Our scripture lesson is Genesis chapter 12, verses 10 through 20. Genesis 12, 10 through 20, which picks up after the call of God to Abram to come out of Ur of the Chaldeans into the land of promise, which he sojourned through, wandered through, and then, as we read, encountered a famine. And so he continues to journey, which we'll read about now in this part of the chapter. Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance. And when the Egyptians see you, they will say, this is his wife. Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say, you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake. When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And for her sake, he dealt well with Abram. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, female, male servants, female servants, female donkeys and camels. But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. So 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 so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go. And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him. and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had, amen. Well, as we've just heard now, the first story in the life of Abram after his call is not a happy one. It's not a noble one. It doesn't reflect well on Abram. It is instead an embarrassing account of Abram's cowardice and self-love. Think about it this way, the man God chose out of all the people in the world through whom to build a great nation and on whom he promised to lavish rich blessings, sacrificed his wife's honor for his own skin. we might have wished for a better start for Abram. We might have wanted to hear him called out of Ur into the land of promise and see him conquering or doing something valiant and faithful. And yet we can be thankful for what is recorded here in this first account after his call. It shows us that following God, which Abram was called to do, which we're called to do, following God requires much more than making a big spiritual decision. Abram made a big spiritual decision. But it requires much more than that. We may have said at one point in our life, I have decided to follow Jesus. But what next? What comes after making that big decision? This is the first recorded big challenge in Abram's new life. And in his case, instead of living by faith, he acted according to the flesh. And you know what that's like. Challenges, like the one Abram faced, challenges that evoke fear, can bring out the worst in us. Or they can teach us to trust in the Lord. There's a crisis moment here that Abram faces that you and I face on a regular basis as well. And even though Abram in this case failed, Through his failure, the perfect faithfulness of our Lord will shine through. And so this morning, we want to, first of all, make sure that we understand the story as given to us, and then draw from that story a few lessons that God is setting before us, and then use the lines that God provides in the story to go to Jesus and find our rest and our help. in him. So let's first of all consider the story, which we can do probably quite briefly. The setting of the story, you know, every story has a setting, a context, the moment in which the story takes place. And the setting of this story is a severe famine. And that's important. It's hard for us to process a famine, isn't it? Food shortages are hard for us to comprehend. We wouldn't know if the local crops had failed because, well, some of us would know, but others would not know because other crops, other foodstuffs would be shipped in from somewhere else. We might never feel it except maybe some price increase. And yet, because famines have always been common, they feature prominently in biblical narrative. And what happens during famines still today, and certainly also in Bible times, is either, as I mentioned, food must be brought into the place where it is in short supply, or the people living in that place must travel elsewhere to try to find food. And so Abram's decision in the midst of this famine to go to Egypt was natural. Egypt at this time was a world power with significant trade routes and mechanisms for bringing food from other parts of the world, and so could bring in food even during local shortages. And yet, this famine was more, is more to us, than a sort of timestamp that tells us about the setting in which Abram was following God by faith. It is a crisis. It is a hurdle. It is like that moment when you are walking and don't know which way to turn, left or right. What do I do now? That's a crisis. And we know from the text that this crisis induced fear in Abram and in multiple ways and called for a decision. And the big decision that Abram faced, which is the same decision that you and I face in every crisis, is this, would he trust God and maintain his integrity or would he compromise? Would he trust God and maintain his integrity or would he compromise? And so as this choice confronts Abram, he makes the decision to go to Egypt to find food. And I think it's important to recognize that the decision to go to Egypt itself is no sin. Again, it's natural. We need to find food. Who has food? Egypt has food. So the decision to go is not a sin. However, Abram's decision to go to Egypt does reveal throughout the course of the story elements in his own heart. It reveals his cowardice. It will also reveal his overabundant self-love. He knew that going to Egypt would be risky, and he ponders this risk. He shares this risk with his wife, Sarai. He feared that the Egyptians would see his wife's beauty and Little then would be able to stop anyone from killing Abram, who was a foreigner, sort of out of his place, out of his sphere of protection, and taking his wife for his own wife. And so Abram approaches his wife and binds her to say that she was merely his sister. In which case, Abram would have wielded at least a place of bargaining for anyone who wanted to acquire Sarai and perhaps he thought that by doing so he could stave off for a time, a potential marriage, get his food and get back to the country with his wife and with his food. But it's interesting the way Abram puts it. He not only says, say you are my sister, but he explains why. Say you are my sister that it may go well with me because of you. and that my life may be spared for your sake. Verse 13 puts it that way. So this is the plan that Abram has that he binds Sarah to stick with as they go to Egypt. And things in Egypt happened exactly as Abram suspected. After word of Sarah's beauty spread, we read in verse 15, the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And there is, I think, a sense of ominous ambiguity about what that phrase means. Sarai was taken into Pharaoh's house. We're not told exactly what happened when Sarai was taken to Pharaoh's house. Was she enlisted in Pharaoh's harem to be prepped for some months, as we read about in the case of Esther in chapter two? Or did Pharaoh have his way with Abram's wife Sarai? We don't know, we're not told. Interestingly, we are told in a very similar example in Genesis chapter 20 that the king in that instance did not touch Sarai, but here we're not told that. So we're not trying to speculate, but there's a sense of ambiguity in the text. She was taken into Pharaoh's house and Pharaoh says, I took her as my wife. We don't know what's happening in the meantime, but there's this sense of suspense and ambiguity, and yet we are told what happened to Abram. Whatever is happening to Sarai in Pharaoh's house, Abram is flourishing. He received from Pharaoh sheep and oxen, male donkeys, female servants, male servants, female donkeys, and camels. You wonder how Abram might have felt receiving all those gifts while his wife is in the house of Pharaoh. I wonder if you've ever, I wonder if you've ever cheated on a test and got a really good grade and came home with your test, and your mom and dad were so proud of you and lavished praise upon you. Well done, it's wonderful what you've accomplished, but you know that you've cheated to get that grade. I wonder if that's how Abram felt. What he did was not upright, and yet he's receiving all the praise and all the benefits for his action. It's difficult to know what Abram could have done in that instance, to regain his wife. He's got all this property now, all these servants and animals, that's fine, but how is he going to get his wife back? We don't know, and there doesn't seem to be a good way for it, and yet we read that, something that shouldn't surprise us, because we know about how God initiated a covenant with Abram, God remained true to his promise And in a sense, already he's beginning to fulfill Genesis 12 verse 2, which we read last time, in which God says, Sorry, verse three, I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you, I will curse. Now, we know that Pharaoh, in a sense, dishonors Sarai ignorantly. He was told a lie and he was acting on the information that he received, but he's dishonoring this bond of marriage. And so God, true to his promise, begins to curse. Pharaoh, verse 17 says, he afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. Somehow or another, Pharaoh perceived what was happening. He takes this woman into his home and soon after, his household is plagued. Perhaps Sarah revealed the real situation or Pharaoh put two and two together. Either way, we read that Pharaoh confronts Abram, asks a series of questions, which we'll consider in just a moment, and sent him out of Egypt with all that he had, including his wife. So what we see here is God blessing Abram because Abram was so faithful, right? No, not because he was so faithful. We see God blessing Abram despite his unfaithfulness. Abram was a man of faith. We'll read about that again in subsequent chapters. But this story is not a good look for the man whose name means exalted father. He comes out of Egypt with all these blessings, but probably, or at least we would like to think, with his head hanging a bit. So this is the story that God puts before us in his word. What are we to do with it? What lessons can be drawn from this text? And the text certainly does present Abram's negative example for our instruction. Now, the text itself doesn't elaborate on the instructions that it leaves for us, but Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 looks back on Israel's history and says, all the things that happened in the Old Testament were done for our instruction. So we can learn from these things. We can learn from the negative examples in 1 Corinthians 10. It's negative examples that Paul cites, which were done for our instruction. And certainly this is a negative example that we see in Genesis chapter 12. Abram, remember, was called by God, not just for his own benefit, but to be a light to the nations, to be a blessing to others. Through you, I'll bless others. But instead, what we find is that Abram is presenting to a watching world a poor witness of what it means to be a follower of God. He's putting himself first, not apparently caring about how his actions would affect his wife, and others, and he does bring by his unfaithfulness a curse instead of a blessing upon at least the house of Pharaoh. To help us learn from Abram's failures, the author, Moses, preserves for us several questions that Pharaoh asks Abram. And questions are such wonderful learning tools, aren't they? I know right now, for example, I'm talking. and you are listening, and you might be listening, you might be processing what I'm saying, or it might be sort of jumbling in your brain. But if I ask a question, what did you do yesterday? Now you have to think about that and answer that question. That's how questions function in the word of God. And so there's a number of questions that Pharaoh asks, which function in the text as a sort of catechism for temptation. questions that we might ask of ourselves in testing situations, such as Abram found himself in. Listen to these questions in chapter 12, verses 18. There's also questions in verse 19, which I won't consider as carefully, but notice there's a what question. and a why question, and both are very important. So Pharaoh asks Abram, after all has come to light, what is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Two questions, very important. And best asked in that order, as Pharaoh does. The first is a what question. This what question is seeking plain facts. What did you do? Now, it's interesting, of course, Pharaoh knows what he's done, but he's asking that question that's very important for Abram's benefit as well. What did you do? This question is very straightforward. It doesn't care about the hard circumstances in which we made a decision. It doesn't engage our motives. It doesn't allow for spin. It's very straightforward. What did you do? And honesty would have required Abram to say, we don't have his answers recorded here, But honesty would have required Abram to say, well, I sacrificed my wife and the household of Pharaoh. That's what I did. I lied and put my wife at risk and ended up jeopardizing the household of Pharaoh. I wonder if you talk to God like that. when you confess your sins. No self-justification, no rationale, no explanation of how this sin came about or how frustrated you were about your circumcision, just the facts, just the plain facts. Lord, this is what I did. I lusted. I gossiped. I was sinfully angry. This is a very good interrogation of our soul. What did you do? And that's a question that we ought to answer as we confess our sins to God. And then second, in line with Pharaoh's next question, we should press on to understand our motives. He says, why did you not tell me that she was your sister's wife? Now, it's important to understand this, to use this question properly. This is not a question seeking excuses. It's not a question seeking justification. It's not as if Pharaoh is saying, explain to me why you were correct in lying to me. and telling me that she was your sister, not your wife. He's saying, what was your motive? For what reason would you do this and bring harm on me? Motives don't excuse sin, but they can reveal our heart, which must be revealed if we will seek healing from God. What's the thing beneath the decision that we made that was sinful. What drove us to do that? Not that it was right, but why? Very important question. And Abram, if he were being honest, would have had to say, I was scared. Even more than that, I didn't trust God. I didn't think that God would provide for me unless I looked out for myself. Why did I sacrifice Sarah's honor and put Farrah's household at risk? Because I love myself more than others. I'm the most important person in my life. Or if Abram were to answer philosophically, he might have said, I acted as though the ends justify the means. And I know none of us here are philosophers, but we sometimes think that way too. Think about what Abram's doing here. He's saying, look, I need food. It's gonna be dangerous if we go into Egypt. So whatever way that I can come back with food, you know, in one piece, I'll do it. And we think that way sometimes too. I know I need this thing to happen. and it would even be a good thing if it happened. So however I get that thing, whatever compromises I make along the way, the means, the way that I get there will justify the achievement of the end goal. All of these might be answers that Abram would have given to the why. Why did you not tell me she was your sister? But at the heart of Abram's logic, in answer to the why question, there seems to be some contempt for God's providence. Now we couldn't really get that from Genesis chapter 12, but in chapter 20, we're going to see almost a repeat scenario, different location, change the names and places and so on, but he about does the same thing. And there, when Abram is answering the question, you know, how did this all come about? He says that he devised this plan to have Sarah tell people that she was his sister, not his wife. Listen, when God caused me to wander from my father's house. Look, I didn't choose this. This wasn't my idea. I'd still be in Ur of the Chaldees, a city probably with the ability to bring food in as well, just like Egypt did. But God caused me to journey, and that's when I devised this plan. Of course, God and his actions lie beneath the circumstances in Abram's life. But what Abram should have recognized, what we must recognize is that the God who tests, and surely this was a test, God bringing Abram out of Ur into a place where there eventually was no food, The God who tests also provides an honorable way out of temptation. That also comes from 1 Corinthians 10, now verse 13, where Paul is talking about the sins of the Old Testament saints. They are laid down as an example for us. But we must recognize that there's a way out of the temptations in which they often failed. And with that being the case, it's interesting that in Genesis chapter 12, We read about no instance in which Abram cried out to God for help at the start of this trial. Now, I'm not suggesting that Abram didn't pray. I don't know. But it's interesting, it's not recorded. And in the previous passage, there is record of Abram calling on the name of the Lord and setting up altars and sacrifices. But here we have this crisis of a famine, and it moves right into Abram going to Egypt. At least no reference to his calling upon the name of the Lord. And yet, in the days of Solomon, well after Abram, the Lord gives this instruction. 1 Kings chapter eight, this comes through. Solomon, as he's dedicating the temple, says, if there is famine in the land, so interesting, God provides instructions. It's like you got this manual and you're looking, you're like this troubleshooting manual. What do I do if there's a famine in the land? God says, if there's a famine in the land, my people should pray that I will hear in heaven and render or give to each whose heart I know that they may fear me all their days. So what do you do when there's a famine? You pray to God. You cry out for help. You say, Lord, I don't know what to do. All I can do is think of cheap schemes that are gonna get me food that would cause me to compromise my integrity and put my family at risk. I'm not sure, I don't know what to do. Lord, help me. This is the instruction that God gives. And that's instructional for us as well. When you face trouble, crises, when there is a famine in your life, not this exact kind of thing, but a situation that you don't know how to overcome. You may look at it and say, this is impossible. I can't bring food out of dust, Abraham could have said. And there's times when you'll feel the same way. When there's circumstances that test your faith, before you act impulsively out of fear or anger, or resentment, question your proposed action. Ask these questions beforehand. Pharaoh can only ask them afterwards. What did you do? Why did you do it? Let's ask these questions ahead of time. What am I proposing to do? And why am I proposing to do it? And is it honorable in the sight of God? And then ask God for help. and say, Lord, I don't know what to do here. I don't see any way out on my own. Would you please help me? And you seek help from other godly people and ask for insight and so on. Ask God for help, but then we may wonder, how do we know that God will help us? Well, that question can lead us thirdly to follow some of the lines that are in this text to the Lord Jesus Christ as the proof of God's love and the provision of our greatest need. And as we consider Christ in this passage, we want to first recognize that God blessed Abram despite his sin. Abram comes out of Egypt richer. He comes out of Egypt certainly with food, more than he had before. God blessed Abram despite his sin. Now, of course, this is not an argument for sinning that grace may abound. Paul entertains that question in Romans chapter six. Shall we sin that grace might abound? He says, no, certainly not. We should never do that. So the chapter isn't doing that, but it's teaching us rather the wonder of the gospel, the good news. of the gift of God for our greatest need. And I see in this passage both the setting as well as the sin of Abram revealing the glory of Christ and the treasure that we can find in him. And so how does the setting of this passage lead us to Christ? The setting, again, we read in verse 10, now, there was a famine in the land. And we remember, as we look to the New Testament, that Jesus also faced a famine. We read these remarkable words in Matthew 4, verse 2. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. And yet he never wavered in faithfulness, confronted at this moment of crisis. Sometimes we'll do almost anything if we're real hungry. He never wavered in his faithfulness. And so, Abram's failure doesn't just urge us to do better than he did. It points us to Christ when we fail to do better. Christ is the greater Abram, like he's the greater Moses, the greater Adam. God, of course, does provide a way out of every temptation as we considered, but sometimes we don't use his escape routes. There was a way out for Abram. There is a way out for you, but we don't use it. Sometimes we're not willing to use these escape routes. Sometimes we are willing and don't do what we're willing to do, Paul says in Romans 7, verse 18. And even when we're willing, and even when we do the thing that we ought to do, yet there is always impurity in our actions. The Belgic Confession puts it this way, we cannot do any work that is not defiled by our flesh and also worthy of punishment. So the text isn't calling us to be better than Abram. Because even being better than Abram is not being good enough. And so the Belgic Confession goes on to say this, our poor consciences would be tormented constantly, even if we're doing the right things, if our consciences did not rest on the merit of the suffering and death of our Savior. In your famines, you can rely on a faithful God. You are not relying on being good. making better decisions than Abram. That's not your comfort in life and in death. Your comfort is the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, even in your failures, or even in your best success, in which there is impurity. And so the setting, the famine, and the faithfulness of Christ, His own famine, directs our faith to Him. And then second, Abram's sins direct us to Jesus Christ. Unlike Abram, Christ loves his bride. Now, I'm not saying Abram didn't love his wife, but he certainly put her in a tricky position, to say the least. Christ loves his bride. Jesus never sacrifices her for his own advantage. Abram wanted things to go well with him because of her. In New Testament language, Abram should have loved his wife as his own body, but he loved his own body more than he loved his wife. He should have said, if we could imagine, Sarai, let's go to Egypt to get food. We've prayed to God for help, we've prayed for rain, we're entreating the Lord, but perhaps we should go to Egypt and we will face risk there. I may die because of the threat that will face us there, but I'm willing to do that. Instead, out of concern for himself, he willingly sacrificed her honor for his gain. And in so doing, Abram's failure highlights the perfect love of Christ for his people. Paul writes this in Ephesians 5.25, husbands, so Abram, men, brothers, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Abram didn't do that. Christ did that, does that, will always do that, always gives himself up for her. Abram, interestingly, really to the point here, dared not call Sarai his wife. It was true, she's his wife. It was also technically true that she's his sister. But the most true thing about Sarai in relation to Abram is not that she was his sister, but that she was his wife. And Abram dared not call Sarai his wife. But the book of Hebrews tells us this, that Christ is not ashamed to call us brothers. No hesitation, no fear, no self-interest. As a greater Abram, Christ went to the cross so that our lives would be spared for his sake. He gave himself for us. We've only begun our study of Abram, soon to be called Abraham. And what we learn already in this second story of his history is that committing to Christ, answering his call, is just the first step in the life of a Christian. After that decision, which is worked in us by the Holy Spirit, comes the harder part. As Paul puts it in Ephesians 4, the harder part is not the call. It's walking in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. That was Abrams. obligation. It's your obligation. You must do that. You must walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called. No challenge should shake you from it. No fear should cause you to resort to the works of the flesh. No sacrifice should be too great in following after Christ. And the only way to succeed is by looking to Jesus. He, as we'll hear in our text this evening, is the founder of your faith, and He is also the perfecter of your faith. Only He can complete it, perfect it, bring you to the place that your faith is tending. And so, brothers and sisters, run your race well. trusting in the one who has finished his race perfectly and even now intercedes for you. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your faithfulness in our lives. We thank you for providing this picture of a fallen man, striving to live by faith, coming short and needing to rely on the merits of your only begotten son, our savior, Jesus Christ. Help us to do the same in our day as well. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.