Generation to Generation

Introduction: As kids growing up, I always would say, I don’t ever want to be like my dad. I was going to be different. But as I got older, I started finding myself by generic brand cereal to save money. I found myself complaining when the kids leave the lights on. I find myself turning the thermostat down. Crazy how much we end up like our parents seemingly by accident.

Now often times it’s good. Integrity leads to integrity. Character and kindness leads to character and kindness. We often learn hardwork and wisdom. In many cases we model the best of our parents. But often we pick up their bad habits and sins as well. And this is where we get into trouble.

But as I got older, I started finding myself by generic brand cereal to save money.

Someone asked me, if your daughters were to grow up and marry someone just like you, would you be ok with that. Of course, I’m awesome! JK that’s an incredibly humbling question to consider. Because the truth is I’m not awesome and I am daily in need of my savior to deal with my own sin that I don’t want passed on to the next generation.

I found myself complaining when the kids leave the lights on.

And as parents this is where owning up to our mistakes in front of our children is so important. Because they are watching you and thinking that what you are doing is ok. So when we fail to repent and say, “I shouldn’t have done that,” dysfunction happens. Repentance isn’t something we do once when we are saved, it’s a daily turning from sin and turning back to Jesus.

I find myself turning the thermostat down.

Crazy how much we end up like our parents seemingly by accident.

In the Bible we see this too. So often sin in one generation leads to dysfunction in the next. In the stories we are looking at today, we will see that the sinful behavior of Abraham is repeated by his son Isaac. And through the power of the Holy Spirit, we’ll see that we need to...

Big Idea: Stop the Madness: Break Away from Generational Dysfunction!

Transition to text: Turn with me your Bibles to . Now before we get there I want to give you a summary of . Abraham flees to Egypt to avoid the famine in the land of Israel and he tells Sarah to say she is his sister so that they won’t kill Abraham and take his wife. Instead they will take his wife and honor her brother. Problem is God had a plan for these 2. So Pharoah takes

Read:

Genesis 12:10–20 ESV

10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. 17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

This wasn’t the only time that Abraham did this. It was his self preservation default. How often do we doubt that God can save us from evil men?

Genesis 20:1–18 ESV

1 From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he 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, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5 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.” 6 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. 7 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, you and all who are yours.” 8 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. 9 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.” 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?” 11 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.’ 12 Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 13 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.” ’ ” 14 Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” 16 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.” 17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. 18 For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Main Point #1 - Fear drove Abraham to doubt God’s Protection. (; )

Explanation: Now we already know that this wasn’t the only time that Abraham did this. But this passage we get a little bit bigger picture as to why Abraham did this. He was afraid. And his fear led to doubt.

Fear causes us to do some really dumb things. But think about this for a minute. Abraham was a friend of God who had this unique relationship. Abraham had already stepped out in faith and left his home in order to follow God. Abraham had been incredibly blessed already. What did Abraham have to fear? Nothing. And the truth is, you and I have an even closer relationship with God that Abraham did because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us and how many times have we been afraid?

In this case, fear leads Abraham to doubt that God is really for him. Maybe Abraham was still getting to know this God. In those days, many thought that a god was only sovereign over one particular geographical area. Maybe with Abraham having gone to Egypt and Gerar, he didn’t think God was sovereign there. Abraham had a lot to learn.

You see fear is really doubting God. In Abraham’s case, it was doubting God’s ability fulfil His promise. And while Abraham continually got in the way, God’s promises were firm. One way or another God would fulfill those promises even if it meant supernaturally punishing others to protect Abraham.

When you look at this, this is God’s grace. His promises were such that Abraham’s disobedience did not nullify the promise but actually brought pain on others. And even today, we do not earn God’s favor by our obedience. But unlike Abraham, God’s favor and grace and mercy....what He has already done should lead us to truth Him.

What’s interesting here is who was hurt because of Abraham’s actions. Not Abraham. it was Pharoah and Abimelech. You see, our bad behavior seldom affect just us?

Illustration: British admiral Horatio Nelson observed: “I am of the opinion that the boldest measures are the safest.”

In football they used to say in tackling that the more commited you are to the tackle the safer you are. Fear and doubt leads to injury.

Blackaby, H. (2006). Called to be god’s leader: how god prepares his servants for spiritual leadership. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

We’re not talking about recklessness. We’re talking about confidence and in the realm of this fallen world, what better place that to put our confidence than in God who saved us?

Application: How often do we doubt that God can save us from the evil of this world? And why is this so important? Because there are always little eyes watching us and little feet following us.

Now with Abimelech we see a second time that Abraham told Sarah to say she is his sister. But this is likely not the only 2 times this happened.

vs. 13 tells us that this was a habit of Abraham’s.

Genesis 20:16 ESV

16 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.”

So while this is likely not the last time this happened, these are the times that God had to intervene to protect His promise to Abraham.

And all the while, Isaac was watching.

So the question emerges, when Isaac is afraid, how will he respond? Let’s take a look at Genesis 26:6-11.

Genesis 26:6–11 ESV

6 So Isaac settled in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance. 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife. 9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’ ” 10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

Transition: Well would you look at that! When faced with the same situation and fear, Isaac modeled his father’s behavior.

Transition to the Big Idea: Sad to say that

This wasn’t the only time that Abraham did this. It was his self preservation default. How often do we doubt that God can save us from evil men?

Main Point #2 - Isaac reacted to his fear by modeling his Father’s behavior. ()

Explanation: Now Isaac’s behavior is so similar to his father’s that some more liberal scholars have suggested that it’s the same story but someone later mistakenly attributes it to Isaac. But knowing how often I model bad behavior by my parents, I can absolutely see Isaac doing exactly what he saw dad do.

Later on in life, Isaac found himself in Gerar and in a similar situation where his wife is much better looking than he is (some of us can relate). He is afraid. Now Isaac by this time has a much deeper understanding that God’s promise will be fulfilled. He was God’s promise. The miracle baby through whom God would make a great nation. Nothing to fear here. God has you right? Wrong. When Isaac was afraid, rather than turning to God, he modeled his father’s reaction to fear in his own life. I can tell some of you are shocked by this.

Illustration: This is what generational dysfunction looks like.

I was watching the LSU vs. Alabama last night, rooting against Alabama like a good american should. And there was this player who made a ridiculous catch. His name is Thaddeus Moss and then they said he was the son of Randy Moss, the NFL hall of famer. And I thought how amazing it is that so many children of great athletes themselves become great athletes. Sure it starts with great genes. But he likely watched his dad get up early to workout. Watched how is dad ate well all the time. He saw what it takes to be great. And modeled it. Many who have the good genes don’t have the work ethic.

But obviously we are talking about the bad here. What happens when children model the bad of their parents in their lives.

Look at divorce. Children of divorce are much more likely to divorce.

Children with an alcoholic parent are more likely to abuse alcohol.

Now there are some of us who are attempting to stop the madness and draw a line in the sand and say, It stops with us. Amanda and me are examples of this. But believe me the odds are stacked against us. It will only be by trusting in Jesus and God’s word that we can do anything.

Here is what I want:

I want my children to see me worshiping God and devoting myself to His word.

I want my children to hear I’m sorry…from me…when I mess up and hurt them.

I want them to see me treat their mother with love and respect…how I want them to expect their husbands to one day treat them.

I want them experience a family that puts God first and who, like Joshua say, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Application: So how can we stop the madness? I’ll let pastor Daniel dive into that in more detail, but it comes down to this:

Know God’s word and His promise, protection and provision.

Trust God to get your through when life doesn’t make sense.

Main Point #3 - Husbands and Wives (Genesis 2:

Main Point #4 - Parents and Children (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

Reflection Question: