Abram: His Faithless Visit to Egypt
Minister: |
Rev. Ronald Van Overloop |
Date: |
6/3/2018 PM
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Text:
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Genesis 12:10-20
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Psalters: |
263, 88, 147, 301 |
- Abram’s faithless move.
- God told Abram that Canaan was the land He would give to him and his seed (7). There he sojourned, moving frequently (9).
- Then a severe famine hit the land (10).
- To leave Canaan, to which God had led him and commanded (1) was an activity not done by faith.
- Abram had been told to go to Canaan, now he leaves it and go to Egypt without God’s command and without asking God.
- Faith declares that God will care for him - simply trust; but his failure to exercise faith made him spiritually weak.
- Abram thinks he has to lie about Sarai; sin leads to sin.
- Though over 65 years old, Sarai retained her physical beauty; she was “a fair woman to look upon” (11).
- He and Sarai had agreed to tell a half-truth in order to convey a whole lie: she was his half-sister (20:12,13).
- Pharaoh took her, and it seems that Abram’s faithless fear caused him not to reveal the truth that Sarai was his wife.
- When we remember that Sarai is the mother of the Messiah, then we see the even greater seriousness of their sin.
- But God is faithful.
- God alone maintains His covenant relationship with His children, and He does so in spite of what we do.
- While the nature of the plague is unknown, it did prevent Sarai from being sexually violated (Ps. 105:13-15).
- Pharaoh inquired and learned the truth, called Abram before him, rebuked him, and escorted him out of the land (18-20).
- God’s faithfulness always turns all things, even and especially our sin, into good.
- Our faithful God rescues His foolish children even when we are least deserving it.
- God not only established, but He also maintains the covenant, and thus He preserves each of His own in it.