Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / When-the-Faithful-Fail

Transcript

When-the-Faithful-Fail · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: I'll be reading today from the last half of the
0:05
Speaker 1: twelfth chapter of Genesis. Please turn in your bibles to
0:10
Speaker 1: that chapter, Genesis twelve, beginning at verse seven. As you located,
0:19
Speaker 1: let's stand together out of respect for the word of God,
0:24
Speaker 1: for the reading of his truth. Genesis twelve seven. The
0:29
Speaker 1: Lord appeared to Abraham and said, to your descendants, I
0:33
Speaker 1: will give this land. So he built an altar there
0:37
Speaker 1: to the Lord who had appeared to him. Then he
0:42
Speaker 1: proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of
0:44
Speaker 1: Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west
0:50
Speaker 1: and Ai on the east. And there he built an
0:54
Speaker 1: altar to the Lord and called upon the name of
0:58
Speaker 1: the Lord. Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev. Now
1:07
Speaker 1: there was a famine in the land, so Abram went
1:11
Speaker 1: down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was
1:15
Speaker 1: severe in the land. It came about when he came
1:20
Speaker 1: near to Egypt that he said to Sarah, his wife.
1:23
Speaker 1: See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman.
1:27
Speaker 1: And it will come about when the Egyptians see you
1:30
Speaker 1: that they will say this is his wife, and they
1:34
Speaker 1: will kill me. But they will let you live. Please
1:39
Speaker 1: say that you are my sister, so that it may
1:43
Speaker 1: go well with me because of you, and that I
1:47
Speaker 1: may live on account of you. It came about when
1:51
Speaker 1: Abram came into Egypt. The Egyptian saw that the woman
1:55
Speaker 1: was very beautiful. Pharaoh's officials saw her and praised her
2:00
Speaker 1: to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. Therefore,
2:07
Speaker 1: he treated Abraham well for her sake, and gave him
2:12
Speaker 1: sheep and oxen, and donkeys, and male and female servants,
2:17
Speaker 1: and female donkeys and camels. But the lord struck Pharaoh
2:25
Speaker 1: and his house with great plagues because of Sarah, Abram's wife.
2:33
Speaker 1: Then Pharaoh called Abraham and said, what is this you
2:38
Speaker 1: have done to me? Why did you not tell me
2:42
Speaker 1: that she was your wife? Why did you say she
2:47
Speaker 1: is my sister so that I took her for my wife. Now,
2:55
Speaker 1: then here is your wife, Take her and go. Phieroh
3:00
Speaker 1: commanded his men concerning him, and they escorted him away
3:07
Speaker 1: with his wife and all that belonged to him. I
3:13
Speaker 1: have five areas of application I will share with you
3:16
Speaker 1: at the end of my message, all of which tie
3:19
Speaker 1: into that life and ours. When we are led by
3:27
Speaker 1: the flesh instead of the spirit. First, please be seated
3:39
Speaker 1: a bow with me in prayer. Our heavenly Father, we
3:43
Speaker 1: come before you today acknowledging that you are the God
3:46
Speaker 1: of Heaven and the God of this earth. You do
3:52
Speaker 1: according to your will in the army of heaven and
3:54
Speaker 1: among the inhabitants of the earth, And as Daniel writes,
4:00
Speaker 1: is able to shake his fist at you and ask
4:03
Speaker 1: what are you doing? We sit and stand and kneel
4:08
Speaker 1: in awe of you, our great God, who cares about
4:16
Speaker 1: each one of us and each part of each one
4:21
Speaker 1: of us. For you made us, and therefore you never
4:26
Speaker 1: lose interest in what you have made. You have called
4:32
Speaker 1: this nation into being by those who once named the
4:37
Speaker 1: name of God openly and with appropriate pride. We have
4:44
Speaker 1: wandered far away from what once made us great. Enable
4:52
Speaker 1: us to turn a corner, our Father, as you lead
4:55
Speaker 1: us in the way we should go, and use us
5:01
Speaker 1: in the process of that decision. Because of our gratitude
5:10
Speaker 1: for you, we give today these gifts. Watch over us, Father,
5:20
Speaker 1: protect us as a people, as followers of Jesus, as
5:27
Speaker 1: a part of this fine ministry that you've raised up.
5:32
Speaker 1: And remind us that the gates of Hell will never
5:36
Speaker 1: prevail against it. In the name of Christ, we pray,
5:41
Speaker 1: and we give everyone said amen. The good and the
5:49
Speaker 1: godly are still weak and imperfect. The very strong can
5:58
Speaker 1: become very weak. The powerful and influential still have feet
6:07
Speaker 1: of clay. The faithful can fail, giants can fall, Our
6:19
Speaker 1: models can crack and crumble. Those we once respected can
6:27
Speaker 1: wind up their lives as shipwrecks, making us wonder how
6:37
Speaker 1: could that happen. I have a man I respect who
6:44
Speaker 1: is a good expositor of the scriptures. He spoke on
6:48
Speaker 1: one occasion when I was sitting in the chapel at
6:51
Speaker 1: Dallas Seminary, and he began his message on this similar subject.
6:59
Speaker 1: And so I don't want to tell tell you what
7:00
Speaker 1: I have never announced before. I carry a small book
7:05
Speaker 1: in my best pocket. It is a book to remind
7:10
Speaker 1: me of the importance of personal purity. Because I am
7:18
Speaker 1: a minister of the Gospel, and because I stand before
7:21
Speaker 1: congregations and gatherings of people, I realize the value of
7:28
Speaker 1: living true to my testimony. But I have lived in
7:34
Speaker 1: ministry long enough to realize many start well but do
7:40
Speaker 1: not finish well. And therefore, in this book, which I
7:45
Speaker 1: will never read, aloud to anyone. I have placed names
7:51
Speaker 1: of those who have fallen, who were once strong representatives
7:57
Speaker 1: for Christ now have forfeited the right to lead. This morning,
8:05
Speaker 1: I entered name number forty two. I could spend the
8:11
Speaker 1: next ten to fifteen minutes with examples, some of which
8:16
Speaker 1: you know, most of which you do not know. But
8:21
Speaker 1: I don't think that's where we ought to go. Furthermore,
8:25
Speaker 1: it's a subject that is never pleasant. We don't like
8:31
Speaker 1: it that people fail us. David said at the death
8:38
Speaker 1: of Saul King Saul, shortly after the man took his
8:43
Speaker 1: own life, how the mighty have fallen in the midst
8:50
Speaker 1: of the battle. So it seemed to me a wiser
8:57
Speaker 1: approach as we got underway in this message when the
9:01
Speaker 1: faithful fail that we address the question why, why do they?
9:11
Speaker 1: How does that happen? How could they? How could we?
9:19
Speaker 1: And when you answer the question, you realize it really
9:22
Speaker 1: isn't that mysterious. My Bible is open to James chapter five,
9:29
Speaker 1: to which I would like to have you turn before
9:32
Speaker 1: we go to Genesis chapter twelve. Make your way toward
9:37
Speaker 1: the end of this fifth chapter, which is the last
9:40
Speaker 1: of james small letter, And I'm looking at verse seventeen,
9:45
Speaker 1: where I find the answer to that question, James writes
9:54
Speaker 1: five seventeen. Elijah was before we go further you who
9:58
Speaker 1: do not know. He was a great Jewish prophet, one
10:03
Speaker 1: of the great ones that the Hebrews to this day
10:06
Speaker 1: hold in high esteem. He was a man who stood
10:10
Speaker 1: toe to toe against Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel,
10:16
Speaker 1: and he challenged them based on his faith in the
10:20
Speaker 1: God of Israel. He stood against the prophets of bail
10:25
Speaker 1: and watched God bring fire down on the altar. And
10:30
Speaker 1: he was a man of enormous in enormous faith. As
10:35
Speaker 1: we will read, he was one who prayed that it
10:36
Speaker 1: would not rain, and it did not reign for three
10:39
Speaker 1: and a half years. He prayed again, and the reins came.
10:43
Speaker 1: And yet after a threat that fell from the lips
10:48
Speaker 1: of Jezebel, he ran for his life and escaped down
10:53
Speaker 1: below Beersheba, hid under a tree and said, Oh Lord,
10:57
Speaker 1: take my life. It is not worth living. Elijah, Elijah,
11:05
Speaker 1: the great prophet of Israel, fell into such a depression
11:13
Speaker 1: that he wanted to get out of life. Didn't even
11:17
Speaker 1: think about what else God may have him do, or
11:20
Speaker 1: how God may feel about it was just to take
11:22
Speaker 1: me out. This is Elijah verse seventeen, who prayed earnestly
11:29
Speaker 1: that it would not rain, and it did not rain
11:31
Speaker 1: on the earth for three years and six months. Then
11:33
Speaker 1: he prayed again and the sky poured rain in the
11:36
Speaker 1: earth produced its fruit period. That's all James mentions about Elijah,
11:42
Speaker 1: but I left out the part that explains why he
11:46
Speaker 1: could pray that he would die verse seventeen. He was
11:50
Speaker 1: a man with a nature like ours. I'm going to
11:57
Speaker 1: teach you a word today, and it will be a
11:59
Speaker 1: word never in your life heard or pronounced, obviously, and
12:03
Speaker 1: therefore I'm going to say it several times through this message.
12:08
Speaker 1: Hamoi i paface. Isn't that exciting? It is the word
12:13
Speaker 1: that is rendered here with a nature like ours hama,
12:18
Speaker 1: or we would say in English homo as in homogeneous,
12:22
Speaker 1: homo sexual. It means alike, it means similar, it means same.
12:30
Speaker 1: So the compound word hm i oh pa face is
12:38
Speaker 1: the word for suffering. A man who suffered just like
12:46
Speaker 1: you and I suffer. The NIV says, a man just
12:51
Speaker 1: like us the living Bible, a man as completely human
12:56
Speaker 1: as we are. The message just like us, Hamoi ah
13:03
Speaker 1: pathayes h omi oh p aths, two Greek words pushed
13:11
Speaker 1: together in a compound word used only one other place
13:15
Speaker 1: in all the New Testament, Acts fourteen fifteen, where Paul
13:20
Speaker 1: and Barnabas are ministering to a group of Pagans in
13:24
Speaker 1: a place called Listra. They've never heard the Gospel, and
13:28
Speaker 1: because they brought with them by the power of God,
13:31
Speaker 1: the ability to do miracles, the people of Listra wanted
13:34
Speaker 1: to worship them, and Paul going no, no, no, no.
13:38
Speaker 1: We are hamoyapathes. We are men of like nature. As
13:43
Speaker 1: you don't worship us. We are fellow human beings with
13:50
Speaker 1: the same depravity that courses through your life courses through ours.
14:01
Speaker 1: Don't ever worship a human being, which brings me to
14:07
Speaker 1: a very important point before we turn to Abraham, who
14:11
Speaker 1: operated in the flesh and ran to Egypt. Two things
14:18
Speaker 1: occur when you put people on a pedestal. First, you
14:22
Speaker 1: set yourself up for a great disappointment and even disillusionment,
14:26
Speaker 1: because they will show feet of clay. They will let
14:31
Speaker 1: you down, hopefully not in some gross scandalous manner, but
14:36
Speaker 1: they will show that they're only human, and you'll be
14:39
Speaker 1: disillusioned because they are your idol. I know when I
14:43
Speaker 1: was younger, I would idolize my heroes, virtually every one
14:49
Speaker 1: of them, because of feet of clay revealed their humanity,
14:53
Speaker 1: and I thought, how stupid of me to idolize them.
14:57
Speaker 1: I've learned later in life that no one is to
14:59
Speaker 1: be id not even Elijah, not even Abraham. And the
15:08
Speaker 1: second thing that occurs is you lay expectations on others.
15:11
Speaker 1: They're never able to accomplish. When you have an idol,
15:16
Speaker 1: when you have a hero, when you have someone who
15:19
Speaker 1: has become for you such a point of respect that
15:22
Speaker 1: you are blinded to the reality of their own human nature.
15:26
Speaker 1: Oh my, they can't live up to that. Don't ever
15:30
Speaker 1: put me on a pedestal. You can respect me, and
15:34
Speaker 1: you can love me, and those are all great things,
15:37
Speaker 1: and I deeply appreciate it, but don't ever ever come
15:41
Speaker 1: anywhere near thinking more of me than you should. I'm homoiopathes.
15:48
Speaker 1: I have a nature just like you do. Things that
15:51
Speaker 1: look appealing to you look appealing to me. Things that
15:55
Speaker 1: cause you to be tempted cause me to be tempted.
16:01
Speaker 1: And so in light of that, let's come to the
16:05
Speaker 1: reality we dare not forget here it is the good
16:10
Speaker 1: and the godly are human and imperfect. The good and
16:16
Speaker 1: the Godly are nevertheless human and imperfect. Again, if you
16:24
Speaker 1: forget that, you will live your life disillusioned and disappointed. Now,
16:30
Speaker 1: all of that is a perfect backdrop for Genesis twelve.
16:35
Speaker 1: Genesis twelve is a chapter that stands in contrast with itself.
16:40
Speaker 1: For the first nine verses, we have Abraham vertically connected.
16:46
Speaker 1: Here is a man we respect, we admire. At the
16:50
Speaker 1: age of seventy five, God says, leave her of the Chaldeans,
16:55
Speaker 1: move out, bring your wife with you, but leave your family,
16:58
Speaker 1: leave the idolatry of your past, and go to where
17:01
Speaker 1: I will show you to go. And Abram, without a fight,
17:04
Speaker 1: without resistance, left. How we admire that I know very
17:08
Speaker 1: few seventy five year old individuals who would leave the
17:12
Speaker 1: familiar and move into the unfamiliar, Especially when the Lord says,
17:15
Speaker 1: I'm not going to tell you where I'm leading you.
17:18
Speaker 1: That didn't stop Abram. He's got his eyes vertically fixed.
17:23
Speaker 1: I'll trust you, Oh God, I'll walk with you. So
17:26
Speaker 1: he left, along with his wife and his nephew Lot
17:30
Speaker 1: en route. He has a strong faith that reveals itself
17:34
Speaker 1: several times we have in front of us verse seven,
17:38
Speaker 1: verse eight examples of that. Look at verse seven, the
17:41
Speaker 1: Lord appeared to Abram. By the way, the Lord and
17:44
Speaker 1: you will be in close contact when you operate your
17:47
Speaker 1: life vertically, when you're walking in fellowship with him, in
17:51
Speaker 1: relationship with him, and your life with him is hot,
17:56
Speaker 1: it's connected, it's viral, it's vital. The Lord will reveal
18:02
Speaker 1: a number of things to you. He may not speak audibly,
18:05
Speaker 1: but he will reveal in his word. He'll show you
18:08
Speaker 1: in prayer or the counsel of those godly people around you.
18:11
Speaker 1: You'll have a walk with him that will be like
18:13
Speaker 1: his appearing to Abram. And look at what happened. And
18:16
Speaker 1: the Lord said to your descendants, I will give this land.
18:19
Speaker 1: So we built an altar there to the Lord who
18:21
Speaker 1: had appeared to him. Oh God, Oh Almighty Father, oh
18:25
Speaker 1: Giver of life, I trust you for that. I build
18:30
Speaker 1: this altar in honor of you. And he has come
18:33
Speaker 1: from a background of idolatry, and he is learning that
18:38
Speaker 1: his God is the one and only God, his creator, God,
18:43
Speaker 1: his Maker, God, his faithful God. Even though we are baron,
18:48
Speaker 1: we have no children. I believe you will give us
18:50
Speaker 1: a child and I build this altar, and this fire
18:53
Speaker 1: that consumes the altar is my expression of devotion to you.
18:58
Speaker 1: And I adore you, and I worship you, and I
19:01
Speaker 1: see you as my awesome father. He built an altar
19:05
Speaker 1: to him right there in the middle of the wilderness,
19:07
Speaker 1: on his way to the land next verse. Then he
19:11
Speaker 1: proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel,
19:14
Speaker 1: and he pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west
19:17
Speaker 1: and Ai on the east. And there look again, he
19:20
Speaker 1: built an altar to the Lord, called on the name
19:23
Speaker 1: of the Lord. Oh Lord, here I am a little
19:25
Speaker 1: further along on my journey. I want you to know
19:27
Speaker 1: that I trust you, and I believe in you. I
19:29
Speaker 1: rely on you, I need you. I'm yours. Help me
19:34
Speaker 1: in the process of this journey of faith, not to doubt,
19:37
Speaker 1: but to walk with you. All of those are words
19:40
Speaker 1: that you say on the vertical. This is a man
19:43
Speaker 1: whose life is sensitive to the Lord. And he builds
19:48
Speaker 1: this altar in honor of the name of his God.
19:52
Speaker 1: And Abram journeyed on verse nine tells us and continues
19:56
Speaker 1: towards the Negev, that's the desert, that's the s He
20:01
Speaker 1: moves on toward the Negev. In verse ten, something happens.
20:10
Speaker 1: Here's the contrast verses one through nine. Abram is all
20:16
Speaker 1: over it, spiritually speaking, until the test comes. And if
20:23
Speaker 1: we believe that every part of our life is directed
20:26
Speaker 1: by our sovereign God, this is no when from the
20:31
Speaker 1: wilderness that just happens to blow against Abram. This is
20:35
Speaker 1: a test sent by God. We read now there was
20:42
Speaker 1: a famine in the land. The end of the verse
20:47
Speaker 1: says the famine was severe in the land. God's word
20:53
Speaker 1: never exaggerates. When you read a statement like there was
20:57
Speaker 1: a famine, take it to mean what it says. You
20:59
Speaker 1: and I have probably never been in one. Oh We've
21:03
Speaker 1: known rainless seasons. We've seen crops burn and dry up.
21:08
Speaker 1: We've seen river beds at crack. We've seen wells run dry.
21:13
Speaker 1: We've seen fires consume an area because of the parts condition.
21:18
Speaker 1: We've seen cattle dye. We've never seen a famine, not
21:23
Speaker 1: a severe one. This is a test. It is a test.
21:30
Speaker 1: I'm convinced that was sent by God. In all of
21:34
Speaker 1: your praying and all of your altar building, Oh, Abram,
21:39
Speaker 1: let's see, let's see how deep your walk with me is.
21:45
Speaker 1: Let's see if you will trust me to provide for you.
21:49
Speaker 1: Now that things are not going well and you're surrounded
21:55
Speaker 1: by everything that smacks of a famine, And wouldn't you
22:00
Speaker 1: know it, Hamoyapathace kicks in. Rather than saying, O, Lord God,
22:06
Speaker 1: the one I have worshiped when I left Er, the
22:09
Speaker 1: one I worshiped in Haron, the one I have worshiped
22:12
Speaker 1: along the journey toward the place you're going to show me,
22:15
Speaker 1: the one I have trusted in. I will rely on
22:19
Speaker 1: you in this time of famine. You, who have provided
22:22
Speaker 1: my every need, will continue to put There's none of that.
22:26
Speaker 1: You'll read nothing of prayer in the last half of
22:29
Speaker 1: Genesis twelve, because he doesn't pray. He operates on his own.
22:37
Speaker 1: As we often refer to it, he operates in the
22:40
Speaker 1: flesh from here on and we'll see how it works
22:44
Speaker 1: its way out. Rather than trusting God, he gives way
22:51
Speaker 1: to fear and panic. He begins to handle things on
22:54
Speaker 1: his own. And we read that he went down to Egypt.
23:03
Speaker 1: Some of you have been in time like that. You
23:05
Speaker 1: may be in one right now. I want to tell
23:09
Speaker 1: you before I go any further, it is very, very
23:12
Speaker 1: crucial time in your life. When the Lord sends a
23:17
Speaker 1: test that you be careful not to fall back on
23:22
Speaker 1: your homoopathies, your old nature, because when you do, the
23:27
Speaker 1: vertical will shift to the horizontal. And from here to
23:35
Speaker 1: the end of the chapter you'll read nothing of prayer.
23:39
Speaker 1: You'll read nothing of the Lord guiding Abram. As a
23:44
Speaker 1: matter of fact, Abram escapes. Why because humanly speaking, there's
23:51
Speaker 1: food in Egypt. There are provisions there, and he's got
23:57
Speaker 1: a mouth to feed in Sarah, and another, and his
24:00
Speaker 1: nephew lot his own, and no doubt there were servants,
24:04
Speaker 1: there were animals along with them, and the journey, and
24:08
Speaker 1: he's watching them die one by one. The Lord said,
24:13
Speaker 1: trust me right now, Abraham. He doesn't actually audibly say that,
24:17
Speaker 1: But Abraham knew to do that, but he chose not to.
24:21
Speaker 1: So we read of a divine test. There was a
24:27
Speaker 1: famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt
24:32
Speaker 1: to sojourn there, for the famine was severe. Listen to
24:39
Speaker 1: the words of a fine expositor of yesteryear named F. B. Meyer,
24:44
Speaker 1: so you will understand why I refer to Egypt as
24:47
Speaker 1: I do. In the figurative language of scripture, Egypt stands
24:53
Speaker 1: for alliance with the world and dependence on the arm
24:57
Speaker 1: of flesh. Acted simply on his own judgment, he looked
25:04
Speaker 1: at his difficulties, he became paralyzed with fear. He grasped
25:10
Speaker 1: at the first means of deliverance, and thus, without taking
25:15
Speaker 1: counsel of his heavenly protector, he went down into Egypt.
25:18
Speaker 1: Ah fatal mistake, But how many make it. Still they
25:25
Speaker 1: may be true children of God, and yet in a
25:27
Speaker 1: moment of panic, they will adopt methods of delivering themselves
25:32
Speaker 1: and sow the seeds of sorrow and disaster to save
25:35
Speaker 1: themselves from some minor embarrassment, to enable them to stave
25:38
Speaker 1: off the pressure of difficulties. Christian people of all grades
25:43
Speaker 1: will court the help of the world. All of this
25:49
Speaker 1: is seen in his going down to Egypt. I we'll
25:52
Speaker 1: show you a verse I found this past week. Hold
25:55
Speaker 1: your place, please turn Isaiah thirty one one verse. In fact,
26:01
Speaker 1: after we've read it, I'd like you to write it
26:03
Speaker 1: in the margin of your Bible alongside verse ten of
26:07
Speaker 1: Genesis twelve. Isaiah thirty one. Listen to these words, woe
26:14
Speaker 1: to those who go down to Egypt for help and
26:20
Speaker 1: rely on horses and trust in chariots because there are many,
26:25
Speaker 1: and in horsemen because they are very strong. But they
26:29
Speaker 1: do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor
26:34
Speaker 1: seek the Lord. I confess I never knew that verse
26:38
Speaker 1: was in the Bible till this past week, and all
26:41
Speaker 1: of my reading of scripture over all these I don't
26:43
Speaker 1: remember reading that verse. What a grand reminder, whoe to
26:48
Speaker 1: us when we rely on the flesh to get us
26:52
Speaker 1: through a test. I'll address that in more detail in
26:56
Speaker 1: a few moments when we get to my five points
26:59
Speaker 1: of application. But we moved back to Genesis twelve. He's
27:03
Speaker 1: now on his way to Egypt. Here is a human reaction.
27:08
Speaker 1: There's a quick escape at the end of verse ten
27:11
Speaker 1: into verse eleven. The famine was severe in the land
27:14
Speaker 1: and came about when he came near to Egypt that
27:18
Speaker 1: he said to Sarah, wait, wait, wait, wait, Hamoyapa face
27:23
Speaker 1: is about to kick in. You're about to watch it happen, Sarah,
27:33
Speaker 1: I got a great idea. By the way, great ideas
27:37
Speaker 1: are found all the way through the scriptures, and every
27:39
Speaker 1: one of them that I'm referring to as a wrong idea.
27:42
Speaker 1: Jonah found a ticket to tarshish Hot Dull. Amazing how
27:48
Speaker 1: the Lord provides. He knew the Lord wanted him in Ninem,
27:51
Speaker 1: but he got this ticket to Tarshish and the ship
27:55
Speaker 1: didn't sink. He sank later, but the ship didn't sink.
27:59
Speaker 1: Sampson and the volley of Psik, where he met a
28:02
Speaker 1: prostitute named Delilah. What's he doing hanging around the valley
28:06
Speaker 1: of Psik Hamoi apathes, That's what he's doing. He liked
28:11
Speaker 1: the way the prostitute looked and felt. How about Solomon,
28:18
Speaker 1: whom we read eyed the women of Moab and Ammon
28:21
Speaker 1: and eat them and sidon foreign women whom he took
28:25
Speaker 1: as his wives, hundreds of wives. It's a great idea, Solomon, Yeah,
28:33
Speaker 1: how you doing right now? And David when he took
28:38
Speaker 1: a walk late one evening on his roof and looked
28:42
Speaker 1: over his balcony and Sawbathsheba bathing in her backyard. Who
28:54
Speaker 1: is this woman? Hamoi Apathees is a dangerous danger, this
29:00
Speaker 1: thing if it's not kept under the control of the spirit.
29:03
Speaker 1: And before you sit there and pluck your tongue at
29:07
Speaker 1: Abraham or Jonah or Samson or Solomon or David, remember
29:12
Speaker 1: it's Amai apapace. You got the same nature. There's a
29:20
Speaker 1: scripture that says, let him who thinks he stands, what
29:24
Speaker 1: take heed lest he fall. I doubt that anyone sits
29:30
Speaker 1: on the side of his bed some morning and says,
29:32
Speaker 1: let's see today, I'm planning to fall. Doesn't work like that.
29:38
Speaker 1: Often those days begin with Lord, I'm yours and I'm
29:40
Speaker 1: gonna trust you through the day. Then a famine comes,
29:44
Speaker 1: a test hits, our partner goes south on us, our
29:53
Speaker 1: wife walks out, one of our kids goes nuts. Doc
30:00
Speaker 1: comes with an X ray and says, you need to
30:02
Speaker 1: sit down. A test, a severe test, and suddenly your
30:09
Speaker 1: brain goes to work, and you start thinking in terms
30:11
Speaker 1: of horizontal And that's what we have with Abram right here.
30:15
Speaker 1: In fact, let me show you the complicated consequences. It
30:21
Speaker 1: is a carnal mess. What occurs. Look closely watch the
30:25
Speaker 1: hamoiapathies kick in. He's been thinking along the way. Okay,
30:34
Speaker 1: Pharaoh's there, Pharaoh's powerful. Pharaoh has a harem when he
30:41
Speaker 1: lays eyes on my gorgeous wife, Verse eleven. Again, he
30:49
Speaker 1: said to Sarah, his wife, See now I know that
30:52
Speaker 1: you are a beautiful woman. This is just flattery, this
30:57
Speaker 1: is true. You're gorgeous. Now pause for a moment. Some
31:01
Speaker 1: of you were saying, hey, she's sixty five, and maybe
31:05
Speaker 1: he thinks that when you're seventy five. But what you
31:08
Speaker 1: forget is that, according to the scriptures Genesis twenty three,
31:14
Speaker 1: once she lived to be one hundred and twenty seven,
31:17
Speaker 1: she's middle aged. She's gorgeous. By the way, Scripture never
31:22
Speaker 1: says beautiful if it doesn't mean beautiful, she was a knockout.
31:26
Speaker 1: Abram knew that. He may be seventy five, but he's
31:29
Speaker 1: not blind. He's going to move down to Egypt, and
31:33
Speaker 1: he knows the Egyptians. Speaking of that, I checked one
31:37
Speaker 1: of my very reliable commentaries, Kylin Dalitch, outstanding German scholars,
31:43
Speaker 1: and they write this as Sarah was then sixty five
31:47
Speaker 1: years old. Her beauty at such an age has been
31:50
Speaker 1: made a difficulty by some. But as she lived to
31:53
Speaker 1: the age of one twenty seven, she was then middle aged,
31:57
Speaker 1: and her vigor and bloom had not been tried by
32:00
Speaker 1: bearing children, she might easily appear very beautiful in the
32:04
Speaker 1: eyes of the Egyptians, whose wives, according to both ancient
32:08
Speaker 1: and modern testimony, were generally ugly and faded early. Now
32:13
Speaker 1: that's what that says I am not I am quoting.
32:19
Speaker 1: So if you have Egyptian roots, relax, Okay, I've seen
32:23
Speaker 1: some awfully beautiful Egyptian women. How's that for backpedaling? Uh?
32:28
Speaker 1: The Egyptians no beauty when they see it, maybe because
32:31
Speaker 1: they don't see it that often, and in walks, in
32:35
Speaker 1: walks from the city limits, in walks this gorgeous woman
32:44
Speaker 1: that they've never seen in their lives. Abram hum me
32:48
Speaker 1: up I face kicking in, says you know, Sarah, here's
32:52
Speaker 1: a plan. Let's read it. I know that you're a
32:56
Speaker 1: beautiful woman, and it will come about. When the Egyptians
32:59
Speaker 1: see you, they will say this is his wife and
33:03
Speaker 1: they will kill me, but they will let you live. Now,
33:05
Speaker 1: who's he looking out for? Don't you think you know?
33:10
Speaker 1: They're gonna kill me, but they're gonna let you live.
33:13
Speaker 1: So I got a good idea. Say you're my sister,
33:20
Speaker 1: so that it may go well with me because of you.
33:22
Speaker 1: Notice where his eyes are Hamoi alpa face keeps eyes
33:26
Speaker 1: on self, takes advantage of others, puts others in harm's
33:32
Speaker 1: way to save one's own skin, to save face, to
33:39
Speaker 1: get through a test. They will kill me, but they'll
33:44
Speaker 1: let you live. So tell them you're my sister, now
33:46
Speaker 1: before you get ready to stone Abram. That was a
33:49
Speaker 1: half truth. You may not know it, but scripture teaches
33:53
Speaker 1: in Genesis twenty that they have the same father but
33:57
Speaker 1: a different mother. He married his sister. So let's forget
34:02
Speaker 1: the half part, and let's forget the white part. Just
34:07
Speaker 1: say you're my sister. Okay, practice it. I'm his sister.
34:13
Speaker 1: Good once again, a little more convincingly, I'm his sister.
34:17
Speaker 1: All right, let's read on. Say you're my sister. So
34:21
Speaker 1: it may go well with me, because if you and
34:23
Speaker 1: I may live on account of you. Came about. Watch
34:28
Speaker 1: it came about when Abram came into Egypt that the
34:30
Speaker 1: Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. Pharaoh's officials
34:37
Speaker 1: saw her and praised her to Pharaoh. Have you seen
34:43
Speaker 1: this old guy with this beautiful woman at his side?
34:49
Speaker 1: And the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house no protection,
34:55
Speaker 1: left her in harm's way. As a matter of fact,
35:00
Speaker 1: wouldn't you know it? The next verse says, he's really
35:04
Speaker 1: living large man. Look at this. Therefore, Pharaoh treated Abraham
35:10
Speaker 1: well for her sake and gave him sheep oxen donkeys
35:13
Speaker 1: and male female servants, female donkeys and camels. No more
35:18
Speaker 1: famine there, baby, I got meat out back, I got
35:22
Speaker 1: servants around. Some are waving palm from keeping me cool.
35:27
Speaker 1: How cool is this? You say, Uh, how could a
35:34
Speaker 1: guy like that do the I'm way up with these
35:38
Speaker 1: because he's got your nature and mine, and because he's
35:42
Speaker 1: operating from that nature, there are no limits. May I
35:46
Speaker 1: say it. There's nothing he won't do if he stays
35:50
Speaker 1: horizontal long enough, There's nothing you and I won't do
35:56
Speaker 1: if the flesh is calling the shots. Don't look at
36:01
Speaker 1: me like that. It's true. Just look back, look at
36:08
Speaker 1: the stupid things we have done. And we come out
36:12
Speaker 1: of that by the grace of God skin of our teeth,
36:16
Speaker 1: and we say, how could I have done that? Ham
36:19
Speaker 1: oilpa fe because I have a nature that's given to that.
36:27
Speaker 1: Forgive the crudeness of this expression. But he's a pimp
36:31
Speaker 1: for his wife. How dare he treat his wife like that?
36:39
Speaker 1: How dare the man not protect this lovely woman who
36:43
Speaker 1: trusted him as she leaves er with him and stands
36:47
Speaker 1: alongside him as he builds the altar, And then suddenly
36:51
Speaker 1: she's in Pharaoh's court and he's making plans for a
36:55
Speaker 1: night of love making you felt. And then there comes
37:04
Speaker 1: a day when the Lord says, that's enough, that's it,
37:08
Speaker 1: that's it, that's it. You're not gonna protect her. I
37:14
Speaker 1: am verse seventeen. The Lord struck Pharaoh and his house
37:20
Speaker 1: with great plagues because of Sarah Abram's wife. Notice how
37:24
Speaker 1: the Lord puts it, not sister Abram's wife. He struck
37:29
Speaker 1: the house of Pharaoh with plagues, great plagues, plural. So
37:39
Speaker 1: before night falls, the guy starts to break out in sores,
37:43
Speaker 1: starts to run a fever. To make matters worse, he
37:46
Speaker 1: hears that it's happened to his harem and the servants.
37:51
Speaker 1: They're not here anymore because they're sick in bed, and
37:55
Speaker 1: some cattle are dying out back, and all hell is
37:59
Speaker 1: breaking loose, and Pharaoh realizes something that's got to be
38:04
Speaker 1: related to this. Pharaoh has more discernment than Abram did,
38:12
Speaker 1: and so he calls Abram verse eighteen and said, what
38:18
Speaker 1: is this you have done to me? Why did you
38:21
Speaker 1: not tell me that she was your wife? How does
38:24
Speaker 1: he know it? Maybe she told Pharaoh finally, or maybe
38:29
Speaker 1: it just dawned on him. This can't be a sister
38:32
Speaker 1: he's traveling with. Well, why didn't you tell me she's
38:37
Speaker 1: your sister? Now, then here's your wife, Take her and
38:45
Speaker 1: get out. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him. They
38:51
Speaker 1: escorted him away with his wife and all it belonged
38:55
Speaker 1: to him. Pretty sad conclusion. Wonder how how Pharaoh would
39:02
Speaker 1: feel about Abram's witnessing to him about his God. There's
39:08
Speaker 1: a proverb that says this, Write it down, Proverbs eighteen nineteen.
39:16
Speaker 1: A brother offended is harder to be one than a
39:20
Speaker 1: strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a citadel.
39:27
Speaker 1: Isn't that picturesque? Proverbs eighteen nineteen. A brother offended is
39:35
Speaker 1: harder to be one than a strong city. Pharaoh's offended.
39:41
Speaker 1: He wants nothing to do with Abram, and certainly nothing
39:45
Speaker 1: to do with his so called God, which is the
39:52
Speaker 1: ugly side of homoopathies. You know, it's remarkable God could
39:57
Speaker 1: have led Abram in a direction that would have resolved
40:02
Speaker 1: the famine. He wasn't called upon. He could have met
40:07
Speaker 1: his needs, but he wasn't trusted. He could have opened
40:10
Speaker 1: a door for a witness to Pharaoh that could have
40:13
Speaker 1: changed the life of the man and the country of Egypt,
40:19
Speaker 1: but he wasn't given the opportunity. Abram's to busy operating
40:23
Speaker 1: in the flesh. The result is that Abram and SARAHI
40:26
Speaker 1: are quickly given the brush off. Get out. Some of
40:32
Speaker 1: you have yet to be won to Christ because you
40:36
Speaker 1: still live in the offense of a Christian who ripped
40:39
Speaker 1: you off, or lived a lie, or took advantage of you,
40:45
Speaker 1: or one that meant much to you. You want nothing
40:50
Speaker 1: to do with his God or her God. Pharaoh's not
40:57
Speaker 1: available for a strong witness, Abram, You've ruined your opportunity.
41:04
Speaker 1: So they're given the brush off, and off they go,
41:08
Speaker 1: licking their wounds. Five lessons we learn. I want you
41:12
Speaker 1: to write them down. You're going to need them sooner
41:16
Speaker 1: rather than later, and you're going to realize how apropos
41:19
Speaker 1: they are as you began to live out life and
41:22
Speaker 1: come across that severe famine. Number one, There is a
41:27
Speaker 1: famine in every life. There is a famine in every life.
41:37
Speaker 1: Sometimes they fall in the category of a severe famine,
41:43
Speaker 1: and your legs are knocked out from under you and
41:46
Speaker 1: flat on your back. You have no way to look
41:50
Speaker 1: but up. Listen to me. The famine is never accidental.
41:57
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean we're forgotten. It means we're being tested.
42:00
Speaker 1: It never falls outside God's sovereignty. God is in the
42:09
Speaker 1: heavens Psalm one fifteen three. He does whatever he pleases.
42:17
Speaker 1: What a perfect moment to call on the God of Israel,
42:23
Speaker 1: the Lord, God, your savior. But you know, if you're
42:27
Speaker 1: operating hamoi apathes, well, you're going to look for a
42:34
Speaker 1: way to escape. Point number two. There is a lie
42:38
Speaker 1: in every escape. There is a lie in every escape.
42:46
Speaker 1: We learned to lie when we're young, and if we're
42:49
Speaker 1: not sufficiently disciplined, we cultivate it so that we get
42:53
Speaker 1: good at it. And the more we operate hamoi apathes,
42:57
Speaker 1: the easier lies come. And to unravel our life is
43:02
Speaker 1: like peeling an onion from one lie to another, so
43:06
Speaker 1: that we ultimately wind up being someone where not. We've
43:10
Speaker 1: spent our life escaping tests rather than walking into them
43:14
Speaker 1: and through them, by the power of God, telling ourselves
43:18
Speaker 1: these really aren't lives. She really is, my sister. Number three.
43:25
Speaker 1: There is a weakness in every Abraham. By the way
43:31
Speaker 1: you are the Abraham. Just as I remember what I
43:36
Speaker 1: said at the beginning, The good and the godly are
43:39
Speaker 1: human and imperfect. That's you, my friend. Don't tell me
43:43
Speaker 1: how many hours you spend in the scriptures. Don't tell
43:46
Speaker 1: me how many years you've walked with Christ. Don't tell
43:48
Speaker 1: me how many great places you've studied. Don't tell me
43:51
Speaker 1: how many degrees you have in theology. Your life is
43:54
Speaker 1: hanging in the balance of Homo Apathes. None of those
43:59
Speaker 1: things I've named protect you from a stupid decision or
44:04
Speaker 1: lies because you are weak. If Abraham could fall right
44:09
Speaker 1: after building an altar and another altar and having left,
44:13
Speaker 1: or the Chaldeans, believe me, you and I can fall
44:16
Speaker 1: and fail. It's a good way to live, by the way,
44:21
Speaker 1: in the fear of our God, in the fear of
44:25
Speaker 1: our awesome God. There's an interesting verse in one of
44:28
Speaker 1: the prophets that people no longer blush. I've noticed that
44:32
Speaker 1: about our times. Rarely do I see anyone blush, even
44:38
Speaker 1: when confronted with wrong. Because there's a weakness in every
44:43
Speaker 1: Abraham number four, there's a Sarah in every compromise. This
44:48
Speaker 1: is the sad part of Hamilapathes. Someone has always taken
44:54
Speaker 1: advantage of. Some innocent child is hurt, some unsuspecting mate
45:00
Speaker 1: is shocked. You once thought that husband of yours was faithful,
45:04
Speaker 1: only to find out later that there were other women.
45:09
Speaker 1: You once believe that that person you went into partnership
45:12
Speaker 1: would really be loyal to you, and you've come to
45:15
Speaker 1: realize he's ripped you off, and you're really an innocent victim.
45:22
Speaker 1: You're the Sarah in that compromise. The illustrations are many,
45:33
Speaker 1: and I'll not take the time for more. My point is,
45:37
Speaker 1: no one sins all alone. No one sins all alone.
45:44
Speaker 1: You may sin in secret, but that secret will be
45:49
Speaker 1: become known, and those who have trusted you will look
45:54
Speaker 1: and feel so foolish, so taken. Advantage of life is
46:00
Speaker 1: in concentric circles, surrounded by people who've connected themselves to you,
46:06
Speaker 1: and most of them trust you tragically. Sarah, who is
46:16
Speaker 1: nothing but truly an innocent victim, winds up in Pharaoh's
46:20
Speaker 1: Harem must have thought before night fell, what on earth
46:26
Speaker 1: am I doing in here? How could he have done
46:32
Speaker 1: that to me? Fifth, and finally, there's a pharaoh in
46:36
Speaker 1: every Egypt. There are those who do not know the Lord.
46:45
Speaker 1: There are those who are in a completely different category
46:50
Speaker 1: from you as you live your Christian life. They may
46:55
Speaker 1: not tell you, but they're watching you. I don't know
47:00
Speaker 1: of a significant believer in a place of leadership, or
47:05
Speaker 1: even in a place where you're making the name of
47:07
Speaker 1: Christ known, that isn't being watched. Opinions are being formed.
47:15
Speaker 1: What an opportunity Abram spoiled when he led his wife
47:21
Speaker 1: into this compromise. But I honestly can't cluck my tongue
47:26
Speaker 1: at Abram, for I too have compromised, so have you.
47:35
Speaker 1: Times when I should have spoken and I didn't, Times
47:38
Speaker 1: when I should have kept quiet and I talked. Times
47:41
Speaker 1: when I broke a confidence, times when I made up
47:45
Speaker 1: a story that made me look better. Possibilities are endless.
47:52
Speaker 1: There's a famine in every life, there's a lie in
47:55
Speaker 1: every escape, there's a weakness in every Abraham. Unfortunately, there's
48:00
Speaker 1: a Sarah in every compromise, and there's a Pharaoh in
48:03
Speaker 1: every Egypt. Think, think, think about this life, and remember
48:17
Speaker 1: Hamoi Apathes is still alive, and well, no one is immune.
48:27
Speaker 1: That's about our heads. Possibly I'm speaking today to an Abraham,
48:37
Speaker 1: and you've made a mess of some things, and it's
48:39
Speaker 1: time for you to deal with it and unravel the mess,
48:43
Speaker 1: take responsibility and make things right Before others are hurt
48:48
Speaker 1: even more decisions that need to be made. Never underestimate
48:59
Speaker 1: the all out of carnality. If this message frightens you,
49:05
Speaker 1: I'm grateful. We live a little proud in this country
49:13
Speaker 1: and in our times especially. You've got a little stashed away.
49:20
Speaker 1: You don't have to worry too much about where the
49:22
Speaker 1: next meal comes from. A couple of cars in our garages.
49:28
Speaker 1: Nice place to live, How easy to forget your one
49:35
Speaker 1: decision from a failure or a fall. There are those
49:42
Speaker 1: who trust you, and I have urged you to live
49:45
Speaker 1: up to that trust. If you have been living a lie,
49:50
Speaker 1: I urge you to acknowledge it, confess it, turned from it,
49:59
Speaker 1: and move in a hole new direction. But I need
50:01
Speaker 1: to warn you you will carry the homoy apathase with you.
50:05
Speaker 1: We have it till we die, but it need not
50:09
Speaker 1: dominate us. And just in case we have a pharaoh
50:13
Speaker 1: in our midst let me urge you with the thought
50:19
Speaker 1: not all believers are hypocrites. You need to fix your
50:24
Speaker 1: eyes on the one who was perfect, who will never
50:27
Speaker 1: let you down, who is our God and savior, meaning
50:34
Speaker 1: he is worthy of your worship and he's the only one.
50:39
Speaker 1: Turn to him, lay before him this offense, these painful experiences,
50:47
Speaker 1: the brokenness of your fractured life. Acknowledge the fact that
50:52
Speaker 1: you are sinful living with this old nature and without
50:56
Speaker 1: his help you can't make it, and then trust him
51:02
Speaker 1: as your savior. Share it with us. We have people
51:05
Speaker 1: on our staff that you can connect with, that can
51:09
Speaker 1: touch you in the area of your life where you
51:11
Speaker 1: need help. They're trained to listen, care and assist you.
51:19
Speaker 1: Our Father, we thank you for giving us the truth
51:23
Speaker 1: in a section of scripture others would see as irrelevant
51:27
Speaker 1: and dull and uninteresting. May we realize that all scripture
51:33
Speaker 1: is given for our own admonition, for our learning, that we,
51:39
Speaker 1: through patience and comfort brought by the scriptures, have hope.
51:47
Speaker 1: Thank you, Father for never leaving us or abandoning us.
51:51
Speaker 1: Thank you for never going on vacation. Thank you for
51:55
Speaker 1: not even slumbering or going to sleep. Thank you also
52:01
Speaker 1: for never looking the other way. You are intimately acquainted
52:07
Speaker 1: with all our ways. And may we realize this and
52:14
Speaker 1: turn to you, the God of all grace, for forgiveness
52:20
Speaker 1: and mercy and a reason to go on. And I
52:27
Speaker 1: pray for anyone in this sound of my voice who
52:31
Speaker 1: finds himself in this kind of predicament, that it will
52:33
Speaker 1: stop to day, that you will capture their hearts and
52:40
Speaker 1: turn them back to yourself. It's in the matchless name
52:46
Speaker 1: of Christ, our victorious Savior. We commit this message to you,
52:53
Speaker 1: and we pray, and everyone said amen.
53:00
Speaker 2: The preceding message, When the Faithful Fail was copyrighted in
53:04
Speaker 2: twenty twelve and twenty fourteen, and the sound recording was
53:08
Speaker 2: copyrighted in twenty fourteen by Charles R. Swindall InGaN. All
53:12
Speaker 2: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
53:17
Speaker 2: use is strictly prohibited.