In one of the Psalms, I can't
remember which one it is, it says, he covereth himself with
light like a garment. That's an amazing description
of the Lord. Many years ago, I was listening
to a message by Rolf Barnard, and I think I might have even
been a teenager, it's been so long ago, and he made this statement
that always stuck with me. He said, the meaning of grace
is in spite of. In spite of. And I remember that
resonated with me. And I have entitled this message,
grace in spite of. I'd like you to first turn to
a passage of scripture in Psalm 106. Verse six. Psalm 106, verse six. The psalmist
says, we have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. Now I've said that I don't know
how many times without really meaning it, going through the
motions of the confession of sin. But the psalmist here is
giving his heart. We've sinned. with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We've done wickedly. What a confession.
What a proper confession. Then he speaks of his fathers. Our fathers understood not thy
wonders in Egypt. The Lord did all these things
for them in Egypt and they were clueless. Spurgeon said they
were spiritually stupid people. And then he says, they remembered
not the multitude of thy mercies. They were ungrateful, forgetful
people. But provoked him at the sea,
even at the Red Sea, they were provoking people, continually
provoking with their sin. Nevertheless. you could just as easily say,
in spite of all of that. Nevertheless, he saved them for
his name's sake. In spite of all that, he saved
them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power
known. Now the story that I just read
in Genesis chapter 12 is a more detailed repetition of in spite
of. He saved them for his name's
sake. Now in our text in Genesis chapter
12, and there was a famine in the land. Now, let me give you
a little bit of background as to how Abraham got into this
land. Abraham had God appear to him
when he lived in Mesopotamia and said, leave your parents,
leave your mother and father, leave your kindred, leave everybody
you're associated with and come into the land of Canaan that
I'll show you. Now we know from both Genesis 11 and Acts chapter
7 that Abraham didn't obey as God said. He brought his father,
he brought Lot, and God said not to bring any of those people,
and he did. We also know that he stayed in
Haran instead of coming into the land of Canaan for five years
until his father died. And then Acts chapter 7, Stephen
says the Lord removed him from Haran. That's how he got into
Canaan. He doesn't say he finally woke
up and did what's right. I trust he did, but yet this
is the way the scripture presents it. God removed him. He took
him out of Haran. and placed him into Canaan, the
promised land. Now I've said several times in
the last several weeks there are so many holes in Abraham's
obedience, and that describes me and you. But thank God for
the in spite of of his grace. In spite of Abraham's Whatever
it was that was troubling him and keeping him from doing what
God said to do, God brought him into the land. And as soon as
he gets into the land, there's a famine. I mean, there wasn't
anything to eat. And I can't imagine all the things
that must have been going through his mind. Why did he bring me
here if there's going to be a famine? And he is going to go down to
Egypt to relieve himself and feed the people he's with. Now,
Egypt indicates what? Bondage, making bricks without
straw, works, religion, the world. He's in a famine like me and
you. He automatically just has something
that draws him back to works to try to get things straightened
up, to make him feel better about himself. This famine creates
this need to go down to Egypt. Now, everybody that I read said
he shouldn't have done that. He should have believed God.
He should have waited on the Lord to provide for him. Well,
perhaps. But if you were in that position
and there wasn't anything to eat, and you knew there was food
in Egypt, and you had a lot of mouths to feed, I dare say you
probably would have done the same thing Abraham did. I know I would. Now, should he
have done it? Maybe not, but the Bible doesn't
say that. And if you were in a famine, you'd probably do the
same thing. He went down to Egypt where he
could eat. But as they get ready to enter
into Egypt, verse 11, it came to pass when he was come near
to enter into Egypt, they were right there at the border, him
and Sarah have a conversation. Now Sarah was a beautiful woman. And what comes into Abraham's
mind? He forgets that God has promised
that the Messiah would come through him. He forgets all of the promises
God made to him, and he can think of one thing. They'll kill me
so they can have you. And I guess that could have happened.
He was afraid that as soon as Pharaoh laid his eyes on Sarah,
he'd kill Abraham in order to take Sarah for his wife. You
know, David did something like that, didn't he? Now, here's
what I want you to do, Sarah. I've got a good idea. You tell
them that you're my sister and not my wife. Tell them you're
my sister and that way they'll spare me and I will be saved. And she says, okay. Now, remember, God has promised
that the Messiah would come through Abraham and that in him all nations
of the earth would be blessed. God made that promise. Therefore,
it was impossible for Pharaoh to kill Abraham. And if he would
have killed him, God would have raised him up from the dead,
just like Isaac. Because God had promised the
Messiah is going to come to you. But all that goes out the door
with Abraham. He just forgets about it. He's
scared to death, and he comes up with a way to preserve his
life. Here's what I want you to do.
I want you to tell Pharaoh, you're my sister. And that way I'll
be spared, and you'll be spared. Now what took place? Verse 14,
verse 13, say, I pray thee that thou art my sister, that it may
be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because
of thee. He was in complete unbelief at that time. He didn't believe
anything God had said. And it came to pass, verse 14,
that when Abraham was coming to Egypt, what he thought was
true, the Egyptians beheld the woman, that she was very fair.
The princes also of Pharaoh saw her and commended her before
Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. Now I want
you to think about this. They come, Sarah lies, he's not
my husband, he's my brother. Abraham lies, she's not my wife,
she's my sister. And Abraham watches these men
remove his wife to go into a harem of Pharaoh. How do you think
he felt when he went to bed that first night knowing where Sarah
was? In Pharaoh's harem. And he knew
it was all his fault. And how do you think he felt
when he woke up that morning, hoping it was a bad dream? And
looks beside him, there's nobody there. And he remembers once
again, my wife is now in the harem of Pharaoh. And it's all
my fault. It came through my lies. And this went on for some time.
But you know, we read where Pharaoh really treated Abraham well at
this time. He gave him flocks and herds,
gold and silver, menservants, maidservants, camels, asses. I mean, he made Abraham wealthy. And I wonder how Abraham felt
about this. You know, I'm getting all this wealth through this
horrible thing that took place. And he did become a very wealthy
man. And just a side note, I was thinking
of, well, did anything bad come out of this, him going to Egypt?
I thought, yeah, Hagar. Hagar, but no, Hagar was a blessing.
Because through Hagar, the Lord had Hagar come, and through Hagar,
we're going to get this beautiful understanding of the gospel from
Genesis chapter 16. That would have never happened
without Hagar. We learn of the two covenants. We learn of how to interpret
Old Testament scripture. It's all allegorical to teach
us the gospel. And we got that from Hagar. She's the one who was brought
up and went up with them out. But at any rate, here, Abraham
is in his riches, but no Sarah. Verse 17, something happened
though. Something happened. And the Lord
plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of
Sarah, Abraham's wife. Now, think of the land of Egypt
at this time. I don't know what the plagues
were. There's so many different plagues in the scripture, but
you can bet they were intense. Maybe big boils or tumors coming
up and they were covering everybody. They covered Pharaoh. They covered
all of his servants. They covered his children, his
wives. I mean, this plague just came down. upon all the house
of Pharaoh and everybody's wondering, what's happened? What's going
on at this time? And there just so happened to
be one person who wasn't plagued. You know who it was? Sarah. She didn't have these plagues. Well, that was probably brought
to Pharaoh's attention. He did some research and they,
I guess, did some contact tracing and they found out that the plague
began with Sarah being there. And he goes to Sarah and he says,
what's going on here? You don't have this plague, we
do. Why is this? She said, I'm Abraham's
wife. Oh, I'm Abraham's wife and the
Lord is bringing these plagues upon you. Now, was there anything
commendable about Sarah's conduct or Abraham's conduct that caused
the Lord to act for them? No, what they did was horrible. What they did was evil. There
was no justification for it, although I'm sure Abraham had
justified it himself. I could get killed if I don't
do this. I mean, it's the thing to do, but at any rate, it's
Sarah. She's the only one that's not
affected by this plague, and these plagues began when she
came, and she says, I'm Abraham's wife. Verse 18. And Pharaoh called Abram and
said, what is this that thou has done unto me? Why didst thou
not tell me that she was thy wife? I'm sure Abraham didn't know
how to answer. We don't get an answer from him.
I'm sure he was very embarrassed. I'm sure he felt humiliated. He felt like the coward he was,
and he's being reproved by Pharaoh at this time. But understand
this, this is an example of the Lord acting in behalf of his
people in spite of them. This is what we call grace. This
is the Lord acting in spite of them. Here's why Sarah was delivered
by the Lord. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. Because great is thy faithfulness. I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob,
are not consumed. Isn't this a beautiful illustration
of in spite of, in spite of. The Lord acted on their behalf
in spite of them. And I think this is interesting,
too. And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that thou
hast done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me she was thy
wife? Do you know, this was before the giving of the law, and everybody
still knew this was wrong. Abraham knew adultery was wrong.
Pharaoh knew adultery was wrong. Sarah knew adultery was wrong.
They knew this was wrong. And this lets us know something
about the law of God written in the heart. Everybody knows
what's right and what's wrong, the way they're born into this
world. Somebody says, we need to be taught what's right and
wrong. No, you don't, you already know. And Pharaoh even knew this, and
he hadn't been exposed to the God of Abraham at this time,
but yet he knew this was wrong and he knew he was in trouble
because of what took place. Why saidst thou, she's my sister,
so I might have taken her to my wife, and we would have really
been troubled then. Now therefore, behold thy wife,
take her, and go thy way. And I'm sure that Abraham and
Sarah both felt... really strange and really grateful
as they left Egypt. Verse 20, and Pharaoh commanded
his men concerning him and they sent him away and his wife and
all that he had. Now I think of three things that
Abraham must have learned from this. The first thing he learned out
of this event I'm a very bad person. I'm very sinful. I'm very weak. I'm very cowardly. I'm very selfish. Go on down
the line, hard telling what all Abraham was thinking as he left
Egypt, being delivered by God. Number two, I can't rely on my
faith. I've seen that. My faith is unreliable. He remembered the promises God
made to him, and what good did it do him? He did not rely on
those promises at all. And number three, I can only
rely on his faithfulness. That's all there is to rely on.
his faithfulness. Verse 1 of chapter 13, And Abram
went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had,
and lot with him into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle,
in silver, and in gold. Now Abraham came out of all of
this smelling like a rose. Much richer than he was when
he entered Egypt, suffering none of the consequences for his sin. What's that sound like? That's
the gospel. That is the gospel. Now, I've
used the phrase, you've used the phrase, and in some respects,
I understand that there's consequences in your actions. There's consequences
in choices, but you know, when they left Egypt, they didn't
suffer any consequences. Now, how can that be? There is
therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
Why is that? Because there's nothing to be condemned for.
Because of what Christ did for me, I'm not going to be condemned
because there's nothing to condemn me for. I don't have any sin.
I stand before God without guilt, perfectly righteous in his sight.
The reason I don't suffer the consequences for my sin, because
Christ put them all away. And just like Abraham coming
out of Egypt, we come out smelling like a rose. not suffering the
consequence of our foolish, wicked actions. He did not suffer them
in any way, and this is grace illustrated. This is in spite
of, isn't it? This is in spite of. Is this not your testimony? Not
have I gotten, but what I received Grace hath bestowed it since
I have believed. Boasting excluded. Pride I abase. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Abraham or Sarah could not be
commended in their conduct or actions. Nevertheless, in spite
of all that, he saved them. for his name's sake, that he
might make his mighty power known. Now look what took place. And
he went on in his journey from the south, coming back from Egypt,
and where did he return? It's very significant. And he
went on his journey from the south, even to Bethel. unto the place where his tent
had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai. Now, do you remember
what Bethel means? The house of God. Do you remember
what Hai means? The house of ruin. The house
of destruction. And I don't have any doubt that
that represents the two natures of the believer. That's where
he dwelled. And he came back to this place. He'd left this
place. He left this place, he was gonna go down to Egypt to
make things better. And that represents going to bondage,
to works. There's a famine, I need to make
this thing better. So what does he do after he's
brought out of Egypt? He goes back to the place of
the beginning. Turn to Hebrews chapter three. You know one of the things that
is glorious about faith, if the Lord gives us some understanding
of it, is faith always goes back to the beginning. And if it gets
past that, it's not faith. If you become better, it's not
faith. Faith always goes back to the
beginning. Now here in Hebrews chapter 3,
I told you the term here, I haven't got there yet, verse 6. But Christ
as a Son over His own house, whose house are we if we hold
fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Now, the only confidence I have
is that everything God requires of me, He looks to Christ for.
That's what gives me confidence. You know what my hope is? That
Christ saying it is finished accomplish my salvation. Now
what am I to do with that? I'm to hold on to it steadfast
to the end. And if I get past that, I've
left it. Look in verse 14. For we are
made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast unto the end. What's the beginning of my confidence?
Christ is all. Nothing else. I'm not to be moved
past that. I'm not to graduate past that.
If I have, I've left faith. Faith is in Christ alone. Faith always has only one object,
Christ alone, and anything else is not faith. It's like Sarah
and Abraham trying to figure out how they can get out of this
mess. And they go down to Egypt to try to better their situation. I love what Paul said to the
Colossians in Colossians chapter two, as you've received Christ
Jesus, the Lord, how'd you receive him? Empty handed. Empty handed. With nothing to
bring to the table. As you receive Christ Jesus,
the Lord, so walk ye in him. That is the walk of the believer. Now, when he gets out of Egypt,
where does he go? Back to the beginning, the place
between Bethel and Hai, under the place, verse four, of the
altar, which he had made there at first. Now, when you come
back to the beginning, and this is so beautiful to me, the sacrifice
of Christ did everything. The atonement of Jesus Christ
is everything. That altar that represents his
saving work. The altar's for one purpose.
It's for the death of the sacrifice. Jesus Christ is the priest that
offers the sacrifice himself on the altar of his own body.
And whenever the Lord gives me the grace to come back and do
the first works, the altar becomes primary to me. everything to
me, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there Abram called on the
name of the Lord just like he did in verse 8 when he called
upon the name of the Lord. You see the Lord Who He is, is
seen in the sacrifice. And you've never called upon
His name. If you don't, and if I don't understand what that
sacrifice represents, every attribute of God is glorified in the altar,
in the sacrifices. His justice, His holiness, His
righteousness, His sovereignty, His independence, His immutability,
His wisdom, His power, every attribute of God is seen in the
cross. And when we call on his name,
we're calling on the name of the one revealed in the sacrifice. Abraham called on the name of
the Lord. Surely he's learned his lesson. Surely nothing so horrible could
ever happen again. And yet, when you read in Genesis
chapter 20, he did the same thing to his wife. So, what do we learn from this? Now,
grace is in spite of. I surely know that is so. Grace is in spite of, but thank
God that is saving grace. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
word. How we thank you for the revelation of your gospel in
every word in this book. How we thank you that your grace
is in spite of us. Lord, how we ask for grace to
not so quickly go down to Egypt, but to simply rely upon thy son. Let us never leave the place
of the house of God and the house
of ruin, knowing that all we have is Christ and his sacrifice. Lord, bless this message to our
understanding, to our good, and for your glory. In Christ's name
we pray. Amen.