• Mistakes happen to everyone.
• In 1980 a book intitled “The Book of Blunders” was published.
• Here are three examples of the blunders this book recorded.
• When a drum major tossed his baton in Ventura, California, it hit two 4000-volt power lines, blacking out a ten-block area and putting a radio station off the air. The baton melted.
• A bank robber in Los Angeles told the clerk not to give him cash, but to deposit the money to his checking account.
• On his first assignment for a Chicago newspaper, a rookie reporter drove a company car to a car-crushing plant, parked in the wrong spot, and returned from interviewing the manager just in time to see the vehicle being compacted into scrap metal.
• Have you noticed that it is easier it is to say, “I made a mistake” than it is to say, “I have sinned”?
• Here is a chorus of a song that may be the next new praise song in the modern, seeker-friendly, feel good Church:
• I thought I was mistaken, but I was wrong.
• I once stood corrected, but not for very long.
• Mark my errors as corrected, ‘cause that how they belong.
• I those I was mistaken, but I was wrong.
• The Study of Abraham continues. We don’t expect perfection from him, but we do expect growth.
• Remember, the Bible never said his performance was perfect, that that he believed God, and that was counted as righteousness.
• However, the more we walk with God, over time, the better our lives should be.
Gen 20:1-2 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.
• If you remember, Egypt is always considered a symbol of sin.
• When Abraham went to Egypt earlier, he told this same lie, or deception.
• Now he heads south, for whatever reason we don’t know.
• When Abraham moved towards Bethel, he met with God.
• When he moved south, it represents moving away from God’s presence.
• We know God is not associated with any physical property, for He is everywhere.
• But the spiritual lesson is that we need to continually dwell in His presence.
• When we spiritually wander into lukewarmness, we ask for trouble.
• Temptation will come no matter where we are
• But the first major point I want you to grasp is this: being in the wrong place gives temptation more power to overcome us than when we are in the right place.
• Abraham was in the wrong spot, and this made temptation to do wrong stronger than it should have been.
• Funny, Sarah is 89 years old. She must have been quite a looker.
Gen 20:3 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."
• Here we see God protecting Sarah, even though her husband had failed her.
• Why did God protect Sarah?
1. Because God had made a promise to Abraham and Sarah, and He was going to fulfill it.
• I remind you of one of my favorite verses.
• 2Ti 2:13 “if we are faithless, he remains faithful-- for he cannot deny himself.”
2. Because Sarah was obediently living under authority.
• There is a special protection for one who surrenders under authority and trusts God to protect them.
• And there is a special trouble for those who live with a rebellious spirit.
• Biblically, had Sarah had known it, she could have respectfully declined this request from Abraham because he was asking her to sin against God, a higher authority.
• He was asking her to live with the same lack of integrity that was in his heart.
• However, God’s grace covers the absence of rebellion if we err on the non-rebellious side.
• He did for Sarah.
• God warns Abimelech that he was a dead man walking if he didn’t make right with Sarah.
Gen 20:4-5 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."
• God spoke to Abimelech in a dream, and Abimelech defended himself.
• “Lord, it’s not my fault. I simply believed your man. He said Sarah was a sister. Besides, I having touched her.”
• Abimelech was right, but God really got his attention, didn’t he?
Gen 20:6-7 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."
• God knows how to get our attention.
• You may run from God, but you cannot escape from Him.
• He will get your attention, and it may be terrifying when He does.
• Abimelech appears to fully believe in the God of Abraham. If not before this, he did after this.
• He didn’t attribute the dream to a bad burrito.
• God confirmed his appeal. “Yes, you acted with honor, but you have knowledge now. That changes things.”
• The second major point I want you to grasp is this; You are responsible for knowledge.
• First, you are responsible for seeking knowledge.
• Pro 2:1-5 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.
• Ignorance will not be an excuse if you had the opportunity to learn and passed it up.
• Youth, listen to the lessons of the teachers of scriptures.
• Teachers, put something in your students’ hands that they can take home and study during the week.
• Second, you are responsible for responding to knowledge.
• Once you know it, you own it. Once you own it, you better live by it.
• God told Abimelech, OK, you didn’t know before. You know now. What are you going to do?
Gen 20:8-10 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?"
• This exchange is interesting for those who study it.
• The first thing Abilelech did was call his servants and told them, “Folks, we have a problem.”
• Then he told them all the things he had learned in his dream.
• The people were terrified at what they had heard.
• It could be, being closer to Egypt, they had heard stories of a man who told the same deception.
• You remember that when the reigning Pharaoh had taken Sarah into his haram, the entire place was afflicted with plagues.
• And it could be that Abilelech’s terror in telling it was enough to terrify the servants.
• The next thing he does is calls Abraham and questions him. This is where it truly gets interesting to me.
• First, he asks, “What have you done? What did I do to deserve such reckless treatment from you?”
• He is saing, “We didn’t deserve this. What you did was unjust towards us.”
• The third thing I need us to grasp is that our sins usually do not consider others.
• Our sins are usually not only against God, but against others.
• We seldom consider the pain we take others through for a moment of selfishness or self-protection.
• Our most egregious sins against God stem from selfish self-love and lack of love for others.
• Pornography stems from hatred for the models. If you loved them, you would not support their exploitation.
• Guys, illicit sex is a hatred of the girl, and is truly not making love, if you look at the damage it does.
• Girls, drawing the guy into a sexual relation is not love, and will not bring deeper love from the guy.
• Alcoholism is a lack of love (or hatred) for the family and friends while you comfort yourself.
• Gossip is a lack of love. Greed is a lack of love for others.
• If we love God like we should and love others like we should, it would keep us from sin more than we know.
• Abraham was showing hate to Abimelech and his people, not intentionally, but that is what they received.
• No wonder why Abimelech asked, “What did we do to you to deserve this.
• The fourth thing; Sin in our hearts causes us to think the worst of others.
• 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What did you see, that you did this thing?"
• Abilelech tried to act honorably with Abraham, but Abraham did not return it.
• So Abimelech asked, “What evil did you see in us that made you think the worst in us?”
Gen 20:11 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.
• It is obvious that Abraham thought very little of Abimelech and his people’s morals and justice.
• He thought the worst, “You would kill me for my wife.”
• I mean, Abimelech saw this 89 year old single girl, and it would be honorable to give her a place in his kingdom.
• He could take the responsibility of the old gal off of Abraham and care for her.
• In that situation, a brother would be much in debt to the king.
• But not if it was really his wife.
• Abimelech asked, “Just how bad do you think we are?”
• I have heard many time the excuse, “Well, I just assumed that you would….. (fill in the blank).
• Sin in the heart causes us to assume the worst of others because when we have sin in our hearts, we have the worst in our hearts.
• We simply assume others do to.
Gen 20:12 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.'"
• Fifth, deception with half-truths hurt as bad or worse than bold-face, all out lies.
• Abraham’s justification? It was half true. That should be enough.
• She is my sister, kind of, since she is the daughter of my father but not my mother.
• She is my half-sister so it is a half-truth.
• The sixth think is this: Lack of faith in God causes all sins.
• 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.'"
• “God sent me out of the land but could not protect me, so we set up our own system.”
• Listen, there is an old maxim: God will not take you where his grace will not sustain you.
• That means, God will not take you and leave you to protect yourself with your own system.
• To now grasp that is to walk in a lack of faith in God and His promises.
• And to come up with your own protection is always a sin. Do you know why?
• Rom 14:23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
• And lack of faith causes more sin. Abraham’s plan is typical of our sins.
• If you look at any sin; unjustified anger or selfish anger, greed and theft, lust, pride, selfish ambition, etc…..
• It is because we did not believe God and trust His provisions and protection.
Gen 20:14-18 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."
Gen 20:17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.
Gen 20:18 For the LORD had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
• There are more lessons in this, but I have given you a lot. One more, if I may.
• The seventh thing I want us to realize is that open reconciliation restores a closer relationship.
• Abilelech said, “Let’s be friends. Live near me. Here, share my wealth. Let’s make this totally right.
• It is interesting to me that this stranger to the God of Abraham acted completely honorable, for more honorable than the prophet of God.
• He was a victim of the character weakness and poor decisions of Abraham.
• Yet, he held no grudges, and to insure that, he gave gifts.
• When two are at odds, there is not complete forgiveness and reconciliation until the two are closer than before.
• Consider that this is how God reconciles with us.
• God walked daily with Adam and Eve. They sinned and fell away.
• God sent Jesus to reconcile our relationship with Him.
• And in our reconciliation, now He lives in us, a closer relationship.
• This is the model of forgiveness that God shows and calls us to.
• Resentment goes. Lack of trust goes when both parties seek reconciliation.
• Honesty grows. Love grows. Satan is defeated.
• Clement was born after about 100 years after Christ’s crucifixion.
• He was raised in Greek paganism, but rejected it as a young man because of its moral corruption.
• Sometime after rejection the multiple Gods of Greek and Roman mythology, someone shared Christ with him, which he gladly accepted, and he began to educate himself in the theology of Christianity.
• He became an important early Church theologian and teacher at the Christian School in Alexandria.
• He is said to be one of the important fathers of the Christian Church.
• “For the sake of each of us he laid down his life—a price worth no less than the universe. He demands of us in return our lives for the sake of each other, calling from us the high price we must pay for each other.”
• This is the beauty of having hearts inclined to reconcile with each other.
• I can be well stated, “Love shapes the fellowship of God’s people, but reconciliation is the glue that holds us together.”
