Turn to Genesis 20. Genesis chapter
20. I've been looking at this chapter
last week and this week, and I did not want to pass it up. I know there's a message there.
That's what I kept telling myself. I know there's a message. in
this chapter or it wouldn't be in the Word of God. Nothing is
written in the Word of God to fill up space. It's there for
a purpose. So I was going to wait until
I could see the message. And yesterday over here studying,
looking at this again, I think I finally got something on it.
And it came to me over here in Proverbs 29 and verse 25. It goes with this chapter. It says, The fear of man bringeth
a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be saved. That's the message right there
in that verse. I titled it, The Fear of Man
Bringeth a Snare. Now, we have Abraham before us
here. We have Abraham journeying toward
the south. The Scripture tells us that Abraham
had no certain dwelling place. He moved as God told him to move. He looked for a city. This man
Abraham, who believed God, looked for a city whose builder and
maker is God. He said to be a prophet of God
there in verse 7 of that chapter. But I thought as I was studying
this, when you go over to the New Testament, None of these
failings of Abraham are mentioned. I want you to go over to Hebrews
chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Christ has put our sins away. He said they won't even be remembered. Won't even be remembered. So
over here in chapter 11, in verse 8, even Noah above that. I mean, nothing is mentioned
about his drunkenness. It says in verse 8, By faith
Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place where he
should after receive for an inheritance, he obeyed and he went out, not
knowing whether he went. Doesn't say a word about him
stopping off in Iran, does it? And staying for about five years.
By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange
country dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac, Jacob, the heirs
with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." That's how
the New Testament portrays Abraham, a man of faith, and he was. Through faith, Sarah herself
received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of her
child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had
promised. This is the one who laughed.
This is the one the Lord said, why is Sarah laughing? But not
a word is mentioned in the New Testament, is it? His blood has
put away our sins so effectually that they're not even remembered.
What about Lot? Just Lot. Peter says, just like. And Peter says, he vexed his
righteous soul. Let's tell them frankly this,
if you're a man of God. He vexed his righteous soul. His soul, Peter says, was righteous. That's righteousness imparted. His soul was righteous, just
as your soul before God Almighty is righteous. It's righteous. Well, this is Abraham here. Over
here, Moses now. under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, he lets us in on some things. And I'm glad he
does. Abraham, it says, believed God.
He staggered not at the promises of God. But we see here in this
chapter, as great as he was, he believed God. He was still
a sinner, saved by grace. We never rise above that. Never. This thought hit me as I was
looking at this. A sinner is a sinner all the way home. All the way home. Now, Abraham
is a good example of what happens when we begin to fear man above
trusting God. This is Abraham. A man of faith. Took his eyes off the Lord. the promises and started looking
at that king and became afraid. This is the man, when his nephew
was taken in captivity, this is the man who went and whipped,
was it four or five kings? Now here he is before one king
and he's scared to death. And again he says, Sarah is my
sister. They made this pact Before when
they left, when they left out of Caldeans, they made this little
pact, you know, when we come into a strange place, you say
you're my sister. So here again, he says, Sarah
is my sister. He gave his wife up just to eliminate,
just to eliminate the possibility of losing his life. Now, ladies,
She still called him Lord. After giving her up twice to
two kings, she still called Abraham Lord. She still had respect to
Abraham. I thought that was amazing. She
still had respect for her husband. That's the work of grace. That's
the work of grace. But this also shows us how being
forgiven of sin The Lord forgives us, puts it away, and so often
we fall back into it. I couldn't tell you how many
times, growing up, when mom would give me a whip and I said, I
won't do it no more, I won't do it no more, I won't do it
no more. Dancing around while she had a switch right after
me. And I did it again. And got whipped for it again.
And that's what happened to Abraham here again. But this time, this
time, God uses this unbelieving king, this unregenerate king,
to rebuke his servant. This left a bad taste in the
king's mouth. And he said to Abraham, he said,
Why? Why did you do this? What has
thou done unto us? There in verse 9. What have I
done to you? Someone was telling me yesterday.
They said some years ago, this particular person, he said, I
did something, did something I shouldn't have done. And he's
a believer. And he said, and I was rebuked
by a man that didn't believe the gospel at all. And he said,
I went home and I just wept. And he said, I felt so humiliated.
He said, I felt so humiliated that this man had to rebuke me. Straighten me up. And that's
what's happening here. God uses this king. to rebuke
Abraham. It's sad when the wicked are
used to rebuke the righteous. But sometimes it happens. And
here's Abraham's excuse to the king. It would have been better
if he had said, lack of faith. Why have you done this to me?
Why has thou brought on me and on my kingdom? Abraham, by your
one act of disobedience, you have endangered my whole kingdom. Adam, by that one act of disobedience,
brought the whole human race down. And this king says, Why
have you done this? You have endangered my kingdom
with this great sin. He said, Thou hast done deeds
unto me that ought not to be done. Nobody ought to do what
you did, Abraham. Oh, what a rebuke. What a rebuke. And he rebuked Sarah. On down
through there, let me find a verse. In verse 16, and unto Sarah he
said, Behold, I have given thou Brother, you say your husband,
he said, I give you a brother. Well, it wasn't a half brother,
but he said, I've given you a brother a thousand pieces of silver.
And John Gill said this was to buy veils to her to put over
her face so that she won't be attracted to, you know, somebody
attracted to her again or she won't be attracted. You have
a husband, that's what he's saying. You have a husband. You've got
to remember, Sarah is 90 years old. She's 90 years old. And this king was attracted to
her. And he says, you don't do this
again. You have a husband. Don't let this. Your husband
is a covering to you. He's your protection. He's your
husband. You submit to him. Don't you
do this again. This is a wicked king giving
these instructions here. And here's Abraham's excuse.
I thought. Well, that's your first problem,
Abraham. Human reasoning. Human reasoning will get us in
trouble every time. I thought. I didn't pray. I did
not seek the Lord about this. I thought. Surely, surely the
fear of God's not in this place. That's what Naaman, you know,
Naaman said, I thought. I thought surely you'd come out
and lay your hands on me and do some kind of weird stuff and
I'd be healed. I thought. We always get in trouble
when we begin to use human reasoning instead of faith. Instead of
walking by faith. When we start to walk by sight
and not by faith, trouble. It's going to be trouble every
time. Every time. Even if the fear of God were
not in that place, it's still under His control. It's still
under His control. Even the fear of God is not in
that place. Is God not omnipresent? Is there any place that He's
not? Is there any place He has no power over? Oh, Abraham, Abraham,
what were you thinking? What were you thinking? The heart
of the king is in the hand of the Lord. Like the rivers of
water, He turneth it whithersoever He will. It is evident that Abraham's
righteousness was imputed to him because he sure did nothing
to produce it. Not at all. And then notice God's
overruling power here to keep that king from touching Sarah. This is not a goodness in the
king. This is the power of God over the king. This is the power
of God over the wicked. This is God's power. He says
in verse 6, I kept thee from sinning, listen, against me.
I kept you from doing this thing against me, sinning against me. It was God's power that kept
that king from sinning against him by taking Sarah and touching
her, having anything to do with her, having a physical relationship.
It was God's power that kept us from being all the sinner
that we could be. Really. It's His power that kept
me and kept you from being all the sinner we could be. God's
done that. I'll never forget this statement,
and it fits right here. Henry said this one time in a
message. I've never forgotten it. Don't confuse sovereign constraint
for personal holiness. He said, you're a dead man. First of all, I'm going to kill
you you know, send Sarah back. But you are a dead man. You're
a spiritually dead man. I'm the one who kept you. I'm
the one who kept you from doing this against me. I'm the one
who kept you. How many evils have we been kept from from our
youth up? Now, we all can say, but by the
grace of God, there go I. We can all say it. Sovereign
constraint has kept us. And then all sin is against God,
he said, against me. He didn't mention Abraham. He
said, I kept you from sinning against Abraham. No, he didn't
say that. Against me. Every act of sin, every act of
sin is directly, directly against God Almighty. It's against God. David said, Against thee and
thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. That's
how David dealt with it. Against thee only. It is a breach
of God's law. And notice through this whole
ordeal, God was present in this whole
ordeal with Sarah. I kept you from touching her.
He's the one who kept Sarah. He's the one who protected Sarah.
He's the one who was with her. He never, never left her alone.
Her husband, Abraham, gave her up to the king's harem. She became
part of the king's harem. I mean, that's just mind-boggling,
isn't it? We'd do the same thing if God let us. We'd do the same
thing. But the Lord never left her. He protected her. He kept her. I'm telling you,
He is our shield and buckler. The Lord is our shield and our
buckler. Now let me say a few things about
this. The fear of man bringeth a snare. How is that? How is that? Well, it's giving
to man that place that only God is to have. Fear the Lord. The fear of God. The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of man is absolute
foolishness. It is absolute foolishness. Our
Lord said one time over in the Gospels, He said, I'll tell you
who to fear. Fear Him who is able to cast
both body and soul into hell. That's who you fear. And we fear
Him reverently, respectfully, a healthy respect for God, not
for man. Then it's giving too much credit
to a man's power. He gave too much credit to the
king's power. He looked at that king, looked
at his kingdom, and he said, oh, this is dangerous. This is
dangerous. No, no, no. The heart of the
King is in the hand of the Lord. Then it is to take our eyes off
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone has all power over all
flesh. He said over in John 17, Thou
hast given me power over all flesh. A dog can't even bark against
you without His will. It's giving way too much respect
to men and it's taking our eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ and
looking at men. The Lord told Peter, he said,
come on, walk on the water. The Lord walked on the water.
Peter said, let me come to you. He said, well, come on. And what
happened when Peter took his eyes off the Lord? He began to
sink. He was going down. And that's
what happened. Abraham took his eyes off of
God Almighty. He took his eyes off his shield
and buckler. He took his eyes off his protector.
And he went down. And went down. And did a very
shameful, shameful thing. Gave up his wife. Gave up his
wife. And then it's to forget that
all men are but dust. From dust thou art, that dust
shalt thou return. David said in the psalm that
was read back in the study, teach me how frail I am. Man at his
best state, he says, is altogether vanity. I mean the man at his
best state. is worthless, useless, powerless
to do anything apart from the will of God. Worms. Worms. Are you afraid of worms? Well, some
of you are. Bring a fishworm and some of you go screaming.
Go, bring one in the house and get that out of you. It's just
a fish worm. What can it do? What can it do? Absolutely nothing. And that's
what God says. They're worms. You're just a
worm, Jacob. That's giving just too much respect
to a worm, don't you think? And then it's to forget that
no man can have power except it be given him from above. Oh,
Pilate. wanting to look powerful. He said, don't you know I have
the power to kill you, release you? Don't you know I have that
kind of power? Didn't anybody tell you that?
And the Lord said, you have no power at all except it be given
you from above. You have no power against me
at all. And I'm telling you this, this is the honest truth. There
is no power against us at all except it be given from above. Abraham, Abraham, what were you
thinking? And then it's giving the respect
that belongs to God alone to fallen, sinful men. Give honor to whom honor is due. But that's just way over the
top. Way over the top. And what is
the snare that it brings? What is the snare that this fear
of man brings? Well, first of all, it gives
an exalted view of men and a deflated view of God. And then it destroys one's testimony. Lot, we saw this here, what,
a week or two ago? Lot, he goes and tells his sons-in-law,
get out of town, God's going to burn it up. And he's seen
to them as one that mocks. It destroys your testimony, this
fear of man. It caused Peter, that Peter cuts
off that servant, one servant, cuts his ear off. He says to
the Lord, I'll die, I'll die with you. And then before a little
maid, he denies the Lord. Because of the fear of man. Aaron, when Moses went up on
the mountain, and they said, as for this Moses, we don't know
where he's at. He's been up there for 40 days,
40 nights. Where is he? And they said, make a golden
calf. And you know what? He did. He
did. Aaron, God's priest, did that. Why? Because he was afraid of
those people. The fear of man. Elijah faces
down the prophets of Baal and runs from Jezebel and goes hides
in a cave and says, Lord, kill me. I'm the only one left. She's
after me. David, this is the man who went
out by himself The Lord was with him. The armies of Israel stood
back there like a bunch of cowards. He goes out by himself and slays
Goliath. And many other things. Twice
he could have killed Saul. And then when he met the servants
of Achish, you know what he did? He fainted like he was a madman. And he started walking around
acting crazy and let spit run down his face. And they looked
at him and said, he's lost his mind. Because he was afraid of
the servants of Achish. And so he acted like an idiot. Let's spit drool down. That was
David. Because he feared the servants
of Achish. And then it brings reproach on
the name of Christ. If there's anyone in this world
that has a right to be brave, it's us. Paul said, I can do
all things through Christ who strengthens me. And then people, even your own
family will lose confidence in anything you have to say. Total
respect. They'll lose it. You'll lose
their respect. There is nothing more unbecoming
than for a man who believes God to become a coward before men.
Nothing more of them are coming than that. And then it will cause
the weaker brother to stumble. Always somebody watching. Always
somebody watching. And listen, this is important. It's all been important. It will
keep you from confessing Christ publicly. Nicodemus came by night. Joseph
of Arimathea, he was a secret disciple until
the Lord was put to death on a cross and they had to come
out. But it will keep you from confessing the Lord Jesus Christ,
this fear of man will. Look over in John chapter 7. In John chapter 7 verse 12, And there was much
murmuring among the people concerning him, for some said, He is a good
man, others said, Nay, but he deceiveth the people. Howbeit
no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews. They wouldn't
talk about him in public. Because they were afraid of what
would happen. And this fear of man, fear of
men, fear of your friends, fear of people out here in your social
circle, it will keep you from confessing the Lord Jesus Christ.
It will keep you from doing it. And then it will cause preachers
to take the edge off the message. This fear of men will cause preachers
And it'll cause believers in your witness to compromise. It'll cause you to compromise
every time. And it'll keep you from speaking
up. And I've done this. I've been in the workplace and
stuff, in those places. It'll keep you from speaking
up when Christ's name is being dishonored. And you'll sit there
and you won't say anything. I've done that. At the time,
I never thought it was a fear of men, but after reading this
chapter, that's what it was. That's what it was. It will keep
you from standing up for your Lord when His name is being blasphemed. We must live our message. Then how can I avoid this snare?
How can I avoid this snare? Well, let's go back over here
to Proverbs 29. Go back to Proverbs 29, verse
25. How can I avoid this snare? And he gives it. Whoso putteth his trust in the
Lord shall be safe. There it is. It's so simple.
It's so simple. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. A continual
exercise of faith in Christ. Trust Him who never fails. Trust
Him who rules over all. Trust Him who is able to make
all things work together for our good. We read it. We read that in Romans 8. And
we believe it. Sometimes we short come short
of it, don't we? He does. He makes all things
work together for our good. Don't trust yourselves. Lean
not to your own understanding. But lean on Him. Lean on your
surety. Lean on your shield. Lean on
your Lord. Lean on your Redeemer. Lean on
Him to bring you safely home. Lean on Him. The sinner who trusts the Lord
shall be safe. Oh, I love that. He'll be safe. It doesn't say he won't hurt.
It doesn't say he'll never cry. But he will be safe. It doesn't say that he won't
be unhappy. It doesn't even say he won't
be scared. But he'll be safe. We may not always be happy, but
we'll always be safe. But whoso putteth his trust in
the Lord shall be safe. Now let me give you these and
I'll quit. He shall be safe in sickness. He'll be safe. He said in one place over in
Psalm 91, that the plague shall not come nigh thee. Not unless
he allows it. Safe in poverty. Safe in riches. Safe from the power of sin. You
think it's going to overwhelm you? He said sin will not have
dominion over you. Safe from the curse of the law.
Oh, if you know anything about that curse that makes this precious. Safe from the power of Satan.
Safe from the power of the grave. Safe in judgment. We have nothing
to fear. Safe throughout eternity. Put
your trust in the Lord. Whoso puts his trust in the Lord,
all will be well. You'll be safe. You'll be safe.