THROUGH THE BIBLE: Genesis 2..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Genesis chapter 20. From there Abraham journeyed towards 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 Abimelech 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 have done this. Then God said to him in the dream, Yes, I know that you have 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, and all who are yours. So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all 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 is 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.

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, say of me, he is my brother. Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarai, his wife, to him. And Abimelech said, Behold, the land is before you. Dwell where it pleases you.

To Sarai he said, Behold, I have given your brother 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 they bore children. But the Lord had closed all their wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

we've seen him grow in his trust of God. But now in chapter 20, it's as though his progressive growth has come undone. It baffles our minds how this man who displayed the epitome of selflessness and faith in the last two chapters is now acting so selfish and cowardly. It is this the same Abraham that we saw courageously standing Yahweh mediates on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah? Evident to us back then was the beautiful, godly balance of nobility and selflessness in His pleading to spare the people of that city.

On the one hand, and on the other hand, we saw a resoluteness in faith, trusting ultimately in the goodness of God, resting in the fact that the judge of all the earth will do what is right. But now we're seeing the other side of this patriarch. The noble mediator now becomes a selfish deceiver. Upon arriving at a place called Jarar, a region west of the Jordan, Abraham decides to make his residence. motivated and thinking that in Gerrard was a place that would never fear God.

So, in a cunning attempt, motivated purely by self-preservation, he twists the truth and presents Sarah as his sister. Even though this was partially true, Abraham's intentions were nonetheless devious. His purpose that he was married to Sarah. And by the way, this sort of marriage was not forbidden in these times. It's deception, and there's no two ways about it.

We don't make excuses for Abraham's conduct. What he did was immoral. So we're told King Abimelech takes Sarah in among the women of his own household, and he has an intention to take her as a wife. Imagine how devastating things could have been. The Lord Himself had just confirmed that Sarah would conceive a son through Abraham through Sarah in the next 12 months, the very offspring of promise they'd been waiting for over 24 years.

But now Sarah is in the hands of another man. We know King Abimelech's intentions But time had passed, and as of yet he had not approached Sarah. Abraham didn't know that. Nor did he have control over the situation now that she's in the king's household, not his own. What if she conceived by Abimelech?

What was Abraham thinking? It's hard to believe that this is the same Abraham of chapter 18. Where is Abraham's mighty faith now? Why was this? Why was he fearful anyway?

He had God's protection clause. You know what I'm talking about. Back in Genesis chapter 15. Fear not, Abraham, the Lord says. I am your shield.

I am your protection, Abraham. You don't need to take matters into your own hands. Just trust in me, Abraham. But in his weakness, safety, he foolishly dishonours both God and his wife Sarah, placing her in harm's way. If you're thinking this is déjà vu, the story sounds so familiar, you're right.

Only 8 weeks ago we, as a church, made our way through chapter 12 in Genesis and the same dishonest scheme was evident we're told that this was their thing. Abraham and Sarah had an agreement going, that they would lie in this way wherever they went. This sort of thing doesn't sit well with us, does it? Nor should it. So when the Lord gives the vision to King Abimelech, informing him of Sarah being Abraham's wife, Knowing that God had closed the wombs of the women in his household and threatened to kill him, he acts as one does, or as one does, who indeed does fear the Lord.

So he calls Abraham into his household and he orders Sarah to be given back to him untouched. And despite Abraham's obvious deceit, God still identifies him as a prophet of God. And as such, God heard Abraham's mediation and broke the curse on Abimelech and opened up the wombs of the women of his household. But I want you to notice something that is very foundational, that's found in verse six of our passage this morning. In the dream, God said to Abimelech, it was I who kept you from sinning against me.

against me, God says. Had Abimelech approached Sarah, the sin would have been against God. Now, this would have been odd to Abimelech. You see, because in the ancient Near East, adultery, well, it was certainly frowned upon, but only because it was considered an offence against the husband. But God says otherwise.

What an object lesson. All sin, no matter who's been violated, is sin pre-eminently against God first and foremost. You remember the words of King David after being confronted by the prophet Nathan about his adultery with Bathsheba and the evil contrived against her husband Uriah? He says, against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Beloved, our conduct is determined good or evil, ultimately against God.

This must be the forefront of all our minds. We are created by God, for God, not for ourselves. The arena of life is God's arena. He makes the rules. Anything short of perfection will be punished, because our sins are an infinite offence to God Himself, whether we know it or not.

Therefore He will judge every good or evil in the final judgment. This is what Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5. Beloved, we know there are only two possibilities, either by faith in Christ He has bore our punishment for our sins against God, or one will make payment for his or her own sins in the eternal fires of hell, because our sin is an offense against God. Perfection cannot be attained in this life. We all know this, and this is clear in this candid book that we have before us called the Bible.

It tells the story as they are, unedited, with nothing to hide, with people's sins on show for everyone to see. Even the lives of the men of faith are not photoshopped in this book. This is why Abraham's sins are not covered over, is to show he's a fallible human being, just like you, just like me. To be sure, we know Abraham was not devoid of faith. Hebrews 11 tells us his faith was a true faith.

And Romans 4, Paul tells us that Abraham's faith did not waver concerning the promise of God. So how do we reconcile that with what we read today in Genesis chapter 20? Well, simply like this, beloved, Abraham trusted that God will fulfill his promises. But as a weak, faltering, fallen human being, when confronted with scary situations, in his own hands. Unfortunately, he made some very bad decisions when he should have completely trusted in God.

The man of faith was even rebuked by a pagan king. But don't be too quick to point your finger at Abraham. Are we not the same? Do we always act in accordance to faith? Or do we, like Abraham, stumble and fall in times of weakness?

Beloved, trusting God is so much easier when everything is going your way. But how about if you're faced with the gates of Gerard? How about if your life or the life of a loved one is on the line, would you be tempted also to take matters into your own hands? Regretfully, I must admit, all too often we may not deny God, but we seem to ignore Him. when the stakes are high.

We too have a propensity to leave faith aside and take matters into our own hands. You might say, yes, but this is different. Abraham should have learned his lesson from when he did the exact same thing in Egypt and God rescued him from that situation. Abraham should have known better. But I ask you again, how many times have we fallen in the same sin over and over again?

How many times have we only to find in a matter of time, we too are falling. But God is gracious and God is merciful. You see, the story is not about Abraham. Abraham is not the hero of his book. Holy Scripture is centered upon and finds its goal in the triune God of Abraham alone.

see God remains faithful to his people despite their sinfulness. In this case, humanly speaking, Abraham's actions could have been devastating to the promised seed. But the promises of our sovereign God God's promises are contingent on His goodness alone. Flawed individuals like Abraham or like us, beloved, will never thwart or frustrate the good plans of God that He has for us. Why?

Because He's sovereign, and He's good, and He is trustworthy. And because of this, we have hope. Because of this we have comfort and because of this we have rest.