Sarah Rescued

So, we have Easter coming up in a couple of weeks, and I know we haven’t talked to much about what is going on there. I am sorry about that…BUT! You guys, we have some pretty cool stuff thats gonna be going on. Now, I want you to think about someone right now that maybe doesn’t go to church, the first name that comes to your mind…that’s the one I want you to think about…NOW…everyone take out your phone right now and lift it up. That’s right, Ill wait....Im not in any hurry here. Ok, thats great, now…everyone text that person you know and invite them to come to church with you, on the screen is an example of what you can say…That’s right, see we will all forget later, but we can remember right now…So, use your phone and send a text. Ill even let you respond throughout the service if they answer to you. Ok, if they ask about what’s going on, on Easter, we will start off with our early service at 7:30 AM and then a most wonderful breakfast prepared by our amazing deacons at 8:15 and then we will close out with another worship opportunity at 9:30 AM where we are going to talk about Isaac and how that is a picture of Jesus’ resurrection from the Old Testament…It is going to be such an encouraging morning and we want to share it with as many people as we know…As a matter of fact, wouldn’t it be cool if we filled every single seat in this room here? That would be pretty cool…so, text them now, and feel free to text again later…deal?

Also…Kids in the room right now, pay attention for just a second here. I need a representative of your family to come up here and grab something that Mrs. Bethany is going to give you…(talk about the bags)

Ok, now…good morning everyone…I know I always say this, but it is so great to be here this morning with everyone and get to worship together as a big spiritual family with you all...Now is the time that our awesome kids get to go back to the most amazing teachers in Ogle County. Then we get to welcome those of you that are joining us online as a part of our extended spiritual family. Listen, whether you are joining us live or via one of our podcast options later in the week, it is so encouraging to know that God is using LRBC to be a blessing to you in your life…wherever you are.

Ok…now, we have had a couple of somewhat intense weeks the last couple of weeks here at LRBC. We have talked about how Abraham stepped up to God in faith, and then how God remembered Abraham and saved Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, you would think that this would be a pretty intense picture of God’s faithfulness…right? However, we are going to see today that apparently Abraham forgot all about how God remembering Abraham, meaning how God is actively fulfilling his promise to Abraham.

You know, it’s amazing to me how sometimes we know something is true, but we still ignore it and continue on with our lives as if it were not true, or as if we didn’t believe it. Sometimes we simply ignore what is right in front of us. As a matter of fact…just for a moment, imagine you are a 17 year old young man with a driving problem. When I say a driving problem, I don’t mean a problem driving…I mean you tend to get in trouble with your driving. Well…I will tip my hand here…When I was 17 years old I was a bit of a speed junkie and I would race my beater car and I would hold down that gas pedal more than I held down a job…Now really, I actually held my first couple of jobs very well. But…when it comes to driving, I was definitely reckless and that caused me to have various interactions with law enforcement, which always ended with high dollar tickets. Now, alot of people don’t know this, but when you don’t pay your tickets or go to court, you will end up being arrested and basically working off your tickets in jail. Well, I knew this was true as I was growing up in Texas because there were billboards telling me and there were TV commercials and my dad told me…Like I knew that if I didn’t pay my tickets I would end up in jail. So…I built up, within a time frame of like 2 months multiple tickets, either 3 or 4, but I didn’t pay any of them. You see…I figured I could just ignore them…that is until one night when I was hanging out with friends in a field and those red and blue lights came on and an officer called us all over to him. It was interesting…I wasn’t even thinking about the tickets I had, I had honestly forgotten about them. Well, the officer came back from his car with everyone’s ID’s and started to give them all back to everyone. As he was giving them back he mentioned that one of us had multiple warrants for their arrest and so he would be taking that person in to jail that night. I was completely oblivious to the reality of what was happening until he took my arm and placed my hands in handcuffs…That is when I remembered all of my tickets and remembered that I had not paid any of my tickets. I knew the potential results, I just didn’t think anything of the potential results. See, here’s the thing…knowledge without action has consequences…For me, that summer night, the consequences were a very interesting next 15 or so hours for myself…to you, maybe those consequences effect more than just yourself.

Listen, this morning we are continuing to look at Abraham’s journey following God. Honestly, I think in alot of ways we are able to resinate with Abraham and some of the challenges and some of the encouragement that he has experienced ever since God first told him to leave his home and family. Specifically I can remember many times where God has continued to keep his promise with Abraham, even last week by saving his nephew Lot from the destruction of the cities of the plain…and Abraham saw all of that with his own eyes. Well this week we are going to see a time when Abraham knew that God’s promises were true and God was faithful…but acted like he didn’t know.

I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced total destruction of an entire region…but it tends to make life in the region a bit less desirable. So this is where we pick up with this morning. We saw last week that God literally destroyed the cities of the plain with sulfur and fire and we know that this whole region is not exactly nice farmland anymore, so… Abraham decides to pack up and move away for a while. Look at this

Genesis 20:1 (ESV)

From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar.

So Abraham left the land that God promised to him, to go to another foreign land, really a land that is not exactly safe…the land of the Philistines. That doesn’t seem overly smart to start this story off with. However, …we have seen to this story before, remember. There was a time when Abram sojourned in another place and it went a little weird, remember? That was back when he went to Egypt right after God told him to leave his home and go somewhere new. That was a time that maybe he was still learning how God was going to supply his needs and maybe he hadn’t seen such obvious examples of God’s provision…Now today we are back with Abraham traveling and going into a new kingdom However, this time Abraham has seen some amazing things, and he has just seen how God has fulfilled his promise to save his nephew Lot as well as God’s provision up until that point…so, today we get to take a look at

Abraham’s Deception

Yeah, you heard me right there…Really interesting to see what Abraham is going to do here. It’s interesting to see that Abraham has not really learned from his previous attempts and handling things on his own instead of relying on God. It’s interesting, but also maybe understandable becuase don’t we all kind of do that? Like, we know what is true, but we don’t live in a way to acknowledge the truth. We know the truth of Scripture that God will supply our needs and that God is working for our good, but we still try to handle things on our own. We do this with our families, with our jobs, with our finances…we are always trying to find new ways to deal with things ourselves…I know what you’re thinking right now…It’s one of two things, “Hey, you mean I’m not the only one...” or “Hey, I don’t do that.” to which I say you’re lying because we all do this…every single person that has ever lived has been guilty of this exact thing that Abraham is guilty of this morning. Well..hopefully not the exact same thing, but the same concept...

So, let’s take a quick look at the situation.

Genesis 20:2 (ESV)

And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

Back in Gen 12 Abraham did this exact same thing to an Egyptian Pharoah…Now there is a king named Abimelech, but the lie is exactly the same thing. Abraham has told people that his wife is his sister so that they will not kill him. That is the gist of what is going on here. Abraham keeps telling the same lie in order to protect himself here. He does it for the same reason to, later in the chapter Abraham is talking with King Abimelech and he says,

Genesis 20:11 (ESV)

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.’

Even in his response Abraham is blaming others lack of belief for his choice to lie. That’s pretty messed up I think. Abraham is not even taking responsibility for his actions really…So let me fill you in on what happens here. They get into town to temporarily live, that is what sojourn means, so they get into town and King Abimelech sees Sarah and sees that she is attractive and desires to have her in his harem. Can I just say, poor Sarah here. I mean her husband who is supposed to protect her has essentially abused her from the beginning. He gives her away to other people at least twice, he sleeps with her servant to have a son, and that’s just what we know about…If Abraham were alive today he would definitely be canceled, right...

Anyway, after Abimelech takes Sarah, the Lord visits him in a dream and tells him that he is a dead man because he took another man’s wife as his own. Well, of course the king doesn’t know what he’s talking about and so he pleads with the Lord for mercy since he didn’t know she was married to another man. The Lord gives him mercy, but tells him that if he harms Sarah that not only he will die, but everyone associated with him…in other words, his entire house will be destroyed if anyone touched Sarah. Whew…that scared good old Abimelech pretty quickly. When he woke up the next morning he immediately sent for his servants and told them what was going on…Of course this scared all of those men too, and she probably had a security detail after that…Anyway, he then called to Abraham and had a discussion with Abraham where he asked Abraham why he would do such an evil thing to this kingdom. That is when he told Abimelech that he knew there was no fear of God in this kingdom and he was scared. He went on to share that this has been the plan ever since they left their home. Look at

Genesis 20:13 (ESV)

And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”

Abraham just revealed that this has been normal practice ever since he left his fathers house, 25 years ago…Even though he has been living with the promises of God being very clear to him…he has continued to rely on his own strength whenever they would come into a foreign place. Be clear…this is likely not the only two times he did this…He said that every place they went this was what they planned to do. So, either they haven’t been anywhere else, which would seem unlikely since they have traveled through many places…or this is something they have done multiple times, or at least planned to if asked...

Now, for just a moment I want to ask you to reflect on your own life. There are some things in your life that you are doing that you know are wrong, and you know will not truly get you to the place you want to be…yet you continue to try. Maybe you are working through various situation and you know that as long as you rely on your own strength it never seems to work, yet you keep trying to rely on your own strength…

Im gonna tell you a story real quick…When I was in like 7th grade I went on a mission trip and on that mission trip we went rafting on white water rapids. Now, we were instructed on how to hang on and we were instructed on what to do in case we fell off, and especially what to do if we fell off while on the rapids. So we are out there and we are having a blast…A few people fell off here and there and I was proud because somehow I had stayed on. Well, we came around a corner and the guide told us we were able to enter a class 5 rapid and that we needed to hold tight on this one. Well, of course at that time I went flying off the raft. I have no idea how high I flew or how long I was in the air, but when I came down I grabbed the rock I fell on and held tight for dear life. I didn’t care what they had told us to do if we got bucked out, but I knew I was strong enough to just hang on and wait for them to come back for me. Well…after what seemed like 75 years, I had this realization…no one is coming back for me…they can’t. I have to trust my training and trust the guide as he is yelling at me what I need to do…So, I let go and went down a class 5 rapid on my face…Its actually funny because they tell you to cross your arms and lay on your back with your feet first, but when you are like 12 years old you don’t know how to control your body like that, so I started out doing just that, until I hit the first rock and I went flying head first and face down the rest of the way…Why do I tell you this? Because I had to realize that I could do nothing in my own strength…I had to let go, and that is something that some of you here today need to learn…You can do nothing in your own strength except maybe make things worse for yourself...

Here is the really cool thing though. You see, even though Abraham was relying on his own strength to save himself and his wife, Sarah…Even though he was doing things the way he thought was best…God remembered Abraham. So, let’s take a look at

God’s Protection

So who is God going to protect here? Well, clearly God protected Abimelech by going to him in a dream and warning him of what will happen if he were to harm Sarah. Why do you think that God wanted to protect Sarah though? Well…She has not yet had the baby that God has promised. That means that God has promised to protect both Abraham and Sarah or he would become a liar and we know thats not true...

Proverbs 30:5 (ESV)

Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

So God is not a liar, which means that God will protect Abraham and Sarah at least until they have a child, right…Well, Abraham apparently forgets that and he continues his lie and so God steps in to protect this king and his house.

Genesis 20:14–18 (ESV)

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 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.

God continues to protect Abimelech by healing him as well as the women in his house. Now, there is something really interesting here though.

You see, Abraham left the place that God gave him. We didn’t read that God told Abraham to go anywhere, this seems to be Abraham’s decision. Maybe he didn’t want to be reminded of the judgement of God, maybe he wanted to get some fresh air, whatever the reason, Abraham took his story in his own hands when he went away from the place that God showed him. Then on top of that he went to a place that was dangerous…where there was no fear of God. Next Abraham took his protection upon himself and his own strength as he lied to the king and his wife Sarah was taken away. Later God protected Sarah, despite Abraham, God protected Sarah from being harmed by talking with the King. To top it all off, God used King Abimelech to enrich Abraham further with money, cattle, and people…that is an amazing story of God protecting Abraham and still fulfilling his promises to Abraham even in the midst of Abraham’s deceit and lack of trust.

What about you? Do you trust that God has your back? Do you trust that God is working in your situation? Do you trust that even if you mess up that God will continue to fulfill his promises to you and your family? Do you trust God enough to take the step that you know you need to take, or do you need to keep holding on to the rock and wait for the raft to come back around and save you? The thing is…there are consequences to your actions and there are consequences to your faith or lack of faith, but that doesn’t mean that God ignores you or rejects his promises to you?

Deuteronomy 31:8 (ESV)

It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Listen, we can be encouraged by the Lord who promises us that all things are working together the good of those who are saved...that he will comfort us in our trials...that he will finish the work that he has already started in you...that he will supply your needs and give you peace that you cannot possibly understand, and we could go on forever about the promises of God. These are promises Abraham should have relied on but instead he relied on himself. There are promises that you can rely on instead of yourself…What I love about this story though is that even if you mess up, WHICH YOU WILL, that God will not ignore the promises that he has made you, just like God did not ignore the promises he made to Abraham. God remembered Abraham and God remembers you..

If you are here this morning and are wondering how to be sure about these promises, or maybe you are ready to take that next step of faith and follow Jesus in baptism, or you are having trouble relying on the promises that you know are true, reach out and let’s set up a time to have a conversation together. It’s important that you rely on your relationship with the Lord…and not yourself this morning, and if you don’t have a relationship with the Lord right now, or you aren’t sure if you do…then don’t wait to have a conversation with someone. Reach out today and let’s settle that question right now! Grab your phone and text me or send me a message right now...

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