See if you don't think maybe
Abraham couldn't have sung that song we just saw. He hides me
and covers me with his hand. And I told Vicki on the way over
here tonight, you're not even gonna believe this lesson. And
she said, well, is it true? I said, yeah, I believe it is,
but you're not gonna believe it. You're not gonna believe
it. I don't have to believe it. Our
Lord is so gracious. And His blessing upon us is much
greater than we have any idea about. Look at Genesis chapter
12 and verse 10. You know the context. The Lord
has called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees and said, go
unto a land that I'll tell you of. And Abraham took his wife
Sarah and his nephew Lot And those who pertain to them, it
mentions, I don't know who they were, but he had a little group
with him apparently. And they headed out and they
went. God said when he called him,
I want to bless you. I'm in the business of blessing
people and I'm going to bless you. That's what he said. In
blessing, I will bless thee. And Abraham went and look at
verse 10. He traveled, look at verse, let's start in
verse nine just to see. And Abraham journeyed and going
on still toward the South. And he comes into the land that
the Lord had called him to go to. They come into the land of
Canaan, it says in verse five, into the land of Canaan. They
came and there was a famine, verse 10, there was a famine
in the land. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there,
for the famine was grievous in the land. God had promised to
bless Abraham. He got up out of his father's
house, and he went to this place. And when they get there, the
first thing he finds out is that it's not a pleasant place to
be for the flesh. There was a famine. And what
a lesson already just on the just at the outset here. The
place of God's blessing is not always, and in my experience
rarely is, the place of fleshly ease, comfort, and pleasure. Very rarely. I'll never forget
something that missionary Walter Gruber, missionary to Mexico
for how many years, Larry? Forty years? And I know most
of you have heard this story before, but somebody asked, you
know, Walter, especially in the beginning, that he went through
a lot of hard times down there, just trying to get situated down
there, trying to get recognized by the Mexican government as
a missionary there, which meant a lot, you know, in a lot of
different ways. And he went through a lot of
trouble with that and had some, had some hard times there. And somebody asked him one time,
Walter, are you happy down there in Mexico? And Walter said something
that ever since he said it, people have been talking about it, haven't
they, Larry? Because it was just the truth, and God gave him something
to say that teaches us something. He said, happiness has got nothing
to do with it. It's got nothing to do with it. God sent Walter to Mexico. I have absolutely no doubt in
my mind about that. And that's just the truth. And
there's a whole lot to going down to Mexico like he did and
just going down there and just starting to preach. That was
something that the Lord has to gift somebody to do. Give him
the strength and the determination to do it and the gift to to know
what to do and when to do it and how to do it. And the Lord
blessed Walter there and still does 40 years later. But happiness
has got nothing to do with it. Abraham was where God told him
to go. And it was hard there. Did you
notice the word grievous? The family was grievous. That's
why he left. But a lot of times the place
where God puts us is not pleasant. It's not the easiest place to
be as far as the flesh is concerned. But it's the place of God's blessing.
Now he said here it says that Abraham didn't like the conditions
there in Canaan where they came. And so he went down to Egypt.
And this is the first mention of Egypt in the scriptures. But
the Egypt is mentioned quite a bit hereafter, and never anywhere
in God's Word is it mentioned that it's not clearly a symbol
of the wicked world, the way of this world, the fashion of
this world. And it's a symbol of leaning upon the arm of the
flesh, going down to Egypt. Listen to Isaiah 31.1. Woe to
them that go down to Egypt for help. and stay on horses and
trust in chariots because they are many. And that's exactly
what Abraham's doing here. There's a famine in the land
of Canaan. And he's thinking to himself,
all right, now Egypt, there's going to be, there may be famine
there too, but they've got storehouses there. They've got, they've got
food and water stockpiled and there'll be plenty there because
there's many, there's a lot of people there and there's a big
city there. And so it'll be okay there. woe
to them that go down to Egypt. And they trust in chariots, because
they are many, and in horsemen, because they are very strong.
But they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the
Lord." This verse could have been written about Abraham. But
all through the scripture, Egypt is a picture of that. Of leaning
upon the arm of the flesh. He went down there, And what
it says he did do was go down to Egypt for help, but what he
didn't do is look under the Lord. Now we're gonna find at the end
of the passage of scripture we look at tonight, we're gonna
find Abraham calling on the Lord, but not at the beginning of it.
When he came there and there was famine, he did not, they
look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord.
That's what he should have done to begin with. It's easier for
us to see that here now. But Abraham should have known
that then. And we should know that now. Seek the Lord when
there's trouble. Don't run from it. Don't run
from what God has given you to do. The clear direction and will
of God as it's revealed in the Scripture, do it. And if it's
hard, do it anyway. What did Paul say to Timothy?
In season and out of season preach the Word. And when there's trouble,
seek the Lord in it. But don't run from the place
of God's blessing. That's what we tend to do, don't
we? We want to run from the place of God's blessing. That's the
last place you want to run from. You want to run from everywhere
else to the place of God's blessing, no matter how unpleasant it is
there to the flesh. But Abraham reasoned, and we
tend to do that. We lean upon the reasoning of
the flesh. He said that in Egypt, they'll
have stores of food and water, and the famine wouldn't touch
them there. So he went from the place of God's blessing and took
refuge in this wicked world. What a lesson, my friends. It may seem at times that we
need this world. It's wise to turn to this world,
but it's never, never, ever so. God supplies our every need.
His grace is sufficient and nothing's too hard for God. What's a famine
to God? He's the one that sends the famine.
He's the one that sends the rain. Why go to Egypt for help? Go
to the one who sent the famine. Go to the one who controls the
rain. People think they can dance around and chant some things
and make it rain. God makes it rain and only God makes it rain.
Call on the Lord and don't go down to Egypt for help. And we
do this all the time. We're guilty of this. Yeah, but
Chris, doesn't God use this world in order to supply our needs?
Oh, yes, absolutely. He said, I'll give men for thee
and nations for thy lot. This world exists because of
God's elect. We know that it's clear from
scripture. When then is it wrong? And what do you mean by taking
refuge in this world and not God? Good question. I'm glad
you asked. Well, I'll tell you, it's very
simple. It's wrong when it is clear disobedience
to God's word to do it. And that's where Abraham was.
God said, go, I'll tell you where to go. And God told him where
to go. And he came there and he didn't like it there. So he
went somewhere else. That's when it's wrong right
there. That's exactly when it's wrong. I'll give you an example.
And you probably could think of this same example off the
top of your head. And I could think of several others. I know
more than one person right now, as I stand here, whose job is
a hindrance to the worship. It just is. They live somewhere
where there's no gospel because they have a job there, and they've
gone down to Egypt for help. I'm just going to call it like
it is. They've gone down to Egypt for help, and I've done it myself.
I'm not preaching down to anybody. We've all done it. We all still
do it. But I'm telling you, the Lord is able to provide. Seek
ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be
added to you. Don't live somewhere just because you've got a job
there and not be able to worship God. What could be more foolish
than that? Well, like I said, I'm not preaching
down to anybody. We all do that. We all lean on
the arm of the flesh and we all look to this world for what we
ought to be looking to God for. You see what I'm saying now?
I know some who have moved clear away from any gospel at all in
order to get paid by this world. And that ain't anything but going
down to Egypt for help. That's just as simple as it can
be. Don't you think that God can provide for us? He said,
look at the birds, consider the lilies. They don't toil or spin.
What are we thinking? What are we thinking? Doesn't
your heavenly Father take care of them? Solomon in all of his
glory wasn't as beautiful as one of these little things that
God has planted and watered and taken care of and caused to grow
that can't do anything for itself. What's a flower going to do for
itself? God has to do everything for
it. Whether you know it or not, you're in the same position. We're just like that little lily
planted God's got to give it nutrients. He's got to send his
sunshine on it. He's got to send his rain on
it. He's got to make it grow. And he makes it beautiful. And
if he doesn't, it won't be. It'll wither and die. And that's
exactly where every one of us are. And the sooner we know it,
the better. Do you ever think it's right
for a believer not to publicly worship God? That's an easy answer. That's an easy answer. And is
it ever right for a believer not to find out where his gospel
is preached and plant himself there and stay there and support
the gospel of Christ? No, it's not. Never. And like
I said, we're picking on that one example, and you may know
some people that are that way, but every one of us are guilty
of going down to Egypt for help. Every last one of us. May God
teach us this lesson. Call on him. And don't lean on the arm of
this flesh or look to this world for anything. Even those that we call friends
in this world, I know some that consider some people that don't
know anything about God some of their best friends. Be careful
about that. I know somebody recently that found out that somebody
was a horrible, horrible criminal that would have been the last
person you'd have thought was. We don't know anything about
the people around us, do we, much? But I'll tell you what
you do know about those who hate the gospel. They're godless,
vile, wretched, unrestrained rebels. I don't care how much
of an acquaintance we've struck up with them. Understand that
and be careful about who your friends are. And I'm preaching
to myself. I'm preaching to myself. Don't go to this world for anything,
for anything. It doesn't have it for you. Judas
said, what will you give me? And they said, we'll give you
30 pieces of silver. And he said, I'll take it. And he betrayed
the Son of God. And when he realized what he
had done, he went out and hung himself and went to hell. Whenever you find yourself leaning
on the arm of the flesh for anything, instead of trusting God, you're
in Egypt. Get out. Flee. Run. and seek the Lord. Turn to Psalm
146.3 Psalm 146.3 Put not your trust in princes nor in the Son of Man." How come?
There's not any help in them. I know it looks like there is.
I know that they seem to be influential. I know it looks like they could
do you some good. They can't. Only God can give you what you
need, no matter what it is, both temporal and spiritual. There's
no help in them. His breath goeth forth, he returneth
to his earth, and in that very day his thoughts perish. God
raised him up out of the dust, and he'll turn him back into
dust when he's ready. What are you doing looking to him? And what am I doing? I'm looking
to Him. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help. What did it say about those who
go down to Egypt for help? That those who go to the God
of Jacob for help, happy. Happy. You won't regret that.
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose
hope is in the Lord his God, which made heaven and earth and
the sea and all that therein is, which keepeth truth forever,
which executeth judgment for the oppressed, which giveth food
to the hungry." There you are, Abraham. Who's going to give
you food? Pharaoh or God? I know it seems reasonable, but
God said, go here. He giveth food to the hungry.
Are you hungry? Ask God. Call on Him. The Lord looseth the prisoners.
The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind. The Lord raiseth them
that are bowed down. The Lord loveth the righteous.
Do you hear that? He does everything worth doing. The Lord preserveth the strangers.
He relieveth the fatherless and widow. But the way of the wicked,
he'll turn upside down. Egypt's going down in flames.
You don't want to be there. The fashion of this world passeth
away. the Lord shall reign forever
he's on the throne where are you going to go for help he's
on the throne where are you going to go oh zion unto all generations
praise ye the lord do you see that and this this lesson here
Abraham went down to Egypt for help just as clear as a bell,
didn't he? Can you see how you've done that in the past and how
you might be susceptible to doing that? Don't do it. Don't do it.
Call on the Lord. Look at verse 11 back in our
text. Genesis 12, 11. It came to pass when he was come
near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarah his wife,
behold now I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon. Therefore it shall come to pass
when the Egyptians shall see thee that they shall say this
is his wife and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say I pray thee thou art my sister
that it may be well with me for thy sake. And my soul shall live
because of thee. Now we see here how one sin leads
to another, and another, and another. If Abraham had been
where he was supposed to be, he wouldn't have needed this
deception, would he? And he wouldn't have gotten into
the trouble that he got into in Egypt. And notice some key
words here when it comes to our sin. That it may be well with
me. The Lord said, don't always be
thinking on the things of yourself, but think on the things of others.
He wasn't thinking about Sarah, was he? He said, I'm gonna make
sure I'm okay in this thing. He wasn't thinking about God's
honor and glory or anything but me. That's our problem. That's our problem. That it may be well with thee.
God help us. We're selfish, aren't we? We're
just selfish. It's all about the old God. Abraham here is young in the
faith. Remember that it's worth remembering. He's got some baggage
with him, doesn't he? Would you ask, would you look
at this and see what Abraham did here and say, how can a believer
act like that? Not unless you're real young
in the faith or not young in the faith at all. Because a believer
that's been a believer long knows how he can act like that. We've
looked in the mirror enough to know. And until God gives you
eyes to see, you haven't looked in the mirror yet. You just think
you have. Have you ever looked with the
eye of faith in the mirror? If so, then you won't ask, how
could a believer do something Like that. We do grow in grace over the
years, don't we? In Abraham, there was a time
when it says, Abraham staggered not at the promise of God, but
was strong in faith. But that was later. That was
later. And it says that Abraham offered
his only son, Isaac, whom he loved. just because God told
him to. When it didn't make any sense
in the world to do it. God said, from that son, Isaac,
my seed will be born. My son will be born through his
lineage. And then God said, go kill him.
That doesn't make any sense to do that, does it? To go kill
him. And yet Abraham did it. It's
just the opposite of what it was here. It made sense for him
to go down into Egypt, according to the flesh. They got plenty
of food and water down there. And he did what made sense. But
later, You see, we gotta grow a little bit, don't we? We gotta
grow. And it takes trial, doesn't it? It takes trouble. It takes affliction.
It takes messing up, sometimes, to grow. It takes time. Sometimes it takes years. Usually
it takes years, doesn't it? Years. Years to grow. Just a little bit. In the grace
and knowledge of our Lord. But He does cause us to grow
in grace. And then look at verse 14. It
came to pass that when Abram was coming to Egypt, the Egyptians
beheld the woman, that she was very fair. The princes also of
Pharaoh saw her and commended her before Pharaoh. They said,
boy, you got to see this woman. She's something to see. And the
woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. Can you imagine Abraham? Abraham loved Sarah. There's
no question about that. He didn't see this coming. But the thing is, when we disobey
God, and we act like idiots, there's consequences, aren't
there? And she was taken into Pharaoh's
house, and he entreated Abram well for her sake. And he had
sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants,
and she asses, and camels. He gave all these things to Abraham.
He made him rich. And he treated him well. That's
what Abraham wanted. Isn't that what he said? I'll
be I'll come out okay in this if we do it my way, and it'll
be well with me. He got what he wanted, but at
what cost? We have no idea how costly our
sin is. No idea. Not only do we reap
what we sow, but we always reap later than we sow, and you always
reap more than you sow. But think about this, in a spiritual
sense, what did our sin cost? It cost God his only Son. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death, either yours or your Savior's. By God's grace, my sin brought
about the death of God's Son. When it's finished, it brings
forth death. It costs the Son of God His precious blood. We
don't think about that when we're disobeying God, do we? It just
makes sense for us to do it our way, you know. What about the
cost of it? Abraham loved Sarah. And look what happened here.
What would have happened if God hadn't intervened here? He kissed
Sarah goodbye. He'd never see her again. You
reckon? Not up close. Can you imagine that? But God did what he always does. He overrules our sin. And what
did he say to Abraham when he first met him? I'm gonna bless
you. I'm gonna bless you. In spite of you, No matter what,
I'm going to bless you. I'm just going to keep blessing
you. And that's what He did. That's exactly what He did. It
doesn't excuse our mistakes, but even our mistakes will work
for our good because of His grace. It doesn't excuse them and it
doesn't keep us from living with them sometimes for a while. But all things work together
for our good. Look what God did. And you're
not going to have to believe it. Look at verse 17. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of
Sarah, Abram's wife. And Pharaoh called Abram and
said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me that
she was your wife? Why do you say she's my sister?
So I might have taken her to me, to wife, and now therefore
behold thy wife. Take her. Everything that Abraham did,
resulted in him losing Sarah. But what God did is say, here
she is. Take her. She's your wife. She's not Pharaoh's
wife. She's your wife. Take her. And go your way. And Pharaoh
commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away and
his wife and all that he had. There was famine in Canaan when
he got there. He traveled from a long way,
another country a long way off. I don't reckon he had much, do
you, before he got to Egypt. Abraham came out of this whole
thing smelling like a rose because of God's mercy. Abraham sinned
and God plagued Pharaoh. God overruled and took away the
consequences of Abraham's sin? Do we see a shadow here of God
spiritually overruling and taking away the consequences of our
sin? There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Everything we've ever done would
have resulted in our eternal destruction and damnation and
separation from our bridegroom. But God wouldn't have it. God
wouldn't have it. He takes away the consequences
of Abraham's sin and Sarah is restored to him. He avoided the
famine too in Canaan. And they sent him away and all
that he had. Back in verse 16 it says that
Pharaoh He blessed him and treated him well and gave him all kinds
of riches. He took out of Egypt, he left
Egypt a rich man with his wife Sarah and her honor hadn't been
defiled. The Lord prevented that. Do you remember what the devil
said to God in the book of Job? When God said to Satan, have
you considered my servant Job? There's nobody like him on this
earth. He loves me. He hates what I hate. Just look
at him. And Satan said, well, no wonder
you've put a hedge about him. You want to know what that hedge
looks like? Then read this passage in Genesis 12 and the beginning
of chapter 13 again when you go home. and see what the hedge
looks like that God puts about His people. Look at verse 1 of chapter 13,
we'll be through. Abram went up out of Egypt, he
and his wife and all that he had, and a lot with him into
the south. Abram was very rich in cattle
and silver And it didn't say that about him before he came
down to Egypt. Pharaoh made him rich while he
was there. God blessed him upon blessing,
upon blessing, upon blessing. And all he did was mess up from
start to finish, and God blessed him anyway. And he went on his
journeys from the south, even to Bethel, unto the place where
his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai, unto
the place of the altar which he had made there at the first.
There, Abram called on the name of the
Lord. Do you think he learned something
out of all this? Do you think he learned anything? Abram went
back exactly where God had told him to go to begin with. God
doesn't ever take the hedge down all the way. He may let us get
into a little bit of trouble, but we're going to go exactly
where he wants us to go. when he wants us to go, how he
wants us to go. God's not going to let you go.
He's bought you and paid for you. He loves you and sent his
son to redeem you. And he's not going to let you
go. We lean upon the arm of the flesh and we lean upon human
reasoning and prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. He's not going
to let us go. Abraham ended up exactly back
in the place of God's blessing, where God told him to go. To
begin with, and when he got back there, he did exactly what he
should have done to begin with when he got to Canaan and found
out there was a famine there. What should he have done then?
Call on the name of the Lord. Now he's doing just that. The Lord teaches us, doesn't
he, by experience. In verse two, he was very rich
when he left Egypt. There's no way that you can look
at Abraham's trip to Egypt any other way than that it was a
mistake to begin with. He did nothing but make mistakes
the whole time he was there. And all of Abraham's blunders
did not prevent God from doing what he said he would do when
he met Abraham. I'm going to bless you. I'm going
to bless you. We don't believe it, do we? We
don't believe it. But God's going to bless us.
It's not even fair the way God blessed Abraham. It's not even
fair. But he said, I'm going to bless
you. And that's what he does. Has this been your experience
in God's grace? He overrules our every foolishness,
our every blunder, and uses it to bless us. Do you remember what David said
in Psalm 23? In verse 6, I'll close with this. David, in that psalm, he talks
about all that the Lord had done for him and was doing for him.
He's my shepherd. And because he is, I won't lack
anything. I'm not going to have any want. Whether there's famine, whether
there's not famine, I'm going to have everything I need because
the Lord's my shepherd. And he makes me lie down in green
pastures. Whether the pastures are green
on this earth or not, we're lying down in green pastures because
it's the place of his blessing. He leads me beside waters that
I can drink out of, that don't frighten me. Sheep are timid
around running water, so this good shepherd of ours, he leads
us to the still waters. He corrects me, his rod and his
staff. He brings me back. He doesn't
let me stray. He prepares a table before me
in the presence of my enemies. My enemies want to see me go
down in flames and God just keeps blessing me and blessing me and
blessing me right in their face. Is that what he did here? Right
in Pharaoh's face. Abraham was an idiot just like
we are and God blessed him anyway. And then David concluded this
way, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me. You know what
that word follow is? Pursue. Abraham said, me too. Me too. His goodness and mercy chased
me everywhere I went. And I'll dwell in his house forever. Everybody that knows him That's
our testimony. And we praise His name because
no matter how foolish and ignorant and prone to wander we are, He
giveth more grace. Let's bow in prayer.