To my heart was the blood of Christ, glory to his name.
Glory to his name, glory to his name.
There to my heart was the blood of Christ, glory to his name.
I am so wondrously saved from sin, Jesus so sweetly abides with me.
There at the cross where he took me, glory to his name.
Glory to his name, glory to his name.
There to my heart was the blood of Christ, glory to his name.
Oh, precious mountain where saints cross me, I am so glad I am certain that Jesus saves me.
Glory to his name, glory to his name.
Glory to his name, there to my heart was the blood of Christ, glory to his name.
Come to this mountain so rich and sweet, cast like your soul and your Savior speak.
The gentle day and he made the prayer, glory to his name.
Glory to his name, glory to his name.
There to my heart was the blood of Christ, glory to his name.
Glory to his name, glory to his name.
Singing out the first day by day, in each passing moment, strength I find to build my child's name.
Singing out loud, all the first day by day, in each passing moment, strength I find to build my child's name.
Trusting in my Father's wise resolence, I am lost in the hurry of the fear.
He who's heart is guide we all don't measure, he who's done to, he who's saved us, he who's blessed.
Loving me is part of faith and pleasure, in returning with peace and grace.
Every day the Lord himself is near me, with no special mercy for each child.
All my cares, he gave them care and cheer for me, he who's really his counselor and pal.
The protection of his child and treasure is the charge that all his soul he gave.
As my days, my strength shall be in measure, there's no place to believe in pain.
Help me then in every tribulation, so teach me as the Christ is the Lord.
Then I lose my faith with consolation, offer him within my holy name.
Help me, Lord, my soul in trouble be deemed, and to take as from my Father's hand.
One by one, my faith is the moment's key, till I reach him by his hand.
We'll begin singing at this time. We'll go through our announcements.
All right, we'll welcome the paperwork and send you out.
If you'd like voting, go ahead and slip up your hand when we're brought to you.
As always, we have our service time today at the left-hand side.
We'll be in Genesis chapter 20 tonight. We'll be back this Sunday at 10, 3 a.m.
Or if you want to get in here a little early for your donuts, be here at 10 a.m.
as we have coffee donuts and articles celebrating their birthdays in the month of June.
Also, just a reminder about the heat.
Be safe out there.
When you're soul winning, whenever you're out there, stay hydrated.
Start salt and wet food.
Get your electrolytes in.
Specifically, when it comes to soul winning, don't be shy about taking breaks,
especially on the longer times on Sunday.
Also, stay with your partner.
Speaking of soul winning, there's going to be a small town soul winning trip to Clifton
for anyone who would like to join the technique crew on that.
On the back is the big announcement about the Grand Canyon Soul Winning Marathon.
That's coming up at the end of next month, so it's right around the corner.
I see a couple people have already signed up, and I'll work out some more of the details.
I still haven't spoken with Pastor Anderson, so it's not 100% about people staying the night Thursday night
if you want to go up there Thursday night.
I'm feeling fairly confident it's based on Pastor Anderson's track record
that he's going to be fine with that.
I know I mentioned it, but don't set that as don't account on that yet.
Just know that I am planning on speaking with him, and in all likelihood,
that's going to be a group where families want to go up Thursday night
and just stay in Tempe at a hotel, and then just join the Tempe group the next morning.
That's certainly possible, I'm sure.
Wait on that.
I'll give an answer by Sunday, so I've got it on my list of things to do.
I've just got to look at the list.
This will be a lot of good to make these lists.
Is that to avoid the day drive?
Yeah, just so folks don't have to work, I guess it would be the morning gap.
First thing in the morning, otherwise you've got to get up and drive two hours.
You can just add two hours to your trip, but some people might not mind.
Some people want to go up there and leave on a Thursday night right after church service.
You'd be at church a Thursday night, assuming, you could cut that part of the trip out.
Just something to consider, but as I said, don't wait to hear from me officially.
That's just an idea that I've had, an idea to get approval for before I say that's in fact the case.
I'll just try to let you know, so that way you can think about how you're going to do things if you're going to go.
Also, at the end of the summer there, or midway through I guess, I'll be able to look at it back in July, several ways out.
Don't forget the third annual main conference is coming up, so there's going to be guest preachers every Sunday and Wednesday throughout those dates up in Tempe.
At least on the Wednesdays, if you try to make that, I might even be able to make it up there on Wednesdays.
The church band will probably be going up every Wednesday throughout those dates.
I'd be happy to do that.
We'll just keep preaching up there.
Always a good time, so mark that on your calendar so you can get up there.
I'll have the more detailed itinerary as we get closer.
Continue to pray different and expected names in our church.
Mrs. Lamb, of course, had her maybe.
I haven't got an update recently on how things are going, but the last update I got was positive, so that's good.
Things are, you know, they're around in the event.
All of this will soon be a distant memory, although the struggles we're having, but praise God that they were able.
You know, praise God we live in a place where, you know, there's things that, you know, medical emergencies, you know, we have such a great medical system.
We have the ability to just take care of these issues.
I always thank God, you know.
Obviously, it's no fun to go through those things, but at another time, even in another place today, you know, things might not go as well as they have for us.
So, whenever we, you know, hear about things going on medically with one another, just, you know, it's an opportunity to thank God that we've lived in such a great country where we have these nice amenities, right?
Also, pray for my family.
I'm sure there's probably some other people out sick, like my kids guy with the stomach bug, you know, has gotten me to pray to the devil.
But that's typically how it works, and it works its way through, you know, and I'm usually the last one to get it.
Very rarely do I bleed off, to be honest.
I usually bring up the rear when it comes to getting sick.
So, anyway, that will do it for announcements.
Let's just quickly count up some soul and ache numbers going back to Monday, the one that got in from Monday.
Or April or Tuesday.
Or Wednesday.
Or today.
Anything else?
All right.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song.
We'll begin to preaching this week.
Please open up your song books.
Song number 323.
The Lord have Jesus.
Song number 223.
Sing it out loud.
Jesus, Lord, our God,
Lord of this praise to others shown,
For of his safety, for of his love, who died for me.
For more about Jesus.
For of his safety, for of his seat.
For of his love, who died for me.
For of our Jesus, let me learn.
For of his holy will, this certain Spirit of God,
my teacher be, showing the things of Christ to him.
For more about Jesus.
For of his safety, for of his seat.
For of his love, who died for me.
For of Jesus, in his Word.
Holy of him, and with my Lord, hearing his voice in every
thought, making his strength most daily mine.
For more about Jesus.
For of his saving, for of his seat.
For of his love, who died for me.
For of our Jesus, for of his love,
which is in glory of his own.
For of his deep, reassuring peace.
For of his love, he creates a peace.
For more about Jesus.
For of his saving, for of his seat.
For of his love, who died for me.
For more about Jesus.
For of his saving, for of his love,
which is in glory of his own.
For of his saving, for of his love,
which is in glory of his own.
For of his saving, for of his love,
which is in glory of his own.
For of his saving, for of his love,
which is in glory of his own.
For of his saving, for of his love,
which is in glory of his own.
For of his saving, for of his love,
which is in glory of his own.
For of his saving, for of his own.
For of his saving, for of his saving,
for of his saving, for of his own.
For of his saving, for of his saving,
for of his saving, for of his saving,
For of his saving, for of his saving,
a covering of the eyes of all that are with thee,
and with all other, thus she was approved.
So Abraham prayed unto God,
and God healed Abimeleth and his wife,
and his maids of his, and they bare children.
For the Lord hath fasted the clothes
of all the wounds in the house of Abimeleth,
because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
Brother Adam, would you pray for us?
Lord, heaven and your Father,
just thank you for your goodness and mercy,
Lord God, just thank you, Father,
good in our lives, good in our lives,
either in the glory of our God,
and in the glory of our worthy Lord,
just put on your spirit,
and feel a deacon with your spirit,
and understand you in your word, Lord,
and Jesus, hold the name of your prayer, amen.
Amen.
And so in Genesis 20, of course,
we're coming off of the heels of Genesis 19,
and, you know, Genesis 19 is such a powerhouse chapter,
and I want to kind of remind us again of that,
in light of what we're seeing again in Genesis chapter 20,
we're seeing Abraham repeat an old behavior,
okay, where there's kind of, in my opinion,
he's having yet another lapse in faith,
and this one's kind of striking,
because again, Genesis 19 is so powerful, right,
because obviously, you know,
Abraham is well aware of what's taking place, right,
God told him what he was intending to do
with Sodom and Gomorrah,
and he obviously would have heard about the repercussions,
how things turned out,
might even have heard how Lot was delivered,
you know, the Bible doesn't tell us about that,
but probably understood,
very well may have known that God even delivered Lot
just as he said he would, right,
so the interesting thing about this chapter
is that Abraham, up to this point,
has just seen so many miracles of God,
he's seen such God's power on display, right,
he's had conversations with the Lord,
I mean, Genesis 19,
the Lord is coming to him in the heat of the day,
Abraham is talking with him, he's feeding him,
and, you know, he's barring with him for, you know,
trying to spare the righteous in Sodom,
and then you have chapter 20,
where Abraham repeats this behavior,
which I can only describe as a lapse in faith,
I mean, how else do you explain the fact
that he's giving away his wife yet again,
that he's letting his wife just be taken from him
because he's fearing for his own life,
and again, this is something
that we saw in Genesis chapter 12,
if you want to turn back there,
Genesis chapter 12, this is not the first time,
I'll just remind us very quickly,
that we've seen Abraham do this,
Abraham, obviously in Genesis 20,
it says he's going into the south country,
and he's sojourns in Gerar,
and Abraham said of Sarah his wife,
she is my sister,
and Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took her, okay?
But again, this is something that took place
when he went down into Egypt,
in verse 10 of chapter 12,
it says, and there was a famine in the land, right?
And God has already spoken to Abraham,
he's made promises that he's going to inherit this land,
and Abraham, you know, has a lapse in faith
because of this famine,
like he's worried about his needs being met,
of course he's being called Abram at this point in the story,
back in Genesis 12,
it says he went down to Egypt to sojourn there,
for the famine was very grievous,
and it came to pass when he was near to enter into Egypt,
that he sent unto Sarah his wife,
behold now I know thou art a fair woman to look upon,
so again, we're getting the motive
behind why Abraham does this,
why this behavior is even taking place,
because he has a fair woman, a fair wife,
fair meaning, you know,
she doesn't like make sure everybody gets equal portions
of chocolate milk or something like that, you know,
like kids do, I don't know if you,
I had that best friend who was like,
everything had to be even, right?
There had to be, when we made chocolate milk,
there had to be equal amounts of chocolate Hershey's syrup
and equal amounts of milk, you know,
it had to be fair,
that's not the fair it's talking about,
meaning fair, like she's of a fair countenance, right?
She's very nice to look upon, right?
And he's saying, I know you're fair, right?
And he's saying, because you're fair,
they're gonna take you away from me, verse 13,
say I pray thee without my sister,
that it may be well for me for thy sake.
He's saying, so what's the motive here?
To save his own skin, right?
This is Abraham, this is Abram,
this is what he does, okay?
And obviously, you know, and I know I've already
given, you know, the warning not to judge him too harshly
because he's being asked to do a great thing,
he is the father of our faith,
he is a great man of faith, obviously,
you know, we'll see that played out here shortly
later on in the story of Abraham with his son,
but, you know, he's still a flawed character
as all Bible characters are, as we all are, okay?
But, you know, the Bible records this, I think,
so that we can take heed to these things
and learn other lessons, okay?
And the lesson I really want to drive home tonight
is that, you know, we need to be merciful, okay?
And I believe that's why Abraham is given a lot of slack,
that's why God, I think, doesn't necessarily excuse his sin
but doesn't always come down on him for it
and that's why we also should be understanding of Abraham
and, you know, understand that he is flesh and blood like us, right?
Because the Bible is making it pretty obvious here
that the reason why he's doing this is for his own sake,
he's not doing this for any righteous reason,
this is a total, you know, flaw, right?
This is not good, okay?
When you're basically just saying,
honey, just tell everyone we're kin, you know?
Just tell everybody you're my sister
and just let strangers take you from me.
Like, that's not exactly what a wife wants to hear, okay?
It's pretty much the opposite of what your wife wants to hear.
She wants to hear I'm going to protect you,
I'd die for you, right?
All this romantic stuff, although romantic, you know,
should be true as well, right?
But he's saying again, you know, it'd come to pass,
verse 14, when Abraham was coming to Egypt,
the Egyptians beheld a woman that she was very fair,
so the narrator is backing up.
Abraham is not just like, you know,
he's not blind in one eye and can't see out the other, right?
He didn't bump his head, she really was fair.
You know, the Bible's telling us that,
that all the other people around her are noticing this.
Which, you know, she's a very old woman in Genesis 20.
She's very old and yet it's the same thing.
Like, she must have been, maybe by then
she just had a really good personality.
I don't know, but even as an old woman,
she's apparently very fair, right?
So, there's hope, ladies, you know?
Too bad it doesn't record her, you know,
her beauty regime or whatever it is.
Is that what you call it, right?
The routine that she has, you know,
what oils she put on and what masks she wore.
I don't know, I don't know anything about that stuff, so.
Beauty is vain, but a woman that feared the Lord,
she shall be praised.
And it says here, of course, they saw her,
they take her, we all know the story,
and it's interesting in this story,
because the Lord doesn't come to him
like he does with Abimelech and warn him
and give him a chance to get it right.
He just starts plaguing Pharaoh's house, right?
Because it says, and he entered,
verse 16, and he, Pharaoh,
entreated Abram well for her sake,
and he had sheep and oxen and asses
and men servants and maid servants
and she asses and camels,
and the Lord plagued Pharaoh in his house
with great plagues because of Sarah,
Abraham's wife.
So, no dream, no vision,
no coming to him and speaking to him tonight,
just immediately plaguing him.
And it's interesting that Pharaoh
immediately recognizes, oh, this is God,
like, oh, I'm used to this.
Like, oh, yeah, this is what God,
this must be the Lord again, right?
He just understands immediately
why this is happening.
And he goes and, of course,
he talks to Abraham.
We know the story.
They send him away and his wife
and all that he had.
He goes away with great abundance.
Go back to Genesis chapter number 20
where we were.
So, the same thing's playing out again
in the story, right?
Abraham has not, is still a flawed character.
You know, that should be a warning to us
or at least help us to be
a more understanding and empathetic people,
you know, with ourselves, more patient
and patient with other Christians, right?
Patient with other people.
Is that no matter how great somebody is,
no matter how great faith they have,
no matter, because at this point in the story,
you know, Abraham's been walking with God.
We've seen other great things that he's done.
You know, he's still a great man of God
and yet he's still flawed.
You know, that should be a lesson to us
that nobody's perfect
including, you know, your favorite preacher,
your favorite pastor,
or, you know, whatever Christian that you look up to
for, you know, who's been living the Christian life
forever long, you know, they're still a flawed person.
They're still gonna make mistakes,
they're still gonna do things wrong,
they're still gonna slip up, okay?
And what I'm saying today is that, you know,
we need to be merciful with those people
because God is merciful with those people, okay?
And if we're merciful with those people,
you know, God will show us mercy.
And I guarantee you, whether you realize it or not,
you're gonna need mercy from God one day.
You're gonna need mercy from other people.
Now, let me just start out by saying that
I'm not saying, this is some kind of a blank check
for sin, right?
Where, you know, if I'm merciful enough
and I'm kind enough that that just gives me a right
to just go out and be a sinner, right?
And everybody just has to forgive me, okay?
Obviously, there's, people learn behaviors,
they get into patterns of things,
kinda, so we kinda see with Abraham,
this is just kind of a pattern of behavior,
it's something he's, a sin he's kinda falling into,
he has a proclivity towards this,
it's something he does, you know, habitually,
as odd as it is, right?
I think, even if that's not the case,
that's the application we can make here tonight.
You know, so that's one thing, right?
Like, we all have, you know, things
that are gonna slip us up easier, more than others.
Okay, everybody has, you know, triggers,
you know, patterns of behavior,
things that they're gonna fall into.
If they're not careful, obviously,
that's one thing, right?
To turn around and find out,
oh man, did it again, right?
It's another thing to premeditate
and go out and act on it,
that's called the presumptuous sin,
I've preached on that, the Bible, you know,
there's no guarantee of mercy on that one, okay?
Obviously there's never any guarantee of mercy ever,
okay, but what I'm saying tonight is that
we're seeing Abraham as a, you know,
again, repeating a behavior that is not good,
and yet God is coming basically on his behalf
and preserving Sarah, right?
He's correcting the situation, right?
And Abraham walks away blessed, right?
He walks away better off than he came,
in spite of the fact that he's doing this again, okay?
So God does show mercy,
but that's not a blank check,
that's not means we can just go out and do whatever we want,
and, you know, as long as we're,
cover our bases elsewhere,
I think everyone gets what I'm saying.
Verse three, it says,
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night,
and said, Behold, thou art but a dead man, right?
He's saying, I'm gonna kill you.
For the woman which thou hast taken,
for she is a man's wife, right?
So God's condemning adultery here,
but Abimelech had not come near her,
and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
He's saying, look, I haven't done anything wrong here.
Yeah, I took her to my wife, but,
you know, I haven't gotten around to,
you know, having that relationship with her, right?
He just, he's just kind of,
maybe he's one of these guys,
these kings,
just wants to add her to the harem or something, okay?
And, you know,
and he's kind of protesting here,
saying, well, I haven't done anything wrong,
you know, so God's interceding before anything could happen physically, right?
Said he not unto me, she is my sister.
He's like, it's your boy, that's the problem, right?
It's like, I didn't know she was somebody's wife.
He said she is my sister,
and she even herself said he is my brother.
He's like, they're a couple of liars,
and you know what, he's not wrong.
That's exactly what they did.
The narrator tells us that, right?
She said he's my brother.
He said she's my sister.
It's like, you know,
in the integrity of my heart and in the intensity of my hands,
I have done this,
and God sent unto him in a dream,
yea, I know that they did this in the integrity of thine heart, right?
So it's kind of like if God,
God knew that he was innocent from,
you know, trying to commit adultery,
right?
But he comes on pretty strong, doesn't he?
You're a dead man, right?
And I believe the reason why he's doing that
is because he's trying to protect Abraham
for the promise's sake, right?
For the promise, for the child of promise.
For Isaac's sake, really.
God is interacting here not because,
necessarily because he's just trying to protect Abraham,
or he's just giving Abraham a pass,
but it's because he has to preserve that promise that he's made
that the seed would come from Sarah, right?
That Isaac, the child of promise, would come through her.
Because again, it's a miraculous thing,
having a child in their old age
so that people would know this is the hand of God.
So, you can see why God's taking this so seriously, right?
Look, I'm sure Abimelech,
this is kind of, he's probably collecting wives,
like guys collect, you know, cards,
nowadays or something, right?
Like this is, this is what they did.
This was the culture back then, okay?
I don't know why, you know,
but that's what they did, right?
And, you know, God's kind of interjecting here,
and he's not rebuking him for this behavior, necessarily,
although God does not condone polygamy,
we understand that.
He's getting involved, he's being,
he's coming, getting, before anything can happen,
because he's trying to preserve the promise more than anything.
He's not just, you know,
looking out for his boy Abraham, right?
He's trying to make sure that his word,
his promise comes true, okay?
So, I think that's really what God,
why God's getting involved here.
Verse seven, he says,
Now therefore restore the man, his wife,
for he is a prophet,
and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live,
and if thou restore her not,
know that thou shalt surely die,
thou and all that are thine.
You say, you know what?
I'll just wipe your seed right off the face of the earth.
No one will even know your name.
Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning,
that's a good time to get right with God, right?
Don't wait on that,
and called the servants and told all these things in their ears,
and the men were so afraid,
and Abimelech called Abraham and said unto him,
What hast thou done unto us?
And what have I offended thee?
He's like, dude, you're trying to set me up.
Like, why are you laying a snare here for me?
Why are you setting a trap?
Are you trying to get me killed?
That thou hast brought on me and in my kingdom a great sin.
Now, isn't it interesting here that,
obviously we don't know a lot about Abimelech,
but this isn't,
he does call himself a righteous nation,
but that's him speaking, right?
And obviously he did do this in the innocency of his hands,
but we don't know necessarily this is a nation that's worshipping the Lord.
I highly doubt that, right?
But isn't it interesting that even what I'm pretty sure,
I think it's safe to say,
is a heathen nation that isn't following the Lord
is not,
is calling adultery a sin, right?
Now maybe he's trying to play it up here, right?
Because he knows God's listening, right?
But we know that he's saying in truth that he didn't know this was Abraham's wife.
And when he finds out it is, he rebukes Abraham.
And not just because he almost got him killed by the hand of God,
but because why are you trying to bring sin upon us, right?
We're a righteous nation.
You know, it's interesting that even back then,
that there's just, even in the heathen,
you know, who don't have the law of God,
they have the law of God written on their hearts, right?
They know that adultery is wrong.
This is what's so, you know,
it's so frustrating sometimes
when people get offended when you preach about adultery.
Or you preach about fornication.
You preach about any sin, really, because everyone knows
that it's wrong.
Everyone knows it's wrong.
And you preach on it and people get upset.
And it's like, well, why are you upset with me
for preaching what's right and what's wrong?
You know, Abimelech here, he gets rebuked.
He's like, whoa, let me make this right immediately.
Let me get up in the morning.
And he's doing some rebuking now.
Now, he's calling out Abraham.
He's not getting mad at God going,
well, what's wrong?
Why can't I just commit adultery anyway?
I mean, he lied about it, right?
That's what always kind of surprises me sometimes
is that when people are doing things that are wrong
and you call them on it,
and you go to them about it,
or you don't even know what's going on.
You just get out and preach it.
You just preach something and it offends people
because they're guilty of it.
It's like, well, and then they turn around
and take it out on you for preaching it.
It's odd. It's strange.
It's unmerciful, first of all, right?
You get mad about that.
And to get bitter and angry, okay?
Anyway, that's kind of a side note
and it just kind of came to me as I was reading this,
but Abimelech, in his nation, at least they understand
they have some respect for morals, right?
He's not calling it an affair, right?
Like, in our nation, okay?
Anyway, let's move along through the story here.
Then Abimelech called Abraham, verse nine again,
he said, What hast thou done to me?
What have I offended thee?
Thou hast brought on me in my kingdom a great sin.
Thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.
He's saying, you shouldn't set a guy up like this.
You shouldn't put somebody in this position
where you're going to commit adultery with another man's wife.
And Abimelech said to Abraham,
What sawest thou that thou hast done this thing?
He's like, explain yourself.
Like, what is it? What's your motive here?
And Abraham doesn't really have, you know, any good answer.
He says, but I, he says, and he said,
because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place.
Well, that was the wrong assumption to make.
And they will slay me for my wife's sake.
Isn't that, this is Abraham that's saying this.
Abraham, who's like, conversed with God,
has walked with God, has seen God,
he and three other hundred men have gone and delivered Lot.
Remember when the kings came and they attacked Sodom
and they carried away Lot captive?
He gets three of his own trained servants
and goes and delivers him?
I mean, that's miraculous.
He meets God in the heat of the day.
Just the chapter before, he's seeing God pour out his wrath.
He's seeing Lot spared again.
And yet, here we are again where he's just like,
well, I thought you guys were going to kill me for my wife's sake.
It's a lapse of faith.
You know, and this is kind of something that he struggles with apparently.
And it just goes to show us
that even men of God,
even people that should know better sometimes,
have flaws.
That they're flawed people.
That they have character faults just like anybody else.
And nobody's perfect.
And they deserve to be shown mercy just like anybody else.
Now, again, I'm not saying that there aren't certain things that,
you know, people have to be held accountable for.
Okay?
And Abraham is being kind of held accountable, isn't he?
He's basically being rebuked publicly, right?
And he said, verse 12,
And yet indeed she is my sister, she is the daughter of my father.
So we find out this is his half-sister.
Everyone freaks out, right?
You know, this is way back down when,
you know, the law hasn't been handed out on this kind of thing.
God doesn't condone this kind of stuff.
But, you know,
I don't think it would have been as big a deal genetically back then.
You know, maybe sin hadn't corrupted
you know, our DNA to the point where there wouldn't have been these
outcomes that we would have today if this kind of thing took place.
But anyway, that's what the Bible says,
And she became my wife, and it came to pass,
when God caused me to wander from my father's house,
that I said unto her, This is the kindness which thou hast shown to me,
at every place whither we shall come,
say of me, He is my brother.
So now he's just really kind of coming clean, right?
You know, we've seen it happen in Egypt.
We saw it happen here with Abimelech.
We saw it with Pharaoh and Abimelech.
We saw two instances, but now we find out Abraham said,
Hey, everywhere we go,
anywhere we go, anywhere we sojourn,
this is what we're going to do, right?
Now, I don't know that it happened more than that.
I'm not saying that, but that was his mentality.
Well, this is what I'm going to do.
Of course.
And he's even acknowledging it was like,
Well, God caused me to wander from my father's house.
So yeah, I'm following God.
I'm doing what God said. I'm serving God.
I'm a man of faith.
I stepped out in faith to do this great work
that God has called me to,
but I'm also going to go ahead
and farm out my wife
anytime I get a little afraid of what might happen to me.
It's kind of a paradox with him.
He's this great man of faith, and yet he's flawed.
Who'd have thunk?
But God is showing mercy here.
Primarily, again, let me make this point again.
Go to Genesis chapter number 17.
God's not just giving Abraham a pass
because he's Abraham.
Therefore, he gets a pass.
Well, he's a man of God.
He's interceding here
because of the promise that he made to Abraham.
Remember the promise in Genesis chapter 17, verse 15.
God sent Abraham,
As for Sarah thy wife,
thou shalt not call her name Sarai,
but Sarah shall be her name.
And I will bless thee,
and give thee a son also of her.
Yea, I will bless her,
and she shall be a mother of nations,
kings of peoples shall be of her.
Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed,
and said in his heart,
Shall a child be born unto him that is 100 years old?
And shall Sarah that is 90 years old bear?
And Abraham said unto God,
O that Ishmael might live before thee.
Because remember, he's already had Ishmael of Hagar.
And God said,
Sarah, thy wife,
shall bear thee a son indeed,
and thou shalt call his name Isaac.
And I will establish my covenant with him,
for an everlasting covenant,
and with his seed after him,
and ask for Ishmael,
I have heard of thee,
behold I have blessed him,
and will make him fruitful.
Verse 21,
But my covenant will I establish with Isaac,
and which Sarah shall bear unto thee
at this time set in the next year.
So God, I believe,
is interjecting first and foremost
because of that promise that he made.
It's gonna be Sarah.
So that's why he can't have
another man taking her
and her potentially having a child
by that man.
Because that would disrupt God's things.
God might have to break that promise.
So that's the primary reason,
but it also shows us that
God does show mercy
to those that are merciful.
Because if you remember,
Abraham is a very merciful man.
God, I do believe,
shows mercy to people who do his will.
And again,
I don't want to be taken the wrong way
saying where, you know,
if you do enough of God's will,
then you have some credit with God
or you can go sin a little bit.
But the fact is,
we're all gonna sin.
You know, you and I,
all of us,
probably do things that upset God
and we don't even know about it.
Whether it's, you know,
things that we actually do
or just maybe even thoughts that we have,
attitudes that we have,
behaviors that we have,
we probably say, think,
or do things
that make God mad
and we don't even realize it.
And yet God doesn't drop the hammer on us
every single time.
You know, God's not just waiting
around the corner with a bat
to take our head off
when we step out of line.
You know, God is long suffering.
He is full of mercy,
full of compassion.
God is very tenderhearted towards us.
You know, and I do believe
that if we are doing will of God,
God will be more inclined
to show us mercy.
But you know, if we're not
doing God's will,
you know, to him that is,
you know,
of whomsoever much is given
shall also much be required.
You know, the servant
that knew his Lord's will
and did it not
shall be beaten with many stripes.
But the servant
which knew not his Lord's will
shall be beaten with few stripes.
There is an accountability, right?
So if we know God's will
and we're not doing it,
you know,
that probably means
God's going to be
even more prone
to come down on us, okay?
And you see this in Scripture,
and I don't know
that I have a whole lot of time
to go through all of this,
but there's other examples
of this.
There's great men of God
that do horrible things
that are incredibly flawed
and yet God gives them mercy.
And not just because,
well, you know,
he's got an in with God
or something.
That's my boy, right?
I'm just looking out
for my boy, right?
He's just,
because he's just loyal, right?
Or God's a respecter of persons.
The Bible's very clear
that God is not
a respecter of persons.
But God does show mercy,
you know,
he does punish,
but maybe not even
to the full extent
that he could have,
and he shows that mercy
to those that are
doing God's will.
There's several examples of this.
Go to 1 Kings chapter number 2.
We'll knock out two of them
right there,
1 Kings chapter number 2.
It says in verse 1,
and this is when
Solomon's kingdom
has first been established,
right, at the beginning
of his kingdom,
and right out of the gate
was Pharaoh king of Egypt.
So he's going and making
friends with,
you know,
making this political league
with the heathen nation
in Pharaoh,
and took Pharaoh's daughter,
and brought her
into the city of David
until he made an end
of building his own house,
and the house of the Lord
and the wall of Jerusalem
round about.
That's not a good start, okay?
You know, he's not to be
taken into a strange wife,
and we know that eventually
his many strange wives,
and not strange in the sense
that they were weird,
but strange that
they were foreigners,
that they were of
another religion,
that eventually
that got to Solomon.
In the end,
he worshiped many strange gods,
and this is kind of
the beginning of that.
It says in verse 2,
only the people sacrificed
in high places
because there was no house
built under the name of
the Lord until those days,
and Solomon loved the Lord.
The Bible's telling us that.
Solomon loved God.
Walking in the statutes
of David and his father,
only he sacrificed
and burnt incenses
in the high places.
Now, I don't believe this
is talking about
idol worship at this point.
He does fall into that
later in his life,
towards the end of his life,
because it just got done
telling us that the people
were doing that because
there was no place
to worship the Lord
at that point, okay?
He's going to get to that
and build the temple.
And the king went
into Gibeon to sacrifice there,
for there was
a great high place,
a thousand burnt offerings
did Solomon offer
upon the altar,
so he's worshiping God.
In Gibeon, the Lord
appeared to Solomon
and dreamed by night,
and God said,
ask what I shall give thee.
And Solomon said,
thou hast showed unto
thy servant David,
my father, great mercy,
according as he walked.
David was shown great mercy,
according as he walked,
before thee in truth
and in righteousness
and in uprightness of heart
with thee.
And thou hast kept for him
this great kindness,
that thou hast given him a son
to sit on his throne
as it is this day.
So that phrase right there,
has shown him great mercy,
meaning exceeding mercy,
not just your run of the belt mercy,
according as he walked.
The proportion to which
he was shown mercy,
or his mercy was proportionate
to his walk, basically, right?
That's what he's kind of saying there.
And I'm sure we're all
thinking of it,
you know,
what was one of David's
great sins?
Adultery, right?
He's not even,
like Abimelech's
got a leg up on him
on this one,
because Abimelech
honestly did this,
and he was on the brink
of adultery,
didn't even know,
but didn't know it.
He thought in the
infancy of his heart,
hey, this is,
they're brother and sister,
there's nothing wrong here,
she's not married, right?
But David knew
who Bathsheba was.
That's why he was able
to get her wife,
her husband killed, right?
That's why he was able
to have Uriah sign his own,
take his own death warrant
to the battle,
and to get himself killed.
I mean,
imagine how wicked that is.
You know,
imagine after the service,
you know,
someone came up to you
and handed you an envelope,
and said,
hey, go deliver this
to somebody,
and it turned out
to be a hit man
who said,
kill this man.
You know,
and the reason why
he wanted it done
is because he's been
sleeping with your spouse.
I mean,
it's wicked, right?
It's horrible,
but that's what
David did.
He hung on it.
What did he say?
He said,
thou art the man, right?
And David said,
I have sinned.
And what did Nathan say?
Thou shalt not die.
Nevertheless, right?
Your house is
gonna be troubled,
and we know everything
that happened with Absalom
later.
David,
it did not go well with him.
He even said that
in the last words of David,
though it be not so
in my house, right?
It destroyed his family, right?
But he wasn't killed for it.
So he was shown great mercy
because the Bible
punishes adultery with death.
Now why was he shown mercy?
I believe in part
it was because of the fact
that he walked with God.
Was he perfect?
No.
But you know,
he is a man of great faith,
and as wicked as it is,
you know,
obviously, you know,
he's a flawed man.
And again,
I'm not saying like,
oh, if we do enough good,
we can go out
and do these horrible sins.
No.
That's not what I'm saying.
But what I'm saying is,
as God told Moses,
I will show mercy
unto whom I will show mercy.
Okay?
And if we want God's mercy
for when we mess up,
when we do things,
and again, I'm not saying
let's go commit adultery,
you know,
let's do enough soul winning
and attend church
and read our Bibles enough
so we can go commit adultery.
You know,
I've heard people
make that accusation,
oh, you guys say that,
you know,
then you can sin a little.
I've never preached that.
That's not what I'm saying tonight.
I hope it's not being
misconstrued that way.
What I'm saying is,
you're gonna,
you're gonna done mess up
one way or another.
Whether you serve,
you know,
whether you serve God,
whether you walk
in the statutes of God,
whether you endeavor to walk
righteously or not,
you're going to sin.
There's not a just man
upon the earth
that doeth good and sineth not.
You know,
there's none good.
No, not one.
I'm saying we're all going
to sin.
We need mercy.
How do we get it?
Well, let's walk
according to God's word.
Let's walk in righteousness
so that maybe,
you know,
when we do mess up,
when we do do things,
when we do make mistakes,
God will take it easy on us.
I'm not saying he's gonna pass,
but maybe he won't drop the hammer
like he might
if we weren't serving God.
That's all I'm saying.
You say,
well, I don't,
I'm just telling people
they could sin
if they go,
if they solo it or something.
Well, you know what?
Take it up with the Bible,
my friend.
Take it up with David.
You know,
that's just what I see
in the scripture.
Thou has showed unto
thy servant David,
my father, great mercy.
And again,
let me remind you once more
what mercy is.
Mercy is not getting
what you deserve.
That's the definition
of mercy.
Right?
It's kind of like
the name uncle, right?
Who's ever played uncle?
No?
Seen me after the service.
No, I'm just kidding.
Right?
Where, you know,
I had a stepfather
who loved to play games
like that with me, right?
Man,
if you wonder why I am
the way I am, right?
The torture I endured.
No, I'm just kidding.
But there was some time,
there was time,
I can't remember, you know,
where something was being bent
or twisted or rubbed
or whatever,
and it was say uncle,
say uncle.
His favorite game was
called whistle or lose it.
Where he'd grab you
right on the chest
and twist.
And he'd say,
whistle or lose it.
And you'd go,
sss, sss.
It's hard to whistle
when someone's
twisting right there.
Right?
But, you know,
that's kind of like that,
when you get somebody
say uncle,
what are you really saying?
You want mercy?
Ask for it.
And I'll show you mercy.
I'll stop hurting you, right?
Mercy is not getting
what you deserve.
Now obviously no one deserves
to be physically
tortured like that.
I didn't do anything
to deserve to play
whistle or lose it, okay?
But you're asking for mercy.
Stop hurting me, right?
Mercy is not getting
what you deserve.
And that's what it means
to be a merciful person.
If I'm going to extend
mercy to somebody,
it means I'm not going
to punish them
according as I could.
You know, if people
have trespassed against us
and done things
or offended us
or wronged us in some way,
that's an opportunity
for us to show mercy
if we want to, right?
See, people think
mercy and grace
are synonymous,
that they mean
the same thing.
Grace is not getting
what you,
mercy is not getting
what you deserve,
grace is getting
what you don't deserve.
If someone's being
very gracious, you know,
they're being very kind,
very generous,
you didn't do anything
to warrant this behavior, right?
If someone just came up
to you and said,
hey, you know,
I want to do this
super nice thing for you,
I want to help you
in this way,
you might even say
that's very gracious of you, right?
Because they're doing
something you didn't deserve.
Mercy is not getting
what you do deserve.
And the Bible's saying here
that God showed David,
Solomon's father,
great mercy.
And why did he show him that?
According as he walked.
So he said,
you didn't give David,
my father,
what he deserved
because of the fact
that he walked
before thee in truth
and in righteousness
and uprightness of heart.
So you know what,
it's there,
it's black and white
in the Bible,
this concept,
that if we serve God,
it doesn't mean
we're never going
to be punished,
but it just means that
God's going to be
more merciful with us.
God's going to be more
inclined to show us mercy.
And I kind of see that
in the story with Abraham.
Obviously, he's interceding
because he's trying
to preserve the promise,
but this is kind of a,
you know, he's coming
to Abraham's defense,
he's preventing this sin
from happening
because he's got to have
the child come through
to preserve that promise
of Isaac through Sarah.
But he's not really
rebuking Abraham either for it.
And you know,
look at verse 13
of where you are
in 1 Kings chapter 2.
We know that he comes to him
and he says,
ask with thou wilt
and I'll give it to you
and he asks for wisdom, right?
And he says in verse 12,
or verse 11,
And God said unto him,
Because thou hast asked,
this thing has not asked
for thyself long life,
neither has asked thyself riches,
nor has asked the life
of thine enemies,
but has asked for
thyself understanding
to discern judgment.
Behold, I have done
according to thy words.
Lo, I have given thee
a wise and understanding heart,
so that there was none
like thee before thee,
neither shall any arise
like unto thee.
And I have also given thee
that which thou hast not asked,
both riches and honor,
so that there will not be
any among the kings
like unto thee all thy days.
And if thou wilt walk
in my ways,
to keep my statutes
and my commandments
as thy father David did walk,
then I will lengthen thy days.
That's a promise from God.
Look, you want to live
a long life?
Serve God.
You know, I'm all, you know,
people doing things
for their health
and taking care of themselves,
that's great.
But, you know, there's
plenty of people out there
that are doing all these things
for their health
and I don't give God
a second thought.
And it's like, you know,
I don't care what vitamins
you're taking,
I don't care what
exercises you're doing,
the best thing you can do
for your health is serve God.
You know?
And again, that's not saying,
you know, as long as
we're serving God,
you know, we can just
treat ourselves poorly
and do whatever we want
and expect to live a long life.
I'm not saying that either.
But I am saying it,
you know, it's a factor.
You know?
It is a factor.
So, what's the main message
I want to get across tonight,
and I'll wrap this up,
is that
we want to be merciful people.
Okay?
And if you want mercy,
serve God.
If you want mercy,
if you want to merit mercy
in your life,
and let me just go ahead
and tell you again,
you're going to need it.
At some point,
we're all in need of it.
Be a merciful person.
Okay?
Go to Matthew 7,
we'll wrap up here
in the New Testament.
We'll go back and finish up
in Genesis in a minute, but
I'll remind you again
what David said,
the psalmist,
in chapter 18 of Psalms,
verse 25,
With the merciful,
thou wilt shew thyself merciful,
and with an upright man,
thou wilt shew thyself upright.
The Bible says in
Lamentations chapter number 3,
It is of the Lord's mercies
that we are not consumed,
because as compassion fail not,
they are new every morning.
Matthew 7, look at verse 1,
Judge not that you be not judged.
You know, that's the liberal
Christian's favorite verse.
That's the only Bible verse
they know.
It's the only one they have memorized.
You know, and we kind of,
we point that out, right,
that people misunderstand this.
That doesn't mean we should
never judge.
But what Jesus is actually
trying to get across here is that
if we're going to judge
other people,
then we can't be hypocrites.
And we have to understand that
if we're hypocrites,
you know, God's going to
hold us less accountable.
We have to practice what we preach,
is what he's saying here.
Judge not that you be not judged,
for of what judgment you judge,
ye shall be judged.
God's going to hold you
to that same standard.
With what measure ye meet,
it shall be measured to you again.
And that's why we don't want
to go around just doling out
unbiblical standards for other people.
You know, especially if they're ones
that we ourselves aren't meeting.
And that's not good.
God's not going to
take kindly to that.
We're not going to get mercy.
Verse 3,
Why beholdest thou the mote
that is in thy brother's eye,
but consider not the beam
that is in thine own eye?
Or how shalt thou say to thy brother,
Let me pull out the mote of thine eye,
and behold, the beam is in thine own eye?
Thou hypocrite.
So what's the problem here?
Judging?
No, it's called being a hypocrite.
First, cast out the beam of thine own eye,
then thou shalt see clearly
to cast out the mote
of thy brother's eye.
He's not saying never point out
somebody's flaw,
never hold anybody accountable,
never point out the mote,
the little speck of dust
that's in somebody's eye.
He's saying just don't go around
doing that when you have
a giant two by four sticking
out of your own head.
Be a merciful person.
You know, sometimes,
you know, we hear things
or see things
or people do things
and we're kind of like,
ugh, you know,
it bugs us,
maybe we're even offended,
maybe we're even hurt,
but you know what?
We should examine
our own selves first.
And just say, you know what?
Give them a pass.
Why?
For my sake, for your own sake.
You know, I'm just going to
give that person a pass
because I want mercy.
And here's the thing,
it's like,
we're not everybody else's dad.
You know, sometimes Christians,
it's like,
it's kind of funny to me
to see that they think
that they're everyone's dad
or something.
They got to go around
correcting everybody
and straightening everybody out.
It's like,
actually they have
a father which is in heaven.
You know, a lot of times
you just have to say,
God, you know,
you deal with it.
They're your kid.
That's your child.
Go to Matthew 18.
Matthew chapter 18.
The Bible says in Proverbs 19,
of course, whenever you preach
about this very famous verse
that comes up,
it's one I think about a lot.
The discretion of a man
defereth his anger
and it is a glory
to pass over a transgression.
It's a glory to pass
over a transgression.
You know, a transgression
when someone has actually
done you wrong
to the point where it's
made you angry.
I mean,
don't you get angry
when people do you wrong?
Do you dirty?
Yeah, it's upsetting.
No one likes that.
People hate that.
But you know what?
The Bible says
you can have discretion
and just say, you know what?
I'm just going to forgive.
I'm just going to be merciful.
I'm just going to defer anger.
I'm not going to go
nail that person on the wall.
I'm not going to go
tell them what I think.
I'm not going to give them
to be merciful.
Because a lot of times
when we do those things,
you know, we end up
doing it in the flesh.
You know, a lot of times
people like that kind
of stuff sometimes.
People like to be angry.
Right?
They like to feel
like, you know,
superior in some way.
You know, they like
to be able to like
put somebody down
and, you know, like
blah.
Makes me feel bigger.
Right?
But the Bible says
it's a discretion
of anger.
The discretion of a man.
And it's discretion.
And that's what I'm
trying to get across tonight
is that you have some wisdom,
have some discretion
when it comes to this.
Because people are
going to offend you.
People are going to do
things that are wrong to you.
It's going to happen.
And it's your discretion
that will defer that.
Rather than letting them
have it, you're going to say,
you know what?
They get a pass.
And it is his glory
to pass over a transgression.
You know, how's that
going to come back on you?
Well, one day you're
going to offend God
and God's going to go,
well, you're merciful.
I'll show you some mercy.
You know, and maybe
we do something really bad.
And God's like,
well, you know,
I normally would have
gone this far with it,
but because you're walking
in my statutes and trying
to live for God
and you're trying to
live a righteous life
and you've deferred your anger
and you've shown mercy,
I'm only going to
take it this far.
I could have done this.
Right?
So, you know, that's a reason
for us to like,
well, let's be like David.
Let's walk, you know,
not in some ways, obviously,
it's not going to
come in adultery,
but let's walk in his statutes.
Let's live righteously.
Let's, you know,
and let's be
merciful people.
So that when we do mess up,
when we do make mistakes,
when we do do things
that we don't even know
are upsetting God,
we don't get this.
We might get this.
Or maybe nothing at all.
Who knows?
You know, the parable here,
I'm sure everyone's familiar with
about the king who had
two servants
and there was one brought to him,
verse 24, which
owed him 10,000 talents.
Okay?
But he had not much to pay
and his Lord commanded him
to be sold and his wife
and his children,
all that he had
and payment to be made.
The servant, therefore,
fell down in worship saying,
Lord, have patience with me
and I'll pay thee all.
What's he saying?
Have mercy.
Be merciful.
Be patient.
Be merciful.
Be patient.
Don't sell me and my family
into slavery.
The Lord of that servant
was moved with compassion
and loosed him
and forgave him all the debt.
10,000 talents,
he said, forgiven.
But the same servant
went out and found
one of his fellow servants,
which owed him 100 pence,
owed him like a fraction
of what he owed this guy
and had just been forgiven.
And he goes and finds another guy
that owes him just nothing,
a pittance.
And he takes him by the throat.
He laid hands on him
and took him by the throat.
He's throttling.
Pay me what thou owest.
Give me my pence.
This guy just got forgiven
10,000 talents.
Way more.
And now he's throttling
this other guy
over this nothing that he owes him.
And he would not.
But he went and his fellow servant,
verse 29, this is important,
fell down, sound familiar,
and besought him saying,
have patience with me
and I will pay thee all.
You know, that should have rang
in that guy's,
is there an echo?
You know?
You just got done saying that.
And the guy showed you compassion.
But he would not.
And he cast him to prison
until he should pay the debt.
So when his fellow servant
saw what was done,
they were very sorry
and told their Lord
all that was done.
Then his Lord,
after he had called unto him,
said, O thou wicked servant,
I forgave thee all that debt
because thou desirest me,
shouldest not thou have had
compassion on thy fellow servant,
even as I had pity on thee?
And his Lord was wroth
and delivered him to the tormentors
till he should pay
all that he was due unto him.
What's the point of the story?
Verse 35.
So likewise shall my heavenly Father
do also unto you,
if ye from your hearts forgive
not every one his brother
their trespasses.
That's a very stern warning
from God,
from the mouth of Jesus.
Forgive your brother
or God won't forgive you.
Forgiveness and mercy and patience
is kind of a big theme
in the Christian life.
It's a major theme in the Bible.
Why?
Because God has forgiven us.
We can't even begin
to reckon back to God
how much he's forgiven us.
You know, our sins
are as the sands of the sea
and God just said,
Forgiven.
And not only forgiven,
forgotten.
Cast away the sins
of the sea and not forgotten.
Cast behind his back,
never to be brought up again.
You know, we get saved,
we confess and forsake our sin.
You know, if we confess our sin,
he's faithful and just
to forgive us our sin,
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,
we do that.
And then, you know,
if you went back
and brought that same sin up to God,
God would be like,
I don't know what you're talking about.
All I see is the blood of Christ.
God said, I forgot about that.
And God's saying,
that's the manner
to forgive our brethren.
You know, and some people
don't like it when I preach this,
but this is what the Bible says.
And the people that don't like
this kind of preaching,
that disagree with me,
they're the ones I've noticed
that have the problem with this.
Of letting things go,
of forgiving people
and giving people another chance.
You know, they just mark people,
once people have offended
or do something wrong,
they just mark them down.
And you know what?
Those people,
here's why I get nervous
with people like that
because it's only a matter of time
until they do it to you.
Then they, you know,
here's the thing,
if I know you're the type of person
that just holds a grudge
and doesn't let things go
and doesn't forgive
and doesn't forget,
I'm gonna be on eggshells around you.
Think about it.
You know, because believe it or not,
I know, you know,
you might get a different impression
from sometimes the way I preach.
I'm not trying to go out of my way
to offend people
and hurt people's feelings.
I'm really not.
I've just accepted the fact
that that's part of the job
of getting up here
and saying the word of God.
It's gonna offend, okay?
But I'm not trying to go and offend
and hurt people's feelings,
you know, and,
if I,
and here's the thing,
it's like I get nervous around people
that I know that can't forgive and forget
because it's like it's only a matter of time
until I do it to you.
I mean, it's literally like part of my job
to reprove and rebuke.
There's nothing fun about that.
You know, that's not a carnival ride
that you can go buy tickets for.
Step right up.
Get reproved.
Get rebuked.
No one pays for that.
People avoid that like the plague, right?
It's like, but that's what I've been called to do.
So I get really nervous when I see people
who can't forgive other people
and let them go
and I just go, well, it's only a matter of time.
It's only a matter of time
until they get bitter at me
and upset with me
and you know what?
Maybe even I do do something
that's, you know,
beyond just biblical preaching
where I actually do something
on a personal level
that hurts someone's feelings.
That I actually wrong some people.
Because guess what?
You know, I'm no better than Abraham.
Abraham was flawed.
So am I.
And so are you.
Right?
And it's like,
I'm going to be on eggshells around people
that are like that.
I can't be myself.
I'm like, well, I don't want to offend that person.
I don't want to say anything that's wrong.
Not that I, you know, would.
But it's just like when you see people
that can't let people,
let things go and forgive people.
Mark it down, my friend.
It's only a matter of time
until they're angry and bitter
and resentful at you.
It's true.
You know, I think that's part of the reason why
Abraham is being given mercy
when it comes to this thing.
Right now, at the end of the story,
he is being reproved by Abimelek.
And so is Sarah.
Because, you know, very quickly,
he said in verse 16,
unto Sarah, he said,
Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver.
Behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes
unto all that are with thee
and with all other,
and thus she was reproved.
Right? Like, he's supposed to be a covering of the eyes.
You know, meaning, I believe, like,
he's supposed to protect Sarah from other people, you know,
desiring her, wanting to take her.
It's kind of a difficult saying
to get the exact meaning of what he's saying.
I've struggled with that.
I think I'm starting to get it.
But the point is that,
whatever that means,
the last thing that it says there in that verse
is thus she was reproved.
So she's being reproved.
So Abraham prayed unto God,
and God healed Abimelek and his wife
and his maidservants,
and they bear children.
Right?
So there is some justified reproof going on here.
Abraham's being reproved.
Sarah's being reproved.
What they did was wrong.
But notice in the story,
God's not coming down on them.
And obviously it was wrong what they did,
and God is certainly interceding,
but on behalf of the promise.
Right? For the promise of sake.
I can't help but think that
part of the reason why God
is kind of sparing Abraham
is because Abraham is somebody who has spared others.
You know, a lot comes to mind.
Well, he heard when Lot went and pitched his tent towards Sodom.
I mean, Abraham could have been said,
well, and you know, remember,
he was abducted, again,
abducted by the kings.
Abraham could have just been like,
what did he think was going to happen?
When you go hang out in Sodom,
that's the kind of stuff that happens.
You never know how life's going to turn out
when you're just giving over the world
and giving over to all this
filth and sin and worldliness.
You never know.
But no, he goes and spares him
in spite of Lot's own flaws.
He says, let's go get our brother back.
Let's go get our kinsman back.
Let's go rescue him from that.
He shows mercy, right?
He's sparing him.
He's not just writing him off
to, you know, to his fate.
He's interceding on his behalf.
He does that twice.
He just read it last week in chapter 19,
where he's praying God down.
He's begging God down
to spare the righteous in Sodom.
It turns out Lot was the only one.
And he's living in Sodom.
I mean, at that point,
I would've just been like,
you know, Lot, you got it coming.
You know, humanly speaking,
wouldn't that have been
such a bad response?
At first glance,
we've been like, well, yeah.
You want to go live in Sodom, buddy?
You're going to go down with the ship.
What were you thinking?
Lot?
You idiot.
But that wasn't Abraham's attitude.
He spared Lot.
And I'm sure it's because he loved Lot,
he cared about Lot,
but because he spared Lot,
I believe Abraham
is being spared also.
When he does things that are wrong,
God says, you know what?
Mercy here.
And shows him forgiveness.
And even in the story,
Abimelech, you know,
although he was kind of
strong-armed by God pretty much,
when God comes to you in the night
and says you're a dead man,
you're going to do whatever he says.
But, you know, in a sense,
he's also showing mercy.
He's getting it right.
He's reproving,
but he's also giving them silver,
he's sending them away,
restoring them,
sending them off better
than when they showed up.
And as a result,
what does the Bible say?
God healed Abimelech and his wife
and his maidservant
and they bear children.
The Lord had fast closed up
all the wombs of the house of Abimelech
because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
God shows them mercy.
He does what he's supposed to do,
he follows the commandments of God,
God shows them mercy.
You know, again, mercy, forgiveness,
it's a major thing.
It's a major thing because,
you know, we need mercy,
we have been forgiven,
we need forgiveness.
You want that?
You want to merit mercy?
You need to extend that to others.
I mean, it's literally
in the Lord's Prayer, right?
Forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
Right?
That's what Jesus,
when they said,
teach us to forgive,
forgive us,
that's what Jesus,
when they said,
teach us to pray.
Here's something,
and not rote memorization,
he's saying,
here's something
you should pray about.
Help me to forgive other people
even as you have forgiven me.
That's what he's saying.
So, kind of a major theme
in the Bible
and I think tonight
this is a good example
of that, once again.
Let's go ahead
and close in a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, again,
thank you for the mercy
and the forgiveness
and the grace
that you've shown towards
every one of us,
every one of your children
and Lord, help us
on it.
We can't even begin
to understand,
Lord, the Bible says,
behold what manner
of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us
that we should be called
the sons of God.
What a great honor
to be forgiven
and to be called
your son,
to be an heir with Christ.
What a great standing,
Lord, and we know
it's all by grace
and mercy
that we even have that.
That it's only
through your love
that we have
the free gift of salvation
and Lord, I pray you'd
help us to extend
that same grace
to others
through preaching the Gospel
and Lord, to reconcile
others unto you
and Lord, help us
to be merciful
with our brethren,
merciful with other
people in our lives.
Help us to forgive
even as you have
forgiven us.
We ask these things
in Christ's name.
Amen.
All right, we'll go ahead
and sing one more song
before we are
dismissed tonight.
If you could please
open up your song,
the books of Psalm,
number 389.
Psalm 389.
Sing it out.
Tis the shepherd's voice
I hear,
having the desert
darkened year,
calling the sheep
who've gone astray,
far from the shepherds
all the way.
Bring them in,
bring them in,
bring them in
from the fields of spring.
Bring them in,
bring them in,
bring the water
close to Jesus.
Hold them
with the wish
shepherd kind,
help bring the
wandering ones to flight.
Hold bring the
lost ones to the throne,
where there'll be
shelter from the poor.
Bring them in,
bring them in,
bring them in
from the fields of spring.
Bring them in,
bring them in,
bring the wandering
ones to be on the shore.
Help bring the
desert, hear them cry.
Help from the mountains
wild and high,
who art in the
master speaks to thee.
Go find my sheep
are ready.
Bring them in,
bring them in,
bring them in
from the fields of spring.
Bring them in,
bring them in,
bring the wandering
ones to be on the shore.
Amen.
piano plays