Sermon Title: The sin of unfaithfulness – Abram’s example.
“Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai,
“I know what a beautiful woman you are.
When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’
Then they will kill me but will let you live.
Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.
And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.
He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.
So Pharaoh summoned Abram.
“What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife?
Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”
Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him.
Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.” (Genesis 12:10-13:4)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
A mere, misplaced thought is all it takes to make the ‘faithful’ unfaithful to God.
Abram had no business in Egypt.
God did not lead him there.
The famine may have been severe, but God remains Sovereign – as Almighty Provider, Protector and Promise-Keeper.
At the very moment Abram decided to seek refuge in Egypt, he became unfaithful to God.
With his first step towards Egypt, his doubt of God’s divine covering over him is laid bare.
We must never allow circumstances to dictate our relationship with God; let alone tempt us to doubt Him.
Never try to ‘help’ God fulfill His Promises to us; it is impossible, and belies the wickedness of a proud, suspicious and defiant heart.
The moment a person is unfaithful to God, the floodgates of categorical unfaithfulness is unleashed upon every aspect of that life.
Abram’s unfaithfulness to the Lord inevitably led to his unfaithfulness to Sarai and to the Egyptians – desecrating his marriage and corrupting his character - with serious ramifications to his coming future. (Ref: Genesis 16:15)
Abram’s unfaithfulness to his wife
For the profit of survival, Abram traded his wife Sarai to the Pharoah. (Ref: Genesis 12:11-13)
He was not only immoral, he defiled his own wife.
How would Sarai ever trust, much more, love him after this deed?
This would not be the first time Abram would be unfaithful to Sarai.
He would not learn his lesson, and would later deceive Abimelek king of Gerar in exactly the same way. (Ref: Genesis 20:1-2)
In fact, this same form of unfaithfulness was observed again in Isaac’s life. (Ref: Genesis 26:7)
Unfaithfulness to God is the most insidious sin that is generational in nature; and infects every relationship beginning with the marriage and family.
What does faithfulness in marriage look like?
It starts with faithfulness to God; and His Command to both husband and wife.
“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21)
For the husband, there is much more to our understanding of faithfulness.
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)
Husbands, know this is what you are required to do!
You are to love your wife infinitely more than yourself – to follow Christ’s example of love.
Anything less, you are unfaithful to your wife.
Her needs must come before yours; especially her spiritual needs.
Anything less, you are unfaithful to your wife.
Your husbandly responsibility is in “cleansing her” by bringing her before our Lord Jesus Christ – through praying to the Lord with her, worshiping God with her, fellowshipping with her, reading and embracing the word of God with her; discerning God’s Will for your lives together - building her up in holiness and blamelessness.
Anything less, you are unfaithful to your wife.
The world says “happy wife, happy life”; but because our life’s quest is holiness in Christ – the Christian husband says, “holy wife, holy life.”
Holy trumps happy infinitely.
And wives, know that this is what your husband is required to do; and how your husband must love you.
Do not use it as a threat; but use this divine revelation to encourage and help your husband fulfill this role.
I guarantee you, in time, your husband will thank you for your love for him.
Abram’s unfaithfulness to Pharoah.
As a refugee, Abram’s deception was truly a horrific affront.
To the Egyptians, Abram was not only unscrupulous, his wickedness reached a new low even by their standards.
This much is clear - Abram had sold his wife to them.
In spite of their brand of immorality, the Egyptians were aware enough of the reality that Abram’s God cared enough, and was powerful enough to inflict serious diseases and mete out judgements and condemnations.
And they even submitted to God’s judgement in hopes of limiting the effects of condemnation.
If this happened today, the serious diseases that coincided with the taking of someone’s wife would have been rationalised away as pure coincidence – with one matter nothing to do with the other.
The world has not only lost their sense of awe for the living God; they are completely blinded and deaf to His Word and Work.
But for the Egyptians then, their reality firmly included the presence of the ‘gods’.
This clued them deeply into the effects of wickedness – with the particular belief that certain wickedness results in specific punishments; such that when they were apprised of the nature of the serious disease inflicted by God, it is clear that the disease threatened their ability to reproduce.
Abraham’s unfaithfulness to God directly caused God’s condemnation upon Pharoah and his household.
In ignorance, Pharoah had taken Sarai to be his wife; and now, in humiliation, he was forced to returned her to Abram.
For all of Pharoah’s power and pride, he certainly suffered a great indignity because of Abram’s unfaithfulness; and even rebuked Abram for his wickedness towards both him and Sarai.
“Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go! Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.” (Genesis 12:19-20)
Pharoah wanted absolutely nothing more to do with Abram.
Abram had become such a stench to Pharoah and the Egyptians.
For Abram, his unfaithfulness to God led to the sins of categorical unfaithfulness that he fell into grave disrepute with Sarai, and the world; and further threatened his perception of God as the Almighty Creator, and Promise Keeper - which explained why he would later take things into his own hands when it comes to fulfilling God’s Promises to him.
Do you trust God’s Promises to you?
Are you faithful to God?
Do you take the matters of God into your own hands?
How do you know that - in spite of your sins – you remain a faithful child of God?
A faithful child of God, when unfaithful, would immediately recognise his/her sin of unfaithfulness, and repent before Him.
Having been ignominiously cast out from Egypt, Abram “came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.” (Genesis 13:3-4)
Even though Abram was unfaithful, God remained faithful.
It is to this key attribute of God’s faithfulness that David describes in Psalm 23:3 –
“He guides me along the right paths for His Name’s sake.”
The journey from Egypt to Bethel provided Abram with the necessary moments for Abram to realise that he has been unfaithful to God; and at the first altar that he built, he “called on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 13:4b) and repented before Him.
We must be constantly alert to the sin of being unfaithful to God.
And when the Holy Spirit convicts our hearts, we must be quick to
- Repent from unfaithfulness;
- Remember His Faithfulness;
- Resolve to always trust in His Faithfulness.
Such is the Grace of God – that we may utterly depend on His faithfulness even when we are unfaithful to Him!
Do we ever take His Faithfulness and Grace for granted?
Absolutely NOT!
The Apostle Paul explains,
“We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” (Romans 6:3-8)
True disciples of Christ can never stand to be unfaithful to God – for we have “died to sin” (Romans 6:3); “no longer be slaves to sin” (Romans 6:7); and live with Christ - faithful to our Heavenly Father, as He is faithful. (Ref: Romans 6:8)
Our present life is a journey with Christ towards an eternal life of holiness in Him; and requires both training and transformation through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, in Christ we must daily strive to sin less and less till we sin no more.
To be truly thankful to God for His grace – His grace that overcomes our sins and overwhelms our hearts to make us desire more of His Love, Salvation and Kingdom - we must learn to treasure His Grace.
We would be in such a desperate and wretched place if not for His Grace.
On our own, we are wicked, falling short of the glory of God.
On our own, we are nothing.
We must daily grow more certain of His Grace; and be very careful never to sin in unfaithfulness through thinking that somehow, we can attain a form of self-dependence.
Thank God for His amazing grace;
Thank God that when He sees us, He sees Christ in us.
When we are in Christ, God does not see our sin but Christ’s righteousness.
Because of Christ’s body broken for us; and His blood shed for us, God forgives and has already forgotten our sins: past, present and future because they have all been judged at Christ’s death and nailed to the cross.
But does this grace free us to continue in sin?
Absolutely not!
The true, faithful Christian is thankful for God’s grace that overcomes the consequences of sins; and is quick to repent and turn from sin.
God is always gracious to His children; and His children never takes His grace for granted.
Resolve to be always faithful to God in every way; trust utterly in our Lord Jesus Christ in the faith that He will ultimately say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Forgive my sins of unfaithfulness, O Lord; may I never take Your divine matters into my hands, or think that I could ‘help’ You fulfill Your Promises in my life.
Holy Spirit, increase my faith in Christ – that I would always trust in the Lord and be found faithful to Him alone!
When I am unfaithful, I ask that You would break me, and convict me that I would immediately recognise my sins and repent before God; saturate my heart that I would forever remember Your Faithfulness; and strengthen my resolve to always trust in Your Faithfulness.
I believe that even in my unfaithfulness, God, You will remain faithful to me.
Thank You for guiding me along the right paths for His Name’s sake. (Ref: Psalm 23:3)
Help me to be constantly watchful for the sins of doubt and unfaithfulness.
May I never stand to be unfaithful to You, O Lord – for in Christ, I have “died to sin” (Romans 6:3), and thus, am no longer a slave to sin (Ref: Romans 6:7).
Today, I acknowledge and declare that I am alive in Christ, and live with Christ – faithful to You, Heavenly Father, just as Christ is faithful. (Ref: Romans 6:8)
Help me strive to sin less and less till I see You face to face – for then, I know that I will sin no more.
Grant that I would treasure Your Grace and Faithfulness in my life; and daily grow more certain in Your Promises for me.
Thank You, Lord, for Your Amazing Grace!
I place my life into Your Hands.
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our King, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai,
“I know what a beautiful woman you are.
When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’
Then they will kill me but will let you live.
Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.
And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.
He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.
So Pharaoh summoned Abram.
“What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife?
Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”
Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him.
Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.” (Genesis 12:10-13:4)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
A mere, misplaced thought is all it takes to make the ‘faithful’ unfaithful to God.
Abram had no business in Egypt.
God did not lead him there.
The famine may have been severe, but God remains Sovereign – as Almighty Provider, Protector and Promise-Keeper.
At the very moment Abram decided to seek refuge in Egypt, he became unfaithful to God.
With his first step towards Egypt, his doubt of God’s divine covering over him is laid bare.
We must never allow circumstances to dictate our relationship with God; let alone tempt us to doubt Him.
Never try to ‘help’ God fulfill His Promises to us; it is impossible, and belies the wickedness of a proud, suspicious and defiant heart.
The moment a person is unfaithful to God, the floodgates of categorical unfaithfulness is unleashed upon every aspect of that life.
Abram’s unfaithfulness to the Lord inevitably led to his unfaithfulness to Sarai and to the Egyptians – desecrating his marriage and corrupting his character - with serious ramifications to his coming future. (Ref: Genesis 16:15)
Abram’s unfaithfulness to his wife
For the profit of survival, Abram traded his wife Sarai to the Pharoah. (Ref: Genesis 12:11-13)
He was not only immoral, he defiled his own wife.
How would Sarai ever trust, much more, love him after this deed?
This would not be the first time Abram would be unfaithful to Sarai.
He would not learn his lesson, and would later deceive Abimelek king of Gerar in exactly the same way. (Ref: Genesis 20:1-2)
In fact, this same form of unfaithfulness was observed again in Isaac’s life. (Ref: Genesis 26:7)
Unfaithfulness to God is the most insidious sin that is generational in nature; and infects every relationship beginning with the marriage and family.
What does faithfulness in marriage look like?
It starts with faithfulness to God; and His Command to both husband and wife.
“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21)
For the husband, there is much more to our understanding of faithfulness.
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)
Husbands, know this is what you are required to do!
You are to love your wife infinitely more than yourself – to follow Christ’s example of love.
Anything less, you are unfaithful to your wife.
Her needs must come before yours; especially her spiritual needs.
Anything less, you are unfaithful to your wife.
Your husbandly responsibility is in “cleansing her” by bringing her before our Lord Jesus Christ – through praying to the Lord with her, worshiping God with her, fellowshipping with her, reading and embracing the word of God with her; discerning God’s Will for your lives together - building her up in holiness and blamelessness.
Anything less, you are unfaithful to your wife.
The world says “happy wife, happy life”; but because our life’s quest is holiness in Christ – the Christian husband says, “holy wife, holy life.”
Holy trumps happy infinitely.
And wives, know that this is what your husband is required to do; and how your husband must love you.
Do not use it as a threat; but use this divine revelation to encourage and help your husband fulfill this role.
I guarantee you, in time, your husband will thank you for your love for him.
Abram’s unfaithfulness to Pharoah.
As a refugee, Abram’s deception was truly a horrific affront.
To the Egyptians, Abram was not only unscrupulous, his wickedness reached a new low even by their standards.
This much is clear - Abram had sold his wife to them.
In spite of their brand of immorality, the Egyptians were aware enough of the reality that Abram’s God cared enough, and was powerful enough to inflict serious diseases and mete out judgements and condemnations.
And they even submitted to God’s judgement in hopes of limiting the effects of condemnation.
If this happened today, the serious diseases that coincided with the taking of someone’s wife would have been rationalised away as pure coincidence – with one matter nothing to do with the other.
The world has not only lost their sense of awe for the living God; they are completely blinded and deaf to His Word and Work.
But for the Egyptians then, their reality firmly included the presence of the ‘gods’.
This clued them deeply into the effects of wickedness – with the particular belief that certain wickedness results in specific punishments; such that when they were apprised of the nature of the serious disease inflicted by God, it is clear that the disease threatened their ability to reproduce.
Abraham’s unfaithfulness to God directly caused God’s condemnation upon Pharoah and his household.
In ignorance, Pharoah had taken Sarai to be his wife; and now, in humiliation, he was forced to returned her to Abram.
For all of Pharoah’s power and pride, he certainly suffered a great indignity because of Abram’s unfaithfulness; and even rebuked Abram for his wickedness towards both him and Sarai.
“Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go! Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.” (Genesis 12:19-20)
Pharoah wanted absolutely nothing more to do with Abram.
Abram had become such a stench to Pharoah and the Egyptians.
For Abram, his unfaithfulness to God led to the sins of categorical unfaithfulness that he fell into grave disrepute with Sarai, and the world; and further threatened his perception of God as the Almighty Creator, and Promise Keeper - which explained why he would later take things into his own hands when it comes to fulfilling God’s Promises to him.
Do you trust God’s Promises to you?
Are you faithful to God?
Do you take the matters of God into your own hands?
How do you know that - in spite of your sins – you remain a faithful child of God?
A faithful child of God, when unfaithful, would immediately recognise his/her sin of unfaithfulness, and repent before Him.
Having been ignominiously cast out from Egypt, Abram “came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.” (Genesis 13:3-4)
Even though Abram was unfaithful, God remained faithful.
It is to this key attribute of God’s faithfulness that David describes in Psalm 23:3 –
“He guides me along the right paths for His Name’s sake.”
The journey from Egypt to Bethel provided Abram with the necessary moments for Abram to realise that he has been unfaithful to God; and at the first altar that he built, he “called on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 13:4b) and repented before Him.
We must be constantly alert to the sin of being unfaithful to God.
And when the Holy Spirit convicts our hearts, we must be quick to
- Repent from unfaithfulness;
- Remember His Faithfulness;
- Resolve to always trust in His Faithfulness.
Such is the Grace of God – that we may utterly depend on His faithfulness even when we are unfaithful to Him!
Do we ever take His Faithfulness and Grace for granted?
Absolutely NOT!
The Apostle Paul explains,
“We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” (Romans 6:3-8)
True disciples of Christ can never stand to be unfaithful to God – for we have “died to sin” (Romans 6:3); “no longer be slaves to sin” (Romans 6:7); and live with Christ - faithful to our Heavenly Father, as He is faithful. (Ref: Romans 6:8)
Our present life is a journey with Christ towards an eternal life of holiness in Him; and requires both training and transformation through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, in Christ we must daily strive to sin less and less till we sin no more.
To be truly thankful to God for His grace – His grace that overcomes our sins and overwhelms our hearts to make us desire more of His Love, Salvation and Kingdom - we must learn to treasure His Grace.
We would be in such a desperate and wretched place if not for His Grace.
On our own, we are wicked, falling short of the glory of God.
On our own, we are nothing.
We must daily grow more certain of His Grace; and be very careful never to sin in unfaithfulness through thinking that somehow, we can attain a form of self-dependence.
Thank God for His amazing grace;
Thank God that when He sees us, He sees Christ in us.
When we are in Christ, God does not see our sin but Christ’s righteousness.
Because of Christ’s body broken for us; and His blood shed for us, God forgives and has already forgotten our sins: past, present and future because they have all been judged at Christ’s death and nailed to the cross.
But does this grace free us to continue in sin?
Absolutely not!
The true, faithful Christian is thankful for God’s grace that overcomes the consequences of sins; and is quick to repent and turn from sin.
God is always gracious to His children; and His children never takes His grace for granted.
Resolve to be always faithful to God in every way; trust utterly in our Lord Jesus Christ in the faith that He will ultimately say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Forgive my sins of unfaithfulness, O Lord; may I never take Your divine matters into my hands, or think that I could ‘help’ You fulfill Your Promises in my life.
Holy Spirit, increase my faith in Christ – that I would always trust in the Lord and be found faithful to Him alone!
When I am unfaithful, I ask that You would break me, and convict me that I would immediately recognise my sins and repent before God; saturate my heart that I would forever remember Your Faithfulness; and strengthen my resolve to always trust in Your Faithfulness.
I believe that even in my unfaithfulness, God, You will remain faithful to me.
Thank You for guiding me along the right paths for His Name’s sake. (Ref: Psalm 23:3)
Help me to be constantly watchful for the sins of doubt and unfaithfulness.
May I never stand to be unfaithful to You, O Lord – for in Christ, I have “died to sin” (Romans 6:3), and thus, am no longer a slave to sin (Ref: Romans 6:7).
Today, I acknowledge and declare that I am alive in Christ, and live with Christ – faithful to You, Heavenly Father, just as Christ is faithful. (Ref: Romans 6:8)
Help me strive to sin less and less till I see You face to face – for then, I know that I will sin no more.
Grant that I would treasure Your Grace and Faithfulness in my life; and daily grow more certain in Your Promises for me.
Thank You, Lord, for Your Amazing Grace!
I place my life into Your Hands.
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our King, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.