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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. What is the most popular program you've ever invented? That's not that long ago. Since then, hundreds of thousands of programs have aired. And the more popular ones have aired over and over and over again. They're called reruns. Here's a listing of what are considered the top television shows of the century.
Number one, this is by virtue of what people wanted and why. Number two, I Love Lucy. Now we're talking. Number three, All in the Family. Number four, Sesame Street. Some of you are giving me the look like I haven't heard of those shows. The worst television shows, according to the TV Guide. Number one, The Jerry Springer Show.
I agree. Number two, interestingly enough, and I'm rather disappointed, My Mother the Car. How many of you remember My Mother the Car?
Kindred souls we are. Number three, worst TV shows, XFL Football. It was one season only, 2001. It never made it off the ground. It's the wannabes who didn't make it in the NFL and it didn't last. And then number four, The Brady Bunch.
I can't help you there. Chapter 20 is one of those chapters I wish was not in the Bible. It is like a rerun of The Jerry Springer Show. It is an episode, unfortunately, that is repeated in Abraham's life, even though it has been almost 25 years since he made this mistake going down to Egypt. He went down to Egypt almost 25 years before this because there was a famine in the land of promise. And there, because his wife was so beautiful, she was 65 years old at the time, and he didn't trust the Pharaoh, he said, Would you please just tell people that you're my sister? Well, now she's 90 years old, and Abraham is 100. He's a century old, and he makes the same mistake, not going down to Egypt, but toward Egypt in chapter 20 to the land of Gerar.
Now something you need to keep in the forefront of your mind, otherwise this will be a very tough chapter. Abraham is a believer. Chapter 15 tells us Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. He believed in God, and he believed God's promises. He was a believer. God even gave him a new name.
It was Abram. Now it's Abraham. But though he has a new name, he still has an old nature. And he goes back to that old nature.
Now we know what that struggle is like. Though we have been given new life, we have an old nature. And the Bible tells us that the flesh wars against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, right?
These two are contrary to one another. And there's a struggle in the life of every believer to want to relapse back into the patterns of the flesh. They never go away. We will always struggle with them to some degree until we finally reach glory. We see that illustrated here in the life of Abraham as he goes back to a familiar pattern of old living, back to the flesh. We know what the struggle is like. In your spirit, as you have been born again, you want to serve the Lord.
You do. But the flesh part of you wants to serve you and make it all about you. And there's a struggle, and it's a constant struggle. Your spirit longs to fellowship with the Lord. And so when the alarm goes off in the morning, your spirit says, Great, I'm going to spend some time in prayer, while the flesh quickly says, Prayer, are you nuts?
Just one more hour of sleep. Sunday morning, alarm goes off. The spirit says, It's time to go to church with God's people. And the flesh, especially when you're waking up, might say, Church?
Why, is it Easter? Is there some crisis that has happened in your life that you need to be driven toward church? So we find this struggle back and forth, and we find it, interestingly enough, after all of this time, after all of these years of Abraham walking with God, we find him going back to his old, old ways. Verse 1, And Abraham journeyed.
He's on the move again. Remember, he's the man in the tent, and he's the man of the tent. Lot settled and got a house in Sodom. Abraham never settled down.
And why is that? Hebrews 11 says it was by faith. He was looking for a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And so he's on the move. He's a pilgrim, and he's a worshiper. He was a man of the tent and the altar. And we noticed that he would travel, pitch his tent, build an altar. But when he went down to Egypt 20 some years before, he didn't build an altar.
Now he's on the move once again. He's a man of the tent, but there's no mention of an altar. Now we don't know why he journeyed.
There's no mention or reason given. He was in the land of Mamre, a beautiful area by Hebron, gorgeous. It's a great place to hang out. I've spent some time in that area. Now he goes south toward the wilderness, and we don't exactly know why, but there was obviously some reason that motivated him.
We're just not given the reason. He journeyed from there, from Mamre, where he was, that place of fellowship by Hebron, to the south and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur and stayed in Gerar. Gerar is just over the border, going south, just over the border from the promised land. It's not all the way down in Egypt, but Gerar was the place the Philistines settled. Now you're going to read more about the Philistines as the scripture goes on.
The Philistines were originally a seagoing people and a warlike people that migrated from the islands west of the Mediterranean and found their way down toward the coast of Egypt and the southern coastlands of the promised land. And they become the formidable enemy during the time of David. The king is Abimelech. Now Abimelech is either his name or it is his title, just like a pharaoh or a prime minister. He is the Abimelech or his name is Abimelech.
We don't know. Now Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, she is my sister and Abimelech, the king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. So here's Abraham. He's crossed the border. He's out of the promised land, out of the land God gave him. He's not in Egypt, but he is in dangerous territory. He's in enemy territory. And because he's in enemy territory, he's living in fear.
He doesn't want to die. And so he goes back to that old lie that we saw back in chapter 12. He told his wife, tell people you are my sister.
And he gives that same false information out. She's my sister. The Bible tells us that we are to stay far away from temptation. I like the biblical injunction, flee temptation. Run from it. Get away from it.
Flee. And when you flee temptation and when you run from the enemy's snares, don't leave a forwarding address. There are some places Christians ought not to go. There are some people they ought not to be around.
There are some practices they are not to be engaged in because it's going to draw them in closer and deeper into the temptation and possible sin. Well, he goes down to Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, used to be Sarah. I know it's Sarah.
She is my sister. We're going to find out that that's partially true. It's partially a lie, but it's partially true. And Abimelech, the king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, indeed, you're a dead man. Like God's style.
Because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, the question of God's existence has serious implications from his presence and participation in our lives to the reality of life after death, to the basis for human morality. And in his book, Is God Real?, Lee Strobel, former atheist and legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, weaves together the latest evidence from a range of brilliant scientific and philosophical minds to answer the most consequential question of all time. This resource will equip you to address your own doubts and respond to others' questions about God with confidence. We'll send you a copy of Is God Real? along with two messages Strobel preached on this topic at Calvary Church as thanks for your gift of $50 or more to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. Now it's been, like I said, 25 years since the whole incident occurred like this when he went down to Egypt. She was 65 years old. Now she's 90 years old.
And so we're a bit puzzled, are we not? That he felt the need to make up a story about her. To say, it's my sister. You think, she's Abraham. She's 90 years old. You don't have to worry about anything, dude.
They're not going to take your wife. But, and I can't totally explain it except a couple of shots at the explanation. She must have been extraordinarily beautiful. All of the ancient literature recall Sarah as being perfect in form and as beautiful as Eve, who was given by God a third of all beauty.
Now that's legendary. That's in some of the ancient writings. But nonetheless, all of the ancient writings attest to the beauty of Sarah. Second, it was common practice among kings, rulers, those who were rich and powerful, to give a woman, a wife, somebody from their household to another ruler's harem to make a strong alliance. And perhaps to form an alliance since Abraham was rich and powerful.
He had 318 of his own trained, paid servants. And Abimelech was the king of this area. That it was to form an alliance. But it was a lie.
And it's going to get him into trouble. There's a little phrase in verse three that just grabbed me when I read it this week. And I love this little phrase, but God. How thankful I am for all of the but gods we find in scripture. Here's Abraham. Dumb mistake.
Dumb to travel down there. But God. I love that and we find many of them in the Bible. One of them, notably, is in chapter 50. Joseph will say to his brothers who betrayed him and sold him to the group that sold him down into Egypt.
Remember that? The last chapter of Genesis, Joseph says to his brothers, As for you, you meant this for evil against me. But God meant it for good to save many people alive as it is this day. What you meant for evil, God meant for good. But God.
God intervened. My favorite but God is Ephesians 2. You probably know that story really well or that little outline that is given in Ephesians 2. Paul says, You were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works among the children of disobedience. You were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy and the great love with which he loved us, even while we were dead, he has made us alive. By grace you have been saved. See, we all have this story of but God.
We were going our own way, doing our own thing, minding our own business, not interested in the things of the spirit, but God. That's Abraham's story, too. He went down to Gerar, did something dumb, fatal perhaps for his wife and for the kingdom of the Philistines, but God.
So here's King Abimelech. He's sleeping at night. He does not know what's happening. He does not know the relationship between this man and woman. He did not take her that night, which was typical when a new woman was brought into a harem. He just went to sleep that night. While he was sleeping, just on the pillow, sawing logs, God spoke to him and said, You're a dead man.
I'd call that a nightmare. Because the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife. But Abimelech had not come near her and said, Lord, will you slay a righteous nation also? Now it's interesting that he said, slay a righteous nation, and we'll learn the full impact of that when we get to verse 18 and we discover that all of the wombs of the Philistine women had been closed by God. So not only was God threatening King Abimelech, but God had closed all of the wombs of the women so they were unable to bear. Well, if you can't bear little Philistines and have little Philistines running around your tent who will grow up to be big Philistines, you won't have a nation of Philistines. And so would you slay a righteous nation?
Interesting that he calls it that. Did he not say to me, she is my sister? Even she herself said he is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and in the innocence of my hands, I have done this. And God said to him in a dream, Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against me.
Therefore, I did not let you touch her. Now, every time there is a first mention of something in the Bible, I've been telling you that principle of first mention, right? The very first mention of the word integrity is found here from the lips of a Philistine. A man of integrity. And God says, You're right, I actually agree with you. You are a man of integrity and that's why I'm keeping you from further sin.
Now, here's a principle. If you are a person of integrity, honesty, you're not covering up, you're not hiding anything. You are who you say you are.
What you are in private and public are the same. If you're a person of integrity, God will keep you from further plunging into those kinds of activities, sins that would destroy families and destroy relationships. But if you are a person who lacks integrity, you're on that dangerous road of going further into areas that will destroy. You're right, you're a man of integrity.
That's why I'm not letting you do this. In fact, there's something I find interesting in verse 6. It says, For I also withheld you from sinning against who? Me.
Now wait a minute. Abraham sinned against his wife Sarah by doing this. Abraham sinned against King Abimelech by doing this. King Abimelech took Sarah not knowing what it is and even if he did know what it was and he was going to do it anyway, wouldn't that be a sin first of all against Sarah or first of all against Abraham?
No. Here's the important principle. Adultery is first and foremost a sin against God. And that's what most people forget. Oh, the poor children. True. Oh, the poor wife.
She was a victim or husband. True. But first and foremost, it's a sin against God. And why would that be? Because God was the one who invented the institution of marriage.
That's why. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and cleave into his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Jesus will say amen to that by saying what God has joined together, let not man separate. So to commit adultery, according to God here, is first a sin against him. That's where we ought to look. That's where the fear of God begins.
This is with thoughts like this. Now later on you're going to read about Moses. And Moses was Egyptian. He was at least a Hebrew but in the Egyptian court. And one day he goes out and he's angry at an Egyptian and says he looked this way and he looked that way and he killed the Egyptian.
What was his problem? He didn't look that way. And so we look around to see who's looking or not looking. God's always looking. And in his sleep, God reminds Abimelek of that truth.
Therefore, I did not let you touch her. Now therefore, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet. He's a what? This is shocking to me. And he will pray for you and you shall live. Okay, back to the rule of first mention. The very first time the word prophet is mentioned in the Bible is in this verse. And it's used of a disobedient Abraham.
Now I say I'm shocked at this because if there's one time you would think that God would not want to even be related to Abraham, would be here. You'd think he would say, for this man is a problem. This man is a problem child of mine. I've had problems with him for years, ever since I called him. Or I don't know who this joker is, but God owns him as his prophet.
Isn't that interesting? He says he's a prophet and he'll pray for you and Abimelek's probably thinking, I don't want him to pray for me. I'll tell you why this is good. It's good because whenever we fail, whenever we blow it, and we all do, in our own thinking we ruin our future ability to serve the Lord so often by these thoughts. Oh, I've blown it.
Oh, that was a bad mistake. I can never be used by God again. Oh boy, you don't understand our God. You don't understand the great grace of our God, the mighty mercy of our maker. He's a prophet. And he's going to pray for you. In fact, the Lord's going to hear his prayer and going to heal him. Now, I don't want you to misunderstand me because some of you may be thinking, oh, so great. So if I've blown it, and I have, I can just keep blowing it.
Nope. Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound? God forbid, said Paul. Because even though you can get up there and still teach a Bible study or preach a sermon or play the notes on the piano or guitar, there'll be something you will be lacking the whole time. Life.
Real life. You'll shrivel up inside. There'll be pain and sorrow and repercussions in you and around you with relationships and family.
You'll just be drying up inside. The Bible says in Proverbs 13, I believe, that the way of the unfaithful is hard. It's hard.
It's miserable. So you'll be operating out of an empty well instead of a full well that never runs out. But he calls him a prophet. And he said, he'll pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours. So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all of his servants and told all of these things in their hearing. And the men were very much afraid. Of course, God just said they're going to be dead men unless they give her back. And Abimelech called Abraham.
Well, this is going to be interesting. And said to him, you jerk. No, he didn't say that.
It's perhaps what I would have said. He said, what have you done to us? How have I offended you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done. Now he's rebuked by him.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon said God will not allow his children to sin successfully. And so he does it. He goes through with the plan, man. We made it down here. God reveals something in a dream, unwitting to Abraham's knowledge until the next day. What have you done to us?
He says. We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give fifty dollars or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you Lee Strobel's book Is God Real? And two of his sermons on the same topic preached at Calvary Church to help you answer life's most consequential questions about God's existence. To request your copy of these resources, call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate for more from Skip. Be sure to check out the many resources available at connectwithskip.com slash store. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
