A Marriage Saved on the Brink of Fulfillment

, also, before we get into the word this morning, just a public service announcement. The color of the shirt that I'm wearing. Is not pink. It's salmon.

So I had a guy come up to me this morning and say, nice pink shirt, pastor. So with that out of the way, let me Let me invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Genesis chapter 20. Genesis chapter 2 for our time of study in The word this morning. We, after taking a few week break, we're coming back to our series on the Book of Genesis, and as we continue in our study of this book, we find ourselves today in Genesis chapter 20.

My goal today is to cover verses 1 through 18, and if you want to give a title to the message, it would be a marriage saved on the brink of fulfillment. A marriage saved on the brink. Of fulfillment. There's a few things that I know for sure about everybody who is in this room who know Christ.

and first of all, I know that all of us who know Christ struggle with sin. Secondly, I know that we all stumble in many ways, as James says in James chapter 3 verse 2. What I also know to be true is that each of us has a particular set of sins that we struggle with in a way that may make us unique. From other people.

Perhaps you're besetting sin. is anxiety. Perhaps it is some form of lust. Perhaps it is lying, perhaps it is fear or jealousy or discontentment or anger or alcohol or something else.

The list is endless. When you look back over the course of your Christian life, you see spiritual growth, but you also see a deep fault line that runs through the length of your Christian life, and that fault line is the besetting sin. Or sins that dog your heels today as much as it or they did decades ago. Perhaps there were points when you thought that you had grown past.

those particular sins and maybe you went for a lengthy season without giving way to those sins, but then, to your dismay, You found yourself stumbling into those sins again, leaving you wondering if you've grown at all. And even worse, maybe wondering sometimes, am I even a Christian? If any of these descriptions ring true, For you, our story today in Genesis 20 will give you some perspective that is both sobering and encouraging. In our passage today, we will see a besetting sin resurfacing in Abraham's life, a sin that we saw 24 years ago back in Genesis 12.

And I, I, I don't say that to say it was 24 years ago that we were in Genesis 12. But though it may feel like it, but 24 years in Abraham's life. Back in Genesis 12, and after all the deep experiences of spiritual growth, In Abraham's life since that time, we see him committing that same sin again. What is Abraham's besetting sin?

Well, we know one of them. We can describe it this way, is fear motivated lying about the status of his marriage to Sarah. And this especially showed itself whenever he traveled. Whenever Abraham traveled, he, for some reason was paranoid that, that men would look upon Sarah, his wife, and want her so badly that they would kill him in order to get her.

So Abraham had a habit of just telling people when he introduced Sarah, whenever he was traveling by saying, yes, this is my sister. Telling this lie would hide the fact that he was her husband and thereby keep him from getting killed by people that wanted her. By acting as if he were her brother and presenting himself that way, it would also provide Abraham the benefit of being the one that people would come to. In order to negotiate for Sarah's hand in marriage.

And with Abraham in control of the negotiations like this, he could, as he figured, buy himself some time and then have opportunity to get out of town before he ever had to give Sarah's hand away in marriage. Sounds like a phenomenal plan. actually not. but maybe this plan actually worked on some occasions.

But you will recall one occasion, 24 years prior back in Genesis 12, when Abraham's plan backfired big time. In Genesis 12, Abraham, you'll recall, had gone down to Egypt to sojourn in the land of Egypt, and he told everybody, yes, this is my sister. And it ended up that the person who became interested in Sarah was the Pharaoh himself, who was the one person in the whole land who didn't have to negotiate for her hand in marriage. So he just came and took her because he's the Pharaoh, leaving Abraham without his wife any longer.

We then saw how God intervened and God sent a plague. Upon Pharaoh's house and ended up causing Sarah to be given back to Abraham. Pharaoh publicly rebukes Abraham, then gives him some gifts, and then promptly escorts Abraham out of the country. Basically saying I don't want to see you anymore.

Well, Abraham, we have seen grows a lot after that incident. We've watched Abraham become a great man of faith and if we had the time, we would take the time to review chapter by chapter all the ways that Abraham has grown and demonstrated a growing faith in the Lord. Clearly, Abraham's faith is not a perfect faith. There are some failures that we have seen along the way, but the trajectory of Abraham's life has been, we have seen toward a deeper and a more mature faith in the Lord, right?

Recently in Genesis 17, we saw God speaking to Abraham at the age of 99 and promising Abraham that at this season, next year, I'm going to visit you and give you a son through your wife, Sarah, and his name will be Isaac. God makes other promises to Abraham as well, and he commands Abraham and his household to be circumcised as a sign of that covenant. And amazingly that very day Abraham acts and has himself and the men of his household circumcised. In Genesis 18, we see God showing up at Abraham's house and making the same promise.

And within earshot of Sarah saying at this season, next year, I'm going to give to you and Sarah a son, the Son of Promise. That means that when we were in Genesis 18 and studying that incident, Sarah is probably anywhere from 3 to 5 months from this miraculous conception happening in her womb as a 90-year-old woman. As the curtains closed on Genesis chapter 18, we saw Abraham in a really good place with the Lord, walking with God as friend walks with friend. And interceding with God on behalf of the people of Sodom.

It almost seems by the time that we come to the end of Genesis 18 that Abraham has reached a place of arrival. In his relationship and his friendship with God. Then we came to Genesis 19. One of the darkest chapters in the Bible, which is almost entirely focused on Abraham's nephew Lot.

And it seems that almost every turn that Lot is the antithesis of everything that we've watched Abraham become. And during the 3 weeks last month when we were studying Genesis 19, perhaps some of you found yourself thinking as I did, man, if only Lot could be more like Abraham. And that's an understandable thought. But then we turn the page from Genesis 19 to Genesis 20.

And we observed that the narrative is now returning back to Abraham and we're like, oh, with a sigh of relief, like we're back to noble Abraham. And we're expecting based on Genesis 17 and 18 to begin reading the story of the arrival of the son that God had promised to Abraham and Sarah in chapters 17 and 18, but that is not what we find. In Genesis 20. What we find instead is a sad episode.

of Abraham's besetting sin resurfacing right before he and Sarah reached the finish line. Of receiving God's promise. Abraham's sinful actions actually end up putting God's promise in jeopardy requiring divine intervention, and that's what Genesis 20 is all about. And that's the way I want us to view this chapter.

Abraham fails on the brink of promise and he puts God's plan for his life in jeopardy, but most of Genesis 20 is the story of God's intervention. Into the situation in order to preserve his redemptive plan for Abraham's life and for all of salvation history, in fact. The way we're gonna frame our study of this chapter is we're gonna observe 6 things that happen in this account of God rescuing Abraham and Sarah's marriage on the brink of fulfilling his promise of a son. To them.

The first thing that happens, that we see in the first few verses is that Sarah gets taken away from Abraham by King Abimelech due to Abraham's besetting sin, due to his deception. Look at what happens starting in verse one. Now, Abraham journeyed from there, in other words, journeyed from his home that was near Hebron. Toward the land of the Negev, and the word Negev just means the south country.

So he journeyed toward the south of the land of Promise, and he settled between Kadesh and Shure. Then he sojourned in Garar. Almost certainly, Abraham made this move. did this for the sake of better grazing for his herds.

Garar is in Philistine country, and it is here that Abraham sojourns. In other words, he lives as an alien for a while. And it's while he is sojourning in Garar. That whenever Abraham would meet up with new people who asked him anything about himself or about Sarah, Abraham had a pat response.

Look at verse 2. Say, and Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, she is my sister. Abraham is again practicing the same deception that he got busted for down in Egypt about 24 years earlier. And as a result of this deception, telling people that she is my sister, look at what happens at the end of verse two.

The text says, So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah No negotiations. He sent and took. That's what kings do. You see, Abraham's plan.

And his deception, his scheme works best when it's not a king who's interested in his wife. Kings don't need to negotiate with brothers if they want a woman for a wife. They take what they want and that's exactly what Abimelech does here. Now, it's interesting, when Pharaoh took Sarah back in Genesis 12, we're told actually twice in Genesis 12 that Sarah was beautiful and that the men of Egypt saw her, that she was beautiful, and comment is made about her beauty.

Basically, about 24 years have gone by since then, and we know from Genesis 17 that Sarah is about 90 years old now. And some commentators will observe that nothing here in Genesis 20 is said about her beauty. however, even though nothing is specifically said about her beauty, we do learn in verse 11 that apparently she is still beautiful enough for Abraham. To have to worry about being killed by someone interested in her.

So before they came to Garar, he actually talked to her about this. Imagine talking, a man talking to his 90 year old wife saying, I'm really concerned about people wanting to take you from me and they're gonna want you so bad, they're gonna kill me. That's basically what Abraham is doing. Maybe he's overly paranoid.

And maybe Sarah is still quite a catch. Even in verse 6, we'll observe that after Abimelech takes Sarah. To be his wife, God has to supernaturally intervene to keep Abimelech from having sexual relations with her. After he took her as his wife.

And it may seem far-fetched to us. That Sarah would still be this desirable at the age of 90. But when you think about it, guys, it's really no more of a stretch to believe that than it is to believe that Sarah will be giving birth to a child a year from now. It could be that with the resurrection of her womb, and the ancient rabbis actually talked about this by way of speculation, that with the resurrection of her womb that is happening at this time of her life and the physical strengthening that is coming over her to ready her for the rigors of pregnancy and childbirth, Sarah could have been.

Quite the specimen to catch the eye of men, even at this age of 90. It's possible that Abimelech had other motives for taking her also. Abraham was a powerful man in his own right. We've already seen that thus far in the Book of Genesis, and Abimelech might have figured that if he could marry Abraham's sister, then it will guarantee a good alliance with Abraham that would prove helpful to Abimelech on the road ahead.

Kings married women for this reason, often in this day. But whatever Abimelech's reasons may have been, what we do know is that Abimelechk took Sarah into his harem of wives, and he did so because he completely assumed that Sarah was merely Abraham's sister, not his wife. Given the fact that this incident here comes after the promises of Genesis 17 and 18 where God promised Abraham and Sarah a son by this season next year. The narrator of Genesis totally is expecting us at this point of chapter 20.

To understand that God's promise is now in jeopardy. In fact, the whole of God's redemptive plan to bring salvation to the nations is now. Hanging in the balance. We know that it's around this time that God is opening Sarah's womb.

So if Abimelech has relations with her and Sarah conceives, then God's promise of a child to Abraham and Sarah is now rendered impossible. If Abimelech has relations with Sarah and she does not conceive but ends up being given back to Abraham shortly thereafter, Then the paternity of Isaac will forever be in question. And dispute. People will wonder if Abimelech is really the father of Isaac after all.

Worst case scenario is that Abimelech never returns, Sarah. And Abraham loses his wife forever. Redemptive history literally is hanging in the balance at this point of the text because of Abraham's foolishness and deception. Clearly, God has to intervene.

In this situation, so he does, and this brings us to the next thing that happens in this story of God saving Abraham and Sarah's marriage on the brink of fulfilling his promise of a son to them. And that is, here's how God intervenes. God threatens Abimelech and demands he returns Sarah. To Abraham Look at what happens at some point after Abimelech takes Sarah to be his wife.

Verse 3, but God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night and said to him, behold, you are a dead man. Because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married. It's one thing to hear someone say, you are a dead man. I've actually had people say that to me.

It's another thing to hear God say that to you, and that's Abimelech's experience here. Look at how Abimelech responds to, to God. What a nightmare this is, and he immediately defends himself, says now Abimelech had not come near her, and this is a euphemism for sexually. He had not had sexual relations with her, and he said, Lord, will you slay a nation even though blameless.

Did he, Abraham, not himself say to me, she is my sister, and she herself said, he is my brother. And it's here we learn of the double deception. That Abimelech has been victimized by. Both Abraham And Sarah have misled him.

And all Abimelech can do is operate on the basis of what he's told by Abraham and then by Sarah. And if they both say that they are merely siblings of one another, then how can God kill Abimelech for taking her to be His wife And speaking to God, Abimelech defends himself and says at the end of verse 5, and the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands, I have done this. So look at God's response verse 6. Then God said to him in the dream, Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart, you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against me.

Therefore, I did not let you touch her. We learn later in this chapter, in fact, verse 17, that Abimelech at this moment is suffering from some physical condition. that he needed to be healed from. So almost certainly what's happening here is God has, as soon as Abimelech took Sarah to be his wife, God imposed some physical plague or sickness upon Abimelech in order to keep him from touching Sarah or having sexual relations with her.

And so God says, I kept you from sinning against me and therefore, I did not let you touch her. That's why you're experiencing the plague. That you're being afflicted by right now. God then provides a way for Abimelech to make the situation right.

Look at what he says to him in verse 7. Now therefore, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. God's instruction to Abimelech is twofold. Number 1, give Sarah back to Abraham, and number 2, let Abraham pray for you so that you might live.

Abimelech needs to do both of those things. God is not gonna just let this sin go even though it was accidental. Abimelech needs to do more than just return Sarah, he needs a mediator. He needs Abraham to intercede on his behalf and to pray for God to allow him to live, and God is telling Abimelech, if Abraham asked me to let you live, then I will answer Abraham's prayer and let you live.

By the way, this is the first mention of the word prophet in the scriptures. And it is God amazingly calling Abraham. A prophet In this situation, this is an amazing act of grace because Abraham of all moments doesn't deserve the title prophet. From God right now.

If I were God in this situation, I don't think I would be telling a pagan ruler that Abraham is one of my prophets. I would be inclined to hide any connection that I had with Abraham for fear that Abimelech would think less of me being associated with a deceptive man like Abraham. But the same God. Who's not ashamed to call us his children even on our worst days, is not ashamed to call Abraham his prophet, even in the middle of this mess that Abraham has made for himself.

Isn't that comforting? Think about it. If you, if you had never read this story before. And I told you that in verse 7, we built up the narrative all the way to verse 7.

And God is talking to Abimelech. And I told you that in verse 7, God will speak to Abimelech about Abraham and his sentence will begin with, he is a blank. What would you have thought that God would put in that blank? What would you have put In that blank to describe Abraham.

Some of us would have said to Abimelech, he is a deceiver. Some of us would have said, And I know some of you ladies are thinking this, he is a bad husband. To let his wife get taken like this. But when God, the holy and righteous God, has an opportunity to speak to Abimelech in this moment, in the middle of this mess, and to speak about Abraham, what does God say?

He says to Abimelech, he, Abraham, is a prophet. I love what AW Pink says on this very point. He says all that Abimelech saw in our patriarch, Abraham. Was a man guilty of barefaced deception.

But God looked at Abraham in Christ and speaks of him as a prophet. This is how God ever vindicates his own. whom he has justified. God sees Abraham's sin, there's no doubt about that.

And God is gonna be orchestrating a very public rebuke for Abraham in just a moment. But amazingly, Abraham's sin doesn't change how God views Abraham. And the same is true for us. Even on our worst day of sin and failure, if you're a justified one, God on your worst day looks at you and says, you are my child.

You are forgiven. You are a saint. You are righteous in Christ. God sees your sin and he may discipline you.

And introduce pain into your life, but his view of you always remains the same, even on your worst days. And we see that evidenced here. And how God views Abraham. God continues talking to Abimelech in verse 7, look at what he says.

He says, and again, another threat, if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours. Now we see how wide the threat from God really is. If Abimelech does not choose to return Sarah to Abraham, God will kill Abimelech. He will kill everyone that is his.

He will slay Abimelech's entire household and everyone in his kingdom if necessary. In order to protect Sarah and ensure that she gets returned to Abraham. Well, imagine having a dream like that. Abimelech wakes up and how does he respond?

This brings us to the next thing that happens in the story of God saving Abraham and Sarah's marriage on the verge of fulfilling his promise of a son to them, and that is Abimelech calls Abraham to account for his deception. And rightly so. Look at the first thing Abimelech does in verse 8. So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing, and the men were greatly frightened.

Everyone in his house, in his palace, In his household were terrified by this news. And then look at what Abimelech does next, verse 9. Then Abimelechk called Abraham and said to him, what have you done to us? How have I sinned against you that you have brought on to me and my kingdom, a great sin?

You have done to me things that ought not to be done. Guys, here's a pagan king talking to Abraham, a follower of Jehovah, and he's telling Abraham, you have done things plural that ought not to be done. Abraham might have thought, well, I just did a thing. I told a lie.

I just did one thing. But in that one act, he has set in motion a chain of consequences that are manifold. In this one simple act of deception, Abraham has done multiple things that have brought harm and shame to Abimelech's whole household, as the following verses will reveal. Look at Abimelech's question in verse 10.

And Abimelech said to Abraham, what have you encountered that you have done this thing? And the word that is translated encountered is the Hebrew word for sea. What have you seen? Abraham, that would make you feel that you needed to lie to me like this and to bring this situation.

On to me Ultimately, Abimelech is asking Abraham 3 questions. What have you done How have I sinned against you that you would do this against me? And what have you seen that would cause you to do this thing? And couched in these questions is his rebuke of Abraham, a statement.

A decree basically saying you have done things that ought not to be done. We learned something here that I think we all know is true. And that is the humbling fact. That people of other faiths, whatever Abimelech's faith was.

can often act in a more upright way than the people of God act. when you look at Abimelech and Abraham in this account, especially up to this point, who's the more noble of the two? Who seems to be the more God-fearing of the two? It's Abimelech.

Sometimes it is true that on our worst days and sometimes not even our worst days, the behavior of non-Christians around us excels our own in righteousness. And sometimes God will actually use, as he's using Abimelech here, to be agents of his rebuke to us. For our behavior. Guys, if you're going 90 miles an hour on the freeway, And an unbelieving police officer pulls you over and chastises you and gives you a ticket.

He is God's agent in your life in that moment. And you should receive the officer's rebuke. And received that ticket as from the Lord. I don't say that because I've heard news that we've got speeding problems in this church, but I just, as an example, There are many other examples we can cite and one of the questions for those of you who might be discussing the sermon in your care groups, for you to ask how, how have you seen this to be true in your own life, in your own experience that our behavior as Christians is often worse than the behavior of non-Christians around us.

Anyway, Abimelech has asked 3 questions, and the least that Abraham can do is answer them. When a king asks you questions like this, you need to answer them. So look at Abraham's reply, and this brings us to the next thing that happens in this account of God rescuing Abraham and Sarah's marriage on the cusp of fulfilling his promise of a son to them. And that is number 4, Abraham confesses the truth about his deception.

Now, honestly, I'm still trying to completely figure out Abraham's replies here. Some commentators Accuse Abraham of making excuses for his sin. In these verses, but I, I felt myself shifting in the way that I've understood Abraham as I've studied this passage over the last few weeks. It's good for us to keep in mind that Abraham has been asked questions by King Abimelech and starting in verse 11, Abraham is simply answering the king's questions.

In answer to Abimelech's question about what Abraham has seen that would cause him to do what he did, Abraham offers this answer, verse 11, Abraham said, because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. That's why I did what I did. I don't think it's wrong for Abraham to offer this. He's been asked the reason why.

And notice the fact that Abraham uses the past tense and says, because I thought. is in itself an admission. Of wrong. Abraham could have said, I'll tell you why I did this because there is in fact no fear of God in this place.

And he could have deflected. And put the focus on everybody else, but instead, Abraham admits that this was something he thought past tense. But it's not something evidently he thinks anymore. The reason Abraham is not thinking this way now is because Abraham is the worst behaving man in this situation.

And Abimelech has exhibited more genuine fear of God than Abraham has. And to his credit, Abraham is willing to confess his thinking out loud, letting the shameful irony of his judgment of others stand for all to see. Abraham has judged everyone else around him as Not fearing God, and Abraham himself ends up behaving as if he is the least God-fearing man in this situation. Abraham feared that people were so wicked they would kill him to get Sarah.

Yet it ends up that Abraham is the one engaging in actions that almost got others killed. Abraham is sharp enough to know the shameful irony of all of this. It takes courage, I think, for him to say what he's saying out loud. But to his credit, he voices his wrongheaded thinking.

In reply to the king. Abraham continues his explanation. Look at verse 12. Abraham says, besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became My wife.

Again, some people fault Abraham for sharing this, but it is relevant. there's actual truth in what Abraham is saying here, there's actual truth inside his deception. Was Abraham supposed to now hide this fact from Abimelech, that they actually are half brother, half sister? Sarah is actually Abraham's half-sister and such marital unions are forbidden in the Old Testament law, but they were not frowned upon at this point in human history.

And saying what Abraham is saying here, he's assuring Abimelech that there was truth to what he and Sarah had said about each other. They didn't just make that up. The problem was, as we all know, regardless of their family relation, They had withheld from Abimelech the most relevant information of all. And that is the fact that Abraham and Sarah were married.

They intentionally gave a wrong impression, telling Abimelech, giving him the impression we're merely brother and sister, which is lying. And that was their sin against Abimelech. Abimelech had asked Abraham what sin. He had committed that would cause Abraham to do what he did in retaliation.

What a, what an earnest question Abimelech has asked him. What, what have I done against you that would cause you to do this to me? And Abraham answers the spirit of that question in verse 13. Look at what he says.

He says to Abimelech, and it came about when God caused me to wander from my father's house that I said to her, this is the kindness which you will show to me everywhere we go, say of me, he is my brother. Abraham is saying, Abimelech, I, I want you to know that I haven't singled you out to be deceived in this way. It's not some unique thing you've done wrong against me. Sarah and I have been telling this lie off and on over the last 24 years, ever since we left our father's house in Harran.

To his credit, Abraham is taking the blame for Sarah's deception. He's telling Abimelech that Sarah has lied because he asked her to. In fact, Abraham is doing more. or he did more than just merely asking Sarah to lie.

He actually told Sarah that lying for him would be a demonstration of her faithfulness to him. The word translated kindness in verse 13 is the Hebrew word has said. Which means loving kindness or covenant loyalty. It's one of the Hebrew words for love.

Basically, Abraham has said over the last 24 years to his wife, whenever they traveled, if you love me, you will show your love and your faithfulness to me by telling people that I am your brother. So that they won't kill me when they decide to take you away from me. This admission, if we can back away from this narrative in this moment, this admission from Abraham. shows us more now than just about Abraham's failure in this moment.

It shows us that this deception has been an off and on occurrence of Abraham and Sarah over the last 24 years of Abraham's life. We were all so impressed, were we not, when we saw in Genesis 12, Abraham leaving Haran and going to the land of promise and obedience to the call of God. His launching out from Harran showed tremendous faith in the Lord, that he would obey God and uproot himself in this way. Yet we learn here that even while Abraham was taking these great steps of faith over the last 24 years, he was at that time often talking to Sarah and saying to her, Even going back to when they left Iran, he said to her, this great act of faith, he says, God is calling us to leave Harran and come into the land of promise.

And I want you to know, Sarah, that I'm afraid. That I might get killed by someone who wants you for their wife, so just tell everyone that you're my sister and that way they won't kill me in order to get you. See, we didn't know that back in chapter 12 when they first left Iran that Abraham was talking. That way.

We see a glimpse of that. In the second half of chapter 12 when they went down to Egypt, but Abraham's language here indicates this has been something that has been frequent. We learn here that there has been a deep fault running through the length of Abraham's obedience and his leadership of his wife over the years. And God is here graciously bringing this sin out into the open in this final act of refinement.

Before God gives to Abraham and Sarah, the child of promise. Abraham says what he says to Abimelech and how does Abimelech respond? Does he respond with fury? No, he actually responds with grace.

There's a lot to like about Abimelech here. This brings us to the next thing that happens in the story of God saving Abraham and Sarah's marriage on the brink of fulfilling his promise of a son to them, and that is that Abraham returns or Abimelech returns Sarah to Abraham with many gifts. First of all, Abimelech gives gifts to Abraham. Look at what the text says in verse 14.

Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants and gave them to Abraham. Guys, this is God in His grace through Abimelech, lavishing kindness on Abraham, in spite of his sin, giving to Abraham the opposite of what he deserves. Next, the text tells us. That Abimelech gives Abraham, his wife back.

In verse 14, he gave gifts to Abraham and restored his wife, Sarah. To him. Things did not have to work out this way. In the previous chapter, Lot engaged in foolishness, and he lost his wife.

In Genesis 20 Abraham engages in foolishness and gets his wife restored to him. That's grace. On top of that, Abimelech displays very gracious hospitality to Abraham. Look at what he does in verse 15.

Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before you, settle wherever you please. This is very gracious of Abimelech. But it's not totally altruistic of him. Abimelech knows now that God is with Abraham.

And Abimelech is a wise man and he figures that it would be in his own best interest to have a man whom God is with in this way to be living in his land. So he says settle wherever you please. It's not stated at this point. but it's also, it becomes clear in verse 16 that Abimelech also gave a ton of money to Abraham.

This comes out in what he says to Sarah in verse 16. Look at what the text says. So Abimelech says, it says to Sarah, he said, Behold, I have given your brother 1000 pieces of silver. Behold, it is your vindication.

Before all who are with you and before all men, you are cleared. Commentators point out that It would take a common laborer in this day 166 years to earn 1000 pieces of silver. Which would put the value of this 1000 pieces of silver at well over $2 million in today's currency. That's how much money Abimelech is giving to Abraham.

Notice that Abimelech calls Abraham Sarah's brother. Some commentators think this is like a snarky jab at Abraham for His deception, but I don't think so. I think this is probably a very gracious recognition of the partial truth of what Abraham had said, But look at Abimelech's reason for giving the 1000 pieces of silver to Abraham. The fact that he gave it to Abraham automatically indicates that it served as a token of Abraham's exoneration before the law.

For the crimes that Abraham committed. Guys, lying to a king, that's breaking the law. Whatever land you're living in, Abraham has broken the law. He needs exoneration.

The 1000 pieces of silver serves obviously as an exoneration for Abraham for his crimes committed. But Abimelech now speaks to Sarah, and he wants her to know that she is included in that acquittal as well. He says, behold, this 1000 pieces of silver is your vindication. Literally the Hebrew reads, it is your covering of the eyes.

Before all who are with you. And before all men, you are cleared, and some would translate this, you, Sarah, are justified. Sarah herself had participated in Abraham's deception. Yet here, her name in the eyes of the law are being completely cleared.

Abimelech is king. He's a powerful man. Under any other circumstances, a king would easily kill a man and a woman who lied to him in this way without even batting an eye. Yet here is Abimelech lavishing gifts on Abraham and Sarah.

He's declaring Sarah together with Abraham innocent before everyone. Meaning no one, he and anyone else in his kingdom can ever bring the matter up again or hold these crimes against Abraham and Sarah. And if anyone ever tried, All Abraham and Sarah had to do. We show them the 1000 pieces of silver from Abimelech.

That were given to them as a gift, along with whatever statement of exoneration came with that. This is lavish kindness. That is undeserved, but it is given. Look at what happens next, and this brings us to the final thing that happens in this account of God.

saving Abraham and Sarah's marriage on the verge of fulfilling his promise of a son to them. Number 6, Abraham prays to God and obtains healing for Abimelech and his household. Look at what Abraham does at obviously Abimelech's request. Verse 17, Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids so that they bore children.

And it's here we learn explicitly that Abimelech had become afflicted. With some physical condition or plague of some sort, and Abraham is praying for Abimelech, and Abimelech is experiencing healing from this condition. And on top of that, the text tells us that God, in answer to Abraham's prayer, also healed Abimelech's wife and his maids so that they bore children. And as we're reading that, we're like, what?

I didn't know there was a problem here. Verse 18, for the Lord. had closed fast all the wounds of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah. Abraham's wife.

And Abraham here prays for all of them and as a result of his prayers, they're all healed and no doubt bonded to Abraham and grateful for his willingness to pray for them. What a marvelous grace this all is from God. God has intervened. He has brought about the absolute best possible outcome.

That anyone could have envisioned. God rescues Abraham and Sarah's marriage, making it possible now for the promised son. To arrive in the next chapter, he provides Abraham and Sarah full exoneration before the law. He uses Abraham as an instrument of healing and blessing for Abimelech and his household, laying the groundwork for a sense of goodwill and relationship between Abraham and Abimelech that will go on for quite some time after that.

We'll actually see their relationship resurfacing. And the latter part of Genesis 21. Just as we close, this morning, let's just ponder a few thoughts, can we? First of all guys, just walk in righteousness please.

And I, I say that to me. We learned here in a story like this that we just simply need to walk in integrity before the world. We learn here that just because we think that the world is a wicked place, we should not thereby think that we need to compromise our principles and engage in unethical behavior in order to get by in this world. There's some Christians who they make wrong, unethical choices and it's like, yeah, I, I don't, I don't wanna make this choice, but given the world in which we live, I have to do this.

If you are a Christian and you think that you have to cheat a little and lie a little, or compromise a little here and there in order to get ahead and get by in this world. That means two things. It means number 1, you're not trusting God, and it means number 2 that you've just allowed the world to make you just like the world. Congratulations.

How much is your faith really worth? Don't do that. Walk in integrity, walk in righteousness. God will honor that.

He will take care. Of you At the same time, we're encouraged by observing here a lesson and that is that our sinful failures don't evidently disqualify us from being useful to God. We learn here that even when we blow our testimony and we sin, even before the loss, God still views us the same as he did before we failed. Just as God still viewed Abraham as a prophet after his failure and still gave Abraham an opportunity to pray over Abimelech.

And do good to him on the other side of his failure. When Abimelech asked Abraham to pray for him, Abraham could have said, I'm not going to pray, Abimelech. I don't deserve to pray. I'm a failure But Abraham didn't do that.

He prayed As an undeserving man before a gracious God, and he knew it. Here I am praying to God and asking for healing. I don't deserve anything from the Lord, but what? I'm gonna pray.

Because God uses broken people, even on the other side of their failure, Abraham prayed and God answered. And God used Abraham to be an agent of blessing in Abimelech's life, even after Abraham's failure. And God can do the same. With you and with me, even though we're far from perfect.

No matter how often you fail, just keep praying, keep repenting, keep serving, keep doing what God has called you to do, and don't ever underestimate how much God can use you in the lives of others. As deeply flawed as you may be. We're also sobered to observe in this story that sin apparently is a problem until we die. We're reminded here of the persistence of sin in our lives, showing up again and again.

We sin, we get busted, we get exposed, we think we've learned our lesson and then the sin shows up again. 24 years have gone by since Abraham got busted for this same sin down in Egypt in Genesis 12, and I'm sure Abraham rode out of Egypt resolving to never do that again, thinking, what was I thinking? I'll never do this again. I'll never lie like this again.

Lord, I'm gonna trust you from here on out. And yet here he is in Genesis 20 at the age of 99 doing the same thing. Genesis 20 guys shows us a 99 year old fully justified man of faith who still struggles with sin. So, if you're here today and you struggle with sin, Be encouraged.

Abraham did too. At the same time, be forewarned. Sometimes we think. We've moved beyond certain sins, we've grown past certain sins, and then we let our guard down and find ourselves acting.

In some of the ways that we thought for sure we had grown beyond, let him who thinks he stands, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:12, take heed lest he fall. In this story, we also see the love of God for Abraham. shown in allowing him not to get by. With the sin.

Sometimes we want more than anything else to just be able to sin and get by with it. But God loves us too much to let that happen, right? If you get caught in your sin, no matter how painful and shameful that may be, that's not because God hates you. It's because he loves you.

You getting caught and exposed in your sin is God's love operating in your life. What I love about this story is that God exposes Abraham in his sin and at the very same time, he lavishes goodness on Abraham. Abraham gets publicly exposed for his sin. And then many blessings are lavished on him along with the decree of full acquittal, and it was all 100% of grace.

This teaches us that getting busted for our sins is not the end of the story. It's actually the beginning. And when I read this story of all the goodness being lavished on Abraham by Abimelech, I can totally connect with what Abraham must have been feeling as he was receiving this exoneration and these gifts, this bounty. Because God has done even more.

than that for me in Christ. I sinned against God, God uses his cross to expose me and my sin and to rebuke me in my sin, but the same cross serves as the means Through which God gives me forgiveness and lavishes the bounty of His grace upon me. At the cross, God gives to me more than 1000 pieces of silver. He gives to me the gift of His Son, and he keeps pointing to his son and saying, this gift of my son is your covering of the eyes, Milton.

This gift of my son is your full exoneration before me and before all. God is a God of grace. Who has not treated me, nor has he treated you according to what we deserve, and that ought to humble us to the dust and melt our hearts and cause us to love God all the more. Amen.

One of the things that strikes me in this story is the fierce resolve of Almighty God to move his plan of redemption forward. God does what he needs to do in order to protect Abraham and Sarah's marriage, to protect Sarah's womb. Even if he has to show up in the dreams of a pagan ruler to accomplish that. If Abimelech had refused to return Sarah to Abraham, God would have killed Abimelech, his household, everyone in his kingdom if necessary, in order to ensure that Sarah's womb would be preserved, that she would be returned to Abraham so that within a year's time, the child of promise would come and the line of the Messiah would continue.

God's messianic promises of salvation are unalterable, and God will move heaven and earth if he needs to. To ensure that his promises are fulfilled so that we would have salvation. Do you realize that our own salvation today was dependent upon God's intervention here in Genesis 20? This is part of our story, of our salvation.

If it played out differently, Isaac would not have been born and we would have had no Messiah. So what God does here in Genesis 20 is, it's not just a demonstration of his love for Abraham and Sarah, it's a demonstration of his love for us. whose salvation is dependent upon what God does here. For Abraham and Sarah.

God threatened Abimelech's life in order to preserve his redemptive plan 2000 years later. God will ordain that His own Son, God the Son, be killed. That his redemptive plan of salvation would advance and reach us today in this room. Those are the lengths that God is willing to go to, to move his plan of redemption forward.

To provide for us a way of salvation and to put before us the offer. Of salvation through Jesus. And all he asks. Is that we be humble enough to repent of our sin.

To allow ourselves to be exposed before God in our sin and to receive his salvation by believing. In Jesus Christ. And if you've never called on his name and believed in Jesus, Look at all God has been doing for thousands of years, and there's so much more to see to it that this offer of salvation comes to you today. Believe in Jesus, call on his name.

And receive this grace. From a God who would be pleasured to save you. Let's bow our heads together. Lord, I do pray for any who may be here today who have never responded to your grace, that they would, they would feel the love of God.

Displayed even in this. Chapter, how long you've been working from even before the foundation of the world, so that salvation would come to those who put their trust in Jesus Christ. I pray that you would awaken their hearts and draw them to yourself and cause them To call out to you for salvation. We thank you, Lord, for your word, for the things that we as believers learn about how to live our life in this fallen broken world, how to look to you, how to trust you more diligently.

And take comfort in the consolations of the gospel. You're a good God, and we just say to you that we love you and we trust you this morning. Thank you for the opportunity, Lord, that we have now to give of our offerings to you. Receive these gifts and do much with every penny that is given for the glory of Jesus, in whose name we pray, and all God's people said,