We're in Genesis, chapter number 20, and the Bible kind of just takes a pretty big turn here.
It just kind of goes back and focuses on Abraham after dealing so much with Lot in chapter number 19.
It says in verse number 1,
...for she is a man's wife, but Abimelech had not come near her.
And he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
Said he not unto me, She is my sister?
And she, even she herself, said, He is my brother.
In the integrity of my heart and in the innocency of my hands have I done this.
And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart.
For I also withheld thee from sinning against me.
Therefore, suffer I thee not to touch her.
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 not, know thou that thou shalt surely die thou, and all that are thine.
So, we have kind of an interesting story here, and really, as you read this, it sounds familiar.
And it's because it had already happened, essentially, earlier in the book of Genesis.
Abraham had gone down into Egypt, or gone into Pharaoh,
and basically had done the same thing, where he had said, oh Sarah, just pretend like you're my sister, not really my wife.
And he was afraid that Pharaoh, or his men, or the people of that city would kill him, because of how beautiful Sarah was.
And so, apparently, Sarah must have been very attractive, because Abraham is greatly fearing the fact that people will be very envious of his wife,
very envious of her beauty, and try to kill him, or take her to be his wife.
And so, he concocts this lie, again.
And it's kind of interesting, because he's already been down this road, but then yet he does it again.
And I think this shows a lot of things about human nature.
Is that, most of us, you know, even though we try to serve the Lord, and we understand how sin is wrong,
it's very easy for us to basically get hooked into the same sins over and over.
It's easy for us to fall victim to the same type of problems, or the same type of issues, over and over again.
That's why it's important to, you know, be aware of the fact that certain temptations that you have,
it's going to be easy for you to fall victim of those again.
You know, if you've fallen down in a certain area of your life, or you have a certain sin that's a certain temptation for you,
you have to realize that's probably going to be a temptation for you your entire life.
And, you know, even though Abraham's a great man of faith, and we look at him as being a very righteous guy,
notice he's capable of making the same mistake over and over again, and even his wife makes the same mistake.
And so, we need to take heed, lest we fall, as the Bible, you know, describes it.
And we need to realize, as soon as we open a door to a certain sin, or a certain problem in our lives,
that that door's probably going to be open for the rest of our life.
And so, it's best to just try and stay away from that situation, or to avoid that type of a sin,
because none of us are really ever going to stop, necessarily, in the sense that I no longer have that desire.
Right? You know, for me, you know, there's certain things in my life, there's certain sins in my life,
where after kind of getting over it, it's not really that big of a temptation for me.
But then there's other sins where it's, I know for a fact, it's just going to be a struggle for me for the rest of my life,
because it's just human nature, it's just part of being a man, or being a woman, or being an adult, or being a child,
or whatever it is, there's just certain things that are going to always creep up.
You know, this is not really a sin, but I'll just admit, like, I really like playing video games, okay?
And even though I've grown up, and I don't play that anymore, I could play video games right now.
I mean, and not only just for a little bit, like, I am an addict, okay?
There used to be, there's this, like, software, you know, game that I would play a lot called Red Alert,
and they ended up having a similar version called Starcraft, and man, I could play that thing for hours.
And it's weird, because whenever I would play it, it's like time would just go in, like, a second.
It was almost like sleeping. I would start playing it, and then all of a sudden I'd be playing it for, like, five hours or something.
My wife's like, are you going to ever stop playing this game? I was like, I just started playing.
She's like, five hours ago. You know, and so it's just kind of weird.
And the reality is, even right now, in the state that I am right now, if I sat down and I had the opportunity to play it,
I would be hooked instantly again, and I would want to play it, just because that's just who we are.
You know, people who struggle with smoking, they're going to want to probably smoke their whole life.
People that have struggled with drinking, they're probably going to want to drink their whole life.
You know, whatever it is, whatever temptations you have, whatever problems you have, you have to realize that it's not like,
well, if I just have enough faith, I won't be tempted.
But yet, isn't Abraham one of the most faithful people in the Bible?
Isn't he one of the people with the strongest faith in the Word of God? Isn't he being greatly used by God?
Yet he ends up struggling with the same type of temptation, the same problems, making the same mistakes, over and over again.
And so that's why it's important to guard yourself and to ensure that you're making good decisions in your life,
because we can all fall victim to the same problems over and over again.
The old man didn't get better.
You know, what you need to do is you need the new man to get stronger, so that you can walk in the new man on a more regular basis.
But your old man is still going to desire the same things over and over again, the same temptations, the same problems.
That's why it's important to go to church. That's why it's important to read your Bible.
That's why it's important to have certain routines.
That's why it's also important to avoid certain areas of your life, you know?
Not hang around with certain friends anymore.
You know, we believe in separation in this church, and you say, why would you be separate?
Well, look what happened to Lot.
When Lot did not separate himself from the world, he was completely destroyed.
But even though you might separate yourself from Sodom, and you might separate yourself from Gomorrah,
that doesn't mean that Abraham can't fall, too.
That doesn't mean that Abraham can't have problems or issues, too.
And so don't think, well, I'm going to church three times a week, and I read my Bible.
Therefore, I'm never going to sin, or I'm not going to struggle with anything, or I'm never going to have any kind of problem, or I'm never going to do anything wrong.
No, that's a bad mentality.
And obviously the Pentecostals and the Charismatics, they'll try to get you to come down the aisle and get delivered again.
I've been delivered!
I don't do that no more.
And it's like, but that's just them getting all excited about nothing.
Because if it really worked, then why do they come down the aisle every week?
You would think that if it worked, it would just be a one-time deal.
It's like, hey, everybody came down the aisle, we're all good.
But rather, the whole church comes down the aisle every single week.
And I've even seen this in independent fundamental Baptist churches, where people are coming down to the old-fashioned altar every single week.
And look, obviously we should die daily.
Obviously we should get right with the Lord every single day, every single week, and we should constantly be doing it.
But it's not a vain show.
And it's not some kind of a physical exercise.
It's not like you standing up and then walking down the aisle is somehow going to magically cause sin to stop in your life.
What you really need to do is check your flesh throughout the week.
Where are you walking to during the week, rather than are you walking down the aisle?
Because you can walk down the aisle and then walk into the bar on Monday night, and it's not going to make any difference.
And the person that's sitting in the pew, not walking the aisle, but then says, I'm not going to walk into the bar, is going to actually have success in the Christian life.
And so don't kid yourself and think, well, I just must not be as determined as I need to be in church.
Or I need to pray a little bit harder.
Look, what you need to do is just ensure that every moment of your life you're making the right decisions, not just key moments in your life.
Because Christianity is not a one-time decision.
Serving God is not a one-time decision.
How many decisions has Abraham had to make up to this point to serve God?
And typically when God sees you faithful in an area, He'll usually escalate it and ask you to be even more faithful,
and to sacrifice even more, or to do even more, to walk in more faith, or to go through a different battle or a different struggle.
You know, some of the greatest men in the Bible, you know, their life doesn't get any easier.
It's usually an increased army or a bigger battle or something more that God's asking them to sacrifice.
And especially when we think of Abraham, and I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but leaving your family has got to be hard.
But pretty soon he's going to be asked to sacrifice his child. That's harder.
And so we've got to see through Abraham's life that he's constantly getting escalated in his faith and what he needs to do and serving the Lord.
And we also need to realize that God is going to ask more of us as time goes on.
And as dark as this world looks like it's heading for, you know, as evil as this world's getting,
and as much as this world is rejecting the Bible and God, you know, I don't believe that the Christian walk is going to get easier any time soon.
It's probably only going to get harder from now on.
Now there's going to be ebbs and flows. There's always ebbs and flows.
You know, there's going to be seasons where you're just kind of serving God on a roller coaster and you're just going on the way down.
And you're just like, but, you know, sometimes before that, it's a little scary when you're going up to the.
And you're kind of like only looking up and you're just thinking, like, how are we going to get?
And, you know, it's kind of a little bit nerve wracking when you're on that roller coaster.
Like, is this supposed to squeak that much when we're going up? It's like.
And it's like, is that not screwed in good? You know, you're just kind of like you're kind of nervous.
But then when you're on your way down, you're just kind of like, it doesn't matter anymore.
You know, I'm either going to make it or not. You're just like.
Or sometimes you are holding on a little tight, like, you know, and they take the picture.
The one guy's like the person's like, ah, you know.
But the reality is that, you know, the Christian life is not just a one time event.
It's not a one time decision. It's a continual basis.
And we see with Abraham here, you know, we're kind of looking at the big picture of what the story is telling us.
But don't think that you can't make the same mistake over and over. You can.
Also, don't allow that to cause you to feel like, well, I'm just going to give up Christianity then because I can't get over this problem.
You know, Abraham never even fixes this problem, really.
But God still uses him. And, you know, God still uses imperfect people.
And God can still correct our path. And God can still make up the heads for us.
And, you know, basically enlarge our steps, as the Bible describes it.
So as to help us through the difficult seas of being in the flesh.
Because being in the flesh is difficult. There's a war that we're constantly struggling and fighting on a daily basis.
But what's interesting in this story is even though Abraham's in the wrong.
And I want to make that clear that Abraham is not doing something that's right here.
You know, this would be a fault of Abraham to kind of basically tell a half-truth.
He's not being honest about who he's married to.
He's kind of allowing his wife to be entered into a dangerous situation here where another man's interested in her.
And basically adultery is now on the table.
And all kinds of other weird things that are being introduced by this story.
And God basically appears into Abimelech and wants to preserve Abimelech from harming Abraham.
Okay? Now, even though Abraham's kind of enabling that and kind of assisting in him having this opportunity to harm him.
It still is just a fact that if Abimelech goes through this, this will cause harm to Abraham.
It'll cause harm to Sarah.
Because someone sleeping with your wife has got to be one of the most, you know, egregious sins that could ever be imagined by a man.
I mean, when it comes to some of the worst things imaginable, to me, you know, my wife being with another man's about the worst.
There's not much worse than that.
That's about one of the worst things imaginable.
And so the fact that they're going down this road is a pretty dark road for Abraham.
So God preserves Sarah and preserves Abraham from this.
And what's also interesting is, you know, Sarah's been chosen to produce a child.
Okay?
And that child's going to be Isaac.
And so it's important that God preserves this promise because God promised to Sarah that she was going to have a child.
And it was going to be through Abraham.
And that it was going to be their promised child, Isaac.
So this is going to really, like, ruin that promise.
That's going to really destroy this promise here.
And so it's important that God warns Abimelech and does not allow Abimelech to do this.
And in fact, if Abimelech is not going to remedy the situation himself, then God says, I'm just going to kill you.
Notice that God is just not going to let it happen, period.
It's not like it's on the table, really, in God's vision, in God's view.
It's just, is Abimelech going to die or not?
And so Abimelech has the opportunity here to basically restore Sarah unto Abraham and to give back his wife so that he won't die.
And here's the thing.
God cares about his children regardless of what mistakes that they make.
And this is a great thing to know about God.
That you don't have to be perfect for God's favor to be in your life.
Okay, now go a few places.
I want you to go to 1 Chronicles, chapter 16, and especially as prophets.
Now again, you don't have to be a prophet, like in the Old Testament sense, in order for God to care about you or to protect you.
And to some degree, we're all prophets because we all go out and preach the gospel.
You know, it talks about maidens and handmaidens and daughters going out and prophesying.
And if you're prophesying, that would make you a preacher.
And so here's the thing.
God cares about his preachers.
God cares about those that are going out and preaching the gospel.
And look, frankly, he cares about every saved person.
They're all his children and he cares about every single one of his children.
And here's the thing.
Even though you may punish your children, no matter how bad your children are, you're not going to let someone mess with that child.
You're not going to be like, well, this is kind of the bad kid, just give him a hard time.
No, I mean, even your worst kid, you know, whoever that is, don't point him out.
But whoever's the worst one at the moment, you're not going to be like, yeah, it's fine, rough him up, just hurt him, harm him.
No, you would defend him from all enemies, from all evil, even if they just screwed up, even if they did something wrong.
You're going to be on their team, you're going to be on their side, you're going to be quick to defend them.
And that's how God views us, that we're his children.
And even when we screw up, even though we're not perfect, God is still there to protect us and to guard us and to not allow harm to come unto us in many cases.
Look at 1 Chronicles 16 verse 21.
Now, in this context, he's talking about the children of Israel as a whole.
He's saying, hey, don't do any harm unto them, and especially my prophets, right? And do my prophets no harm.
So notice, he doesn't want any harm to happen to Abraham, and this is obviously latering when it's talking about the children of Israel.
Go to Psalms 105 and we're going to see the same thing again. I want to show you that again, though.
And when God repeats himself, I feel like we need to listen.
You know, if God's saying the same thing over and over again, we need to pay attention to what God's trying to tell us.
But God does not take it lightly if someone's trying to hurt one of his children.
And what I like about this is he's really emphasizing the children of Israel.
Now, when we think about disobedient children, like, who's a better example than the children of Israel in the wilderness?
Isn't that a pretty good example of some disobedient children?
Yet God is still protecting them. God is still on their side.
God is still extending his favor and his blessing unto them and providing for them on a daily basis.
Hey, even though they're complaining, he still gives them food.
Even though they're complaining, he still gives them water.
Even though they're complaining, he doesn't allow their feet to swell so that their sandals are staying on their feet,
and he's still allowing them to even win many battles.
You know, they won a lot of battles even in the wilderness.
They're killing, you know, King Ogabation, and they're winning other battles before they enter into the Promised Land.
And so it's not like God cannot just give you favor and grace and longsuffering even when you're a backslidden or a disobedient child.
You know, being a child of God has a lot of benefits attached to it.
Look at Psalms 105, verse 14.
He suffered no man to do them wrong, yet he reproved kings for their sakes, saying,
Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
So again, he's just bringing up the exact same fact, because one of the worst things you can do is try to attack a child of God.
Trying to hurt a child of God, or trying to hurt one of his prophets, or to hurt the man of God, or the woman of God, or the child of God.
Look, God does not take that lightly, and God may just kill you for even trying to attempt to hurt them, attempt to try and do anything wrong with them.
Because notice he's saying to Abimelech, hey, if you even just attempt to be with his wife, you're dead. Like, I will kill you.
So that's a pretty strong rebuke. That's a pretty strong punishment for trying to do any kind of harm, even if it was unintentional.
Think about it. We're talking about an unintentional harm to a man of God.
God's saying, if you even hurt him unintentionally, I'll kill you. Or try to.
That's the type of love that God has towards his children. That's how much favor and blessing that God wants to extend towards his children.
And I think sometimes we have this weird idea that God is this overly strict, overbearing father that just wants to punish you for every offense and every grievance,
and he's not going to give you any kind of blessing, and if you do anything wrong then he can't bless you.
That's kind of a weird mentality. God is not this overly strict God in the sense that every grievance and every transgression and every iniquity is punished to the fullest and just readily.
Because if that were true, a lot of us probably wouldn't even be here. Let's just be honest. God a lot of times allows us to do a lot of sinful things and get away with them.
He extends grace. He extends mercy to us. And that's why you see a lot of Christians not getting right with God.
Because of the long-suffering nature of God, because he allows his children to do a lot of bad things at times and kind of extends his grace and mercy and doesn't chastise them right away,
or they don't necessarily see the chastisement in their life, it kind of disillusions them to feel like, you know, well, what's the point of serving God?
Or, you know, what's the point of doing right? So you kind of have both ends of the spectrum.
You have one end where they're so afraid of their own shadow when God's not like that,
and then you have the other side that kind of takes advantage of his grace, tries to take advantage of his long-suffering, and really we need to have a balanced view.
And when we look at this chapter, this is trying to help balance the idea that God often will extend grace and mercy and give you favor even when you screw up.
Even when you're doing wrong, even when you kind of get a little off course, he can still kind of guide you back onto the same course.
Go to Numbers 23 for a moment. Go to Numbers chapter 23.
Now, talking about the children of Israel, there was a certain enemy that wanted to destroy them, wanted to take them out, wanted to curse them,
and God just would not allow it.
And again, this is illustrating the point that the children of Israel are not being obedient to the Lord in this moment.
They're not really right with God necessarily. They've done a lot of wrong, yet God is still going to extend favor to them.
Okay, Numbers 23, look at verse 23.
Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.
According to this time, it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought?
Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion and lift up himself as a young lion.
He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey and drink the blood of the slain.
And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
Now, Balaam was hired by Balak to curse the children of Israel.
And Balaam basically tells him, you know, I can't do anything that God's not going to allow me to do.
Whatever God says, I'm going to basically have to submit to whatever he says.
Now, some people take this as the idea of, like, Balaam being saved. Balaam's not saved, okay?
Just check Jude, alright?
But what is true about this is that even the devil or demonic spirits, devils, you know, these type of beings,
or enemies or children of the devil, there's still thresholds that they can't cross unless God allows them to cross.
Think about Job. In the book of Job, the devil is given power by the Lord to do certain things in the Job,
but then he sets certain thresholds.
He says, hey, you can take his money and his children, but, you know, don't take his health, right?
And so he loses all these different things, but he doesn't lose his health.
Then the devil kind of comes and bargains, and he's like, well, you know, skin for a skin, you know.
If you touch his skin, then he'll curse you.
And so then God allows him to basically curse his skin, but he says you still can't kill him.
And here's the thing. It's not like the devil didn't want to kill him.
It's not like the devil wouldn't have killed him right away.
It's the fact that God is putting certain boundaries that they can't cross,
and with Balaam, God is setting certain boundaries with Balaam and not allowing him to curse them in any way.
You know, the Bible talks about no weapon formed against me shall prosper, right?
And the Bible is just basically illustrating the fact that there are certain things that the enemy wants to do to you,
wants to curse you, wants to harm you, yet God will just not allow it.
God will not allow certain things to come into our lives or to hurt you or to harm you.
And think, this is the same children of Israel that in Numbers 11, not that long ago, they're complaining.
Remember that? It's like when the people complained, it displeased the Lord.
And he's like killing them. So God's literally killing them and punishing them severely,
but then in the next breath, someone that wants to hurt them, he's like, you can't hurt them at all.
You know, I'm not going to allow you to do any damage to them.
So we kind of see the protective father who's willing to punish his children,
yet he's not going to let other people mess with his own children or hurt them or harm them.
Go to Joshua 24, Joshua chapter number 24.
I want to show you another verse on Balaam for a second.
But this is a consistent theme throughout the Bible.
Joshua 24, look at verse number nine.
The Bible reads, Then Balak, the son of Ziphor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel
and sent and called Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you.
But I would not hearken unto Balaam, therefore he blessed you still, so I delivered you out of his hand.
So notice again, the Bible is saying that I wouldn't hearken unto Balaam.
So he had to bless you because that's the only thing I told him to say.
He had to repeat what I said, and he wanted to curse you.
Notice that was his goal, that was his motivation, but he wouldn't listen to Balaam.
So Balaam's like, I want to curse them, please let me curse them.
He's trying to curse them, but then God just would not allow him to curse them.
And notice he delivered them out of Balaam's hand, and Balak specifically.
Go to Exodus chapter 15.
Go backwards to Exodus.
I want to show you another example here.
And I just want to show you a few different examples because this theme is very consistent throughout the Bible.
And as a fundamental Baptist, typically, if you were to ask me, what do people struggle with more?
Getting the sin out of their life, or feeling accepted with God?
And it's probably getting the sin out of their life.
So you're probably going to hear a lot more messages on the need to stop sinning, and give up your sin, and get right with God.
And obviously we're going to continue to preach that.
But we have to realize that there is grace that comes with our life.
And that God, even though we can be sinful and we can struggle with things,
it's not like God just is done with us, or thinks that we're just trash, or whatever,
because we're not perfect, or because we're not able to follow His commandments all the time, exactly how we should.
And so, you know, you have a lot of churches that kind of overemphasize this kind of preaching,
where it's just grace, grace, mercy, longsuffering, and they forget to remind you you need to clean up your life.
Then you have some churches that are just like fire and brimstone.
They're usually false prophet churches saying if you're not right with God you're not even saved.
We want to be balanced.
We want to make sure that we realize the importance of getting the sin out of our life, being holy,
be therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,
and then balancing that with God's grace, and mercy, and care, and love that He has for us,
and realizing we're going to struggle until our dying breath.
You know, think about the Apostle Paul in Romans 7.
Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Right?
So he realizes he struggles with sin.
He realizes he can't even overcome a lot of the things that he would like to overcome,
the things that he wants to do he's not doing, and the things that he doesn't want to do he says that he's doing.
And he says, oh, wretched man that I am. Right?
So he's admitting he's a wretched man.
And we're talking about the Apostle Paul.
Talk about somebody pretty greatly used by God.
Talk about someone doing some great things in the Bible.
If Paul is wretched, what does that make me?
I'd be afraid to know what that makes me. Right?
I'd be afraid to know what that makes us in comparison to the Apostle Paul.
And I think God is making it clear that people like Abraham, like Paul,
still struggle greatly with sin and problems so that we don't put them on this unrealistic pedestal.
Couldn't we, you know, if we only had the good parts about all the men in the Bible,
we could kind of put them on this weird pedestal and think there's something wrong with all of us
because we actually do struggle with sin, or we actually are imperfect, or we actually do things that are bad.
And so we get like an imbalanced view or idea.
And also thinking that God can't use us because of our sinful condition,
whereas Abraham struggles with sin, used by God.
David struggles with sin, used by God.
Moses struggles with sin, used by God.
I mean, Moses' life is a train wreck.
This guy was raised as an Egyptian, killed someone, then fled, okay?
So he's just backslidden. He's not even doing anything for God.
Then God wants to use him, okay?
And his marriage is a train wreck.
I mean, it's like, what has Moses got going on?
It's like, you know, it's like, what does God see in Moses?
You know what God sees in Moses? He sees someone that's not going to quit, basically is what he sees.
And you know, that's pretty much the consistent theme of all the men of God.
It's not that they were perfect, it's that they don't quit.
Abraham doesn't quit.
Moses doesn't quit.
David doesn't quit.
I mean, the greatly used by... Paul doesn't quit.
That's where you kind of see the bigger theme.
Rather than being perfect, it's someone that's what? Steadfast.
Look at Exodus 15, verse 1.
...then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying,
I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously.
The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will prepare Him in habitation.
My Father is God, and I will exalt Him.
The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is His name.
Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea.
His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.
The depths have covered them.
They sink into the bottom as a stone.
Thy right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power.
Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
Now, what's interesting is Pharaoh, he was tossing the children of Israel into the sea.
And then what happens?
The same punishment comes back all full circle, and then he gets tossed in the sea, and he gets destroyed.
Go to Daniel chapter 6. I'll show you another one of these.
And oftentimes the punishment that evil people want for you, they get.
You know, think about Haman.
Haman wants Mordecai to be hung, and then how does he die?
He gets hung on the same...
He gets hung on the gallows he prepared for Mordecai. Literally.
And so you have to understand that oftentimes evil people will dream up some horrible wait for you to die,
and then God will just let them die that way.
God will let them be the ones that are destroyed and punished and crushed, and we just don't have anything to fear.
Now, you have to understand that some of those children were killed.
Some of the children of Israel are greatly oppressed.
So it's not like every single person is always delivered.
Sometimes God has a few people as martyrs.
Sometimes God has a few people that are destroyed, and we just need to be faithful in the death.
And I'll be honest with you.
I believe that in our lifetime, some of our friends, some of our Christian friends, will probably be persecuted unto death in our lifetime.
But you know what? They get a special crown of life in heaven.
And I got news for you. Every person that's new IFB will die.
Unless you're raptured. Okay, that's your only out.
You're gonna die. So it's like, well, I just don't want to be killed for Christ. Why not?
I don't want to die slowly of cancer or something.
I don't want to die in a horrible way or whatever.
Dying for Christ is a glorious way.
I don't want to die in a car accident or something, or do something wrong on the job, or make some kind of mistake, or whatever.
Or find out information on the Clintons and kill myself or whatever.
I will never kill myself, FYI.
I know a lot of people say that, but it's just strange they do.
But the reality is, you know, we're all gonna die someday, and some people will, but the majority in the Word of God get delivered.
You know, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they're willing to die, and they don't.
And here's another story. Daniel chapter 6, look at verse 24.
And the king commanded, and they brought those men, which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of the lions.
Then their children and their wives and the lions had the mastery of them, and break all their bones in pieces, or ever they came at the bottom of the den.
You know, I see a consistent theme in the Bible.
Don't mess with the men of God.
Don't mess with the man of God.
Don't mess with the children of God, because that punishment that you're dreaming up may come upon your head.
Because God is the God of the whole earth, and you know what, even if these people don't fear God, God is still to be feared.
You know, there's a lot of people that don't fear guns, and they handle them inappropriately, and then they shoot themselves.
You know, it doesn't matter if you fear the gun or not, it's dangerous.
It doesn't matter if you fear lightning or not, it's dangerous.
It doesn't matter if you fear driving on the highway at incredible speeds, it's dangerous.
And you know what, it doesn't matter if you fear God or not, He's not one to mess with.
And God doesn't take it lightly when you mess with His children, when you mess with the man of God,
and when you're attacking them, God may just destroy you.
Go, if you would, to 2 Timothy chapter 4.
I'm going to read for you.
You know, the apostle Paul had an entire group of people that wanted to kill him.
And I'll just read you what the Bible says.
And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse,
saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
You know what's sad about that verse for them?
We never read it again what happened.
And Paul dies a lot later.
I bet they got hungry.
Can you imagine, you know, they're on this curse, they're like, we're going to kill them or whatever.
And I mean, this was serious.
This was no joke.
I mean, these people are literally saying, we will not eat or drink unless we kill Paul.
And who knows what their curse was, but maybe their curse could have literally been,
kill me if I eat or drink before I kill Paul.
And so the first one to break down after a few days of starving grabs a piece of bread and then they kill him.
And then exactly what they wanted to do to Paul, one by one they end up killing each other or whatever.
Who knows? Maybe they killed themselves.
Who knows what happened or maybe God killed them for making this stupid curse.
We don't know what happened to them, but I know this, nothing good happened for them.
Whatever stupid, you know, rule, we're never going away.
It's like, well, good luck.
Look at 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse 16.
At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me.
I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known
and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Because the apostle Paul describes there was an event where he was literally, you know, taken out of the mouth of the lion.
He was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
He was preserved, and he's saying the Lord's going to preserve me unto every evil work.
Realizing when you're, you know, doing the Lord's work and you're serving God,
he's only going to let you die if that's his goal for your life.
And we should all be willing to just accept that.
If God wants us to die a martyr's death, then so be it.
Because every time someone died a martyr's death, something great happened in the Bible.
It's like Stephen died, and then it's like, look at Christianity exploding everywhere in the world.
And, you know, there's no such thing as bad press, apparently, because when you kill God's martyrs, Christianity gets more popular.
You know, if the enemy had any sense, they would leave you alone for two reasons.
Number one, they don't want God's wrath.
And number two, the more they mess with you, the more they afflict you, the more you grow.
The more people actually, you know, get right with God and start serving the Lord, you know, they just can't stop God.
There's no point in attacking the Lord or his work.
You know, the word of the Lord is not bound.
They can bind me, they can bind you, but you know what?
The word of God is not bound, and Christianity is going to continue to thrive.
And the devil's been trying to stop Christianity since day one.
He keeps failing.
And I'll tell you this, Christianity is literally thriving in America in the most recent years.
It is.
And you say, what do you mean by that?
Well, look, by the world's definition of Christianity, that's just anybody that names Christ.
But we realize that's just pretty much all fake.
But people that actually love God, people that are actually saved,
has been exponentially increasing and growing at an incredible rate over the last five, ten years.
Real Christians have been growing and multiplying.
I mean, our church and other churches like us are getting thousands and thousands of people saved every year.
I mean, we're literally having a literal revival in this country.
If you take that out, I mean, we're talking about thousands and thousands of people not getting saved that weren't.
I mean, you go back 10, 20 years, there wasn't a huge movement of soul winning in this country.
There wasn't a lot of people getting a lot of, now there has been movements in our country in the past.
I'm not trying to say for all of America there hasn't been good movements.
I'm just saying in the last 20 years, the most recent five, we're under heavy revival.
That's why there's also more persecution because the devil's not just going to take it lying down.
You know, the devil wasn't even having to do much 20 years ago.
I mean, Christianity was just destroying itself.
False prophets abound everywhere, and it was hard to find anybody that was serving God.
But now that we're actually having a resurgence of Christianity, and not only are we getting people saved,
we're getting people to get into church, and we're getting people to change their lives,
and we're getting these people to get married, and we're having these people to produce children,
and they're producing a lot of children.
And God is just blessing our church incredibly.
I mean, look, to look at our bulletin and see how many people are having children, that is a major blessing.
Because not only are they being blessed physically, they're being blessed mentally because they have the right idea on life,
and they're realizing having children is great.
I guarantee there's a lot of children that would not even exist if the new IV didn't exist.
A lot of children.
And you know, I have no idea how many children I would have had, but I mean, I didn't really have a number or a cap,
but I may have not decided to just keep having children.
I may not have had five. I don't know. Maybe I would have. I hope I would have.
But I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of people that may not have had ten.
Or however many it is that they're having.
Two, three, four, or maybe they would have even tried to have any by now.
And so it's like we're literally growing and multiplying and reaching thousands and thousands of people.
Our videos, whether they like it or not, are reaching millions.
It may not be the sermon that we wanted to reach millions, but at least the Word of God is reaching millions somehow.
And you know, lots of people agree with us.
Lots of people agree with the Word of God, and they know what the Bible says.
Go to Proverbs chapter 26, even on the most controversial topics, okay?
There was recently this video. This is just a little tidbit for you. It has nothing to do with the sermon, but
I saw an Info Wars, and I don't really go there often, okay?
I'm just saying where I found the source, okay?
They had put this article out, and the San Francisco Gay Choir, or whatever, produced some video recently where they're singing a song.
And they're saying, oh, all these people are attacking us and they don't like us because they think we're coming after your children.
Well, they got that right.
And then they sing this song, and the lyrics are literally, we're coming after your children.
We want your children.
We're coming after your children.
And over and over and over again, all of these fags, all these homos are literally just singing it.
It was like a four-minute music video or whatever.
And you go and click on it, and they shared it. This is like their own YouTube channel where they shared this video.
It had like 50 upvotes and then like thousands and thousands and thousands of down clicks.
And this was like only a few hours.
It had 1,500 comments. I didn't see a single positive comment.
The comments were like, this makes me want to be a Muslim.
This makes me believe in Sharia.
They were like tons of Leviticus 20-13s.
Leviticus 18.
You know, they were like, I mean, everything was like, this is sick, and this is disgusting, and we hate these child molesters and blah, blah, blah.
Look, don't think that we're in this minority view of hating homos or whatever.
Why is it that the government has to force you to tolerate them?
Do they think that everyone's new IFB or something?
It's like they literally have to pass all this legislation, and they have to literally force companies, and they have to pass all this documents
and say like, you can't fire them, and you have to tolerate them, and you have to wave the flag and whatever.
They have to do that because nobody likes them.
Look, when you have to pass law after law after law for people to just tolerate you, it's because they hate you.
It's because you're gross and disgusting, and no one likes you.
No one cares about you.
And maybe they don't like me, that's fine, but it's really they hate Jesus.
But they don't like you either.
You're kidding yourself.
If you think that they like you as well, no one likes them.
That's why it's called vile affections.
It's gross, it's disgusting, it's filthy, and most people are afraid to say something because of an extended family member.
They've got a cousin or uncle or aunt or whatever, and they're just not real sure, so they just try to keep their mouth shut,
and they're too afraid to actually open their mouth because they don't want the game off you to come after them or whatever.
I know there's a lot of Baptist churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and I know a lot of them agree with me,
but they're just too afraid to actually open their mouth and say what the Bible says because they just don't want the persecution.
But you know what? I'll take the persecution because you know what comes with persecution? The blessing too.
You can't have one without the other.
If you want to do great things for God, you have to get a little tough, you have to get some thick skin and endure a little bit so as to get the work done,
because if you want to get nothing done, that's easy.
Staying home and believing the right doctrine is real easy.
Actually serving God and facing the enemy and doing that which is right takes a little bit of courage,
it takes a little bit of gumption, it takes some stamina, and we need to actually stand for the things that God has given us in the Word of God.
Now how do you turn to Proverbs 26? Look at verse 27.
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone it will return upon him.
You know, a lot of times we get afraid of the pit that's been dug for us not realizing that they're going to fall in it.
Or the stone that they've rolled, not realizing it's going to roll upon them.
You know, we're often afraid of our own shadow, and it's just kind of, in my mind, it shows a weak faith in God.
You know, imagine if someone, you know, imagine a little Chihuahua dog came out to harass you, okay?
And it's just like, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip.
I don't know if you can imagine that. I can think of some dogs that are like that.
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip. They're so annoying.
But imagine you're out there with your kids, and your kids look at you and say,
Dad, I'm afraid of the dog.
And you're like, I got this. And he's like, no, I don't think you can handle it.
Wouldn't that be, you would be like, come on.
You'd want to pick that thing up and crush it.
I mean, you'd be a little offended that your child thinks this little Chihuahua's going to, you know, you can't take it or whatever.
But then it's like us, we see the enemies of God and we're afraid.
We think that God can't handle them for us or something.
Or think that it's too big of an enemy for God or something like that.
Look, it's worse than the Chihuahua analogy when it comes to God.
All of these things are nothing unto God.
Look at Matthew 18, look at verse 5.
And whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me.
It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Woe unto the world because of offenses, for it must needs be that offenses come.
But woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.
Notice God doesn't just care about Abraham.
He doesn't just care about Paul.
He doesn't just care about the man of God.
He doesn't just care about pastors.
He cares about a little child that believes in him.
Even a little precious child that believes in Christ, God cares about that person and says,
Woe unto the man that would hurt him.
Woe unto the man that would cause any evil to come to that child.
And unfortunately, you know, obviously God allows these things to happen at times,
but he's going to severely punish that person.
And we need to just wait for his judgment, wait for what's going to happen to them.
We have to realize, you know, God has guardian angels for us.
And I'll say this, you know, the worst thing that we can do as Christians is to attack other Christians,
or to harm other Christians.
We don't want to curse Christians.
We don't want to do evil to other Christians.
Go back, if you went to Genesis chapter 20, Genesis chapter 20.
But I want to make something clear.
If Abimelech had harmed Abraham, God would have killed him.
Right? Isn't that really clear?
Okay.
And we're not supposed to harm God's children.
But what some people don't understand is that you can correct someone without harming them.
You can tell them they're doing something wrong.
You can reprove them or even rebuke them.
And it's actually a loving, good thing unto them, not harming them.
And sometimes you'll have to point out that a Christian's doing something wrong,
and they're like, well, why are you attacking me? I'm saved.
And it's like, look, I'm not attacking you.
I'm not hurting you. I'm not harming you. I'm not cursing you.
But this error needs to be pointed out.
Okay.
Look at what it says in verse 8.
Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all of his servants and told all these things in their ears,
and the men were sore afraid.
Then Abimelech called Abram and said unto him, Why hast thou done unto us?
And what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin?
Thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.
Now let me ask the question.
Is he approving of what Abram did?
No.
After getting a strong warning from God, like, if you harm Abraham, I'm killing you.
But did he tell him that he did something wrong?
Absolutely, right?
Let's keep reading.
And Abimelech said unto Abram, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?
And Abram said, Because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they will slay me for my wife's sake.
And yet indeed she is my sister, she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, 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 thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me, at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.
Now what's interesting about this is that Abraham was afraid that they would kill him because they had no fear of God.
Yet what's interesting is he restored his wife.
Why?
Because he actually did fear God.
And so sometimes we don't even give the heathen credit for the fact that they do have some respect for God.
You know, the Catholics, while they're unsaved, they still fear God to some extent.
You know, a lot of them have respect to the Bible.
A lot of them have respect for these things.
You know, it's not like just every single person is this God-hating atheist or something like that.
And yeah, those people do exist, but there's a lot of people that have a fear of God.
You know, when we go to foreign countries, go to the Caribbean, these people have a great fear of God even though they're not saved.
And so we shouldn't just, you know, write off every unsaved person as being this like godless, you know, atheist type person or whatever,
and not being able to approach them with the word of God or fearing to go into their nation or their country.
Even Nineveh.
You know, Jonah was afraid of Nineveh and saying it's like this bloody city.
And, you know, the Bible says that later in Nahum.
You know, thinking about how the violence there and not wanting to go to preach unto them.
Yet didn't they fear God and didn't they get right?
So we can see even very sinful people a lot of times will fear God.
You know, you could find people that have committed murder or they're into drugs or they're into a lot of these things,
but they're like, but I do believe in God.
You know, they understand that God exists.
They understand there's a punishment for their sins and everything like that.
I mean, I've run into people, you know, going to the ghetto and they just got out of prison for doing like horrible things.
But they're like, yeah, but I believe in God and I have respect for the Bible and they want to hear how to get saved.
And so we shouldn't just write off certain neighborhoods and say, well, look at these people.
They obviously just don't fear God because look how sinful their life is.
Or look how, you know, they drink alcohol or they've been to jail.
And look, I'm not saying you don't use caution while soul winning.
But I don't want to just look at an area and say, well, this area just obviously doesn't fear God, so I'm not going to go and preach to that area.
Unless the streets lined up with certain flags, you know, I'm going to preach the gospel to that area, okay?
And that's a different sermon.
But look at verse 14, and Abimelech took sheep and oxen and men servants and women servants and gave them unto Abraham and restored him, Sarah's wife.
And Abimelech said, behold, my land is before thee, dwell where it pleaseth thee.
And Anasari said, behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver.
Behold, he is to be a covering of the eyes unto all that are with thee and with all other.
Thus she was reproved.
So notice the Bible saying she was reproved by reading what he said to Abraham.
Because Abraham, obviously Abraham was corrected, was told that he was doing something wrong.
And so I want to illustrate this point.
Someone can tell you that you're doing something wrong and you're not being harmed.
We need to stop being so sensitive and so easy and quick to dismiss correction so as to say, oh, you're attacking me or oh, you're harming me because you pointed out I did something wrong.
Or even saved pastors.
There's been saved pastors where I've said a few things about their ministry that I believe they're doing wrong.
And I'm not like harming them.
If someone corrects you and it's legitimate correction, that's not harm.
That's not evil that you're doing unto them.
What would be evil is committing adultery with their wife.
That's evil.
What would be evil is cursing them.
What would be evil is wishing harm to come upon them.
In some cases what would be evil is knowing they're doing something wrong and not saying something.
So we have to have the right mentality, the right idea when it comes to correcting someone's error, telling them they're doing something wrong.
We should, as God's people, be the easiest to correct.
And it's hard.
But I'm just saying we should be the easiest to correct.
And look, I'm not saying that every correction is legitimate.
I'm not saying that if someone disagrees with you and they're under your authority that they don't submit.
But what I am saying is that we should be willing to receive correction.
If we're doing something wrong, we should be willing to hear what the other person has to say and try to fix those problems.
And realize that there's nothing wrong in someone correcting you.
Go up to I Timothy 5.
And so when it even comes to the man of God, we don't want to hurt men of God.
If someone's a saved Christian, we want to always default to as much blessing and favor and kindness as we can extend to them as possible.
We would never want to curse them or wish evil to come upon them.
But we should be willing to correct them if they're in error.
Look at I Timothy 5.
Now, not all correction, you know, just because you're correcting someone doesn't mean that every attitude, spirit, or manner in which you correct someone is appropriate, though.
Look what it says in I Timothy 5, verse 1.
Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father and the younger men as brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity.
So the Bible says very clearly you're not supposed to rebuke an elder.
And for the sake of time, I'm not going to explain this, but I believe the elder there is a pastor.
And so a pastor, you're never supposed to rebuke him.
That doesn't mean you couldn't correct him.
That doesn't mean you couldn't tell him that he did something wrong.
That doesn't mean you couldn't express disagreement with something that he did or said.
But obviously we should exercise caution when correcting a pastor or a deacon or just someone that is in a position of authority or in leadership or is above us.
You know, you should even extend this to your boss at work.
And you should essentially make sure that you're treating them with respect and making sure that you handle things appropriately.
So if I had a disagreement with someone, I would want to make sure that I'm handling it with caution.
And I'll say this.
If I disagree with a pastor, I don't have to tell him either.
Some people think that they have to tell their pastor everything they disagree with him on.
Or if they preach something, well, I agreed with 99% of your sermon, but let me tell you the 1% I didn't real quick.
Let me correct you real quick.
It's like sometimes it's okay to just keep it to yourself.
And here's what I thought.
Whenever I would sit down, I'd listen to a pastor preach, especially just going to a church and being a member there.
If I disagreed with a pastor, I would first think maybe I'm wrong.
I don't even want to ask.
I don't even want to bring that up.
I should study this more.
I should think about this more.
I should give that person the benefit of the doubt.
I should try to see it from their viewpoint or their side and wait and think about it for a while and see if I truly really disagree.
Because a lot of times when I disagreed, after thinking about it and reading more and studying more, I started realizing, yeah, he's actually right.
Or I'm actually wrong on this issue.
And so sometimes when we're quick to disagree, we often realize that we're actually at fault or wrong on a particular issue.
But even if you do, even if you studied it, you know it, you believe that the person's in error, you still don't even have to necessarily correct them.
You can still just disagree silently and you don't have to bring everything up.
You don't ever have to attack them.
When I went to Faith Board Baptist Church, I mean, I never, ever, ever went up to Pastor Anderson after a sermon to tell him what I disagreed with him on the sermon.
It never happened.
Because it just, to me it's like, if the guy just got done preaching and just did me this great benefit and taught me all this great doctrine, and I disagree with a small portion, why do I want to bring that up?
You know, imagine your wife makes you a meal, okay?
She makes you this, like, great pot roast. I'm just thinking about great meals like pot roast and mashed potatoes and green beans and you got this roll.
And let's say somehow something wasn't right. This never happens for me.
But let's just say that hypothetically something wasn't right.
There could have been a little bit more salt added to the green beans or something.
You know, and you eat the whole meal and then you just say, I wish you'd put a little more salt on those green beans.
Like, that's a stupid thing to say.
Like, you should have just said, that was a great meal. Thanks for making it.
Instead of, like, complaining about the, like, one little thing that you disagreed with.
And anybody, any of you that have a good marriage, you realize that was a stupid thing to say.
You want to just compliment and appreciate all the good that's being handed to you rather than being nitpicky about all the minor things that you disagree with or the little problems or the little issues.
You know, and obviously we're supposed to be Bereans and I'm not trying to discourage anybody from studying everything out.
Look, we need to uphold doctrinal integrity. You know, the truth is really at the forefront of our mind.
But we don't want to get to this place where we're just hypercritical of everything and over the top and happening to correct everything.
And, you know, I don't feel like this happens to me at all. So there's no one in this room that I'm thinking of.
I'm just saying in general. And I don't want us to get that attitude or have that, you know, mentality.
We need to make sure that we're approaching things correctly.
And look, this was a big enough issue that Abimelech probably should have corrected Abraham on.
Lying about your spouse and potentially allowing her to commit adultery, that's a pretty big issue.
And he might want to address that one. And so obviously if it's a big enough issue, you bring it up, but bring it up respectfully, right?
Go if you would to Proverbs chapter 19. Proverbs chapter 19, I'll give you a verse.
Reprove not a scorn, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
So the Bible teaches that being corrected can be a good thing. In fact, a wise person will appreciate rebuke.
A wise person will appreciate getting things right. Proverbs 25 verse 12 says,
As an earing of gold and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.
So the Bible says, you know, something that's really attractive or something that's really great is when you give instruction to somebody that is actually going to implement that instruction.
It's frustrating to take time, effort, and energy to explain things to people or show them how to do it better.
And they're just like, yeah, I don't care. I'm going to do it my own way.
You're just kind of like, OK, what was the point of me showing you? What's better is showing somebody how to do something better.
And they're like, I'm ready to implement that right away. I'm ready to start doing it better or improving.
That's what's really great. And being reproved is good. Hey, telling Abraham and Sarah, stop lying to people.
Just say that you're married. Isn't that good advice? Shouldn't they just take that advice from now on?
And now they're going to have Isaac. It's going to be a little bit more awkward to be like, this is a weird situation.
Brother, sister, child, where did it come from? It's going to be harder to lie.
This was good advice that Abimelech is giving them, telling them not to make this mistake, not to go and do this error.
Look at the Bible says in Proverbs 19 verse 25,
So notice, even just by punishing someone else, people can end up learning from that.
If you punish this corner, simple people will be like, whoa, I don't want that to happen to me.
Oh, I don't want to go down that road.
And then by reproving someone that already has understanding, they end up getting even more knowledge or more understanding.
OK, Abraham's obviously smarter than Abimelech. He has more knowledge than Abimelech, but he can still benefit from Abimelech.
And I think also go back to Genesis chapter 19.
Also, sometimes we have this attitude that we can't learn from people that are lesser than us, younger than us, or even the unsaved.
Look, you can learn lessons from the unsaved. Even the unsaved, you know, are right twice a day.
Broken clock is right twice a day, OK? Even a blind squirrel every once in a while finds a nut.
That's how my dad says it, OK?
And the reality is that we need to learn from people.
I've learned lots of things from my unsaved bosses and coworkers throughout the years, you know?
And their principles that are taught in the Bible, it's not like what they're saying is just contrary to the word of God or anything like that.
It's just they have that part of the Bible right in their life.
And I can learn that from that person or I can take that from that person.
You know, a lot of times unsaved people are harder workers than Christians.
They have a harder work ethic.
A lot of times the Bible describes them as being wiser.
The children of this generation are wiser, you know, than the children in life.
And so we need to be willing to learn from anyone and everyone.
Obviously always testing it with the Bible.
Obviously always allowing the lens of the Scripture to interpret all things.
But I'm telling you, you need to be a lifelong learner.
That's what I always loved about software development is that, man, it is just being a lifelong learner.
You never arrive in software development.
And what I liked about that is the fact that the sky's the limit, though.
Because you can constantly improve and get better and, you know, the skill is king.
It's not like this plateauing career where you're a government official and tenure is the only thing that matters.
You know, where it's just like, I've been here 20 years.
And it's like, are you good at your job? Nope.
Never been good at my job.
But I've been here for 20 years.
I mean, you know and I know there's jobs like that.
Where there's people that are not good, but they've just been there a long time so they get paid well.
It's like, I like jobs and careers where it's dependent upon skill.
And it's dependent upon the actions and the things that you choose.
Look at Genesis chapter 19 verse 17.
So Abraham prayed unto God and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants and they bare children.
For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
Now, really kind of the last thing that we can kind of learn from this chapter real quick.
And this is emphasized in other places.
Go to chapter 29 for a moment.
Is that God ultimately opens and closes the womb.
And so, you know, no matter how many children you have, it's really up to God.
And obviously we have to do our part.
We understand science and we understand, you know, how those things work.
The bees and the birds or whatever.
The birds and the bees as it were.
But, you know, no matter how good you are in that area, if God doesn't open the womb, he doesn't open the womb.
And so we have to make sure that we're praying unto God and he's giving us this blessing.
And notice God is cursing Abimelech and his house by closing up all of the wombs and causing them to be barren.
And it's for good reason because he's not going to allow Sarah to produce a bastard child.
He's not going to allow Sarah to not have Isaac.
And what this also illustrates for us is this.
That God's plans will come to fruition.
Whatever God has decreed, whatever God has set for us.
You know, the Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.
And that good man is still going to sin.
Okay.
When we compare spiritual with spiritual.
But notice God's still going to guide that person on this path.
And Isaac is still going to come unto fruition.
And so when you screw up and I screw up, don't allow that to derail you and just quit.
We have to, have to keep fighting and keep getting back into the Word of God and keep serving the Lord.
And keep being used by God and never allow ourselves to just give up on God.
Because really, at the end of the day, our own worst enemy is ourself.
Us quitting, us getting discouraged, us fainting.
That's why when you read kind of the latter epistles in the New Testament.
It's just like don't be weary and don't feign and hold fast and be steadfast and stand fast and, you know, quit you like men.
I mean it's just this constant just like theme throughout the end of the Bible.
You know, you have the great picture of the Hall of Faith and all these people that were faithful to the end of their life.
And you have all these verses that are trying to kind of encourage you to what?
Endure unto the end.
You know, and to receive that crown of life and to fight the good fight of faith.
And I mean it's just this constant reiteration. Why?
Because it is a fight.
You look at, don't look at the future as it's going to get easier.
Realize it's going to probably be harder.
Realize it's going to be a constant battle.
Realize you're going to have weariness.
You're going to be faint.
You're going to think like, well, how long is this going to be?
Well, look, as soon as you die, it's over.
You're like, when am I going to finally rest?
When you die.
When are you going to finally sleep?
When you die.
And there's no point in not giving them all that you have now.
And you say, well, having children is hard.
Yeah, but when you die, it won't be hard anymore.
You know, once they grow up, it's easier.
Yeah, it's hard now, but everything's hard now.
That's the whole emphasis.
It's hard now, but just have as many as God will give you.
And you know what?
Just pray that the Lord will bless you and have children
and increase in number because the Bible says be fruitful and multiply.
That's the first commandment he gave to mankind.
And it's both a physical and a spiritual command.
Genesis 29, verse 31.
And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
So notice the Lord opens her womb.
Look at chapter 30, verse 22.
I'll share another verse.
Genesis 30, verse 22.
And God remembered Rachel and God hearkened to her and opened her womb.
So notice God can do whatever he wants whenever he wants.
OK, and I've seen a lot of people that have been blessed by God in this area
and some people, you know, they haven't necessarily had that
and, you know, it's not their fault.
It's really the same as soul winning
because we're talking about physical birth.
It's the same as spiritual birth.
All I can do is walk up to the door and preach the birth and the gospel.
I cannot force them to believe.
And it's basically God working on their heart
and the Holy Spirit working on them and trying to convict them
and they ultimately have the option there to choose to believe in Christ and to be saved.
You know, I'm just doing my part.
And so as God's children, we just got to make sure that we're doing our part.
And when we screw up and we do wrong,
we just got to keep plugging away and keep doing that which is right.
And Abraham got a little off here, but you know what?
He's going to come back strong and do a lot of great things for God.
And so even if you get off a little bit in your life,
realize you can always come back and don't worry about the results.
Just worry about your effort level.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this great chapter.
Thank you for loving us so much that no matter what evil befalls us
or no matter what trials or temptations,
that you're always there with us to guide us and to protect us
and that you just love us and nothing can separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I pray that we would just be reminded of your love and your mercy and your grace
and that we just wouldn't give up.
That no matter how we fall or no matter what stumbling steps that we take,
that we'll just be encouraged by your love and your mercy and your grace
and we'll get back in that fight.
And I pray that you would just continue to remind us
that we need to just do the work irregardless of what results may come.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.