2024.06.09. Sermon Notes. White Lies and Laughter.
HIDDEN TRUTH and “He Laughs or Laughter”
William Akehurst, HSWC
BIG IDEA: THE SIN OF DECEPTION IS CONTAGIOUS, AND IT AFFECTS ALL THOSE WHO ARE IN ITS PATH AND CONSUMED BY IT.
Scriptures: Exodus 20:2-17, Matthew 22:36-40, Matthew 5:27-28, Genesis 20:1-18, Genesis 21:22-34, Galatians 4:21-30, Genesis 21:1-21
I remember as a child, riding a bus tour in Amish Country in Lancaster PA. The bus driver, tour guide was telling us stories about the Amish and the community surrounding it. He was quite the joker. Making funny remarks and having the whole group laughing. But I remember him making some comments that were so fantastical, they were hard to believe, and he would let that thought simmer in our minds, before holding his hand above his head, with this forefinger and thumb making the letter “L”, at which time, he confessed he had made a “white lie”. A half truth. Many times during that tour, he held his hand above his head. For a moment, we were all deceived, and then he set the record straight.
We’ve all lied. And the LAW tells us that bearing false witness, deviating from the truth, and just plain lying, is a sin.
JESUS was asked what the greatest commandment was of the LAW.
Matthew 22:36-40 (KJV)
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
When we read the 10 commandments, we see that the first 4, are directly related to how JESUS defined the greatest commandment, these first 4 are about loving GOD. Then the last 6 commandments, follow JESUS’ comment of the second greatest commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself. Taking into consideration the WORDS of CHRIST, we realize that to keep the 10 commandments, by loving GOD and loving others covers all 10.
But JESUS took it a step further and said that if we do these things in our minds, we’ve committed those sins in our hearts.
Matthew 5:27-28 27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Therefore, we must BRING EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE to the obedience of CHRIST JESUS.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (NKJV)
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
WHITE LIES AND HALF TRUTHS ARE ALL LIES.
Genesis 20:1-18
1 And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. 2 Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And
Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
SHE IS MY SISTER. A HALF TRUTH THAT LEADS TO DECEPTION. AND THAT DECEPTION LEADS TO A CURSE UPON THOSE WHO WERE DECEIVED. VS 17-18
DECEPTION WAS BY STATING SARAH WAS HIS SISTER AND NOT HIS WIFE.
HIDING TRUTH FALLS INTO THE SAME CATEGORY AS DECEPTION.
DECEPTION LEADS OTHERS TO STRAY AND BRINGS GOD’S JUDGMENT UPON THEM.
SARAH WAS IN FACT ABRAHAM’S SISTER BY THE SAME FATHER, BUT THROUGH A DIFFERENT MOTHER. Vs 12
ABIMELECH TOOK SARAH FROM ABRAHAM. SARAH WAS A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN, AND WHILE HE DIDN’T ACT UPON HIS THOUGHTS FOR SARAH, ABIMELECH’S THOUGHTS BROUGHT ON HIS OWN SIN.
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
4 But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also?*
*REMEMBER ABRAHAM’S PRAYER OVER SODOM? LORD, WILL YOU SLAY THE RIGHTEOUS WITH THE WICKED?
5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”
6 And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”*
*THE PUNISHMENT FOR SIN, IS DEATH.
8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid. 9 And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I offended you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done.” 10 Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?”
ABRAHAM, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
11 And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife. 12 But indeed she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”
SO NOT ONLY DID ABRAHAM DECEIVE, BUT HE HAD COERCED HIS WIFE SARAH TO DECEIVE AS WELL. WE WILL SEE THAT THIS LINE OF DECEPTION WILL CARRY FORWARD INTO THE FOLLOWING GENERATIONS. (GENERATIONAL CURSES)
14 Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “See, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” 16 Then to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; indeed this vindicates you before all who are with you and before everybody.” Thus she was rebuked.
17 So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; 18 for the LORD had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
ABIMELECH RESTORED SARAH TO ABRAHAM. REBUKING SARAH.
ABRAHAM PRAYED, AND GOD HEALED ABIMELECH’S HOUSEHOLD.
We will jump ahead to Genesis 21:22 then come back to verses 1-19.
Genesis 21:22-34
A Covenant with Abimelech
ABIMELECH TO ABRAHAM, SWEAR TO ME THAT YOU WILL NOT LIE TO ME AGAIN.
22 And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now therefore, swear to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt.”
24 And Abraham said, “I will swear.”
25 Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech’s servants had seized.*
*ABIMELECH’S TERRITORY WAS THE SOUTHERN MOST PORTION OF ISRAEL, A LAND OF DESERT PLAINS. WATER SUSTAINS LIFE IN THE DESERT, AND IT WAS THE GREATEST COMMODITY AND WAS THE TARGET OF THIEVES.
ABIMELECH WAS OBLIVIOUS TO WHAT WAS DONE UNDER HIS REIGN.
ABRAHAM HAD DUG THE WELL, SO HE WAS THE PROPER OWNER OF THE WELL. AND TO MAKE THIS RIGHT WITH ABIMELECH, HE PURCHASED AND MADE A COVENANT WITH ABIMELECH FOR THE RIGHTS OF THAT WELL AND WATER.
26 And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor had I heard of it until today.” 27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.
28 And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29 Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?”
30 And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that they may be my witness that I have dug this well.”
31 Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.
WHY 7 EWE LAMBS? BEERSHEBA MEANS 7 LAMBS. IT WAS THE NAME OF THE COVENANT AND BECAME THE NAME OF THAT PLACE.
32 Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phichol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.
ABRAHAM WAS A LANDSCAPER; HE PLANTED A TREE!
ABRAHAM IN THE LAND OF THE PHILISTINES…MORE TO COME.
Galatians 4:21-30 (NLT)
21 Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says? 22 The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. 23 The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.
24 These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. 25 And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law. 26 But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother. 27 As Isaiah said,
“Rejoice, O childless woman,
you who have never given birth!
Break into a joyful shout,
you who have never been in labor!
For the desolate woman now has more children
than the woman who lives with her husband!”
28 And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. 29 But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit.
ISHMAEL AND HAGAR REPRESENT SLAVERY, SIN, AND CAPTIVES TO THE LAW. TRYING TO FULFILL GOD’S PROMISES BY HUMAN EFFORT.
ISAAC AND SARAH = FREEDOM, SALVATION, RIGHTFUL HEIR TO THE PROMISED INHERITANCE. GOD’S PROMISES FULFILLED BY THE POWER OF HOLY SPIRIT.
30 But what do the Scriptures say about that? “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”
SARAH’S WORDS RING OUT TO THIS DAY. GET RID OF YOUR SIN THAT BREAKS THE LAW, TRUST IN GOD’S SPIRIT TO COMPLETE THE WORK BEGUN IN YOU.
PAUL REMINDS US THAT THE LAW ENSLAVES THE PEOPLE, WHILE THE HOLY SPIRIT FREES US FROM THE LAW.
IT IS GRACE THAT SAVES YOU, BY FAITH, NOT BY YOUR OWN DOINGS, BUT IT IS GOD’S GIFT TO US THROUGH THE INDWELLING OF HIS SPIRIT TO COMPLETE US IN CHRIST.
LAUGHTER
Genesis 21:1-34 Isaac Is Born (Heb. 11:11)
1 And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac. 4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” 7 She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”
ISAAC = HE LAUGHS, LAUGHTER
The JOY OF THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH AND MY SONG.
LAUGHTER IN THE LORD
LAUGHTER – JOYFUL
THE LORD CAUSES ME TO BE JOYFUL
Hagar and Ishmael Depart (Gal. 4:21–30)
8 So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.
9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. 10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.”
2 MOTHERS, AT ODDS WITH EACH OTHER. THIS OVERTONE CONTINUES INTO THEIR OWN SONS…TO THIS DAY.
11 And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. 13 Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.”
14 So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. 15 And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. 16 Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.
17 And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink. 20 So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21 He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
BECAUSE ABRAHAM WAS BLESSED, AND ALL HIS GENERATIONS, SO WERE ISAAC AND ISHMAEL. VS 13 “BECAUSE HE IS YOUR SEED”.
ONE, OF SIN AND SLAVERY
ONE, OF FREEDOM, HEIR TO GOD’S PROMISES, AS WE WILL SEE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER.
The 10 Commandments
Exodus 20:2-17 (KJV)
1. I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
5. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Next week is Shavuot, Pentecost, by the Hebrew Lunar Calendar.
7 weeks plus 1 day, 50 days after Passover.
• The Hebrew Lunar Calendar celebrates the 10 commandments and the Law received at Mount Sinai and the pursuit to keep the law.
• Our Greek/Christian Solar Calendar celebrates the HOLY SPIRIT placed in our hearts by the LORD GOD to complete the law in us, by the POWER OF GOD’S SALVATION. To all who will believe.
Be blessed and be a blessing,
Bill
