Tabor Baptist Church

Introduction

• v11
• "Surely the fear of God is not in this place"
• Abraham is a pilgrim
• He is moving South
• He is moving somewhere new
• He is very anxious about coming to this new place
• His wealth
• His wife
• Abraham has a plan - say you are my sister
• It is easy to look at our nation and feel anxious
• It is easy to go somewhere new and feel that 'there is no fear of God in this place'
• Thinking like this is a bad idea
• Offer an inoculation

God is bigger than we think

• Abraham has moved from the place where God had met Him/was
• He feels as if he has left God behind
• We might feel like this at times
• God is not just a god of a local place but all the earth
• He is the God of the Hebrews and everyone
• He created the universe
• God is with us against our own personal 'Abimelech' or 'Gerar'
• There is nowhere where God is not

The world is not as bad as we think

• The world is fallen, broken and sinful
• The total depravity of the human heart
• Abraham is 'hard wired' to see all the negatives
• Sodom and Gomorrah had happened in chapter 18-19
• Abraham had his reasons
• Contrast the roles of Abraham and Abimelech - explanation
• God is still at work in an unbelieving world
• God's common grace abounds to all
• God is still at work in our community
• We must hold chapters 19 and 20 together

Our calling is greater than we think

• Some might say: survival, to fight for the gospel, to be a witness
• Abraham - called to be a blessing to the other nations (Gen 12:1-3)
• We are called to be a blessing to the community
• Abraham was a prophet (v7) - he should have been praying (and he did in v17)
• God wants to bless us (Gen 4 - Rev 22)
• The turning point is Christ
• Christ turns the curse upon Himself so that the blessing promised come to Abraham might come to the Gentiles
• God is serious about blessing - examples
• We are to be a blessing to the nations
• We must receive the blessing first
• Freely receive and freely give

The Gospel is harder to stop than we think

• Abraham is putting God's purposes in danger
• There is to be a miracle child
• What is he thinking when he gave his wife to another man?
• It is a scary thing what we put at risk with our fears and our lives
• God intervenes
• He protects Sarah despite Abraham's failings
• God is hands on: Bethlehem, Calvary
• If we look around at our circumstances, God has not changed
• God is still building his Church

Closing Remarks