Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Genesis

Genesis 12:6-13:4 05/12/02

Intro: Have you ever failed as a Christian? Just blown it big time? It can and often does happen, and at the time we least expect it. Perhaps it's a bad decision, or a moment of fear that led to an impulsive act that was inappropriate. It can happen when things are going well. And it can happen gradually, the result of a series of bad choices or actions. Everyone, at one time or another fails in their Christian life...everyone. With the glorious exception of Jesus Christ, every person in the Bible failed God and others in their journey of faith.

 Last week, in Gen. 12:4-5, we saw that Abram was willing to risk it all to follow God's leading. So he and his family left the
safety and security of Haran, with only the safety and security of God's promises. That was faith. But somewhere in his travels, his faith took a detour.

Read: Gen. 12:6-9

 In essence what we see here is Abram walking off the promised land from North to South. Now that Abram has taken a step of faith, God reveals Himself. God tells Abram, that all the land will belong to his descendents.

 Here is the promise....here too is the problem. The Canaanites were in the land. There were people already living in the land and they claimed ownership of it. Sound familiar? The Canaanites are still claiming ownership of the land. Shechem is now the city Nablus on the West Bank.. Bethlehem is in Palestinian land.  Sharon, Arafat, Israeli and Palestinian troops still battle over the land. Each claiming divine right, each willing to die to protect their interests, their homes.

 Abram knew that this 'promised land' was occupied and claimed by another.  So what does he do? Does he put together an army to take over the land by force? No. He goes through the land, building altars to worship the One True God.
 Abrams answer to the problem of land ownership was to unashamedly honor and worship God, in the very presence of the idol worshipping Canaanites.

 The Canaanites needed to see the true worship of the One True God. Abram's family needed to see it as well. James 2:18 tells us that the only way a persons faith can be seen is by their works. Abram was becoming a testimony to his faith in God to those who needed to see it most.

 Abram traveled on to other places in the promised land, but the altars he built remained. They were a witness that in this place a child of the One True God once knelt and prayed, and that he claimed this place for God's glory. Abram was a nomad, apilgrim, but he didn't leave the area in which he traveled untouched. Tell me, what are the Canaanites in your life seeing of your faith? How is your life of faith and your work of worship touching their lives?
 
  I believe this text is saying that our faith is demonstrated when we worship. You can't say you have one and neglect the other.
Is corporate worship a top priority in your life?  Is it something you work hard at  making certain you attend....regularly. Have you made your home an altar for God and have you claimed your street for Jesus Christ? Because others are watching. If worship is not a top priority, others will see that, and you too will have a testimony, not of faith but of convenience.

 Well, Abram starts off well as he ventures into the Promised Land. But all that  changes rather abruptly.

Read: Genesis 12:10-20

 Here we see 6 steps leading to Abrams fall, to his departure from faith. And these are the same 6 steps we all go through when we fall into sin and take a detour on the journey of faith.

1. Unbelief
 There was a great famine in the land. Abram was promised blessing and protection by God and when things got bad, Abram turned to God? No, he ran to Egypt.   In Scripture Egypt is symbolic of the world and it's ways. It symbolizes self confidence and self reliance.

 Abram and his family started off obedient to God. They left Haran, risked all only to find themselves in the  land devastated by famine. How disappointed they must have been.  They may have even thought 'This is the last time we will step out in faith'. The truth was they really didn't believe God could care for them in this difficult situation. But God was testing Abram to deepen his faith... unfortunately, he failed the test.

 Abram like many of us let circumstances  dictate what we do, rather than trust the Sovereign God who controls the circumstances. And instead of turning to God we run to Egypt.

 When do we go to Egypt?

     -When we are unable to afford something we want. We turn to Egypt in the form of plastic and charge our credit cards to
       the max.

 When do we go to Egypt?

     -When our relationship with our spouse gets difficult. Our Egypt becomes a 'friend' of the opposite sex, someone who
       understands us and makes us feel alive again.

 When do we go to Egypt?

     -When we face a hectic week, we have things we need to do but don't want to do.  We  turn to the Egypt of worry,
       neglect, complaining or anger.

 There are many different circumstances and different Egypt's, but they all show one thing. We  rely on something or someone other than the Lord and His promises. For Abram, God's 'I Will's' of vs 1-3 are a distant memory. Unbelief is the first step in our downward spiral to spiritual failure.

2. Lack of Worship
 Abram worshipped God in Bethel but it doesn't mention that he worshipped God again until he was kicked out of Egypt and returned to Bethel. When people stop trusting God, they often stop worshipping God. Lack of worship is the second step on the path to spiritual failure.

3. Self Confidence
 When unbelief and lack of worship are evident in a Christian's life, inevitably they begin to think they can handle life's problems themselves. Abram did not trust God to provide food in the famine or to protect him and his wife while in Egypt. Instead he trusted his own plan.

 Abrams failure was his faulty reasoning. He used rationalization. We know what that is. Listen in as Abram  rationalizes away.

 'Sarah, there is a great famine in the land God has called us to.  Certainly God has not called us to starve to death. Look, I hear there is food in Egypt. Certainly God would want us to go to Egypt to get food so we can live and He can fulfill his promises to us. Besides, it's not like we are going to stay there. I mean, come on, we left Ur and Haran didn't we. We'll come back to the land as soon as the famine is over. God will understand.'
 
 Make sense? It makes sense because we are masters of rationalization. We do what we want, the way we want it, when we want to. Even though we know that is not what God wants. We convince ourselves that God will be ok with it.

 That's not self confidence but self delusion. God is not happy when we rationalize away our trust and obedience to maintain our comfort and security.

4. Further sin
 Rationalization often leads to further sin as it did with Abram.

 'Oh, and Sarah listen. The Egyptians have a nasty habit of taking beautiful women, and you are very beautiful my dear, my sweet. And they kill their husbands, then the  women become part of their harem. I would really rather not have that happen.
So here's the deal. We will say that we are brother and sister, well we kinda are since we have the same father, so it really  isn't a lie. And if they take you,  I at least will not be killed. After all we have the promises of God to think about. Don't worry, I'll figure a way to get you back as soon as I can'.

 Wives, tell me...would that sound OK to you? God didn't think so either. There are always reasons to cover over our sin, to justify our failure. We rationalize away

 why we can't tithe,
 why we have a critical spirit,
 why we don't come to prayer meeting or Sunday worship regularly,
 we even rationalize away our marital unfaithfulness.

 And as we justify these actions with excuses, it gets easier to sin. One sin unconfessed leads more sin.

5. Loss
 Unconfessed sin leads to loss. Were it not for God's merciful intervention Abram would have lost his wife and the promises of God was well.

6. Rebuke
 God was merciful and intervened in Abram's situation. God does not permit His children to go their own way indefinitely. He will bring them back to Him. That is the good news. The bad news is that He often does this by exposing their sin and causing them to suffer humiliation and rebuke.

  Notice something, God uses a heathen to rebuke Abram for his sin. What a poor testimony the Believer is when he or she compromises their faith and an unbeliever catches them in sin. What do you think Pharaoh thought of the God Abram professed to worship? Even more important, have any of your words or actions marred the name of Christ in the eyes of unbelievers?

 Yes, Abram..and we too fail the Lord and the consequences are great. But is that where Abram stayed..wallowing in his guilt and shame? Is that where you stay? Let's see what Abram, our example did.

Read: Genesis 13:1-4

 Abram's sin and the accompanying guilt and shame had to be dealt with. Although he was wealthy and powerful in the eyes of men, he realized he had to evaluate his life by different a standard.

  So Abram went back to Bethel (which means House of God) I suppose he decided that 'Better is one day in the house of God than a thousand days in Egypt'. Abram goes back to the basics, worship of the One True God. He repented, was restored and renewed his trust in God. And he didn't waste any time doing it.

ILL: A woman was filling out an employment application. When she came to the line marked 'age' she hesitated a long time. Finally the personnel manager leaned across the desk and whispered to her 'the longer you wait, the worse it gets!.'

 That's true of repentance and returning to God too. The longer you put it off the harder it gets.

 Abram didn't deserve to be forgiven, none of us do. But God forgives. That is mercy and grace in action.  The 6 steps of spiritual failure can be overcome with just one step toward repentance, just one step toward the  cross of Christ. In that one step there is forgiveness, restoration and renewal. Just one step and you are back on the journey of faith.

Conclusion
 Brother or sister in Christ, are you headed for trouble? Have you begun the journey that leads to Egypt?

     Perhaps you fear losing a relationship, or a big sale,
     Perhaps your health is deteriorating or your hormones are raging,
     Perhaps you are experiencing pressure from your friends to do something you know is not pleasing to God,
     Perhaps your bills are suffocating you...

     Whatever the circumstance, whatever the threat, even if everyone else is heading for Egypt..run to the Lord! Trust His promises rather than your own concocted schemes.

 Perhaps you are already in Egypt and you recognize you have failed the Lord. You may be to embarrassed to take the mess you are in to the Lord. But that is exactly where you need to go. It is time to swallow your pride and come to your Heavenly Father seeking His wonderful grace. It is time to repent, and let his loving arms of forgiveness wrap around you, let Abba Father restore you to spiritual health and bring you peace.

 You may have always lived in Egypt because you have never trusted God and His promises before. Understand that you  are not saved by the promises you make to God, but by believing His promises to you. What promises?

    Forgiveness and eternal life to those who repent, who turn away from their sin and turn to God,
    By believing, by having faith that Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago to pay you sin debt to God.

 Do it now.

Leave the Egypt of sin and self reliance and come to the Land of God's forgiveness, promises and presence.
God is waiting. Run to him.