Genesis chapter 20 this morning, Genesis chapter 20, we continue our study and next week we come to the birth of Isaac. We'll consider the entirety of Genesis chapter 20. If you're visiting with us, that's found on page 18, we're working through studying the book of Genesis and again Genesis 20 this morning. Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord. From there, Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur, and he sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, she is my sister. And Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife. Now, Bimelech had not approached her. So he said, Lord, will you kill an innocent people? Did he not himself say to me, she is my sister? And she herself said, he is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands, I've done this. Then God said to him in the dream, yes, I know that you've done this in the integrity of your heart. And it was I who kept you from sinning against me therefore i did not let you touch her now then return the man's wife for he is a prophet so that he will pray for you and you shall live but if you do not return her know that you shall surely die you and all who are yours so abimelech rose early in the morning and called his servants and told them all these things and the men were very much afraid Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, what have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done. And Abimelech said to Abraham, what did you see that you did this thing? Abraham said, I did it because I thought there's no fear of God at all in this place. And they will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father. though not the daughter of my mother and she became my wife and when god caused me to wander from my father's house i said to her this is the kindness you must do to me at every place to which we come save me he is my brother then abimelech took sheep and oxen and male servants and female servants and gave them to abraham and returned sarah his wife to him and abimelech said behold my land is before you dwell where it pleases you to sarah he said behold i have given your brother are a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you and before everyone you are vindicated. Then Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. For the past few weeks, we have stumbled on a figure in Genesis who has been absolutely perplexing. It was Lot. He was the absolute worst example to us of what a follower of the Lord should be. I trust you agree with me on that. The whole story of Lot could be summarized in New Testament language that this was a man who barely escaped. And the glorious truth was put on display that of Romans 5 where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. And last time we saw that God would send the Messiah. Amazing as that was, as he intervened in that mess, that terrible mess in the cave that he would send his son through a daughter of lot it was it was an overwhelming overwhelming section to preach how did you walk away from all of that i trust you were somewhat taken by the lord's intervention but weren't you all in agreement with the life of lot that that's the really bad life that that's i'm sure you took from that i mean we classify that as we talk about sin, don't we? I mean, the really bad sins, drunkenness and homosexuality and incest, all of the bad stuff. And I think it would be easy to walk away from that whole story in lot and think, you know, I'm really not doing any of those things. I'm doing fairly well when it comes to that. My life is pretty much together. You know, why? I've got all that stuff under control. And hey, maybe we think the answer is just live in Mayberry, not Sodom. And if I keep my life morally pure, then God will bless me. That's how we think. We have this kind of if-then contract with God, don't we? We think that way. That's how we think the relationship goes. Well, it's interesting that we've not considered probably as well as we should have how impossible the if really is if then how impossible is the if in other words if we think that we've got it all together just because our house is in order and i'm not doing i'm not the lot i really don't identify with lot so much and we've achieved somewhat some kind of progress in the christian life morally with god pleasing him well then you're going to be rather stunned today to open up genesis chapter 20 because here is abraham at not 75 but 100 years old stumbling over what you would consider is the least little sin and i believe the lord set this up today and contrasts all this and you see how all of this is given by inspiration of the spirit he sets all of this up for a reason and he's been teaching us about this he's been teaching us that sin has far-reaching consequences and in all of this he wants us to realize that the depths of his love doesn't just come for the really bad sinners that the depths of his love comes for everyone who's a bad sinner and this is an amazing story the depths of his love come for all of his sheet but notice how abraham is put on display it's going to tie in nicely today with what we're celebrating at this time of year here's the question i want you to ask this morning this is the question i i hope to answer by the time that we're done why has the promise been so slow and coming it's a fair question here's what i'm provoked with isn't it interesting that by the time this scene is done, wombs are opening up everywhere. That is a remarkable thing. And the Lord is showing us something here in this whole scene. He wants us to consider, first off, how dangerous the sin of unbelief is, how it showed itself so small, as we think, in the life of Abraham in the most unexpected of places, and how he's bringing us, how his purpose is to bring us into a posture of prayer trusting that he is in control of every single aspect of our lives every and it's beautiful because you're looking here at god's determination today to bring abraham to this posture of prayer and his determination to send his son which nothing can frustrate. Let's look at this. In verse 1, we read that from there, Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. So he journeyed in, notice this, he sojourned in Gerar. After the Sodom event, Abraham took off. He packed up and he began to head in the opposite direction. And he really is moving, if you study this out, back in the direction of egypt just like at the beginning of his journey he is fleeing in the absolute opposite toward egypt away from where he should be to the border of the promised land this is philistine territory this is the great city of gerar philistine later philistine superpower it's fascinating because the text says that he's now dwelling in the city yes he's a sojourner but he is in the city. It doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? It's a little bit perplexing because he just saw Lot dwell in a city and Abraham has now run to a city. And when you begin to consider the whole picture, I believe what you have here of the picture that the Lord is painting for us of abraham is this he just saw wicked sodom burn to ashes and he runs as far as possible away from that as he could go and what is the perspective well verse 11 tells us what does abraham say about this place there's no fear of god here they'll kill me and they will try to do to my wife what the men of Sodom tried to do to the angels is the whole thought it's all wicked whole earth is wicked what do you have here I think you have a really discouraged Abraham I think you have a really discouraged Abraham seriously discouraged over the state of things I mean can you imagine seeing a major section of the world uh can you imagine seeing las vegas standing there watching the thing be burned to ashes all the pain of that i don't know if he knows where a lot is for abraham as time went on and life progressed and he faced the hardship it seems as if he is going forward forgetting the promises and that he would be as the lord said a blessing to all the nations remember the lord said that there's no good in this place you're going to be the blessing abraham now god said this and so here is your abraham discouraged and conflicted and what happens now abraham verse 2 said of sarah his wife she is my sister and abimelech king of gerar sent and took sarah you've got to be kidding me it happened again the same thing that has his deja vu this happened at the beginning of his call and here at the very end before the birth of isaac this whole episode plays out again his wife now 90 is still a knockout it should be an encouragement to the older ladies here this particular sin back in chapter 12 remember it you have this moment where he's discouraged because right after his initial call and famine comes and he goes down to Egypt and he did this same thing. He said to Sarah, listen, just say that you're my sister so that it may go well for me. And remember what happened with Pharaoh? It didn't go so well. Pharaoh didn't have to abide by anything. Pharaoh takes his wife. And Abraham, in the first scene after the promise scene, after all these promises are rehearsed, threw away everything he's outside the land and he's thrown away the woman appointed to bear the seed it was an awful scene now that's the beginning of his walk we're nearing his death 100 years old and lo and behold here we are again i mentioned the heidelberg last week and i mentioned the least holy what do they do what about the holiest making a small beginning in this sanctification look at abraham now we we kind of chuckle at this you know this is we might think uh interesting story and this this happens you know you know the same thing's going to happen with his son a few chapters later he's going to do the same thing to his wife massive problem but is it a little sin? Is it? A little white lie. If you look at Abraham and you study his life, in times of real weakness, there have been three sort of incidents that as we have gone through the life of Abraham that stand out. It was that first incident down in Egypt, and then you have the Hagar incident where he tried to accomplish producing the seed himself with another woman, and then you have this toward the end of life, these three major episodes. And what is so common in all of them? What stands out in all of them? Well, it's that Abraham, in weakness and discouragement and in fear, when circumstances overwhelmed him, he, in all of this uncertainty, took matters into his own hands. The real sin being, he didn't trust the Lord. He didn't trust the Lord. Now that may seem like a little sin compared to, oh man, homosexuality and incest? You know? Do we even compare these things? God is showing you something this morning. Look at verse 12. Abimelech confronts him. What happened when Abimelech confronts him? Remember what Abraham says. I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place and they will kill me on account of my wife. Now I want you to stop and I want you to listen to the original contract that Abraham made with his wife back in chapter 12 and compare this in verse 13. This is chapter 12. Here's what happened as he started out. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarah, his wife, I know that you are a woman of beautiful appearance and when the egyptians see you they will say this is his wife then they will kill me but they will let you live now compare that with our text say you are my sister verse 13 that it may go well with me um now look at uh as we go on in verse 12 to our text but indeed she is truly my sister he is the daughter of my father but not she's the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother and she became my wife and it came to pass when god caused me to wonder from my father's house that i said to her this is your kindness that you should do for me in every place wherever we go say of me he is my brother and what stands out to you there god caused me to wonder god caused me to wonder and here's how we plan to deal with this from the beginning god prevented me from settling god would not let me settle and because of that this is the way that we dealt with it as we were always on the move and we were moving around everywhere in this life the way that we dealt with it is we came up with this plan this contract that wherever we go we're going to do this this is how we're going to deal with this what he just confessed is this he just said we've been doing this the whole time we have been doing this the whole time 25 years of a contract simply between him and his wife his way of dealing with hardship do you think we can learn from that this morning this was a real besetting sin and all of us have them when people are faced with great pressures and circumstances beyond themselves what is the response how do we deal how do we fix problems how do we dull the problem what do we do when you don't feel like you are in control watch those moments of discouragement i'm sure a whole bunch of you are facing it right now what do you run to has there been a single sin over the course of your life that every time you become discouraged or down or frustrated with where the lord has you that you go back to that you retreat to that you go to a particular sin is there that little sin that you've kept and you've held on to is unbelief what did god say next time this year i'm giving you the son in chapter 18 remember um he said it's it's a year away he gave him insight it's a year away here was the last scene before the birth of his son this today is the last scene before the birth of his son do you find that coincidental at the very last moment just before it happened he threw it all away once again with this sin consequence that little sin not homosexuality not incest that little white lie wrecked everything everything his wife is in the hands of another king at the beginning of his calling he fled the promised land cast away his wife to pharaoh and now at the end of his life he has done the same thing with this little white lie all of history you see was tied to this woman the womb of this woman and everything that we celebrate today everything that we've gathered for today had this taken its course, had Abimelech taken Sarah, had Pharaoh taken Sarah, you wouldn't be here. Do you realize the huge consequences this sin could have brought upon you to this day? So what happened? Here's where the contrast is really extreme. It's not so much between Abraham and lot is it the contrast is between abraham lot and the lord what does he do well god had committed through better or for worse and when he made that promise he doesn't renege on it and the contrast that we have here is what the lord does versus all of these people whom he has made these promises to, completely failing. Back in chapter 18, the Lord said, at the time of life, the child is coming. Nothing could stop it. Nothing could stop it. In the fullest of time, this son would come. It had already been determined. This son would be born at this particular time. But why the way? Verse 3. It's so abrupt in verse 3, isn't it? Feel the force in which God answers this situation. God thunders down and this massive confrontation happens over Sarah. If you look at verse three, but God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, indeed, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife. I find this to be awesome. Awesome. Look at what he just did. God comes to Abimelech in a dream and completely intervenes. And look at the way he holds this pagan king accountable for the sin of adultery. Even though he hadn't touched her, this is the sin that would have been brought upon that nation. This is another man's wife, says the Lord. You're as good as dead while she stays with you. Abimelech's devastated. I mean, can you hear the plea from this king? You know, I haven't touched her, Lord. Lord pleads this case. Will you slay a righteous nation? He lied. He said, she's my sister. And she said, he's my brother. And they both lied. And in the integrity of my heart and in the innocence of my hands, I've done this. It's a moving scene because, generally speaking, this is a very moral king. this is not like Sodom he didn't have the written law of God he didn't have God's law God comes and appeals to the law written on his conscience and it's there see it and Abimelech says in the integrity of my heart this was an honorable king and the Lord says I know I know because the real reality is I have kept you from sinning I have kept you I didn't let you touch her you return her right now you put her on that camel whatever it was God is in control of every single action and every heart of every king in this world do you understand that? And what was Abraham's fear from the beginning? There's no fear of God in this place. They're going to kill me. The Lord just demonstrated that every king, every decision is under his absolute control. And that he in this life is constantly intervening. Do you see this? He's constantly intervening in the nations of the earth for what end? here's where you should bow and praise and be overwhelmed today he's not letting anything frustrate his gospel plans for his people in his kingdom nothing you return her see how involved he is look at who's reigning you have no idea in the course of your own lives how much he has intervened you have no if we could only see how much in the course of one's life in one person's life here now at all of our lives that he has intervened in the course and protected you from if that thing that you chose to do and that thing that you were doing if that little sin had kept going it would have amounted to the complete ruin of your life do you ever stop and think had that thing that i was doing you know had it been allowed to take its course you wouldn't be sitting here hearing this today it's mind-blowing abraham's pathetic complaint then really stands out doesn't there's no fear of god in this place oh it's all bad he began to look at everything like sodom and you know you kind of get this way when you see all the evil don't you you get a little bit cynical isn't that the case we've seen all this stuff happened and we've seen the culture becoming more wicked and we've seen things go on and the lines of moralities we talked about last time are pushed back and back and back and what kind of attitude do you begin to take? And I've got to watch it. What kind of attitude do you begin to take? It's all going to hell in a handbasket, you see. Doesn't matter. God's going to judge it all. I've had to watch myself with looking at our government. You tend to become a little bit disillusioned, and the discouragements of the things that you see happening, and the increased hatred towards Christians, and you become suspicious and pessimistic, and a cloud kind of looms over everything you look at. Do you ever stop and think, though, of what the Lord is telling us here, that He is the one preserving society, and that every decision, everything that goes on, he is involved. And if we had, if all of this had taken its own course, it would have already self-destructed. I mean, it would have already self-destructed. We have to remember it was Jesus who said that all of the things that are happening in the world, do not be troubled. Your purpose is that the gospel of the kingdom is going to be preached to the ends of the earth. That's what I am going to make sure occurs until the very end. God made that plan from the very beginning. So everything's mapped out. The appointed time for the promised son to come. That's what we're getting to here. Everything's been mapped out. When precisely the moment would come and that none of the sheep would be lost along the way through the whole thing. Abraham had no concept of the rule of God or the sovereignty of God. He was a practical Arminian. And so are you. we all like to say we're we believe in the sovereignty of god we're reformed no you're practical arminians i'm a practical arminian now why is this so important discouragement leads us away from trust and when you begin to see this when you begin to understand this you begin to to move to the next question is well why then on all of my doubt and all of my unbelief why am i trying to control things why am i trying to run to this this particular sin why why do i continue to do this why am i downcast oh my soul psalm 42 put your hope in god he owns the cattle on a thousand hills he owns the king's heart he said the nations are but a drop in the bucket every decision the lot is cast in the lap but every decision is of the lord why would i hold on to sin that demonstrates that i really don't trust him do we think that god takes that lightly that when i'm discouraged he has said i'm never going to leave you or forsake you god said that to you do you realize that i will never leave you nor will i forsake you in the greatest moments of discouragement in life when we are faithless he remains faithful full. He doesn't turn away. In fact, at the very end of life, he just recovered everything. You see, you can't destroy his work. Your unbelief can't destroy his work. So why do it? Did you see what God did for Abraham? Do you know what Abimelech does? Abimelech rebukes him. This was shameful, but then Abimelech dumps on him gifts. He plundered that kingdom. And the price of a bride in that day was 50 pieces of silver. Notice what Abimelech lavishes on him. A hundred pieces of silver. Was it that much? Abimelech gives him that much. And the Lord is telling us something here. The Lord is showing us something here. He lavishes down upon Abraham all of this blessing. Look at the love and grace of God who in the greatest failure of his life, the Lord doesn't turn. But there's something I believe now that the whole section is driving to. And this is what I want us to take today. In verse 7, when God came to Abimelech, he warned him. What were his instructions? Restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet. You know, it's the first time prophets found in the Bible. and you know what he's going to do for you? He's going to pray, and you're going to live. Remember the promise. You will be a blessing. I think this is the first time Abraham understood. In verse 17, look at verse 17 so carefully. Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. For the Lord, verse 18, had closed all the wombs. How sovereign is he? He opens and closes wombs. Did Abraham understand this? He closed the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. God plagued them, but the whole text is telling you, think about this. He just closed the wombs of that whole nation. Now I want you to picture this for a minute. In prostrate form, Abraham prays. The very first prophetic position of a prophet. Prayer, as I read, I tried to find it. Prayer and prophet are the first times used together right here in the Bible. And I want you to imagine the prayer. Can you just imagine the prayer with me for a minute? What would the prayer have been? Lord, my sin of not trusting you and lying about my wife and trying to do this all my way has brought about the closing of the wombs of all these people. And I ask you to open them. And all of a sudden we read, God healed them. And wombs are opening up everywhere. What does the next verse in chapter 21 begin with? The Lord opens the womb of Sarah and the promised son comes. Now put this together. Sarah said back in chapter 16, in the hagar incident she complained against the lord and said the lord closed my womb and then when god kept promising they kept laughing and this contrast has been all over the place abraham has just confessed and asked the lord to open the wombs here's what i want you here's the question that i'm getting back to answering now why has this been so long in coming 25 years. Is it possible that this very sinful contract between Abraham and his wife the Lord first needed to overcome? Abraham that day was brought prostrate before the Lord in prayer, confessing his sin. That's what happened. And that sin had resulted in the closing of wombs, it must have dawned on him, wow, you know, this is the very sin I've been pulling on the Lord the whole time I've been walking with him. And my attempt with Hagar and my attempt to do this my way, it needs to be confessed. I haven't been crying out and praying to him. First time, prophet and prayer together. I've been doing this myself. I've been trying my whole life to do this myself. And the Lord not only overcame the mess. Here's what I love about this. But he brought them to the place right then and there of being ready to receive God's answer to this lost and dying human race. In the next scene, in the perfect time of the Lord, the Son comes. One of the blessings of his grace to us, and this is what we need to see here. One of the blessings of his grace is that he grants us not just faith, but a life of repentance. God was preparing the way for a son to come. Not that he would just be received in faith, but that he also would bring about in the life of Abraham repentance. You know what they call the period between the Old and the New Testament, right? The silent years. Silent years. 400 years of silence, nothing from God. Seventy weeks, said Daniel, are determined for your people, for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Here's what's sad about the coming of Christ. Who was looking for it in the days of before the birth? Who was saying, come Lord Jesus? israel was completely satisfied in their own righteousness and this is so important for us because what had that produced there was a coldness of of where was the expectation and the deliverer it had become so absent from the hearts and minds of the people no one seemed to be looking the way that they should and they were looking all the wrong ways and what did god say would happen before the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah, comfort, yes, comfort my people, says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be brought low. the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. What was John's message? Repent. And people came in droves and repented, fulfilling this expectation. And you know, this is what the Lord desires of us this morning. To turn away from all of the things that demonstrate that we really don't trust Him. And I always think, look at the state of the church today. Let me just try to apply this for a minute. I heard someone say again just this past week, the state of the church overseas is totally dead. There's some old people and older people in the church, but there's no young people. None. This is a phenomenon that is happening across the board today in the life of the church. Do you think we should stop and ask a question at this point? Are we experiencing the womb of the church closed up right now? And what is the reality that we're seeing in the life of the church? We're seeing everyone doing it themselves. We think that the answer is in the programs and the music and the events. And if we just follow this model, we can do this in our homes. we just follow this model Christian school da da da da da we got a contract and when it doesn't go well we're angry we're discouraged are we crying out to the Lord are we asking him to deliver are we expectant of his coming do we pray Lord Jesus come quickly and I believe all of this is a reminder to watch and pray Look at what the Lord just showed you, though. God sent the Son in the fullness of time. And nothing could frustrate that. And nothing in the world can separate us from His love. That means that this is what He's working. He's going to bring you to a place of repentance. If you are His child, this is what He's doing for you. That's the wonderful grace of God. Psalm 91, so why fear? Surely He will cover you with His feathers. Under His wings you shall take refuge. His truth will be your shield and buckler. Why are you afraid? Why are you downcast, O my soul? Believe Him. Confess your sins to Him. He will lift you up. The time is already set. The Lord is coming. He is coming. His Son is coming again. and a life that learns to trust Him and live by faith, resting in Jesus and turning to Him. He has just shown us, no matter what we go through along the way, all of our trials, He will sanctify and bless and turn us back to Him. Let's praise the Lord together. Lord our God, we praise You today. We always begin with praise, but we also ask for forgiveness. That often we have tried to do things our way in our lives and in the church. And we don't consult you, we don't pray, we don't turn to you. Our prayer lives, we confess, are pathetic. And yet your love, you are bringing us to this place. And so along the way, Lord, since this is what will happen, your son will come. and we can't add to that or take away from that, we can't make it happen sooner or later, it's already determined, then bring us all to the place of complete reliance and trust and repentance and belief. Thank you that Abraham was justified by faith alone and that you didn't stop the project, but that you were committed to his sanctification and that you are committed to ours too. We bless the name of the Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.