Tabor Baptist Church

Introduction

• A sense of de-ja-vu
• Chap 12 - Abraham on the move (to Egypt)
• Tells Sarah to only say that you are my sister
• Pharaoh took Sarah into his harem
• Abraham put her purity in danger
• God plagued Pharaoh
• The Lord deliver Abraham from Pharaoh
• He returns a rich man to Canaan
• Chap 20 - Abraham on the move (to the South)
• Not going out of the promised land
• To Gerra - would one day become philistine territory (modern day Gaza)
• Fears Abimelech and tells Sarah to tell another half truth
• Abimelech takes Sarah
• God speaks to Abimelech in a dream
• God restores Abimelech
• Abimelech rebukes Abraham but is gracious to him
• Abraham is delivered and goes back to Cannan
• 20-25 years have passed between these chapters
• Surely Abraham wouldn't have repeated this error
• Abraham had seen many victories
• He becomes fearful once more
• There is a blip in his life
• The man who usually trusts God in adverse circumstances fails
• God is gracious to Abraham

Abraham's Bad Choices

Location

• Didn't Abraham have a right to move throughout the land?
• He was still within the promised land
• It was a bad choice as he hadn't thought sufficiently about the consequences
• A place of danger
• Why did he go the south?
• We are not told why
• Perhaps he was weary of the shepherd life - some people in life do just want a change
• Maybe it was because he had seen what had happened in Sodom and Gomorrah - some people move in life from a situatioin of sadness to a better place
• Perhaps he fears that Chedorlaomer will come back to the place that they fought the war
• When we have to make decisions
• University
• What is best for me spiritually?
• Is there a good church there?
• Will I know the support of God's people in that place?
• Retirement
• People can find themselves far away from a church
• A good place can turn into a place of danger as people wander away from God
• Job
• Is the Lord really calling me to take on this job?
• New circumstances always bring on new situations and maybe temptations
• Abraham did not set up an altar
• Whenever Abraham sets up an altar there is worship and blessing

Economic with the Truth

• Was he cunning and a bit shrewd?
• We have to be worldly wise
• It does portray a lack of trust in the living God
• When we are weak and at the end of our tether we often return to human was of dealing with problems
• v2, v10-11
• Abraham gives a reason that he thought "the fear of God was not in this place"
• Was Abraham right?
• Initially it seems that Abimelech is more upright than Abraham
• It seems that Abimelech has a functioning conscience
• There was common grace
• God had to ordain Sarah's release
• God had to restrain Abimelech from touching Sarah
• Abraham knew they would kill him over Sarah
• There was not the fear of God in this place
• v13 - Sarah and Abraham had made a pact when down in Egypt to be economic with the truth
• To save Abraham
• They failed to trust God
• When as Christians should we divulge all the truth or when is it wise we should not tell the whole truth
• We are not to satisfy people's idle curiosity
• We are to be people of discretion
• We are not always obligated to respond
• There are times when we do have to speak thins exactly as they are
• We ought not to be deceptive
• Our 'yes' should be yes and our 'no' no
• This episode reflects badly on Abraham
• "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths." - Prov 3:5-6
• Consider the deception of Ananias and Sapphira
• Not through deception and fear
• They want to parade their spirituality throughout the church
• They want to deceive even the apostles
• It was deliberate
• Abraham:
• It was not an outright lie - there was some truth in it
• It was because of an extreme situation placed upon him
• Husband and wives
• Don't enter into pacts to deceive others
• We are to be moral, upright people of integrity

Consequences of the bad choices

• Sarah was taken (now a 90 year old woman)
• She died aged 127 - Perhaps she looked very beautiful at this age
• Was Abimelech concerned to get women of influence
• Did he want to enter into marriage into Abraham's family?
• God speaks to Abimelech
• God can speak to unbeliever
• God warns him
• Abimelech begins to challenge Abraham
• Abraham is rebuked openly by a man who doesn't know God
• Have you ever been (rightly) rebuked by a non-Christian
• Abimelech's kindness may have been a rebuke
• Great sadness and temporary pain is brought to Abimelech's household because of Abraham's sin
• Consider Jabez's prayer in 1 Chronicles 4

God's Overruling

• It is teaching the sanctity of marriage
• Abimelech
• Perhaps he was a lustful man and could have any woman he wanted
• He was a king
• Perhaps he was blind to his sin
• Perhaps he was blind to the sin of his people - they were not righteousness (20:4)
• Why did he need the restraint of the Lord?
• Having heard the rebuke of the Lord - why did God have to order him to return Sarah
• Why did he have to go to Abraham and pray?
• God overrules in this situation and secures the obedience of Abimelech
• Abraham surely recognised God's kindness and graciousness in his deliverance
• We can pray to God for His grace and mercy when we mess up
• Abraham is strengthened
• Abimelech recognises that God is with Abraham in all he does
• Abraham never ceased being a prophet of God (v7, v17)
• God still uses Abraham for blessing
• We should pray that God will grant us a close walk with Him
• We are not to trust in our experience but in the Lord
• Be careful not to think that sins we have conquered in the past cannot overtake us
• Know that God loves us
• Know that He overrules, but that we must repent and turn to Him