Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20080601.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Genesis: Explaining The Foundations Of History
Part VII: Explaining God's Plan To Bless Men Regardless Of Apostasy
A. Learning To Keep Heeding God in Trials For Maximum Blessing
(Genesis 12:4-20)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Today we as a body to be encouraged in our walk of faith, for not only are there trials all over our world, but they are very strong:

(1) You will recall I had mentioned the needs of the people in China following the huge Mother's Day earthquake there. Well, we have since received an e-mail from a party near the quake center who reported that 63 dams there were compromised by the earthquake, threatening to break and lead to potential massive flooding and destruction. Chinese soldiers are thus arranging to make controlled breaches of the dams to release the water before they suddenly break.

The report noted how many Chinese people spend the night in tents away from their homes if they still have them standing; fear of aftershocks drives them to the open country for safety when they sleep!

(2) On Tuesday morning, I heard a report on a morning news program that the Midwestern States in this country have been hit with over 800 major tornados, far above the usual number for the year! An unusually prolonged influx of cold air from the north has been colliding with the warm Gulf of Mexico air from the south, leading to tornados that sometimes are a mile wide, and touch down and drive a swath of destruction sometimes over 100 miles long!

One survivor of a destroyed Iowan community told the TV reporter last Monday, "You spend your life trying to create a legacy of your family, and in a moment, it's all gone!"

In another touching scene, a young woman was fretting as she searched for her wedding gown in the rubble of her parent's leveled house. The wedding was the next day, and she feared she couldn't get married without the gown, and she obviously very upset!

(3) Again, I have been amazed and moved at the high level of intense trials various families in our own body have been facing in recent months! Every realm seems ripe for trials, be it legal, financial, relational or even the rising cost of bread and milk.



So, we might be ask, "What ENCOURAGEMENT is there to TRUST God for blessing when trials really BUILD up?!"



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

Need: "What encouragement is there to trust God as trials build up?"
  1. To BEGIN to bless man regardless of Nimrod's FAITHLESS world apostasy, God had called Abram (A) to leave his home and kin for a land God would show him, and (B) to be a blessing, Gen. 12:1, 2d.
  2. Genesis 12:4-9 reports Abram INITIALLY heeded this twofold call:
    1. In Genesis 12:4, Abram left his country and kin, and Genesis 12:5-7 reports that when he arrived in Shechem of Canaan, God appeared to him and told Abram He would give that land to his descendants!
    2. In Genesis 12:5-9, Abram became a blessing: (1) the "souls" gained in Haran (Gen. 12:5b) may be converts he blessed by discipling them to heed God, Bib. Kno. Com., O. T., p. 47. (2) In Shechem, Abram built an altar, leading others to worship God (Gen. 12:7), and, (3) in Bethel, he built an altar and proclaimed of God to Canaanites, Gen. 12:8; Ibid.
  3. Abram then handled a BIG TRIAL of his FAITH, a BAD FAMINE by a LAPSE of his FAITH in God, but that LAPSE only led to MORE TROUBLES and TRIALS , Genesis 12:10-16:
    1. Fresh from paganism where he relied on idols to avoid fertility crises like crop failure (Jos. 24:2), Abram would have been sorely tempted by the land's famine to leave Canaan in unbelief in God! (Gen. 12:10)
    2. Abram yielded to this temptation, leaving Canaan for Egypt (Genesis 12:10), but this step only led to more fertility crises, Gen. 12:11-16:
      1. Abram's unbelief led to larger short-term fertility needs, 12:11-16:
        1. In Egypt, Abram realized his life was threatened by Pharaoh who might kill him to take his beautiful wife, Gen. 12:11-12.
        2. Thus, Abram urged Sarai to say she was his sister, Gen. 12:13!
        3. When she was later highly recommended to Pharaoh, he paid Abram a big dowry in order to wed Sarai, Genesis 12:14-16.
        4. Abram was left losing his wife to Pharaoh to keep his own life!
      2. Abram's unbelief also led to immense long-term fertility needs:
        1. Hagar, who later bore Abram Ishmael, was an Egyptian he likely obtained in Sarai's dowry, Ibid., p. 50. (Gen. 12:16; 16:1)
        2. Yet, as Abram later had to send Ishmael away from Isaac, the son of promise, Abram's descendants later errantly used it as a pattern for sibling favoritism (Isaac's favoring Esau vs. Rachel's favoring Jacob; Jacob's favoring Joseph over his brothers) that nearly split the family, ruining its start as a nation, (Gen. 21-50)!
  4. However, GOD was LOYAL to His Word, so, in GRACE, He FIRST SOLVED Abram's SHORT-TERM TROUBLES, Gen. 12:17-20:
    1. God intervened in Abram's trouble by sending Pharaoh and his people great plagues to preserve Sarai as Abram's wife, Genesis 12:17.
    2. When Pharaoh learned Sarai had been wed to Abram, he chided Abram for his deceit, and told him to take her and leave, 12:18-20.
  5. Then, the WAY God thus solved Abram's SHORT-TERM troubles became the PRECEDENT for handling his LONG-TERM troubles:
    1. God's solution for Abram's short-term troubles set precedents for the Lord's solving the long-term troubles left for Abram's kin, Ibid., p. 49:
      1. The Genesis 12:10 famine that tempted Abram to enter Egypt set the precedent for the Genesis 47:13 famine that later led his seed in Jacob's (i.e. "Israel's") family to enter Egypt for its reconciliation.
      2. Abram's Genesis 12:10 journey to Egypt set the precedent for the later Genesis 46-50 journey of "Israel's" family to sojourn in Egypt.
      3. Abram's Genesis 12:12 fear of being killed as a man for his wife set the precedent for Pharaoh's later threatening to kill Israel's male infants in Moses' era, but to save the female infants alive, Ex. 1:22.
      4. God's Genesis 12:17 plagues on the Egyptians set the precedent for His later plagues on Egypt to deliver Israel, Exodus 7:14-12:36.
      5. Abram's spoiling of Pharaoh in Genesis 12:16, 20 set the precedent for Israel's later spoiling the Egyptians in the exodus, Ex. 12:35-36.
      6. God's rescuing Abram from Egypt in Gen. 12:19 set the precedent for God's later deliverance of Israel from Egypt in Ex. 12:31-14:31.
      7. Abram's travel to the south of Israel in Gen. 13:1 set the precedent for Israel's later journey there during the exodus in Num. 13:17, 22.
    2. So, as God was absolutely sovereign over Abram's failure of unbelief, He kept blessing Abram and Israel, but only through more trials!
Application: (1) May we like Abram trust the God of Scripture and His Son, Jesus Christ, for salvation, cf. John 3:16; Acts 17:30-31. (2) If we face STRONG trials for our faith, recall the PRICE in ADDED TRIALS that Abram and his descendants PAID for his UNBELIEF, and KEEP TRUSTING God! (3) Yet, even if we fail in unbelief, recall from Abram's and Israel's history that God is faithful, and will deliver us like He did both Abram and Israel!

Lesson: God ALWAYS keeps His Word EVEN in trials that seem too big for our faith; however, we maximize His blessing by ALWAYS trusting His Word ANYWAY, for LAPSES of faith only lead to MORE TRIALS!

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

The Lord decisively applied this message in my own life, and I share it with you only because I have been asked by a party in our body to do so, for he reports such illustrations edify him in his walk!

My wife and I often take an afternoon walk on a road near our home. However, as we were taking it last Tuesday, May 27th, about halfway through the route, some raindrops began fall on the warm pavement, so we turned back! The rain increased, and the sound of thunder kept us from waiting out the shower under a tree, so we arrived home rather soggy and chagrined from the warm afternoon shower!

Later, in hearing the weather report, we found this storm had been severe in Litchfield and Waterbury, with some State residents seeing power outages! The weatherman noted the system had been an extension of the Midwest storms that had spawned those bad tornados!

I then recalled a similar "rainout" that occurred on that same road the Wednesday afternoon before, May 21st! In that first "rainout", we had turned around just as I had told Nadine I had seen the Lord ratify again that morning in my studies that God had led me via many events in our years of pastoral ministry to focus heavily on Bible exposition. I also recalled God had often used storms, especially strong ones (through a long line of precedents) to signal He had wanted us to continue ministering where He had then assigned us!

In fact, failing to heed this directive when God had initially begun to use severe weather this way back in 1981 where I served in a Midwest church had ONLY led to UNIMAGINABLY WORSE trials!

What is so remarkable about all this is the fact that the first "rainout" the afternoon of May 21st had come before our Church Board had decided later that evening to call the meeting last Sunday on the Church's finances, and the second "rainout", May 27th had come after the Church had met! God was clearly fingering this financial trial we all face by the "rainouts", and this also hit another chord: the bad weather I faced in 1981 in Nebraska had been used of God to warn me against ceasing a ministry over money issues! [We have also learned this is what Revelation 3:20 predicted God wants pastors to do today!]

So, as Abram was to STAY in Canaan, God wants ME to STAY at expounding His Word here regardless of any trial faced, be it financial or anything else! He wants us ALL to keep trusting Him, for a lapse of faith is both futile and only yields more trials!