it's teaching us that we too in our lives have to cast away everything that is incompatible with a life of faith. Everything. Let it go. Cast it off. Now, I want you to think about where we are now in the life. This is a life study of Abraham. Where we are now in Abraham's life, the bondwoman and her son are gone. An astonishing thing has just happened. a miracle. A son has come in their old age. He's 100, she's 90, even then that was unheard of. And this was not just any son. This, in contrast to Ishmael, this is God's appointed son. This is the son that god gave them this is the promised son foreshadowing the son of god now there's a question this morning here's the question what kind of effect did this have on abraham what kind of effect did this have on abraham the arrival of this son has changed everything we've been building to this for a long time and it's almost as if we've come today to an entirely different Abraham. And that's what I want you to see. My father said to me the other day, he listens to my sermons and he says, you've been really tough on Abraham. I have. I've been tough on Abraham. I have no confidence in the Adamic nature, by the way. He's been a do-it-yourselfer. He's continued to try to do things his way. But what I believe about the text here and what I believe the text is showing us now is a kind of contrast that is going on with Abraham. For us to see something that is hard for us to see about ourselves. What is it? We're going through this life and at every point we're trying to find our own happiness. And we're constantly reverting to doing things our way. And we come here on a given Sunday and let's be honest, are hearts in it? Does the weak demonstrate that your hearts are in this today? The honesty, if you're going to be honest, is you really do give him scraps. Kind of token. Got to be here. And the striking action in this story, the striking actions are not from Abraham or from us. It's the Lord. He has been just overwhelming. And this is what we should be seeing as we look at this study and we study what the Lord has been doing. He never stops working. He is absolutely relentless. He is relentless in fulfilling His Word. And look at this over and over and over. The faithfulness of God and the kindness of God and the grace of God, which we still, even though we say we're saved by grace, I'm not convinced. We've really grasped it the way that we should. This is a lifelong learning process of what grace is and what it looks like and how it operates. Beautiful. And God has not backed off, even with all this failure, from fulfilling his word in Abraham. And this is starting to overcome Abraham. You know what's happening? He's beginning to trust the Lord's word in a very beautiful way. Sanctification is happening. And I suppose we could say, light of what the New Testament says that we see developing in Abraham great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Or we could say with Ephesians that Abraham is demonstrating boldness and access with confidence through faith in him. Confidence, boldness, strengthening. That's what the Lord's teaching us today. I struggled with this text and it dawned on me that the answer to understanding this text is seen in what I call the great bracket. In chapter 20, Abraham travels after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and he travels, and this was really discouraging to Abraham. That's the sense we get. He travels, and he goes to the land of the Philistines, and he meets this great king, Abimelech. Well, right after the birth of Isaac, right after this is the birth of Isaac and the casting away of the son of his own flesh, immediately after this, you've got Abimelech showing up again. So Abimelech before the birth of the son, Abimelech after the birth of the son, and what's different? That's what we all should be seeing. This is a strange place to put this. Why in this kind of format? Why this structure? What is it showing us? The text is highlighting not Abimelech, but two different Abrahams after some time. It's highlighting what Abimelech has noticed about Abraham. It's highlighting what Abimelech sees about Abraham. Remember what happened? Abraham really struggled living in this world. It's a mess. It is an absolute mess. And as you go through, you see this. Hebrews picks up on this and Hebrews explains the life of Abraham and it says that Abraham dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country. This land he's in with the Philistines is his land, but he's dwelling in it as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. And then it says, for Abraham was learning this, but he was waiting for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He looked for another city. He looked for the fulfillment of these promises, the heavenly land that would come down Revelation 21, and there would be a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness would dwell. He is now living in faith in that promise as a stranger and a pilgrim waiting for that, waiting for the days of that to come. But that's not easy as we wait. God has made all these promises. And think of these promises. I'm going to save you. I will give you an inheritance. Look, east, west, north, south, it's all yours. It's all yours. I'm giving you a son. He had to live in this world in the midst of that. Wait. And Abraham is pictured going through really struggling as a pilgrim. Really struggling as a pilgrim. You know, who can we trust? is there truth knowing what we do about people and wickedness and remember he just saw sodom and gomorrah get toasted and that was devastating for him be devastating for anyone and you begin to think and you you have this mind that's been open to the truth of reality and you're seeing things the way that you should because you have a redeemed mind and you're looking out, and you're seeing the wickedness. You're seeing how bad it is. You're seeing what's going on, and you begin to think, can anyone be trusted out there? Who do I trust? You ever notice how that entire shift in our culture has happened? I mean, do you leave your doors unlocked at night? Somebody just nodded. They must live up in the sticks. In Linden, when I first moved there, They didn't. I couldn't believe that because I'd come from Southern California. There's been a shift in our society. We don't trust anymore. Trust is lost among neighbors. I don't let my kids play out in the front yard. There's a whole series of things that I don't do now. And yet society really has to be built on trust to some degree, doesn't it? To go forward. You put your money in banks. We have to believe, we'll look tonight at government, that its purposes are right. We have to trust that because the Lord said that. God has enlightened our eyes about the problem of humanity and we're bombarded with wickedness and we don't trust. Abraham in the pilgrimage has had that problem. And he comes to Abimelech's territory and what's the first thing he says is there's no fear of God in this place. and fear of man overcame him. Remember that? And so he tells this lie to save his own skin, and it ended him up in the greatest mess ever, but all because he lived living in fear of what the world is and what it had become, the fear of man instead of the fear of what? God. And he's scared about Abimelech's kingdom. And now God had said to him in chapter 15, Abraham, do not fear. Abraham's had this sin struggle with fear. It has been a sinful reaction of fear to the world. And God had said to him in chapter 15, don't fear, I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward. I have surrounded you. No fear in this place. And that resulted in a lie. And he did this to Pharaoh. And now he's done it to Abimelech. Do you remember the promise to Abraham? Abraham, you will be a blessing to the nation. The channel of blessing comes through you. That's what he says. Couldn't God protect him? Couldn't God help him? Abraham sees him wipe out Sodom. He sees the wickedness. He thinks there's no good, no good. And he gets a little bit of the Elijah syndrome. I'm the alone one left. Well, as he dumped off his wife, Abimelech gets a death dream from God. And notice how this Lord is Lord over all. He enters the dream of this powerful king and says, you're a dead man. Look at the protection. Well, I am your shield. And Abimelech comes to Abraham and says, what have you done to me? What did I do? Why are you treating me like, what did you see in me that caused you to do that? And put me under that kind of curse before God. I think about this. It would really be shocking if we looked over the course of our lives. The things that we did and the choices that we have made. Living for gain. Being greedy. Living for security. Living for protection in this world. Living for money. how much we probably have actually hurt unbelievers along the way. You ever stopped and thought about it? Because what he did was lie to save his own skin. And if you ever read something like Psalm 121, you begin to think, what if I actually lived believing this? I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. The Lord is your keeper. You let that set in. I will never leave you, and I will never forsake you. Shouldn't that then inform everything that we do? Shouldn't it? Sometimes we are our worst witnesses by refusing to live by faith and we demonstrate before everyone a lack of trust in the Lord. How do I know? Because the first thing you do when you're stressed is you pick up a phone and you're not on your knees. Now here we are. The shocking actor in this story is the Lord. Chapter 21, He gives the Son. All these years of agony and a hundred to a hundred year old man and a 90-year-old woman holding it. It's unheard of. News is spreading in the realm. This is getting out. If you think our grapevine's bad, you should have been in the Philistine grapevine. They are talking. Calls were going out everywhere. Rumors of a coming deliverer and a king who would be over the land. This was known. This had been promised. Every king's nightmare in that realm. Every king's nightmare. And all of a sudden, Abimelech hears about it. And the first kingdom, first time kingdom is ever mentioned in the Bible, it says it was Nimrod's kingdom. And then the second time kingdom is mentioned is here in chapter 20 and 21, Abimelech's kingdom. We have kings, we have kingdoms. Here sits in this territory one king. And all of his servants, Abimelech, are looking at this king, Abraham. him. And he has just born a son. Here's the heir. That is it. You know how kings always wanted a son. You know how many kings in history put to death their wives because they wouldn't produce a son. Here's one at a hundred. And his servants see that and they start stopping up his wells or taking his wells of water to push him out of the land. They want him out of the land. Moses writes this and he wants us to see this connection because at that time notice how what it says right at that time as soon as the son is born a bimelech comes with his king his commander of his army picol he's there this is a mighty nation this is the philistines and he is positioning himself listen when you're a mighty king and rumors are spreading about someone in your territory of a mighty deliverer who at a hundred has the heir, what do you do? You take them out. Abraham was deathly afraid of this king and his kingdom, remember? And that brings us to the great moment in verse 23. Abimelech comes. I want you to just look at 23 first. We'll back up in a minute. Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned. Do you know what he's asking? Abraham should be asking him for protection and kindness. That's not who's coming. And this is a remarkable moment. Notice who's come. This king essentially asks Abraham that he would not harm him. I don't want you to harm me. And my, he's looking to the future, and my posterity. Be kind to us. I've been kind to you. Be kind to me. This is an amazing moment. It's baffling. But the whole thrust of the passage, the whole heart of this passage, is seen in his first words out of his mouth. God is with you in all that you do. I love that statement. This is the truth highlighted in this passage. God's with you. Now, at some point, I believe that needs to get a hold of us. If you have ever struggled with the fundamental difference between you and the world, the Christian and the world, it's not that we ever first loved Him. It's that He first loved us. And behold what manner of love the Father has that He would lavish these blessings down upon us that we should be called sons of God. And I'm overwhelmed because in this account, both Abraham and Abimelech are now realizing one thing. God's with him. God is with this man. Wherever he goes, the Lord is with him. And he's blessing him in whatever he does. Let's start with Abimelech's perspective for a moment. I'm looking at you and I can see this, Abraham. I can see that God is with you. When you see the great bracket here, you kind of begin to put together the challenge and the whole story, can't you? When the Christian lives in complete fear and doubt and expresses a lack of trust in the decisions that he makes and is dishonest and hurtful to non-believers, notice here what happens. There's something different now. everyone has noticed. And what is it? Abimelech sees it, and the tie is this. The tie is this. He's looking at all the material blessing, but that's not really what this is about. The tie to this section is, there's the Son. He's been given the Son. I wonder, when people look at our lives, what do they see? I wonder. Do they see us believing in God's promise that we have a Savior and that the Son has been given to us? When you look back over life, what has been the truth? The truth is that we've shown a lot of hypocrisy, and the truth is we run frantic, and the truth is we're all messed up, and we are hopping from here to here to here to here, and we live almost unbelieving before a lost and dying world when we're tested and tried. And we look no different and we act no different than our unbelieving neighbor next door. Maybe worse. Here's the truth. He never left you. The whole time. And in the fullness of time, He sent His Son. And when you begin to realize what you have, when you begin to really believe what you have. When you realize who you are, the first thing that begins to happen is your presence begins to diffuse something. You realize that? That when we begin and show the world of what living by faith looks like, something's being demonstrated. You know, Paul said this all over the New Testament. When he confronted the worldly church in Corinth, it's fascinating what he said to that worldly church. But thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one, a fragrance from death to death. To the other, a fragrance from life to life. Through us, he spreads knowledge of Christ everywhere. Amazing statement. Is your presence like that to those around you? You could have money, you could have everything under the sun, but what is all of that if the Lord's not with you? Paul said in 2 Corinthians, for God said, let light shine out of darkness. And that light has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. There should be a radiance coming from us. There should be a joy coming from us. There should be a confidence coming from us. It's hard to explain it. It's hard for us to explain it. But the single great difference should be that very light that you've been given. Some will be attracted to that light. Some are going to come to that light. Some are going to question that light. Some are going to hate that light. But either way, it's evident. God is with us in everything that we do. But it's not just that others are seeing this. It's that I'm beginning to realize it. And that's what's happening to Abraham here. What was one of the great blessings we studied in Romans that the Christian gets? The Christian gets the spirit of adoption by which he can cry out, Abba, Father. And what does the spirit do? The spirit is bearing witness with our spirits that we are children. You're not on your own to figure that out. The Spirit is assuring your hearts that God is with you. And what does that begin to do? It changes us. The point I'm driving home in the sermon is this. How are we strengthened in faith? How was Abraham strengthened in faith? It's summarized in the book of Hebrews. Here's how it goes. For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. All over the Bible. That's my covenant promise to you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. So then, we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me? You see the consequence and the effect? He's with me. Nothing can take him from me. And then when I see that, it changes the way I go forward. It shows what a life of faith is. I am to be a what? Blessing. And so many Christians are miserable complainers. How much are we torn by fears? Fears of conflict and fears of life and fears of children. I mean, you could go right down the list. And what do we display before the world? What do we display before our brethren? In chapter 20, he's scared to death of Abimelech. That's not what you have now. who's fearing who? And now you see a different side to Abraham. Abimelech says, swear a covenant with me. And you say, whoa, Abraham, you shouldn't do that. Because you see, Israel was later told, when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you conquer them and destroy your enemies and you make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them, Deuteronomy 7. That was in a theocracy. You wipe out your enemies in a theocracy. We're not in a theocracy. Abraham was not in a theocracy. So what's going on here? Well, look tonight. This really translates to how we live before civil governing authorities and unbelievers. I don't want any covenants under the theocracy. That's holy war, Abraham, or Israel. Wipe them out. Abraham enters into the covenant with a pagan king. not a believer. Abimelech says, this is your God. What is He doing? And I respond, believing the promise. Why do I say that? There was more to the promise than just the sending of the Son. What had God said would happen to Abraham? Listen back to chapter 12. I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the nations, Gentiles, families of the earth will be blessed. My purpose for you, Abraham, is to diffuse blessing to society and to the nations of the earth. This king is coming to the feet of Abraham asking for what? Mercy. And Abraham sees this, and I believe he's looking at the day of Jesus, and he's thinking, the Gentiles shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising and it will be a day of mercy. I love what follows because Abraham now is believing. He's holding the sun and kings are coming and foreshadowing the day when kings and kingdoms would all come and bow down to the Lord Jesus Christ. One Lord over all. But the last aspect of that promise is highlighted and we're going to close with this. There was a well that Abraham had dug. Wells in that day were a real source of life and Abimelech's servants had tried to push Abraham out of the land because of that well. And Abraham rebukes Abimelech for the injustice and the Christian with boldness should always be able to speak against injustice because we share the conviction of our Lord. Big conviction. And so Abimelech concedes at this. This covenant is made. Sheep are given. Here's the point this morning. Abraham now has the very first physical proof that God has given him the land. I want you to think about this for a moment. In one chapter, in one chapter, what's happened? The son has come. A king, the greatest king in the region is bowing. And he is given a down payment on the land. This is a remarkable chapter, physical proof that the land is his, a well, the source of life, so that he can live, foreshadowing what would come. And one day, that's what we have. God would send his son, the nations would be subject to him, and he would set up a banner for them as we, those servants, wait for the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness shall dwell. It's all ours. It's all yours. You know it's all yours as we wait together. Verse 32, they make a covenant at Beersheba. Abimelech rose with Picol, the commander of his army, and returned to the land of the Philistines. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines. He stayed there a long time. He got to enjoy in this world a time of peace. Calvin would say he got to get a taste of what was to come in peace. God gave a taste of the rest that is his. And do you know every time you come to worship, because Abraham, Abimelech goes his way, Abraham goes his way. What does Abraham go do? He worships. When you come to worship, you're getting a taste. You're getting the well of living water. What an amazing account that the everlasting God is with Abraham. And Abraham says that, Lord, you are everlasting. From everlasting to everlasting, you are my God. And that everlasting God has chosen to be with me. I will never leave you nor forsake you. I think it's important in moments like this to see how he has been to you in the course of your lives, don't you? look at how many times you were faithless and He remained faithful. And ponder that today. And if you really believe that God is with you and you're starting to see that and you know that by the testimony of the Spirit, if you can boldly say the Lord is my helper, what can man do to me? Why would we ever go through life in fear? Why would we not get great boldness in the faith? Why not? We can have boldness and confidence in this world towards God. Boldness for the day of judgment, John says, that translates now to how we interact with the world and live in the world. And we'll look at that tonight. If the cattle on a thousand hills are the Lord's, if all the works that are in it are His, then because of Jesus, it's mine too. And if that's true, that's what awaits me in the new heavens and the new earth. I don't have to fear in this life. God has put his dread in them. God has put his dread in them. And they may put you out because of that dread. But they also may come to your feet and ask you, what is the hope that is within you? And you with boldness should be able to give to every man an answer for that hope. May all the days we learn together to see that God is with us worship him, enjoy him, praise your everlasting God that he has fulfilled his good word and has fulfilled all of his promises to you. Let's pray. Lord our God, we are incredibly blessed today and excited to say that you are with us. Asking for forgiveness that in the course of life we have often not demonstrated that, and that even our sin and departure and our running, all of these things that we do demonstrate a lack of trust in what you have said. But we pray that you would woo our hearts and that you would overcome that. And like Abraham, we would gain great boldness in the faith, being strengthened in the faith, believing that what you have promised, you are able to perform. And may our light be shown as an aroma to this world, the aroma of Christ to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing but with the goal that all would come and bow to the true King, the Lord Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.