Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20080720.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Genesis: Explaining The Foundations Of History
Part VII: Explaining God's Plan To Bless Men Regardless Of Apostasy
H. Man's Need To Return To The Creator's Sovereignty And Goodness
(Genesis 20:1-18)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

In the today's secular humanistic era in Western Civilizations, much as in ancient paganism, where man is the center of his universe, one soon realizes his LIMITATION on how much he can control what is around him! That leads to a sense of vulnerability and fear, with a resulting increased struggle to try to control what is around him:

(1) Many callers I have heard on radio talk shows have voiced their frustrated distrust of their national or local governments, a distrust leading to fear simply because they view their government as being too controlled by special interests to be concerned about their welfare:

(a) The government's failure to curb illegal immigration, and how this is allegedly harming our American way of life, and how it threatens the security of our nation's borders against the influx of drug lords and terrorists troubles many people! I have heard many an upset talk show caller ask what he or she can do about it!

(b) I have heard friends and associates express unbelief that the Congress will ever fix the drain on the Social Security Trust Fund that they once thought would provide them a secure retirement!

(c) A week ago, a New Haven, Connecticut alderman expressed his support on a local ABC television newscast for a Jewish citizen patrol group to help guard his neighborhood from violence since he no longer feels the local police can effectively do the job!

(d) Increased sightings of black bears and cougar tracks or even live cougars in our area's yards has some wondering about the government's inaction or possible role in promoting such wild life!

(2) Many people are concerned about a lessening conscience coupled with the rising tide of violence in our society.

Joe Torre, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, spoke last week on a sports radio station of a golf tournament being played to raise support for his charity that helps children of domestic violence! Torre said he was surprised by the number of children needing such a "safe house", that he had no idea domestic violence was so widespread!

Coupled with this, the rise in violent home invasions has many talk show callers expressing concern about safety from criminals!



Accordingly, we may ask, "In today's postmodern world where INSECURITY often exists, HOW may one be BLESSED?!"

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "In our secular humanistic, increasingly paganized world where fear and its effects are on the rise, how may we be blessed?!"
  1. Recent events linked with his pagan past and society led Abraham to be tempted into a LAPSE of FAITH and to take HARMFULLY MANIPULATIVE ACTION in Genesis 20 like he did in Genesis 12:
    1. Akin to his actions in Egypt back in Genesis 12, while living in Gerar in Genesis 20:1-2, Abraham misled its Philistine king, claiming his wife, Sarah, was his sister, so king Abimelech took her for his harem!
    2. This all threatened the Abrahamic Covenant, for in Genesis 18:9-14, God had promised Sarah would bear Abraham its heir the next year!
    3. Though Abraham's relapse of unbelief in view of God's promise may seem inexplicable to us, noting his pagan society coupled with his pagan past and recent events shows the lure for him to lie was huge:
      1. From his explanation to Abimelech in Genesis 20:11-13, we know Abraham was thinking as a pagan when he entered Gerar: (a) he admitted he feared the limitations of God to protect him once he left the shelter of his father's home in Ur, (b) and he thought the Philistines' lack of respect for God left him open to harm, views that arise from the pagan idea that deities had only local powers!
      2. Abraham's view of God must have been warped by his pagan past due to how he had interpreted God's judgment on Sodom: yes, in Genesis 18:20-33, God had implied He would judge it, but as Abraham saw God use violent fire and brimstone to do so (Gen esis 19:27-28), he could be tempted to think God was crass and violent like his past gods, M. F. Unger, Arch. & the O. T., 1973, p. 66-67!
      3. Abraham would also be shocked at the death and shame that had come to nephew Lot's family along with Sodom's fall, Genesis 19!
      4. So, he had moved southwest to Shur, Kadesh and Gerar where Sodom would be blocked from view and hopefully from mind by Canaan's hills, Gen. 20:1; MacMillan Bib. At., 1968, maps 7 & 10.
      5. Thus, once in Gerar, Abraham's weakened view of God, his past and Gerar's pagan society easily tempted him to lie about Sarah!
  2. In WISE response to Abraham's relapse of unbelief, God KINDLY showed great SOVEREIGNTY and GOODNESS as CREATOR of ALL in CONTRAST to the UNSTABLE, VIOLENT pagan gods:
    1. Had God directly rebuked Abraham for his relapse of unbelief, his possible fear that God was a crass, violent god like his past gods at Ur due to how Sodom was destroyed would easily be errantly reinforced!
    2. Thus, God WISELY indirectly critiqued Abraham via Abimelech in a way that showed His sovereignty and goodness as Creator of all:
      1. God came to the pagan Abimelech in a dream to warn him that his life was threatened since he had taken Abraham's wife, Gen. 20:3!
      2. In response, Abimelech asked God if he would slay a nation that was upright in the matter, for he had taken Sarah in good faith that she was only Abraham's sister, Gen. 20:4-5! Abimelech's question as to God's slaying the righteous recalls Abraham's own prayer for Lot (Gen. 18:25), and thus powerfully critiques Abraham for his sinful deception in Genesis 20! (Bible Know. Com., O. T. , p. 62)
      3. God replied He knew Abimelech was innocent in intent, stating He had similarly in all GRACIOUSNESS SOVEREIGNLY kept him from her, but that Abimelech was to return Sarah to Abraham and have him as a prophet pray in his behalf so he might live, 20:6-7!
      4. When Abimelech told his people of the situation, they feared God greatly, and Abimelech urged Abraham to explain why he had so badly misled him into getting into trouble with God, Gen. 20:8-10!
      5. Realizing by this pagan's rebuke (a) God's CONTROL of even Gerar's PAGANS as CREATOR of ALL, and (b) seeing God's KIND use of Abimelech's questions to CRITIQUE his own unbelief, Abraham in RESTORED faith in GOD candidly told Abimelech of his fears behind his deception, Genesis 20:11-13!
      6. Revering God, Abimelech restored Sarah to Abraham, protecting their reputations before all by a large payment to them, 20:14-16.
      7. Abraham interceded to God to restore the Philistines' fertility, for the Creator of the fertility of ALL men as the Genesis 17 "El Shaddai" had caused them infertility to protect Sarah's purity as the sure mother of the HEIR to God's covenant, 20:17-18; 18:9-10.
Application: If feeling vulnerable to harm in today's increasingly paganized world, opposite harmfully trying to manipulate others or circumstances for protection as in paganism, (1) may we trust in Abraham's God, the Sovereign Creator of ALL, Jesus Christ, for eternal life, John 3:16 with 1:1-3. (2) Then, may we trust His CONTROL of ALL to RELAX from FEAR in our daily lives!

Lesson: Amid the temptation to resort to PAGANISM'S FEAR and its resulting unedifying MANIPULATIVE living, God KINDLY displayed His SOVEREIGN CONTROL as CREATOR of ALL for ABRAHAM to RELAX in HIM, and be a BLESSING as God willed in Genesis 12:2c!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

In one of our generation's most tumultuous years, in 1969, right after God had indicated I was to return to college to finish my training for the ministry, the California county where I had been registered in the government's Selective Service System during the Viet Nam war suddenly changed my draft status from a II-S student deferment to I-A!

With a December 11th birthday, that I-A classification meant I was as good as drafted, for that birthday had been near the top on the priority list in the system's lottery! I was not opposed to serving in the military, but I had already spent several years in Bible School getting ready to serve in the ministry, and being drafted would counter that plan and God's will. Thus, I arranged for a scheduled meeting with the government lawyer assigned to my case, and I went to see him with the proposal that he might condone my Church's ordaining me at that time for the ministry so I could obtain a ministerial deferment.

When I told him about this ordination idea, he gruffly replied, "No, we have enough religious nuts running around to have you add yourself with a half-baked education to the list. Listen! I'm not of your faith, but you need to finish your training before you are ordained, and I will see that the Draft Board reclassifies you!"

I heeded his imposing rebuke, and he got me reclassified with a deferment to finish my education, including seminary! By the time I graduated from seminary in 1976, the Viet Nam war was history, my deferment was outmoded, and I was ordained then for the ministry.

In retrospect, I can see that God was working through that secular lawyer just like He once worked through pagan Abimelech to critique Abraham. I read in Romans 13 that government officials like this lawyer are actually God's ministers to be heeded in matters of law and order. God had used that lawyer to critique my idea of being ordained to gain reclassification without adequate education just like God used the pagan Abimelech to critique Abraham's lie about his relationship to Sarah to protect himself!

That is how we are to live in today's postmodern, paganized world! In the midst of an insecure culture where many are clambering to try to manipulate circumstances or people around them for blessing, may we opt simply to trust the Sovereign, Good Creator of heaven and earth, the God of all, the God of Abraham, and may we LIVE in RELAXED FAITH in HIM for blessing.