The sermon opens with Genesis 20, the account of Abraham and Abimelech, framed by an illustration of a horse being trained to jump increasingly high fences: when a horse balks at a fence it has never cleared, a good trainer does not force it over that fence but returns it to easier jumps to build its courage. Abraham, the sermon argues, is being brought back to a fence he has already failed at once before — claiming Sarah is only his sister out of fear — and although he fails here a second time, God is patiently forming him for the far greater trial of Genesis 22. The chapter is read against the backdrop of Genesis 19, where Lot is contrasted with Abraham: Lot is rescued from Sodom only by God's remembering Abraham's intercession, yet he is saved "as through fire," in Paul's language from 1 Corinthians 3 — his household, wealth, and family are consumed, his wife dies, and his own daughters entangle him in the shameful origin of Moab and Ammon. Abraham, by contrast, is called the father of the faithful, yet the honesty of Scripture is stressed: even its heroes fail repeatedly, and this candor points every reader away from human merit toward Christ, the one man who obeyed perfectly even unto the cross.

Abraham's failure here is that he pressures Sarah — effectively blackmailing her — to say she is his sister, in order to protect himself, and the sermon notes that our most painful temptations often come not from enemies but from those closest to us: a spouse, a parent, a child, a boyfriend or girlfriend who says "if you really love me." The sermon presses this outward: whether we realize it or not, our daily choices shape the people around us, in our families and small groups, either building others up toward Christ or dragging them down — and Abraham, called to be a blessing to all nations, instead assumes the worst of Abimelech's unbelieving people and thinks only of his own safety. His own words in verse 11 — "I thought there was no fear of God in this place, and they would kill me" — expose that his sense of security mattered more, in that moment, than obedience to God. This, the sermon names as idolatry: anxiety over the future, the need for control over life's outcomes, the pull of comfort (illustrated by Melbourne as one of the world's most comfortable cities, contrasted with the real risk of church planting in Springfield), and the fear of others' opinions (illustrated by parents who want their children in church, but not "too much," and who resist when a child feels called to seminary) — all can quietly outrank obedience to God and so become idols requiring demolition.

Yet grace surrounds the failure. God warns Abimelech in a dream, and Abimelech's household comes to fear God — God can use even unbelievers to rebuke and refine his people, and the sermon adds the testimony of an atheist who refuses Christ precisely because he knows his life would have to change, a backhanded witness to conviction. God restores Abraham to his calling, healing the wombs he had closed in Abimelech's house, which also becomes an encouragement to Abraham and Sarah, still childless twenty-five years after the promise. A closer reading of verse 13 — "when God caused me to wander from my father's house" — suggests Abraham speaking as though wandering aimlessly, doubting that God's plan is truly good, which the sermon identifies as Satan's central strategy in every temptation: convincing us that God's will is not really best for us, as with Eve in Eden, contrasted with Job, who lost everything yet never doubted God's goodness. The philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff's grief memoir "Lament for a Son," written after his son's death in a climbing accident, is offered as a modern psalm — an honest, unresolved lament that still runs toward God rather than away from him. Failing to trust that God's plan is good, the sermon warns, produces either the rebellious younger son of Luke 15 or the joylessly dutiful elder son; both are healed only by returning to the cross, where God who did not spare his own Son proves he will freely give us everything we truly need. The sermon closes with the hope of progressive sanctification: presently we see Christ only as in a dim mirror, but we are being changed from one degree of glory to another until, face to face, that transformation is complete.

Bible Verses Used

• Genesis 20: The main text — Abraham again claims Sarah is his sister, endangering Abimelech, until God intervenes, rebukes, and restores him.

• Genesis 19:29: God "remembers" Abraham and rescues Lot, framing Lot's rescue as owed entirely to Abraham's intercession, not his own faithfulness.

• 1 Corinthians 3:11-15: Cited to describe Lot as saved "as through fire" — his life's work consumed even as he himself is spared.

• Genesis 20:11,13: Abraham's own words revealing that fear for his safety outweighed obedience, and that he speaks of his calling as aimless wandering rather than trusting the promise.

• Matthew 6: Referenced for Jesus's seven reasons not to be anxious, applied to the idol of worry underlying Abraham's fear.

• Job 1:21; 2:9-10: Job's steadfast trust ("the Lord gives and the Lord takes away") is contrasted with Abraham's doubt, showing Satan's tactic failing against Job.

• Luke 15: The parable of the prodigal (and elder) son illustrates the two failure modes — rebellion or joyless obedience — that flow from not trusting God's plan is good.

• Romans 8:32: God's not sparing his own Son is the ground for trusting that he will supply all we need.

• 1 Corinthians 13:12 / 2 Corinthians 3:18: Our present, dim knowledge of Christ and our ongoing transformation "from glory to glory" until we see him face to face.