Today we continue in the life of Abraham. We see that he struggled with the same sins that plagued him earlier in his life. The blessing of an heir finally arrives. Take a look…
Genesis 20: Abraham and Abimelech
1 From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar.
2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife."
4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, "Lord, will you kill an innocent people?
5 Did he not himself say to me, 'She is my sister'? And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this."
6 Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.
7 Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours."
8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid.
9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done."
10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What did you see, that you did this thing?"
11 Abraham said, "I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.
12 Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
13 And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, 'This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.'"
14 Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him.
15 And Abimelech said, "Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you."
16 To Sarah he said, "Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated."
17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.
18 For the LORD had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
Genesis 21: The Birth of Isaac
1 The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised.
2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.
3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.
4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me."
7 And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
God Protects Hagar and Ishmael
8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.
10 So she said to Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac."
11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son.
12 But God said to Abraham, "Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring."
14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes.
16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, "Let me not look on the death of the child." And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.
17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation."
19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow.
21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
A Treaty with Abimelech
22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, "God is with you in all that you do.
23 Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned."
24 And Abraham said, "I will swear."
25 When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized,
26 Abimelech said, "I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today."
27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.
28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart.
29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?"
30 He said, "These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well."
31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath.
32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.
34 And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.
Things to think about…
1. I find Abraham’s offering up of his wife Sarah to other men incredible, Gen 20:2-7. It reminds us of Lot offering up his virgin daughters to be raped and likely killed by the mob in Sodom and the incredulous lack of dignity and respect women had in this period of history. But what is even more incredible is that every time Abraham sins in this way he is blessed and given livestock, gold and silver. Abraham received amazing grace. Note that Abimelech is visited by God in a dream. Many Arabs today have visions and dreams from God about Jesus and are coming to faith- praise God. Abraham had offered his wife Sarah more than once. He had made it a condition of marriage to her. What an awful agreement to make with your wife! Praise God even our sin does not separate us from the love of God in Christ.
2. Sarah at this time was almost ninety and yet she clearly still looked good. Other men still noticed her and she was still regarded as a beautiful woman. Beauty can still be associated with age. May the Lord make all our women radiate with the beauty and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Isaac, ‘laughter’ is born –Gen 21:1-7. A miracle of biological grace in every sense. In the same way spiritual children in Christ can ultimately only come from Him. When someone gets converted it is a miracle of no less proportion than Sarah giving birth as a ninety year old woman. Let’s pray that we see many children in Christ be born in our generation.
4. Ishmael laughed or ‘Isaaced’ at Isaac at his weaning ceremony, Gen 21:9. This however was a mocking laugh, not a laugh of joy. Sarah had had enough at this point and sends Hagar away. Look at the pain caused in families when we take matters into our own hands, Gen 21:11. Blended families these days are common and can be a source of a great deal of pain, anger and mistrust in our society. Christ makes them work and brings peace. The church is called to be a place of healing, grace and reconciliation. Pray that our church would be a light and a place of healing where families have experienced divorce and relational strain.
5. Abraham made a covenant with Abimelech – the chief of those who were Philistines in the land. Look at the covenant in Gen 21:3. Think of the struggles that are still in the land of Israel today. What do you think the Lord makes of this covenant? Remember He holds people accountable to their covenants as we see a number of times in the scriptures. How should we honour Christ as Abraham did in the land of the Philistines, Gen 21:31-34. Remember this very land where the covenant was made was promised to Abraham? Beersheba, where the covenant was made, is part of Israel today and Australia played a significant part just over 100 years ago in reclaiming it from the Turkish insurgents from Gaza. Celebrations happened in October 2017 as Australians went over and rode horses from Gaza to Beersheba to celebrate the victory of the Australian light horse. This victory was foundational in establishing the state of Israel that happened in May 1948.
Vision Point
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Questions for Cell groups
Sunday’s sermon, “The legacy of Abraham” came from Gen 12 by Doug Horne.
1. In your own words what legacy do you think Abraham has left on the earth? Discuss the significance and challenges within each faith group of Jewish, Muslim and Christian believers and the challenges associated with how they relate to each other.
2. Abraham’s legacy was represented through the request to sacrifice his only son Isaac. This is represented through God offering up Christ as our sacrifice. When the Lord said that Abraham’s children would be greater in number than the stars, was he referring to nations or believers in Christ? Discuss.
3. Doug spoke about the legacy that we leave and gave a heartfelt testimony of his father, who is about to enter glory and how he is leaving a legacy marked with grace and the gospel of Jesus. What legacy are you leaving, or what legacy would you like to leave?
3. Pray for your cell group and prayer/praise points. Pray for our “Blessing Beirut” appeal as we endeavour to help these ‘sons of Abraham’.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for Lebanon and the people of Beirut with this accidental blast from the storage of ammonium nitrate. 150 confirmed dead. 5000 wounded, 300, 000 left homeless. $10 - $15 billion to rebuild.
2. Pray for those who heard the gospel on Sunday. Pray for Christ to grant them salvation.
3. Pray for Victoria they are in stage 4 lockdown. Curfews and very strict travel restrictions in place for 4 weeks.
4. Pray for our church services now meeting together and our streaming that both can continue to be done well every Sunday.
5. Continue to pray for our government for wisdom and economic management.
6. Sunday’s messages and for Kids church. The message this week – “God blessed anyway” Gen 27 – Ps Jay.
7. Church finances to meet our expenses and to put a roof over our café.
8. Our City and Country – Pray for revival over our city and the leadership of our country even through these challenging times.
Praise Points.
1. New visitors. Please pray that they receive Christ as their Saviour. Pray they keep coming back to CBC.
2. Wonderful spirit of joy in our church. Thankyou Jesus.
3. Finances being maintained and donation to Café roof. Thankyou!
1. We have established a “Blessing Beirut” fund. Pray we can find a gospel centered ministry to bless the people of Beirut as they rebuild.
2. One service at 9:30am Every Sunday morning. This service will also be live streamed. No kisses, hand-shakes or hugs are allowed. Hand sanitizer is to be used, tables will be wiped and chairs arranged for appropriate distancing. Families can of course sit together. CBC is allowed up to 50 people inside, then we will have an overflow in the house and Kids church will be in the crèche in the cafe.
3. Cell groups – Ask for details as to how and what is required.
4. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
5. Kids Church will be run in the house when the message starts.
Q. 15. What do we pray for in the fifth petition? A. That God would pardon our sins for Christ's sake, and enable us to forgive those who have wronged us.
