Genesis 12C (2011) Beginning today in v.10

Transcription

1 Genesis 12C (2011) Abram is a man f cmplexity A man f faith, the Father f faith Paul says in Rm 4:16 A man called a friend f Gd accrding t James 2:23 The patriarch f the patriarchs But he als a man wh, as Scripture recrds, makes serius errrs and shws weaknesses in faith at times As I mentined befre, this man came t called Abraham, a friend f Gd But he began his walk with Gd as Abram...a man new t faith and unfamiliar t depending upn Gd And like anyne new t faith, Abram must prgress thrugh trials and challenges if he is t grw spiritually S he can learn hw t depend n Gd rather than upn ur wn fleshly nature Last week Mses taught us hw this new man f faith heard Gd s call, respnded and received Gd s prmises f blessing Abram s receiving f Gd s prmises began the furth perid f Gd s rule ver His creatin We refers t this perid as the dispensatin f prmise r patriarachs is distinguished frm the dispensatin f gvernment by Gd s selectin f ne family While gvernment still perates, Gd s purpses will be uniquely fulfilled thrugh the line f ne family - Abram s family And in the secnd half f chapter 12, Mses relates ne f Abram s early missteps after arriving in the land Beginning tday in v.10 Gen. 12:10 Nw there was a famine in the land; s Abram went dwn t Egypt t sjurn there, fr the famine was severe in the land Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

2 Genesis 12C 2 Abram has been wandering thrugh the land t take in all that Gd had given him and his descendants His wanderings brught him int the suthern mst part f Canaan, int the Negev desert The Negev is the final wilderness befre yu reach the brder f Egypt S as we enter v.10, Abram is living near Egypt s brder making his new life in Canaan Nw Mses says there was a famine in the land This is the secnd This statement hlds great intrigue fr us because we knw that famines are nt events f chance r luck Gd we knw has brught this famine abut Therefre, we must cnclude it is a test, nt nly n Canaan as a whle but upn Abram in particular S this begs a big questin: why wuld Gd bring such a test upn Abram s sn after leading him int the prmised land Histry tells us that the city f Ur was a very prsperus city Ur was lcated in fertile Mesptamia where crps and herds were plentiful And archelgists have fund evidence that the city traded fr extic gds frm arund Asia and Africa S Abram s family was prbably accustmed t having plenty S then the living Gd revealed Himself t Abram and called him t a better place, a place Gd had prepared fr Abram s inheritance What d yu suppse Abram expected t find in Canaan? If pagan Ur was a prsperus place t live, surely Gd s prmised land wuld be far better, ffering a far easier life With the nset f this famine, Abram must have been scratching his head and wndering abut what went wrng? Did he d smething wrng? Did Gd frget His prmises? 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

3 Genesis 12C 3 Whatever the cause, Abram knew he needed t take matters int his wn hands If fllwing Gd and depending n Gd fr his needs and his inheritance was Plan A, then perhaps it was time fr Plan B Because Plan A didn t seem t prviding fr Abram in the manner t which he was accustmed And as we heard, Abram s Plan B was t fllw the wrld s lead and head t Egypt Ancient histrical recrds cnfirm what we see Abram ding here When famine wuld hit Palestine hard, many wuld migrate int Egypt seeking greener pastures Even when Egypt experienced drught, the Nile river wuld bring enugh fld waters t ensure a gd grain harvest S while the rest f the knwn wrld was suffering, Egypt wuld ften becme the wrld s destinatin fr survival Egypt plays a prminent rle in Scripture, bth in the Old Testament and in the New At times it becmes a place f prtectin fr Israel And at ther times it serves as Israel s ppressr After Jesus was brn, Egypt becmes a place fr the Messiah t hide as a child And in the cming kingdm, Isaiah tells us that Egypt will remain an empty wasteland as a testimny against Israel s enemies By all these examples, Egypt becmes a picture in Scripture f the Gentile, unbelieving wrld Egypt pictures the unbelieving Gentile wrld bth giving Israel sanctuary at times while persecuting them at ther times 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

4 Genesis 12C 4 Egypt pictures the way the wrld becmes a place fr Messiah t dwell befre he cmes int His Kingdm in the frm f His Church And Egypt will ne day picture the judgment that cmes upn the wrld that rejects the Messiah S Egypt pictures the sinful, unbelieving wrld Abram s respnds t his time f trial by retreating t the wrld He ges t Egypt lking fr the prvisin he expected t find in Gd s land Persnally, I take a small measure f encuragement in watching Abram making this mistake And yes, this was a mistake Abram receives n instructin t leave the land f Canaan And his time in Egypt just leads t mre stumbles and cmprmises Abram may be a man f faith, but at this early pint, he s a man unaccustmed t living by that faith Here he faces his first test as a man fllwing Gd, and he cncludes that reliance n Gd isn t sufficient under the circumstances When we re new in ur walk f faith - r when we are untested - we have little persnal experience in depending upn the Lrd On the ther hand, we d have experience in depending upn urselves Trials are a Gd-prvided pprtunity fr us t learn what depending n Gd lks like Early in ur walk, we re likely t revert under pressure t what we knw best - depending upn urselves Which is actually a lie anyway Even when we were living apart frm the prmises f Gd, dead in ur sins we were still dependent upn Gd fr every breath 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

5 Genesis 12C 5 We just didn t recgnize and acknwledge His rle S I m encuraged when I read that Abram, the Father f Faith, had days when his faith didn t drive his decisin-making Instead, his dubts and fears and sinful nature drve his decisin-making And his mistakes certainly dn t justify ur mistakes But they remind us that walking in faith is a prgressin in maturity, nt an instantaneus achievement And the engine driving ur maturity is the Spirit f Gd bringing the truth f Gd s wrd t ur hearts And the fuel fr that engine f maturity are trials and tests brught by the Lrd James, the half-brther f Jesus, wrte this t the church: James 1:2 Cnsider it all jy, my brethren, when yu encunter varius trials, James 1:3 knwing that the testing f yur faith prduces endurance. James 1:4 And let endurance have its perfect result, s that yu may be perfect and cmplete, lacking in nthing. We are t face ur trials jyfully in the sense that we recgnize their ptential t achieve a gd purpse Because by these trials we learn t endure in ur faith, t rely n the Lrd S that we might attain t the perfect r cmplete wrk in Christ Isn t this Abram s shrtcming here? He didn t understand that he culd be cmplete in the Lrd He has fund the Lrd s prvisin lacking It wasn t as satisfying as what Egypt held fr him This is the early experience I believe the Lrd gives every new believer, t understand that walking in faith isn t a recipe fr mre f what the wrld ffers Sadly, many believers were taught that their entrance int the faith meant they had arrived n Easy Street 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

6 Genesis 12C 6 They will be rich, ppular and thin They will find life s prblem disappearing and all their dreams cming true Nne f this is true, nne f it Gd s wrd teaches that just as the prphets were persecuted and as ur Lrd was crucified, s will Gd s children be mistreated The Lrd said that we shuld expect t be hated by the wrld fr Christ s name sake The reality is that the wrld appeals t ur flesh, but a walk f faith appeals t ur spirit And as Paul taught in Gal 5, we are either led by ur flesh r we are being led by Gd s Spirit, but we cannt fllw bth I dn t think it s any cincidence that Abram had ventured clse t the Egyptian brder by the time f the famine Knwing that Egypt is a picture f wrldliness, then we might see Abram s chice t live in the Negev as a picture f trying t hld nt the wrld while walking with Gd And then when the trial came, it was that much easier fr Abram t step acrss the brder and enter Egypt Christians repeat this errr when we entertain thughts f remaining married t the wrld We re talking abut the Christian wh lives with ne ft still in the wrld, still clinging t the life the Lrd calls them t live behind When Jesus prayed t the Father befre His death n the crss, listen t what He says cncerning Gd s children, thse wh have faith Jhn 17:14 I have given them Yur wrd; and the wrld has hated them, because they are nt f the wrld, even as I am nt f the wrld. Jhn 17:15 I d nt ask Yu t take them ut f the wrld, but t keep them frm the evil ne. Jhn 17:16 They are nt f the wrld, even as I am nt f the wrld Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

7 Genesis 12C 7 Jhn 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; Yur wrd is truth. Jhn 17:18 As Yu sent Me int the wrld, I als have sent them int the wrld. Jhn 17:19 Fr their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves als may be sanctified in truth. Jhn 17:20 I d nt ask n behalf f these alne, but fr thse als wh believe in Me thrugh their wrd; Jhn 17:21 that they may all be ne; even as Yu, Father, are in Me and I in Yu, that they als may be in Us, s that the wrld may believe that Yu sent Me. Jesus says that Gd s children are like Christ in that we are spiritually different than the wrld And that difference will cause the wrld t disapprve and distance themselves frm us in varius ways And yet Jesus says He wuld nt ask the Father t remve us frm the wrld, nt until the time Gd has appinted Instead, Jesus asked the Father t keep us frm the enemy and sanctify us in the truth f Gd s wrd Just as the Father sent the Sn int the wrld, we are sent in Christ s place until His return t rule And that we might act and think as ne with Gd, living a sanctified, gdly life But is we live with ne ft in the wrld, lnging fr what the wrld ffers us, we retreat frm sanctificatin and hliness We crss the brder int Egypt, seeking assciatin with the wrld again, seeking the wrld s apprval Instead f relying n the blessing that cme exclusively by faith Our faith des bring great blessing, but like Abram s inheritance, thse blessings await the appearance f the kingdm upn the return f the Messiah S in the meantime, we live in the enemy s wrld, but we are tld by ur Lrd that we are n lnger t live as if we are still part f it We aren t t think like the wrld, seek fr the wrld seeks, lve like the wrld lves, live like the wrld lives 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

8 Genesis 12C 8 Abram failed this secnd test f his faith, and he stumbled because he was still clinging t the false security f the wrld Rather than remaining where Gd had delivered him, trusting in Gd t prvide despite the famine Abraham walked accrding t his wn cunsel In v.10 Mses says Abram sjurned in Egypt The Hebrew wrd fr sjurned (gur) means a temprary dwelling Abram knew the trip was temprary He wuld venture int Canaan fr a little while, just lng enugh t get past the rugh patch Like we might say t urselves during a trial We might knw the Lrd is asking us t wait n Him, t reply n Him, but we tell urselves we knw hw t slve the prblem We ll just step utside the Lrd s will fr a shrt time, seek the wrldly ptins fr a little while But when we begin t play by the wrld s rules it s hard t knw where t draw the line And Abram experiences this slippery slpe firsthand while in Egypt Gen. 12:11 It came abut when he came near t Egypt, that he said t Sarai his wife, See nw, I knw that yu are a beautiful wman; Gen. 12:12 and when the Egyptians see yu, they will say, This is his wife ; and they will kill me, but they will let yu live. Gen. 12:13 Please say that yu are my sister s that it may g well with me because f yu, and that I may live n accunt f yu. Abram makes this bld request f Sarai Abram begins the way every smart husband begins when he wants smething He says, Have I tld yu recently hw nice yu re lking these days? 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

9 Genesis 12C 9 Or as the King James versin says, I knw that thu art a fair wman t lk upn In truth Abram s cncern wasn t driven by Sarai s beauty, thugh I m sure she was a beautiful wman Abram s fear was driven by a well knwn cultural practice cmmn amng the Egyptian nblemen Egyptians during this perid f histry were famus fr wife abductin Ancient recrds discvered written in the Nuzi tablets recrd this practice When Egyptians came upn a husband with a desirable wife, the husband might be killed and the wman stlen and sld as a wife t smene else And the prettier the wman, the mre likely the theft became On the ther hand, if the wman was unmarried, it was mre likely that thse wishing t take her wuld barter fr her instead f stealing S Abram asks that Sarai lie and say he was her brther rather than husband Even thugh Sarai was Abram s half sister, this was nly a half truth And half a truth is a whle lie Abram was likely thinking that he might survive lng enugh t escape during negtiatins and avid death Where was Sarai in all this? Why did she agree t play this game? The nly answer is that she trusted Gd mre than she trusted Abram While Abram might - and des - fail her Gd wn t fail her, s Sarai remains true t rle t respect and bey her husband 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

10 Genesis 12C 10 And in this case, she acts accrding t his directin even thugh he is sinning Will Gd cme t her rescue when Abram let s her dwn? Abram s fear f death and dependency n the wrld caused him t live a lie And t bring his wife dwn with him This is the inevitable curse when we try t live with ne ft in the wrld First living near Egypt, then crssing int Egypt, and nw living a lie t save himself Paul tells us that when we seek unity with the wrld, we wn t find cmmn grund nr shuld we expect t Gen. 12:14 It came abut when Abram came int Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the wman was very beautiful. Gen. 12:15 Pharah s fficials saw her and praised her t Pharah; and the wman was taken int Pharah s huse. Gen. 12:16 Therefre he treated Abram well fr her sake; and gave him sheep and xen and dnkeys and male and female servants and female dnkeys and camels. In shrt, Abram s plan didn t wrk exactly as he intended Thugh his lie did save his life, it prduced a new utcme Abram didn t anticipate The Egyptians had taken ntice f Sarai and her beauty was such that it made its way t Pharah And befre Abram knew it, Saria was sitting in Pharah's huse And because they thught Abram was just Sarai s brther, they ensured he was treated well because f f her Did yu ntice the irny? Abram tells Sarai t lie s that he wuld be treated well because f her He meant that he wuld be able t live and escape with her 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

11 Genesis 12C 11 Yet in the end, Scripture recrds the same phrase in describing hw Abram cllects this wealth frm the sale f his sister There are seven categries f material that Abram receives, suggesting that the Lrd was at wrk in blessing Abram despite his sin And yet we ll learn later that ne f the female servants Abram receives frm Pharah was a wman called Hagar Abram s sin in Egypt sws the seed f his wn future turmil Gen. 12:17 But the LORD struck Pharah and his huse with great plagues because f Sarai, Abram s wife. Gen. 12:18 Then Pharah called Abram and said, What is this yu have dne t me? Why did yu nt tell me that she was yur wife? Gen. 12:19 Why did yu say, She is my sister, s that I tk her fr my wife? Nw then, here is yur wife, take her and g. Gen. 12:20 Pharah cmmanded his men cncerning him; and they escrted him away, with his wife and all that belnged t him. Pharah s struck in defense f Sarai The Pharah seems t be a victim here in light f the fact that he knew nthing f the deceptin He paid fr his bride But Gd has made prmises t Abram that depend n Sarai remaining Abram s wife And as Paul says, the gifts and call f Gd are irrevcable And s Gd acts t preserve His prmise Since Gd has said that thse wh are against Abram wuld be cursed, here we see that statement prving true Gd wrking t defend Abram frm his enemies And we als ntice Gd acts t prtect Sarai as she bediently beys and respects her husband even as he makes serius mistakes 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

12 Genesis 12C 12 The Jewish Rabbi Rashi declared that the plague was a skin disease that made sexual cntact impssible, thus prtecting Sarai And yet the disease didn t affect Sarai, thus leading Pharah t discern that Saria was the kiey This led t the cnversatin with Abram The Pharah chastises Abram fr lying and causing this truble Of curse the Pharah desn t say that had Abram tld the truth, they wuld have abducted his wife and killed him Still, that desn t justify Abram s lie He stepped int the ungdly wrld and had t play by their rules Bringing ne cmprmise after anther And yet even thugh Abram was unfaithful, Gd remains faithful t His prmises Clearly the cvenant is wrking and is in frce Clearly, the cvenant is uncnditinal, withut dependence n Abram s behavir 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.