Abraham - Faith Tested - Part 2

Every time you and I scheme and plot and plan and try to figure out the solutions to our own problems, every time we run back into the old life because we don’t think God can take care of us, we lose the opportunity of witnessing to a watching world.

And now we pray together. Gracious Father, as always, we must come to You for everything that we need; without You we can do nothing. And we're glad, Lord, that we recognize this fact. We're glad we know our weakness and our ignorance. We're glad, Father, that we have learned, not only from Your Word but from experience, that we cannot accomplish Your will without Your power. Help us now as we study the Word of God; and where it convicts, may we be honest; where it encourages, may we be grateful; and where it admonishes, help us to be obedient. I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

A faith that can't be tested can't be trusted. Don't ever forget that statement. A faith that can't be tested can't be trusted. God called Abraham to walk by faith. Faith brought him out—that’s Genesis 12:1-4—and faith brought him in—Genesis 12:5-9. And now in verse 10, we'll discover that faith can bring him back. You see, Abraham’s faith was tested and Abraham failed the test. Let's not be too hard on him. To begin with, this was at the early stage in his life of faith. And furthermore, you and I have failed many times as well. Let's not be too hard on this great man of God. God does test our faith. 

Abraham is in the promised land; God brought him there. His faith brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees and from Haran, and then his faith brought him in, and now his faith has to bring him back because Abraham strayed from the Lord. Genesis 12:10: "Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land." This, of course, was a lapse of faith. God is testing Abraham's faith. He tests him through circumstances in Genesis 12, through people in Genesis 13, and through things—the spoil of war—in Genesis 14. You and I have to have our faith tested, otherwise our faith cannot increase and grow. A faith that can't be tested can't be trusted. 

Alas, there are many people who claim to be born again, they've never really been saved; when the test comes, they fail. Now even Christians fail the test. Here's Abraham at the beginning of his walk of faith and he fails. He goes down to Egypt. Why? Well, because of unbelief. He was not trusting the Lord. It's interesting to note that God did not intervene. You'd think that God would have intervened and stopped him. Years later, recorded in Genesis 26, Isaac started down to Egypt and God stopped him. But God didn't stop Abraham. God said, "Abraham, if you want to make that decision and go, go right ahead, but you'll have to suffer the consequences." God in His grace forgives our sins. God in His government says you're going to reap what you sow. A Christian can, as he pleases, decide to make certain steps. He may be stepping out of the will of God. God doesn't always intervene. If God intervened every time you and I were about to do something wrong, we'd never grow, we'd never learn, we'd never know what it is to be spanked by God, we'd never know the meaning of His loving chastening, and life would become very careless for us. 

Now let’s see what happens. The reason for his experience of failure was unbelief. He was walking by sight, not by faith. He was living by scheming, not by obeying. Let's notice what happens. "It came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife: 'Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, "This is his wife"; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.'" You see, the Pharaoh would want to add as many beautiful women as possible to his harem, and there were cases where they would kill people just to get the wife. And that's what they would do to Abraham. "Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you."

It’s interesting to note that they had decided on this policy when they had first begun to follow the Lord. Genesis 20:13: "And it came to pass," says Abraham, "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, wherever we go, say of me, "He is my brother."'" So they got into trouble because they were dragging into their new life something from their old life. They hadn’t buried it. They were living by scheming and not by trusting. And, of course, Abraham was thinking about himself; he wasn’t really thinking about the glory of the Lord.

Now Genesis 12:14: "So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh." Of course, they wanted to get in good with their ruler, and pointing out a beautiful woman was one way to do it. "And the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house." She was added to his harem. "He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels. But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife." You see, what was at stake here was the plan of redemption. It wasn't so much what Abraham wanted to do as what God wanted to do. And God protected Sarah because God was going to use Sarah's body to bring Isaac into the world. Isaac would then beget Jacob, Jacob the twelve sons of Israel, and the twelve tribes of Israel would give us the nation of Israel, and the nation of Israel would give us the Bible and the Savior. You can see what was at stake here.

"And Pharaoh called Abram and said, 'What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, "She is my sister"? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.' So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had." Then Abram went up from Egypt. Notice in Genesis 12:10, he went down to Egypt. Whenever you get out of the will of God, you go down. Jonah went down, down, down, and Abraham went down. But now he's going to go up.

"Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord."

Now we've seen the reason for his failure: unbelief. Let's look at the results of his failure. What did he lose because he started walking by sight and scheming instead of walking by faith and obeying? Number one, he lost his tent. You don’t read anything about the tent in Genesis 12:10-20. Abraham did not have his tent in Egypt. He was no longer a pilgrim; he was now under the care of Pharaoh. Pharaoh was giving him sheep and oxen and donkeys and money. He lost his tent; he ceased to be a pilgrim. Now in Canaan land where there was a famine, he lived in a tent and he was a pilgrim, and he trusted God to guide him and he trusted God to provide for him. But alas, when you go back into the world, you lose that pilgrim status. You cease to be a pilgrim and a stranger. Remember that Abraham as a pilgrim was heading home; as a stranger, he was away from home. But he had no right to be in Egypt. He was a saint in the wrong place. He made the decision and he had to suffer the loss of his tent.

Secondly, we don't read about his altar; he lost his altar. We don't read that Abraham was worshipping God there in Egypt. In fact, he was doing everything he could to protect himself and his wife. When you lose your tent and your altar, you are then out of fellowship with God. He was no longer the pilgrim, he was no longer the worshipper.

Notice thirdly, he lost God's voice. We don't read that the Word of the Lord came to him, that God appeared to him, that God said anything to him. That's one of the tragedies of being a backslidden Christian, a carnal Christian—you don't hear from heaven. You don't have that voice of God coming to you from the Word of God. 

Fourthly, he lost his witness. Now he lost his witness to the Canaanites; they were watching him. And I imagine they were saying among themselves, "Well, this Abraham worships a different God from us. There's a famine in the land; let's see what his God can do. If his God can take care of him, perhaps that is the God we should trust." But Abraham didn't give them an opportunity to see what God could do. Every time you and I scheme and plot and plan and try to figure out the solutions to our own problems, every time we run back into the old life because we don’t think God can take care of us, we lose the opportunity of witnessing to a watching world.

Well, when you and I are having a rough time, we're tempted to go back to the world, aren't we? You see, Abraham not only is walking by sight, not by faith, but he's living by scheming, not by trusting. He and his wife had this arrangement—Genesis 20:13—when they left Ur of the Chaldees and began to travel. Genesis 20:13: "This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, say of me, 'He is my brother.'" They got into trouble because they were dragging into their new life something from their old life. They hadn't buried it. They were living by scheming and not by trusting.

And, of course, Abraham was thinking about himself; he wasn't really thinking about the glory of the Lord. The Canaanites were watching Abraham, but he lost his witness to them. He had no witness in Egypt. In Egypt, he was known as a liar. Oh, it's true, Sarah was his sister, his half-sister, but that was really a half-truth, and a half-truth is worse than a whole lie. Yes, Abraham technically was telling the truth, but practically he wasn't. And so in Egypt, he had no witness.

You know, we have the idea that when we live like the world and talk like the world and sing like the world, we can reach the world. No, they don't respect us; they know that we are masquerading. He lost his witness. He lost his peace. He's afraid; he's afraid he's going to be killed. Genesis 12:12: "They will say" is now replacing Genesis 12:1-3: "I will." God says, "I will," and Abraham says, "They will." He's afraid. He lost his peace. 

And he lost his blessing. He wasn't a blessing to Egypt; he was a curse. God plagued Pharaoh and his house because of what had happened. God had said to Abraham, "You shall be a blessing," but instead, he was not a blessing; he was a curse. And instead of bringing blessing, he brought trouble. Well, he lost his godly influence, he lost his witness, he lost his tent, his altar, he lost the voice of God, he lost the peace of God in his heart—that's quite a price to pay for one step of unbelief. 

Somebody says, "But look at what he gained: he became wealthy." Well, that wealth causes him trouble in Genesis 13. He picked up Hagar, one of the gifts in Egypt, and Hagar is going to cause trouble in Genesis 16. Isaac repeated the same sin in Genesis 26; he lied about his wife. There's something about fathers sinning that brings some problem to the children. He almost lost Sarah. No, he didn't gain anything in Egypt. 

But praise God, he was restored. The reason for his step of disobedience: unbelief. The results: he lost. Now the remedy: he went back where he had left the Lord. "Then Abram went up from Egypt," says Genesis 13:1. He and his wife and Lot, and he goes back to where the tent was, he goes back to where the altar was. Notice it says in verse 3: "where he had been at the beginning," verse 4: "which he had made there at first." The only way to be restored is to go back where you left the Lord.

Now no defeat has to be permanent. Some people have the idea that when a Christian sins, that's permanent, there's nothing you can do about it. Listen, would you please, to Revelation 2:5: "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works." Now that's God's word to us. He had to repent. He said, "God, I'm going to change my mind. I was wrong. You were right, I was wrong. I'm sorry that I doubted You, I'm sorry I disobeyed You, I've paid for it, but I'm going to start all over again." 

If ever you fall into sin, or you walk into sin deliberately, notice what it says in Psalm 37:23-24. I want you to mark them in your Bible. Psalm 37:23-24: "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way." That is, God delights when we obey Him. "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand." And the Lord did that for Abraham; He got Abraham out of Egypt. That's His promise to us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

Remember what it says in 2 Timothy 2:12-13: "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself." Now God had made a covenant with Abraham, and then God was not going to back out on His promises. No defeat needs to be permanent. "The victorious Christian life," said Alexander Whyte, "is a series of new beginnings." And that's what Abraham does. He went back to where he'd been at the beginning.

For us, that may mean restitution, apology. We may have to go back to the place where we sinned and say, "Dear Lord, I have sinned, and I'm sorry and I confess it and I repent, and I will do whatever You want me to do now to make restitution and reparation for what I have done." He became a pilgrim again; he moved into his tent. He became a worshipper again; he went back to the altar and he called on the name of the Lord. He went to Bethel, which means the house of God, and there he worshipped the Lord. 

Now I have a word of encouragement for you. Even though we disobey, even though we get into trouble, even though we come to the point where we lose our testimony for the Lord, we can begin again. You and I can go back to Bethel, back to the tent, and back to the altar, and we can begin to walk again with the Lord.

Well, the invitation that this Scripture gives to me is first of all, walk by faith. Don't be worrying about circumstances. If there is a famine in the land, God can take care of you. "I have been young, and now am old," said David, "I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Don't make your decisions on the basis of circumstances; seek the mind of the Lord. Because Abraham began to walk by sight and not by faith, he began scheming instead of praying and obeying; he got himself into trouble. Secondly, if we do disobey God, He'll chasten us. He loves us, He'll deal with us. Oh, the losses that we incur when we cease to follow the Lord. But thirdly, God can restore us. He invites us to come back to Bethel, to come back to the altar, come back to the tent, to call upon Him, and He promises that He will forgive and He will restore.

[Interview]

Now, let's join Back to the Bible CEO Arnie Cole in the studio with Warren Wiersbe.

So Warren, how do we focus on God's promises and not get hung up on explanations?

That's a problem. It's hard. There are times when I've got to take what I call—I don't know if this is a good word or not—I call it a blessing break. You know, people have coffee breaks and tea breaks and whatever else. I find I have to have blessing breaks. Sometimes I'm standing in the line at the grocery store, waiting to be served, and I just pause and try to have a blessing break, which means lay hold of some attribute of God, lay hold of some promise of God, and just let it run through your system. And if we do that, we're not likely to be afraid, we're not likely to want to run away. When we meditate on the Word—"Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee"—when we lay hold of the Word and the wonderful attributes of God, it calms us down. When I find myself in a hurry and rushing about, I know I'm heading for trouble, and so I've got to go and have a blessing break. Now, that's hard to do in a busy life, and then the Lord says to me, "Well, you're too busy. It's about time you dropped some things." 

I just thank God for every test He's put me through. One night I was driving home, a driver came around the curve on a highway going about eighty miles an hour and he was drunk, and he slammed right into my car. When they got me to the hospital—and I could tell a long story about how that happened—the chaplain of the hospital told my wife I wouldn't last out the night. A very encouraging guy. Wow. But I did last the night and I'm still here now because God in His marvelous, marvelous grace took me through the test. It was a hard test, a very hard test. Now we look back and say, "Praise the Lord, I wouldn't have missed it."