Abram: His Faithless Visit to Egypt

Minister:
Date: PM
Text: Genesis 12:10-20
Psalters: 263, 88, 147, 301
  1. Abram’s faithless move.
    1. God told Abram that Canaan was the land He would give to him and his seed (7). There he sojourned, moving frequently (9).
    2. Then a severe famine hit the land (10).
    3. To leave Canaan, to which God had led him and commanded (1) was an activity not done by faith.
      1. Abram had been told to go to Canaan, now he leaves it and go to Egypt without God’s command and without asking God.
      2. Faith declares that God will care for him - simply trust; but his failure to exercise faith made him spiritually weak.
  2. Abram thinks he has to lie about Sarai; sin leads to sin.
    1. Though over 65 years old, Sarai retained her physical beauty; she was “a fair woman to look upon” (11).
    2. He and Sarai had agreed to tell a half-truth in order to convey a whole lie: she was his half-sister (20:12,13).
    3. Pharaoh took her, and it seems that Abram’s faithless fear caused him not to reveal the truth that Sarai was his wife.
    4. When we remember that Sarai is the mother of the Messiah, then we see the even greater seriousness of their sin.
  3. But God is faithful.
    1. God alone maintains His covenant relationship with His children, and He does so in spite of what we do.
    2. While the nature of the plague is unknown, it did prevent Sarai from being sexually violated (Ps. 105:13-15).
    3. Pharaoh inquired and learned the truth, called Abram before him, rebuked him, and escorted him out of the land (18-20).
    4. God’s faithfulness always turns all things, even and especially our sin, into good.
      1. Our faithful God rescues His foolish children even when we are least deserving it.
      2. God not only established, but He also maintains the covenant, and thus He preserves each of His own in it.