Chapter 20

The mature believer out of fellowship. After all of the wonderful things we have been saying about Abraham, he gets out of fellowship. And as mature believers often do it is through dome very subtle thing: Abraham becomes disillusioned. Three d’s: disillusion, verse 1; degradation, verse2; declaration, verses 3-13.

It is very embarrassing for any believer to be rightfully rebuked by an unbeliever, but it is terribly embarrassing for a mature believer like Abraham to be rebuked by an unbeliever like Abimelech.

Verse 1 – He got out of the land, which is always a picture of Abraham out of fellowship. We have a three-point location here. Kadesh, which means prostitution in the Hebrew. Spiritually this would be idolatry or getting your eyes on something else. We know that part of Abraham’s loss of perspective and disorientation is that he no longer puts the Lord first. He has turned his eyes to a situation or circumstance, the destruction of Sodom, and he has become disillusioned. Therefore now he is at Kadesh, whereas before he was at Hebron, which means fellowship. He is also said to be at Shur, which means to stir up dust or to get excited. Abraham has switched his criterion from the Word to emotion. He was ruled by his emotions in his disillusion. When there is an issue between what the Bible says and how you feel, this is one of the great dangers that the believer faces. How you feel is wrong; what the Bible says is right. Then Gerar, a word in the Hebrew which means sawing. From that the word finally developed into dragging away logs which were sawn, therefore it meant to drag away. That’s Abraham, he has dragged himself out of fellowship. So that locates Abraham and his sin: his disillusion. He is in Kadesh, his eyes are off the Lord. He is living by his emotions—Shur. He is dragged away from the Lord.

Verse 2 – as a result of a mental attitude sin he goes to an overt sin. He becomes concerned about his own miserable hide. One of the check points for finding out whether you are in fellowship or not: when you become overly concerned about your own safety you are probably out of fellowship. “And Abraham said of Sarah his wife…” Remember that now that she has recovered from sexual death she is a beauty queen again and young, just as Abraham is young again—old in age but young as far as physical appearance. Immediately Abraham becomes concerned because in those days if you were out of your own geographical area and you had a beautiful woman along it was a short cut to death. The only way to get out of this hole was to lie and say that this was his sister. So we have here a half truth. She is his half-sister but she is also his wife. Principle: A believer, even a mature believer, out of fellowship acts exactly like any unbeliever. All doctrine, promises and techniques are forgotten.

Verses 3-13, declaration. There are three declarations here. In verses 3-7, the declaration of God. Verses 8-10, the declaration of Abimelech. In verses 11-13, the declaration from Abraham.

Verse 3 – God has something to say: the declaration of sin. He tips Abimelech off as to exactly what is happening. “Behold thou a dead man.”

Verses 4-6, the declaration of providence.

Verse 7, the declaration of the solution.

Verse 8 – a declaration from Abimelech. He is a good king. He gets up early and passes on information from God. And they are all frightened because they are all in jeopardy.

Verse 9 – a mature believer out of fellowship and an unbeliever who is just a correct as he can be. Abraham out of fellowship is being rebuked by an unbeliever.

Verses 14-16, the dignity of Abimelech. Abimelech becomes a believer. In effect, Abimelech is saying he runs a law-abiding kingdom and as long as Abraham is Sarah’s husband she couldn’t be safer anywhere.

Verses 17-18, there is some dignity to Abraham. He has just had the most embarrassing situation that could ever occur to a mature believer. He has been rightfully rebuked by an unbeliever and he has tremendous poise in recovery. He doesn’t stand around and blush for the rest of his life.

Verse 17 – Abraham didn’t do any apologising. He said nothing to Abimelech, he prayed to God. Where was he when he got out of fellowship? He was praying for Sodom. Where is he when he gets back in fellowship? He is praying for Abimelech. Apparently God had put a ban on his family. Abraham’s dignity comes from rebound. Abimelech’s dignity comes from salvation.

Verse 18 – the dignity of God which comes from operation grace. God’s excercised grace and removed this ban. As is always the case, in the end it is always God who receives the glory. The only way by which God can receive glory is through grace whereby God does all of the work. He did the revealing through the dream. He was the one who removed the discipline after first putting the discipline upon Abimelech, and so it is the grace of God that ultimately triumphs in everything in life.