WEBVTT 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:22.320 Um, this is Genesis twelve, ten through twenty. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:29.760 Now there was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:39.840 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, This is his wife. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:42.320 Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:48.719 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake. 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:58.320 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful, and when the prince when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:10.799 And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house, and for her sake he dealt well with Abram, and he had and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:16.159 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:20.079 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this you have done to me? 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:22.879 Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:25.519 Why did you say, She is my sister? 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:27.439 So that I took her for my wife. 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:29.680 Now then, here is your wife. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:31.040 Take her and go. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:36.079 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:37.680 And so reads God's word. 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:40.959 I hope you've got that passage open in front of you. 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:49.760 If you don't pull it up on your phone, Genesis chapter 12, uh verses 10 to 20, we're looking at the English Standard Version of the Bible. 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:54.879 And as we begin, uh, one of the things, Jackie mentioned that we're a very international congregation, that's true. 00:01:55.040 --> 00:02:00.400 One of the things you need to know about Irish people is that we're not impressed by your success. 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:10.719 Uh, we're not impressed by uh uh by successful people, by people who uh flaunt uh all of their achievements. 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:17.840 Uh we are uh quite honestly sick of perfect people uh and their perfect lives. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:23.759 Uh perfection isn't uh something that we that we laud uh and are impressed by. 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:25.599 English people are a little bit like this as well. 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:28.080 English people call it tall poppy syndrome. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:32.240 You think of a poppy field and there's one that just sticks his head above the rest. 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:35.280 That's the one that gets the scythe first, right? 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:37.520 That's the one that gets cut down. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:45.680 That person who thinks that they're too good to stay in the in the pack, that they rise above the rest, we're not impressed by any of that nonsense. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:57.520 Uh Americans struggle with this because Americans love successful people and they love a good success story, and the rest of us, well, well, we're just more rooted in reality, I think. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:06.879 Um in part, I think that's because uh uh Irish people are resentful and bitter uh of uh of others. 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:12.319 Uh uh we don't like the life that just seems unendingly perfect. 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:17.360 Um we shouldn't really, especially today, have called this series being human. 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:21.680 We should have called today certainly only human because that's what Abraham is. 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:23.680 He's only human. 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:26.960 Life isn't Instagram perfect. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:28.319 Have you noticed that? 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:33.280 That life often feels like one step forward and two steps back. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:40.000 That even the the greatest of saints are still at the end of the day just sinners. 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:44.319 The best of men are men at best, as Charles Spurgeon said. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:47.759 I'll tell you what, I'm relieved this morning. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:56.319 I'm relieved that the Bible is not just a catalogue of unending success stories. 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:05.280 It's not spiritual Instagram of filtered saints and their airbrushed holy perfection. 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:08.719 Abraham fails here. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:13.840 And so will you, and so will I. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:20.079 The only hero in the end, spiritually speaking, is God. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:29.120 We can look at humanity and think that humanity is filled with people if some are wearing black hats and some are wearing white hats like the old Western. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:34.720 No, we're all wearing black hats like Prier and his Stetson here this morning, wherever he is. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:37.439 The only white hat is God. 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:43.680 Now, this might also be already stressing you out because you're a perfectionist. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:44.720 Sorry. 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:50.160 Uh you might be somebody here this morning who is terrified of failure. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:59.680 Failure is uh is not something that really you have ever had to reckon with because you've always been successful. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:06.399 Where are you gonna go when failure comes knocking at your door? 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:09.040 Where are you gonna run? 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:13.199 To anxiety, to lies, to covering it over. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:22.800 The invitation this morning, when we fail, is to run to the only hero, to run to God Himself. 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:28.879 This passage this morning is for people who are honest enough to say, I fail sometimes. 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:38.480 I don't always succeed, I don't always do what I should do, spiritually speaking, or morally speaking, I need help. 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:42.959 If that's you, you are in the right place. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:46.480 And this is a great passage to look at. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:58.079 Now, the first thing that I want to bring out to you a little bit, the first thing that I want to show you is that God will deliberately put your faith under pressure. 00:05:58.240 --> 00:05:59.360 That's the first thing. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:03.519 God will deliberately put your faith under pressure. 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:14.240 It's like there's a it's like there's a pattern in the world that God has made, a rhythm in the world that God has made, that He will put your faith under pressure from time to time. 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:15.920 How do you make a diamond? 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:17.600 Well, time and pressure. 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:25.360 I'm sure Lizzie could probably tell me more things about how to make diamonds, but right now it preaches well for me to say time and pressure. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:32.560 And in the New Testament, Abraham is celebrated as the man of faith. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:37.279 He's uh he's lauded as a great spiritual success story. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:41.199 Look at how great Abraham's faith was. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:44.319 He was a spiritual diamond. 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:47.920 But right now, at the start of the story, Abraham's a lump of coal. 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:51.439 Exactly. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:57.759 If you need live translation, you can pull out your Google Translate app. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:06.160 So God is going to put Abraham's new found lump of coal faith under pressure. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:07.439 Have you noticed that? 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:14.480 If you're a follower of Jesus, have you noticed that when you became a follower of Jesus, life didn't get easier, it got harder. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:17.600 That's not accidental. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:21.040 That's part of the way the system works. 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:26.000 Don't listen to those preachers who promise you a life of ease. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:33.040 Don't listen to those preachers who promise you a life of unending success and health and financial well-being. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:42.720 The only direction that you can go once you hit the mountaintop is down into the valley. 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:48.959 God will always and deliberately put your faith under pressure. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:52.399 There's a particular pattern that He has built into reality. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:53.680 Have you felt it yourself? 00:07:53.839 --> 00:08:09.680 Moments of spiritual high almost lead directly into moments of trial and temptation where the old sin and darkness is all the monsters of your past come scratching at the door of your heart. 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:16.879 You think, well, but just a moment ago, I was at this conference or in this worship service, and it all felt so great. 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:18.000 And I was on the mountaintop. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:19.199 Yeah, what's after the mountaintop? 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:20.079 It's the valley, right? 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:22.720 God's gonna put your faith under pressure. 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:26.000 You need to settle that in your heart, in your mind. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:29.920 God's gonna make diamonds, he's gonna put pressure on you. 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:34.879 It even happened with Jesus. 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:46.960 Think back to Jesus' baptism, a great moment where he goes into the waters of baptism with John, his cousin who baptizes him, and heaven is torn open. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:54.799 And the Father speaks from heaven and says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:09:00.480 And the Holy Spirit descends like a dove and alights on the perfect Son of God. 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:08.960 That glorious moment when you see all three members of the Trinity on stage, as it were, on the stage of human history at one time. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:15.519 And you think, This is a this is a corcendo, a high point, right at the start of Jesus' ministry. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:16.480 Yeah, what do you read? 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:18.559 Well, you read it, especially in Mark's gospel. 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:25.039 Immediately the Holy Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:30.000 For 40 days and for 40 nights he was tempted, and the angels were ministering to him. 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:38.720 Immediately, after the high point of Jesus' baptism, temptation, 40 days at the hands of the devil. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:50.320 Sometimes the promises of God feel like they have question marks after them, not exclamation marks. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:10:00.159 In those times, you need to recognize that there is a pattern to how God has ordered his world, how he's ordered your life. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:02.960 Your faith will come under pressure. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:07.600 There will be moments when it looks like his promises have a question mark after them. 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:14.879 You need to see that pattern and recognize what's going on and trust his purposes. 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:28.799 That he's doing this in order to make diamonds, to make strong, mature followers of his son who face those same temptations and trials. 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:34.399 And this is exactly what he's doing with Abraham. 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:43.279 We see it happens immediately here, where it says, now there was a famine in the land. 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:50.799 We've just had great promises given to Abraham, and then immediately, verse 10, the first verse of our reading, now there's a problem. 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:53.600 There's a famine in the land. 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:57.200 God will put your faith under pressure. 00:10:57.919 --> 00:10:59.679 Make peace with that in your heart. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:01.840 Make peace with that in your mind. 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:04.720 Recognize what he's doing. 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:06.559 Trust him in it. 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:07.919 That's the first point. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:09.200 Second point. 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:15.919 Fear drives pragmatics. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:20.480 But promises fuel faith. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:22.159 Let me say that again. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:25.440 Fear drives pragmatics. 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:29.600 But promises fuel faith. 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:35.679 The issue, as I noted, was that there was a famine in the land. 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:36.639 What land? 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:39.039 Well, it's quite significant land. 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:40.399 It's the land of promise. 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:45.519 It's the land that God had said he was going to give to Abraham just last week in the passage that we looked at. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:48.240 He said, Go to the land that I will show you. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:52.240 And then he shows up when Abraham is in the land in verse 7 of the passage. 00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:58.799 If you cast your eye up, then the Lord cleared to Abram and said, To your offspring, I will give this land. 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:03.120 And then three verses later, it's barren. 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:05.039 There's no food in it. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:19.919 Or is God so mean-spirited that he's led Abram and his family into a desolate wasteland in order to die? 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:21.200 Maybe you feel that. 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:25.440 Maybe you think, well, I felt like I was following God's call in my life. 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:28.960 But it's led to much greater hardship. 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:34.320 Don't think that therefore it wasn't God's call in your life. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:37.279 Recognize his purposes. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:40.799 But there's a question here about God's promises. 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:42.159 Are they under threat? 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:45.279 Is God being deliberately mean-spirited? 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:53.759 Either way, Abram immediately thinks in terms of economics, pragmatics, solving the problem. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:56.159 And so read on verse 10. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:12:57.840 Now there's a famine in the land. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:07.519 So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, as in to live there for a little while, for the famine was severe in the land. 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:19.600 Heading down to Egypt was a sensible thing to do because it had a constant source of good, fresh water from the Nile Valley coming up the Nile Delta into the Mediterranean Sea. 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:23.039 And so there was lots of fertile land there. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:24.960 There was going to be food there. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:30.159 The Egyptians have worked out systems of irrigation, and so Abram thinks, right. 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:33.919 Fixer mode, here's where I gotta go. 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:36.159 There's no money here, there's no jobs here. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:39.200 Right, we've got a obstics, let's sit over here. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:43.519 It's not a terrible idea, except for the fact that he hasn't sought God about it at all. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:46.639 But Abraham has a second problem. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:50.240 This might be an unusual problem to our ears. 00:13:50.799 --> 00:14:00.799 Abram's wife is 65 years old, but what we are told in the text is that Sarai is pretty hot. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:05.039 I think that's the original Hebrew. 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:07.600 The original Hebrew says, pretty hot. 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:13.840 Um, so verse 11 says, I know that you are a woman, beautiful in appearance. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:17.840 That's uh uh husbands, that's a good line to speak to your wife. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:20.240 I know that you're a woman, beautiful in appearance. 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:27.840 So Sarai, though she is, uh, as far as we're concerned, advanced in years, uh, she's she's fit. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:30.799 And because she's fit, he's fearful. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:40.240 He's fearful that the Egyptians are gonna see her and think, gosh, that 65-year-old woman is she's pretty hot. 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:48.320 I'm gonna kill Abram, and I'm gonna take the 65-year-old Hottie for my wife. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:15:10.960 And so he says, again, thinking practically, thinking pragmatically, he says, tell you what, sir, because uh because of your hotness and my fearfulness and the fact that they're they're gonna kill me, tell them that uh you're my sister and uh not my wife. 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:21.200 And then they will deal well with me because they'll think I'm the head of the house, and so they'll uh they'll give me stuff and I'll you know be able to marry you off. 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:26.960 Now, we're not gonna dwell too much on this, but Abraham isn't strictly telling a lie. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:31.840 Uh they uh share the same father. 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:44.159 Uh Sarai is his half-sister, but moving on from that just for a moment, again, this is a case of uh uh it's descriptive, not prescriptive. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:47.600 It's not like, oh, okay, no, then there's what I should go off and do. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:49.919 Uh, we're not talking in terms of application. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:16:03.600 The the crucial piece of info is that he is being duplicitous, that he's hiding the fact that he is married to Sarai and that she is his wife. 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:06.000 And why is he doing this? 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:08.559 Because of his fear. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:14.080 Because he fears man, he fears the Egyptians. 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:23.279 How many times have you told a half-truth because you fear what somebody will think? 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:27.519 Or because you fear being found out. 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:35.440 And so you tell a half-truth, or an outright lie, in order to cover your backside. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:43.120 So he's faced with trial, and immediately his faith fails him. 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:47.039 He snaps into fixer mode. 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:49.200 How okay, how can I make this better? 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:51.600 Other fixers in the room, that'd be me. 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:54.480 The pastor's just a fixer with a Bible verse, right? 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:58.320 He snaps into fixer mode like some of us. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:06.079 He comes up with a plan, it's all centered on what is most expedient, what is most pragmatic, what is going to work. 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:14.799 It's motivated by fear, fear of starvation, fear of other people, fear of circumstance. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:17.440 And so he's forgotten. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:19.119 He's forgotten his faith. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:20.799 He's forgotten God. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:28.559 You ever find you ever compartmentalize your faith to a Sunday, but it never quite bleeds into the rest of the week? 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:41.599 You come on a Sunday and you sing and you raise hands and worship, but when it comes to the problems of the week, of the circumstances that you're facing, it never really occurs to you, think, oh, I should probably seek God in this. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:44.960 Or how would God's word give me direction in this? 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:46.880 What would God have me do? 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:51.680 How can I work not just in terms of pragmatics, but in terms of his promises? 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:56.559 How can I be somebody that not operates out of fear, but out of faith? 00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:00.079 And so what should uh Abram have done? 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:08.480 Well, just a few verses earlier, he was building an altar, calling on the name of the God, the name of the Lord, seeking God. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:10.960 Now all of that's forgotten. 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:15.440 But also remember what God says to Abram in verse 3. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:18.720 Again, if you're if you've got it in front of you, scan your eyes up. 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:25.599 So God saying to Abram, God making these promises says, I will bless those who bless you. 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:29.839 Those who dishonor you, I will curse. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:39.759 God here in his promises, in the contract that he's making with Abram, he puts in a protection clause. 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:43.839 He says, Whoever blesses you, I'll bless them. 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:49.279 If they curse you, if they do anything wrong to you, I will curse them. 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:52.559 I'll bless those who bless you, I'll curse those who curse you. 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:55.759 God's saying to Abraham, I I got your back. 00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:57.839 I've got you covered here, Abram. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:18:59.680 You don't need a fear man. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:02.559 Trust me. 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:11.279 So maybe Abram should have said to Sarai, this move to Egypt, it's it's a risk. 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:18.799 And Pharaoh's got a reputation, uh, and you're a hottie, uh, and it's gonna be uncertain. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:24.480 But God has spoken to me and God's made promises to me, and in those promises, He's He's promised to protect us. 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:28.960 He's gonna He's gonna see that everything's right, and so we need to trust Him. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:40.160 I know it's uncertain, I know you're scared, I know that it we don't quite know how everything is going to pan out, but we've got to trust His promises and and move forward together in faith. 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:44.079 See, going down to Egypt is not inherently wrong. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:54.559 It's the fact that he went down to Egypt completely forgetting God, completely working out of his own strength, motivated by fear. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:02.160 Now let's just take a little pause, a little parentheses. 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:05.519 Perhaps to cut Abram a little bit of slack. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:10.640 Sit there this morning and you think, oh, Abram is such an idiot. 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:13.039 I think, yeah, he was. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:21.920 Abram is acting faithlessly, he's making foolish decisions, he's forgotten God, he's forgotten God's promises. 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:26.240 But here's something to remember. 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:30.079 God spoke to Abram ten verses ago. 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:34.559 That is in our speaker, Abram's a brand new Christian. 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:42.960 He's a baby believer, he's taking his first steps in faith, and so no wonder he's fallen on his face. 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:46.160 Here's the thing. 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:55.839 We often expect 20-year spiritual maturity from people who have been Christians for two years. 00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:08.640 We often look at baby believers and we slam them for when the persistent and habitual sins of their former life come knocking again and they fall into them again. 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:14.079 It's not to say that none of that matters, and as I've said, Abram is acting faithlessly. 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:28.799 But let's give Abram a little bit of grace, the grace that we ourselves would want as well, to see that actually if we're just starting out in the Christian life, the expectations are different than if you've been a believer for decades. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:39.039 The church perhaps a little too often has a case, has a way of operating and kind of, you know, one strike and you're out. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:41.680 But God's not like that. 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:44.160 I'm very glad that God's not like that. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:47.039 And we see that in this passage. 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:59.759 The way that we mature as believers, the way that we strengthen our faith so that we don't keep on acting like spiritual. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:06.720 Spiritual infants and falling flat on our faces is by applying the promises of God to the circumstances of life. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:19.039 We need to take God's promises and massage them into the various circumstances that we find ourselves in, massage them into our hearts so that we understand them more deeply and more profoundly. 00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:30.960 Because those promises fuel faith in moments of uncertainty, in moments of doubt, in moments of despair. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:42.880 In the book Pilgrim's Progress, the hero of Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan is a character called Christian. 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:46.559 And there is a moment in the book where Christian is taken captive. 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:50.880 He's taken captive by a giant called Giant Despair. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:55.680 And he is carried off to the giant's castle called Castle Doubt. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:00.640 And there he is thrown into the dungeons of Castle Doubt. 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:20.799 And he he languishes there in doubt and in despair, not knowing how to get out, not knowing how he will free himself, until at last he realizes in the Pilgrim's Progress that he has the key to the jail door in his pocket. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:24.480 And the key is called promise. 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:32.799 That it is when we remember the promises of God that they do not exist with question marks but exclamation marks. 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:38.799 It's when we remember the promises of God that we have them and that we can hold on to them. 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:43.200 We have the key to move out from doubt and from despair. 00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:01.759 And our Heavenly Father knows when one falls to the ground? 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:04.799 Our Heavenly Father feeds them. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:08.640 How much more valuable are you than the birds of the air? 00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:11.039 Or consider the lilies of the field. 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:17.359 They do not toil, nor do they spin, but they are clothed in beauty, and you are more valuable than the lilies of the field. 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:22.640 Do you not fear those who can kill the body? 00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:27.680 Fear him who, after killing the body, can throw soul and body into hell. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:39.279 There are great promises in the New Testament that God is for all those who would trust in Jesus. 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:42.079 Think of Jesus' words to his disciples. 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:45.920 His final words at the end of Matthew's gospel, he says, Behold, I am with you always. 00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:48.559 Even until the end of the age. 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:52.640 Or his assurance in John chapter 6. 00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:57.119 All that the Father has given me will come to me. 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:02.799 And all those who come to me I will never drive away. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:11.519 We need to massage those promises into the circumstances of life, into our own hearts. 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:27.519 Because it is those promises that will fuel faith and guard us from fear, the fear that leads us to forgetting God and operating rather just in terms of what is most expedient, what is most pragmatic. 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:33.599 Fear drives pragmatics, but promises fuel faith. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:42.319 Thirdly, and finally, only God's power can fulfill God's promise. 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:47.599 Only God's power can fulfill God's promise. 00:25:48.880 --> 00:26:01.440 Abram probably thought he was doing the right thing, though he had forgotten to seek God, especially when initially after he arrives in Egypt, Pharaoh lavishes all of this wealth on him. 00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:08.000 He thinks, well, surely God must be pleased with this then, if I'm getting all of this material wealth. 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:14.880 Again, why do you need to be careful about thinking of material success as a marker of being blessed by God? 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:26.000 But he goes down and Pharaoh takes Sarah and lavishes all of these goods on Abram. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:29.680 But God intervenes down in verse 17. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:31.759 He intervenes by sending a plague. 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:41.039 Now the details of this are all sparse, but the point is that nothing will thwart God's commitment to his promises. 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:44.000 Not even our sin and foolishness. 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:47.759 Abraham has acted foolishly and sinfully. 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:53.839 He has forgotten God, he has acted without reference to him, but God is enduringly faithful. 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:55.440 Remember what Paul writes? 00:26:55.599 --> 00:27:01.359 That though we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:04.319 God remains committed to his own promises. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:10.880 He promised that Abram would have a child. 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:13.599 And yet he went to Egypt and gave away his wife. 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:14.880 It's a bad idea. 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:16.640 If you're taking notes, right? 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:18.160 Don't do this. 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:28.799 And God moves to rescue foolish Abram as a commitment to his own promises. 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:39.039 And so in one of the more awkward points of the Bible, Pharaoh calls him in and is, shall we say, upset. 00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:49.599 And it seems on the face of it that Pharaoh is actually more moral than Abram, which is worth bearing in mind, isn't it? 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:58.240 Just because you're a believer in Jesus doesn't mean that you're inherently morally superior to the person who isn't. 00:28:00.160 --> 00:28:12.000 If you're here this morning and you aren't a Christian and you think that all Christians are hypocrites because they say one thing and then they do stupid stuff like this, then you're right. 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:15.680 We are hypocrites and we do do stupid things. 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:23.200 But my invitation to you is not to judge Christianity by its followers, but by Christ. 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:28.240 You judge Christianity by Christ, not by the sinners who follow him. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:29.920 We're a mess. 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:33.359 That's why we need him in the first place. 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:41.279 But in the end, God still shows himself to be the God of grace that we looked at last week. 00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:45.680 Grace started Abram on his journey. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:50.319 This moon-worshipping pagan out there in Ur of the Chaldeans. 00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:56.640 Grace started Abram on his journey, and grace will keep him to the end. 00:28:56.880 --> 00:29:07.359 Your journey as a follower of Jesus is not begun in God's grace, but ended in your own goodness and moral superiority. 00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:13.759 It's begun in his grace, that is his kindness to you, and ended in his grace. 00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:17.759 And God's grace, the God of grace, is not done with Abram. 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:21.039 God is not one strike in your eight. 00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:36.720 Presumably, the reason why Abram is fearful of Pharaoh in the first place is because Pharaoh has a reputation of not always being a totally chill guy. 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:42.960 That actually there might be some points where Pharaoh might just lop the head off Abram and take his wife. 00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:46.400 That presumably there is some reason for him to fear. 00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:54.240 And yet, when God sends a plague and Pharaoh realizes, well, actually, this is all Abram's fault because he's lied to me. 00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:59.920 Why doesn't Abram, or why doesn't Pharaoh just summon Abram to the court and go to his guards, right? 00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:02.240 Ket him, cleave him in two. 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:03.039 He doesn't. 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:06.160 God protects him because God's the God of grace. 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:08.079 You ever experienced that in your life? 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:15.519 You think of a circumstance where you're like, man, that really should not have gone as well for me as the way that it did. 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:20.799 That God was really kind, that he got my backside out of that mess. 00:30:21.119 --> 00:30:22.880 He's the God of grace. 00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:26.720 He protects Abram. 00:30:28.160 --> 00:30:34.799 And not only that, but Abram leaves Egypt wealthier than he went. 00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:36.799 All the stuff that Pharaoh gave him. 00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:41.279 He says, Go get out and take your stuff with you. 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:49.680 We have a tendency in our life to create pots of manure, to put it politely. 00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:52.559 We create pots of manure in our life. 00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:55.599 And the God of grace makes roses grow. 00:30:58.160 --> 00:30:59.519 That's grace. 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:05.200 There is a final grace to Abram. 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:08.000 I'm going to read it to you. 00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:11.519 It comes actually at the start of the next chapter. 00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:13.839 Listen to these words. 00:31:14.319 --> 00:31:21.519 So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and lot his nephew with him into the Negev. 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:39.759 Now Abram was very rich in livestock and in silver and in gold, and he journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and I, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. 00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:44.319 And there Abram called on the name of the Lord. 00:31:45.200 --> 00:31:46.799 See what the God of Grace has done? 00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:50.960 The God of Grace has brought Abram back full circle. 00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:53.519 He's brought him back into relationship. 00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:56.079 He's brought him back into the place of worship. 00:31:58.319 --> 00:32:00.799 That is the invitation of the God of grace. 00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:07.440 That however far away you feel you are, you're on a circle coming back to him. 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:12.000 Maybe you're right down here and you think, I am so far from God right now. 00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:14.480 The God of grace invites you back. 00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:21.039 The God of grace will take you back and invite you into that worship relationship. 00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:25.519 He goes back to where he built an altar and worship begins again. 00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:28.880 He failed, he forgot God. 00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:37.200 God intervened and rescued him because he is the God of grace and brought him back to worship him again. 00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:41.599 Brothers and sisters, the God of grace is not done with you. 00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:47.839 He works through our folly and through our sin to bring us back into worship. 00:32:50.559 --> 00:32:59.759 Maybe you're not a Christian here this morning and you're looking back over the circumstances of your life as we reflect on these things, and you realize actually that God has been pursuing you. 00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:07.440 Even though you haven't realized it, even though you haven't been looking for it, and that you can begin to see and discern the fingerprints. 00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:16.160 His fingerprints as he's worked to preserve you and to rescue you in the past through all the foolish decisions that you have made. 00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:20.079 His invitation is to worship. 00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:30.640 His invitation and his purpose is to bring you back, to bring you into a place of faith, to trust his promise. 00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:37.519 To trust the promise that all who come to Jesus will be forgiven, all that is past. 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:50.640 That all of us who walk with him in faith will never be abandoned, but accepted and restored every time we fail. 00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:57.759 This is the promise that Jesus Himself secured when he died upon that cross. 00:33:58.319 --> 00:34:00.880 Forgiveness and life for all who would turn to him. 00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:05.759 Over and over and over again. 00:34:08.159 --> 00:34:32.719 For you perfectionists who work so hard because you think that your identity or your approval is conditioned on your ability to succeed, know that God's acceptance of you is not based on that, but on his own commitment, to his own promises, to his own goodness. 00:34:34.960 --> 00:34:37.920 He holds you because he is committed to himself. 00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:40.159 He wants you. 00:34:40.800 --> 00:34:42.079 Warts and all. 00:34:43.199 --> 00:34:46.000 You do not need to hide your failures from him. 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:52.960 Spiritual and moral perfectionism would lead us to anxiety and to pride. 00:34:55.280 --> 00:35:08.239 But faith will strengthen, will strengthen, will strengthen us, and give us humility as we grow, as we turn again to the God of grace. 00:35:28.159 --> 00:35:34.320 If you found this helpful or want to know more about City Church Dublin, please visit our website found at the link below.