Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Today’s text is not a character study, nor is it an example of someone that we should try to be like.
Sometimes as we go through the Bible, amazing things happen, and we can say be like this person.
Sometimes, it’s be like Peter.
Sometimes it’s be like Paul.
Sometimes it’s be like Samson.
Then there are other times when it’s:
Don’t be like Peter.
Don’t be like Paul.
Don’t be like Samson.
Here we are in the middle of Genesis, we’ve spent some time with Abraham.
There’ve been times we’ve seen genuine faith in him, and we can say, be like Abraham.
… Today’s not one of those days.
Let’s open up our Bibles to , and we will look at today.
Read .
We’ve got 3 points for today’s sermon.
First, we need to stop making excuses for sin.
Second, God has a thorough judgment.
Lastly, God is far kinder than we deserve.
Let me set the scene for you.
Back in , which was about 25 years earlier, Abraham and Sarah went into Egypt.
Abraham was concerned about the safety of his life.
So he told his wife Sarah, to lie about who she was.
The lie was to say that she was his sister.
He was afraid that Pharaoh would kill him, and take Sarah as his own wife, so they lied.
What ended up happening, was God sent plagues upon Egypt, because they had sinned by taking Sarah.
It then became known to Pharaoh what Abraham had done.
Sarah was given back to Abraham, they were given riches, and they were sent packing.
Now we fast forward 25 years to Genesis 20.
God has just destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their terrible sins.
Fire and sulfur fell from the sky, leveling it to the ground.
There’s Abraham, looking to the East, seeing the smoke rising to the sky.
He thinks to himself, I’m not going there.
So he sets out to the west, goes towards the coast, away from Sodom and Gomorrah.
He comes to the land of Gerar.
Once there, he meets the king, Abimelech.
By now, Sarah is 90 years old, but Abraham returns to an old lie.
He tells Abimelech that she’s his sister.
Abimelech thinks that she’s available, takes her to become his own wife.
But before he does anything that a husband would do to a wife, the Lord appears to him in a dream.
God says “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
God says
God announces judgment upon Abimelech.
Additionally, we learn at the end of the text, that God also made the women of Gerar barren.
A barren nation is a weak nation.
A barren nation is not a prosperous nation.
A barren nation is a failed nation.
God then says to return Sarah to Abraham.
And in a certain amount of irony, in verse 7 God says that Abraham is a prophet.
Why’s that ironic?
Because prophets shouldn’t lie.
They are to faithfully deliver God’s Word to the hearers.
It’s ironic because Abraham had lied.
If he’s a prophet, he’s a terrible prophet.
Even Jonah, perhaps one of the worst prophets told the truth.
After the dream, Abimelech knew why the curse came upon him, he also knew that God was going to kill him.
So he calls Abraham to him.
He confronts Abraham.
God has clearly blessed Abraham, and why would Abraham put Abimelech in such a deadly situation?
Obviously, God would protect Abraham no matter what, so why would Abraham put Abimelech in a situation to make him sin and incur God’s wrath.
Abimelech demands answers from Abraham.
And in Abraham’s response we come to the first point of our sermon, we need to stop making excuses for sinning.
Because that’s exactly what Abraham does.
Verses 11-13 are Abraham making excuses for his sin.
We aren’t that different from Abraham.
We live in a culture that thrives on excuses.
A person commits murder - it’s because he wasn’t loved as a child.
A person steals - it’s because he never had a Teddy Ruxpin.
A man cheats on his wife - it’s because she didn’t give him enough attention.
If a Christian sins, it’s “the devil made me do it.”
But it’s never our fault.
I remember my very first car accident.
I was
I was pulling out of the Best Buy Parking lot in Murrieta, there was a car in front of me.
They pulled out and made a right onto Madison.
And doing my best California stop, I followed them out of the parking lot.
I looked left and rolled out of the parking and smack right into them.
They had stopped while making their right.
Only I didn’t see them stop, because I was looking left, and planning on following them on out.
Oh, I made my excuse.
Why’d they stop?
I still don’t know why they stopped.
But who’s fault was it?
Mine.
I rear ended them.
I should have been watching.
But when I talked to the insurance company, I made sure to mention, that I didn’t think it was my fault.
I wish the story ended there.
It was shortly after that, that I was subbing for a class.
As I’m taking role, I call a kids name he says “here” then he says that I rear ended his mom for no reason coming out of Best Buy.
I was embarrassed.
We make excuses for sinning all the time.
I made an excuse on why I hit that car, I tried to not claim responsibility.
In the same way, we make excuses for sinning all the time.
So Abimelech questions Abraham, why’d you lie to me.
In verses 11-13, we see Abraham justify his sin, he gives excuses on why it’s not his fault that he lied.
First, he wrongly assesses Abimelech and the people of Gerar.
Understand, he’s just heard about God judging Sodom and Gomorrah for their terrible sins.
He’s near those now smoldering cities, and assumes that Abimelech and Gerar is just as bad.
And so he thinks that he needs to tell a lie to save his bacon.
In verse 11 he says, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’
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