Genesis 20:1-21:8 - Part C

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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Okay, so technically it was true, right? It's a half truth. A half truth is a total lie. It was meant to mislead, right? You can say, well, technically it was the truth.

Now here's the problem. If we start living on these little technicalities and verbal, you know, statements that aren't meant to fully disclose, that's bearing false witness. If we start saying, well, it depends on what is, is. That is a statement purposely meant to deceive, not to disclose. It's bearing false witness. Now it's interesting that that term finds its way into the New Testament bearing false witness. By the way, that's one of God's top 10 that he thundered from Mount Sinai that day. You shall not bear false witness, yes?

We find it in the New Testament when at the trial of Jesus, they couldn't find anything against him, so it says they brought in false witnesses who said, pointing to Jesus, this man said that he would destroy the temple and in three days he would build it back up. Now did Jesus say that? Yes, he did say that. He did say that.

Technically, it was true. In John chapter 2, he said, destroy this temple and in three days I'll build it back up. But John, in an editorial comment says, but he was speaking of the temple of his body, not the temple in Jerusalem. So yes, it's what he said, but what he meant was his own body. So to bear false witness is more than just giving information, it's all about the implication.

It's the spin you put on it. And if you are meaning to deceive, which is what Abraham was doing, he has borne false witness and he's in trouble. And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, this is your kindness that you should do for me in every place where we go. Say of me, he is my brother.

Okay, now just stop right there and I don't care if we make it into 21 or not. Now we have some information that is valuable in verse 30. Now we are privy to some information where the picture comes together. It all makes sense.

We didn't have full understanding when in chapter 12, he goes to Egypt and says, say to Pharaoh, you're my sister. But now we have some information. It wasn't that Abraham was pressured into saying this or he panicked. And he just said it spur of the moment. Now we understand it's been a pattern. He planned to say this.

When in chapter 11 and on into chapter 12, when we read the first read about Sarai and Abram leaving Ur of the Chaldees and going to Haran and then down into the promised land. Now we understand that ever since we were married, part of the prenuptial agreement was wherever we go, she's going to say this. Can you imagine their wedding vows? Will you have me as your lawfully wedded husband to happen to hold from this day forward for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer in sickness and in health? And wherever you go, if I'm in trouble, say you're my sister.

I will. I don't know. Maybe she looked at Abram and thought, honey, whatever you want, sweetie, baby, I love you. I'm crazy about you.

Yeah, I'll do it. Whatever it was, they made a pact in agreement. So when in chapter 12 he does it and now he does it, we understand it's been a pattern. He never broke from sin.

He never made a break from it. It's been a pattern and a pattern. And he could have done it more than twice.

It's mentioned twice. He could have done it all the time. Whenever you see a Christian fall and you're initially shocked, I can't believe that. What would possess that person suddenly out of the blue to do that? It wasn't sudden. It wasn't out of the blue.

They fell in the very spot they were most vulnerable and weakest and unguarded and over time sewed into that area. We made a pact 30 years ago. It was the kindness that I asked her to do for me.

It's a pattern. And Abimelech took sheep and oxen and male and female servants and gave them to Abraham and he restored Sarah and his wife to him. And Abimelech said, see, my land is before you.

Dwell where it pleases you. Now you might say, well, this is kind of weird. Why would he bless him and reward him? Because God woke him up in the middle of the night and spoke audibly to him and said he's a prophet. So he understands not that he's impressed with Abraham. He's not impressed with Abraham. He's very impressed with Abraham's God.

And he knows that Abraham's God is connected to Abraham, so I'm going to bless him. You know, it's like, where does an 800-pound gorilla sit? Wherever he wants. Where's Abraham connected to this great God going to go? Wherever he wants. Take the land.

Go for it. And he leaves. So Abimelech said, see, my land is before you.

Dwell where it pleases you. Then to Sarah he said. Now watch what he says. Behold, I have given your husband.

No, he didn't say that, does he? Oh yeah, you want to call him your brother? I'll call him your brother, too. Because I'll tell you one thing, sweetheart, he sure didn't act like a husband to you. So he didn't even call him a husband, but a brother.

Yeah, I could see a brother doing that, but not a husband. So I've given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Indeed, this vindicates you before all who are with you and before everybody. Thus, she was rebuked. So Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, and they bore children. For the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Abraham could not preach to Abimelech. He couldn't. He couldn't give him a message. He couldn't say, no, Abimelech, do you know that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life?

Here's a four spiritual law booklet, Abimelech, let me just go through this with you really quick. He wouldn't have listened to him, right? He had ruined his testimony, yes. He couldn't preach to him. Abimelech wouldn't receive anything from him. But he could pray for him. All of us have somebody in our lives that we have hurt. Don't know what it was.

Maybe it was just some dumb sin we committed. You can't preach to them. You can't share anything with them. They won't receive it. They won't listen. If you call on the phone, they'll hang up. If you send them a letter, they'll send it back unopened.

They won't receive from you. But you can secretly pray for them. You can secretly pray for them. You say, why would I want to do that?

Two reasons. You'd want to do it, number one, because it'll free you from being bitter. They may be bitter at you, but you can be freed from bitterness by praying for them. If you put your enemies on a prayer list, you won't have a grudge against them.

I will guarantee that. If you pray for them, if you daily bring them before the Lord and ask God to bless them, you can't harbor a grudge. If it's an old colleague or an ex-spouse or some brother or sister who's erred against you and you pray for them, man, you're free.

You sleep well. You're asking God to bless them. Number two, you'll bless them. They'll be blessed. You go, I don't really want them blessed. Oh, yes, you do.

Yes, you do. Because here's what's going to happen. They're not receiving from you now, but you're praying for them and you're getting free of it and you're watching them get blessed. And they won't even know that you're the instrument of that blessing. They won't know the source of it until you get to heaven. And in heaven, it will be revealed and they'll be blown away. You mean you were the source of all of that blessing? You prayed for me?

Yeah. There will be such a wonderful reunion. It will be so grand and glorious.

So you can't preach to everyone, but you can pray for everyone and you'll be free and others will be blessed and eternity will tell those stories. So the story is a bad episode, but it ends with a good God proving the truth of Romans 8 28, that all things work together for good to those who love God, even though Abraham didn't show it and are called according to his purpose. Now, I got to say, it's time in my mind for a break. What I mean by that is the last several chapters have put frowns on our faces and grimaces on our on our mugs.

And, you know, it's been depressing. Chapter 18 is this discussion as God is planning to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and sends out a party to to survey the moral landscape. And and then Chapter 19 is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the incest with Lot and his family. And Chapter 20 is Abraham's relapse into a lack of faith. And you think, oh, my goodness, it's getting worse.

It's time for a little laughter, right? 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. We are in the right chapter. Chapter 21 introduces us to Yitzah, Isaac.

His name means laughter. It's a crack up because God takes two people that you'd never think could have a child and they have a child. And so the retirement home gets turned into a maternity ward, you might say. You see?

Time for a laugh. And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said. And the Lord did for Sarah as he had spoken.

I love that verse. Just like God said, exactly like he promised, it happened. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham his son in his old age at the set or the exact time of which God had spoken to him. 25 years before God gave him a promise. 25 years, right? Chapter 12, I'll make you a great nation.

He was 75. Chapter 13, Abraham, just as numerous as the dust is on the earth, so shall your descendants be. Chapter 15, Abi, go outside and look up. If you can count the stars, so shall your descendants be.

Chapter 17, the reaffirmation of the covenant. This time Sarah is brought into it. I'm going to have a son.

You're going to have a son through her own physical body. Then chapter 18, one hot summer day and nobody's budging doing anything, three visitors show up. And one of them is the Lord and he says, where's Sarah?

And he goes, I'll be back this time next year. She's going to have a baby. Now, just like God said, they had a baby. Did you notice something in all that? Did you notice that from the time God gave a promise till the time it was fulfilled was a long time? And you know what? I find that to be true.

And that's what bothers some of us. We read God's promises or we feel God has made a promise to us. And then there's a long period of waiting and waiting and waiting. And we go, God, what did I do wrong? What's the problem here? And then in God's own perfect time, just as he said, it comes.

Why? Why is there so often a lag between the promise and the fulfillment? Well, first of all, if that is the case, then when the fulfillment comes, it makes the fulfillment much more dramatic. Number two, and most obviously, that's how we walk by faith.

That's how you get your sea legs, man. You want to become a person of faith? Okay, here's a promise.

When can I expect this? Like, I claim it by faith right now in Jesus' name it's going to happen? It might be 25 years before you see it. You see, if I'm walking down a road and I can see where I'm going, I don't need faith, right? I don't need faith. I can see where I'm going. I can live by sight and not by faith. If I can't see where I'm going, if I'm launching out only on a promise and it's dark, that's where faith kicks in. And when that promise drags on and on and on, and now I'm 100 years old, and I'm thinking, what's the point of having a baby? I won't live till it's two. It's awesome. It's like a whole new childhood.

I know the delay. Years ago, there was a family in Scotland named the Clark family. Clark. And the Clark family was a large clan. And it was the father's dream to move his family to America, the golden land of opportunity. He saved and he saved and he worked and he saved. And finally, the day came when he was able to buy tickets and get passports.

He was so excited to bring he and his nine children to America and his wife. A week before they were set to set sail from Liverpool, one of the sons got bit by a dog. Doctors stitched up the wound but was afraid of rabies. And in those days, they quarantined families. The whole family was quarantined, the doctor said, for 14 days.

The Clark family would miss their golden opportunity to go to America. Oh, was that father angry, mad at his son, mad at God, wept. Until five days later, they heard the news that the ship that was leaving Liverpool, the Titanic, had sunk in the cold icy waters killing 2,300 passengers. He had waited so long and he was so angry. Then he heard the news and he was so thankful and he hugged his son and thanked his son and thanked the dog for biting his son and thanked God for his providence.

Because God's delays are not God's denials. At the exact perfect time, Isaac was born and Abraham called, the name of his son who was born to him whom Sarah bore to him, crack up. Laughter, Isaac, Yitzchach. Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old.

Why? We're told, as God had commanded him back in chapter 17. So you're going to have a son and just remember this, not going to be for a long time until you have one, but just remember when you do, eight days later, circumcise. So he did it. Now Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. Why does God, Moses through the Lord's Spirit who wrote this, keep bringing up his age? Just to show us.

This is impossible by human standards, that's why. It's like, oh, just in case you forgot, the couple here, he's 100, she's 90. And Sarah said, God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me. She also said, who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children, for I have borne him his son in his old age.

100 years old, she's 90, impossible by human standards. But answer the question, go back to the question that God asked in chapter 18. Sarah, is there anything too hard for the Lord?

Remember that? What if she thought about that as she held that little child? Is there anything too hard for the Lord? I guess not. Nothing.

What are you facing tonight? Is it impossible? Oh, yes, impossible. Well, Skip, you don't understand my circumstances.

You don't know what kind of payments I have. You don't know what the doctor said. I admit, impossible. But now, now bring God into the equation.

Is anything too hard for the Lord? That little baby rocking in that 90-year-old woman's arms. Wow. What a sight. And I love it. God, verse 6, God has made me laugh.

Can you say that? I don't think we laugh enough. I'm glad we do laugh around here. Some would have to say, God has made me serious.

I don't know about that. God has made me angry, but it's righteous anger. I love it. God made me laugh. Did you know, and Isaac Laughter brought that into their home, do you know that kids on an average day laugh 150 times? You know that adults maybe chuckle 15 times a day?

Wow. It's sort of sad, isn't it? Scientists tell us that laughter releases chemicals in the brain that are natural painkillers, that are mood elevators. It's good for us. God made me laugh. I hope he does with you.

I hope you bring, there's so much, just look around. Life is ironic enough. You've got to laugh. There's so much to be happy about and so much irony and humor. So the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.

Three years old, the child was weaned, typically in those days. It was a case for celebration, especially because, you know, think of Abraham, he's like, my child's leaving milk and he's going to solid food in a spiritual sense, and I am going to take it in that spiritual direction as we close tonight. Any parent who raises a child to be a Christian child is so stoked and like Abraham wants a celebration and party when he or she, mom or dad, sees a child not have to be dependent on being spoon-fed spiritually, that they take it on their own initiative to read the word, understand the word. It's like, wow, let's have a party.

This is awesome. Now we do need spiritual milk, but Peter said as newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk that you may grow thereby. However, there comes a time when because a Christian grows, they get off of the need to be spoon-fed, and they graduate to being able to on their own eat solid food.

So the writer of Hebrews says that milk belongs to those who are immature, but those who have solid food are those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. I look back to the questions that my son Nate used to ask me when he was just a little tot driving in the car with me, and they would often spurn great conversations or even turn into series. I did a series on walking with God because Nate said, what does that mean to walk with God? How can a human being walk with God? Because that's a phrase in the Bible.

And I thought, you know, that's a great question, and that deserves an honest study and exploration. But now I see what God is doing and has done in his life and the wisdom God has given him and his ability and what he'll say, I was studying the Word, and the Lord revealed this to me, and it's like, wow, celebration time, party time. And isn't it beautiful, parents, when you commit your child to the Lord and you trust God's promises, train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he won't depart from it, and then when they get older and you get old and you look at them and you go, it's true, it happened, it's joyful, celebration time.

So Isaac turns 3, that makes Ishmael about 17, and now a rivalry will break out that will take us to verse 9, and we'll finish this chapter quickly and get into chapter 22 next time so we got through part of it tonight. We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 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.