Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19990905.htm

GENESIS: THE SOURCES OF GOOD AND CALAMITY IN OUR ORIGINS
Part III - God's Ongoing Program Of Countering Man's Apostasy At Babel
B. Round One: The Battle Of Faith Regarding The Sustenance Of One's Own Life
(Genesis 12:8-13:4)
  1. Introduction
    1. The believer's role in history is to counter the faithless, self-help, communal inter-dependent departure from God authored by Nimrod, and that in line with the faith-oriented program of God through Abram (last week ). Since we are products of our faithless world as was Abram (Joshua 24:2), we should expect there was a time of learning for Abram in living by faith in God as we believers face today .
    2. Following God's call, Abram was thrust into the battle of faith regarding the welfare of his earthly life.
    3. The text supplies us today a big lesson on trusting God regarding our own earthly lives as follows:
  2. The Battle Of Faith Regarding The Sustenance Of One's Own Life, Genesis 12:8-13:4.
    1. After Abram entered Canaan and was told by God that this was the land promised to him, Abram built an altar to the Lord and appropriately worshipped God at Shechem, Genesis 12:6-7 with 12:1-5.
    2. However, there was a famine in the land, and since the Canaanites vied for space for their flocks along with Abram, he felt the compulsion to move southward for pasture room, Genesis 12:8, 10a.
      1. Because the Canaanites had possession of all the fertile land in Canaan at the time, Abram felt compelled to keep his journeys going south in search of pasture room, Bib. Know. Com., O.T., p. 47.
      2. The presence of famine at that time intensified the need for finding more pasture as well, Gen. 12:10a.
    3. In the process, Abram eventually moved out of the land down into Egypt where the Nile perpetually watered the land as a desperation move for crops and water, Genesis 12:10b.
    4. However, his move into foreign Egyptian territory with his beautiful wife, Sarai brought a threat to his life:
      1. At that time, a husband in enemy territory could be killed so that others might have his wife, Ibid., p. 49.
      2. Well, Sarai was a very beautiful woman, desirable as a wife by onlookers, Genesis 12:11.
      3. Abram became fearful that the Egyptians would want to kill him to take Sarai as a wife, Genesis 12:12.
    5. Instead of trusting God's unconditional promise, Abram resorted to a deceitful scheme to save his life:
      1. Abram knew his wife was his father's daughter, but by a wife that was not Abram's mother, Gen. 20:12.
      2. So to pacify his conscience and save his life, Abram suggested Sarai tell questioners of her identity that she was Abram's sister, conveniently leaving out the fact that she was also his wife, Genesis 12:13.
      3. This scheme exhibited unbelief in God: The Lord had unconditionally promised to produce seed through Abram, and since his wife, Sarai was barren according to Genesis 11:30, he had to survive long enough to have a child! Abram's ruse revealed a lack of faith in God's promise to protect him from Pharaoh!
    6. Well, regardless of Abram's unbelief, God sovereignly, graciously worked to keep His covenant to Abram:
      1. When they entered the land, Sarai was seen and desired as a wife by Pharaoh himself, Gen. 12:14.
      2. They presumably inquired and were informed by Sarai that she was but Abram's sister, for Pharaoh took her into his house and paid a good dowry to Abram for her hand in marriage, Genesis 12:15-16.
      3. However, God plagued Pharaoh's house to hinder her becoming intimate with him and obstructing the plan of God to use Sarai to bear Abram's seed, Gen. 12:17 with 17:15-16. Ryrie suggests these plagues involved possible genitalia discomfort to insure abstinence, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to Gen. 12:17.
      4. When Pharaoh learned the reason for the plagues, he reprimanded Abram for his deceit, and sent him and Sarai and all they had out of the land, Genesis 12:18-20.
    7. Abram returned to Canaan with all his possessions and marriage still in tact, and came north to the altar he had erected to God at Bethel in the midst of the land. This move back to Bethel signaled his return to living by faith even though a famine was still in the land, Gen. 13:1-4 with 12:8.
Lesson: Abram learned that he could trust his EARTHLY LIFE'S WELFARE to God's promise to use that life to produce a seed for His glory. He did not need to resort to sinful ruses to protect his life.

Application: We must learn that our earthly life is immortal until God's PLAN for our earthly life is DONE. Thus, instead of fretting and scheming to protect ourselves, we must trust the Lord as did Abram with our earthly lives as a WAY of living, and just go ahead and obey the Lord!