The God of the Second Chance - Genesis Part 48

Well, his name was Pete Rose, Charlie Hustle, the man who has more hits, 4,256, than any other person to ever play Major League Baseball. And yet, as you know, Pete Rose is not in the Hall of Fame today, and we all know why. Pete Rose bet on baseball.

He bet on baseball while he was an active player and while he was an active manager. That was 24 years ago, and at the time, then Commissioner Faye Vincent suspended him for life for Major League Baseball. Now, 24 years later, former President Bill Clinton recently said of Pete Rose, and I quote, I think just about everybody ought to get a second chance, and I'd like to see it worked out for him. He gave people a lot of joy, and he's paid a price. God knows he's paid a price, end of quote. But, I'm afraid there's no second chance that's going to happen for Pete Rose. Former Major League Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti said, and I quote, one of the game's greatest players engaged in a variety of acts which have stained the game, and he must now live with the consequences of those acts.

Giamatti went on to say, there is absolutely no deal for reinstatement, end of quote. You know, we live in a world where a lot of times, my friends, we don't get second chances. And that's a problem.

It's a problem because all of us make a lot of second mistakes, and a lot of third mistakes, and a lot of fourth mistakes. And that's one of the great things about being a follower of Christ. It's one of the great pieces of news in the Bible, namely that God loves to give second chances to his adopted children in Christ. And this is what we're going to talk about today as we continue in our verse-by-verse study of the book of Genesis. So, are you ready? You need a word of hope and encouragement?

Only you couple people? You need a word of hope and encouragement? I got it for you today from the Word of God.

So, just before we dig in, let's do a tiny bit of review. We're going to be in Genesis chapter 20, but in Genesis chapter 18, we learn that Abraham was living at the time in the little city of Hebron just south of Jerusalem. And while he was there in Genesis 18, the Lord Jesus and two angels in human form visited him, and that's where the Lord announced to him that Sarah was going to have a child, a son, within the next 12 months. Then in Genesis 19, the Lord sends these two angels on ahead to Sodom and Gomorrah where they rescue Lot and his family, and they destroy the city.

So, that's where we've been. Let's pick up now in Genesis chapter 20, verse 1. Now Abraham moved on from Hebron to the south, to the Negev, and for a while he stayed in Gerar. And there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, She is my sister. Then Abimelech, the king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.

You say, Wait a minute, Lon. Didn't Abraham do this already once before? Yeah, he did.

Yeah, he did. 25 years earlier in Genesis chapter 12, when Abraham and Sarah entered Egypt, he did the very same thing. And God had to personally step in and protect Sarah from being sexually defiled by Pharaoh. The point is, here in Genesis 20, we find Abraham repeating the very same mistake he made previously.

You say, Well, Lon, why in the world would Abraham, I mean a godly man, why would he do this? Why would he go back and repeat the very same mistake again? Well, as followers of Christ today, why do you and I go back and do the same dumb things that we do time after time? Like starting a diet and swearing that we will never touch another potato chip again.

And then we pull the bag out and sit in front of the television and eat the whole stinking bag at one time. You know, why do we swear that we'll never drink alcohol again and then the next day stop by Total Wine on the way home from work? Why do we promise ourselves that we'll never have sex with anybody again until we get married and then we do it? Why do we swear that we'll never look at porn again and we'll never lose our temper again and we'll never look lustfully at a woman again and we'll never gossip again? And then we do it.

Well, friend, the answer is very simple. It's because like Abraham, we're sinners. It's because like Abraham, we're weak. And it's because like Abraham, all of us have besetting sins. Now, you all know what a besetting... If you're a Baptist, you know what a besetting sin is. But if you're not Baptist, you may never have heard this term, so let me tell you what it means.

A besetting sin is a sin that we are especially prone to repeat as sin that besets us. You understand? You ever got it? Okay, you're all Baptist now. We just made you all Baptist, all right?

Everybody good with that? All right, now, here we go. But here's an interesting question, my friends. The question is why would God record this second mistake of Abraham in the Bible? It's just like the first mistake, so wouldn't you think just putting one mistake in was enough?

Why write in the second mistake? I think that's a good question, don't you? Yeah, and there's an answer. I mean, everything that God records in the Bible has a reason. And so why did God put this in the Bible? Well, the answer is right in Romans 15, verse 4. Everything that was written in the Old Testament, the Bible says, was written for our instruction, that through the encouragement of the Scripture, we might have hope. In other words, there is something that happens here in Genesis chapter 20 that is meant by God to give you and me as followers of Christ today hope and is meant to give us encouragement. I need that.

You need that, right? Let's look and see what happens in this chapter to give us hope. Verse 3, But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman. Now, Abimelech had not gone near her. So he said, Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he, Abraham, not say to me, She's my sister?

And didn't she, Sarah, also say, He is my brother? I have done this with a clean conscience and clean hands. Then God said to him in the dream, Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience. And so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live.

But if you do not return her, you can be sure that you and all of yours will die. Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said, What have you done? How did I wrong you that you have brought such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me, Abraham, that ought not be done.

Why did you do this? And Abraham replied, Well, when I moved down here to Gerar, I said to myself, Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. You know, they are going to want my wife, and so they will kill me to get her. You say, Lon, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Isn't Sarah ninety years old here? Yeah, she is. You say, Well, now, Lon, look, no, I don't mean any offense at all, but hey, I know what you're thinking, and I'm thinking the same thing. I mean, at ninety years old, somebody killed to get her? All I can say is this must have been one drop-dead gorgeous woman, huh?

Yeah, but that's okay. I figure when Brenda is ninety, people will still kill me to get her. So, Brenda, are you listening?

Are you out there, girl? You say, Lon, you know what, if you were smart, you would move on right here. Oh, I think you're right. Okay, so verse 12. Besides, Abraham says, She really is my sister, the daughter of my father, though not of my mother. This is new information.

We never knew this before. And she became my wife, and when God had me leave my father's house in Genesis 12, I said to her, This is how you can show your love for me, Sarah. Everywhere we go, say of me, He's my brother. Then Abimelech brought sheep and camels and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. To Sarah he said, I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver, that's a fortune, to cover my offense against you. Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls, so that they could have children.

For the Lord had closed up every womb in Abimelech's household because of Abraham's wife, Sarah. Now, that's as far as we're going to go in the passage, because we're going to stop now and we're going to ask our most important question of the morning. So, all of you guys at Loudoun, and all of you guys at Prince William, and everybody at Bethesda, down in the edge, around the world, on the internet campus, here at Tysons, are we ready? Okay, this is a holiday weekend, so what? Right? Yeah, so it's got to be a good one, right?

Alright, here we go now, come on everybody, one, two, three, Go Black! Yeah, that's good. You said, Lon, I appreciate the chapter, but you know, you said when we got into this, there was hope in this chapter for us. You said when we got into this, there was encouragement for our Christian walk in here.

I'm sorry, I don't see any of that. Well, that's because I haven't had a chance to finish explaining it to you yet. So, listen up, what is Genesis 20 all about? It's all about God giving Abraham a second chance. A second chance that Abraham did not deserve. A second chance that God could have easily refused to have given him, considering that Abraham had gone back and repeated the exact same stupid sin that God had already rescued him from once. But did you catch something interesting that Abraham said to Abimelech? Look at verse 12, Abraham said, besides, she really is my sister, and she became my wife, and when God had me leave my father's house, Genesis 12, I said to her, this is how you can show your love for me. Everywhere we go, say of me, he is my brother. Now, does this strike you as interesting?

Because it does me. I mean, here we have Abraham. He's just getting ready to leave their homeland. They haven't even run into anybody yet that's threatened to kill him because of his wife.

The situation hasn't even presented itself yet. And Abraham is already asking Sarah to do this and already making this arrangement with her before they are ever even in the situation where it might come up. Does that strike you as interesting?

Because it does me. And it tells us, I believe, something very important about Abraham. You know, Abraham was a guy who trusted God impressively. I mean, he left his land not knowing where he was going. He wandered around in the land of Canaan with only God to protect him. He trusted God to give him a supernatural son, Isaac, and then he took that son and was going to sacrifice that son to the Lord if God hadn't stepped in. I mean, this was a man who knew how to walk by faith and knew how to trust God. But there seems to have been an area of Abraham's life, namely this fear that he had that somebody was going to kill him and take Sarah away. This seems to have been a fear that was a besetting weakness in his life, a besetting sin in his life.

He was already making plans and running in fear over it before it ever even happened. Do you see what I'm saying? Now please don't misunderstand me. Abraham, what he did was wrong. Lying about Sarah was wrong and it was sin. And trying to convince Sarah, pressuring her to lie, was also wrong and sin. But in spite of this, like a parent who compassionately understands that each of their child's unique weaknesses, God responded to Abraham's unique weakness with mercy and long suffering and a second chance. You say, well, Lon, this is great. What a wonderful message.

Thank you. Because what I understand you're saying is that as a follower of Christ I can live any sloppy way I want. I can spiritually make the same mistakes over and over and over again.

And because these are my besetting sins, God will constantly keep giving me second chances and keep rescuing me from the trouble I get in. Right? Wrong. That is so wrong.

That is wrong, wrong, wrong. That is not what I'm saying and that is not what the Bible is saying. God is not the God of the second chance to everybody in the world, folks.

I mean, think about it. He was not the God of the second chance to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He was not the God of the second chance to Cain who killed his brother Abel. He was not the God of the second chance to Haman. He was not the God of the second chance to Achan who stole from Jericho in Joshua chapter 7. He was not the God of the second chance to Dathan and Abiram who challenged Moses and the earth opened up in the book of Numbers chapter 16 and swallowed up Dathan and Abiram. He was not the God of the second chance to King Saul or to Jezebel or to the Israelites when they refused to enter the promised land the first time. He was not the God of the second chance to Ananias and Sapphira, Acts chapter 5, when they lied to the Holy Spirit and dropped dead on the spot.

But you know what? He was the God of the second chance to Abraham and he was the God of the second chance for David and he was the God of the second chance for Joshua and for Caleb. He was the God of the second chance for Jonah. He was the God of the second chance for Aaron, the brother of Moses. You remember after he built the golden calf. He was the God of the second chance for Elijah after Elijah ran away in fear from Jezebel. He was the God of the second chance for Jacob after Jacob cheated his brother and he was the God of the second chance for Peter after Peter denied the Lord three times. So you say, Lon, I'm confused. I'm confused. I mean, why does God give second chances to some people and then He doesn't give them to other people?

Ooh, ooh. Now there is a really important question because if we're smart, we want to know how to get into the category of people God gives second chances to, right? And not be in the category that He doesn't. Don't you want to be in the group that God gives second chances to? Yeah.

If you don't, you're stupid. I mean, no offense. I mean, you're insane if you don't want to be in that group. I want to be in that group. So the question is, what was the difference? What distinguished the people He gave the second chances to from the ones He didn't?

How do I get into that group? Oh, we're going to answer that and then we're done. But this is great. We got to know this. There were two conditions that Abraham met that enabled God in His holiness to be the God of the second chance for Abraham when he messed up again. And these are the same two conditions that you and I have to meet as followers of Christ today if we want God to be the God of the second chance for us when we mess up over and over again.

Let me tell you what they are and we're done. Condition number one is that we have to be a child of God. Remember what we said earlier, that God loves to give second chances to His adopted children in Christ. You say, yeah, I heard you say that, but I wasn't 100% sure what that meant. Well, you know how everywhere we go, we hear people say, oh, we are all children of God. Folks, that's not true.

That's not true at all. The Bible doesn't say that at all. In fact, the Bible says that being God's child is a privilege reserved exclusively for people who place their personal faith in Jesus Christ. It's then and only then that we enter into a family relationship with God where He becomes our Heavenly Father and we become His children. Look at the scripture, John 1 verse 12, to every person who believes in Jesus Christ, to them. And I might add, to only them God grants the right to become, what's the next three words? Children of God, right. Galatians chapter 3 verse 26, writing to the believers in Galatia. Paul said, for you are all, what's the next three words? Children of God.

Now, notice how through faith in Jesus Christ, that's the entry door. And this is an adoption. This is an adoption that the Lord Jesus carries out. He adopts us into His family to believers in Ephesus, Ephesians 1, 5. The Bible says God predestined us to be adopted as His children through Jesus Christ. To the believers in Galatia, Galatians 4, 4. Paul wrote and said, when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, to redeem us so that we might be adopted as His children. And to the believers in Rome, Romans chapter 8 verse 15, the Bible says, So then, you have not received a spirit of slavery, but the spirit of adoption. And now, as God's what?

What's the next word? As God's children, we cry out to God, Abba, which in Hebrew simply means Father. The point is that everybody in the world is not a child of God.

In fact, the exact opposite is true. Ephesians 2, 1 says that everybody comes into this world spiritually dead to God. Alienated from God.

Separated from God. And to become God's child, we must be adopted into His family through our faith in Jesus Christ. This is condition number one. In order for God to treat us like He did Abraham, to be merciful with our mistakes, to dust our trail when we've done stupid things, to give us second chances when we don't deserve them. Condition number one is that we have to be His adopted child through faith in Jesus Christ. Those are the people He gives second chances to.

But there's a second condition. And that is as God's children in Christ, we have to be serious about pleasing and obeying God. Hey, the Bible is clear. Abraham tried hard to obey God in every area of his life.

The Bible is clear. Abraham tried hard to please God in all things. And so did all these other people we mentioned that God gave second chances to. Peter and Elijah and Aaron and Caleb and Joshua and David.

Now listen, these folks didn't always get it right, but these folks always tried to get it right. These folks were utterly surrendered to the Lordship of Christ over every part of their life. And this is what allowed God to be the God of the second chance for them whenever they fell short. Listen to Psalm 103 verse 11.

As for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is God's mercy to everybody in the world. No. To all Americans. No. To those who fear Him. To those who want to and try to obey and please Him.

So let's summarize and say that the lesson of Genesis 20, my friends, is not that God is giving us as believers carte blanche to sin and to live sloppy Christian lives and He's promising us unlimited amnesty. No. That is no.

That is not the point at all. And God is not saying that. The lesson of Genesis 20 is that when a person is truly born again, when they're truly an adopted child of God, condition No.

1, and when that person is actively seeking to please and obey God in all that they do, condition No. 2, and when that person stumbles or when that person falls due to fear or stupidity or just plain human weakness, the message of Genesis 20 is that even if we do it again and again, if we will turn to the Lord in humility and in godly sorrow and in humble contrition, we will always find Him to be the God of the second chance for us just like He was for Abraham. And this is what David said, Psalm 37. He said the steps of a righteous man, righteous that is because of his relationship with Christ, are ordered by the Lord and the Lord delights in this man's way. Watch now. Even when this man stumbles like we all do, he shall not fall down and be broken.

Why? For the Lord is the one who holds him by the hand. You know, the word picture here I think is just magnificent. It's the word picture of a little toddler walking down the street with their daddy or their mommy holding their hand. And you know what happens. They're walking down the street together and suddenly the toddler catches the front of their foot on the asphalt or trips over something and they start straight down, face first down. I mean into the asphalt. It is a disaster about to happen. They're going to have abrasions, they're going to have contusions, they're going to have bruised knees, they're going to have bleeding elbows, they're going to have this big old ugly scab on their nose, and they're going to have a huge old knot on their head. You know what I'm talking about.

And you're going to have to take them home and wash all these things out and get all the asphalt out and put Neosporin all over it. But it doesn't happen. Why? Because their daddy has their hand and he doesn't let it happen. Yeah, is that toddler out of control? Out of control. Is that toddler completely lost his balance and headed for disaster?

Yeah, face first. It doesn't happen because their parent has their hand and breaks that fall. This is the picture David's telling us here, that that's how you and I are as followers of Christ who are under the Lordship of Christ when we walk through life. We do dumb, stupid, amazingly ridiculous things and we're headed for the asphalt. And we even know we're headed for the asphalt. And then it doesn't happen.

The consequences that we were bringing on ourselves by our own stupidity, they just don't happen because the Lord steps in and shows us mercy. Now friends, if that doesn't encourage you, I don't know what in the world will. Amen? I mean that's the best news I ever heard because I need a God like this.

You know? I mean I try hard to get it right and do what's right before the Lord but I'm always messing up. Always messing up. In fact, usually it's my mouth. My dad once said to me, if somebody were to sew your mouth shut, 90% of your problems would be over. And 40 years later, he's still right.

That's the tragic part of this whole thing. You know, I do try hard and yet every time I turn around, I've messed up and I'm in trouble and I've opened up consequences that could come on me that could just be an absolute mess. But you know, for 42 years of walking with Jesus, I've turned to the Lord at those times and said, Lord, I'm so sorry. I can't believe I've done it again, Lord, but I'm just asking You, please step in here. Rescue me from myself, Lord. Rescue me from what I've done. Don't let those awful consequences that I'm about to bring on myself, don't let them happen to me, Lord. I mean, I feel like my life prayer is O God of the second chance. Well, here I am again.

That's what I feel like. And I can't tell you how many times, hundreds, thousands, God has stepped in and done that for me. Friends, if you are here today and you're an adopted child of God and you're serious about pleasing and obeying God in your life, then when you stumble, listen to the promise of Psalm 37.

You shall not fall down and be broken either. God will be the God of the second chance for you, just like He was for Abraham and all these other people we read about. And so there is hope in this chapter. There is encouragement in this chapter. I was working on this chapter this week and I kicked back from my desk and just sat back in the chair and just looked up at the Lord and said, Oh my gosh, Lord, wow, I am so glad this is the kind of God You are because I make second, third, fourth, fifth, twentieth, eightieth mistakes. And I need a God who gives second, third, fourth, twentieth, and eightieth chances. And how great is it to know we've got that kind of God. Amen? Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, you know how frail and weak we are and you know how stupid and dumb the things are that we can do sometimes. I mean, things that you must shake your head in heaven and go, I cannot believe this.

I can't believe she did this again or He did this again. But Lord, just like a merciful parent who is especially sensitive to a child in areas where they struggle and is incredibly long suffering with that child, we thank You for being that way with us. Lord, help this not be confused. What I'm saying today is license to sin. It isn't. Help what we're saying today not be confused as permission to be sloppy and disobedient spiritually.

It isn't. But Lord Jesus, help it to be an encouragement to our soul that when we do make a mistake, trying hard not to, but when we do, that we have the God of the second chance just like Abraham had. So lift our hearts and put a spring in our step and encourage our lives with the love and the mercy of our wonderful Heavenly Father. Thank You for being this way for us, Lord. We need it. And we thank You for it in Jesus' name. And what did God's people say? Amen. Amen.