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This time we are going to look at the consequences of Abram lying about his wife to Pharaoh.

Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

(Gen 12: 20)

So, they are told to pack up their stuff and they are escorted to the Egyptian border and at in essence they are told to “get out of town we don't want you around here anymore, you’re nothing but trouble”. I began looking at this section of scripture a few days ago by asking what happens when Christians fail. Well, here’s one answer for you. When Christian fail, God remains faithful. God protects his plans for us, even when we fail. Abram’s failure will not jeopardized Gods promise. God had said you I'm going to give you a son and those descendants are going to inherit this land. Imagine if Sarai had ended up the wife of Pharaoh, that's gonna mess up God's promise for sure. God steps in to demonstrate that He meant what He said and keeps His promise on track, and nothing will thwart that. However, God only steps in when Abram’s deception jeopardized Gods promise, and God then rescued Abraham and remained faithful to his promise. 

Let me wrap up today message up by making just a couple of very simple observations. 

Number one, all believers fail, sometimes. Spoiler Alert – Christians sin. We all fall short at times fail. Just take a look at what we've studied so far in Genesis. Adam who was deceived and ate the fruit of the tree he was expressly forbidden to eat from. Noah ends up drunk and naked. Now here's Abraham who lies about being married to Sarai. You can look ahead through the rest of the Old Testament there's David making some colossal mistakes, and on and into the New Testament right up to Peter’s denying he even knew Christ. They all failed. They all failed but God hadn’t finished with them. The first letter to Corinthians chapter 10: 12 speaks about this when it reminds us. 

“Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls”

I think this warns us it’s when we think we're above making this sort of error is when we’re in the biggest danger of all. You're not special, and it can happen to anyone, we can all mess up. So, the first point I want to make is believers fail, but that doesn’t mean God is finished with you yet. The second thing I would say is that although God remains faithful to His promises, He sometimes disciplines believers. As matter fact later in first Corinthians in Chapter 11 reminds us to hold onto this perspective when taking communion.

“For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world”.

(1 Cor 11: 29-31) 

In this situation it’s talking about believers not handling the fair distribution of food correctly and abuse of the Lord's table. Some were gorging themselves whilst others were going without. But the point is he says because of their sinful actions some are weak, and some are even sick. Of course, not all physical weakness sickness is due to sin, but it makes common sense to just acknowledge that a lot of people are ill because of sin in their lives. So, I believe the secondary point being made here is believers will fail, and sometimes God will discipline those believers. However in this story Abram failed and God stepped in because he wished to remain faithful to his promise. Therefore, we can trust in Him, always to remain faithful to his promise, and we shall see just how deep and wide that trust is next time.