Abraham's life demonstrates that even great faith can falter, as seen when he lied to Pharaoh about Sarah being his sister, fearing for his life. This deception stemmed from doubt in God's provision during a famine, leading him to seek refuge in Egypt and become entangled with the world. The sermon highlights that while Abraham sinned by doubting, lying, and losing his testimony, he ultimately learned to return to God, confess his sin, and re-establish his altar at Bethel, finding forgiveness and renewed strength. The core lesson is that despite our failures, we can always return to God, confess our sins, and find His faithful forgiveness and provision.
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with empty hands. Father, I pray that thou will speak to my heart. I pray for each one of the audience here that we'll have receptive ears to hear thy quiet, still voice speaking to us. Lord, we're a needy people living in a tremendous time, living in a time when there's darkness coming across the land. We're living in a time of great trouble. But we praise and thank you that thou art God. And we're your people, and we can look unto you and rejoice and know that thou art a God full of loving compassion for each one of us. And so, Father, we just pray that these next few moments that thou will speak to our heart through thy servant Abraham, Lord, let his life be a challenge to us. And let us press on because soon it will be dark and we will not be able to labor any longer.
So we commit ourselves to you now. In our Savior's name we pray. Amen. My text tonight would be, why say us thou? Did you ever say words that you wish you hadn't said? I think we've all experienced that. I've experienced that day after day, almost moment after moment. One of the sisters was kidding me a little bit tonight. I do talk quite fast. If something is my nature, I've tried to overcome it. And sometimes I say things that I shouldn't say. A little saying they say they say that Confucius say that you should put your brain in gear before accelerating tongue. We do say things that we're sorry for.
And Abraham said something he was sorry for. Because Pharaoh challenged him. He said, why sayest thou a lie? Why sayest thou a lie? And Abram lost his testimony. We want to be talking about Abraham tonight, I told you. We want to travel with Abraham and across four milestones in his life. Four major milestones. We were up on a mountain peak with Abraham this morning. We looked at that time when he was faced with a great decision. Now we want to look to Abraham in a time of deception. A time when he was faced with a deception when he deceived another man. It wasn't so bad that he deceived another man.
But he lied in the presence of a living God. Oh yes, the great Abraham. The man that was a great pyramid of faith. The man that is called a friend of God. The man that so many people look to and say, oh I wish I could have been like Abraham. I don't wish I could have been like Abraham. I'm glad I'm like I am. Because God has something special for each one of us. And I'm sure that many of you folks will testify to that fact in the audience. That God has a special blessing for each of us if we'll only be cognizant of his call. You remember we spoke this morning in Abraham's decision? He was faced with three things. He was faced with a call. He heard God call.
He was faced with being obedient unto God. He was obedient. God said, Abraham, lone child, step out for me. Go into the promised land. And he stepped out. He was obedient. And we also learned this morning that Abraham, after he had heard God's call, after he was obedient to God, then he worshipped God. He went up in that mountain place. He went up into a high spot to worship the living God. And we mentioned this morning how important it is that we Christians, that when we come to worship God, that we come into a high place, not into a low place. So oftentimes we come in and we come to the Lord's table and we bring all of our troubles and all of our burdens to that place. This is not the place for trouble.
This is not the place for burdens. Where did the Lord Jesus Christ institute the Last Supper? He gathered his own together. He didn't go in the synagogue where the world was gathered together. He didn't go in the synagogue where the politicians and everyone else came in, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. No, he got hold of his disciples. He says, I have a desire to have the Passover with me. And then I have something a little special. He says, we're going to go up into an upper room. They were going to go up, not down. And when they gathered in that room, they closed the doors, they closed the world out. They closed Jerusalem out. And they gathered again. And he says, I want to leave a little peace with you. He said, this do in remembrance of me.
Not in remembrance of your troubles. Not in remembrance of your problems. But he said, this do in remembrance of me. And that's really true worship. And this was the key, I believe, to Abram's flight. This is the thing that took Abram from being Abram up to the great man of Abraham. This was the key. This is the little spark that he learned that no matter how great the troubles were, no matter how bad the errors were, no matter how great the deception was, that he could always turn back to God. But he could always go back to Bethlehem. And all Christians, I've preached this from one end of the country, in fact, all around the world. that we Christians have to remember that daily to go back to Calvary.
When is the last time you've been back to Calvary? When is the last time that you went in your closet and you got down on your knees and you just looked on to Calvary? You looked on to the Lord Jesus. You said, oh Lord Jesus, I thank you for going to Calvary. Walk that street again with the Savior. Stand before Pilate with the Savior. This is the meaningful part of worship. And this is when we come to God in a very special way. And then we become radiant Christians. The Lord said, he says, the world can't defeat us. We can defeat ourselves, but the world can't defeat us. And so Abram, we talked about Abram in his great experience, his meeting God on the high mountain, and his pitching his tent.
Where? In a nice secluded little spot where the winds couldn't blow at him. Oh, no, he wasn't worried about that. He pitched his tent in a place where he could see Bethel, where he could see the place of blessing. And after he'd climbed the mountain, after he had pitched his tent, then what did he do? He built an altar. And he worshipped God. Oh, isn't that thrilling? It trills my heart. It blesses my heart. A great decision by a great man. But he was just starting. And now he's faced with a great deception. Oh, yes, a great man. There he is up there. But now he comes plummeting down like any one of us. Heartache, discouragement, fear. Doubting of God. Is my God big enough?
Is my God able? Can He supply all my needs? These are the thoughts that went through Abraham. And as I said, we're also tomorrow going to consider two more points in his life. Tonight we're going to be considering that point of deception. But tomorrow the point of division. And then tomorrow night is the point of dedication. And you'll find these in proper order. Because every time we get a deception, we're going to be faced with a division. And when we come to the reality that we're facing a division, then we're going to come to a point of dedication, fresh dedication of our life. Or else we're going to be a very sorry Christian. We're going to be what I call a long-faced Christian.
A Christian that's walking around with the problems of the world and the world laughs at us. Oh, friends, we can rejoice because we've got a living safety. But you know, one of the secrets that I've learned in setting the life of Abraham, we learn by doing, don't we? And I'm sure every one of you men that have retired from business, you can look back across your life and you can remember you've learned by doing. You start out a step at a time. I met a man down in Miami one time. He owned a big metallurgist company. And he was retired and traveling around the world. He's a very successful man. And he sat back and he laughed. He says, well, he says, I haven't got a college education. He says, I'm not a scientist. He says, I started working in the laboratory of one of the big steel companies as a boy sweeping the floors.
He says, but I watched the other men. And he says, I watched how they did things, and I watched how they planned things. And he says, I waited for my moment, and I started my own business. He says, I hired a scientist. But he says, you know, he says, I learned by watching. He says, I learned by doing it. And this is what happened to Abraham. We said that his father, Chera, had left Earth. and traveled around. And he stopped. He stopped short of the blessing of God. He didn't continue on into the promised land. But Abram learned to settle and learned the lesson there. I believe that Abram learned many, many lessons there with his father. And when his father died, he learned one of the greatest lessons that a young man can learn when his father depart.
Because almost every young man feels close to his father, especially the older he gets. Young men, we look at our fathers, we wonder, well, dad isn't too smart. And the older we get, the smarter he gets. And all of a sudden we wonder, where did he get all those brains in such a hurry? And I'm sure that's what happened to Abram. History tells us that Abram loved his father dearly. His father was a wise man. And when his father died, the loss was great. But again, God had that cleavage, that cutting away. And he says, Abram, you must go for it. if you want to amount to anything for me. And he had to step out. I'll never forget my father. My dad passed away a little over a year ago.
But he told me something that I never forgot. He said, son, don't ever try to fill my footsteps. He says, because no two men have the same size feet. He says, make your own tracks. And this is what God was saying to Abraham. He says, Abraham, he says, make your own tracks. Launch out. And he says, I'll be with you. And I'll provide all of your needs. We learn by doing. I'll never forget back in the depression I started in the building business. And I started out as a carpenter apprentice and I learned the carpenter trade. And I had to go to apprentice school one day a week. And at the apprentice school we had half the day was for classroom work. We learned the theory of rook framing and all the other mechanical parts of the trade. Then the afternoon we'd work in a shop.
Well usually if you got through with your project you could go home. And so I was in a hurry like all young men to get out of that place because I had other things to do that night. And so I had a little project. I was making a little bookcase. And I finished it up and I wanted to get out by four o'clock, so I banged some nails into it and hurried it together. And I ran up and I put it on Mr. Mokwin's desk. And he was a fine old German cabinetmaker, a real master to trade. And I said, well, there it is, Mr. Mokwin. What do you think of it? And I said, very wisely, Mr. Mokwin, he looked at me. And he said, Jack, he says, if you're proud of it, believe it. He says, if you're not proud of it, you better take it back and do it over again. I never forgot those words.
Learning by doing. If you're proud of it, leave it here. If you're not proud of it, take it back and do it over. And basically, this is what God was saying to Abraham. He says, Abraham, he says, you're going to be faced with trial after trial after trial. Oh, he says, you're not going to be proud of some of the results. But he says, you can always do it over again. He can go back to Bethlehem. Yeah? Abraham. going on, traveling on through God's school of learning. But he was faced, as I said, with a great deception. And it's hard to believe that Abraham, a man as godly as Abraham, could deceive someone. To have it in his heart to lie. One of the things that I always taught my boys and our daughter, that to me, one of the worst things a man can do is to lie.
To lie, I feel a person loses their whole personality when they're a liar. And this is a sin that Abram committed. He committed the sin of lying. All his life, it wasn't all full of victory. He sinned, he lied. I think of David. We talked about David this morning. David, that great king, the great man, the man who was so reverend by Israel. He sinned. He sinned when he took Bathsheba to himself. He sinned in God's eyes, but he knew where to go. He went back to the Lord and he cried out to God for forgiveness. And then I think of Peter. Oh, the strong man. You remember Peter? The man that was so strong that told the Lord Jesus, oh, he said, Lord, he says, I'll go any place with this.
He says, I'll do it. Lord, he says, even if it calls for death, he says, I'm willing to face it. And the Lord looked at Peter and he says, Peter, Satan has desired you. Oh, friends, Satan is a, he's a foe that we can't cope with. Satan is on all sides. He's always ready to attack. And this is what happened to Abram. He didn't sin because he wanted to sin. He didn't tell that lie because he was a born liar. There's no one that's a born liar. But Satan is always there, always putting us in a point of compromise. Oh, yes. Dear Peter. Peter, the great man, the man that was so strong, when the Lord Jesus was arrested, he was sitting in the garden.
And what was he doing? He was sitting around the fire. Was it a prayer meeting? Were they praying for the Lord? Oh, no. Was it a chorus time, a time of singing hymns and praises to God? No, he was sitting with the world. He was sitting with a crowd of soldiers and all the servants. In the courtyard, all those gathered around to see the kill. And when the finger of accusation was pointed at him, where did he do? He labeled himself with the world and he cursed. No, he says, I don't know him and he used profanity to label himself with the world. He was associated with the world. I've always said, if you live with a skunk, you're going to smell like a skunk. And I think this is part of our problems today that we're facing. This is part of the problems that many of our young people are faced with.
We're living in a fast society that's moving at a tremendous rate. Schools and so forth. And young people have shown together that you can't always pick your company. And I sometimes wonder if I had to live in some of the high schools we have today, if I could come out as strong Christians. But we know where the flesh fails, God is able. And that's why it's so important to pray for young people. Oh, it's easy to criticize them. It's easy to see them doing certain things and say, well, they should be doing this instead of that. But all prayer covers a multitude of sins, doesn't it? And it's so important that we pray. Well, we want to consider Abraham tonight. And that's point of deception. We want to consider him from three ways.
First of all, Abraham doubted God. Oh, when doubt comes in, we're headed for real problems. And then Abraham, he sinned against God. He lied. So scriptures say that God hated the liar. And the third thing, Abraham lost his testimony. What a terrible thing to lose, to lose your testimony. He doubted God. He sinned. He lied. And when we doubt, we're subject to sin. And then he came and he lost his testimony before the king. And the king said, Abram, why say thou to me? Can you imagine how Abraham felt? Why say thou to me? Why didn't you come to me and be honest? Things have happened in my wife and I's lives.
since we've been serving the Lord. So we've done the same very same thing Abraham's done. We doubted God. We didn't think God was able. And then all of a sudden in a little while we see the clouds break away and God had the beginning from the end all planned out. And all we had to do was be patient and wait upon Him. And this is the answer to the challenge to our lives tonight. That not to run ahead of God but to wait for God. Wait for His perfect timing. We're told in the tenth verse of And there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land. Oh, yeah, he doubted God. A great famine came into the land of promise. What did God tell him to do?
God told him, Abram, he says, you launch out, and I'm going to lead you to a great and wonderful land, and I'm going to provide all of your needs. When you got saved, isn't that what God told you? He said, oh, he says, come on, he says, follow me, and I'll show you great and wonderful things. And so oftentimes we doubt God. Oh, it's only natural. It's only human. Oh, sure. Abram was faced with a famine. Have you ever seen a famine? I've traveled in the Far East, and I've seen people starving to death. I've traveled, and I've seen little baby, little youngsters running around five and six years old with their little stomachs bloated out from malnutrition, starving to death. It's a terrible thing to witness. And Abram looked at the lands all around the crops were failing.
And the wells were drying up. And the famine was great and grieved at the land. And he said, now wait a minute. God forgot me. I better take matters into my own hand and move out. He was faced with a crisis. Are you faced with a crisis tonight? Have you been faced with a crisis this week? Maybe you'll be faced with a crisis tomorrow. Or this week, this coming week. We can't avoid crisis, but oh, I can praise and thank God that we have someone that can lead us through the crisis, and that's our Lord. The crisis that we face in our lives, some of us will face a crisis of health. Some of us will face a crisis of money. Some of us will face a crisis of family. But these are all things that come thundering into our lives, but praise and thank God we have a Savior that is a high priest, that's interceding for us, and that will provide our every need.
But when you face the time of crisis, whom do you look to? Whom do I look to? Whom do Abraham look to? Abraham, he looked around, he said, now wait a minute, I guess God forgot us. I better do something about this. He says, I better start moving to another land. And he said, I hear down in Egypt that they have all kinds of crops down there. And the water is plentiful, I think I'll travel down there. Doesn't that sound like someone else in the scripture? Someone else in Abram's life? Do you remember Lot? Lot was faced with a decision. We're going to be talking about Lot tomorrow in that great decision that Abraham had to make. But what did Lot do? He looked out into the plains and he saw, oh, he saw the wells and he saw the ponds and he saw the pasture land.
He said, that's for me. But the wells and the pasture lands were close to Sodom and Gomorrah. And he wound up, wound up in that wicked, wicked city and faced a terrible loss. And so Abraham was facing the same thing. whom do I turn to? And he says, no, he says, I'll have to forge on ahead. He says, I'll keep pressing on. He says, I'll go down to Egypt instead of sitting here and say, well, my God is able. Oh, my friends, listen to me. If God is able to forgive you of your sins, he's able to supply all of your needs. One of the hardest things that my wife and I had to get used to was living on faith. And yet now we wouldn't live any other way. All my life, I've worked in the building business, and I've had my own business for many years.
I've never had really a need for anything. And then all of a sudden we launch out for God and we're completely dependent upon God. And there's been many times of doubt that God has never failed. One man asked me one time, he says, how are you living? I said, I'm living from hand to mouth. I said, what do you mean you're living from hand to mouth? I said, I'm living from my God's big hand to my big mouth. He's never missed yet. And he's not about to. Oh, yes. Living by faith, trusting the living God. And yet the crisis, when the crisis comes in, Abram doubted God and he moved out toward Egypt. Yes, the scriptures tell us in Philippians the fourth chapter, the nineteen verse, but my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory by who?
By the savings and loans? By the social security or by the insurance company? Oh no, my friends, he'll supply all our needs by Christ Jesus. Praise his name. We can't fail. We can't fall down. We can't slip because we've got the living God on our side. Praise his holy name. But you know, Abram, as I said, now he sinned against God. He lied. He doubted. He traveled down in Egypt. And what happened down in Egypt? He got involved with the world. And every time we get involved with the world, all of a sudden the problems come closing in around us. And I believe one of the little problems that he had in the background, the scriptures don't say it. And if you'll forgive me, maybe I'm taking something out of context.
But I imagine that Lot was right there at his side saying, Uncle Abraham, we've got a problem. Boy, you know, God forgot us. Let's move down to Egypt. Boy, I sent a spy down there and they've got beautiful pasture lands. They've got all the water we could want. Why, the kings down there are very rich. Let's go down there. Remember I told you, Lot was of the world. And when Abram got down there, when he got down in Egypt, the first thing he was confronted with was problems with the world. He realized that all of a sudden the pharaoh, his wife, Sarah, Sarah, I was very beautiful. And the pharaoh would desire her to be his wife. And it was common in those days. If the pharaoh or the king saw someone he desired, take the husband, chop his head up, take the wife, and no problems.
No trial, no nothing. And so as he got involved in the world, he got involved down there in Egypt. All of a sudden, he was confronted with a problem. He says, now, wait a minute. Doubt again. God can't take care of Sarai. God can't take care of me. Why, that sparrow will chop my head off, and I imagine all that was right for such. Uncle Abraham, you better do something quick. Or you better tell him that she's your sister. And so Abraham, this great man of faith, the great man of God, what did he do? He called his wife Sarai, again, to him. And he said, Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee.
My soul shall live because of thee. You know what Abraham was doing? He was leaning on the arm of flesh. He says, my soul, my life is going to be saved because of you, Sarian. My friend, God holds each one of our lives in the palm of his hand. And all God has to do is close his hand and it's all over. And no man or no woman can prolong my life for one moment longer than God desires. And this is the lesson that Abraham had to learn. He learned that in Egypt two lessons. He learned a lesson that God could have provided all of his needs back in Canaan if he'd only been patient. But no, he moved. He got involved with the world. He learned also that God would have taken care of him because God proved it to him at the end when Pharaoh found the truth.
Pharaoh found the truth. He told him, oh, he says, go your way, get out of here. I don't want any part of you. He says, I realize that you have a great and living God on your side. He learned what? And I said, we learn by doing. The scriptures tell us in Romans, age twenty-eight, that all things work together for good, for them that love the Lord. Oh, my friend, have you learned a lesson today? I hope you have. We should learn a lesson every day of our life. Every moment we're alive, there should be a lesson that we can learn. I remember dear old Dr. Walter Wilson. I used to love to listen to that man. I don't know how many of you ever heard Dr. Wilson. He was called the beloved physician. He was a master personal soul owner, the personal workers. He could win souls. It was just amazing how this man could take and witness the people.
He would pull up into a Texaco gas station. And he would get out and he'd say, Sir, he says, I want to have a star in my crown one day. The Pope says, you're going to have one? Well, he says, yeah, he says, I'm going to have a star just like a star in Texaco. And he'd witness him and tell him about his sins. And he'd ask me about Sinclair. He said, where did this? How are we going to get the sin out of Sinclair? The Pope said, what'd you say? Well, he says, how are we going to get the sin out of Sinclair? And he would start witnessing to this dear man, to the man. I had the privilege of knowing Dr. Walter Wilson. I know his son, who lives in Kansas City even now, a great man of God that believed God for the impossible. Oh, friends, that's what's so important, that we believe God for the impossible. But he lied.
Abraham lied. And oh, what a terrible sin he brought upon himself. He sinned because he got involved with the world. And as I said, dear Peter, what did he do? He fell, he fell right flat on his face because why? Because he was involved with the world. When he used profanity and he cursed, he said, no, he says, I don't know. And the Lord came out. And that's the one thing that Peter never forgot. You know, you remember in John the twentieth chapter where the Lord Jesus comes to Peter and three times he says, Peter, loveth thou me? And the first time Peter looks up at the Savior, I've laid the one through his heart. He says, Oh, Lord, sure, I love you. Why don't you know? I'm a Christian.
Don't you remember back on the coast of Caesarea, Lord, when we were sitting there with you? And you asked whom do men say that I am? And I said that thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And you told me that only heaven could reveal that to me. And on this church, on this rock he found his church. He says, Don't you remember that, Lord? Why, sure, Lord, I love you. The second time the Lord looked at him, he said, Peter, loveth thou me? And Peter's mind went back to that garden. That moment when he stood in the garden. And just as he denied the Lord to use that profanity, he says, I don't know. The Son of God was dragged out by a group of men. He looked at Peter.
And the scripture said, Peter looked at Christ. And he went out and wept. And all of a sudden, Peter, as he's looking in the face of the Lord Jesus, always says, Lord, you know. You know I want to. Lord, he says, I've failed you. You know I love you, though. And the third time, the Lord Jesus Christ looked at him, he says, Peter, he says, do you really love me? And Peter looked up at him, he says, Lord, he says, I confessed you as the Son of God. He says, I denied you in the garden. He says, Lord, you know my weakness. You know I'm a phony. He says, but Lord, you know I love you. I love you with all my heart and soul. And that was the Peter that God raised up to preach that tremendous message at Pentecost when three thousand souls were seen. Why?
Because he came to an end of himself. He learned a lesson. He learned a lesson from the master. And this is what Abraham did. He learned a lesson from the living God. Men today think there's nothing wrong with lying. We heard them on television with the water came. We heard some of the great men of our country sit up and brazenly say before the television cameras, there's nothing wrong with lying as long as it serves the end. What a terrible thing for them to say. It tells you how far we have slipped, how far we've gone down the ladder of morality, when men today in high places think there's nothing wrong with lying. And this is what Abraham was faced with. That's what he was faced with.
Lot probably says, oh, for Abraham, there's nothing wrong with telling a little lie, telling a white lie. That's what he did. He told a little white lie. Because you see, Sarai was his half-sister. So he says, well, Lord, you know, he says, I didn't really tell a lie. She is my sister. She's a half-sister. But she is my sister, so it wasn't too bad. But you know the thing with God? God knows our hearts, doesn't it? God knows your heart. God knows my heart. He knows the motivation in our hearts. He knew he knew why Abram told that lie. It wasn't that he was trying to tell a half-truth, but he was trying to save his own skin. He was leaning on the island of the flesh again and must impress upon him, not upon the living God.
He was depending on Sarah to keep himself alive. And all of a sudden it all starts falling apart. Yes, Abraham. And now he's confronted with a terrible accusation in the nineteenth chapter. Why sayest thou she is my sister? So I might have taken her to be my wife. Now therefore behold thy wife, take her and go thy way. Why sayest thou a terrible lie, Abram? Look at what you brought down upon my head. Look at the plague that's come upon my land. because you lied. Oh, friends, what a terrible responsibility we have as Christians. And I say the word not apologizing for what a terrible responsibility we have. People are looking at us.
They're looking at our life. And sometimes we are the only gospel testimony some people will ever receive. I'll never forget one time in Chicago. Art Miller, some of you remember Art Miller used to travel for the Moody Bible Institute. He used to stop here selling books. But Art Miller and I were called upon to go visit a man who was dying in the hospital of cancer. He was a mason, a thirty-second degree mason. And there he laid in that bed, this poor man. He was nothing but skin and bones. He could hardly lift his hand up. And so we went in and talked to him and we started sharing Jesus Christ with him. Oh, he says, everything's all right. He says, I'm all set. I'm a good mason. I've got everything wrong. I have no worries. And I told him, I said, well, my dear friend, the only thing that counts is Jesus Christ.
I was a thirty-second degree Mason one time myself. But I realize that there is more to life than trying to lean on a lodge and trying to lean on a man, trying to lean on a creed. You have to lean on a living God and Jesus Christ is the only answer. You know, again, Satan is a fearful folk. Satan was in that room and he was fighting for a life because this man was slipping out. And Satan was fighting for the last ditch. And this man, as weak as he was, he spun around and he said, oh, he says, that's fine. I'm glad to hear you. Satan says, you know, I like that twenty-third psalm. That's a wonderful psalm. He says, change the subject. You see how Satan will compromise? He says, change the subject. But, you know, God told us to go two by two, didn't he?
And so Art Miller was there and Art stepped in. He says, do you like the twenty-third psalm? He says, let me tell you a little story about the twenty-third psalm. He says the story of a little girl who was in a hospital and she was very much like you, sir, with only one problem. She couldn't either hear nor speak. And she had a fatal disease and she was going to die. And a faithful worker used to go up and visit her every day. And this worker taught her the Lord's prayer on her fingers. The Lord is my shepherd. And every time this lady would go up to visit this little girl, she'd sit down with a little girl and she'd point to her fingers, the Lord is my shepherd. And this little girl came. She would just light up the moment this woman would come in the room. And she'd always put up the fingers again and start pointing to him.
The Lord is my shepherd. And so the lady went up to the hospital one day and called this little girl. And she asked for her room. And the nurse looked very sorrowful. And she says, oh, she says, I'm sorry to inform you that she passed away last night. The little girl passed on. But she says, you know, there's something we can't understand. Well, we found a little body this morning. There she was. And she was holding this finger. When she passed away, this Christian worker, she says, oh, she says, praise God. She's asking for the answer to that. She says, I taught that little girl the Lord's prayer. The Lord is my shepherd. And the little girl is with her shepherd. She knows the Lord is her savior. We told this man this story.
And this man there as hard as he was and as tough as he was, thought he had all the answers. He broke down in tears, came streaming down his face, as he too confessed the Lord Jesus Christ as his shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Yes, he came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Why? Because he looked under the looking guy. Why was he? Why did he find Christ? Not because of a... I was going to... God intervened and used his word to save his soul.
Yes, our testimony is so important, my friend. Many times I'm... Abraham doubted God. Abraham submitted his doubted God. Why? Why? Because he... No.
I want to travel down to Egypt, and I'm going to do it myself. Take care of myself and provide for my family. I don't need God. Oh, friends, we doubt God. We have real problems. And as I said, he told a half-truth. He says, well, Sarah is my sister. She's my half-sister. So it wasn't too bad. But God knows the heart. Man's heart is ever so deceitful who should know him. But you know, praise God, we can finish on a victorious note. We can finish again up on that mountain top. Because that's where Abraham went. He went down to Egypt. But Abraham all of a sudden realized he had erred. And realized there was only one place to go. And it was back to Bethlehem. Back to the beginnings. The scriptures tell us in the third verse.
And he went on his journeys from the south, even to Bethel, onto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hei, onto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. Oh, friends, praise God. Oh, this is the thing that I rejoice. Sure, we can go down into the depths. We can go down to Egypt. We can go down to the heart of trouble. But oh, praise God, we can come back up to the mountain. if we're only looking to God. And this is what Abram did. You see, First John, one nine, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and he'll cleanse us from all, from all. Amen. This is a true thing. I was calling on a lady in Chicago, and she had mental problems.
And this dear lady, she was, oh, she tried to commit suicide four or five times, and I brought her back from the brink of death. I went up and visited her in the intensive care ward. as they had ventilators on her and all the other tubes in her trying to pump life back into her body she came back again and finally they committed her to a ward a maximum security ward and I would go up and try to talk to her and it was almost impossible to communicate with her the last time I went up and I'll never forget it's a fearful place to go the doors were barred and double doors and locks and you have to push buzzers and nurses come with keys to allow you in and I went to this dear ladies room And she sat there just blank staring out the window.
And the nurse came and told me, she said, Mr. Gawley, she said, you won't be able to visit this dear lady for several weeks. She said, because we're going to try shock treatments on her tomorrow. We're going to give her electric shocks and try to shock her brain back into normality. And all I looked up at the Lord, I said, Lord, please give me the words you have to say to this dear lady. And God put them in my heart to ask her a personal question. I can't use her name. But I said, if Jesus Christ should walk through that door this moment, what would you do? And all of a sudden she spun around. And she looked me straight in the face. And she started to weep and she cried and she cried profusely. Oh, she said, I would be so, so ashamed.
I said, what would you be ashamed of? Why don't you tell us for a long time? And she knelt down there. We knelt down that room and she confessed the sin that she committed when she was a teenage girl. Oh, it wasn't that bad of sin. It wasn't a good sin. It was, I shouldn't say there's no good sin. It wasn't such a small sin. It wasn't such a great sin. It was a sin that some people could live with. But this girl was a Christian girl. And she never did confess that sin. And it ate at her heart. And it ate down in her heart more and more just after cancer eating away. And finally it took him to give. Blank out her mind. But the moment she confessed it before the line. She looked and she says, I feel like a new person. And she talked to me rationally.
I left and I came back two weeks later. And she told me, she said, the doctors wouldn't change the prescription. She had to go through the shock treatment. But you know what she said? She said, Mr. Gawley, it's the most amazing thing. Those shock treatments knocked everything out of my mind, but one thing. She says, I remember that kneeling down praying in my confessing my sins before the Lord and the Lord giving me a peace in my heart. And that lady, when she passed away, she passed away with a wonderful testimony, a brilliant testimony that God is able to Yes, if we confess our sins. If we go back to Bethel, go back to the beginning. This is what Abram did. Abram said, alright, he says, I've made a mistake. I doubted God. I lied.
I sinned against God. I get involved with the world. But oh, he says, I'm going back. I'm going back to Bethel. Where was he going back to? He was going to that place where he pitched that tent up in the mountain. He was going to go back to that alder he built there. And what did he do at the alder? He didn't sit there and smile and say, well, I'm home again. Oh, it certainly is wonderful to be back in the land of kings. Oh, no. The scriptures say that he called upon the Lord. And I believe his first call was Lord forgiveness. And I believe the second call was Lord, I love you. And from that moment on, this is the Abrams that had the strength to face all the trials of the wilderness, to rejoice in the knowledge that his God was able to supply all of his needs.
My friend, is God able to supply all of your needs? Are you living a defeated life? Forgive me if I ask a personal question like that. I know you all should greet me. I know you're smiling faces. But I found that many people are smiling on the inside. But, oh, they have burdens and heartaches on the inside. And the promise of the Word of God, the Lord says, Oh, he says, if you'll only come to me. Come unto me, all you that labor are heavy laden. And I'll give you rest. You know what that verse of Scripture means? We use that with the unsaved many times. But I believe the Lord Jesus Christ was saying. He says, Come on unto me, all you that are worried. and all of you that are troubled. He says, I'll give you peace and I'll give you a death. Come to death. Come and worship God and he'll supply all of your needs.
Shall we turn our handles to a hymn that I believe will really answer the way? Two-six-one. Anywhere with Jesus, I can safely go. Oh, my friends, this is what Abraham found out. Even though he went down to Egypt, he says, anywhere with Jesus, I can safely go. He came out of Egypt. a much stronger man than he went in. He came out rejoicing because he found out that his God was able. We'll sing the first, second, and fourth verses. All together.
Anywhere we go. Anywhere we go. Anywhere we go. Anywhere we go. Anywhere we go. Anywhere you can find your way. Anywhere you can find my fear I cannot rule. Anywhere will be a thorn in his name. Verse number three. Anywhere will be a thorn in his name. Every thorn in his name will be a thorn in his name. Everywhere we see the light of grace.
Everywhere we see the light of grace. Everywhere we see the light of grace. Everywhere the king comes and goes to his king. When the darkness comes to his kingdom, glory comes to him. anywhere with you anywhere anywhere anywhere I can not go anywhere with you I can't let go anywhere with you I can say before Tell me, my friends, do you believe that?
Anywhere with Jesus, I can safely go. And oh, praise God, like I say, the things for us not to forget, we can always go back to the beginning, go back to Bethel, and meet our Savior and make all things right. Shall we look to the Lord in prayer and closing? Our Father and our God, we praise and thank you again for all thy blessings. We thank you for this day. We thank you for Abraham. We thank you for his life, his testimony. Father, we thank you that you didn't hide any of this man's life. that you did show us the heights of glory that he traveled to, all through the depths of sin that he took home of it to. But Father, we praise and thank you that you showed him that he learned his lesson well, that he knew to go back to the beginning, go back to the place of blessing.
And Father, I pray that each one of us, as we face crisis in our life, as we face all kinds of trials, we'll always remember that we can go back to Bethel, go back to the beginning, and that thou art a faithful God. always willing and ready to forget. And so be with us this night. Watch over us, we pray, and we pray for tomorrow. We pray for a good day tomorrow. We pray for those that will be traveling, Lord, for journeying mercy. And pray as we gather together here tomorrow morning for a fellowship in thy word, and tomorrow evening, that thou will bless us in a special way. Accept our thanks now in our Savior's name. Amen.