We have to go back, though, several thousand years. So if you'll join me reading at verse 1 of chapter 12, we're in the last part of the third millennium before Christ. So this is around the year 2166. Beginning at verse 1, we read that the Lord had said to Abram, Get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him and Lot went with him. And Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all of their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran. And they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, to your descendants I will give this land. And there Abram built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. So Abram journeyed going on still toward the south. Now, there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, Indeed, I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore, it will happen when the Egyptians see you that they will say, This is his wife, and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you." So it was, when Abram came to Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh, And the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house. He treated Abram well for her sake. Abram had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels. But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say she is my sister? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife. Take her and go your way. So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning Abram, and they sent him away. with his wife and all that he had. May God add his blessing to this reading of his word. When I was a young teenager, I decided to take up the sport of snow skiing. After all, I lived in California and very close to some of the world's finest ski resorts. If I remember right, my first experience skiing took place at Sierra Ski Ranch Resort up near Lake Tahoe. I can't remember a lot of the details except that I spent most of the time, at least at the beginning of the day, trying to stand up and to keep the tips of my skis from crossing, which caused me to fall down. But by the last part of the day, I was already beginning to master the beginner slopes. And towards the very end of the day, I even tried making it down the intermediate slope. And I did it after six, seven, or eight falls. I actually, my first time skiing, made it down an intermediate slope. I remember going a second time to the same place. By that time, I only went down the beginner slope once or twice. Didn't even fall. I spent the rest of the day taking on the intermediate slopes. And in fact, by the end of the day, I could make it down an intermediate slope without falling one time. My friends began to commend me. They told me that skiing must be in my blood. I began to think that too. I think it was my third time when a friend of mine called me up and asked if I wanted to go to Kirkwood Ski Resort. I took the opportunity. I was excited. I love skiing. So we went off to Kirkwood. And I think it was around this time that the seemingly quick progress I experienced in mastering the techniques, along with the accolades of my friends, began to swell my self-confidence and my pride. When we arrived at Kirkwood, I didn't bother with the beginning slope. I went right to the intermediate slope. In fact, I got to the point where I was no longer using the ski plow technique, that is to say, where you keep your skis in a V shape to slow down your speed and to navigate the turns. Now, I could zoom down the slope and I could turn with the skis parallel and not even fall. I was beginning to feel quite the expert. In fact, it was at Kirkwood I decided it was time to take on the advanced slopes. And so, by midday, we were heading up the Black Diamond slopes. And I can remember going down one of those slopes my first time. There were large moguls. Those are big bumps. And I made it down four or five falls, but I made it down OK. I tried it again and again. By the third or fourth time, I had maybe just one or two falls. And I really thought that I had got a handle. on how to ski. Well, then came the mistake. We were exploring various runs, and we came upon a chairlift that seemed nearly empty. There were no long lines, and that seemed like a great plus. I mean, who wants to wait in line to get on a chairlift? But as we neared the lift, we noticed that there was a sign with the title of the ski run and also with not one, but two black diamonds. It was a double black diamond ski run. Now, for those of you who do not know, a black diamond is the sign used to mark an advanced slope. A double black diamond is a mark used to distinguish what is called a very advanced ski trail that is difficult to ski and has expert terrain hmm I thought to myself I've picked up skiing quite quickly and the intermediate slopes have become quite boring and I've managed to make it down an advanced slope certainly a double black diamond can't be that much more difficult and so I went up As I was going up, I was thinking about the name of that slope. For some reason, they called it the wall. I was trying to figure out why would they call it the wall? Well, as we were getting towards the top, I looked down at the slope and I could tell that there were big moguls and so forth, but it didn't look that steep. Of course, I didn't realize at that point that From the vantage point of a chairlift, looking down at that bright white snow, one could not really distinguish the pitch of the slope. Of course, that disadvantage would soon be removed. As I reached the top, I quickly slid off of the chair. Did a 180 with a certain degree of pride and confidence and aimed my ski tips at the slope. Then I noticed something very strange. There were about 15 or 20 people who were all standing in a line perpendicular to me and they were looking down the slope. I wondered why they were doing that. I thought to myself, they must be watching. Other skiers navigate the slope. And so, full of interest, I pushed off with my poles and headed towards the line. When I reached the place where they were standing, all of a sudden, it dawned on me that they were not necessarily watching other people ski down. They were deliberating. They were trying to make a decision. And I think what they were trying to decide is, Indeed, I could understand why they were struggling with that decision, because as I came up to what appeared to be the starting line, the tips of my skis were literally hanging out over thin air. And all of a sudden, I realized, now I know why they call this the wall. Now I know why they call this the wall. It wasn't exactly vertical, but it certainly seemed that way when you were looking over the edge. Well, I began to wonder, maybe I should just get back on that chair lift and take a easy ride down. But folks, you have to understand, and I think most of you can, that when you're a young man, And you think that you can take on anything, that you're just not going to allow yourself to do that. After all, I mean, people would see me get back on the chairlift. They'd know why I was doing it, of course, and I'd appear to be a coward and they might laugh at me or something. And so I decided one way or another, I was going to get down that slope. And so down I went. Folks, I am proud to say I made it down alive. In fact, I'm happy to say that I made it down in good speed. However, I have to confess that most of the time going down was on my back, not on my skis. And I can remember as I rolled and as I tumbled and as I slid down that slippery slope, I realized that I had made a foolish decision and I was in a place where I did not belong. I had no business on a double black diamond slope. Well, in our reading of Abraham's journeys in chapter 12, we find that the patriarch himself has made a similar mistake. He's gone to a place where he has no business being. We noted last week that Abraham did not get off to a very good start in the Christian life. At least two times, he hesitated in unbelief, first in Ur, then in Haran, and he failed to obey the voice of God. However, when we come to verse 4 of chapter 12, Abraham has fully recovered And it can be said that at this point in his life, he is an example of faith and obedience. Verse 4 we read, So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him. Verse 5, So they came to the land of Canaan. Verse 7, And there Abram built an altar to the Lord. Verse 8, Abram builds another altar and there he calls upon the name of the Lord. We see faith. We see obedience. We see progress. Man, this guy has it down. He's becoming an expert. He's learning how to navigate the will of God. But just as it seemed that Abram had mastered sojourning Canaan's terrain, he encountered a double black diamond slope. Notice verses 9 and 10. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. Now there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe. in the land. Let me draw two observations from this text. First of all, according to verse 10, Abram decides to leave Canaan to travel to Egypt. And, folks, he does this without a direct command from God. Somebody says, now, Pastor, there was a famine in Canaan. And Abraham was probably just using common sense. Indeed, he was probably following the other folks in Canaan, doing what other people of his day would have done. They're going down to Egypt to this fertile breadbasket where there was plenty of food, where he could be taken care of and survive. Can we really fault him for that, Pastor? Well, I think we can. And I think we should fault Abraham. for going to Egypt. Here's why. Throughout the Old Testament, God often uses famines for two purposes. Sometimes He uses famines for judgment. When His people are walking in wickedness, when they're disobeying His commands, God sometimes brings a famine. Other times, God uses famines as a mean of testing. to try to test his people's faith to see whether or not they're going to trust him. There are many passages, Genesis 26-1, 42-5, Ruth 1-1, 2 Samuel 21-1, and I could give you passage after passage where we have famines used as a divine test to see whether or not God's servant will obey. And I think God was testing Abram's faith. to see if Abram would continue to trust His Word. Now, let me pause here for a brief word of application. Brothers and sisters, it's often on the heels of spiritual growth and success that God will bring trials into our life. Perhaps, like Abram, we get off to a slow start. And I think we looked at last week the fact that for many of us, our conversion experience was not this super bolt of faith, but rather there were these false starts. There were these stumblings. But by God's grace, we finally recovered and we began to experience some success. We exercised faith. We trusted in God's Word. We began to obey. Changes took place in our life. And man, we were getting the hang of it. We were getting it down. We started to read our Bible. We started a regular practice of prayer. Regular at church. Wow! We're mastering the slopes of the Christian life. We're no longer beginners. We're on the intermediate runs. But that's where the danger sets in. That's where we begin to get cocky. We begin to get self-confident. We begin to rely upon our own strength. And that's when God says, this cocky Christian needs to be cut down a size or two. He needs to be reminded that he depends upon every word of God. And that's what I believe God was doing in Abram's life. Perhaps Abram had become self-confident. And so God sends a famine to test his faith. And how does he respond? Well, Abram goes down to Egypt without any word from God. Remember, folks, God had commanded Abram to go where? Canaan. No ambiguity about that. Abram knew where Canaan was. Folks, you can look on a map. Canaan is not Egypt. Egypt is not within the borders of Canaan. Two different places. God says, go to Canaan. That's where I want you to be. God never commanded Abram to go to Egypt. Now somebody might say, but pastor, did not Abram's grandson Jacob and family go down to Egypt? And did they not go down to Egypt with God's blessing? Some of you know the rest of the story of Genesis, and you know that's the case. And, of course, the answer is yes. But, friends, let me remind you that Jacob had a word from God. Indeed, when Joseph, his son, invited him to come down to Egypt, Jacob, the Bible says, was afraid. And God had to appear to Jacob and say, Jacob, don't be afraid to leave Canaan. This is an exception to the rule, Jacob. I have a plan. I want you to go down. I'm going to bring you back. But for right now, I do want you to go down and leave Canaan, go into Egypt, because I'm going to take care of you there through your son Joseph. And then later, I'm going to bring your people back to the land of Canaan. So Jacob and family had a direct word of God that warranted them to leave Canaan and to go to Egypt. Abram didn't have that. In fact, folks, I think a closer parallel to Abram's situation would not be the situation with Jacob, but rather the situation with his son Isaac. Look with me at Genesis chapter 26, verse 1. Now here, as we look at this passage, we encounter what we often refer to as déjà vu. It's the sort of feeling we get that, I've already read this before. I've seen this before. I've been here before. Something familiar about this text. Notice it says in verse 1, there was a famine in the land besides, or you could translate it, in addition to the famine, the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And so Abram's son Isaac is faced with the same trial as his father. That raises the question, what's Isaac going to do? How's Isaac going to respond to this famine? Well, according to the last half of verse 1, Isaac begins to move southward in the direction of Egypt. He makes it as far as the land of Gerar. But notice in verses two and three that Isaac receives a revelation from God. Then the Lord appeared to Isaac and said to him, Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land of which I shall tell you. Dwell in this land. And he's talking there about Canaan. Stay in Canaan, Isaac, and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all of these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abram your father." Folks, I believe God is warning Abram's son not to make the same mistake his father made. Not to step outside the parameters of the land of Canaan. God's going to take care of him. In fact, if you go on and read in chapter 26, Isaac sows and he reaps a hundredfold. God provides for his needs. God takes care of him. He didn't have to go down to Egypt. And I would suggest to you that neither did his father, Abraham. Now, let's go back to Genesis chapter 12. I want to make a second observation. from verse 10. I think we can conclude not only that Abram went down to Egypt without a word from God, but that Abram failed God's test and his move to Canaan was a step outside God's revealed will. He failed the test and he stepped outside the revealed will of God. To use my illustration, Abram got on the wrong chairlift. He was headed for a double black diamond slippery slope, not called the Wall, but it was called Egypt. It was a dangerous place for Abram to go, morally speaking. In fact, we can characterize Abram's time in Egypt as a period of backsliding. Just as I slid down my back physically, Abram slid down his back spiritually and morally during his time in Egypt. And that brings me really to the heart of our narrative. I want to highlight for you four or five moral failures that we can see illustrated in Abram's life, which occurred as a result of his unwise decision to leave Canaan and to go to Egypt. four or five failures in the life of this patriarch, which we see illustrated as a result of his choice to leave Canaan and to go to Egypt. Now, I had wanted to consider most of these, or maybe half of these this morning. I really wrestled as I was preparing this message, because I know as we come to this chapter, a lot of you are wondering, you know, Did Abram really tell a lie or does this count as a lie? Was it justified? I mean, people wrestle with this text, don't they? And we're going to see the commentators have different different opinions as to what whether or not Abram did, whether it was right or whether it was wrong. And and I really wanted to get into the heart of that. I'm not going to be able to do that this morning. We're just going to look at the first failure, which I think is somewhat foundational to all of the other failures that occurred as a result of his decision. First of all, Abram failed to seek God's guidance and protection. That's what we're going to look at this morning. Secondly, Abram failed to maintain his honesty and integrity. Thirdly, Abram failed to love and protect his wife. Fourthly, Abram failed to be content with what God had given him. And that one's going to be somewhat tentative. That's why I say four or five, because I'm going to present that as a possibility. Fifthly, Abram failed to keep his focus on the advancement of God's kingdom. All of those failures resulted because of Abraham's decision to go to a place he shouldn't have gone. All right? So this morning, let's just consider the first of those. Abraham failed to seek God's guidance and protection. Now we've already noted the fact that Abram never stopped to ask God what he should do in light of the famine. Did you notice that? He never stopped and asked God. Prior to verse 10, Abraham was building altars and he was doing what? He was calling upon the name of the Lord. Folks, Abraham knew how to pray. He knew how to inquire of the Lord. But we don't see him doing that. There's no altar building. There's no calling on God's name. Abram simply leans on his own understanding and he decides to go to Egypt. But his failure doesn't end there. As he approaches Egypt, he begins to anticipate a serious danger. In the ancient Near East of Abraham's day, it was not uncommon for men who had power and who had wealth to build and acquire women to add to their harems. In other words, men back in these days, if they were wealthy and powerful, they would often have several wives. If they saw a pretty woman, an attractive woman, and they wanted her, and they could support her, and they had the power to get her, they would do that. And they had these harems full of wives. Five wives, six wives, ten wives, twenty wives. Solomon had over three hundred wives. Somebody says, well, what happens if the pretty woman is married? What did they do then? Well, if they wanted the woman bad enough, and if they had the power and the might to get away with it, they could have the woman's husband murdered which would legally free her so that they could then take her as a wife and add her to their harem. You say, Pastor, you mean that really happened back then? Well, folks, I don't even have to take you to pagan history. I don't have to, you know, tell you about the Egyptians or the Assyrians. I can just simply take you to Old Testament history and point you to King David. Remember, David was a king. He was a powerful man. He had all that his heart could desire from a material perspective. And one day he saw a pretty girl bathing upon the roof of her house. Okay, and understand back then they didn't have pitched roofs like we do. They had flat roofs with a little fence around the roof. And they would actually spend time up on top of the roof of their house. And she was probably bathing in the sense of purifying herself as a woman would do. And David just happened to see her. And he says, she's attractive. She's pretty. I'm a powerful man. I'm the king, I can really have what I want. And so David took her. In fact, David lusted after her so much that he didn't even bother to murder the man first. He actually committed adultery with her first. And then once he did that, and once he became pregnant, it dawned on him, well, I'm going to have to get rid of the man. Or I'm going to have to figure out some way to cover this up. And he tried to cover it up, and that didn't work. So David finally had Uriah, her husband, murdered. Cold-blooded murder. The woman's husband was murdered so that then she would become legally free for that king to take her into his harem. That's precisely what David did. And folks, that's precisely what Abraham is afraid of. Look at verses 11 and 12 of our passage. And it came to pass, when Abram was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, Indeed, I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore, it will happen when the Egyptians see you that they will say, this is his wife. And what will they do? They will kill me, but they will let you live. Now, as the rest of the story unfolds, we learn that Abraham's fears were not without warrant. Indeed, the Egyptians found Sarai to be a very attractive woman. And it wasn't long before Pharaoh's servants reported Sarai's beauty to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh actually took Sarah into his harem. And we're going to look at that later. We won't be able to really examine that in detail right now. I know you have questions in your mind. Was that right? What's going on? Why did he let Pharaoh do that, etc.? ? But what I want to focus on right now is Abram's response to this potentially dangerous situation. Before he even arrives in Egypt, he knows this is coming. He knows this could happen. The question is, how does he respond? And what I want to underscore for you folks is that Abraham never stops and calls upon the name of the Lord in order to seek His guidance and protection. Never bothers to do that. Moreover, folks, not only do we know that Abram knew how to do that, but we know from our reading that God was in the habit of revealing Himself to the patriarch. God had already revealed Himself to Abram at least two or three times now. He wanted Abram to know His will. He wasn't trying to deceive or trick or hide Himself from Abram. Abram knew how to pray. God had revealed His Word to Abram. It wasn't that Abram was cut off from God's guidance or protection. The problem is that Abram was not seeking God's guidance and protection at this point. The problem is that Abram is no longer heeding the counsel of Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. There Solomon writes, Trust in Yahweh with all of your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all of your ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Brothers and sisters, I want to ask you this morning, have we ever made the same mistake that Abraham is here making? Have we ever been guilty of failing to trust in God and instead made the decision to lean on our own understanding. It all starts when we become negligent in our walk with the Lord. That's how it starts. We stop reading our Bible on a regular basis. We become slack in prayer. We no longer build altars and call upon the name of the Lord like we used to do. And then all of a sudden comes a trial and a difficulty in our life. Maybe we get laid off from work. And when you get laid off from work, what happens? The bills start to pile up. And you run out of money quick. What are you going to do? Like Abraham, you sense danger. Are you going to pray? Are you going to seek God's guidance from His Word? Or are you going at that point, because you haven't been regularly seeking God, you haven't been regularly building altars, calling upon the name of the Lord, are you going to lean upon your common sense? Your own understanding? You're going to reason something like this. Perhaps during this time that I'm laid off, I'll stop tithing. I'll withhold my tithe or I've got a part time job right now to get me by, but because it's part time, it's not that much money. And therefore, during this time, it's part I'm getting income, but I'm not going to tithe to the church. Because I'm not getting paid what I need to be paid. Or maybe you might reason differently. Maybe you might reason because of this trial, because of this famine, that you're going to be a little bit less than honest when you file your tax return. Or maybe you decide to take a job that requires you to work on the Lord's Day needlessly. It's not a work of necessity. It's a job that doesn't need to be happening on the Lord's Day, and it's keeping you from worshiping with God's people. But you're leaning on your own understanding now. You're doing what the other people in society around you are doing. And you're no longer sensitive to the will of God. What about the Christian high school or college student who's facing a big exam unprepared? Now, maybe the reason why you're unprepared is that it was just your own negligence and sloth. You didn't plan well. You shouldn't have went to the basketball game Friday night. Now the exam is tomorrow and you're really not prepared. Or perhaps it may have even been that the instructors instructions for preparing for the exam were unclear. Now, of course, you could have went to her and asked her ahead of time to clarify that you didn't. You weren't thinking at that time. Exam is coming. You're not ready. What are you going to do? You know that you need to maintain your GPA. Especially if you want to get that college grant or if you want to get on the dean's list. Well, maybe you'll cheat. After all, everybody does it. And you tell yourself you're only going to do it just this one time. You won't do it again. Nobody will find out. Nobody will know. I'll get the answers from somebody else. Folks, what's happening at that point? You're leaning on your own understanding. You're rationalizing. You're no longer walking in the will of God. Now, let me make a very important qualification at this point. And that is this, folks. It is not always wrong to use sanctified common sense. When the Bible warns us not to lean on our own understanding, it's not telling us to shift our minds in neutral. Solomon is not intending that every specific decision you and I have to make in life is going to be spelled out in black and white exhaustive detail in the Bible. And this is an important qualification because I'm afraid some Christians, and perhaps even as a pastor, I might be tempted to use Abram's mistake and I might be tempted to use Solomon's proverb and apply it in a way that's not balanced, in an oversimplified way. Something like this. Well, unless the Bible explicitly says do this, don't do that or do that, then we should not do it. If it says do this, do that, you do it. If it doesn't say do this, do that, you don't do it. Well, there's a sense in which that's true. But folks, in my opinion, Christians sometimes apply that in an overly simplistic and a less than biblical way. The will of God for Abram, listen to this, was as broad as the borders of Canaan. When Abraham arrived in Canaan, he built an altar at Shechem. But guess what? He didn't stay there. He moved on towards Bethel and Ai, and he built another altar there. And, folks, he had the freedom to do that. He had the liberty to do that. And then he moved on from Bethel and Ai. And look, folks, Abraham had the whole land of Canaan in which he could traverse and sojourn. That was the will of God for Abraham. And in the same way, folks, you and I Have the whole Bible. The will of God for us individually, as well as the will of God for us corporately as a church, is as broad and as narrow as the teaching of the Bible itself. Sometimes, on some issues, the Bible is very black and white. Do this. Don't do that. Very narrow. No wiggle room. But in other respects, the Bible is not always that black and white. There is a certain degree of liberty. There are parameters. There are borders within which we may roam. Let me give you some examples. And I think this is important, folks, for us to apply individually and also for us to apply as a church. Do you think it's right for us as a church to adopt and to affirm a man-made confession of faith? Where in the Bible does it tell us explicitly that New Testament churches are to adopt man-made confessions of faith? Indeed, where does it say that we have to adopt the London Baptist confession of faith? There's no explicit command. Let me give you another example. Where in the Bible does it say that we should have or may have a piano to accompany our singing? Some of you may be aware of this, but there are those who teach that because the New Testament doesn't mention a musical instrument, let alone a piano, that we shouldn't have one in worship. That we're violating the second commandment. Have you heard that before? There's a book that's been written which says that to have musical instruments is to violate the second commandment. Folks, that's equivalent to saying that we're worldly. We're in Egypt. We're in forbidden territory. Let me give you another example. Should a church ever use an overhead projector, either for teaching or for projecting the words of hymns on the wall to sing. Folks, listen, I'm not trying to push any agenda. I'm just raising these questions because as a as a Reformed Baptist pastor, I'm on a Reformed Baptist discussion list. And these are things that Reformed Baptist pastors are debating. And sometimes there's this idea that we have to have some explicit verse that says, use a projector. And if we can't find that verse, then we shouldn't do it. And I think that's a misapplication. Of God's intention. And it would be a misapplication to take What Abraham did here in stepping outside of the will of God and begin to denounce those kinds of practices as unbiblical just because God doesn't say in His Word, you shall use a piano in worship. I'm being a little bit sarcastic, folks. And I recognize that even when we're talking about confessions or we're talking about musical instruments and worship or we're talking about PowerPoint projectors, there are still biblical principles to guide us in maintaining proper biblical decorum in the church. OK, so please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying anything goes. We always have to be guided by biblical principle. We always have to stay within the borders of Scripture. But now listen, here's what I'm saying. We can be just as guilty of leaning on our own understanding when we apply the Bible in a wooden way or when we blindly follow tradition, whatever that tradition may be, whether it's Lutheran or Catholic or even Reformed. We can be just as guilty of stepping outside of the will of God when we blindly follow human tradition as the mega church down the street that never consults the Bible with respect to its practices in worship or church life. And what I'm saying, folks, is that we need to be careful to remain as broad and as narrow as are the borders of Scripture. Just as Abraham was to remain within the borders of Canaan, we're not to place our common sense above the teaching of God's Word. We're not to allow our common sense to take us outside the parameters of God's Word. And furthermore, we're not to twist and misapply the Bible to fit our own preferences and desires, because that also is going outside the borders of Scripture. The borders of Canaan may be broader than my preferences or your preferences, or even the preferences of our Puritan forefathers. We must not go down to Egypt. We must not engage in unscriptural practices. But folks, God has given us the whole land of Canaan in which to sojourn. And so let us strive to be no more broad and no more narrow than God's word. And with that, I want to just close with three applications or exhortations to the church. Number one, if you've been living a life of faith and enjoying the blessings of God, don't think that you're beyond a serious trial and testing of your faith. It may be that God's about to bring a famine in your life in order to test you as He tested His servant Abraham. And I'm not saying that to scare you, but I'm simply trying to remind you folks that God is in the habit of doing this. And He's often in the habit of doing it right on the heels of progress and obedience and blessing. Right when you think that you've made some strides in the Christian life, that's when God's going to test you. And so you need to be prepared. You need to stay in the Word of God. You need to keep building those altars to the Lord. And that leads me to the second word of exhortation. If you are not currently walking with God, then beware because you're leaving yourself vulnerable to a fall. And we're going to look at Abram's fall. It was a terrible fall. He tumbled four or five times down the hill. But I'm warning you not to follow his example. And right now, if you are not doing what Abram was doing earlier in the passage, that is building altars and calling upon the name of the Lord, then you better beware because you're in a dangerous place. I want to ask you, fathers, are you building altars for your family on a regular basis? Are you having family worship as a regular as a regular routine in your home. Now, your wife and kids are sitting right next to you. So, you can't be dishonest. You can't fool them. Are you building your personal altars? Consistent, personal study of the Word. Meditation upon the Word. Are you calling upon the name of Jehovah? Are you calling upon Jesus? Are you seeking His guidance, His provision, His protection on a regular basis? You say, Pastor, I have to confess, I've been slipping. I can look back. There was a period in my life where I was consistent, where I was fervent, where I was regular, walking with God, but I've slipped. Well, my dear friend, let me tell you, it's not too late to make a New Year's resolution. Why don't you resolve today to start building altars again and calling upon the name of the Lord and resurrect family worship on a regular basis and stay close to God? and seek His guidance for every major decision you make, even decisions that are hard, even decisions that involve famines. Don't just go with the flow of the world and make decisions like they do based on values that are apart from the Word of God, that don't consider the Word of God, but make your decisions based upon what God has revealed to you in His Word. Seek the Lord and you shall find Him if you seek Him with all of your heart. I have one last exhortation. If you've never obeyed God's call to forsake the love of this world and to flee to Christ, I entreat you to begin that journey of faith today. There may be some in this room who have never even started the Christian race. You're still in Ur of the Chaldeans. That is to say, you're still in the world. You haven't even obeyed God in that first, most important thing. He told Abram, go to Canaan. He tells you, go to Christ. Go to Christ. Leave home. Leave family. Leave possessions. Anything that's an idol, let it go. Go to Christ. Go to Christ. My dear friend, that's not a difficult instruction to follow. You don't have to have a Ph.D. You don't need to know calculus. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know what it means to go to Jesus Christ. You simply need to know that you're a sinner. that you're under the wrath of God, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to bear wrath, His own divine wrath and justice in the sinner's place, that whosoever should believe in Him should trust in Christ as Savior and be willing to follow Him as Lord, they'll be saved. They'll enter the sphere of God's blessing. They'll be, as it were, in the land of Canaan. Dear friend, some of you need to get there. You're not like Abraham backsliding in Egypt. You're still in her, in the world, and you've never made it to Canaan. I urge you today, obey God's Word. He says to you, get out of the world. Be willing to forsake father, mother, sister, brother, wife, child, money, possessions, everything the world has to offer, anything that's your idol. Forsake it all. Go to the Christ to whom I will reveal to you in the Bible. May God be pleased to give you the grace to do that today. Let's close in prayer.