Genesis 20
We are saved by grace. We all know this. But salvation is one thing. After you are saved, you’d better pull up your socks, try harder, and start living right. God helps those who help themselves.
What a pile of unbiblical, Satanic, nonsense!
We are saved by grace. And we continue in grace. This story of Abraham makes that very clear! Abraham was a sinner, and even after he was saved back in chapter 12, and given the covenant, he still kept sinning. So the covenant had to be confirmed – chapter 13, 14, 15, 17…. God doesn’t say “damn it, Abraham, why did you lie about your wife, you’ve wrecked the covenant now.” Or “damn, why did you sleep with Hagar – your sin has stained you – I can’t use you now”. In this chapter again we see that despite Abraham’s sin, he is not damned by God, but blessed.
Why?
Because he lives under grace. We are saved by grace and we continue in grace. We live in the realm of GRACE. It is not our efforts that count, but the efforts of Christ Jesus. And he was perfect.
1. Abraham, the disappointment
The previous chapters have been pretty dramatic: God visiting Abraham personally with a great eternal promise. The promise of a son. Abraham playing the role of Jesus, interceding for mercy. A massive judgement on the rebellious, with Sodom. And Lot was saved because God heard Abraham’s prayer. Wow.
And this chapter is a total let-down! In many ways.
It’s not dramatic. Nothing seems to particularly happen (Isaac, the promised son, is only born in the next chapter). The story seems to be a repeat of the one in chapter 12, when Abraham lived in Egypt and the king of Egypt took Sarah as his wife.
And, quite frankly, Abraham himself is a let-down. I’m disappointed with him. “Abraham, how can you make the same mistake! You KNOW God now, you KNOW he will keep you safe. I had some sympathy for you back in chapter 12, but now? You just spoke with him face to face and he heard your prayer to save Lot. God listened to you! You’re blessed. Part of the covenant. So why are you lying and disbelieving God’s Word? C’mon Abraham!”
The big surprise in this chapter is that our “hero” becomes the anti-hero, and the “baddies”, the Philistines of Gerar, represented by their king Abimelech – he’s the hero! While Abraham is sneaking about, lying, being afraid, Abimelech is taking action, standing up for his people, obeying God, and blessing Abraham. Abimelech appears to be a better Abraham than Abraham!
2. Abimelech, the innocent
Abimelech is an innocent man, who listens to God, and obeys him. And the story is deliberately written in a way to contrast Abraham and Abimelech. Just look at v3-4
3 But that night God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are a dead man, for that woman you have taken is already married!” 4 But Abimelech had not slept with her yet, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?”
Big echoes of Abraham’s conversation with God back in chapter 18. God comes to Abraham, and says “I will judge” and then Abraham says “Will you destroy the innocent along with the wicked?”
Both men are approached by God with tales of judgement to come, both respond with appeals to God’s mercy. Abimelech continues:
5 Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘Yes, he is my brother.’ I acted in complete innocence! My hands are clean.”
And God’s response is shocking. Not so much for us, but for the original hearers of this story – the Jews (Israelites). The Philistines were the big baddies, the evil people who so often attacked Israel and enslaved them, particularly during the time of the judges. (Gerar was a Philistine town, and in the next chapter they are explicitly called Philistines).
6 In the dream God responded, “Yes, I know you are innocent. That’s why I kept you from sinning against me, and why I did not let you touch her.
Innocent? Protected by God? God, what do you think you’re doing? You can’t declare THOSE people innocent.
I feel there’s echoes here of the scandal of God choosing a Chaldean, a descendant of those who built the tower of Babel in rebellion against God – he chooses him – ABRAHAM – and declares him “righteous”. We forget how shocking any act of grace is. How undeserved.
And here we have Abimelech, the king of the hated enemy, declared “innocent” by God. Scandal! Read all about it! This would turn your prejudices upside down!
And even worse: He’s a good king, who’s concerned for his people. Hard to be prejudiced against him when he’s just so darned nice.
As I was preparing this, we got to chapter 10 of Acts in the Bible study. And wouldn’t you know – we meet another “evil pagan” who turns out to be a good man, a righteous man who loved God. Cornelius was his name, and he was a Roman officer. Not an Israelite. Not descended from Abraham. And yet had faith like Abraham in God. Just lilke Abimelech.
And the Apostle Peter in Acts had to learn that God can save Gentiles (non-Jews / Israelites) too. That the gospel is for all. That God really meant what he promised Abraham in Genesis 12: The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.
The blessing of Abraham is not just for a few, but for all. Roman soldiers like Cornelius, Philistine kings like Abimelech – even they can receive the mercy of God.
That is a lesson Abraham had to learn. That is a lesson Peter had to learn.
That is a lesson we must learn.
Peter thought the gospel was just for Jews – for the good people, the special people – until God saved Cornelius and his family. Gentiles! Eeew. How? Come on Wednesday to find out!
Abraham was just prejudiced against Abimelech and his people – look at v11 Abraham replied, “I thought, ‘This is a godless place. They will want my wife and will kill me to get her.’
Abraham, Abraham, not everyone is like Sodom!
Our problem is that we pretend that God is like us, and sees people the way that we do. That’s why we need to keep coming back to the Bible and seeing what he is actually like. Because he is NOT like us. We would save people we like. We are nice to people we like. To people who’ve been mean to us or hurt us we’re mean to them, because they deserve it; or at least ignore them. We don’t save them! We don’t come and die for them to rescue them!
God is not like us.
When we think about those God can save we tend to impose our thoughts on His. We think “they’re beyond reach”.
Why are there so few Christians in Notodden – probably less than 5%? One of the reasons certainly seems to be because Christians are not telling non-Christians the gospel! And you can feel it – I feel it – feel the pressure to keep it light, to not rock the boat. You can feel the resistance to the explosive power of the gospel.
And I am wrong to give in to that pressure. I am assuming that God is not at work in their hearts. I am assuming that God cannot save them. I am assuming that This is a godless place.
Just like Abraham, I am wrong. For God’s Word assures me that there are many Abimelech’s here, many who are ready to hear the gospel and be declared righteous.
Now I don’t know how to change that in me. I don’t know how to go about sharing the gospel. Do we just kick down the door of our neighbours houses and say “Repent and believe, Jesus is Lord!”?
But God knows, and so I can start by asking him. Asking him to change me so I can see people through his eyes. Asking him to give me opportunities to share the gospel, both in actions and in words. With the people I already know. The people I have relationships with.
The hardest is with people who are genuinely good people. Which, if truth be told, is most people we know here in Notodden! We live in a lovely town full of lovely people. But being good is not enough. And that’s the third surprise of this chapter, and my third point. Abraham was a disappointment, Abimelech was surprisingly good, but
3. Abimelech needs a Saviour
Goodness is not enough. His innocence is not enough. God agrees that he is innocent 6 In the dream God responded, “Yes, I know you are innocent.
But he’s still in danger:
7 Now return the woman to her husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don’t return her to him, you can be sure that you and all your people will die.”
Abimelech may be good, but he still needs a saviour. He still needs a mediator between him and God. The curse of living outside of the Garden of Eden still stands. The Fall has marked us all: we are under the curse of death, and no amount of being really good can change that.
17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, so they could have children. 18 For the LORD had caused all the women to be infertile because of what happened with Abraham’s wife, Sarah.
Abraham, playing the role of Jesus, prays to God – and death is turned to life. The curse of death is lifted, and Abimelech and his nation will live.
We too are under the sentence of death. We too need a mediator between us and God. We need Jesus to turn our death to life.
That’s the message of the gospel. And it’s fantastic. It’s amazing. And it’s unfair.
4. The gospel is unfair
I really don’t like this story. Abraham is a disappointment, He moves away from the oaks of Mamre and goes to live in Gerar “as a foreigner” (v1). Why did he do that? We don’t know. But it certainly seemed to be a bad idea, and probably rebellious.
Then when he gets there he assumes everyone else living there are godless swine out to kill him, and lies and lies to protect himself – again risking his wife being married off to a foreign king. Foolish, disappointing, Abraham.
So Abraham’s annoying – but God’s even more annoying! Look at verses 14-16 with sheep and goats and servants and money. Isn’t that so frustrating? Why is Abraham blessed after his stupid behaviour? Abimelech should be getting the gifts!
As we’ve already seen in the previous chapters, it’s because Abraham is under God’s blessing. It’s something that GOD has decided, something that GOD does, based on GOD’s actions – not Abraham’s. And so, despite Abraham’s sin, he is blessed.
Despite his failings, he is blessed. In fact, whether Abraham does the right thing or the wrong thing – he is blessed. And that’s unfair.
And that’s the gospel.
We are saved by GOD’s action, not our own. We are Christians by GOD’s grace, by GOD’s decision, by HIS will, not ours. And we remain Christians, we remain blessed, because our standing before God is not based on OUR actions but on His.
Do we understand that when he looks at us he sees Jesus, the Christ? That we are judged not on the basis of our life but his? That’s what it means to be declared righteous by God, as Abraham was.
I am so thankful that the gospel is unfair. Because that means that I can be saved. And that means that anyone else I know can be saved – however unlikely. And that means that we will keep being saved until the end. We can no more fall out of God’s blessing than Abraham could – and he certainly seemed to try!
I am saved – not because of my actions, but because of Christ’s.
I stay saved – not because of what I do or don’t do, but because of what Christ has done.
My friend, neighbour, husband, wife, child, work colleague, boss can be saved – not by their actions, but because of what Christ has done.
It is good news. Not “here’s a list of rules to follow” or “be a better person than everyone else” or “try a bit harder” but: you are forgiven. Forever. You have passed the exam of life. You have a ticket to heaven, bought with Jesus’ blood.
Abraham was a disappointment, but blessed.
Abimelech was a good man, but still needed a Saviour.
On Friday I was walking to the bank and praying for Notodden as I went. I said to the Lord “I don’t know what to do. How do we reach so many lost people? How do we share the good news of Jesus when to so many it sounds like boring religion, a list of rues to follow: “Be good and God will like you.” How do we reach people who’ve been inoculated against Christianity?”
And God reminded me of this passage. Abimelech the Philistine, who meets with God, and is saved by Abraham. And surprising converts like Ruth, and Rahab the prostitute, and Saul, and Nebuchadnezzar. And me. And you.
God can save people. Not just people we like, not just people like us – but those we think are “godless”, and beyond reach. Those he can save. And the “good”. Those he can save. Anyone.
So let’s commit to pray: pray for our family, our friends, our workmates, our children. Because we need God to act.
And commit to share – share the gospel with those around you.
As we take communion now thank God that you are blessed, no matter what you’ve done or haven’t done, because Christ’s body was broken, his blood was shed, so that you can know him.
And then ask the Lord to show you one person that you could share this gospel with this week. Just one. Pray for them now.
And if you are Abimelech? Maybe you’re a good person, maybe not – but you need a Saviour. Without Jesus you will die. Now would be good time to pray to him in your own words, and ask him to save you.
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