Faithful God, Faltering Man
Notes
Transcript
Handout
1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife. 4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 5 Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. 6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. 8 Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. 10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? 11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake. 12 And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. 14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. 16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. 17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. 18 For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.
Big Idea: Spiritual maturity does not make us immune to old temptations, but our failures never make God unfaithful to His promises.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever disappointed yourself? Not because you failed in some new area… but because you failed in an area where you thought,
“Surely I’m past this by now.”
Maybe it was an attitude you thought you had conquered. A temper you thought you had gotten under control. A fear you thought you had overcome.
A temptation you thought had lost its power. A bitterness you thought you had finally released. And then something happens.
The pressure rises. The circumstances change. And suddenly… There it is again. That old weakness. That old reaction. That old sin.
And sometimes the most painful part isn't even the failure itself.
It's the realization:
“I should know better by now.”
“I've been walking with God too long for this.”
“Didn't I learn this lesson already?”
“Why am I still struggling with something I thought I had conquered years ago?”
If you've ever felt that way… Genesis 20 is a chapter for you.
Because when we arrive here, Abraham is no longer a young believer taking his first steps of faith. He's been walking with God for roughly twenty-five years. Think about everything we've watched him experience.
God called him out of Ur.
God brought him into Canaan.
God rescued Lot through him.
God established His covenant with him.
God changed his name.
God appeared to him as El Shaddai.
God sat beneath the trees of Mamre and fellowshipped with him.
Abraham stood before God and interceded for Sodom.
James would eventually call him: “The Friend of God.” (James 2:23)
This is a mature man of faith. And then we turn the page to Genesis 20… And Abraham does something that makes us want to shout:
“Abraham! Not again!”
Because we've seen this before. Go all the way back to Genesis 12.
Abraham travels into Egypt.
He's afraid someone will kill him because of Sarah.
“Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister…” (Genesis 12:13)
Pharaoh takes Sarah. God intervenes. Sarah is restored. Abraham leaves. Lesson learned.Or so we thought.
Now… Approximately twenty-five years later...
(Vs. 2)
Same fear. Same deception. Same failure. Different king. Different location. But the same old weakness.
And I think God intentionally preserved this account because we need to understand something about spiritual maturity:
Growth in grace does not mean we become incapable of falling where we have fallen before.
That's humbling. But it's also strangely encouraging.
Because sometimes we look at our recurring weaknesses and wonder whether God could possibly still be working in us.
Genesis 20 reminds us that mature believers still need grace.
Abraham's failure doesn't mean the previous twenty-five years were fake. It means Abraham is still Abraham. And God is still working on him. Genesis 20 feels like God is reminding us of some uncomfortable but encouraging truths about believers.
I). Old Weaknesses Can Follow Mature Believers - (Vs. 1-2)
I). Old Weaknesses Can Follow Mature Believers - (Vs. 1-2)
(Vs. 1)
There's nothing necessarily sinful about Abraham moving. The text doesn't tell us that God prohibited the journey.
The problem appears in (Vs. 2)
Immediately we recognize the pattern. And that's important. Because most of us have patterns. There are certain areas where Satan doesn't need to invent a new temptation. He simply dusts off an old one. He already knows where we've struggled.
For one person...
It's anger.
For another...
It's lust.
For another...
It's pride.
For another...
It's insecurity.
For another...
It's the fear of what people think.
For Abraham...
It was fear for his own safety…
Later, Abraham tells us exactly what he was thinking.
(Vs. 11)
There it is. Fear. And what's remarkable is that Abraham's circumstances have changed tremendously since Genesis 12...
But apparently this fear hasn't completely disappeared. That's worth remembering. Sometimes we deal with the fruit of a sin without dealing deeply enough with its root.
The lie was the fruit. Fear was the root. And when the old fear resurfaced… The old behavior followed.
That's why Proverbs 4:23
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.
Our greatest battles aren't merely behavioral. They're battles of the heart.
Yesterday's Victory Doesn't Guarantee Today's Victory
There's a dangerous place we can reach spiritually where we begin thinking:
“I don't struggle with that anymore.”
Be careful.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:12
12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Paul isn't telling us to live terrified that we're going to fail. He's warning us against spiritual self-confidence. There is a difference between confidence in God… And confidence in ourselves.
Abraham had experienced tremendous victories. But yesterday's victories could not sustain today's faith.
Neither can ours. You cannot live today on yesterday's prayer.
Yesterday's Bible reading.
Yesterday's dependence.
Yesterday's surrender.
We need God today.
Ex. Elijah…
How does someone go from standing fearlessly before hundreds of prophets… to running from one woman?
Because yesterday's victory does not eliminate today's vulnerability.
David defeated Goliath...
But later fell before temptation.
Peter boldly declared:
“Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.”
Within hours...
He denied knowing Christ three times.
And now Abraham… The friend of God… Returns to an old failure.
Church, Scripture does not hide the weaknesses of its heroes. And I'm thankful it doesn't.
Because if the Bible were filled only with flawless people...
There wouldn't be much hope for people like us.
But Don't Misunderstand Grace
But Don't Misunderstand Grace
Now we need to be careful.
The fact that Abraham struggled with an old sin does not excuse the old sin. We should never say:
“Well, that's just the way I am.”
“I've always had a temper.”
“I've always struggled with this.”
“My family is just like that.”
No.
Grace doesn't give us permission to tolerate recurring sin. Grace gives us power to keep fighting it.
Paul says:
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Notice the word reign.
The presence of temptation does not mean sin must become king. You may have an old weakness… But it doesn't have to rule you.
A Helpful Illustration
A Helpful Illustration
Think about an old injury… But they'll always know:
“That's the knee I need to watch.”
Not because healing never happened. But because experience taught them where they're vulnerable.
Spiritually, we should know ourselves that well.
Every believer ought to know:
“Here's where I tend to get weak.”
“Here's where I need accountability.”
“Here's where I need boundaries.”
“Here's where I need to pray.”
“Here's where I cannot afford to become careless.”
Maturity isn't pretending you don't have weaknesses.
“Maturity is knowing your weaknesses well enough to keep bringing them under the strength of God.” - Unknown
And Abraham Should Have Known Better. This is what makes Genesis 20 particularly sobering. Abraham has something in this chapter that he didn't have in Genesis 12.
A specific promise.
God has already told him: Sarah is going to have a son. Not someday vaguely.
14 Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
Think about the implications. If Sarah must bear Abraham's promised son...
Can Abimelech kill Abraham before Isaac is born?
No.
Can God's promise fail?
No.
Can God's covenant be overturned by the king of Gerar?
Absolutely not.
Abraham's fear is asking him to protect something...
God has already promised to preserve.
That's what fear does. Fear makes us forget what faith knows. Abraham knew God's promise. But for a moment...
His circumstances became bigger than God's Word.
And maybe that's where some of us struggle. We know what God has said… But then life happens.
We know God provides… Until the money gets tight.
We know God is with us… Until the diagnosis comes.
We know God is sovereign… Until something happens we cannot control.
We know God can be trusted… Until obedience feels dangerous.
And suddenly we're making decisions based upon:
“What if?”
instead of:
“God said.”
That's Abraham.
And that's us more often than we'd like to admit.
So Genesis 20 begins with a humbling reminder:
Never become so confident in how far you've come that you forget how desperately you still need God.
Twenty-five years of walking with God had changed Abraham tremendously.
But twenty-five years of growth had not eliminated his need for daily dependence.
And it never will for us either.
Transition to Reminder #2
Transition to Reminder #2
Unfortunately, Abraham's fear doesn't affect Abraham alone.
Abimelech hears:
“She is my sister.”
And believing Abraham...
He takes Sarah into his household.
Now Abraham's private fear has created a public problem.
Sarah is involved.
Abimelech is involved.
His household is involved.
And, most importantly, the promised line through which Isaac is about to come has been placed in jeopardy.
But Abraham's failure is about to collide with God's faithfulness.
Because while Abraham has failed to protect the promise...
God hasn't. And that brings us to our second reminder:
II). Our Compromise Affects Others, but God Intervenes - (Vs. 3-7)
II). Our Compromise Affects Others, but God Intervenes - (Vs. 3-7)
Abraham has said of Sarah: “She is my sister.”
Abimelech believes him and takes Sarah into his household. But verse 3 begins with two wonderful words:
“But God…”
Abraham has failed again, but God has not.
And remember where we are in the story. God has already promised that Sarah will bear Isaac. The promised son is about to come, and Abraham's fear has now placed Sarah in another man's household.
From a human perspective, Abraham has endangered the promise.
But what Abraham failed to protect… God faithfully preserves.
God appears to Abimelech in a dream and says:
(Vs. 3b)
Abimelech responds that he acted in ignorance. Abraham told him Sarah was his sister, and Sarah confirmed it.
And remarkably, God acknowledges that:
“Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart…”
But then notice the end of verse 6:
Don't miss that.
We normally think about grace as what God does after we've sinned.
We sin.
We confess.
God forgives.
And thank God for forgiving grace!
But sometimes God's grace is seen not merely in the sins He forgives… but in the sins He prevents.
God tells Abimelech:
“I withheld thee.”
David prayed similarly:
13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me: Then shall I be upright, And I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
Church, there may be things you and I have never done—not because we were strong enough to resist them, but because God was gracious enough to protect us from them.
Doors He closed.
Plans He interrupted.
Circumstances He changed.
We will probably never know how many times God's restraining grace kept us from decisions that could have changed our lives.
But there's another side to this.
Why is Abimelech in danger?
Because Abraham deceived him.
Abraham's fear has now affected Sarah, Abimelech, and eventually his entire household.
That's the nature of sin.
“Our compromise may begin personally, but its consequences rarely remain personal.” - Unknown
That's something we just saw with Lot in Genesis 19.
Our decisions affect spouses.
Children.
Friends.
Churches.
People watching our testimony. That's why holiness matters beyond ourselves.
Finally, God tells Abimelech:
(Vs. 7)
And there's grace again. Abraham failed… But God wasn't finished with Abraham. His failure needed correction, but it did not erase God's calling.
Before this chapter ends, the man whose sin endangered Abimelech will become the man whose prayer brings healing to his household.
That's grace.
Transition
Transition
But before Abraham can move forward, he's going to have to answer for what he's done.
And beginning in verse 8, the uncomfortable happens:
A pagan king confronts God's prophet about his behavior.
And as Abraham begins explaining himself, we discover the real problem underneath the lie.
It was fear.
That brings us to our third reminder:
III). Fear Makes Us Justify What Faith Should Reject - (Vs. 8-13)
III). Fear Makes Us Justify What Faith Should Reject - (Vs. 8-13)
Early the next morning, Abimelech gathers his servants and tells them what God has revealed.
(Vs. 8b)
Then Abimelech calls Abraham and asks a painful question:
(Vs. 9)
Think about the irony. Abraham is God's prophet. Abimelech is a pagan king. Yet in this moment, the pagan king is confronting God's prophet about his behavior.
That's humbling.
Nothing damages our testimony faster than professing one thing while practicing another.
Abimelech asks Abraham:
(Vs.10)
And finally Abraham tells us what was going on inside his heart:
(Vs. 11)
Notice those first three words: “Because I thought…”
There was Abraham's problem.
Abraham made a decision based upon what he thought might happen rather than what God had already promised would happen.
God had already told Abraham that Sarah would bear him a son. Isaac had not yet been born. Therefore, God's promise guaranteed Abraham's future.
But fear caused Abraham to forget what faith should have remembered.
That's what fear does.
“Fear makes imagined possibilities feel more certain than God's promises.” - Unknown
How often do we do the same thing?
“What if this happens?”
“What if that doesn't work?”
“What if God doesn't provide?”
“What if I obey and everything falls apart?”
Before long, we're making decisions based on scenarios that haven't even happened.
Faith asks:
“What has God said?”
Fear asks:
“But what if?”
Abraham Begins Justifying Himself
Then Abraham says:
(Vs. 12)
In other words:
“Well... technically I wasn't lying.”
Sarah was his half-sister. So Abraham's statement contained truth. But it was intended to deceive. And that's still dishonesty.
This is what makes compromise dangerous.
Once we've decided what we want to do, we can become remarkably creative at justifying it.
“Well, technically…”
“Everybody does it…”
“It's not really that bad…”
“I never actually said…”
But the mature believer doesn't ask:
“Can I justify this?”
We ask:
“Does this honor God?”
Abraham's explanation may have made sense to Abraham… But it did not make his actions right.
Church, fear is a terrible counselor. Fear caused Abraham to forget God's promise. Fear caused him to deceive Abimelech.
And then fear caused him to justify the deception.
That's why Proverbs 29:25
25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: But whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.
When fear begins directing our decisions, bring yourself back to what God has said.
Because faith does not deny the danger—it simply refuses to make the danger bigger than God.
Abraham has failed. He's been confronted. His excuses have been exposed. And if Genesis 20 ended here, it would be a discouraging chapter.
But it doesn't. Because the final word doesn't belong to Abraham's failure. It belongs to God's faithfulness.
IV. God's Faithfulness Is Greater Than Our Failure - (Vs. 14-18)
IV. God's Faithfulness Is Greater Than Our Failure - (Vs. 14-18)
Beginning in verse 14, Abimelech restores Sarah to Abraham. He gives Abraham sheep.
Oxen.
Servants.
Silver.
And permission to dwell in the land.
Then something remarkable happens.
(Vs. 17)
Think about that. The man who created the problem… Is now praying for the people affected by it.
And God hears him. Why?
Not because Abraham suddenly became perfect. Because God is gracious. God had told Abimelech in verse 7: “He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee…”
Abraham failed… But God had not discarded him. His sin was serious. His failure had consequences. But his failure was not final. And somebody needs that reminder.
Maybe you've failed God. Maybe you've repeated something you thought you had conquered. Maybe you've disappointed yourself.
Don't excuse it.
Confess it.
Learn from it.
Make things right where you can. But don't believe the lie that God can never use you again.
Peter denied Jesus three times… Yet preached at Pentecost.
John Mark abandoned Paul...
Yet Paul later said: 2 Timothy 4:11
11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.
God specializes in restoring faltering people.
But There's Something Even Bigger Happening
Remember where Genesis 20 sits.
Genesis 18:
God promises Sarah a son.
Genesis 20:
Abraham places Sarah in Abimelech's household.
Genesis 21:
Isaac is born.
Humanly speaking, Abraham has just endangered the very promise he has spent twenty-five years waiting for.
But Abraham's failure cannot cancel God's faithfulness. And listen to the opening words of the very next chapter:
“And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.”(Genesis 21:1)
There is the message of Genesis 20.
“As he had said.”
“As he had spoken.”
Abraham faltered. God remained faithful. Abraham acted in fear. God acted according to His promise.
Abraham's behavior changed.
God's character did not.
Paul says:
13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
Church, our hope has never rested upon our ability to hold everything together. Our hope rests upon a God who keeps His Word.
CONCLUSION
Genesis 20 is uncomfortable because we recognize ourselves in Abraham. We know what it is to fight an old battle again. We know what it is to let fear override faith.
We know what it is to make a poor decision and then try to justify it. But this chapter isn't ultimately about how badly Abraham failed.
It's about how faithfully God preserved His promise.
That's why I love the title: Faithful God, Faltering Man
Because that's Abraham. And if we're honest… That's us. We falter. He remains faithful.
We stumble. He remains faithful. We sometimes forget His promises. He never does.
So what's the answer to recurring weakness? Not greater confidence in ourselves. Greater dependence upon Him.
Paul warned:
12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Know your weaknesses.
Guard your heart.
Reject fear.
Stay close to God.
And when you fail...
Run back to the One whose faithfulness has never failed you.
Because Genesis 21 is coming.
And despite everything Abraham has done...
“The LORD... did unto Sarah as he had spoken.”
God keeps His Word. Always has. Always will.
