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Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (14-1-1996 Guisborough Evangelical Church)
After such a promising start, we now come to a rude
awakening for Abraham. The fact is that spiritual experience and a time of
blessing are invariably followed by a time of testing. On the mountain top we
are especially close to God, His guidance is so unmistakable, we can become
confident that all in the future will be like this, and it cannot go wrong, for
the past is all behind us. Then comes a sudden test and temptation, and a
devastating fall.
The Apostle Paul had insight
into the meaning of the person of Christ through the Father’s revelation to
him. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16), and
moments later he hears Jesus saying Get behind me, Satan, when Peter
tries to distract Jesus and keep Him from the Cross. The greatest example is
from the life of the Lord Jesus. Though in His case, temptation did not lead to
sin, He did go directly from the highpoint of His baptism, when the Spirit
descended on Him and His Father acclaimed Him, to three very severe temptations
and determined assaults by the Devil to bring Him down.
So here we have Abraham, after his unmistakable call, God is very near and his commitment is very real. Then he falls into sin which was a very real weakness. He fell into the same trap again 24 years later. It was a thing he had to struggle with all his life, and never fully left it behind. The besetting sin of the fear of man and doubting the Lord challenged the very point where he was so strong. This was a man of faith, who lived a life of faith, and here we have two recorded instances of weakness at his strongest point.
The story opens with a simple
statement – There was famine in the land, and Abraham went down to Egypt to
live there for a while (Genesis 12:10). This was one of frequent famines in
Canaan. They had no artificial irrigation, and when the annual rainfall failed,
this meant disaster. Abraham had no corn for himself and no pasture for his
flocks, so he went to Egypt, the granary of the ancient world, whose land was
nourished by Nile. The first reaction of Abraham was to go where he could get
food, and it seemed the common sense thing to do.
Without reading too much into
the narrative, it is significant that there is no mention of God guiding him.
Perhaps he forgot to ask guidance. Or maybe he was disillusioned, since God had
promised to bless him and here he was in trouble. Had God deceived him or let
him down? Then one sin always opens the door to another sin. No doubt overawed
by the splendour and grandeur of Egypt, the power of Pharaoh, and being stranger
in the land with an attractive wife, fear gripped him. His own life might be in
danger in order that Pharaoh could have her. So lying and deceit was the next
step. They agreed that she would say she was Abraham’s sister. He must have
realized that his wife could still be dishonoured and become an adulteress, but
his main concern was to save his own skin.
Then he received gifts showered
on him by Pharaoh. It is always dangerous to receive favours from the world,
because it usually expects something in return, and so compromise is involved to
keep everything nice all round. And so this man of faith, about whom the Bible
says he believed God (Genesis 15:6), failed at his strongest point.
How often we see this in
Scripture. Moses, the meekest man on all the earth, displays ungovernable
passion and bad temper (Numbers 12:3). Elijah, the man of perseverance and
courage, sinks into despair and runs for his life. Peter, so outspoken and
strong in affirming his loyalty to the Lord, when it comes to the bit, actually
denies Christ and says, I do not know the man (Matthew 26:72 ). How true
to our own experience. We can profess what we like when all is well in the
garden. But the big test comes in life’s emergencies and sudden changes in
circumstances, when we are caught unawares.
Can this man of faith rely on
God in the emergency or will he act like a man of the world, and resort to lying
and deceit? Will he look at the circumstances instead of looking to God? Will he
look at God through the difficulties, or at the difficulties through God?
There is danger in taking stock
of our lives and feeling secure in our virtues – we believe in God, we are
honest, we have moral purity, we are generous. Beware – it may be at that very
point that we fail.
Illustration - Hundreds of years ago there was an incident where Edinburgh Castle was seized and fell to the enemy. The defenders in the Castle thought it was safe on the side which had a steep precipice, so concentrated all defence on the weak points, neglecting to protect the place where the rock was steepest. Then one dark night, in a storm and driving rain, a band of daring men crept slowly up the apparently unscalable, and therefore perfectly safe, cliff. The impossible became possible.
Abraham himself sank to the depths. Once we are out of
contact with God, we can with time sink very low. In our more sober and
spiritual moments we can be surprised and shocked at how far we can fall. We can
scarcely believe it was us who did, said, or thought such a thing.
Imagine Abraham being prepared
to sacrifice his wife to the desires of Pharaoh. He thought only of himself once
he was in danger. None of us lives to himself alone (Romans 14:7). And
none of us sins to himself. Whether we are consecrated to the Lord and walking
with him, or careless and half-hearted in our walk, others will be influenced
one way or another.
We are not told in detail of
this, but we know Abraham was a leader of quite a big group. He was an important
sheikh and employed many herdsmen and had a number of servants. Did he ever talk
to them of his experience of God before all this, and the importance of their
trusting God? But after this incident in Egypt, he would see them winking at
each other and hear quiet tones saying, “He’s a right one to talk”.
Then there was the influence
this failure had on Abraham’s children. Isaac was not born at this time, or
even at the time when Abraham succumbed a second time to the same temptation.
And yet Isaac committed the exact same sin when he said about his wife Rebekah
that she was his sister because he was afraid of the Philistine might (Genesis
26:7ff). Had he inherited his father’s disposition? Had he found out what
Abraham had done in the same circumstances, and followed suit? Had Abraham
himself told him, in an unguarded moment? Did he overhear two people talking
about the incident? Whatever it was, Abraham’s son did exactly what he had
done.
Example counts. Leadership,
whether in the family, the workplace, the school, the college or the church, is
a telling factor. What we say, how we react, the odd throw away remark, will
always leave a mark. Someone is always listening and someone is always watching.
An impression is always being made.
In the family, we cannot blame
the parents always if their children go off the rails. Some go off the rails
despite the finest example and teaching. Yet who can doubt the enormous
influence in general of parents? The state of society is a mirror of the home
life of many children, the examples they are set, and the way they are brought
up.
So with the church. The man who
remains in a pulpit over many years wields enormous influence. What he says or
does not say, what he supports or does not support, emphasizes or fails to
emphasize, leaves an indelible mark. No church rises higher spiritually than the
spiritual life of its leader. He sets the tone.
Finally there is the world’s
rebuke given to Abraham. Pharaoh asked why he had not been honest about Sarah
being his wife. What a rebuke when the world can point to a sin – a lie,
dishonesty, uncleanness in the life of the man of God. Or when the man of the
world shows himself up to be more conscientious, gracious, gentlemanly, and
honest than the professed follower of the Lord. This does sometimes happen, and
all the Christian can sometimes say is how much worse he would be apart from
God’s grace.
The consequences of Abraham’s sin were endless. When we are consecrated to the Lord, the impact will be felt by everyone we are in touch with. So if we are half-hearted or worldly, a similar impact will be felt by everyone we are in touch with.
This is a warning to us of what poor creatures we really
are. We are in constant danger, and will not be safe till we see Christ face to
face, and become like Him. We can take no chances. We may, by the grace of God,
gain victory over besetting sin – but we can never relax and say that we are
over it forever more, not while we are still on this earth. The same sin
recurred in Abraham’s life, 24 years later. A former weakness can arise after
an interval of years.
The life of Abraham shows us
that no matter what experiences of the Lord we have had, our how strong our
theology, what vows we have made, what we have done in Christian circles, what
sermons we have preached, what offices we have held in the church, we are never
out of danger, and can never afford to be complacent.
Robert Murray McCheyne put it
like this. “What if I am tempted to think I am now an established Christian, I
have overcome this or that sin, and gone far in opposite grace? Therefore I have
no fear now. Therefore I can venture very near temptation, nearer than other
men. I might as well talk of gunpowder getting, by habit, a power of resisting
fire… When gunpowder is dry, it will explode at the first touch. When the
Spirit’s power leaves me, I am like dry gunpowder. Oh, for a sense of this”
The problem comes when we face
sudden emergencies and unexpected problems. The Christian is not promised
unbroken prosperity and exemption from trouble, pain and heartbreak. We go
through it all, and sometimes more so than the non-Christian. The difference is
that we should react differently and have resources that others lack. This often
reveals the counterfeit Christians, or the “rice Christians”, in it for the
material advantages they get out of it.
How do we react? On impulse?
What is the first thing that comes into our heads? Do we pause and refer the
whole matter to the Lord? It is easy to make Abraham’s mistake, and the
mistake of Israel when tricked by the Gibeonites – They did not enquire of
the Lord (Joshua 9:14). We need to apply faith in the emergency, and not run
away with the idea we have ability of our own apart from God. We need to rely on
God’s help coming in His own way and His time. Be transformed by the
renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). The Christian needs to cultivate a
renewed mind, a mind controlled by the Spirit of God and the Word of God, so
that we always weigh things up from God’s angle, and always seek His will.
We must not think like the
unbeliever. This is not mindless emotionalism, but being spiritually intelligent
and thoughtful in our approach to life. Ask for spiritual discernment of God’s
will. It is not something we gain overnight, but the result of a continuous
process.
The graciousness of God is seen
in all our follies. He allowed Abraham to fail so that he learned a lesson. In
the right time, God intervened with plagues on Pharaoh’s household. God
overruled in the awkward situation. What a rebuke to Abraham, who had believed
God could not be trusted. All the time, God was in control. We must be thankful
that there is a providence that shapes our lives. God is very gracious and never
gives up on an awkward situation. It matters to God what happens to us.
When we sin deeply, and think
God has gone forever, that we have blown too many chances, and that God has
said, “Enough is enough”, this story teaches us that God is never exhausted.
God’s amazing patience and compassion shines through in the stories of Abraham
– and Moses, David, Peter, and many more. At the same time, this is not an
excuse for us to be careless about sin. But saving and restoring grace is there
if we would but turn afresh to Him.
Note also that His resources
available for us are far greater than Abraham knew. We live in the light of
further revelation. Since Abraham’s day, there has been complete revelation of
God’s Son, His perfect example, atoning death and fullness of power. When we
walk humbly, step-by-step, with the dependence of a little child, sin shall
not be your master (Romans 6:14). There is a conflict between the flesh, our
evil sinful nature, and the Holy Spirit in the believer’s heart. We are to be
led by the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit, and this is
the key to victory (Galatians 5:16-26).
Robert Murray McCheyne writes we should pray for a deep sense of utter weakness, a sense of our helplessness in respect of every sin in the human heart. “My only safety is to know and confess my helplessness that I may hang on the arm of omnipotence.”
Are you aware of making a wrong turning? Have you acted impulsively? Is your life one of deceit and hypocrisy? The answer is in Genesis 13:1-4, where we read that Abraham left Egypt, and went back to Bethel, where he had first made an altar to the Lord. He went back to the point of the wrong turning, and surrendered His life back to God. There Abraham called on the name of the Lord.
