Introduction
- 2023 has been led with “one purpose”: To know there is a God!
-- Continuing our series, “Alpha and Omega”; examining the beginning to the end
- Last week we saw several questions for ourselves related to calling of Abram
• Do we follow God’s calling?
• Do we take time to reflect on/worship what God has done?
• And do we allow ourselves to be centered to God’s will and calling?
- This morning we’ll look at the marriage of Abram and Sarai
-- It is important to note, Abram wasn’t always a pillar of faith (he was human)
-- His devotional to God was clear, and usually he was obedient to follow
-- But he certainly did not always make best decisions – he too sinned!
- This passage is the record of one of those events
-- It is here for our encouragement, to learn from, and to adjust our ways
- Let’s dive in … Read Genesis 12:10 – 13:4 / Pray
- TR: Spoiler: Abram had several moments of weak faith in his life
-- He forgets the promises of God, and instead takes the lead on “fixing things”
-- For our insight today, we’ll see five things found in a weak faith
Point 1 – Life will always have trials
- What can often lead us to having a weak faith is a difficult challenge, a trial
-- It’s the greatest opportunity to turn our back on what we should do
-- What should we do? Pray, worship God, read the bible, fellowship, etc.
- This is exactly what happens to Abram: he is facing a great famine (v10a)
-- This means that there is devastation in the land – no food is available
- Here’s his challenge: Even though he has wealth, eventually it’ll deplete
-- He will have to lean into his own savings just to survive (wealth = comfort)
-- RE: He is traveling with his entire household (family, servants, etc.)
-- Truly, the struggle to survive becomes very real for him
- So, the challenge he faces is this: Do we stay, or do we go?
-- Bigger (not considered): Do I obey God or take matters into my hands?
-- RE: What God said: “Go to the land I will show you …” (v1)
-- Abram: Maybe we should leave the promised land and go where its comfy?
- We all face these same trials today, especially in obedience to God
-- Writer of Hebrews: Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.”
- TR: Quite possibly, many of us would have struggled in this same situation
-- Big Q: Do I obey God, or do I try to help Him out a little bit?
-- Here is the lesson in 2023 for you and I …
Point 2 – We can’t turn to the world for guidance
- When we turn to the world for provision, we neglect God
-- This is where we leave ourselves open to all kinds of suggestions
-- For example, in the Garden of Eden: “Did God really say you’d die?”
-- It was an innocent question, with everlasting consequences behind it
- Abram makes the choice (v10b) to depart and travel down to Egypt
-- Certainly, there would have been pressures that added to this
• By his family, his household, his laborers
• By the thought of losing his wealth (herds) and financial security
• By the thoughts of laborers leaving, which means he’d do the work
- So, what does he do? He caves to the pressure and chooses to leave
-- But – we need you to see this – does he even once check-in with God?
-- EX: Does he pray? Sacrifice / worship (for us: go to church)?
-- The bible tells us that he does none of these things, he just goes!
- Need to level set a bit about Egypt
• Egypt, in the bible, usually represented the worldly construct
• It was being outside of God’s promise, and always has implications of:
• Ungodliness, secularism, humanism, self-sufficiency, worldly religion
-- EX: Pharoah certainly thought a lot of himself (set up as a deity)
- So instead of trusting God, Abram thinks it better to depart for comfort
-- Lesson for us: trusting our gut, or what we think, is not always the best thing
-- Yet, with a weak faith, the world’s options/solutions seem pretty good
- Gee whiz: Isaac (Abram’s son) gets this same kind of lesson later:
-- Genesis 26:2-3, “The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt, but do as I tell you. Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I hereby confirm that I will give all these lands to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father.”
- What God teaches him, and is great instruction for us, is what we MUST trust
-- 1 Peter 5:7, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”
- TR: Now watch this, the trip to Egypt becomes a complete trainwreck!
Point 3 – Sin always leads to more sin
- Scripture is never silent about sin; or the ramifications of what it causes
-- Even when the “heroes of the faith” sin, scripture shows it in living color
- Why? Exposing it is a learning opportunity – to give us hope and focus
-- 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”
- A weak faith in God’s trust forced Abram to turn away from God’s promise
-- And now, he is about to walk down a path that leads to brutal choice of sin (v11)
- First, Abram thinks about sin, then he suggests it to his wife
-- Human life is cheap in this society because following God is not a priority
-- For example: If someone wants what you have, then you need to die
-- Abram knows that if they want to kill him, he can be killed easily
- Second, knowing this, he makes a ridiculous and sinful suggestion of Sarai
-- He decides to act selfishly, thinking only of himself and his preservation
-- He is willing to expose Sarai to being dishonored, and sexually exploited
- But look what he does/says in order to get her to go along with it!
-- Re-read v13 … if we do this, it’s for your sake and I’ll get to live!
-- Abram has determined that rationalizing his sin is the best action to take
- In this, he exposes his wife to be gawked at, to be sought after, desired
-- He determined that it would be better if she was his protector / sacrifice
- Third, Abram allows Sarai to become an object of desire
-- To endure abuse and to ruin his marriage by making her available (v14-15)
-- She’s so beautiful that the palace takes note of her and takes her to Pharaoh
- Shameful: Abram says nothing and does nothing to protect her from it!
-- The bible says that Abram was even paid for offering her (re-read v16)
-- Bottom line … Abram is a coward who even refuses to stand up for Sarai!
- TR: So, God intercedes on this nonsense (re: His covenant is still in effect)
Point 4 – Sin always leads to the judgment of God
- Know this: God is not going to sit by an allow sin to always continue
-- Numbers 32:23, “But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the Lord, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.”
-- He brings about a judgment on Pharaoh for what’s happening (v17)
- Scripture doesn’t say what the disease / plague is – but it stops this madness
-- And somehow, this disease pointed to Sarai (and Abram) as the cause
-- Perhaps God revealed it, or the Egyptians put two and two together
-- Either way, God’s judgment now falls upon Abram and Saria (v18-20)
-- In short: Pharoah says, “Get … out!”
- Consider … very publicly (think media storm), they are exposed for:
• Their lying (who they are) and stealing (gifts given to Abram)
• Their willingness to take part in an adulterous plot
• Their refusal to repent (leads to being publicly rebuked)
• Abram’s deceitful heart, which leads to their expulsion from Egypt
- Get this: They are so sinful, they cannot stay in a sinful society
-- Big: What makes us think we can continue to sin and go unnoticed?
-- See, these are the stories we don’t like because it exposes ourselves!
-- We can easily see ourselves in these (if we can’t that’s a problem)
- Not that we would do the same thing – but don’t we try to manipulate
-- Don’t we try to make the outcome of events favor our desires?
- If anything, we should heed the events here, and recognize God’s discipline
-- John received this word: Revelation 3:19, “I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.”
- TR: Publicly exposed and thrown out of Egypt, what becomes of Abram?
-- More importantly, what should anyone caught in this situation do?
Point 5 – Sinners can still repent and turn to God
- The most important step of changing a weak faith is repentance
-- Every human will face challenges and has moments of weakness in life
-- It is in those moments that we must come to our senses and turn to God
-- By repenting and returning to God, our weak faith is made stronger
- This is exactly what happened to Abram – he returned to God! (Ch 13:1-4)
-- Leaving Egypt, he began to return to where God called him to go
-- In this, there is repentance for their choices, and returning to God’s mission
-- They returned to Negev, and then onto Bethel, where he was before
- Note what happens, he returns to where he built an altar to the Lord
-- AND, when he went there, he called upon the name of the Lord (v4)
-- Hebrew: qara; to proclaim or call upon
-- Hebrew: Yhvh; the proper name of God (yeh – ho – vaw)
- Get this: Abram returned to God’s land, and first thing is to worship Him
-- The NT encourages us on how to leave sin and seek God
-- Acts 3:19-20, “Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah.”
Conclusion
- May ask, as we sent out a text, how does this marriage look familiar?
-- Don’t we all have sin to deal with? Whether in our human marriages – or –
-- In our marriage to Christ where we have sinned and rebelled against Him?
- What God has called us to is a life of obedience, and in Abram we see:
-- The plotting of sin, the self-justification, the discovery, and the repentance
- Abram gives us great insight into human nature and how sin causes us to stray
-- What we must take note of, especially today, is that we all can mess up
-- We can all stray away from God’s calling, but we don’t have to stay there
- We can return to Him, because there are no sins that He cannot forgive
-- However, the first step is one of choice – choosing to forsake sin
-- It is where we will always find ourselves when we face a weak faith
-- Sin becomes very appealing, and then we find ourselves in a mess
- BIG: But we don’t have to stay there – we can return to Him and worship
- Pray
