Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Genesis

Genesis 20-21 08/18/02

Intro:
     90yr old woman has child with 100 yr old man and they are here to talk about it.

     Jeanette is finally engaged to her boyfriend of 10 years, but today he's going to reveal that he's cheating... with their live-in babysitter!

     She's my wife...she's my sister. A story of lies and deceit.

     Aunt Fay may look like a grandma, but she's no angel. She stole her niece's husband!

     Rumble in the Oaisis. Sibling rivalry ends with 2 near death.

     These all sound like titles from up coming Jerry Springer shows. Well, actually some are. But would you believe some of these bazaar stories are actually found in the Bible? I think Abraham would rather Moses not have included chs. 20-21 in Genesis. In many ways these chapters represent a low point in Abrahams journey of faith. Yet, ....time and time again, God still blessed Abraham and Sarah.

     I find it amazing what God will do, to show his love for his people. No matter how messed up they are or what unbelievable circumstances he has to get them out of, God works to get them back on their journey of faith. And that was good news for Abraham. In the midst of his journey of lost and found faith, there is hope. And in the midst of your journey of lost and found faith, there is also hope.
 
     No matter how messed up you get, no matter how bad the circumstances you get yourselves into are, as God's child by faith in Jesus Christ, He will make a way..He will place you back on your journey of faith. I know..by experience.  And I bet many of you know too.

     Abraham's lost and found faith journey should be an encouragement to us all. It should assure us that even though Abraham sinned, over and over again, God did not leave him. And God will not leave us either.
 
    Because of God's great love, grace and mercy, as we have already sung and read about this morning, God will never leave or abandon those who are His children by faith in Jesus Christ. That is the good news of our text this morning.

Read: Genesis 20: 1-18

     Haven't we already been through this with Abraham and Sarah? You would have thought they would have learned after the first time...but they didn't. Old sinful habits are hard to break..aren't they?

     One of the things I really like about the Bible is that it is so uncomfortably honest. It is willing to show that no one is exempt from sin, even the strongest Christian falls, sometimes jumps into sin, and they make faith compromises. But God offers forgiveness.  Our God is an awesome God!

     Back to the text. Abraham  lies and is once again shamelessly rebuked by a pagan king. But, Sarah and Abraham are spared the wrath of Abimelech.  Why? Did Abraham deserve his kind treatment by Abimelech? No. It was grace, God's grace that Abraham and Sarah were not severely punished by Abimelech or by God.

     And grace would have one more dramatic effect ..this time on Abimelech.  Look at vs. 6

     What we see here is an example of God's influence on an individual. It is a clear picture of God's restraining grace. God influenced the heart of this pagan king to leave Sarah alone, not to touch her and to give her back to Abraham.

     2 things.  One explicit and one inferred. First, God will restrain evil and sin...even our sin. He puts on the brakes before we go too far in our sin. How far is too far? I don't know...neither do you. But God knows and I am really glad He does when I think of all I and others would suffer from the sin I am capable of committing, but God has chosen to restrain.

     Second, no matter who you see as an impenetrable wall of unbelief, God can influence their heart to come to faith.
 Don't stop praying for and sharing with those you know and love who have not yet come to faith.  If God wills it, they will come to Jesus and He will never let them go.

Read: Genesis 21:1-7

     Son is born to 100yr old man and 90 yr old women. This is material for the trashy tabloids. But it's not Springer material...it comes from Scripture. And once again we are reminded of God's grace ...vs 1

     Even though Sarah and Abraham had sinned , God still kept His promise to them. They have a son, their own son, from Abraham and Sarah's own bodies. What Joy there must have been at his birth. But the joy was not just in the birth of Isaac, it was also in the realization that God remained faithful to them. They had learned God keeps his promises.

     Is that something you have learned about God? When you wander on your faith journey, do you believe that God will always be faithful to you? That is God's grace!
 
    Abraham and Sarah also learned that God is powerful. They now believed what he had told them 9 months earlier... 'Nothing is too difficult for God.'

     Is that something you too have learned? When God calls you to do something, do you believe He will give you what you need to do it? That is God's grace!

     Abraham and Sarah learned that God's timetable for fulfilling his promises is not always the same as ours. God is always on time and on schedule, but it is his schedule, not ours that he keeps.

     Is that something you too have learned? When an answer to prayer is delayed do you still trust God? That too is God's grace!

Read: Genesis 21:8-21

     Isaac was weaned so Abraham and Sarah threw a party. A child weaned had a much better chance to grow to maturity in those days of high infant mortality, so they threw a party to celebrate.

     At some point in the festivities, Sarah sees something that causes her blood pressure to go through the roof. She  saw Ishmael teasing Isaac. Ishmael was now about 16-18 yrs old and would have realized that he was not going to receive his fathers inheritance, so in his jealousy he teases little Isaac.

     And before you can say Jerry Springer, Sarah runs over to Abraham demanding that he 'get rid of that slave girl and her son...now!' Sarah sees Ishmaels taunting as more than just child's play. She sees that as long as Ishmael is around, Isaacs inheritance would be threatened by conflict with Ishmael.

     Sarah makes quite a scene.  The party is over, the laughing and joy have ended. Sarah was angry. Abraham was angry and depressed over what Sarah had asked him to do. After all, he still loved Ishmael. Abraham goes to God in prayer for some guidance. And just when Abraham thinks he has God figured out, God tells him to do as Sarah says. To separate himself from Ishmael and Hagar.
 
    Why? Was there something wrong with Ishmael and Hagar? No, God had already promised to bless Ishmael because he was Abraham's son. And up to Isaac's birth,  Ishmael had been good for Abraham, he was his son, I'm sure they did many father son things. Ishmael filled a need in Abraham's life.

     But, Ishmael was not God's best for Abraham. And as difficult as this was, Abraham had to come to the place where he was willing to accept only God's best. Even if it meant giving up something that was good, in his life. And I believe this is the point of this incident in Abraham's journey of faith...and it has direct application to our journey as well.

     Paul, in Galatians 4 tells us that just as Ishmael and Isaac  were in conflict with each other, so our flesh is in conflict with the Spirit. Paul's encouragement for the Believer is to rid ourselves of all that would bind us to self, to the world, even if it is good.  Instead, we are to live by the Spirit, trusting upon God to provide His best for us.

     Abraham was told to choose: the good that self and the world can give or the best that only God can provide.  And each day we are given the same choice...the worlds good or God's best.

     Abraham made the choice of faith. The next morning he packed Hagar and Ishmael's bags and sent them off to Egypt, Hagars homeland.

     Hagar and Ishmael wander get lost and believe they are going to die in the dessert. But God had made promises to Hagar and Ishmael because of Abraham and he would keep those promises. God opens Hagar's tearful eyes to show her a well to fill their canteens, essentially saving their lives. The well had always been there, but she did not see it  because she only saw her dismal circumstances But God would hear their cries, open Hagar's eyes and meet their needs.

     He does the same for us. God's answers to our problems in life are often right before our eyes. But in our despair, anxiety and self centeredness, we often can't see His answer...
until we cry out to God and he opens our eyes. Has he done that for you?  That's God's grace!

Read: Genesis 21:22-34

     Abraham had lied to Abimelech. But was Abraham's testimony of faith ruined by it? Amazingly no! The text tells us that Abimelech realized that God was with Abraham. Remember God had promised to make Abraham's name great. He would keep his promise even if Abraham would not act so great before others.
 
     Once again we see God's grace in action, repairing Abrahams testimony before an unbeliever he had sinned against. Why? For Abraham's sake? Yes, but ultimately for God's sake. That through God's grace to a sinful man, God would be seen as a mighty, yet loving  and forgiving God.

    Well,  Abraham makes a covenant, an agreement with Abimelech to be friends, to respect and to do good to each other.
Genesis certainly is a contemporary book. Anyone ever ruin your testimony with an unbeliever because of some sin? Listen, God can restore a  tarnished, even a seemingly ruined testimony and He can heal a broken relationship you may have with an unbeliever when you return to your journey of faith.

Conclusion

     Abraham experienced the blessings of God because he was willing to give up good for God's best. And he was willing to make things right with those he had sinned against.

     At the end of Ch. 21 we find that Abraham built an altar and dedicated it to El Olam, the Everlasting God. Everlasting God, which means He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. As God bestowed grace, love and forgiveness upon Abraham, El Olam will do the same for you when you come to Him in faith.

 Christian, if you have lost your way on your journey of faith. There is good news!

     God will find you,

     God will forgive you and

     God will restore your faith,

     And if you are hear and you have yet to begin your journey of faith in Jesus Christ ...ask God to help you take the first step of faith by believing Jesus died on the cross for your sin.

     And your journey of faith, will begin..by God's amazing grace.