All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Genesis, chapter 20. Genesis,
chapter 20. I want to say that the revelation
that's set forth in this 20th chapter, it sets forth a beautiful,
glorious picture of a true believer. Here's Abraham, a man who is
truly one that knows God, believes God. but he's also a shadow and
type of every one of God's mercy, how the Lord deals with his people. And there's a real blessing.
I'd like to deal with the first six verses of this chapter, but
there's a blessing in seeing something of Abraham's walk,
his struggles, his stumbles, his doubts, and the deliverance
of the Lord in those struggles. I need this, you need this. We
need to see how the Lord deals with his people in our daily
walk. Turn with me to Romans chapter
four, Romans four. Romans chapter four, this is
a man that God had given a great promise,
a promise of God's graciousness and mercy to undeserving sinners,
a promise that was received from God, but it's received by faith,
faith that's given from above. And Abraham believed on the Lord. And the Scripture says, and it
was counted unto him. Abraham believed God. and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. And then we see something here
concerning Abraham that is a marvelous revelation. Look in Romans chapter
4, verse 13-16. Listen to this promise. For the
promise that he would be the heir of the world. Now, I just want to make a statement
on that right there. He'd be the heir of the world. And looking at the words and
the commentators that I read, it's pretty universal. There's
an agreement here. It means when he says an heir
of the world, it means a possessor of God's spiritual blessings
in this world, but also in the world to come. So being an heir
of the world, an heir of the spiritual blessings of God. So verse 13, for the promise
that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham
or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness
of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is
made void, and the promise made of none effect, because the law
worketh wrath. But where no law is, there's
no transgression. Therefore, it is a faith that
it might be by grace to the end, the promise might be sure to
all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that
also, which is a faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
Now, I want you to notice the promise in verse 16 is by faith
that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be
sure. If it was of the keeping of the
law that these promises would be given unto us, our keeping
of the law, there would be no promise given. because by the
works of the law, no flesh is gonna be justified before God,
but it is a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham was said
to be the father of us all. That is, Abraham was a type of
all God's people. Abraham was obviously a type,
of God's people and where he was found. The scripture says
that Abraham was an idol worshiper. Joshua 24 verses 1 to 2. The Spirit of God moved on this
man to pen this. Joshua 24 verse 1 to 2. It says,
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called
for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, for their judges,
for their officers, and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the
people, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt
on the other side of the flood in old times, even Terah, the
father of Abraham, and the father of Nacor, and they served other
gods. So where does the Lord find his
people? Well, turn to Ephesians chapter
2, Ephesians 2. I tell you where he finds all
his people, all of us. We were all idol worshipers.
Well, you say, well, no, I wasn't an idol worshiper. I was, well,
I'll beg to pardon with you there, but we worshiped ourself. We worshiped our wills. We worshiped
our works. We worshiped our ability, thinking
that we were able. An idol is the worship of anything
but God. That includes me and you. It's
an idol. An idol. Look at Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2. The scripture
says, verses 1 to 3, and you as he quickened who were dead
in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past You walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also," and listen to what Paul is saying, had our conversation, our walk
of life in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath even as others. So that's us. Abraham
was a picture, a type, a father of us all. That's where the Lord
finds all of us. Secondly, I tell you, he was
a type to whom the God of all grace came in mercy. In Acts chapter 7, the Spirit
of God was moving on Luke to pin something that a man named
Stephen said. He was given a defense of the
gospel. And God moved on this man, Luke,
to write something. Here's what Luke said in Acts
chapter 7 in verse 2. And he said, men, brethren, and
fathers, hearken. God of glory appeared unto our
father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in
Charon. Now, no vessel, you can stay
right there, I'm gonna read one more verse in Acts 7, but no
vessel of God's mercy ever, of his own desire, of his own will,
seeks after God. No man seeketh after God. No,
we're going to seek ourselves, we're going to seek our way,
our will, our thoughts, but no vessel will seek Him. We're all
as an unclean thing. And we have no desire, being
born in Adam, no desire to reconcile ourselves or be reconciled to
the just God before whom we're all going to stand. Our God,
God appeared, that's what we say, He appeared unto our Father.
That's where he found him. He was an idol worshiper, and
God came to him. Why did God come to him? Because
God chose to. That's what he said. He chose
to. I will have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. And thirdly, he was a type of faithfulness. Faithfulness. When God called
Abraham, and here I'll be in Acts 7. I want to read a script,
a verse here, verse 3. But when God called Abraham,
he called him to separate himself from all that pertained to his
old life and love. Look at Acts chapter 7 verse
3. And said unto him, this is Stephen still speaking, said
unto him, get thee out of thy country from thy kindred. Come
unto the land which I will show thee. So does the Lord not call
his own that way? Come out from among them. Be
you separate, saith the Lord. And the Lord calls his people
in power and makes them willing in that day, that day of his
power. And they come, they come. When the Lord called Matthew,
you know what happened? The Lord walked by the table
of seed of custom, picking taxes, as we said, follow me. Left, left it. Follow Him. He arose, the scripture says,
and follow Him. So Abraham had God's promise
of an inheritance. An inheritance, a promise that
wasn't according to works. It was according to God's gift
and grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we
get that? How do we get that promise? How
do we get it? Scripture says in Luke 12, the
Lord speaking, verse 32, this is what the Lord says. Fear not,
little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give
you the kingdom. To give you that kingdom of his
dear son. To be his. Ours That promise
is ours. Turn to Ephesians chapter 1.
I know I'm having you turn a lot. That's OK. We need to look at
these scriptures. Ephesians chapter 1. This promise, precious promise,
secured by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter
1, verse 11 to 14, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should
be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ,
in whom ye also trusted, after ye heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation. You know, isn't that, you know,
you hear me say so many times, Does God call his people any
other way except through the preaching of the gospel? No.
I mean, there's so many scriptures, but here's one of them right
here. Listen to what he said, verse 13. In whom ye also trusted
after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that ye believed, You were sealed with that holy
spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until
the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of
his glory. So knowing that as fallen creatures
of dust, we have no will, we have no ability, we have no right
To be an heir of God, we don't have any right in ourselves.
Romans 4.16 says, therefore, it is of faith that it might
be by grace, again, as I just brought out a moment ago, to
the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed. Thanks be unto God for the surety
of our inheritance. That inheritance, that is by
the grace of God, because of our total inability to obtain
it any other way. It's either going to be by grace
or by our works. And I can tell you, it won't
be by our works. So let's see how our inability is manifested
even in light of God promising our inheritance to us while we
walk through this world. Abraham now, remember, is a picture,
is a type. He's the father of us all. This
is a man who believed God. This man knew God. And we're
going to look at the first six verses right here, and we're
going to see how we are by nature. in light of our manifestation
of our inability. Oh, how wonderful it is to behold
the sufficiency of God's grace. Now, Genesis 20, verse 1 and
2. And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country
and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah, now
this is something they decided, When they first left, they were
going to come out and Abraham said, now listen, you have to
understand, she's 89. She may be 90, but she's sure
89. 89 years old. And what he's afraid
of is because of her beauty. She's almost 90 years old because
of her beauty. He's afraid that somebody will
kill him for her. I just thought, I'll come to
that later in there, and just, you want to know what my initial
thoughts are? So I'll give you a heads up. If you think, you
know where I'm going with this. How beautiful is the bride, robed
in the righteousness of Christ? That's it, isn't it, Fred? I
mean, I'm just thinking. I'll just tell you. But we'll
look at it later. And Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, she's
my sister. and Abimelech king of Gerar sent
and took Sarah. Now we're not told the reason
why specifically Abraham was leaving from the place where
he was, why he was going toward the south, possibly It's seen
the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and all
of the plains and beholding the absolute justice and wrath of
Almighty God and God's anger. He leaves, but here we see something
that is common again to all believers. He's the father of us all. Something that's common, and
it's this point, this world There's nothing settling in this world. There's no foundations in this
world. I mean, we might live in a house,
and it might be settled in some concrete, but it's just shifting
sand. It's not stable. There's nothing
stable about it. This world affords no lasting
comfort, nothing. If you have X amount of dollars,
if I had just a little bit more, I'd be set. If you've got that,
the bar's just going to go higher. It's just going to go higher.
Nothing's ever settled. If I got rid of my old clunker,
if I could just get me a little bit better car, that car's going
to break down too. Nothing, nothing. So here's a
picture of us. He's moving. He's sojourned. Actually, I mean, he pulled up.
and was a stranger that lodged in Girar. And like Abraham, we're
all sojourners, pilgrims in this world. Hebrews 11, verse 9, talking
about Abraham, it says, by faith he sojourned in a land of promise
as in a strange, strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with
Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him, of the same promise, same
promise given to all God's sheep. So here we are. The sheep, the
elect of God's pasture in this world, but not of it. Turn to John 17, verse 13. John, the Gospel of John 17.
John 17, verse 13. I need to get in John instead
of Luke. All right, John 17, now come I to thee, the Lord
praying to his father, in these things I speak in the world,
that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I've given them
thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they're not
of the world, even as I'm not of the world. I pray not that
thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil, They're not of the world, even as I'm
not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth,
thy word is truth. As thou sent me into the world,
even so have I sent them into the world. And we know, seeing
Abraham's sojourning, traveling, pilgrim, we're in a place, this
is not our home. Every believer, you know there's
a spirit of knowledge and revelation. You know that this is not where
you truly, finally belong. This is not it. Abraham looked
for a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
And that's what we look for. so much that we don't know. We
see by faith, we know that there's an inheritance. The Lord said
in my father's house are many mansions, many dwelling places.
If it wasn't so, I'd tell you. And I mean in my little fickle
mind, I try to grasp hold of that and the greatest Thoughts
that I can have of those dwelling places I know is just nothing.
Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath entered into
the heart of man that which God has prepared for those that love
him. I know that. But I know that there's that
glory beyond this. I know you that believe you know
that too. And this is Abraham. He's journeying. He's looking
for that city. But now, journeying, he comes
to this place Girar. He dwelled between Kadesh and
Shur, sojourned in Girar. And being in Girar, he exhibited
the effect of the old man that's found in all of us. He came there. And what he did was he's going
to introduce his wife, Sarah. He said, of Sarah, his wife,
she is my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent
and took Sarah. Now, she's my sister. You know,
Proverbs 29, 25 says this, the fear of man. bringeth a snare. But whoso putteth
his trust in the Lord shall be safe. I'm not going to plan to deal
with verse 11 tonight, but after Abimelech was told of God, what
we're going to look at in just a second, Abimelech said to Abraham,
asked him a question. He said, why have you done this?
Why'd you do this? Look at verse 11, Abraham said,
because I thought. Now buddy, now this is where
we get in trouble, right here. I thought. About like Naaman,
remember that? Naaman the leper, he was Assyrian. That little maid from Israel
said, there's a prophet, there's a prophet back here, go. And
he went over there and he, you know, Naaman Because the prophet
wouldn't come out, Elisha wouldn't come out and send his servant
out there. He said, go wash in Jordan River
seven times. You'll be clean. That's what
the servant said. Naaman, we've got better rivers
than that back where I'm from, from Syria. I'm not doing that. And his servant said, if he'd
ask you to do something real tough, why don't you go back?
So he goes back to the prophet. And he says, I thought, I thought
he'd come out and do something and heal me. I thought, this
is what Abraham said. I thought, surely the fear of
God is not in this place. Well, let me tell you something.
Maybe humanly speaking, the fear of God was not in that place,
but God was in that place. The fear of God is not in this
place and they will slay me for my wife's sake. That's why he
said what he said. She is my sister. The second
time he's done this. He did it in Egypt with Pharaoh. I thought to myself, this is
the second time he's done the same thing. And I thought of
myself, and I thought how many times I would be caught in something. And here's what I did. I'll never
do that again. Never. Brethren, be wary, W-A-R-Y, be
wary of promising something that you don't possess the ability
to keep. Don't promise God, don't promise yourself, because I'm
telling you pride, that's pride. I'll never do that again. Oh
my, I've said that a bunch of times in my life. I'll never
do that again. Don't promise God what you can't
keep, but oh how merciful the spirit of God is to teach us
that as blessed a man as Abraham was, as we all are that know
the Lord, here's the thing. There's not a just man upon earth
that doeth good and sinneth not. All of us. Man is bestate, altogether
vanity. How wonderful to know of the
long-suffering of our God toward His own. God is patient, patient
for Christ's sake. Verse 3, but God came, Abimelech
took her. Verse 3, but God came to Abimelech
in a dream by night and said to him, Behold, thou art but
a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken For she is a
man's wife. He took her, Abimelech took her.
I like those first two words in verse three. But God, but
God. Oh, the truth of God's promise,
I will never leave thee, not even in my inability, Not
even in my struggling and my falterings, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. Oh, the truth of God's promise. 2 Timothy 2.13 says, if we believe
not, yet he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. Abraham, as we often do, fearfully
assumed, I thought, we just looked at it, but the Lord will never
allow his own to be completely carried away. Intervened on Abraham's
behalf and in a dream spoke to Abimelech gave him notice concerning
Sarah, who she was, and the penalty of taking her, who was another
man's wife. Lord told him, you're a dead
man. I'm gonna kill you. I'll kill
you. How needful we need to be reminded
of our infirmities. and to be reminded of the mercy
and graciousness and longsuffering of our God. Longsuffering. Oh,
how thankful I am for that word. Longsuffering. Longsuffering. Mercy of God. Sarah was now in
the king's possession, but thanks be unto the Lord that the king's
heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth
it, whithersoever he will. That's Proverbs 21.1. God spoke
to him in a dream, pronounced judgment against him if he took
her. And hearing in the dream the
penalty of that crime against God, Bimelech pleads ignorance. Look at verse 4 and 5. But Bimelech
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's my brother. In the integrity of my heart
and innocency of my hands have I done this. You know why the
king naturally saw himself to be innocent, honorable. You know, the Lord has revealed that though
a man thinks himself from the sole of a foot to the crown of
the head, there's nothing, no soundness in it. wounds, bruises,
and putrefying sores. Lord, in my innocence, in my
honor, no, you just didn't have a chance yet to do it. You would
have done it. You would have done it. He claimed
innocency. He saw himself, maybe he saw
himself as being innocent in this right here, or maybe he
saw his city, you know, not being anything like Sodom. Because
he asked him, will thou slay also a righteous nation? Maybe
he saw what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. And Gero was still
there. And maybe in his mind he said,
we're just better people. But Bimelech, though he had not
come near her, it was only because God kept him from coming here.
He was claiming himself to be something that he wasn't. And
in verse six, 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. I kept you from doing it. Therefore suffered I thee not
to touch her. Now, in closing, I want to leave
us with a very, very precious thought. Precious to me, I know
it'll be precious to you. God had revealed to Abraham,
turn back to Genesis 17. God had revealed to Abraham that
the Messiah was gonna come through him, through Abraham. Genesis
17, look at verse seven and eight. Now listen to the wording. God
speaking to Abraham, I will establish my covenant between me and thee,
and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting
covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And
I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land
wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an
everlasting possession, and I will be their God. Look at verse 15,
16, in chapter 17. And God said unto Abraham, as
for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but
Sarah shall her name be. And I, now this is exactly what
he said, and I will bless her and give thee a son also of her. Yea, I will bless her and she
shall be a mother of nations, kings of people shall be of her. Now, I will bless her and give
thee, Abraham, a son also of her. And she shall be a mother
of nations, kings of people shall be of her. The Messiah was going
to come through Abraham's seed. and Sarah, his wife. Sarah is in the possession of
a Bimelech, because they told him that this is my sister, that's
what Abraham meant, she's my sister. And he takes her, and
she's in his possession, harem, wherever, palace, whatever. God had promised Abraham, Sarah's
going to have a son by you, Abraham. And God comes to Abimelech at
night and says, you touch her, I'm going to kill you. I'll kill
you. God's word, God's counsel is going to stand. God said,
I kept you from touching her. He promised, He gave Abraham
His word. God gave Abraham His word. You're going to have a son through
Sarah. I'm telling you, no one was going to be able to say that
Isaac was the son of Bimelech. God would kill that king before
he would allow him to touch her. The foundation of God's promise,
his word, the glory of Christ, the foundation of the sheep's
security and peace was the issue. God's word stands sure. I got to thinking in closing,
just my thoughts after I'd studied this a little bit. And I thought,
you know, Satan, I don't doubt one second, Satan would have
loved. Can you imagine the thoughts that possibly went through Satan's
mind? Satan knew, no doubt, I'm sure
Satan knew that Abraham was given a promise of God. Can you imagine
what Satan thought? If I can get Sarah and let Abimelech
have Sarah, everything that God had promised would have been
thwarted but God. but God. God kept her. God kept her safe. God protected her. God watched
over her. God had promised Abraham, I'm
gonna give you a son, and God's gonna give him a son. He's gonna
come through Abraham. And from Abraham, right on down,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, right down to the Messiah himself coming
through that seed. Thanks be unto him. He rules
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And no man stays his hand, not even Abimelech. I'll kill you. I pray God bless this to our
hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.