Leaning Towards Egypt

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Wednesday, July tenth, twenty twenty four. It is currently tenh eight am Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. So this morning, have you been leaning towards a certain decision? Have you been leaning towards doing a certain thing? And are you sure you are leaning and the right direction? Are you leaning towards doing something well this coming weekend? Are you leaning towards making a decision? Are you sure you are leaning in the right direction? Well, I think it's an important question. I don't know if I have any good answers for you. But the reason we're asking this question is all because of the May twenty second, twenty twenty four issue of the Sword of the Lord newspaper. May the twenty second, twenty twenty four Sword of the Lord newspaper. Yes, an actual newspaper. I know that's kind of antiquated, but an actual newspaper. And there is a column called the Preacher's Column and the Sword of the Lord newspaper

1:33 and on page ten. Well, they have an article entitled are Christians Heartless? Okay, so that goes all the way around. That was written by Billy's Sunday famous preacher, Billy Sunday. Okay. Then right underneath that you see these two words leaning wrong, leaning wrong. Now. I did kind of a kind of a little devotional kind of message on this. I believe I did it Sunday. It was more like, Okay, it's Sunday afternoon, it's about to be Sunday evening. Here you go, everyone, you know, go work on this. It was kind of more just presenting something for people to have something to work on the Sunday evening, especially because you know, we don't have in person services at Victory Baptist Church. So it was more like just handing people something like, hey, here's something you can work on this evening. All right. So I went through everything the article kind of presented, and then I kind of moved on. But I kept thinking about the article and this idea of leaning wrong, leaning wrong, because in the article they give what they present seven examples I guess of people leaning wrong. The first one is about Abraham leaned towards Egypt, Lot leaned toward sodom. David leaned toward unholy desire, Jehosaphat leaned toward worldly association, King Saw leaned towards his own inclination, has A Kaya leaned toward pride, and

3:06 Peter leaned towards self sufficiency. So the idea is, like, all these people leaned towards the wrong thing. They leaned in the wrong way. Okay, Well that you can see why this would be in the preacher's column. You could see why that would be there because any preacher who subscribes to the sort of newspaper would be like, well, there's a sermon series there. We go, right, I can turn that into a sermon series in three point two seconds, think you very much, sort of the Lord, and then they just take the paper, go to their study, start doing a little bit of work, creates some outlines, and you've got an entire series of leaning wrong. But I kept thinking about it because I had some kind of struggles with the concept, and we'll talk about that. So the key verse that they utilize for this is in Proverbs chapter three. If you do not remember Proverbs chapter three, Proverbs chapter three, verse five, we read these very very very very famous words Proverbs chapter three, verse five. Probably most of you have this scripture memorized, or you probably have tried to memorize it at some point in your Christian life. It's one of the most well known verses in the Bible. Here we go, trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding and all your ways.

4:27 Acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Well we start and Proverbs three five, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Now I will call into question if that is that even possible? Can you ever truly trust in God with all of your heart? Because we have to at least acknowledge that inside of us. I know we repeat this on this podcast so many times, but inside all of us is a sinful nature. And that sinful nature is never going to trust in God. It's always going to go opposite to God. It's gonna trust in everything other than God. It's gonna question God, doubt God, not believe in God. Now, want to submit to God. That's our sinful nature. It's inside all of us.

5:15 So can we ever truly trust in God with all of our heart? It's the same concept, love the Lord, that God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul. You can never accomplish that those that's law. Law reveals your inability to do so. So we have to put our faith in Christ. And guess what in Christ? Well, Christ did love God, the Father with all of his heart, mind, body, and soul. Right right, one God, three distinct persons, perfect relationship between the Father and the Son. Okay, so, and he did trust in God with all of his heart. So in Christ, his obedience to these commands are imputed to me. But practically, yeah, I want to trust God more. I just don't know if I can ever get there to trusting and with all of my heart. Next part, and lean not on your own understanding. Do not lean on your own understanding. Now, on one hand, I understand this right because our understanding is somewhat corrupted by sin.

6:17 Again, we have a sinful nature. That sinful nature impacts every part of us. Our desires, our feelings, our thinking, our emotions, and every part of us is impacted by our depravity. That's just a fact, right, That's how that's a basic Christian understanding of humanity, which makes it very different than say how psychology would look at it. We look at it very different. Work we're all corrupted. So I can understand why I should lean not to my own understanding because my understanding is corrupt. But do I ever really accomplish that. Look, I want to say, Hey, no matter what I do, I lean to the Bible and I let the Bible makes the decisions for me. I wish I could say that, But how many times have we read the Bible? We know the Bible, but we don't lean towards the Bible. We lean to our own understanding. We come up with our own justifications, we come up with our own explanations, we come up with our own excuses, and we come up with our own reason.

7:25 In many cases, it goes against We talked about this last night in a broadcast. God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. We're always in conflict with God's ways in God's thoughts. But we should try not to lean towards our own understanding. Now here's the issue though, when it comes to not leaning towards my own understanding and not leaning towards something wrong or incorrect, or lean towards something that's that leads to disobedience to God. Here's the problem inside of me, because of my sinful nature's there's nothing leaning. It's completely fallen. Over my sinful nature is completely fallen.

8:07 It's fallen and it cannot get up. It's completely it's messed up. So it's not that I'm leaning towards anything. I'm already broken inside. So but what I have to do then as a Christian is acknowledge, Okay, inside I'm all messed up, right now, I need to lean not towards the understanding that arises from within me, have to lean towards something that's outside of me, which is the Word of God, and which is why we don't believe in you know, God speaking to me internally or some in small voice. Now, the whole reason we have the Bibles that I can lean to something outside of me. That's the beauty of it, right, the Bible is outside of me. Now, what happens is we bring ourselves to the Bible. That's the problem. If we could keep ourselves out of it, and we do a lot, but we bring ourselves to it, and then we apply our understanding to the scripture, which then we're in trouble, right because our understanding. Sometimes then we'll manipulate scripture and do things with it.

9:03 It's a complicated issue, but we are to not lean to our own understanding. Now, these seven examples that I gave you that the sort of the Lord paper give, are these examples of people leaning towards their own understanding? And and what do we learn from it? Now? The article goes on to say, they give this statement, if we have any leaning towards anything, we are sure to fall to the thing towards which we lean. Now that sounds superspiritual. Let me read that to you again. If we have any leaning towards anything, we are sure to fall to the thing towards which we lean. So now it's saying, there's these things outside of us, and if we lean towards them, we are sure to fall. We are going to fall towards which everything we are leaning towards. But here's the problem.

10:00 We are already fallen. See it's not oh, I'm leaning towards that, so therefore I'm going to fall. I'm already fallen. That's why I'm leaning towards it. The reason I'm leaning towards questionable things, wrong things is the reason I'm leaning towards the wrong things is because of what's already inside of me. It's not the thing i'm leaning towards that causes me to fall it's my fallenness that causes me to lean towards the wrong thing. So to me, this is once again placing the problem outside of me. The problem isn't Oh, there's that thing, there's that person, there's that issue, and I'm leaning towards it. No, no, No. The reason I'm leaning towards it is because I'm already fallen on the inside. My external leaning is simply proof of my inward fallenness. Now, some people say, well, you're making an excuse. I'm not making an excuse. What I'm trying to do is acknowledge where the real problem is. Now. Should I lean towards the wrong thing? Absolutely not. Should I stop it? Absolutely But even if I stop it, which can be great from a human perspective, you know, no problems, no drama, whatever, you know. It avoids all kinds of pain and messy situations. Just from a theological perspective, I don't walk away now thinking I'm somehow great. I've avoided that, but inwardly I still am a mess and I'm broken. So it says, if we

11:31 have any leaning towards anything, We're sure to fall. I will argue, we're already fallen. That's why we lean towards other things. We are sure to fall to the thing towards which we lean, I will say, we're sure to fall because we're fallen. My fallenness guarantees one thing. Your fallenness guarantees one thing. Are you ready that you will sin? End of story? You will sin continually, perpetually. If you take your life, your desires, your feelings, your emotions, your thoughts, and you place it before God, which is perfect and holy, you are in a perpetual state of sin. If we're going to be honest with God's standards. So then the article goes on to say, well, after it just gives that little statement, if we have any leaning towards anything, we are sure to fall to the thing towards which we lead. Now, again, I don't know how many pastors out there, but there's going to be pastors who have this sort of the Lord paper. They're going to take that, they're going to use that as their opening statement, and then they're just going to teach these seven things that demonstrate people leaning towards the wrong thing, and no they're not going to actually try to process this. That's why I hate the concept of churches teaching theology and not doing theology. See, once you transition from teaching to doing, then you will have everyone go, hey, guys, see the possible problem with it. See if we look at it from this perspective,

13:03 then we're kind of placing the issue externally. If we look at it from this situation, we're acknowledging it being internal. But if it's internal, then how do we understand the leaning? Well, the leaning is a result of the internal fall on this. See, then we have to start processing it and working on it. So what I want to do, and I guess this is probably going to turn into a series, right, Probably wasn't my original intent. But we're going to go through all seven of these examples. So I'm going to give you the I'm going to give you all seven again. I'm going to give you the scripture references so you will write them down, and I'm going to give you some assignments to do. Are you ready? So first I'm going to kind of give you I'm just going to remind you, give you some assignments. Then what we're going to do is we're going to start working on it by looking at the first one today.

13:48 All right, So here are the seven again. Number one, Abraham leaned toward Egypt. Genesis twelve ten through Twentyis twelve ten through twenty. Number two, Lot leaning towards sodom Genesis thirteen verse ten, Genesis nineteen seventeen. Lot leaned towards sodom and comp Well, I won't read everything they have here, So Abraham leaned towards Egypt Genesis twelve ten through twenty. Lot leaned towards sodom Genesis thirteen ten. In Genesis nineteen seventeen, David leaned towards unholy desire. Second Samuel eleven two through four. Jehosah Fat leaned towards worldly association. One Kings twenty two, twenty nine through thirty two. King Sauw leaned towards his own inclination. First Samuel fifteen ten through twenty three. Hezekiah leaned towards pride, Isaiah thirty nine. Peter leaned towards self sufficiency. Luke twenty two, thirty three, Luke twenty two, fifty six, and fifty seven. Those are the scriptures. Now here's what you need to do. First, just go through and read each one of these sections five times. Just go read each one five times. Just read it. Some of those sections are very short, the one with Hezekiah, that's all of Isaiah thirty nine, so

15:18 that one may take you a little while, but you were in no hurry. Just start reading these and then using the sermons two point zero app I want you to start looking up random sermons on each one of these passages. So Genesis twelve ten through twenty find a random sermon Genesis thirteen ten or Genesis nineteen seventeen about a lot leaning towards sodom. Just find any sermons on those passages of scripture, random ones jehosaphat one, Kings twenty two to twenty nine three, just one sermon for each one. Just choose a random one, and then just take some notes and write a you know, a very short summary of what the sermon was about. So read each one of these sections of scriptures five times, and then look up random sermons for each one of these examples. And you cannot count any of my teaching or my broadcast.

16:07 That is a no, no, right, I don't count, right? Got it? Now? Are you ready, let's do this so lean. I want to just make sure we stress this the whole The key verse here is lean not on your own understanding. What I'm going to do is, I'm not going to go to these examples and say, oh, they were leaning in the wrong way, this way or that way. I'm going to look first and foremost how they were leaning, not towards their own understanding. Is what I'm going to do, and then we'll just see what we can find. The first one is Abraham leaned towards Egypt. So let's go to Genesis chapter twelve, Genesis chapter twelve. Let's see what happens. Genesis chapter twelve, Genesis twelve. We have verse ten, Genesis twelve ten. All right, here we go Genesis twelve ten. Everybody ready, here we go Genesis twelve ten. It's gonna work through this in real time. You know how I like to do this so well, I don't know where we're gonna what we're gonna discover, but we're gonna discover it together in real time.

17:25 Right, So, everybody's got their bibles out this Wednesday morning. Let's do a little work. Here we go, Let's dig in Genesis twelve ten. Now, there was a famine in the land and Abram his name hasn't been changed to Abraham yet, and Abram went down to Egypt a famine in the land. So the land that Abram was in a famine hits and he decides to go down to Egypt. Now, the article on the Sort of Lord newspaper, they say this, Abram leaned towards Egypt in unbelief and soon found himself crippled by it. So what they are saying is that what Abraham does in Genesis twelve ten he leans towards Egypt, which is really a symbol of leaning an unbelief. He faced a circumstance, and when he encountered the circumstance, he leaned towards Egypt, and that leaning demonstrated unbelief. His entire leaning towards Egypt was one of unbelief. This raises a very important question. So I'm going to pose the question this way. Are you ready? Was it wrong for Abram to go to Egypt? Was it wrong? Was it an

18:57 indication of un bel or is that simply how preachers have preached it all of these years. Typically I will hear something like this, Egypt is a is a symbol of the world. Egypt is a symbol, and it symbolizes the unbelieving world. When Abraham did, he faced difficulties and instead of turning to God, he turned to the unbelieving world for support and for help. And so then the sermon will turn into how do you lean towards the unbelieving world when you face difficult circumstances? And what can you do to demonstrate a life of belief and trusting in God and not caving too difficult circumstances? And everybody will say, amen, oh, that was so convicting. Think you, pastor, that was awesome. I tell you, when you start looking up sermons on the sermon's two point oh, app you're probably gonna find a lot of sermons that go that exact direction, because I don't know how many sermons I've heard on this. My argument is again again that how people approach it, we have to be willing to question and challenge things. I want to ask the question to you, is it wasn't wrong what Abraham did here?

20:11 Just imagine. Okay, now I know we're not in church, so say the good thing is doing a podcast. People don't have the church mentality because you're sitting at home, you're in your car, You're not you're not so prone to give me the church answer. Come on, right, Try to imagine you live, Wait, thousands and thousands of years ago, a famine strikes. That's pretty bad. In fact, that can mean death. That can mean you could wipe out your entire lives, all your livestock, that would be all your wealth. You could lose food, people could starve, people could die. A famine is a relatively serious thing at that time. It's even very serious in different parts of the world today. Famine can kill a lot of people. So that's not like it's like, oh well, it's not like it's just a bad day. I woke up, my tire was flat, it was raining, and I didn't want it to rain, and then McDonald's got my order wrong. It's not like, you know, it's like a serious, life threatening situation. So you live thousands of years ago, you face this life threatening situation. What do you do now?

21:21 I think that we all, come on, we gotta be honest here. We're all gonna lean a little bit to our own understanding. Are we not remember proverbs? Now? We are not to lean not to our own understanding. But I think it would be inevitable that we would. Now, now the question is is it wrong for Abraham to lean to his own understanding? Here? Is it inherently wrong? Now, let's go back. So that's Genesis that starts in verse ten, Right, that's Genesis twelve ten. Let me read it to you again. Genesis twelve ten. Now there was a famine in the land. Clearly that that now is the idea that something dramatically has changed, and Abram went down to Egypt. It sounds like, now, I know the text does not offer any great detail, but it feels like a famine hits boom. Abraham is like down to Egypt, where I'm I'm not sitting around to wait, We got to go find food. In fact, look what it says, Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. So it's like, it's so bad, He's got to find a place where there's food, and well, Egypt is the place where there is obvious food. Now again, though, is this wrong? Well, if we go back to the nine verses preceding it, let see if we get any clues. Now, the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country, from your family,

22:52 from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, curse him who curses you, and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Now, the first thing that jumps out at me from just a practical smoke is God seems to be speaking directly to Abram. Now. If God is speaking directly to you, and now I find myself in a very difficult circumstance, I may be going, Okay, God, since you've been speaking to me, maybe this would be a good time for you to speak to me now because there's a severe famine in the land. But we have no record of God saying anything. Which is one of those mind altering, mind blowing situations. To me from a scriptural standpoint, right like this is what this is? What would bother me?

23:48 If God was speaking to you and then all of a sudden you face a famine and God's just like silence, I'd be like, Hey, what's up? Now? Maybe Abram was just under the pression that God speaks when he wants to speak. And if God doesn't speak, then the decision is mine. If God wants me to go, if God wants me to do a certain thing, he will tell me. And if God doesn't speak up, well then I get to make my own decision. Let's at least remember this. Abram wasn't walking around carrying an old or new Testament. Okay, Abram wasn't walking around. Let me pull up my Bible and figure out what I'm supposed to do here. Hey the oh look, any revelation of God at this point would be everything that happens before Genesis chapter twelve. All right, there's no Bible, right, Sometimes we put Abram like Abram, just read your Bible. Abram doesn't have a bible. Everyone does. Everyone understand that God has spoken directly to him. If God doesn't speak directly to you, well, is he gonna go look up the Bible and do a Bible study? He can't do that. What does he see? Famine? What does famine mean? Very bad situation? What do you do when there's a famine? You go find food? So is he doing something wrong? Is he really leaning towards unbelief. Now you could argue, he is leaning towards his own understanding. But let me ask you, where else can he lean If God is not speaking to him, where else can he lean? Now

25:19 some will argue, well, God just said he's gonna do all these things for you. But does God say he's gonna feed you in the middle of a famine. He doesn't say that verse four. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Now you could argue, he's already not following exactly what God said, but he's following some of it. God tells them to go, he goes. Abram was seventy five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarah his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all 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 of the place of Shechem as far as Tabethbeth Terminith, a tree of Mora and Uh, and the Canaanites were in the land all right, So now please note here this is interesting. You notice he takes Now we could argue, does he's bringing Lot, his brother's son, all of their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Iran, and they departed to go into the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land of the place of Shechem as far as Ta be Benth tree of Mora, and the Canaanites were in the land. Now, what I think is

26:55 fascinating. That means Abram has a lot of people with them. We don't know exactly how many people, but please note and the people whom they had acquired in Iran. So he's got Sarah, he's got Lot, and he's got all these people. Now just keep that in mind. If Abraham is kind of the leader and he's got all these people with him, if he's got all these people with him and then a famine strikes, well then hey, even if he says, even if he's like, well, God said he's gonna do this for me. God has not given any indigation. He's going to take care of all these other people. So then lot. Then Abraham, in his mind would lean towards his own understanding, like, I got to find food so these people don't die. So is it wrong?

27:38 Is it wrong for him to lean to his own understanding? When you when you add that that situation there, I wasn't even thinking about that. When you add that situation there, you're kind of like, well, wait a minute, He's got multiple people with him. God's not made any promise to those people. Now you could argue, is he supposed to have any of these people? Now, we could make an argument there, But then look at verse seven. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, to your descendants, I will give this land and there will and there he built an altar to the Lord. And he appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched a 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 towards the south. God appears a second time. Now God doesn't say, hey, why do you have these people with you? God doesn't say anything like that, doesn't rebuke him. And then the next verse, now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe. Guess what we don't have. God doesn't step in and say anything. God doesn't say, He doesn't speak to him. So what is Abram to do? Now? We can go to lay not to your own understanding. Now you some may argue, well, we don't have no record of Abram seeking God. Maybe maybe that's the case, But in these other cases, do we have any record

29:10 of Abram seeking God? It sounds like God sought out Abram and God did initiated the conversation. Why wouldn't God initiate the conversation here? So I did a little work here just thinking about this and trying to look up different sources and see how different people approach this. And in my notes I have this and the biblical account of Abram's journey to Egypt in Genesis twelve. There is no specific prohibition or instruction given by God that would have made Abram's decision inherently wrong. All right, now, again, so let's take all the information that we have in front of us, all the information that we have in front of us. Right, let's just take all this information. Abram is obeying God. He's getting up and leaving. He's moving, He's moving as God has told him to get up and leave. Now he's brought people with him. We could argue whether right or wrong. God has spoken to him directly two times. The second time he doesn't rebuke Abram for having these people with him. He doesn't say it's wrong. God doesn't say anything about it.

30:27 Right, They're moving on. So Abram's got a lot of we don't know how much people. We'll say he has multiple people with him. God has made no promise about necessarily these people he has with them that he's picked up in Iran. We have nothing. So he has no assurance that God's going to take care of him. And really we don't even have any specific assurance given to Abraham at this point or Abram at this point that God's going to necessarily feed him or take care of him. But God speaks twice of famine hits. Abram's got to go. I've got I'm responsible for these people. The feminist severe, Let's go to Egypt now. The article says, hey, Abram lean towards Egypt. And unbelief. And I know that's how it's always preached, but is it really unbelieve? And if he's leaning towards Egypt and unbelief, and this is a bad idea, ladies and gentlemen, that any reasonable Bible student should raise their hand and go. And then why didn't God just step in right here? God could have stepped in. Go Abram, Abram, stop, stop, turn around, Do not go to Egypt. Don't go to Egypt. I have not instructed you to go there.

31:40 Do not go there. Now some may argue the directions God gave him, Abraham is possibly violating those, because if you look at it, get out of your country, from your family, from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. I will make a great nation. I will bless you all that. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarah, his wife, Lot, his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Iran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.

32:22 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem Terbin tree of Amora, and the Canaan knights were in the land. So he goes to the land of Canaan. Now, if that's where he's supposed to be, If that's the land, Guy's like, go to this land, this is the land I'm giving you. Then could we argue, and I'm just I'm raising every question possible. Then would it be wrong for Abraham then to leave that land because God told him to go to that land. He didn't tell him to leave that land. But at the same time he gets there, now there's a famine. Does God step in and go wait, wait, wait, hey, hey, hey, stay right here, stay right here. He doesn't, So I know we want to imply that it was wrong. What I guess, what I want you to see is there's a lot of ways to look at this situation. I know preachers like to make it black and white. What I kind of love about this is there is really kind of a little bit of ambiguity here. It's a little bit more gray than it is black and white. Yes, God told you to go to the land.

33:29 God spoke to you twice, but a famine showed up. God doesn't speak to you. You gotta figure something out. Now is it wrong for him to lean to his own understanding? Some could argue, well, God told him to go to the land of Cannon, he should have just stayed right there even if people started dying. But then when he had been a good person to let these other people star because he's gotten no guarantee that God's going to step in and feed him. So is it wrong? There is no clear prohibition against him going to Egypt. See, that's the thing. God didn't say, go there and stay no matter what, just go into the land that I'm gonna show you. There seems to be no prohibition.

34:12 And as one source says, to see, let me read it clearly, there is no prohibition or instruction given by God that would have made Abram's decision inherently wrong. So can we say it's wrong? Can we say Abram leaned towards Egypt and this was wrong? Now, I think if we had twenty people in a church, there would probably be all kinds of disagreements on this. Oh, there would be so many disagreements. I guarantee you people would like it was sonful, it was wrong. But I think a lot of that is because you've been told that in preaching. Can you just say it's wrong? And of course we condemic is Proverbs three even in effect for Abraham or Abram? I mean three has not even been written at the time Abraham is making this decision. We can say, lean not to your own understanding, Abram, you're leaning towards your un to understand. There's no there's no prohibition given about leaning towards your own understanding. Yet that comes in Proverbs way after Abram is dead. But we can take that concept and go, Okay, what if we were in the similar situation, what would we be what?

35:24 What would be right? What would be wrong? According to the biblical narrative, God had promised to bless Abram and make him into a great nation. Some interpretations and some interpreters argue that by seeking refuge in Egypt out of fear of the famine, rather than trusting God's promises, Abram may have been demonstrating a lack of faith in God's ability to provide for him and his family. Some say, see, he's not trusting God. He should trust God who is the provider. But has Abram seen anything about God providing at this point? Like, why would he base that off of? What would he base that off of? I mean, did he learn that in Sunday School?

36:17 Did he learn that? Where would he have learned that God? Hey, God will provide, It's guaranteed. Did God promise that He's going to provide? Like, it's just like, hey, Abram showed a lack of belief. He was in unbelief, he feared, he doubted God. But I just don't know like God has spoken to him. Got Nowhere in God's speaking did he say, Hey, I've got your back. I'll take care of everything. You just go to Canaan. Trust me, everything will be fine. God doesn't really give him much much information. So, based off what we have in the actual recorded text, is it wrong for Abram to go, you know what, there's a famine here. I gotta do something.

37:00 I gotta do something. I got I have to come up with a solution here. Additionally, Abram's decision now, okay, well we know what's going to happen here. Right, Well, we'll read that paragraph in a minute. Let's see what happens here. All right, So so we have God appearing twice. Now the famine is in the land. Abram went down to Egypt to do twell 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 Sarah, 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 you are my sister, that I may be well with me for your sake, that I may live because of you. Now Abraham makes a decision. We got to go to Egypt to get food. Now is that leaning to his own understanding? Well?

38:08 Yes, again, is there a prohibition against leaning to your own understanding at the time, or Abram, we want to impose that on the text. I don't know if there really is. There's been no prohibition or instruction given to Abraham that would make it wrong to go to Egypt. But when he gets ready to go to Egypt, he realizes, oh, now, okay, we got a problem here. There's danger here. Now again, at this point, is this demonstrating a lack of trusting God. Is he kind of leaning towards unbelief now again? Does he really understand what God has promised or not promised? Does he really grasp that? Does he really think what God has stated is obviously nobody can kill me. I don't know if he would have interpret it that way. We may interpret it that way. I don't know if Abram would have now immediately though he is. I think we can argue, I know, maybe maybe again if we look at it in its historical context. You know, I hate to say it. In this time, the women are not necessarily treated as you know, great possession.

39:12 They they're they're they're treated as possessions, not something necessarily of like, you know, a person to be concerned with their emotions or feelings, because you kind of look at it like this is kind of messed up. Hey, hey, Sarah, look here's the deal. Like, you're my sister. If they take you, they take you. If they wouldn't have relations with you, that that's that's not my problem. Your job is make sure I don't die. It's it's it's hard to read it and and and not kind of just kind of cringe and kind of goes this seems like it's kind of hard not to look at this, going, Abram, you coward, stand up for your wife? What is your what is your problem? I think there's a part of us. I think that's okay to struggle with. But at the same time, there's a famine in the land, so it's like, you know, we got to come up with something. And Abram may be like, hey, if I die, you're all you are all going to die. Because I'm the one leading this. I have to So I don't know, like you could go through all kinds of justifications here now, please don'te though he comes up with this plan once again, God has literally intervened and spoken to Abraham twice. But the famine happens and Abram starts making this decision and there is no intervention from God zero zilch, verse fourteen.

40:45 So it was when Abram came into Egypt that the Egyptian saw the woman that she was very beautiful. All right, of course there's you know, just as Abraham predicted. All right. The Princess of Pharaoh also saw her and commanded commended her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house. He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, ox and mel mel donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels. So Abram's like, bring in the money, show me the money. All right, there was a famine in the land. But now I'm getting paid. I'm getting rich here. Okay. Now, well, I mean they took my wife, and I don't know what's going to be happening to her, but I'm gonna be okay. Hey, guys, make sure we got a good inventory of all the cattle. All right, Hey, everything's good.

41:37 I mean, I mean my wife. Who knows what they're doing with my wife? But that's okay. We're getting paid. I mean, it's hard not to kind of read it that way. Now, this is the part that blows my mind. This is the part that is so perplexing to me. But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarah, Abram's wife. You know, when I read that, I'm like, whoa wall, Wait a minute, Now, God shows up. God, now intervenes. Hey, God, you could have intervened when Abram was deciding to go to Egypt. You could have intervened and stopped the famine. You could have intervened before. Abram was like, sorry, Sarah, I they're gonna come and take you. Good luck. I'm gonna get paid. Yeah, you could have intervened at any poet. You don't intervene at you intervened twice prior to this. Then what's Sarah sick? Then you intervene? Why the intervention? Then it seems so like what is going on? So he plagues Pharaoh Pharaoh then starts getting pine. Now Pharaoh didn't do it. Shouldn't you be blamed? Shouldn't Abram be the one being played, not Pharaoh?

42:52 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, what is this you've 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 go your way. So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all they that he had. And then look, then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and a lot with him to the south. Abram was very rich, and livestock, silver and gold. Abram got paid, Abram got paid. So did Abram really lean to his own understanding? Did Abram really lean towards Egypt?

43:45 And unbelief? As some of the sources say here, Abram's decision to present Sarah, his wife, as a sister to Pharaoh in order to protect himself could be seen as a deceptive act motivated by self preservation. This action led to a series of events and ultimately resulted in Pharaoh being plagued and eventually sending Abram and his family away from Egypt. Was this now, you could say, okay? Abram's decision to go to Egypt? Was that leaning towards his own understanding? His decision to hey, Sarah, you're my sister, now, okay? If they take you, they take you? Is that not leaning to his understanding? Is all of his actions demonstrating leaning to your own understanding? But is there any actual prohibition in anything he has done? Can we say that it's actually wrong? Is it somewhat understandable from a purely pragmatic standpoint? And what again? And my real issue with the text, I know everyone wants to focus on what was Abraham right or was Abraham wrong?

44:50 I'm more perplex was where in the world was God? If God is literally intervening and speaking directly in two places before this, God to step in at any point and avoided the whole situation, So why doesn't he? Now does he not step in? Because this is all a part of his plan? Now, if it's all a part of his plan, please understand that that gets very questionable from a philosophical standpoint, because if God knows Abraham's going to do this deceptive thing, now, is Abraham committing any sin? Is anything he's doing a sin? Well, because again we don't have any of God's laws prior to this, So can we judge these actions? Is the way we would judge actions? Well, that's deception and that's basically lying. Lying is wrong? Well, is there a mandate against lying? At this point?

45:47 Can we judge Abraham according to the laws that are given? After? Are we? How are we to really judge this? Now? If we say that what he does is wrong, that it's a sign of unbelief, a lack of faith, and it's using deception and using pragmatism versus faith, if we're going to judge him and condemn it, well, God kind of set him up perfectly for it. So then God, then God kind of wanted this to happen, right, we never, We don't like to struggle with that question. Well, there is no explicit commandment or prohibition from God regarding Abraham's journey to Egypt. Some interpretations and some interpreters suggest that his actions during this time could be viewed through the lens of faith and trust in God's promises. This event may serve as a lesson about the importance of relying on God's guidance and provision even in challenging circumstances. Interpreting Abraham's decision to go to Egypt in Genesis twelve ten can be viewed from various perspectives, so throughout Church history, these are some of the perspectives people have had in Abraham's decision or Abram's decision to go to Egypt and his actions while he was there. Some see this as simply a pragmatic decision. Some interpretations suggest that Abram's journey to Egypt was a pragmatic decision driven by the need to find food and provision during

47:19 the time of famine. Egypt was known for its fertility and abundant resources, so Abram may have chosen to go there to ensure the survival of his family and livestock. Now here's the question is pragmatism Is a pragmatic decision always wrong? Hey, lean not to your own understanding? Anytime you lean to your own understanding, or anytime you make a pragmatic decision, are you leaning to your own understanding? Now? Now I know the regulative normative principle is typically used inside a church. Right. Regulative means you can only do in the church what is specifically instructed or you have a clear example of. If you don't have a clear instruction or a clear example, you cannot do that in your church. I don't care what it is. If there's not a clear instruction or a clear example, you don't do it in your church. I don't care. I'm sorry. That's going to ruin a lot of your activities.

48:23 That's going to ruin a lot of your little get togethers. But the Bible does not command, it, does not instruct it, and doesn't even give an example of it. In fact, Paul tells people stuff, don't you have homes to eat in, go home and eat. You come to church to partake of the Lord's supper, not pot luck, not in Agape feast, go home to eat. So the Bible would basically limit what churches most, what most, What churches do, all of their activities and their fun and their food and all the so much of it has no command in scripture. So most churches, even if they claim they follow their regulative principle, they violate it like crazy. Now, the normative principle means the church can do anything where unless there is a clear prohibition against it. If there's not a clear prohibition against it, they can do it. They don't need an instruction or a command to do it or an example. All they need is they can do anything unless you can find a clear prohibition against it.

49:22 Well, that sometimes turns into a free for all. Well, when it comes to your life, when it comes to making a decision, can you only do what is specifically instructed and commanded and where you have an example, or can you do anything unless there's a clear prohibition against it. Well, when it comes to pragmatic decisions, you're making a pragmatic decision in your life, you're probably the way you're going to operate is I can make any decision as long as there's not a clear command against it. I don't necessarily need a specific instruction or a specific example. Well, in Abram's case, is this Let's say it's a pragmatic decision. We're gonna starve, there's food.

50:07 Oh wait, Sarah, they could kill me. That would mess this up? Do this all pragmatism? But is it sinful pragmatism? Is he violating a command? I don't think he is. So can we say that Abraham leaned towards Egypt and unbelief and then found himself crippled by it? Did he find himself crippled by it? I don't think. I don't think the articles come He didn't find himself crippled by it. He got rich. Okay, he profited from it. He didn't get crippled by it. He got He was in an uncomfortable situation, But he's not the one who was plagued. Pharaoh was plagued. Pharaoh was a little ticked off, but he gets sent away better off than he arrived, and they survived the famine. So is it simply a pragmatic decision? And can we say that it's wrong? Another way some people look at this is that everything Abraham does and he does here is a complete lack of trust in God. Another interpretation considers Abram's decision to go to Egypt as a lack of trust in God's provision and protection. Instead of relying on God to sustain him during the famine, Abram took matters into his own hands and sought security in Egypt, potentially demonstrating a lack of faith.

51:24 Do you interpret this as Abraham leaned towards unbelief because of the circumstances which he faced. Oh, that preaches so good, that preaches I can make that, I could preach that. Hey, when you face circumstances that are difficult, when you face circumstances that you see and you experience, which calls into question God calls into question everything, you forget the circumstances and you trust in that God whom you cannot see. You trust in that God who may not be intervening. You trust in God who may not be speaking that. See, that preach is so good. But I don't know if that's what this text is telling us. Is this just an example of Abram making a pragmatic decision or is this an abraham an example of Abraham not trusting in God?

52:19 Well, why would he trust in and again, I'm going to go back to it. I know nobody likes to say this. Where was God? It's amazing he could, he could, He could show up and intervene and speak the beginning of Genesis twelve. A little bit later in Genesis twelve, but once the famine hits, God goes silent. He does not intervene, He does not do anything until he decides to plague Pharaoh. Well, if you're gonna plague Pharaoh, why didn't you just take care of the situation before that? Faith tested. Some interpretations view Abrahm's to Egypt as a test of faith orchestrated by God. This event served to test Abram's trust in God's promises and to demonstrate his reliance on God even in challenging circumstances. It could be interpreted as a pivotal moment in Abram's journey of faith. So some people say God did orchestrate all of this, and it did serve as a purpose to basically try to show Abraham, I will ultimately take care of you, because I've entered into a covenant with you, and i will take care of you. So he allowed him. God went silent, so that Abraham would get in that specific situation. So God then could demonstrate that he will keep his promise to Abram based off the Covenant, foreshadowing themes from a symbolic perspective.

53:50 This is how maybe many who would approach Genesis well from a symbolic perspective, they see Abram strip to Egypt may foreshadow future events or themes in the Biblical narrati. It could serve as a prelude to later instances where individuals face trials of faith or struggle with trusting God's guidance and provision. So they may say, if we just look at it from a more symbolic this just is foreshadows how throughout the Bible people are going to have difficult circumstances and they're going to make decisions. In many cases, their decisions will not be one of trusting God, but may be one of pragmatic consideration or dare I say, leaning towards their own understanding. But I don't know if I see this as a symbolic I think this is a historical account, and I think that we have done some things to this historical account that may not be necessarily fair to the text. Some another interpretation suggests that Abram's journey to Egypt was a strategic move to establish alliance or secure favor with the Egyptians. This perspective views Abram's actions as part of a larger plan to safeguard his family and resources navigating a foreign land. So some say what Abraham was doing was, Hey, Egypt just got all this part, let's try to go get a good relationship with him. But that didn't really work out so well, right, because when is Pharaoh's like, get out. I don't think you really made a strategic alliance. I don't understand that interpretation. We're going to reject that one,

55:21 not another interpretation. Abram's journey to Egypt can also be seen as a lesson in the consequences of human decisions. The events that unfold during this time in Egypt include the deception regarding SARAHI illustrates the repercussions of straying from God's intended path and the importance of seeking his guidance. Now again, see I struggle with that. See Abraham was wrong because he did not seek God's guidance. That to me is ridiculous. God is the one who's initiated all conversations up to this point. If God doesn't step in, what is Abram supposed to do?

56:02 God could have stepped in, said Abram, what are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? Turn around, go back, Abram, Come on, now, don't put Sarah in this position. But no, he goes silent. Next thing you know, he's plaguing Pharaoh, and Pharaoh gets punished for Abram's deceit, Abram's decision to go to Egypt and Genesis twelve to ten. The interpretations can vary, ranging from pragmatic consideration to spiritual insights about faith, trust, consequences, and a broader theme within the biblical narrative. Each perspective offers a unique lens through which to understand the significance of this event in Abraham's journey and in the broader context of biblical teaching.

56:49 Now, I don't know which one you want to go with. I don't know which where you live where? Oh wait, we're gonna go. I don't know which way you're leaning. So what do you think about Abraham's decision here? Now? Some of you are going to be dogmatic. It was wrong, It was wrong, It was wrong. Please know there's no prohibition against what he did. There's no instructions against what he did. You can't go find a scriptures and laws that are placed or given by God, you know, five hundred, six hundred, eight hundred years a thousand years later, and then impose them back on Abram. You cannot do that. Abraham was living at a time where what revelation he had from God is basically what God has given him. For the most part, they don't have a lot and maybe stories that they were told about Abraham, about Adam, Eve Noah, maybe stories that were handed down, they have no written record.

57:42 He can't just do a Bible study. God tells him to go. He goes. The next thing, you know, there's a severe femine in the land, and the decision has to be made, and he makes it very I think it is fair to say a pragmatic decision. We got to get to Egypt because we're gonna die. Now if we go, I'm going to die. So Sarah, here's the strategy to keep me alive. By keeping me alive, then we can help preserve everyone. Now, Sarah could have been taken and you know, who knows how that could have went down. But then when it's all said and done, God intervenes and protects him. Now does show God ultimately keeping his covenant promise? Right? Is the point of this story is Abraham's pragmatic decision put them in a very dangerous situation, and as even though they their decisions, we were at least questionable as far as how it was all going to ultimately play out. God intervened, demonstrating God will keep his covenant promise even when the people fail, and even when the people put themselves and very i won't say fail, even when people put themselves in situations that could have resulted in well, everything going wrong. Right.

58:58 Why? Because Pharaoh could have been so mad he could have killed Sarah and Abram. He could have killed all he could have He could have taken everything from Abram. He could have said, you did this to me, I'm taking everything from you. Get out. But God intervened, Sarah was protected, and Abraham walks out unscathed and better than he entered. I think this is more of a proof that God will keep his covenant promise even when people do things that could call into question your your your self preservation, Are your you existing the next day? Is this about Is this more about God remaining faithful even when we act somewhat in a a foolish way or a questionable way. I don't want I don't want to put heap too much judgment on what Abram does here. Now, when I was young, the way I preached this is the way I was always taught. Abraham did not trust God.

59:55 Do you trust God? But there's no prohibition, there's no instruction. So how do you interpret this? Now? I want you to go listen to a sermon today on Genesis twelve ten through twenty. All right, Abram leaned towards Egypt and unbelief and soon found himself crippled by it. I'd completely disagree. I don't know if. I don't know if you can say he leaned towards Egypt and unbelief. I don't even know if we can say that. And secondly, I don't know how he found himself crippled. He came out unscathed rich. Now you could argue that when they come up out of Egypt, you could argue, where is it now? Sarah Abrams had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian made servant whose name was Hagar.

1:01:07 Now what they did they pick up hagar in Egypt. In other words, they left not just with money, they left even with servants. And one of the servants was Egyptian. And well, they're going to use hagar. Does that become the part that cripples them is what they obtained in Egypt? Now again, once again, God could have stepped in and said, no, you can't take any servants, You got to leave these people behind. But God doesn't intervene. The lack of God intervening and intervening at different intervals sometimes is baffling to me, which always raises the question for me is And I know nobody likes to say this theologically, but you have to almost acknowledge that. And I think in every one of these situations we're going to see and all seven when we look at all of these, but we definitely see it in Abrahm. God could have stopped this a million different ways, and he doesn't. And there's millions of times in your life and my life.

1:02:08 God can intervene. He doesn't have to part the Red Sea, he doesn't have to sin plagues. He could intervene in very very small ways that would in reality probably prevent sin, stop sin keep sin from happening, and God doesn't step in in any way she performed. I mean, he can step in a way that would keep it from even happening, but he doesn't. Now I'm not excusing sin. I'm not excusing sin. It's still sin. But it seems to demonstrate sometimes that God almost allow I think we have to say allow sin, does not prevent sin, because he obviously has some kind of purpose ultimately in it. Now that makes it very difficult when you're looking at someone who's involved in sin, because on some way you've got to say that that sin. But in the other way you can say, well, God could have stepped in fifteen different ways to stop this from happening, but he doesn't. I mean, if God can step in and go hey, Abram, come go, God literally speaks to him, go, well, then God could step in it in time. Abram, what are you doing? Stop? No no no no no no no no no no no no, do not sleep with Hagar. Don't. And it amazing how well one moment God is speaking, next minute he doesn't. Like. That's something we should all struggle with if you care about the Bible. All right, there's the first lean I don't know. I don't know what to do with that first leaning. I don't know. Do I take proverbs and apply it

1:03:43 to abram I don't know. All right, NEWSI fit yahoo dot com. That's news if Yahoo dot com news if it yahoo dot com. That was a long discussion, covering a lot of different perspectives to end with really no definitive answer, but maybe, just maybe it will give you pause the next time you hear a sermon on this that just goes all in and not really consider all of these questions. So thank you for listening. Everyone, Have a great day. God bless