It's good singing tonight, good
hymns that we've just sung. Now, if you will, let's open
our Bibles to Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12, and we'll
read from verse 10 through the end of the chapter. And there
was a famine in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt to
sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land. And
it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt,
that he said unto Sarai 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. And it came to pass that when
Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that
she was very fair. The princes also Pharaoh saw
her and commended her before Fabio and the woman was taken
into Pharaoh's house. And he had treated Abram well
for her sake. And he had sheep and oxen and
he asses and men servants and made servants and she asses and
camels. 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 thy wife? Why saidst thou, she
is my sister, so I might have taken her to me to wife. Now
therefore behold thy wife, take her and go thy way. And Pharaoh
commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away,
and his wife, and all that he had." We began last week looking
at Abraham, the man who in Isaiah 41 and verse 8, God called his
friend, my friend, Abraham. And we looked at two things last
week. and what we're told about his
beginning and then his call. His beginning and his call. He
began life as an idolater. That was his beginning. He began
life as an idolater, but God took, took him or called and
blessed him. Now, these two things are true
of all of God's children. Every child of God here tonight,
what I have just said about Abram, is true of all of us. We were
all born idolaters. You say, well, what was the idol
that we worshipped? Self. Self. We all worshipped
at the same idol. And the Lord took us, or called
us, out of darkness into his marvelous light, if he has called
us. So we are all just like Abraham,
born idolaters, and then by the grace of God, we are taken or
called from that lifestyle and blessed, blessed. In Galatians chapter three and
verse seven, and also verse nine of that same chapter, Paul wrote
this. In verse 7 he wrote, Know you
therefore that they which are of faith the same are the children
of Abraham. Are you of faith tonight? Do
you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
Then you are a child of Abraham. Know you therefore that they
which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. And
then in verse 9, he said, And so then they which be of faith,
they that be of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham. We're
blessed with faithful Abraham. God took him and blessed him. And the blessing, God said, I
will bless thee. And the blessing is Christ. The blessing is Christ. Now,
in looking at this passage tonight, I want to quote a verse from
chapter 22, the first verse of chapter 22, and it reads like
this. And it came to pass after these
things that God did tempt Abraham. And it came to pass after these
things that God did tempt Abraham. Now the passage that we are looking
at, the passage here tonight, is one of the things. Remember
that verse says, after these things the Lord did tempt Abraham. This passage is one of those
things that has to be included in those things. After these things. God did tempt
Abraham. Now the temptation in that chapter,
chapter 22, is when God commanded Abraham to take his son, his
beloved son Isaac, and to offer him as a burnt sacrifice. Now that must have been the greatest,
the greatest temptation with which Abraham was ever tried. But it wasn't the first. It wasn't
the first. This that we're looking at tonight
is the first recorded temptation of Abraham. In Psalm 107, the
scriptures there speaks of those that do business in deep waters. These see the works of the Lord
and his wonders in the deep. Abraham would do business in
deep waters. He would. But he doesn't begin
in deep waters. He begins in what we might call
shallow waters. Shallow, relatively speaking. this temptation in this passage
tonight in comparison relative to that temptation to offer up
his son, we would consider shallow water, deep water when it comes
to offering up his son. I'm going to divide the message
into three parts. First, the Lord tempts those
that he blesses with salvation. Just get that in your mind. The
Lord, not Satan, the Lord. The Lord tempts those that he
blesses with salvation. Now, you know, in the model prayer
that our Lord gave to his disciples, one of the petitions is, lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Then the
Apostle James, in his epistle, he wrote that believers are to
count it all joy when you fall into divers of different temptations. Now you look at the word, it's
the same Greek word. Same Greek word is translated
temptation in the model prayer. Lead us not into temptation.
Same word that's translated temptations that James tells us that when
we fall into these temptations, we are to count it all joy. Now the word temptation taken
at large includes every kind of trial. When our Lord teaches
us to pray, lead us not into temptation, there of course the
temptation is to evil, to sin. But the temptation that James
is speaking of is a trial. And James is quick to add in
his epistle that when a man is tempted to evil, he must not
say, I'm tempted of God. If a person, when you, shouldn't
say if, we know we're tempted to evil many times. When we are
tempted to evil, we shouldn't say, I'm tempted of God. Now, when we are tested, like
Abraham is here, We say, I'm tested by God or of God. A man should not say, James said,
I'm tempted of God if he's tempted to evil. And here's the reason
why. For God cannot be tempted with
evil. Neither tempteth he any man. God cannot be tempted with evil.
He's holy. He cannot change. He's immutable.
be tempted to evil would be for him to have variableness, which
we know is not true. Now, God in this place is going
to test Abraham's faith. He's going to test his love.
He's going to test his dependence. Turn with me, if you will, to
Psalm 105. Psalm 105. And beginning in verse 7, Psalm
105, verse 7, He is the Lord our God, His judgments are in
all the earth. He hath remembered His covenant
forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations, which
covenant He made with Abraham and His oath unto Isaac, and
confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law and to Israel for an
everlasting covenant, saying, Unto thee will I give the land
of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance, when they were but a few men
in number." Now this is speaking about Jacob, but I want us to
see the same is true about Abraham in the passage we're looking
at tonight. They were few in number. It was
Abraham, his wife Sarah, and Lot who was with him. They were
few, very few in number, yea, very few, and strangers in it.
They were strangers in the land of Canaan. When they went from
one nation to another, that's what we see. They're going from
the land of Canaan into Egypt. From one nation to another, from
one kingdom to another people, Now notice, he suffered no man
to do them harm. Now Pharaoh, his servants looked
at Abraham's wife and said, she's a beautiful woman. You need to
take her to be your wife. And he did take her for her to
go through a purification process. But God, the scripture said,
he suffered no man to do them wrong. God, He suffered no man to do
them wrong. Yea, He reproved kings for their
sakes. He reproved Pharaoh for this, saying, Touch not mine anointed,
and do my prophets no harm. Moreover, now notice, He called
for a famine. Now you know when Jacob took
his sons and their wives and children into Egypt, Joseph was
already there. God called for the famine, but
God prepared someone to sustain Jacob and his family in Egypt. It doesn't say here that God
called for this famine that Abraham is now living in, but the same
has to be true. He called for a famine upon the
land. He break the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, even
Joseph, who was sold for a servant. But my point here is this, that
God called for a famine. You know, I say this because
the scripture says in Amos chapter 3 and verse 7, shall there be
evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Now you know
he's not talking about moral evil. God cannot be tempted with
evil, with sin. But what men call evil, famine,
that's an evil, isn't it? When God sends a famine upon
a land and people are starving, things of that nature. Can there
be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it? In other words,
who's in control? Who's in control of His world? Has He created the world and
placed certain laws to rule the world and just backed out of
it and allowed it to run on until like a clock that you wind up
one day is going to run down? Or is God still in control? Is He still in control of His
world? working all things after the
counsel of his own will. You see, we see in this place,
God called for a famine in Canaan. And so Abram, he takes his wife
and they go down into Egypt. And as that scripture says, they
go from one nation to another and God suffered no man to do
them wrong. God's protecting hand was upon
Abraham. God is in control of all things. He's in control of this, the
first recorded test that we have concerning Abraham. And just
as he was with Abraham, when years later, he lifts that knife
to slay his son on the altar, and God showed him a ram caught
in the bushes. God was in control there, wasn't
He? Who put that ram in the bushes? God did. And the same God who
was in control at that testing was in control at this testing. God tests those that He blesses,
those whom He saves. You know, I read this this morning.
It's by Charles Spurgeon. And I quote, he said, blessed
is that man who is done with chance. I mean done with it. There's no such thing. Blessed
is that man who is done with chance, who never speaks of luck,
but believes that from the least even to the greatest, all things
are ordained of the Lord. We dare not leave out the least
event. The creeping of an aphid upon
a rosebud is as surely arranged by the decree of providence as
the march of a pestilence through a nation. Believe this, for if
the least thing is omitted from the supreme government, So may
the next be and the next until nothing is left in the divine
hands. There is no place for chance
since God fills all things. Blessed is the man who is done
with chance. You want peace? You want contentment? Then remove chance and luck and
fortune out of your vocabulary and speak about God's providence,
God's good providence. He makes all things work together
for good to them that love him, to those who are the called according
to his purpose. My second point is this. The
Lord has a purpose in tempting those He blesses with salvation. It's not just something done
at random. God has a purpose. Whatever trial,
testing that He brings in your life, He has a purpose in this. It didn't just spring up out
of the ground, in other words. It's God's will, God's purpose. Do you remember the first test? The first test that the nation
of Israel met when God delivered them out of Egypt, the first
test, let's look in Exodus chapter 15. The very first test, first
time their tribe, Exodus chapter 15, after they came up out of
And my, my, my, had they not seen the power of God, miracle
after miracle in the land of Egypt, and then their deliverance
through the Red Sea on dry land? And oh, how they sang and praised
God at the beginning of this chapter.
But notice in verse 22, there's the first trial. And when they
came to Marah, They could not drink of the waters of Marah,
for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was
called Marah. And the people murmured against
Moses, saying, what shall we drink? And he cried unto the
Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast
into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made for
them a statute and an ordinance, and there, now notice, there
he proved them. There he proved them. That was
the first test they came to. The Lord proved them. They came
to a place of water. Don't you know, as they were
approaching that place of water, they were so happy we found water. But then when they tasted of
the water, it was bitter. God's children. those whom God
saves, those whom God calls, those whom God blesses with Christ,
we experience and we meet with bitter things as we go through
this pilgrim journey. No one is exempt. No one. None of God's children are exempt
from bitter waters. The lesson for them was that
there was a tree. Now the tree was there when they
came. The tree was there. And that
tree, by casting a limb into the water, made the water sweet.
And isn't that a picture to you and I of the cross? The tree upon which the Lord
Jesus Christ was crucified. What a picture here. The tree
was there all the time. They did nothing themselves to
make the water sweet. They didn't have a hand in it.
The Lord showed them the tree. It was there. But that was the
first test that they met. And they failed. And God proved
them. God proved them. Look with me
in Deuteronomy chapter 8 now. Now that was when they just first
came out of Egypt, but Deuteronomy is when they're on the banks
of Jordan, almost ready to cross over into the land of Canaan. In Deuteronomy chapter 8 and
verse 2, God speaking to the nation through
Moses, Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God
led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee,
to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou
wouldest keep his commandments or no. At the end of their wilderness
journey, God's purpose, they are told, was to humble them
to prove them that they might know what was in their heart. Now God knew what was in their
heart. He knew that before they ever
left Egypt. They didn't. They didn't. God proved them that they might
know what was in their heart. God proved them to humble them.
God tests those that He blesses, and one purpose is that He might
humble us. You say, well, what do you mean
by that? He humbles us. He shows us that we have no strength
in ourselves, that we dare not trust the sweetest frame, that
we dare not lean to our own strength, our own wisdom, that we must
be dependent upon Jesus Christ and Him alone. He proves us so
that we might know what is in our heart. He humbles us so that
we come to realize I have no strength of mine own. The Lord,
He is my strength. He is my strength. And we depend
upon Him. We look to Him. You know, God
is not limited in these tests. He's not. Now we're looking at
this test of a famine. We looked at that of the bitter
water, but I would remind us tonight that God is not limited
in the way that He tests those whom He saves. Look with me in 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 32. Here's
a man that God tests, and he was not in a famine. In fact,
God had delivered him. The angel of the Lord had killed,
I think, 180,000 invading army, an invading army. The Lord had
added 15 years to his life when he was sick. But notice here
in verse 27 of chapter 32. And Hezekiah had exceeding much
riches. Now, he's a rich man. No famine
here, no need here as far as the things of this world is concerned.
He was a rich man and honor and he made himself treasuries for
silver and for gold and for precious stones and for spices and for
shields and for all manner of pleasant fruits. Look in verse 31, how be it in
the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who
sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land,
God left him. And he's got this storehouse
full of good things, silver and gold and all of that. And these
ambassadors come and they want to speak to him and find out
how he was healed and different things like that. But he opens
up the door, God left him. And he opened up the door and
showed them everything he had. You know what he was doing? He
was just inviting those people to come back and take what he
had. And they did. They did. God left
him. Notice what it says. Now the
rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his goodness, behold, they
are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of
Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah. Howbeit in the
business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent
unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God
left him to try him, that he might know all that was in his
heart." Again, not that God would know. God knows everything. That Hezekiah might know what
was in his heart. What was in his heart was pride.
He was proud of what he had, and he wanted to show it off,
but he didn't realize that he was just inviting those Babylonians
to come back and take his treasures, which they did. Took his son,
remember, Manasseh, took him into captivity. Well, here's
the third part. Let's go back now, if you will,
to our text, Genesis chapter 12. So we've seen that the Lord tests
those that He saves and blesses with salvation. The Lord has
a purpose in testing those He blesses with salvation. The last
point I want to make is this. The Lord completely saves. He completely saves those that
He blesses with salvation. Here are some of the things to
observe. First of all, Abram, we see, he went in the right
direction. Verse 10. There was a famine
in the land and Abram went down into Egypt. He went in the right
direction. He went south. Remember, God
had commanded him to get out of his country, get out of Ur
of the Chaldees, so he went in the opposite direction from Ur
of the Chaldees, he goes south towards Egypt. I think of that verse in Hebrews
chapter 11, just after speaking of Abraham and Sarah, it says,
if they had been mindful of that country from which they came
out, they would have no doubt had opportunity to return. Don't
you think Abraham was tested now with this famine. He has
to leave, there's no food. Well, God must want me to go
home. He sent me out of Ur of the Chaldees. He sent me to this place, to
the land of Canaan. Now there's a famine. He must
want me to go home. But no, Abraham knew that God
had commanded him to get out of Ur of the Chaldees. So he
goes in the right direction. He goes south. You know, I thought about Pliable.
Remember Mr. Pliable and Pilgrim's Progress? When he and Pilgrim both fell
into the slough of Despond, didn't they? And all Pilgrim, all Pliable
rather could think about is if I get out of here, I'm going
home. I'm going back home. Well, Abraham had left his homeland,
and when this famine comes, he doesn't think about going back. He goes south. And the second
thing, Abram not only went in the right direction, but he went
with the right intention. You notice what it says here,
to sojourn there. He didn't go there to take up
residence and live the rest of his life there. He went to sojourn
in Egypt, and then when the famine in Canaan was ended, he would
return. But the third thing I see here,
Abram still had an old man. He still had an old man. The
truth that Paul stated in Galatians 5 and verse 7 about the children
of Abraham was just as true of Abraham. You cannot do the things
that you would. This is true of the strongest
as well as the weakest believer. Abram, in unbelief, he asked
Sarai, his wife, to say something that may not have been a direct
lie. She seems to maybe have been
a half-sister. May not have been a direct lie,
but she was his wife. There was deceit, and that's
the reason he asked her to do this. John Gill's comments on
this are the following. This showed distrust of the divine
care and protection of him, and upon the whole, it must be criminal
in him, and shows that the best of men are liable to sin, and
the strongest believer to fall, and that a saint may fail in
the exercise of that grace for which he is the most eminent,
as Abraham was in faith, and yet fell into unbelief, and through
that into other sins." Abraham, what's he known for? Faith. He's
staggered not at the promise of God. He's known for his faith,
but he fell in that very thing that he was known to be eminent
in. And he's not the only believer
like that. Peter is another example. But
the last thing I want to point out is this. Abram, like all
that God blesses with salvation, he had an advocate. He had an advocate. Let's close
by turning to 1 John 2. He had an advocate. Yes, he fell. He fell into unbelief. Does that mean he lost his salvation?
Does that mean he's no longer a believer, no longer blessed
of God? Of course not. Why? Because he
had the Advocate, Jesus Christ, the Righteous. 1 John 2, 1 and
2, My little children, these things write I unto you that
you said not. You know, the Apostle John and
all of us who preach the gospel of the grace of God, we, I know
this is true of myself, I know it's true of every sovereign
grace preacher, we have no desire ever to say anything that would
in any way encourage a believer to sin, to sin. But at the same time, we recognize
that believers do sin. And while we would never encourage
a believer to sin, we want to encourage a believer who is guilty
of sin of this wonderful truth. We have an advocate with the
Father. Jesus Christ the righteous, who
is the propitiation for our sins. Abram didn't lose God's blessing.
He fell. Yes, he fell. He succumbed to
unbelief, but he did not forfeit God's love. He did not forfeit
God's care because God, as we saw in that psalm, he suffered
no man to do them harm. He delivered Abram. The Lord
Jesus Christ was still his savior. Well, I pray the Lord would bless
this word to us here this evening, encourage us in the truth,