Book of Genesis - Ch. 20, Vs. 1-8 (10/08/2000)

Park Meadows Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:22

Someone tell me, how can you experience the joy of not having a toothache?

00:34

Without having them all pulled out.

00:53

Right. That's right. Now, how is it that we can have joy of praising the

01:08

Lord? Well, let me put it this way.

01:15

How is it that we can experience joy of forgiveness? What causes the experience of forgiveness?

01:29

Put your hand up. Alright. First we sin.

01:38

Then we can experience the joy of being forgiven. Let's say that each one here has dedicated their life to become a concert pianist.

01:58

What does it take for that to happen? Let me see a hand.

02:07

Alright. Lots and lots of practice. Do you make a mistake? Sure. Many, many mistakes.

02:21

In order for you to walk on stage by yourself and present to the audience a beautiful concert on the piano because now you have mastered it then it would be possible only by what method?

02:50

What do you have to do to get there? Don't say ride it in a car or purge.

03:01

You would have had to practice, would you not? Now that wasn't hard.

03:08

In the practice you make mistakes. In our life in eternity with the

03:16

Lord what are we going to spend our time doing? David?

03:23

We'll be praising and worshipping him forever. Alright. How do you suppose we're going to learn how to do that?

03:31

Practice. When we get there? No, here. Here. Now, to practice how to praise calls for what?

03:50

Too much chicken. Worship. Alright, but to truly worship or to truly experience the joy of forgiveness or to truly praise

04:06

God you would have had to do what? Have God within your heart.

04:13

Well, but it takes more than that. Sin. Sin. What do you think this life's for?

04:22

It's a practice field. We learn how to praise by sinning.

04:28

We cannot wait until we get into eternity and learn how to praise.

04:34

We do that here. That calls for problems. Troubles.

04:41

So you see, there's a good side to it. We always thought trouble was something I'd try to get out of.

04:49

Well, who puts you in it? Do you suppose he's going to put you in it and then take you out of it immediately?

04:58

No. It's for a reason. This life is for a reason.

05:04

And it's to learn how to worship God. How to praise God. And only here in this life do we have a chance to practice.

05:13

Now, how are you going to go into the next life? From a second grade or third grade or postgraduate work as a master or what?

05:25

It all depends upon you. Your desire to study. Come with me now to Genesis, the 20th chapter.

05:39

We're following Abraham. And he gets into trouble again.

05:51

Abraham journeyed from Thames toward the south country and dwelt between Kadish and Shur and sojourned in Gerar.

06:02

And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took

06:09

Sarah. Bill, is there such a thing as a half -lie?

06:18

It's a whole book of lies. So you're saying no, there is no such thing as a half -lie.

06:26

That's correct. Then, Greg, explain to me, give me the definition of a lie.

06:36

A lie is purposely not stating the truth. No, that's not a lie.

06:48

That's a lie, all right, but we can have a better definition. Deceiving.

06:55

To deceive? All right. The reason

07:01

I told Greg that purposely not telling the truth would have been all right if he had clarified it into the fact that you can tell the truth and it'd still be a lie.

07:17

A lie is purposed to deceive by whatever method, by whatever you say or whatever you don't say.

07:26

Your purpose is to deceive somebody. We find that with Abraham. Now, it's true that she was his half -sister.

07:40

The first time we find him using it, he was afraid that they were going to kill him. And just the day before yesterday, the

07:48

Lord told him that he was going to have a son. Okay, we're dealing now with Abimelech.

08:06

He has taken Sarah. I don't know why this isn't sounding like it did this morning, but anyhow.

08:24

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and he said to him,

08:30

Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken, for she is a man's wife.

08:43

Does God ever speak to heathens? Yes. All right, before men had the

08:59

Bible to guide them, God often made known his will in dreams.

09:07

I know some people today that still depend upon dreams to guide their life.

09:15

In fact, there's people in business to interpret to you what your dream meant, so you'll know what to do.

09:22

That's sad. We today have no excuse to expect revelation of God's will in dreams.

09:36

He just doesn't work that way. I truly believe there is another realm of intelligence, because there's too many documented proofs of communication between two people that are far distance apart.

09:55

And I think the longer you live together with someone, the more you can communicate without saying anything.

10:06

But that's not what we're talking about here. All of the needful directions and duty in our life can be obtained where?

10:20

In the Bible. Prayerfully, from a study of the scriptures.

10:29

Now, how did Abimelech know that this was the God Almighty speaking to him? Roger? I'm not quite sure.

10:53

Probably because it was the first...

10:58

Who's talking? I said probably because it was the first time someone had ever did that to me.

11:04

Thank you. And that was God. All right. If God should speak to you, would you wonder who it was?

11:15

No. Did Paul wonder who it was? No. I'm here to guarantee to you that you will not have to say, huh?

11:30

Why would the Lord protect even his own when they had lied about the situation?

11:41

Burge? Because he had made a promise to Abraham that Sarah was going to have

11:47

Isaac. Well, he had done that all right. Greg?

11:56

What? The promise must be kept. No one can speak unless they hold their hand up.

12:02

She probably went like that.

12:09

Well, if I don't see it, you can't talk. You'll be surprised how much easier it was in class this morning.

12:21

Thank you very, very much. Now, you may speak again,

12:26

Pat. The promise had to be kept. All right. And the promise depended upon what?

12:35

It depended upon what God said and nothing else. All right. So how much weight was there to his keeping his promise and what

12:45

Abraham did? It was his promise. He made the promise without any input from Abraham.

12:56

And he would keep it without any input from Abraham. No, because it was

13:04

God's promise. God did. None.

13:15

No, he didn't do that either. He didn't.

13:20

We didn't. Same thing here. But a limp, a Bimelech had not come near her.

13:27

And he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me?

13:34

She is my sister. And she, even she herself said, he is my brother.

13:41

In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands, have

13:46

I done this? And God said unto him in a dream, yea,

13:52

I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart. For I also withheld thee from sinning against me.

14:02

Therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. Now, just look at what's taken place.

14:13

A Bimelech says, I didn't know that. They lied to me. They told me they were brother and sister.

14:21

And we may think, well, he shouldn't have taken her anyhow. You have to allow for the knowledge of the day, of the custom of the day.

14:36

We are held accountable for things that a Bimelech would never have been, and even

14:42

Abraham would not have been. Because we know, we know more than they did. We have the

14:47

Bible. They didn't. God is saying, I withheld thee from sinning against me.

14:57

Now, Clarence, who is it that restrains us in our sins?

15:09

What if he did not? We'd probably kill ourselves, if possible.

15:24

So, it is God that restrains men from doing the ill that they would do if there was not a restraint put upon it.

15:36

From the looks of the world today, he's taken off most of his restraints. I've got to tell you something here, but Greg, would you go back and stop the tape for just a moment?

15:51

Because I'd rather this was not. It has restrained people from doing all of the evil that they would.

16:19

By his influence on men's minds, checking their inclination to sin, or by his providence taking away the opportunity.

16:27

It's a great mercy to be hindered from committing sin.

16:34

Which God must have the glory of whoever is the instrument. Whether it be

16:39

Abimelech or someone else. Everything is for his praise.

16:48

Now, therefore, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet. Clarence, what's the word prophet mean?

16:57

Well, I guess it comes from prophesy, or tells.

17:12

If God revealed to me some event that was coming, but...

17:24

Yes. Yes. Expounding the truth, making clear to people something that they do not know.

17:49

Something that is yet to come. There is no true prophet today as we think of prophets in the

17:56

Old Testament. But there are teachers, there are expounders of the word. There are theologians that explain things that are yet to come.

18:08

Our own pastor played the part of a prophet this morning. Only he wasn't playing.

18:17

Now, therefore, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, meaning Abraham, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live.

18:27

Greg, it sounds like if Abraham didn't pray for him, he wouldn't live. As far as Abimelech is concerned, that's exactly true.

18:37

And if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine shalt surely die.

18:48

This shows God's abhorrence of this crime. And Harvey, what was the crime so we don't lose sight of it?

19:01

Right. Did you all hear him? Adultery.

19:07

Did you all hear me? Yes, sir. We're going to look at God's abhorrence of the crime of adultery.

19:19

His indignation against those who commit it. Adultery is a sin which exposes all who commit it to the wrath of God, both in this world and in the world to come.

19:34

Now I know this is not a very popular subject in church. It's very popular outside of church.

19:44

And I assume that everybody here thinks they know all about it. But if you do, teach your children.

19:53

But I want us to spend a little bit of time. Adultery is a criminal connection between persons who are not married to each other.

20:06

And it exceeds the guilt of fornication, which is the same intercourse between unmarried persons.

20:14

As the highest sin of its kind, and including all other sins of the flesh, it is forbidden in the seventh commandment.

20:27

God often compares himself to a husband jealous of his honor. Go to Jeremiah 31, 32.

20:50

Bill, read that to me. Did you say 31, 32? Yes. Behold, the day is come, saith the

21:00

Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judea. He doesn't say anything about being a jealous.

21:10

I'm sorry. And 32. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the days that I took them out of the land.

21:17

To bring them out of the land of Egypt, which by covenant they break. Though I was a husband to them, saith the

21:25

Lord. He compares himself as a husband. Now, Jeremiah 3 and 9.

21:42

Joy, you read that one. Or don't read it until you get to it.

21:53

Nine. Read it out loud.

22:18

Okay. And it came to pass through the likeness of her.

22:29

I'm having trouble with my eyes. Reporting that she devoured the land.

22:37

And committed adultery with stones and with rocks.

22:44

All right. He's talking about the land. Now, Ezekiel 23.

22:59

And Greg, I'd like for you to read 36 through 49. Ezekiel 23.

23:26

Yes. The Lord also said to me, Son of man, they declare them to them their abominations.

23:40

They have committed adultery with blood, and they sacrifice their sons whom they bore to me.

23:49

Passing them through the fire to their fathers. Moreover, they have done this to me.

23:55

They have defiled my sanctuary on the same day as they defaced my steps. For after they have slain their children for their idols.

24:02

On the same day they came into my sanctuary and defaced it. And indeed thus they have done it against my house.

24:10

In the morning sent for men to come from afar, whom a messenger was sent. And there they came.

24:16

And you washed yourself warmly, painted your eyes, and wore yourself garments. You sat on a stable couch, from the table prepared before you, from which you had set my incense and my oil.

24:28

The sound of a carefree multitude was with her. And sabines were brought from the wilderness, with men of the common sort, to put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads.

24:39

And I said concerning her, do I prove all that adultery is? Were they to bear harm to you, it turns out, as she and them, that they were the agents of the harlot.

24:53

Thus they went into a hall of them, a hall of them, and were included. The righteous men will judge them.

25:08

But thus says the Lord God, bring over an assembly against them, give them to trouble and plunder.

25:17

The assembly shall stone them with stones, and execute them with their swords. They shall strangle their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire.

25:25

Thus they will cause Elizabeth to cease from the land, and all women may be taught not to practice her lewdness.

25:32

They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall pay for your idolatrous sins. Then she, then you shall know that I am the

25:39

Lord. Why is it that the, even the church people pay little attention to scriptures such as this,

25:51

David? I know a lot of church applications.

26:09

All right, let me ask this now. That's right, let me ask this. You have a small child at home, and the child misbehaves, and you have already explained that he would get a spanking if he did it, and you threaten him again, but you don't give him the spanking.

26:34

And then a week later does the same thing, you threaten him again, and you threaten him, and threaten him, and threaten him.

26:42

What's he finally going to think? Right. I think a lot of the lackadaisical attitude that we have concerning God is because he doesn't execute punishment right now.

27:02

And it seems as though he's never going to. So, I kind of relegate all of that to an insignificant law, because it's not corrected right now.

27:22

We must remember that he works on his own time schedule, not ours. If he said it, it will happen.

27:29

We're not through yet. Go to... Yes. Don't you think that a lot of that is due to our present -day churches, when they all have improper relationships with another?

27:55

And everybody in the church knows it, and nothing is done about it. That's right. So that encourages it.

28:03

The church is at the base of most of the problems of the world. The lack of discipline.

28:12

Now, come with me to the book of Leviticus, to chapter 20.

28:24

Bill, read verse 10. Leviticus 21 .10

28:35

20 .10 20 .10

28:52

Now, go over to Leviticus 21 .9, Bill. 9.

29:07

Yes. Fire.

29:20

One more. John 8 .5. Bill. John 8 .5.

29:40

All right.

29:48

So we have the law of God, which demands death for such a thing.

29:57

There's a great movement again, or continually, to abolish the death penalty.

30:04

And, I won't get into politics, but the

30:10

Bible says that there are things that demand death. By the law of Moses, both the man and the woman who had committed adultery were punished with death.

30:24

A woman suspected of this crime might, in order to clear herself, drink the water of jealousy.

30:31

Did you ever hear of that? Anybody say yes? All right.

30:39

Go to Numbers 5. Bill, as you look through 5 through 31, pick out something that explains a little bit about the drinking of the waters of jealousy.

31:02

I know that's springing it on you, but... All right.

31:09

Someplace between verse 1 and 31, all of that deals with the water of jealousy.

31:16

Can you tell us what it is, just from a survey of that? Sarah committed adultery, even though...

31:52

No. Hagar did. And Abraham.

31:59

Oh, okay. I'm still on strike. Well, do you understand anything about waters of jealousy that you can tell us?

32:10

I understand that God has prescribed some sort of dosage to be prescribed to this woman.

32:17

If she is accused of adultery, she's drinking. And if the

32:23

Lord says that the Lord, in order for the Lord to clear her, will allow her to live, and if she has been guilty of adultery, she will die.

32:35

All right. Is the water of jealousy something that they do that they put together to make it?

32:45

Yes. They offer her a tenth part on the path of barley milk if she pours a little of it or frankincense to it.

33:00

Well, make note of that and read it as longer scripture than I had supposed it to be.

33:10

Okay. The dust before the tabernacle the priest shall take and put it in the water.

33:16

So it's the dust before the tabernacle that is put in the water. Okay. Well, that gives it its nasty taste and color.

33:29

There really wasn't anything good or bad in the water itself. So, and by the way, there's never, as far as I have been able to determine, that was never exercised.

33:43

There was never anyone that went through that. At least, in my study of the scripture,

33:50

I've never seen it. Suffice to say this, folks. Don't assume that your children understand.

33:59

What they understand is what the world's taught them. Don't depend on that.

34:06

Depend on what the Bible says. And be sure that you put it in language that they can understand and cause them to understand.

34:15

Again, it's this practice thing. Just be sure that over and over they learn the truth.

34:27

And by that, I mean your life should be the most powerful tool. And then what you say and what you teach.

34:37

And it's extremely important. More so today than ever before,

34:42

Greg. When our children go out from home, they're going to assume that every home's like their own.

34:52

They're going to assume that every church is like one in which I grew up. That's just the way they're going to think.

35:01

And it's going to come as a shock. I remember when I'd come back the first time to my home church and they wanted me to speak and I'd just been away at college for the first time.

35:14

And the first thing that I told them was be sure that these young people, and I was just a kid myself,

35:23

I said, be sure that the young people understand that just because the name

35:28

Baptist is in the church title doesn't mean they're going to quit here.

35:34

I was shocked when I found out there's about 30 different ones back in 1941.

35:43

Well, we're dealing with that. Therefore Abimelech, verse 8 now,

35:52

Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all of his servants, told all of these things in their ears, and the men were so afraid.

36:04

We've run over time. He's going to discuss some things with Abraham and with Sarah.

36:16

And I have not yet found a clear -cut reason to believe that Abimelech was one of the followers of God.

36:30

I'm not saying he wasn't, I just haven't seen him. All right, any questions from anybody?

36:38

Brothers, I have something that struck me while you were talking about the mercy that God showed by not allowing him to sin, to keep him from sinning.

36:58

If you refer back to Romans 1 where he says,

37:05

Wherefore who changed the truth of God to a lie in worship and serve the creators, who bless for ignorance?

37:16

Will this cause God to give them up to their vile affections? So he won't always be there to restrain us from sinning.

37:26

Well, he has always been so far. Even in giving those up to their own vile affections, he still controlled the limit because he just has to, because he did.

37:41

As far as it looks to the world or to us, he didn't because they are so vile and so wicked.

37:49

Well, I think I should have said it exactly like I was. The world around us is getting less and less restrained.

37:57

Yes. And at some point,

38:03

I believe God allows them to become fully emergent in sin that he has protected them from.

38:10

So that's something we have to be concerned about. We don't become emergent in sin ourselves.

38:16

That's right and that's why it's such an important and difficult task.

38:23

But it's all going exactly as he foretold it would and it shall continue that way.

38:30

There will be a time during the tribulation when

38:36

Satan will be worshipped for about 15 minutes and God still has control of it, even in that.

38:46

But it certainly won't seem like it. Thank you, Bill. Anything else?

38:53

Then let's stand and be dismissed. Would you dismiss us today, please?