Latest / Bible in a Year with Jack Graham / Abraham and Abimelech - The Book of Genesis

Transcript

Abraham and Abimelech - The Book of Genesis · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. Genesis
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: 20.1 Dear God, in the midst of my new season,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: when I am afraid that I might not survive it,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I will not sacrifice the things close to me by
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: giving them up to try to preserve my position and life.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I declare that The same faith that brought me to
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: believe in you will be the same faith I use
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: to believe that you will protect me and deliver me
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: from any future threats. Thank you, Jesus, that because of
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: your sacrifice, I can be forgiven of my mistakes and
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: still have my future restored when I come to you
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: with a pure and clean heart. Holy Spirit, like Abraham,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: if there is any half-truth in my life, Reveal it
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: to me, and I will correct it. Give me the
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: strength to stand in integrity when it's easier to do
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the opposite. I am blessed and secured in your presence. Therefore,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: I am free to be me and dwell in the
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: place you've given me with peace and prosperity. In Jesus' name, amen.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Thank you for praying with me today. Continue listening for
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: an incredible Bible story brought to you by BibleInAYear.com.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Abraham and Abimelech. Before this story, we learned about how
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: God brought justice to Sodom and Gomorrah and delivered Lot
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: and his family out of that city. But Lot's wife
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: turned back and became a pillar of salt. Now we
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: will learn about Abraham again saying, Sarah is my sister,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: to protect his own life from King Abimelech. Inspired by
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: the book of Genesis.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: I'm so glad you joined us on the Bible in
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: a Year podcast today. But before we get to today's episode,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: I want you to know that I would absolutely love
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: to send you my daily devotional, that will give you
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: fresh encouragement every single morning and day. From the moment
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: we wake up to the moment our head finally hits
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: the pillow, there are thousands of things demanding our attention.
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: But it's in the midst of all this crush and
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: hustle and bustle that you and I need peace and
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: truth in God's Word. That's why I want to help
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: you spend time each day growing in God's life-giving, life-changing Word,
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: by sending you my free daily email devotional, PowerPoint Today.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: So visit JackGraham.org to sign up for your PowerPoint Today devotional.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: That's JackGraham.org. JackGraham.org. In our previous passage, we focused on
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: Lot and his daughters and the results of fear in
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: their lives. Today, we turn again to Abraham and Sarah.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: Lest we imagine that Abraham has now fully matured in
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: his faith and has become immune to fear and faithlessness,
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: today's story reminds us that often our journey is one
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: of highs and lows, of zigs and zags. At times
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: we trust and obey, at other times we turn back
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: to our sin and disobedience. That's where we find Abraham today.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: Once again, encountering a powerful king whom he appears to
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: fear more than he fears God, the God who has
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: promised to be with him and bless him. Not only that,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: but again, Abraham will show a lack of regard for
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: his wife. He is meant to lead and protect his wife,
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: but now he uses her as a way to secure
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: his own safety, to save his own neck. As you listen,
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: notice how Abimelech is spared from committing a sin that
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: would have cost him dearly. And notice how Abraham responds
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: when confronted with his deceitfulness. Does he repent of his
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: wrongdoing and fully own up to his mistake? Or does
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: he try to twist his way out of it, justifying
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: his actions? Finally, watch how God works through this situation
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: to restore Abraham and Sarah, as well as King Abimelech
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: and his household. Consider how God has guarded you from
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: sins you may have committed in times of temptation had
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: He not intervened. It is a reminder of God's faithfulness
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: to us always, even when we fail to be faithful
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: to him. Now let's listen to today's passage.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Abraham and his wife, Sarah, ventured to a new land
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: where Abimelech was the king and ruled over the people.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: When they had entered the land, Abraham had once again
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: claimed that Sarah was his sister, so nobody would harm
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: him to take her. Abimelech, being curious about Sarah, had
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: her brought to his home since he believed that she
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: was Abraham's sister, yet he did not touch or harm her.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: One night while Abimelech was asleep, God came to him
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: in a dream, saying, You are a dead man because
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: of the woman you have taken, for she is a
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: man's wife. Abimelech cried out in anguish, knowing he had
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: not touched Sarah. He cried, Lord, do not kill an
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: innocent man. Did he not himself say to me that
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: she is his sister? And she herself said, He is
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: innocence of my hands I have done this. The Lord
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: knew this, and was the one who had kept Abimelech
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: from touching her. He knew the integrity of his heart
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: and commanded him to approach Abraham for prayer and return
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Sarah to him. Yet God warned, If you do not
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: return her, you shall surely die, you and all those
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: who are yours. Abimelech and all those under him became afraid.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: The wombs of the women in his household were shut
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: and became barren. Terror filled Abimelech's kingdom. Therefore he wasted
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: no time trying to find Abraham. He sought out Abraham,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: and when he had arrived, demanded answers. What have you
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: done to us? You made me sin against you, and
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: now my kingdom is to be punished for it? You
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: should have never done this. Abraham, embarrassed and ashamed, spoke
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: a half-truth, saying, Sarah and I share the same father,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: but not the same mother.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: So?
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: She is my sister. He continued explaining, I did not
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: take you for God-fearing people. I was afraid that you
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: would kill me to take her. Then Abimelech, both enraged
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: and afraid, took sheep, oxen, and servants, and gave them
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: to Abraham. Then returned Sarah to him. This is my land,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: he said. Dwell wherever you please. Then he turned to
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Sarah and said, Take a thousand pieces of silver for
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: your brother. This is proof that my hands are clean
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: and you are free. After another failure of character, Abraham
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: was faced with his faithlessness. Not only did he betray
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: his wife to protect himself, but he put an entire
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: kingdom in a place of sin. Abraham prayed to God,
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: and God healed Abimelech. and also healed his wife and
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: servants so they could bear children once again. Even after
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: another failure, God's promise to Abraham would not be made void.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: He would still be faithful and continue to bless him.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: Abraham and Lot, whose stories we've heard in the previous chapters,
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: are in many ways contrasting characters. Abraham is often an
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: example of wisdom and faith and obedience to God's direction. Lot,
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: on the other hand, is rarely any of those things.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: As we have seen, he acts with worldly wisdom and
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: compromise and reacts based on fear, not faith. They are
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: indeed very different men. This does not mean, however, that
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: Abraham always moves in the right direction, trusting God and
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: acting wisely. Today we've heard one such example. Fear has
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: taken over Abraham once again. Just as he had done
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: when they entered Egypt many years before, Abraham is in
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: a new land, the land of a king whom he
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: does not know and who he fears greatly, King Abimelech.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: We're not told what the basis of the fear is,
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: only that Abraham hatches another crazy scheme of deceit to
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: protect himself. He tells everyone that Sarah is his sister,
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: not his wife. In other words, she's available. So King
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: Abimelech sins for her and she is brought to him.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Before we get to what happens next, I want you
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: to think for a moment about what this is saying
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: about Abraham that he would put forward his wife to
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: save his own skin. Year after year, Abraham has seen
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: God's strength and faithfulness to keep Abraham and Sarah together
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: and strong and safe. Not only that, but God has
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: repeatedly reaffirmed his promises to grant Abraham a descendant through Sarah.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: If Abraham were to be killed, as he fears, that
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: would mean God did not or could not keep his promise.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: So think about it. What Abraham is saying here with
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: his action is that he really doesn't trust God to
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: deliver on his word. Now, lest we judge him too quickly,
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: how often do we, by our own actions, say the
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: same kind of things? God has given us so much,
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: and we have such a wonderful promise of life, abundant
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: life in him. And yet so often with our actions,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: we're willing to say, to show that we really don't
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: trust God to give us what we need, that God
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: is not enough, that his promises may not be true.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: So that's what Abraham does here. But fortunately, Abimelech is
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: spared from sin by God himself and because he appears
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: to be a man of some integrity. Before he touched Sarah,
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: God appears to Abimelech in a dream and tells him
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: the true story. This terrifies Abimelech. and he asks if
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: God is going to destroy him for something he has
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: not done. God assures him that he knows the king's
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: heart and reveals that it was him who kept the
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: king from sinning. Look what he says to the king
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: in Genesis 20, verse 6. Then God said to him
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: in the dream, Yes, I know that in the integrity
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: of your heart you have done this, and I also
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: let you touch her. You see, God is not only
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: active in the lives of those who have received a
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: special calling and blessing like Abraham. Here we see that
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: God is watching over this king, Abimelech, searching his heart
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: and keeping him from sin. God says he will spare
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: him if he will return Sarah immediately. Abimelech promptly does so,
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: confronting Abraham for having lied to him. And rather than
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: owning up to his dishonesty and deceit and fully admitting
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: that he was wrong, Abraham tries to soften it by
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: telling another lie. Sarah is in no way his sister,
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: but he is still trying to save face with the king.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: We'll see many times in Scripture how someone is confronted
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: with their sin, and rather than openly admitting their fault
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: and repenting, they try to justify or explain their actions.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: This isn't true repentance, and it's not what God wants.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: But once more, as we've seen so many times already,
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: and as we can see vividly in our lives today,
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: God is faithful to Abraham in spite of his lack
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: of faith. God restores Sarah to Abraham and heals King
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: Abimelech and his household. Dear God, thank you for this
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: story and what it teaches us about your faithfulness even
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: when we take backward steps in our walk with you.
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: Thank you also for what Abimelech's example shows us about
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: your hand of protection in times that we're not even
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: aware of our danger. Thank you for always watching over
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: us and always, always delivering on your promises. In Christ's name, amen.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: I'm Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. And before we go,
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: I want you to know that I would love to
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: send you my daily devotional, to give you fresh encouragement
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: every single day. So visit JackGraham.org to sign up for
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: your PowerPoint Today devotional. That's JackGraham.org.