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A Closer Look At Genesis 20:1-7, The Righteousness Of God #genesis20 #righteousness
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Feb 19, 2025
Abraham and Sarah had just been told that they would have a child after the Lord visited them. Mind you they were both well advanced in years, and scripture clearly says that Sarah was past the child-bearing age. So this child that was coming was purely from the Word of God, it was the child of promise Isaac. Abraham had been tested by God and he failed some of the tests and passed the others. He was going to be tested again; he went into the territory of the Negeb where Abimelech was king of Gerar, and as was his custom he told Sarah to pretend she was his sister for fear that he may die at the hands of the people. God intervened miraculously to preserve Sarah from being violated and we read this in v7 Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” We’re going to be exploring this passage today and see how it relates to the righteousness of God that HE bestows on His chosen ones. See video
View Video Transcript
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hello good morning and this is taiva
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types.com
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and today we're going to look at genesis
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20 verse 1 to 7
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and the title of the message is the
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righteousness of god
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so what i'm going to do first is i'm
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going to give you a background
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and then we're gonna jump into what this
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means to us today
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so let's go into the background so
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basically
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um abraham
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and sarah had been told in genesis 18
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that they would have a child and that's
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when god visited them
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and god came with two angels and then
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from then on he went to
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sodom to destroy the city so what i want
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you to remember
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is abraham and sarah were both
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well advanced in years and sarah was
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passed
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on the childbearing age so the child
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that was
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that was going to be born was purely
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from the word of god
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by faith so he was called the child of
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the promise
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isaac so now abraham had been tested by
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god
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on several occasions he failed some of
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the tests and he passed
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some of the tests and then now he was
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going to be tested again
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for for the end time so what he did was
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he
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went into the territory of the negev
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where abimelech was king of gerard
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and as was his custom he told sarah to
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pretend
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she was his sister now sarah was
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technically
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abraham half sister but they had been
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married for years and they were both
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like well advanced in years
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so the reason why he did it is because
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he didn't want to die
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because he felt like they were going to
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kill him so he told her hey pretend to
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be my sister
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so they can take care of me so again
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he basically put his wife in jeopardy
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and
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god intervened miraculously to preserve
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sarah from being violated
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and as we're gonna go to genesis 20 i
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wanna zero you know verse
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seven scripture says now then return the
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man's wife
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for he is a prophet so that he will pray
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for you
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and you shall leave but if you do not
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return her
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know that you shall surely die you and
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all who are yours
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so basically god issues a strong warning
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to abimelech in a dream and so we're
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going to explore
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this passage today and we're going to
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see how it relates to the righteousness
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of god
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that he bestows on his chosen ones so
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the first thing we're going to do is
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we're going to read the scripture
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and then we're going to go and then
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piece it
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verse by verse so genesis 20 verse 1 to
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7
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from there abraham journeyed toward
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on the territory of the negeb and lived
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between qadesh and shaw
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and he sojourned in gerar now abraham
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said of
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said of sarah's wife she is my sister
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and abhimalek
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king of gerar sent and took sarah but
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god came to abimelech in the dream
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by night and said to him behold you are
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a dead man
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because of the woman whom you have taken
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for she is a man's wife
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now abhimalek had not approached her
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basically scripture
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had been like had not slept with her so
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he said
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lord will you kill an innocent people
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did he not himself say to me she is my
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sister
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and she herself said he is my brother so
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they both
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uh concocted this lie and the scripture
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says in the integrity of my heart
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and the innocence of my hands have done
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this
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then god said to him in the dream yes
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i know that you have done this in the
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integrity of your heart and it was i who
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kept you from sinning against me
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therefore i did not let you touch her
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now then
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returned the man's wife for he is a
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prophet
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so that he will pray for you and you
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shall leave
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but if you don't if you do not return
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her know that you shall surely die
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you and all who are yours and this was
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the verse of our focus so now what we're
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going to do is
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we are going to piece this like verse by
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verse now the first thing
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what we read in verse one and two from
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there
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abraham journeyed or journeyed toward on
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the territory of the negeb and lived
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between qadesh and shaw and he saw
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jeremiah
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in verse 2 and abraham said of his wife
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sarah she is my sister
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so what what are the observations now
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the people of the negeb
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were pagans they did not believe in the
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god of the hebrews they did not believe
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in the lord
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so abraham's concern for his safety was
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legitimate
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i'm not gonna say he wasn't legitimate
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because he was so but the thing is this
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it wasn't the first time that abraham
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had told sarah to lie
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about their relationship so we're gonna
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go to genesis 12
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verse 10 to 20 and we're going to read
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about it
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so let's read genesis 12 10 to 20.
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now there was a famine in the land so
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abram went down to egypt to sojourn
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there for the famine was severe in the
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land
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when he was about to enter egypt he said
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to sarai his wife
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i know that you're a woman beautiful in
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appearance and when the egyptians
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see you they will say this is his wife
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then they will kill me
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but they will let you live say you are
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my sister
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that you may go well with me because of
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you
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and that my life may be spared for your
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sick whenever i
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entered egypt the egyptians saw that the
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woman was indeed very beautiful
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and when the princes of pharaoh saw her
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they praised her to pharaoh
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and the woman was taken into pharaoh's
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house and for her sake
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he dealt well with abram and he had
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sheep
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oxen male donkeys male servants female
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servant female donkeys and camels
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but the lord afflicted pharaoh and his
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house with great plagues because of
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sarai abraham's wife
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so pharaoh called abram and said what is
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this you've done to me
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why did you not tell me that she was
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your wife why did you say
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she is my sister so that i took her for
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my wife now then here is your wife take
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her and go
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and pharaoh gave man orders concerning
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him and they sent him away
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will be with his wife and all that he
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had now
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think about this for a second
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pharaoh probably laid with sarah
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you know he had probably she became his
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wife basically because
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scripture says and for her sake he dealt
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well with abram so this
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has gone on for this had come on for a
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while and god
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finally intervened so i just want you to
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keep that in the back of your mind okay
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then back ahead
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now let's go back to what we are reading
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today so we just read
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genesis 12 10 to 20. so abraham
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abraham and sarah they had made that
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agreement before and some believe the
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seller might have been
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violated and i think she was and god
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intervened and afflicted the people
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in order to save sarah while abraham was
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enjoying the felicity of
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egypt so there is no indication in
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scriptures that he was bothered by the
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fact that his wife became pharaohs
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i i don't read that in scripture so
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imagine how sarah felt
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her self-worth like this was crazy
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imagine your husband basically says hey
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pretend that you're my sister and then
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she goes and leaves with another man
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in the meantime abram gets all these
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benefits
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okay and finally god intervenes on
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behalf of sarah and he saves her from
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that place now fast forward okay several
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several years later they're both like
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pretty old now like
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nine probably 99 and um
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cells probably 90 okay and god had just
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given them a promise that isaac was
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going to come
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so after all these years abraham still
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hadn't passed that test
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he was jeopardizing his marriage again
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but even worse
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he was now jeopardizing the plan of god
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god had announced that both sarah and
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abraham were going to have a child
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isaac but because of his fear abraham
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was literally
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interfering with god's plan by putting
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his wife in a compromising position
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think about it god has just told them
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listen you're going to have a child
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next year at this time so now he goes
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into the territory of the negeb
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and in gerar and now he pretends again
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that sarah
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is his sister and now on the king of
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gerard bimalek
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takes sarah home and now he's now
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putting god's plan in very
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bad in a very bad place because now god
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said i'm going to bring a child and i
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imagine why would happen
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if abhimalek had been with sarah
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keep that in the back of your head and
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let's keep going
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so verse two to three and i've been like
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king of garage sent and took sarah
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but god came to abimelech in a dream by
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night and said to him
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behold you are a dead man because of the
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woman whom you have taken
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for she is a man's wife so
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basically god intervenes to save sarah
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and to preserve her integrity
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by sending a strong warning to abimelech
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in the dream
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now had abimelech laid with sarah people
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would have probably questioned
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who isaac's real dad was they would have
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questioned it okay
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now do you see the gravity of the
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situation so i want
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i want you to pause for a second and
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talk about let's talk about mary
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okay the mother of jesus many people
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have questions uh i've questioned
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mary's integrity accusing her of being
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unfaithful to joseph for
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them being together before they were
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married now if god
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preserved the integrity of sarah because
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because of isaac how much more do you
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think he will preserve
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the integrity of mary because of his own
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begotten
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son jesus you see what i'm saying like
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this is how much god cared about sarah
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and isaac
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and his plane how much more do you think
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he puts value on mary
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and the coming of jesus christ his own
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son because
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when people talk like that this is
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blasphemous they need to be careful
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now what i'm saying here is this you see
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that god intervened
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where abraham failed because god wanted
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to preserve the integrity of his plan
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no one is going to mess with god's plan
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he was going to bring isaac
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and abraham was basically putting his
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wife
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in jeopardy but at the same time he was
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also jeopardizing god's plan
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of bringing isaac this was a dangerous
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situation
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so we read in verse four and six now
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bimalek had not approached her
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which means he had not touched her or he
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had not been with her sexually
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so he said lord will you kill an
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innocent people
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did he not himself say to me she's my
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sister and she herself said he's my
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brother
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in the integrity of my heart and in the
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innocence of my hands
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i've done this then god said to him in a
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dream
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yes i know that you've done this in the
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integrity of your in the integrity of
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your heart
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and it was i would kept you from sinning
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against me
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therefore i did not let you touch her
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god
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took this personal abimelech's heart was
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softened because the lord
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softened his heart he didn't resist the
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word of the lord as pharaoh did
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see hence the lord kept him from sinning
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against god
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you see that god took it personal like i
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said god said
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he was i who kept you from sinning
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against me because god was about to
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bring
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isaac and that would have completely
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destroyed the integrity of sarah and the
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integrity of
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isaac and everything else they would
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have questioned his paternity
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okay so god's plan will come to fruition
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and no man can twist it or thwart on the
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plane of god
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so the lord was gracious to abimelech
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now the next verse is the verse
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of our focus the verse seven so far all
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we've seen is that abraham
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failed at the test and abimelech was
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kept from sinning against
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god and sarah's integrity was preserved
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now what about abraham so far there's no
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mention of him and we're going to read
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what verse 7 says
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now verse 7 says now then
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return the man's wife for he is a
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prophet
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so that he will pray for you and you
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shall leave
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but if you do not return her know that
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you shall surely die
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you and all who are yours now
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i don't know about you but when i read
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verse 7 the first time
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i was completely flabbergasted because
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i'm thinking
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abraham was responsible for the problem
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that had taken place yet god
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called him a prophet and god actually
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commanded
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abimelech to go to abraham so he could
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pray for him
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so that god could refrain from killing
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him
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and the entire people of gerar now
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keep that in mind it just didn't make
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sense to me like i was thinking okay
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what is going on here
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i thought to myself is this how god
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rewards a sin
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okay i guess like you know we read in
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romans let us sin so that grace may
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abound
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but god forbid i realize that i
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misunderstood what was taking place in
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this verse
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god was actually shown how he grants his
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righteousness
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to those who don't deserve it okay and
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he also
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showed in this verse that he disciplines
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those whom he loves and we'll see how
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he did it keep that in mind god's
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righteousness
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see scripture say now then return the
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man's wife for he is a prophet so that
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he will pray for you and you shall leave
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okay so if abraham had been able to
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preserve sarah
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then he would have had something to
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boast about first of all he did not
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trust god that means he put
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he trusted in his own ability to to to
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kind of make up stories to preserve his
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int
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to preserve his life so he did not trust
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the lord so had he been able to like
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protect sarah he probably would have
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been bragging and boasting about it at
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some point
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but here god declares him a prophet
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a righteous man based on god's own word
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it wasn't abraham
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abraham didn't deserve to be called the
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prophet is by god's word
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god's own declaration god said he's a
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prophet
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based on god's own word okay
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abraham didn't call himself a prophet
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the lord declared him a prophet in
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keeping with ephesians 2 verse 8-9
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scripture says
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for by grace you have been saved through
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faith and this is not your own doing it
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is the gift
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of god not a result of works so that no
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one may boast
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abraham could never boast about anything
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he was justified by god's word
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not his works okay now this isn't a
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license to go on sinning so that grace
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may abound
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and i'll show you why i want you to put
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your thinking caps on for a minute just
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think about it
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imagine abhimalek comes to abraham and
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said
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the lord say to your prophet and that
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you pray for me and i will leave
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now i want you to think about abraham's
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prayer to the lord what was he like
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do you think abraham went to god in
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prayer and said god
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i want you to forgive abimelech because
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he
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took sarah against my wishes no abraham
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was facing his own shame and his own
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failure
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because i don't think abraham had to
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actually abraham probably prayed first
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that god would forgive him for what he
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had done
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this is the second time he did it in
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egypt and now he's doing it again in
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gerar
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so basically i'm sure his prayer went
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like this oh lord please
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i'm a wretched man forgive me for i
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don't deserve your grace and your mercy
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and i'm a man of unclean lips forgive me
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for what i've done because i failed
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to preserve my wife and i failed to
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preserve the integrity of your plan so
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please forgive me lord
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forgive me for what i've done i'm
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ashamed and i confess my sin before you
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i know i have failed you and i know that
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what i've done
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was completely unacceptable but lord
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because you are gracious
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you forgave me and you declared me
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righteous in your sight by your own word
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so forgive me and enable me and
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strengthen me so that i don't do this
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again
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now lord please may you forgive
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abimelech
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may you also heal him because i know
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that i've done this
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but please because you are gracious
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forgive him
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this is probably how abraham's prayer
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went i don't think he went there and say
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hey lord
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forgive him for he took my wife now
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abraham had to face his
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own failure and he then he understood
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the righteousness of god because
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god imputed him with the righteousness
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that was foreign
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to abraham he wasn't abraham's own
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righteousness god declared
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him a prophet okay so he had to face his
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own failure and he repented of it i'm
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sure he repented
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okay this there's no way abraham could
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tell god forgive a bible like for taking
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my wife there's no way
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he first had to ask the lord to forgive
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him for not protecting his wife
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remember what scripture says in
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ephesians 5
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husbands love your wives as christ lord
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of the church
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and give him support for her in order to
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preserve her
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in order to make her holy washing her by
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the
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washing of water with the word that she
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might be holy and blameless
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in his sight abraham didn't do that he
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didn't
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um he didn't like the scripture says
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husband loves your wife as christ loved
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the church he didn't love his wife
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as christ loved the church in order in
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order to make her holy
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by giving him himself up abraham didn't
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do that he gave up his wife
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for his own safety he did the opposite
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so i'm sure when he was praying
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he faced that and he repented of it so
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i'm sure he was probably one of one of
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the hardest prayers abraham prayed
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and i don't think he had a cavalier
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attitude as if god was rewarding his
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behavior so don't read the scripture
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and misread it because god was doing
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killing basically two birds with one
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stone thereby presenting this to abraham
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and say
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what are you gonna do about yourself and
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then now god gave him the strength
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to admit his sins and to be forgiven and
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to be declared righteous in god's sight
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based on god's own word and that's what
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i wanted to focus on
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so what can we learn what do we learn
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from this the scripture says
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god leads us in paths of righteousness
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for his name's sake
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that's psalm 23 and god will always
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preserve his integrity
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integrity we are declared righteous not
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because of what we've done but because
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of what god
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has done and because of god's own word
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and our righteousness has been imputed
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to us
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there is absolutely nothing we can do to
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earn a right standing before god
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apart from god himself accomplishing
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that on our behalf
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and god does not encourage sin but he
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uses our failures
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to point the weakness of the sinful
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nature and his ability inability to
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please god i'll read that again
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god does not encourage sin or rewards
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sin but he rather uses our failures to
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point the weakness of our sinful nature
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because we are unable to please god in
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the sinful nature
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so that we may fully rely on his spirit
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and that's what i believe
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was taking place in his passage god is
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now in the business of rewarding sin
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so when you read that story understand
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that what god was doing was he was
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first showing that apart from him we
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cannot do anything
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this is what jesus said apart from me
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you can do nothing remain in me and i'll
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remain in you
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and abraham could not preserve the
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integrity of his wife
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and the integrity of god's plan apart
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from god himself intervening
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and declaring abraham a prophet so god
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had to come
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and work in abraham in that process and
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i'm sure abraham learned a lesson about
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righteousness because righteousness that
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we have is a righteousness that has been
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applied
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to us by god himself so we take no
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credit
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for it at all it's all god's work
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so i want you to really zero in on that
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and then go back again
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and read it again yourself and then see
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if the holy spirit himself enlightens
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your mind to understand the scripture
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okay have a wonderful day and i'll see
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you next time for another study thanks
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for watching