Messy Lives; Secure Promises

Good morning everyone and welcome to any who are visiting, who are new here or visiting.

! I noticed Laura, that sister, Laura and Zach up the back corner. So welcome. I look forward

! to chatting to you afterwards.

And yeah, hopefully anyone else who's new here will get to meet today.

Well, we are going to be, we're continuing our series through Genesis and we're actually

looking at Genesis chapter 20 today and it would be great if you could have your Bibles

Genesis 20 · chapter mention

open at Genesis chapter 20 because we will, over the course of this sermon, be reading

Genesis 20 · chapter mention

through the whole chapter bit by bit and following it closely. I want to start there by asking

you, I wonder if you were to do an audit of your life, in how many areas would you find

your life and things about your life not quite as they should be? Maybe think about your relationships.

relationships. How many of your relationships are not quite as they should be? You might

have relationships that are strained or distant or maybe where someone is just absent who should

be in your life. What about your house, your living arrangements? Is your house, is everything

about your house as it should be? I know when I asked that question I probably just set several

people in this room, started stressing immediately and this list of things, incomplete tasks about

your house have just started cycling through your mind, your endless to-do list of the things

that are breaking and falling apart that you can't quite get to. What about your finances?

Do your finances feel also cured? What about your health? Are there things about your health

that are not just as they should be? Maybe your work. Do you have not enough work or too much work?

Is your workplace toxic or does the work itself seem pointless? I wonder if you did an audit of your

life. I suspect that for many of us if we did that audit there would be many, many areas of our lives

where we just find things are a bit out of shape, a bit messy.

Now not many people become monks these days and especially not Protestants but I've been thinking

about it and I think that part of the appeal of becoming a monk and then like going and living in a

monastery, part of the appeal is that you can sort of closet yourself away from much of the world.

Like think about it, like let me try and sell this to you, actually I don't want you to become monks

but I'll try and sell it to you for a moment. If you were to become a monk and live in a monastery

or you would be reducing your life to like a very limited and clearly defined range of spaces

and possessions and relationships and routines. Doesn't that have at least some appeal, the simplicity

of that life, an escape from the chaos that much of our lives is, much of the time? I think the less

drastic secular equivalent of becoming a monk is downsizing, you know the sea change, the tree change,

going offline, going off grid, trying to kind of shrink life down to something that is more contained

and therefore less stressful, less ridden with anxieties and uncertainties. But real life is messy

and confusing. The more you engage with the world, the more messy it will be. It's full of ambiguities

and compromises and half-finished projects. And the account we're about to read in Genesis chapter 20,

Genesis 20 · chapter mention

I think it captures something of the messiness of life. We read through this chapter, it's an episode

in the life of Abraham and Sarah and it's a story in which very little is as it should be.

There's little we find, little in this chapter that is as we might expect it to be.

It's full of deception, confusion, ambiguity, unanswered questions and not a little irony.

Even God's actions here seem simultaneously explicable and yet strangely mysterious.

And for all that, this chapter will give us something solid and unshifting we can cling to.

So let's get into it. You can see on your outlines, if you have one, that I've given you a four-part

structure of sorts for the chapter. Verses 1 and 2 set the scene. Verses 3 to 7 give us a confrontation

at night. Verses 4 to 16 a confrontation in the morning. And verses 17 and 18 the aftermath.

But let's allow the narrative to unfold as we read through it together. So firstly,

verses 1 and 2 set the scene as Abraham is again on the move. So we read in verse 1,

from there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur

and he's sojourned in Gerah. Now there are three places that are mentioned there. First there's the

from there, right, from there. Where's he, he's traveling from somewhere. Where's he traveling

from? Now presumably the there in verse 1 is Hebron. And since Abraham and his nephew Lot chapters ago

and years ago had parted ways in Genesis chapter 13, Lot had been living in Sodom and Abraham had

Genesis 13 · chapter mention

settled, we're told in chapter 13 of Genesis, at Hebron by the oaks of Mamre. And they're mentioned

a couple of times, chapter 13, chapter 14, chapter 18, verse 1. And he'd been living there for probably

around 20 years or so. Maybe a little bit more. And while living at Hebron, Abraham had formed an

alliance with his neighbors, three Amorite brothers by the names of Mamre, Eschol and Anah. You can read

that in chapter 14, verse 13. So he'd been in a settled place for a couple of decades, maybe a little bit

more. With neighbors that he got on well with, had formed an alliance with. And you know, life had

been proceeding as well as it might. But now Lot had been forced to flee Sodom and Abraham had left

Hebron. Now why did he leave? Well it doesn't tell us why. Maybe there was some environmental

pressures. Maybe there was some social or political instability in the aftermath of Sodom's destruction.

We're not really told why he left. But whatever the case, he's leaving behind this place which had

become familiar and neighbors with whom he enjoyed friendly relations. And from Hebron, Abraham journeyed

toward the territory of the Negev. Now that's the southernmost territory of the land of Canaan,

the southernmost region, the Negev, the south. And it's further specified he lived between Kadesh and

Shur, which are like south and southwest boundaries of the Negev. So he's traveled something like 80 to 100

kilometers southwest from Hebron and settles in this region on the very southernmost part of the

promised land, or the land of Canaan. If he goes any further, he's on his way to Egypt.

And then verse 1 also tells us he's sojourned in Gerar. Now Gerar is a bit further north.

Northwest, it's on the edge of what we would call sort of Philistine territory in the Bible. It's

towards the Mediterranean Sea. And this might represent another move. So first he goes south and

then he stays there for a while. Then he moves north and stays there. But note there's different

verbs used in verse 1. He lived in the Negev. He sojourned in Gerar. So I think probably more likely

while he's living down south, he still moves around grazing his flocks here and there. And in the course

of that moving around, he spent some time near Gerar. Now whichever of those two it is, whether, you know,

whichever, have a way to understand his movements in verse 1, clearly some time has passed.

It takes time to do all that travelling and moving around.

So when he came to Gerar, in the course of these wanderings, Abraham resorted, verse 2 tells

us, to a ruse. Verse 2, and Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she is my sister. He passed off

Sarah as his sister. Now why did he do this? Well we know Abraham had done this on at least

one other occasion in Genesis chapter 12 when he'd recently arrived in Canaan. There was a famine,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

so he went down to Egypt and sojourned there. And while he was in Egypt, he said Sarah was his

sister. And now there are some similarities. It's that time in Egypt in chapter 12, like this time

in chapter 20, Abraham might have felt particularly vulnerable compared to those years he'd spent in

Hebron where there was at least some stability. Now he is once again a stranger entirely at the mercy

of others. In that earlier time, 25 years earlier in Egypt, Abraham resorted to this ruse particularly

because of Sarah's beauty. He reasoned if he were her husband, then the Egyptians might kill him so that

they could take Sarah and marry her. On the other hand, if Abraham were Sarah's brother, then her beauty

is actually an asset to him because rather than kill Abraham to get Sarah, they'll try to butter Abraham

up so they can get Sarah, which is exactly what happened. Like Pharaoh gave Abraham lots of sheep

and oxen and donkeys and servants and so on. So Abraham profited quite nicely from his deception

when he was in Egypt. One suspects it was a less pleasant experience for Sarah, whom Pharaoh took.

Well now Abraham resorts to the same ruse. And lo and behold, there's the same outcome.

Verse 2 again, Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, she is my sister, and Abimelech, king of Gerah,

sent and took Sarah. Once again, the king of the land where Abraham is sojourning takes Abraham's wife

into his harem or takes her to be his own wife. Now what was Abimelech's motive? The text doesn't tell us.

Perhaps Sarah was still desirable. I mean, she was a great beauty 25 years ago when she was 65.

Does she still turn heads at 90? I guess it's possible, but the text doesn't say that.

But there might have been other motives. I mean, maybe Abimelech was seeking a marriage alliance.

Abraham didn't have a daughter. Maybe he's seeking a marriage alliance. Abraham's a wealthy man and

Abimelech might want to sort of marry into that wealth. Maybe this is sort of an airbrushed hostage

situation. So Abraham wouldn't cause him any trouble. I don't know. The motive, we're not told

the motive. Whatever the case, in the scheme of Genesis, let me suggest this is a catastrophic

development. Now, of course, what Abraham did was morally reprehensible. You know, it's actually not

all that different to Lot in chapter 19, offering his two daughters to a depraved mob of men. Well,

here, you know, again, we have Abraham, a man, treating a woman as an object to be given away,

exchanged, used for his own sake. But there's another reason, too, why another man taking Sarah

at this time is a calamity? Because you remember those things that God had said to Abraham and Sarah

very, very recently. We've seen these in the last few chapters. Chapter 17, verse 21, God said to Abraham,

18, verse 10, I will surely return to you about this time next year and Sarah, your wife, will have a son.

18, verse 14, at the appointed time, I'll return to you about this time next year and Sarah shall have

a son. Can you see the problem? Sarah's supposed to have a son in what? Well, when God was making

those promises, in 12 months. 12 months minus whatever time it's taken Abraham to travel to

Hebron and from Hebron to the Negev and then to Gerar and then Abimelech. I mean, what's left?

What does that leave us? 11 months? 10 months? Nine months? This wasn't the time for Sarah to be

passing her evenings in the company of another man. I mean, think of the potential ramifications

for Abraham's line. Think of the potential ramifications for the covenant. The entire

divine arrangement placed in jeopardy because of Abraham's ruse. And Abraham just lets it happen.

No worse, he doesn't just allow it to happen. He sets things up so that it could happen.

He perhaps even expects it to happen. I mean, after all, if he didn't anticipate other men's

interest in Sarah, why would he even bother with the ruse?

Where's the Abraham of Genesis 18 who showed extravagant hospitality to angels?

Where's the Abraham of Genesis 18 who boldly pleaded with the Lord on behalf of Sodom?

Who is this man we see here whose lack of faith not only compromises his own marriage covenant,

but even more seriously, it places in jeopardy the covenant of God.

But God had no intention of letting everything unravel so easily.

Which brings us to the second part of the chapter, a confrontation at night. Look at verse 3.

Verse 3.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him,

Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife.

God speaks. But not to Abraham, mind you. God speaks to Abimelech, this pagan idolatrous king.

And he gives Abimelech a stark and unapologetic warning.

Notice that God holds Abimelech to the biblical standard of the inviolability of marriage.

And you must not take another man's wife, as would later be articulated in the Ten Commandments,

you shall not commit adultery.

God holds Abimelech to that.

And the penalty hovering over Abimelech is the same that hung over disobedience in the Garden of Eden.

You are a dead man because of what you've done.

Now, throughout history, there have been countless men who have taken another man's wife.

And the vast majority of those have not received a dream from God warning them of the consequences.

But Abimelech did.

And as is always the case, God's word of warning, his threat of judgment,

when he says to Abimelech, you're a dead man, that creates a pause.

God's word of warning is a temporary reprieve.

It creates space and time in which the one who receives the warning may respond

before the threatened punishment falls.

It was the same with Nineveh.

When we looked at Jonah earlier in the year,

when Jonah preached 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown,

well, that gave space for Nineveh to repent,

even though Jonah didn't want them to.

That's what God's word does today.

When any today hear of the reality of hell and the wrath of God,

it creates space in which they may repent.

That's what it did for Abimelech at this very moment.

Every warning from God comes draped in the patience of God.

And we hear Abimelech's response in verses 4 to 5.

But first, the narrator drops in an important detail,

the start of verse 4,

now Abimelech had not approached her.

See, Abimelech had taken Sarah to be his wife,

but he'd not yet consummated the marriage.

That's an important detail if we're keeping track of the promise of God.

It's also important if we're trying to gauge the precise level

of Abimelech's culpability at this moment.

So verse 4, Abimelech mounts a defence before God.

So he said,

Abimelech said,

I just accepted what they told me.

But it's Abimelech's question in verse 4 that really captures our attention.

Did you notice that?

Verse 4,

Lord, will you kill an innocent people?

Does it remind you of anything?

I heard a yes.

What's it remind you of?

Abraham's pleading for Sodom.

That's right.

It's almost, it's uncanny.

It's almost the same, right?

Back in chapter 18, verse 23.

18, verse 23.

Then Abraham drew near and said, this is to the Lord,

will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

Verse 25, far be it from you to do such a thing,

to put the righteous to death with the wicked,

so that the righteous fare is the wicked.

Abimelech's asking God the same question that Abraham asked God.

In fact, the word's the same too.

It's translated as innocent in chapter 20, verse 4,

but it's the same Hebrew word, the word righteous, the word tzaddik.

There's another parallel with the intercession,

with Abraham's intercession for Sodom,

which it can be easy to overlook.

But listen to Abimelech's words again in verse 4.

Lord, will you kill an innocent people?

The word is nation.

Abimelech is pleading not only on his own behalf,

but on behalf of his people.

He recognises that his actions as king of Gerah

would have consequence for the entire Philistine nation.

But Abimelech says, Lord, we're innocent, we're righteous.

I acted in ignorance, I acted in integrity of heart.

Lord, will you kill a righteous people?

And God replies in verse 6.

Verse 6.

Then God said to him in the dream,

Yes, I know that you've done this in the integrity of your heart,

and it was I who kept you from sinning against me.

Therefore, I did not let you touch her.

So I don't think we need to imagine any kind of saintly

or heroic self-control on Abimelech's part.

The true agent restraining Abimelech's sin

was the sovereign hand of God.

It was I who kept you from sinning against me.

I mean, to the extent that any of us have any progress in godliness

or victory over sin, we can say the same thing, can't we?

It's always God's restraining hand.

Well, by his restraining hand, God had kept Abimelech from sinning further

and had protected his covenant at this precarious time.

At the same time, God acknowledges the essential truth of Abimelech's defense.

Yes, you did act in the integrity of your heart.

You didn't know what you were doing.

But now Abimelech was no longer ignorant.

A change, of course, was required.

Verse 7.

Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet,

so that he will pray for you and you shall live.

But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die,

you and all who are yours.

Now, I want you to think about this verse.

Really think about verse 7 here.

What's going on here?

What's expected in this verse and what's surprising in God's answer?

I think what's expected is the beginning and the end of the verse.

Now then, return the man's wife and you shall live.

But if you do not return her,

then you shall know that you shall surely die,

you and all who are yours.

I mean, that fits.

That makes sense.

That follows naturally out of verses 2 to 6.

You took Sarah in the integrity of your heart.

You didn't know she was Abraham's wife.

But now you do know that if you keep her, you're sinning.

So there's no excuse.

So take her back.

Send her back.

And if you don't, the penalty of sin remains on you.

You shall surely die.

There are echoes of Genesis 2.17 there.

You and all who are yours.

Again, we see the sin of the king of Gerar would be borne by his people.

But that kind of all makes sense.

But what about the bit in the middle?

Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet,

so that he will pray for you and you shall live.

What's that doing there?

I mean, what's going on here?

I mean, isn't it enough that Abimelech's sin was unintentional

and that he repented and that he gave Sarah back?

Well, apparently that's not enough.

Abimelech and his people need Abraham's prayer.

We're going to return to that thought later.

But for now, I want you to notice some of the irony in these words.

God says, notice he, two things about Abraham.

He's a prophet and he'll pray.

Now, what's a prophet?

Well, incidentally, this is the first and only time the word prophet

appears in the book of Genesis.

What's a prophet?

A prophet is someone who receives God's word

and declares it to others, right?

That's a prophet.

We know Abraham had heard God speak multiple times in the past,

so I guess he kind of qualifies.

But in chapter 20, it's not Abraham that hears God's word,

it's Abimelech.

And in chapter 20, it's not Abraham who declares God's word.

We're going to see in verse 7, it's Abimelech.

He goes and tells all his servants what God had said.

So if anyone's performing the function of a prophet in chapter 20,

it's Abimelech, not Abraham, and yet God says that Abraham's a prophet.

There's this jarring disconnect, right?

God also says of Abraham and he'll pray.

Well, again, so far in chapter 20, who's praying?

It's Abimelech that's talking to God, that's praying,

and praying the same kind of prayer that Abraham prayed about Sodom.

Lord, will you kill a righteous people?

But again, God says to Abimelech, your prayers, Abimelech, will not do.

You need the prayers of Abraham.

Now just hold that thought.

We're going to come back to it.

Let's see how Abimelech reacts to this startling dream

when he wakes up the next morning.

Verse 8.

Verse 8.

So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants

and told them all these things, or literally all these words.

It's the words of God.

And the men were very much afraid.

You know, Abimelech did what we might expect Abraham to do, right?

He declared the words of God to his people.

In doing, in this disclosure, this immediate and full disclosure,

you've got to say Abimelechs are quite different to most kings and princes

and presidents and politicians alive today.

I mean, just think about it.

Whenever any kind of prince or president or someone or a politician

does something shady or crooked or downright despicable,

how often do they come out immediately with a full and frank disclosure

of their crimes to all and sundry?

Right?

Oh, look, this is what I did.

You know, you won't hear a word about it until they're publicly exposed

and then they'll probably deny it.

Anyway.

But Abimelech urgently summons his servants to tell them what he did,

what God had said, and the grave danger they were all in.

And what's the outcome?

They heard God's words and immediately the men were very much afraid.

They feared God.

They feared God.

This is the one to whom I'll look, God would say later in the Bible.

He who is humble and contrite and trembles at my word.

Well, they tremble at the word of God.

There was nothing they could do but for Abimelech to try to set things right

with Abraham.

But while they feared God, Abimelech also understandably feels aggrieved

by Abraham and so he confronts, as he calls Abraham to him,

he confronts Abraham about what he's done.

Verse 9.

Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him,

what have you done to us?

And how have I sinned against you that you have brought on me and my kingdom

a great sin?

You have done to me things that ought not to be done.

And Abimelech said to Abraham, what did you see that you did this thing?

Now, Abimelech, you notice he doesn't deny his own wrongdoing.

He admits that he and his kingdom are guilty of a great sin in taking Abraham's wife.

But he also lays the blame for that, or at least some of the blame for that,

at Abraham's feet.

He says it was Abraham who brought this sin upon them.

When he asked in verse 10, what did you see that you did this?

He might just be saying to Abraham, can you help me understand your perspective here?

I mean, how did you see things?

What was your perception of the situation that led you to do this?

Or maybe he's picking up on God's description of Abraham as a prophet

and saying, look, Abraham, if you received some revelation from God

that led to you treating me this way, like, what?

Why did you do it?

Well, in verses 11 to 13, Abraham offers his defence.

Look at Abraham's defence with me, verse 11.

Abraham said, I did it because I thought there is no fear of God at all in this place

and they will kill me because of my wife.

Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father,

though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.

And when God caused me to wander from my father's house,

I said to her, this is the kindness you must do to me,

you must do me at every place to which we come,

say of me, he is my brother.

Now, what do you make of Abraham's defence?

I think these must be some of the most slippery, unedifying, weasel words in all of Scripture.

I mean, it seems to start okay.

I did it, he says.

Actually, that's not even there in the Hebrew.

He doesn't say I did it.

He can't quite bring himself to say I did it.

He just starts because, right?

Okay, he just launches into excuses.

Excuse one, because I thought, literally because I said,

notice what follow Abraham's words, he's not God's words,

not some vision he's seen, this is just what Abraham's come up with.

Because I said, there's no fear of God at all in this place

and they'll kill me because of my wife.

I mean, Abraham's words, they're dripping with unintended irony, aren't they?

Because we know, having just read verse 8,

that as soon as Abimelech's men heard God's words,

the men were very much afraid.

Not just afraid, but very much afraid.

Perhaps if Abraham the prophet had tried to speak God's words to Abimelech

and the Philistines, he would have discovered that for himself.

As it turns out, the land of Gerah was full of the fear of God.

In fact, the only one who doesn't seem to fear God in chapter 20

is Abraham himself.

You know, having received all God's promises,

yet Abraham acts not in fear of God, but out of fear of men,

afraid that they will kill him to take his wife.

And so he gives up his wife to save his own skin.

That's excuse one.

Excuse two.

Excuse two.

Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my...

I mean, literally, indeed is truly.

She is truly my sister, the daughter of my father,

though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.

Now, this is just legal casuistry, isn't it?

It's just looking for the loophole to evade responsibility.

I mean, these are weasel words that kind of remind me of Bill Clinton's infamous denial,

which I won't repeat here, right?

I mean, technically it wasn't a lie,

but it was absolutely intended to deceive.

She really is my sister, my half-sister.

I mean, as if that were relevant in this situation.

Actually, we have here another instance of the masterful storytelling in Genesis,

because there's a deliberate ambiguity here.

This account has been told in such a way as to leave us reading it in the same position as Abimelech,

where all we can do is kind of take Abraham's word for it.

Because back in chapter 11, when Abraham and Abraham's family,

or Abram's family, were first introduced,

nothing is said about who Sarah's parents were.

We're told Abraham's father had three sons,

Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

There's no mention of him having a daughter.

There's no mention of him having two wives.

We're told that Abraham's first brother, Nahor, married Milcah,

the daughter of his second brother, Haran.

So that is, Abraham's first brother married his niece.

So it's happy, Genesis 11 is happy to explain a family connection in a marriage,

but again, no mention of Sarah.

In fact, of Sarah, in Genesis chapter 11, verse 31,

Genesis 11:31

it explicitly says, calls Sarah Terah's daughter-in-law,

the wife of Abram, not his daughter.

So the narrator of Genesis has had ample opportunity to kind of tell us this earlier,

if it's true that Sarah is Abraham's half-sister.

And when Abraham says it in verse 12, we're left wondering,

like, I mean, is she?

I mean, maybe.

Maybe Abraham's kind of telling the truth now,

or maybe he's still lying.

I don't know.

Is she his half-sister?

Possibly.

Not that it matters,

because even if it's technically true at some level,

it's still a deception because she's his wife.

And I don't actually know which one's better.

Like, is it better that he's, like, lying now still

and she's not actually his half-sister,

or that he's telling the truth now

and that he married his half-sister?

I don't know which is better.

I mean, he doesn't come out looking so good either way, right?

Right?

That's excuse two.

Excuse three,

and when God caused me to wander from my father's house,

so maybe it's God's fault,

I said to her,

this is the kindness you must do to me

at every place to which we come.

Save me, he is my brother.

That word kindness is the Hebrew word hesed,

which is, some of you will be aware,

is a weighty word in the Old Testament.

It's often used of God's kindness,

of his covenant love,

of his steadfast love.

It first appears in the Bible in the previous chapter

where Lot is speaking about the Lord's kindness

in saving him,

in saving his life.

And here's Abraham saying,

when Sarah lied,

it was actually kindness to her husband.

In verse 12,

he tried to pass off his deception as true,

truly she's my sister.

In verse 13,

he tried to pass it off as kindness,

as steadfast love,

truth and love,

together,

you know,

two core attributes of God himself.

And these are the sum total of

the prophet Abraham's words in this chapter.

I mean,

what a dismal performance it is.

Abraham could hardly have done any worse

in Gerah

than if he had set out intentionally

to sully the name of God,

which only accentuates how remarkable

is Abimelech's response,

which is clearly prompted

by what God had said

and not by what Abraham had said.

Look at verse 14.

Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen

and male servants and female servants

and gave them to Abraham

and returned Sarah,

his wife,

to him.

And Abimelech said,

behold,

my land is before you,

dwell,

or live in it,

where it pleases you.

To Sarah he said,

behold,

I've given your brother

a thousand pieces of silver.

It's a sign of your innocence

in the eyes of all

who are with you

and before everyone

you are vindicated.

He showers Abraham with gifts.

You know,

similar to the gifts

that Pharaoh gave Abraham

in chapter 12

was a bride price,

but these are just gifts, right?

He returns Sarah,

he invites Sarah to dwell

wherever he likes

in Abimelech's land,

that is not to sojourn,

but to live.

To settle down there

if he wants to.

He gives a specific gift

of a thousand pieces of silver,

a very large sum,

as a sign that nothing untoward

had happened between

Abimelech and Sarah.

You may notice the,

I've given your brother

a thousand,

maybe a little pointed jab

at the pair for their deception.

But in all of this,

you've got to say,

Abimelech displays

remarkable magnanimity

to someone who's just

deceived him

and brought great sin

on his people

and brought the entire people

into danger.

Of the two,

Abimelech's conduct

is by far

the more commendable

and Abraham's

in this chapter

is by far

the more blameworthy.

Which just makes it

all the more noteworthy

when we remember

God's words

in verse 7.

which is not that Abraham

needed the prayers

of Abimelech,

but Abimelech

needed the prayers

of Abraham.

And so we come

to the aftermath

in verse 17.

Then Abraham

prayed to God

and God healed Abimelech

and also healed

his wife

and female slaves

so that they

bore children.

for the Lord

had closed

all the wombs

of the house

of Abimelech

because of Sarah,

Abraham's wife.

We see Abraham's

intercession

for Abimelech

which is

immediately effective.

God heals

Abimelech

and his entire

household.

God had brought

on his whole

household

an inability

to conceive

because of Sarah,

Abraham's wife.

it's kind of

part punishment

for Abimelech's

inadvertent sin.

It's also part

protection

of Sarah

and God's promise.

God decreed

that none

in Abimelech's

house could conceive

so long as Sarah

was among them

but now he lifts

that,

he heals them,

he restores life

to Abimelech,

his household,

his people.

There's a final

irony here though,

isn't there?

If we've been

following Abraham's

life and story.

If Abraham's

prayer could so

quickly heal

Abimelech's

wife and servants

and open

all the wombs

of the house

of Abimelech,

what of Sarah

herself

whose womb

had been closed

these many

decades past?

Let's leave

that question

in closing

I want to draw

together some

threads from

chapter 20

as a whole.

I mean what is

this chapter doing

here in the book

of Genesis?

Why do we have

it, this funny

little chapter?

For one thing

it shows us

the persistence

of sin.

We've seen

this kind of

thing before.

Here Abraham

makes the same

mistake in

chapter 20

that he'd made

way back in

chapter 12.

The same mistake

at age 100

that he made

at age 75.

25 years

had passed.

25 years

of God's

steady work

in Abraham's

life.

Is he a

changed man?

Well,

perhaps,

somewhat.

But it

didn't take

much for

the old

fears

to resurface.

It didn't

take much

for the old

sins

to reappear.

isn't it

the same

for each

of us?

God

changes

us,

but old

habits die

hard.

I was

speaking with

someone recently

who was well

aware of the

sins of his

youth and

how quickly

he would just

fall into any

temptation.

He said

whatever temptation

came he would

just run after

it.

And he

said to me,

he feels like a

new man

now,

but he

prays every

day that

the old

man will

not reassert

itself.

Let anyone

who thinks

he stands

take heed

lest he

fall.

But I

don't think

that's the

main function

of Genesis

20,

as helpful

it might

be to

see the

persistence

of sin,

potential

persistence

of sin

in our

lives.

The main

function of

this chapter

and of this

episode in

the life of

Abraham is

to demonstrate

God's

absolute

commitment

to the

promise of

Genesis 12

Genesis 12:3

verse 3.

So have a

look at

Genesis 12

Genesis 12:3

verse 3

with me.

Genesis 12

Genesis 12:3

verse 3.

Genesis 12

Genesis 12:3

verse 3.

Part of

those initial

promises God

made to

Abraham when

he sent

him out

toward the

promised land,

toward the

land of

Canaan.

Genesis 12

Genesis 12:3

verse 3.

God promised,

I will bless

those who

bless you

and him

who dishonours

you I will

curse and

in you all

the families

of the earth

shall be

blessed.

In part that

promise of

Genesis 12

Genesis 12:3

verse 3 is a

promise of

protection.

And we

see God's

protection of

Abraham and

God's protection

of Sarah in

Genesis 20.

We see God

protect them

from Abimelech's

power, protect

them from their

own folly.

We see God

judge Abimelech

for his

mistreatment

of them.

Him who

dishonours you I

will curse as

God had promised

in chapter 12

verse 3.

God is

safeguarding his

own promise

that at the

proper time

Sarah would

bear Abraham

a son.

God remains

just as committed

to his people

to the present

day.

God is

God

I will

not fear.

What can

man do

to me?

What can

anyone do

to us

who have

the promises

of God?

God?

But actually

the promise

of Genesis

Genesis 12:3

12 verse 3

which is so

aptly illustrated

in chapter 20

isn't just a

promise of

protection.

It's also a

declaration of

God's plan of

salvation.

I will bless

those who

bless you

and him who

dishonours you

I will curse

and in you

all the

families of

the earth

shall be

blessed.

Why did

Abimelech need

the prayers of

Abraham?

Abraham

because there

is no

blessing for

the families

of the

earth

except through

Abraham

and God

has determined

to bring the

nations that

blessing.

Abimelech

needed the

prayers of

Abraham

because he

needed the

blessings of

God and

there was no

other way.

So in

Genesis chapter

Genesis 20 · chapter mention

20 in

this kind

of convoluted

roundabout

way God

brings about

through Abraham's

sin and

failure exactly

the same

outcome he

would have

brought about

if Abraham

the prophet

had been

faithful.

That is

Abimelech

hears the

word of

God,

he fears

God,

he blesses

Abraham and

he's healed

of his

great sin.

I will

bless those

who bless

you,

God had

promised.

Of course

the promise

to Abraham

that in you

all the

families of

the earth

shall be

blessed

isn't really

about Abraham

at all.

It's about

the promised

son of

Abraham,

the seed

of Abraham,

a better

prophet and

a better

mediator.

Abraham

tried to

pass off

his

deception

as

kindness,

grace and

truth.

But the

son came

from the

father full

of grace

and truth.

Abraham

feared men

rather than

trusting God.

The son

entrusted

himself to

God even

as men

did their

worst.

Abraham

gave up

his wife

to save

himself.

The son

gave up

himself to

save you

and me.

If Abimelech

needed Abraham's

intercession

and if

despite

Abraham's

shortcomings

His

intercession

sufficed,

how much

more is

Jesus Christ

a full

and sufficient

mediator

for us?

The

Holy

One,

the

righteous

one,

who died,

who was

raised,

who always

lives to

intercede

for us.

Our

experience of

life is

often as

Genesis

20.

It's

full of

ambiguities

and

slippery

words,

shabby

behaviour

and lurking

fears.

things

even

the best

of men

in our

experience

have feet

of clay.

In our

lives

things rarely

add up

and the

equation

never

balances.

But the

messiness

of our

lives does

not nullify

the promise

of God.

Rather the

messiness

of our

lives is

the backdrop

for the

promise of

God.

God

and

especially

this

promise.

God

gave us

eternal

life and

this life

is in

his

son.

Whoever

has the

son has

life.

Whoever

does not

have the

son of

God

does not

have

life.

Kiss

the son

lest he

be angry

and you

perish

in your

way for

his wrath

is quickly

kindled.

But

blessed

are all

who take

refuge in

him.

Will you

pray with

me?

Heavenly

Father we

thank you

for our

better

prophet and

our better

mediator

Jesus

Christ who

gave himself

for us and

who always

lives to

intercede

for us.

Thank you

that through

his redeeming

work all

our great

sins are

forgiven and

taken away

and we

are healed.

Thank you

that in

him we

are blessed

and we

are protected

by your

sovereign hand

and your

spirit.

And in

the midst

of our

messy

lives where

so little

often makes

sense,

we thank you

for the

firm and

secure promise

that you've

given us in

your son,

in whose

name we

pray.

Amen.

Thank you.