19 and I got a comment on it briefly
and I think we'll come back to it as As time goes on But it's
a whole lot we can judge by the appearances of the way things
are We're about to read a horrible heinous act And our Lord told
us judge not according to the appearance But judge righteous
judgment. Oh, I need reminded of that often
often. It says in Genesis 19 verse 30,
And Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain, and his
two daughters with him, for he feared to dwell in Zoar. And
he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn
said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man
in the earth to come unto us after the manner of all the earth.
The Lord just destroyed the two cities and the plain that these
girls had ever known. That's all they had ever known.
And it got destroyed. And they thought Lot was the
only believing man there was left on this earth. And they
saw what happened to their sisters who married worldly men on purpose. Dead. Graveyard dead. And so
they got together and they didn't seek the advice of their father.
They didn't go find Uncle Abraham and say, you're God's prophet,
what do you think? Do you get that? Is that rocket science? Did they do that? They did not
do that. And so they had their own ideas and they come up with
their own plans. Come up out of their own head.
Verse 32 says, Come, let us make our Father drink wine, and we
will lie with Him. That, here's the reason they're
going to do it. Their self-justification. That
we may preserve seed of our Father. What a glorious and wonderful
thing. Hogwash. That's pitiful, isn't it? Absolutely
horrible. Our judgment is most of the time
wrong. What I think is right, what you
think is right, off the hip, worldly, ain't right. You get
that? It's wrong. And when we justify
ourselves, we'll see us next hour or two and later here, that's
wrong. Well I, but you know what happened? Wrong. Wrong. If it's against
the Word of God, it's flat wrong. If it's easy on me, if it feels
good, if it's comfortable for me, It's likely wrong. We know
that, don't we? You want to go on a diet? If
it tastes good, don't eat it. Right? You'll learn. It tastes
a bunch of change. I love broccoli. But rule of
thumb, right? If it tastes good, if it smells
good, boy, that's yummy. It ain't no good for you. It
ain't. This, what's happening here,
is clean wrong. This is sin. Period. Verse 33, And they made
their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went
in and lay with her father, and he perceived not what she laid
down, nor when she arose. He didn't know this was taking
place. No excuse. We'll see that in a minute too.
And it came to pass on the morrow that the firstborn said unto
the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father. Let us make him
drink wine this night also, and go thou in and lie with him,
that we may preserve seed of our fathers. And they made their
father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and
lay with him, and he perceived not. He didn't know. He didn't
know any better. He was laid up drunk two nights
in a row, wasn't he? I don't want to get worldly on
those things, but our sobriety, the Lord tells us to be sober-minded,
don't you? That means don't be drunk on the wine of Babylon,
the religion of this world, but there's good sense, and don't
stay laying up drunk all the time, neither. Lay off the weed. Thus both daughters of Lot, verse
36, were with child by their father. The first born bear a
son. That took ten months, you know
that? Did this happen in a paragraph? Did this happen in a sentence?
It's ten months later. The first born brought a son. His name
was Moab, the same as the father of the Moabites unto this day.
And the younger, she also bear a son, and call his name Venemi,
the same as the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
This was not a joy ride. We don't hear anything of the
life of Lot until Peter writes of him. Our Lord mentions him
that it'll be as in the days of Lot when he'll return. But Peter writes of him. God
moves Peter to write of him, calls him just, godly, righteous
Lot. But the life of Lot, the daily
interactions of Lot, he was miserable over his sin. You think he was
going around giving parent advice all over town? That's called shut up to sin,
isn't it? You think he's giving advice? No, he wasn't. He was
shut up to sin. He took care of those boys. He
provided those boys. He protected those boys. But
every time he looked them in the eye, every time they talked
to him, it was an ever living reminder of the horrendous acts
that was committed from a nature he has from Adam. You get that? We need strong promises in the
Lord and we need stark warnings too. We need dire warnings. Paul said where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. How could something good come
from this? How could grace abound from a horrible situation like
this? Why is this recorded for us to
read? Why would we teach our children out of this? Moab must
be born. Why? There's a Moabitess named
Ruth that must be born. And she's going to get married.
And her husband's going to be killed. And her father-in-law's
going to be killed. And her brother-in-law's going
to be killed. And her mother-in-law, Naomi,
is going to say, I'm leaving. You stay here. She said, your
God is my God. Your people is my people. And
they're going to go back to the house of bread, ain't they? They're
going to go to God's house, not out by themselves. They're going
to go to God's house. And there's going to be Boaz. And all what
comes down from that line, our Savior comes from there. People say, well, this sure is
a horrible act. Every day you live is a horrible act. Every thought
you have outside of Christ and outside that new man He puts
in us is absolutely deplorable in the sight of God. It's horrible. In chapter 20, sin abounds again. So this ain't nowhere near as
bad. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was. It's against God. Is that bad? What if it's a little against
God? What if I tell mostly the truth to you? Would that be good? What if I just have good intentions?
Well, I meant, I intended to preach the gospel to you. And
then didn't. It's eternal life and death,
isn't it? Here in chapter 20, there's three characters we're
going to see. Abraham, he sins. Tells his wife to say she's his
sister again. Again. He's full of fear of men
and he acts on it. And we see Sarah, full of unbelief.
She gets horrible instruction and she acts on it to help herself.
What was good for her. Abimelech, he has no clue he's
sinning. He's drunk on this world. He
doesn't know what's happening. He's just going through life.
And he tries to justify his ignorance. That's wrong. He said, I did
good. No, you didn't. God tells it. God's grace abounds at every
level. For His people, His grace abounds
in all things. Does that mean we should sin
more? Paul continued from chapter 5. And he said in chapter 6,
what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid. God forbid. How shall we that
are dead to sin, lit of it, any longer therein? How can we live
towards this? How can that be our desire? It won't be for a child of God,
is it? Believers do exactly what they want. Our new man does. He wants to
worship God, honor Him, not bring reproach on the gospel. We're
going to see here in a minute, too, what it's like whenever
a heathen rebukes a child of God. And they're right, and that's
embarrassing. Shameful, isn't it? Let's see
what happens to these three people in chapter 20. We'll read the
whole thing, and then I'll make some comments on it. Genesis 20, verse 1. And Abraham journeyed from thence
toward the south country. and dwelled in Kadesh and Shur
and Sojourn and Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his
wife, she's my sister, told everybody in town, that's my sister right
there. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in
a dream by night and said unto him, behold, thou art but a dead
man. For the woman which thou hast
taken, she's a man's wife. But if Emelech had not come near
her, and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me, she's my
sister? And she said even herself, he's
my brother. In the integrity of my heart
and in the innocence 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, because, I also withheld thee from sinning against
me. Therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. You didn't
do that of Imalek, I did. Now therefore restore the man's
wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou
shalt live. If thou restore her not, know
thou that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine. Therefore Abimelech rose early
in the morning, and he called his servants and told all these
things in their ears. And the men were sore afraid.
Then Abimelech called Abraham and said unto him, What hast
thou done unto us? And what have I offended thee,
that thou hast brought me on me and on my kingdom a great
sin? Thou hast done deeds unto me
that ought not to be done." And Abimelech said unto Abraham,
What sawst thou? What thou hast done this thing? And Abraham said, Because I thought...
There's a problem isn't there? 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's the daughter
of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became
my wife. Now what I told you was part
right. It's a half truth. It's a white lie, right? Based
on some truth. And it came to pass when God
called 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
whether we shall come, say of me, he's my brother. And Abimelech
took sheep, and oxen, and men's servants, and women's servants,
and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee. Dwell where it
pleaseth thee. A little different than Pharaoh
when he cast him out, wasn't it? He said, You stay here with
us. And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand
pieces of silver, Behold, he is to thee a covering of the
eyes unto all that are with thee and withal." That means he's
your husband. He should be the apple of your
eye. You get that? You quit following other husbands.
Paul said, you women submit to your own husbands. He said, that's
your own husband. And you quit lying to people
and telling them he's your brother. That's your husband. What a rebuke. Thus she was reproved. So Abraham
prayed unto God and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his
maidservants and they all bare children because the Lord had
fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because
of Sarah, Abraham's wife. That whole place, that whole
nation went barren and Lord restored them, gave them fruit. Abraham
lied. He told a little white lie. It
was part truth. There's no such thing. And he did it because he was
afraid. He was afraid of men. He was afraid of King Abimelech. Now you think of everything he
just went through. Think of his whole life. That's what we've
been looking at for a couple months now, isn't it? Think of him going
down to Egypt and the Lord keeping him. Think of him and the 318
men going and killing those four kings that took over five kings.
Think about him interceding for Lot and the Lord destroying an
entire city, two of them. and bringing out his own. And
the Lord has promised him, you're going to have a son, and your
seed is going to be more than the stars that you can see in
the sky at night. You can't count them. And he got scared to death. And he said, they're going to
kill me. They're going to kill me. He said, they are so beautiful. Here's this 90-year-old woman
that's lovely. I don't know what she looked
like, but she was pretty enough a king to take notice everywhere they went.
And he said, they're going to kill me. That's unbelief, isn't
it? That's fear in man, not fear in God. That's fear in the creature,
not fear in the Creator. We're going to learn something
from it. Better pay attention. Solomon wrote to us, Proverbs
29, he said, the fear of man bringeth a snare. Boy, what kind
of snare Abraham and his wife and his whole house come into,
isn't it? He said, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord
shall be safe. In Proverbs 9 and 10 he said,
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of
the holy is understanding. Don't Abraham have knowledge
of the holy? Don't he have knowledge of the Lord? Of course he did.
What can we learn from this? Even old, solid believers in
the faith still have an old nature capable of doing absolutely anything
if the Lord is pleased to take his hand off of them for a fraction
of a second. Let him that thinketh, he standeth. Take heed lest he fall. That's
present tense, isn't it? I always think I'm standing.
Oh, I'm so strong. This will be fine. Standeth.
I always have stood. I always believe God. I've always
been a good little child. Good little boy and girl. Always
will be. I'm getting ready to fall. Watch it. Pride goeth before
destruction. What comes before destruction?
Always pride. Well, I... Get them little fingers
going like this, don't we? We turn into snake oil cells
when we think we've got a cure for everything. And a haughty spirit
before we fall. Happy is the man that feareth
always. Solomon told us. I don't sound
happy. That's real happy. That's a good
place to be. Trouble's a good place to be.
Absolutely crying out. I mean moaning. Tears, snot going all over the
place. That's a good place to be. We'll see us next hour. These
two go hand in hand. The Lord hears those that are
in trouble. Do you know that? What a benefit
comes with that. This didn't just happen to Abraham,
did it? It happened to David. I know you all remember this.
1 Samuel 21. David arose and he fled for fear
of Saul. He's afraid of a man. He went
to Achish, the king of Gath. What was that? That's where Goliath
was from. He went to the Philistines. And you know what he did? He
got scared of them when he got there. He was scared of Saul.
Then he was scared of those in Gath. And he laid these words
on his heart. He was sore afraid of Achish,
the king of Gath. And he changed his behavior before
them. And he feigned himself. He faked
it. He acted like a madman in their
hands. And he scrambled at the doors
of the gates, running around. And he let spittle fall down
from his beard. What happened? Strong, mighty,
steady, the warrior, King David was scared? Was he? Was he to the point he faked
being crazy so they wouldn't hurt him? Sure did. What's that
remind us of? The best of men are men at best. The most mighty believer born
of Adam that's ever lived, the strongest, most mature believer
that's ever lived, is in need of God's mercy and God's grace
every day. And the weakest child, the least
of them, that has a new life and that just was saved right
now, is in complete need of God's mercy and God's grace. No different,
is it? No different. We are never above needing our
Lord. We are never above relying on
Him for every breath that we take to keep us up and to sustain
us in all things. It's needful. Sadly, this is
common to all believers. How fearful we get, how downtrodden
we get, how worried we get. Believers, I chose my words carefully. Believers, Brother Pink said,
men and women who trust their eternal souls to Christ alone
are so slow to trust Him with their mortal bodies. Is that
right? Put anything else in there. Your
bank account, your children growing up, getting enough stuff to get
school supplies for the year. Whatever it is, we're so slow
to trust Him. I've got to commit my soul to Him. I don't know
if I'm going to get through today. I better put my hand to it. It's
easy to see Abraham's sin in all this. Again. He did it 25
years ago, didn't he? Down in Egypt. I'll never do
that again. You better watch your nevers. What about Sarah? Briefly, I'll cover her. She
went along with it. Again. This was the game plan
when they left her. That's what she promised him
when they got married, wasn't it? Look here in verse 13. Genesis 20,
13. And it came to pass when God called me to wander from
my father's house, I said unto her, unto Sarah, this is thy
kindness which thou shalt show unto me. At every place where
we shall come, say of me, he's my brother. Do me this favor.
He's my brother. Why would she do such a thing?
She knew right from wrong. They still got about 400 years
before the law comes around. She knew right from wrong, didn't
she? That's what Paul told us there in Galatians 3. I thought
that was precious. And the scripture preached before the gospel unto
Abraham. Well, they didn't have the scriptures,
did they? Moses hadn't wrote about Abraham yet. Christ preached
to them. He taught them. Nothing's changed,
has it? God had to teach His people.
He sent a man to them. Sent Melchizedek to them. Sent
others, didn't He? Knowing better. What would make
Sarah willing? Well, she's just an obedient
wife. Ah, nonsense. That's what self-serving is,
what it was. Mankind errs greatly in thinking that women are more
pious than men are. She came there for carnal comfort.
Those palaces, do you think that would have been nicer than living
in a tent? Do you think having good food, better variety of
things, a soft bed, hard walls that don't flap whenever the
wind blows every time we wake up in the middle of the night?
And look at the bounty. We got out of Pharaoh last time
this happened. Oh, we got a whole bunch of servants and gold and
riches, didn't we? We can put all our servants'
kids through braces. We can get new school clothes.
We can put back some for a rainy day. Self-serving, wasn't it? Oh, she's a picture of Christ.
Look here at verse 7. Now therefore restore the man
his wife, for he's a prophet. This horrible fella? He's a prophet,
but he didn't feel like one that day. And he shall pray for thee,
and thou shalt live, and if thou restore her not, know thou that
thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine. Don't you
touch that woman. That's what he said. You touch
her, I'll kill you and I'll kill everybody you know. What is that? She's self-serving. I have her. I don't want this one. Oh, no,
no, that's His bride. That's a picture of Christ. That's
the picture of His bride. That's us, isn't it? He said,
touch not mine anointed. He said, that's mine. You think what a horrible bride
we are. And then you read Song of Solomon
and how the Lord sees us and our beauty. It's the beauty of
another, isn't it? It's the works of another. It's
the faith of another. What about Abimelech? Verse 3.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said unto
him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, because the woman which
thou hast taken, for she is a man's wife. He didn't do anything, right?
He didn't went into her. Our Lord said, Matthew 5, But
I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after
her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And
he said, I got a clean heart. No, you don't. No, you don't. I pray God would say to someone
here today, you're dead. You're dead in trespasses and
sins. I hope we can hear it new today.
I might've known I was dead yesterday. I hope I can know today I'm dead.
I need to cry out. Verse 4 says, But Abimelech had
not come near her, and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous
nation? I'm not just okay. Everybody
I know's okay. You get that? That's a fool. Who hath bewitched you, Abimelech?
Said he not unto me? He told me. Didn't he say this
Lord? She's my sister. He lied to me. It ain't my fault.
And she even, she herself said, he's my brother and in the integrity
of my heart and innocence of my hands have I done this. And
God said unto him in a dream. God spoke to him again. He justified
himself. And Lord speaks to Abimelech
again. He says, yea, I know that thou did this in the integrity
of thy heart. Because for here's how you did
it. I also withheld thee from sinning
against me. Therefore suffered I thee not
to touch her. You didn't not do it Abimelech. I made you not do it. That's
what he told him. You didn't do it. I did it. Did you save yourself? Did you justify yourself? Did
you sanctify yourself? Did you redeem yourself? No,
the Lord did. I did it. He obeys him. Doesn't that come with it? Obedience
is better than sacrifice, isn't it? He obeys him. He did what
the Lord said, didn't he? That's a shame, though. Some people say, well, I'm not
an adulterer. You ever killed a baby? I'm not a baby killer. I've had
people tell me that. I'm not a baby killer. My pastor used
to say, people confuse the restraining hand of God for their personal
holiness. The restraining, the keeping
from. God didn't let you do that and you think you're holy because
of it. And they confuse the constraining love. That's what squeezes out,
what forces. His constraining love of God for their own good
works. I gave a lot, I did a lot, I sacrificed a lot. No, you didn't.
God did it, didn't He? The Lord did. He gives a command. He told who it was. Who saves? Who justifies? Then he says in verse 7, a commandment
with that. Now therefore, now that you learned something, the
Lord taught him something quick too. Restore the man his wife, because he's
a prophet. How could Abraham be a prophet? How could Hosea be a prophet?
How could Jonah be a prophet? 430 I woke up this morning, I didn't
have nothing. I had nothing for you. And I was talking to a friend
of mine yesterday, and I said, how can I preach? How can I be God's prophet in
this day? How can I be His man that He sent? That's impossible,
isn't it? What does God say? I don't care
what He did, that's my prophet. What about Hosea? He broke the
law that God gave, because God told him to. He said, I don't
care, that's my prophet. What about Jonah? He booked the ticket
the opposite way. I don't care, it's mine. What
a picture that is of every child of God who's made us priests
and kings before God. It don't matter what you did,
you're His. If you're His, you're His and you'll always be His
no matter what. Isn't that comfort? Isn't that
comfort? He said, restore his wife, verse
7, for he's a prophet and he shall pray for thee and thou
shalt live. And if thou restorest her not,
know that thou shalt surely die about, and all that are thine. Therefore, because of that, the
Lord gave a warning and a command, and immediately he obeyed. Therefore,
Bimelech rose early in the morning, and called his servants, and
told these things in their ears. And the men were sore afraid,
they were sore in trouble. Abimelech went to those he loved
in his household that he had influence over and he said, we've
offended God and we're going to serve Him. You see that? Is that consistent with everything
I've been telling you for four years? That's what happened,
wasn't it? Verse 14, And Abimelech took
sheep and oxen and men's servants and women's servants and gave
them unto Abraham. And he did what God told him
to do. And He restored him, Sarah, his wife. God said restore his
wife. What did He do? He went above and beyond. He
gave us. He was increased. What was He
increased? He just had life. He just had
eternal life. Didn't He? And Abimelech said,
Behold, my land is before thee. Dwell there where it pleases
thee. Everything I have is yours. You
live wherever you want to live. You build a house wherever you
want to build a house, just don't leave. You're God's prophet. You're
God's messenger. He's going to bless me through
you praying for me. I want to be where you are. And unto Sarah he said, Behold,
I've given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver. That's on top
of the sheep and ox and men's servants and women's servants,
isn't it? Gave him a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, he
is to thee a covering of the eyes unto all that are with thee
and with all other. Thus she was reproved. He told
Ceres, that's your only husband. Don't you look to me. Don't you
ever look to another man. You look to him. What are we to do
as the bride of Christ? How are we going to be reproved?
Quit looking to everything else in this world and look to Christ.
You get that? Did she need to hear this 25
years later? She needs to hear this every 25 nanoseconds, don't
she? I do. Not everybody does. Crossbride does. But what a sad
thing if what seems to be a worldly person, if an unbeliever, has
to give us correction. You want to air all your dirty
laundry and let everybody know everything you ate for breakfast, lunch,
and dinner, and everything you done underneath the sun, you want to do that?
Let the world see every thought you have trickling out of your
fingers? I don't. There's stuff they'd correct
about me and they'd be right. Kevin, you ought not do that. One thing the Lord corrects you,
another thing he uses a heathen to do it. And you know they're
right. So Abraham prayed unto God, verse 17, and God healed
Abimelech and his wife and maidservants, and they bear children. They
bear children. Because the Lord had fast closed
up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah,
Abraham's wife. They couldn't produce. They couldn't
reproduce. There was no fruit coming out
of them. And because there was, as a picture
of Christ Abraham, because of the intercession of another,
they lived and they produced fruit. Just like then. Because
now there was a branch living in them. They're producing fruit
just like the other ones. Ain't it? You see, these three
people in this chapter, Abraham's a picture of us all. Fearful,
sinful, unbelieving that God would preserve him, and we're
lying to ourselves and everybody around us. Yet, God says this
is my prophet. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels, that the excellency of the power of God is of Him
and not of us. Isn't it? Was Abraham something
just, we ought to, don't worry about Christ, let's just dial
in on how wonderful Abraham is, like the Pharisees did. No. He's a picture of one greater,
a greater than Abraham. Sarah, a picture of the bride
of Christ. We shall not be touched. Read that in Psalm 105. The Lord
said, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. Miriam,
we looked before at Numbers 12. Was complaining about Zipporah,
wasn't it? Going against Moses' wife. And she wasn't much of
a winner. She wasn't much of a help. She
was fit for Moses, but she wasn't much of a help. Mean to him,
wasn't she? And I said, look at this woman. What's she doing?
The Lord went and touched her with leprosy, didn't He? And Peter writes, says, even
if Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. How can Sarah obey
Abraham and honor him? He's a coward! You get that? He's a coward. He ain't got no
backbone in him right now, does he? How could she do that? Before
that verse in 1 Peter 3, he says, for after this manner, the old
time, the women, holy women of old, who also trusted in God,
adorned themselves being in subjection to their own husbands. How could
Sarah trust Abraham? How could she submit to him?
How could she have him as covering of her eyes? The only focus she
had on this earth was serving him because she knew the Lord.
Because she was saved by grace. That's how. She trusted the Lord.
How can we trust a king on this earth? How can we trust our governor?
We have a king of kings. You get that? That's how we know
him. Well, now we're right as rain.
Calm down. Quit looking up the news so much.
You'll be all right. We can learn so much from Abraham and Sarah,
but how we view them, how we view their situation, how we
view Lot's situation, it does not matter What matters is how
God sees them. Remember this is one-on-one.
It don't matter what you think of me. It matters what God thinks
of me. It don't matter what you think about the messages I preach.
It matters what God thinks about them. You get that? It don't
matter what other people think how I pray. It matters what God
hears. This we have a lot of comfort. We see it the way God sees it.
As He says, as His promises are, you and I can have comfort. He
said in Romans 4, Abraham staggered not at the promises of God, but
being strong in faith, giving glory to God. He just staggered
all the way down the road, didn't he? Twice again. That's what
we see. If we was going to write a biography
of somebody we loved, I would have brought out all the bad
stuff, wouldn't you? Well, we don't even bring it up. We can
touch on it just a little bit if it's kind of funny, but we don't
want to harm, right? What does the Lord do when He
gives us a biography of His saints? He tells us plainly. Why? So you and I can have comfort.
Because we ain't nothing but the worthless wretches. We're
sinners. It said in Hebrews 11, through faith also Sarah herself
received strength to conceive seed and deliver a child when
she was past age because she judged him faithful who has promised. Didn't she laugh? That sin's
been put away as far as the east is from the west. Abimelech's
not mentioned in Romans, and he's not mentioned in Hebrews
11, but I know this much. He's one that God came to. God
looked on him. He came to him. He spoke to him.
He told him of his sin. He told him that he didn't justify
himself, but God did it. He gave him direction. He obeyed
God. And he didn't just take Sarah
back to Abraham, but was generous. He gave abundantly. all that
he had. An intercession was made for
him. He didn't intercede for himself, somebody else interceded
for him. And he and all his household was given life and they produced
fruit. What would you think? That sounds pretty good, huh?
I think all three, and I think you and I, are in the hands of
a capable God who is willing to save to the uttermost, who
delights to show mercy. And we ought to stop doing what
we're doing. We ought to stop thinking what we're thinking.
We ought to stop religion and how we religion. And we ought
to bow to Him and call out to Him. And He'll hear us. Do you know that? Some people
say, well, my sin might be exposed. I've been told that before. Everybody
might know that I ain't just a cute little Christian that's
been saved for 2,000 years and has lived just right. Good. Good. If our sin truly is exposed,
a Savior will be revealed. Isn't that something?