All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back with me to the book of Genesis chapter 21. Genesis
21. Agar and Ishmael have been cast
out. While they were in the wilderness,
the Lord heard the voice of the lad He knew that they were out
of water, Fred. But for the sake of God's promise,
while Hagar was preparing for the death of her son Ishmael,
he'd put him off away from her so she wouldn't see him die.
But Almighty God had made a promise, made a promise to Hagar that
He was going to make a great nation out of Ishmael. And therefore, according to God's
Word, for the sake of His Word, the Lord delivered both the lad
and his mother out of the wilderness. And it was there in the wilderness
that the scripture declares Ishmael dwelt. And he became a great
archer. We dealt with that last time.
That vocation, I guess you would say, he was an archer. What he
was, he was one that would be in opposition, shooting at the
people of God. Ishmael saw himself, his mom
saw him as being the child of promise, and that wasn't the
child of God's promise. While they were in the wilderness,
the scripture declares that Hagar took out of the land of Egypt
a wife for her son. Now, as we consider the spirit's
direction for the remainder of this chapter, we find that there
was a meeting that took place. It was a precious conversation
that took place actually between Abraham and the king Abimelech. Now Abimelech if you remember
we considered Abimelech over in chapter 20. This was the Abimelech
that was told by Abraham and by Sarah that Sarah was Abraham's
sister. Remember Abraham had told her
they'd got their stories right and got together. I mean, not
right, but they got the stories together and they said, look,
Abraham told her, he said, look, because of your beauty, he's
90 years old. Because of your beauty, they'll
kill me for you. So I'm going to tell them that you're my sister
and you go along with it. And they did. And Bimelech, he
was ignorant of Sarah's position of being Abraham's wife. when
they entered into the kingdom there in Gerar. So now after
after these things it came to pass verse 22 says came to pass
at that time. Now this is this is a conversation
that no doubt has taken place between two men that who had
by the grace of God been providentially knit together for the accomplishment
of God's will and God's purpose and it's a conversation that
sets forth much more than just that earthly agreement. They're going to talk about,
we're going to consider what they talk about, but it sets
forth something that is much more precious than this earthly
friendship. It's a conversation that we,
by the grace of God, shall see declares and magnifies the indescribable
mercy and grace of God toward helpless sinners, sinners of
God's affection in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
I'm going to try to make good on this. I want you to look at
verse 22, it came to pass. At that time Abimelech and Phicol,
the chief captain of his host, spake unto Abraham saying, God
is with thee in all that thou doest. Now, Abimelech and Phicol,
chief captain of his army, they had come obviously from Gerar,
that's where they were from, for the purpose of meeting Abraham. And both agreed, you'll see,
it came to pass that time that Abraham I mean Abimelech and
Phicol, the chief captain of his host, spake unto Abraham,
saying, They both said this, God is with thee in all that
thou doest. Now that was a conclusion. They'd come to a conclusion that
the Lord had blessed Abraham. They came to that conclusion
because, first of all, God had spoken to Abimelech in a dream.
Remember when he had taken Sarah and God came to him in a dream
and he said, the woman that you've taken is another man's wife and
you're dead. I'm gonna kill you. Realize now who Abraham was. The Lord told him, he said, he's
a prophet. And being a prophet, he was God's
prophet. And so he tells He tells Abimelech,
the man, the woman that you've taken is another man's wife.
Now God spoke to him. Secondly, Abimelech surely has
beheld something of the miracle of Isaac being born. He knew how old Sarah was, knew
how old Abraham was. They've had, she had a son past
the age of childbearing. And then the scripture says that
Abraham had prayed for the king. Look at verse 17 of chapter 20. So Abraham prayed unto God, and
God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, and
they bared children. Up until that time, they couldn't
have kids. And so God speaks to him in a dream. He beholds
the miracle Isaac being born, he's seen the blessing of God
upon Abraham. Abraham prays for the king, his
wife, his maidservants. They have kids. So Abraham was
known. They knew him. They knew something
about him. And they came to him and they said, God is with thee
in all that thou doest. But there's a much greater picture
set forth here. as we shall behold is a beautiful
picture and type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And truly concerning
Him can it be said, God is with thee in all that thou doest. He is the beloved Son. He is the only begotten of the
Father. full of grace and truth, the
one in whom God is well pleased. And according to this truth of
Abraham being a picture of Christ, and I want to show how Abimelech,
he's a heathen king that crosses paths with Abraham and their
lives are now interwoven, that's all true. But Abimelech is a
picture of the vessel of God's mercy. He's a picture of one
of God's elect. Abimelech is a picture of the
elect. Abraham is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, it
became clear that Abimelech, according to our passage right
here, after they'd come to Abraham and Abimelech and Phicol told
him, said, God is with you. in all that you do. It's obvious. You're a man of God. But now
in verse 23 it became clear that Abimelech desired to enter into
a covenant of peace with Abraham but he was very careful to establish
this desire for peace but he was careful that it would be
a covenant founded upon that which was totally absolute truth. Truth. Now remember, remember
what happened when he first met, Abimelech first met Abraham.
Abraham told him, he said, my sister, right here. And I understand
that no picture or type is ever perfect. I understand that. But
here's the point of the matter. He sets forth, I want a covenant
with you, I want a covenant of peace, but I want it to be based
on truth. Truth. Verse 23, and therefore,
Swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with
me nor with my son nor with my son's son but according to the
kindness that I've done unto thee thou shalt do unto me and
to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. The king desired Abraham. Now listen to the wording here. Swear unto him by God. Now, therefore, swear unto me
here by God. The word swear there is a word
actually that is derived from the number seven. Seven, number
of perfection. Meaning, it's what he said to
himself. Here's what Abimelech said to
Abraham. He said, when he said, swear unto me by God, what he
said was this. Actually, when you look at it,
it says seven yourself. Seven, seven yourself. Unto me. By God, now it is seven
years as if he were to say, I want you to promise to swear to repeat
seven times. The promise or oath. that you
give to me say it and say it and say it and say it and say
it and say it and say it swear to me seven yourselves seven
yourself unto me an oath that that was to be confirmed by seven
sacrifices or witnesses or pledges according to Abraham's Actions
now in verse 28, which I don't plan to go into verse 28 for
tonight But I want you to just look at verse 28 and Abraham
set seven you lambs of the flock by themselves Lord willing this
Sunday when I deal with this that's very significant what
he did He set seven you lambs out there, but Bimelech is talking
to Abraham and he says now I want you to do something for me You
told me something one time before And I want to enter into a covenant
of peace with you. But I want it to be based on
truth. I want it to be based on what
you say. I can take it and believe it
and trust it. Seven yourself to me. Now in
keeping with our picture, our type, God's dealing with his
people. Abraham, a picture of Christ.
Bimelech, a picture of the Lord's vessels of mercy and compassion.
Here's the Lord dealing. He's crossed paths now. These
two men, Abraham has crossed paths with Abimelech. And now
it's going to be a picture of how the Lord draws him to himself. Here's Abimelech talking and
don't think of this conversation as being conversation or agreement
that it's got to be man's part and God's part and they all have
to be. Oh no, no, no, no, no. This,
this, this is a truth that we know. Salvation is not a bargaining
between God and men. It's, there's, it's not a, it's
not a God does his part and man does his part. Salvation is of
the Lord. Salvation is all of grace. without any works on man's part,
but rather consider the conversation that's taking place right here
between Abraham and Abimelech as being an exhibition of God's
provenient grace. I'm going to show you this. When
I say, you know what I mean. Provenient grace. Grace before
grace. God doing something for the vessels
of his mercy before he calls them out of darkness. Remember
Zacchaeus? Remember I told you that one
just popped in my mind right here. Zacchaeus was short in
stature. God's grace to him made him shorter. The Lord was going to pass by
the way where Zacchaeus was because he was short of stature. He decided. Zacchaeus just decided. I think
I'll climb up this sycamore tree. He wanted to do that. That's
what he wanted to do. But that's where the Lord was coming. And
he who worketh all things. You mean even Zacchaeus climbing
up a sycamore tree? All things after the counsel
of his own will. He moved Zacchaeus to go up in
the sycamore tree so he could see. He wanted to see this Jesus
of Nazareth. Here's Abimelech. Now here's
Abimelech and he's talking to Abraham. And we realize that
salvation is not a bargaining. It's not, you know, we're going
to work this out. No, salvation is of the Lord. But here is the
Spirit of God leading and directing the heart, the mind, the mouth
of Abimelech and being powerfully directed by Almighty God that
God's will and God's purpose I'd be brought to pass. Now while
Abimelech declared that he desired a covenant of peace. He said, I swear to me, verse
22, that thou will not deal falsely with me nor with my son's son. He wants Abraham to enter into
a covenant with him. And he wants it, according to
Abimelech's words, he wants it to be based on absolute truth.
Now listen, here's the hand of the Lord moving. directing him
to ask that which he truly needed, even while he asked in ignorance. Bimelech's words reveal carnal
man's ignorance. Now let me show you something.
Verse 23, now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou
will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my
son's son. That's a good question. I mean,
that's a good request. Deal with me in truth. And my
kids, my grandkids, deal with them in truth. That's what he
said he wanted. He was directed by God to ask
that. But listen to what he says next. But according to the kindness
that I have shown unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to
the land wherein thou hast sojourned. He said, now here's what I want
you to do. I want you to deal with me in absolute truth, and
deal with me in truth, now listen, according to the kindness that
I have done unto thee. All men, like Abimelech, feel
as though that they have walked with honor, have walked with
integrity before God, and therefore are deserving, are worthy, for
God to show them mercy and compassion based upon their own work. I want you to deal with me in
truth, deal with me, my kids, grandkids, and do it according
to the kindness that I've done unto thee. God's not a debtor
to any man, but that's what he asked you But is that not the
carnal man's thoughts? Is that not his way? Deal with
me the way that I've dealt with you. Now let me show you a passage,
a passage script. Turn with me to Joshua 2. Joshua
chapter 2. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy, Joshua. Joshua 2. Now my question is
this. Would you say or do you think
that Rahab was a vessel of God's mercy? The answer is yes. Rahab,
the harlot. Now I want you to remember what
has happened. I could read verses 1 through
13 but just for the sake of time I'm going to read verses 10 to
13 but the spies from Israel have come in. She's hidden the
spies. The people in the town they know
they're there but they can't find them. She's hidden them.
And she's protected them. Now, having protected them. Alright, they're soon to leave.
Now look at this conversation, just a segment of this conversation.
In Joshua chapter 2 verses 10 through 13. For we have heard
how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you
came out of Egypt. And what you did unto the two
kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of Jordan,
Sihon and Og. whom ye utterly destroyed. And
as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt. Neither did there remain any
more courage in any man because of you. For the Lord your God,
he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. Now therefore,
I pray you, listen to her words, and let me ask you if this sounds
somewhat of what Abimelech said. Swear unto me by the Lord, since
I showed you kindness, that you will also show kindness unto
my father's house, and give me a true token, and that you will
save a lot of my father, my mother, my brother, and my sisters, and
all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. And what's
she say? Because I showed kindness to you, I want you to swear to
me by God, because of what I did, that you'll do that for me. God gonna show Rahab mercy? Yes,
He will. Did the Lord move her to desire
deliverance? Yes, He did. Did she speak out
of the ignorance of her own heart? Yes, she did. She asked, she
truly wanted it. But the vessels of God's mercy
unto you, thanks be unto God. and we're all guilty of the same
thing. So when we get ready to get on to Abimelech and Rahab
for asking the way they did, let's remember this scripture.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities. Psalm 103, 10. Abraham, back
in Genesis chapter 21, heard What Abimelech asked, will you
show kindness to me? Would you show kindness to me
like I did to you? He's asking out of ignorance,
but as a picture of Abraham being a picture of Christ, the one
who does not deal with us after our sins, nor reward us according
to our iniquities. And I'm so glad for that. because
we're all guilty. We all say and do silly things. We're disrespectful to the Lord. We don't know what to pray for.
We don't know what to ask. Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit
from me. Lord, don't deal with me after
my iniquity. Don't deal with me after my sin. It's the Lord dealt with with
his, or deals with his people according to his mercy and compassion. Abimelech asked him, show me
kindness. Verse 24 said, and Abraham said,
I will swear. I will, I'm going to be kind
to you. I'm going to be kind to you. Oh, but I want us to
behold the kindness that, that Abraham showed Abimelech, and
you talk about the kindness of Almighty God. Here we are with
our picture now. Kindness in spite of his error,
in spite of his ignorance. Will you show me kindness? I
swear I will. I will seven myself to you. Kindness
is a beautiful type of God's kindness to all his sheep. Remember
this, it's not of him that willeth or of him that runneth, but of
God that showeth mercy. Abimelech had asked Abraham,
deal with me truthfully, not falsely. And Abraham said, I
won't, I won't deal with you in a false way, in a deceiving
way. And in those, in these verses
that follow, we're going to behold this beautiful picture, how the
Lord mercifully deals with the vessels of his mercy. What he
did? Mercy in spite of our ignorance.
Look at verse 25 and 26. And Abraham reproved Abimelech
because of a well of water which Abimelech's servants had violently
taken away. And Abimelech said, I want not
who hath done this thing Neither didst thou tell me, neither yet
heard I of it, but today. Now a great injustice. Now remember what Abimelech asked
him. Deal with me truthfully. Swear to me that you'll deal
truthfully with me. And Abraham said okay, I will. God Almighty deals with us truthfully
too. in showing us mercy. What was
the first thing that Abraham did to Abimelech? In showing
him kindness, he showed him his error. He said, we've got a matter that
needs to be looked into. He said, some of your people,
those that you're responsible for, which makes you, Abimelech,
responsible, violently took away a well that I dug. You stole something from me.
You took something that wasn't yours, it was mine. And I'm gonna
deal truthfully with you. Bimelech, you're guilty. You're a sinner. And now here's
Abraham reproving. He rebuked, he chastened, And
he corrected, that's what it means. He reproved Abimelech. Some of Abimelech's party had
taken that which was Abraham's property. And though Abimelech
was ignorant of it, that's what he said. He said, verse 26, I
didn't know. I didn't know what this, I didn't
know. I didn't know about all this. This is the first time
I ever heard about this. But Abimelech, They were from
your kingdom. And you're responsible. You're
responsible. And ignorance is not going to
be bypassed or excluded. I'm going to show kindness with
you. And before there can be any peace
established between me and you, we're going to have to deal with
this issue right here. Something was taken. What was
it? It was a precious commodity in
the dry and barren land. It was water. Water. While peace was upon Abraham's
heart, there could be no peace because of the injustice that
was done to Abraham. It had to be addressed. That
well was a beautiful and precious type of Christ. That well was
out in the middle of a desert in an oasis. It was an oasis,
it was a well. And without water in the wilderness,
we got problems. And we're in a wilderness in
this world. And do you know the only place where anybody, any
sinner can come and drink of the water of life is where Christ
is preached. Where Christ is magnified. And what had happened is that
well was violated. And that was Abraham's well.
It's a picture of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, the living
water in the midst of a dry and thirsty land. And Abimelech's
offense was a picture of the great injustice done toward God
in the garden by one man's disobedience. Sin entered the world and death
by sin. God's word to Adam, what was
it? Disregarded. I told him, you
can eat of all the fruits of these trees, all of them, but
one. But one. And wouldn't you know
it, that's the one that both Adam and Eve wanted. You gave
of all of them, but not this one. That's the one I wanted.
The one that's forbidden. God's glory was shunned. Man
in his heart desired only to steal that which belonged to
God. That tree was a symbol, an emblem, a token. of God's
sovereignty, that one forbidden fruit that was a picture of God's
authority over man. And when man took it, he died. He defended God by one man's
disobedience. Many were made sinners, all have
sinned now and come short of the glory of God. So great was
the offense in the garden while Abimelech could plead Ignorance,
naturally. Adam, on the other hand, did
what he did with his eyes wide open and incurred the guilt and
penalty of disobedience. What was it? Death. And now all
are born, though ignorant, guilty. Did you think that, that Vimlach
said, I didn't know anything about this. I had no earthly,
till you told me. Till you told me, I didn't know
anything about this. How long do we all walk in ignorance
before Almighty God, before the Lord in mercy? Deal with me truthfully
now. I want peace. Deal with me truthfully. Abraham said, I will. You're
guilty. You've offended me. Think of the mercy of God. That
God would bring us to ourself to see what we are. Rebels against
us. That's mercy. That's mercy. Yes,
it's painful to consider that what we have done, what we are,
unto him who loved us and gave himself for us, but are we not
truthfully thankful for his mercy and compassion to tell us what
we've done and not leave us in the ignorance of our ways? Faithful,
Proverbs 27, 6, faithful are the wounds of a friend. The kisses
of an enemy are deceitful. how blessed we are to be told
by the Spirit of God through the Holy Scriptures of our offense. Men say, I want peace with God. I want peace with God. Well,
peace is established by God, but man has sinned against God,
and God's going to deal with it. He dealt with it in his son.
But we're going to be told what we are, what we've done, and
we're going to be given a heart to confess it. and own it as
ours, agreeing with the Lord, our God, in His thoughts toward
us for peace. We're gonna be brought to a knowledge
of ourself and of Him. Jeremiah 29, 11 says, for I know
the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts
of peace, not evil, to give you an expected end. What does that
mean? To give you hope. in your final end. That's what
I want. I want the Lord to deal with me and deal with me truthfully.
Lord, every believer will say this, Lord tell me, I want to
know what I am. Tell me what I am. Lord teach
me of myself. And then as a confirmation, as
I wrap this up for tonight, as a confirmation of the peace that
was to exist between Abraham and Abimelech, a covenant was
established Verse 27, it says, And Abraham took sheep and oxen
and gave them unto Abimelech, and both of them made a covenant. Now I want you to notice who
took the sheep and the oxen? Abraham. Abraham. It wasn't, it wasn't, again,
a joint effort. Was there an agreement, a covenant? Yes, there was an agreement in
the covenant. God Almighty has established
that salvation is of Him. Every sinner saved by the grace
of God says salvation is of you. Almighty God says I'm God, I'm
heavenly, you're earthy. Every believer says you're God
and I'm earthy. You're the Lord and without you
I can do nothing. There's an agreement. There's
a covenant of agreement. So when it says that both of
them made a covenant, What it is, they struck or they cut or
struck. They made a covenant. It's where
the animals were divided in the picture of the blessed rent body,
my broken body, of the Lord Jesus Christ, divided in both parties
in this covenant would pass between the pieces in agreement with
the terms of the covenant. But the point of the matter is,
look at who established and gave of the sacrifices of the covenant.
It was Abraham, the Lord himself, picture of the Lord, who gave
himself. John 3.16 says this, For God
so loved the world, he loved the orderly arrangement. For
God, not that he loved every person without distinction, you
know that, but he loved Jew and Gentile. The orderly arrangement. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. God did that. Whosoever believeth
in him. In Abraham's eyes the guilt of
Abimelech was laid upon that sacrifice. They made a covenant. Be truthful with me. I will.
You're a sinner. And I'm the Savior. He's a picture of the
Savior. Not Abraham himself. A picture of Christ. And they
said, this is what we're going to base this piece on. It's going
to be based on sacrifice where sin is put away. And whenever
Abraham took those animals and he quartered them, got them all
ready, put the fire to them and it consumed the sacrifice and
it set forth justice has been done. You've offended me. But
in this sacrifice, it's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who
was born the guilt of all of his people. And he puts forth
that he who bore our guilt has put it away. Guilt of commission,
guilt of omission, things that we know and things that we don't
know. But there at Calvary, bearing
the sins of his people, justice was satisfied and peace was forever
established. He is a vessel of God's mercy. Be truthful with me, I will. I will. You've sinned against
me. But take heart. I have chosen to show mercy to
you. My glory is that I'll show mercy
and compassion to whomsoever I will. And I'm going to put
away your guilt. And I'm going to do it through
this sacrifice that pictures the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I pray the Lord bless these words
to our heart for His glory and our good.