Your Failure Can’t Cancel God’s Promise

When God Protects the Promise

Genesis 20 NKJV And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. 2 Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is [a]a man’s wife.” 4 But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the [b]integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.” 6 And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” 8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid. 9 And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I [c]offended you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done.” 10 Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?” 11 And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife. 12 But indeed she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ” 14 Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “See, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” 16 Then to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; indeed this [d]vindicates you before all who are with you and before everybody.” Thus she was [e]rebuked. 17 So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; 18 for the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

What is going on here?

 After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham moved. Perhaps he did not want to live in the hills overlooking the destroyed region any longer and be reminded of those people and the judgment that came on them.

His new place brings the eyes of the king unto his wife Sarah, still attractive at the age of 90! We cannot ignore the idea of Sarah’s continued attractiveness even in old age. “She had in some measure been physically rejuvenated, in order to conceive, bear, and nurse Isaac, and possibly this manifested itself in renewed beauty as well.” (quote)

Abraham says, “She is my sister”. This was the same excuse Abraham told in Genesis 12:10-13. It was true that Sarah was his half-sister, sister of the same mister, having the same father but different mothers, common among their culture. Yet Abraham clearly meant to communicate, “she is my sister and not my wife,” when both were true. 

He showed that it was easy to slip back into sinful habits. Abraham stumbled in a place that he had stumbled before. Instead of trusting God to keep his family together, he devised his own plan to do it. Abraham’s plan would completely fail.

BUT God’s covenant is not sustained by human perfection but by His faithfulness. Even when His people fail, He protects His promises.

Most people think that after great spiritual victories, they will never struggle with old sins again. Yet Abraham had already failed in this exact area twenty-five years earlier in Egypt. Now he repeats the same mistake.

The encouraging truth is this: Our failures may be repeated, but God’s faithfulness never changes.

Point 1: Old Fears Can Produce Old Failures

Abraham again tells Sarah to say she is his sister. Why?

Verse 11: “I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place…”

Abraham acted out of fear rather than faith. Even mature believers can fall into familiar sins when we allow fear to replace trust.

Fear says:

• I have to protect myself.
• I must control the outcome.

Faith says:

• God is able to protect what He promised.

How many times have you taken matters into your own hands because of fear? I have lied because of a fear of other’s approval. I have not done what I knew to do because I feared what others would think about me. I have tried to control my circumstances for fear of rejection.

OCD- constantly vacuuming, to have lines in the carpet because I have to control things around me. But people walk all over a carpet. Control is an illusion!

Either God has it in His hands, or He does not. These are your two options. Either He knows what He will do, or He does not. I can tell you this, God is not wringing His hands in anxiety because HE does not know what to do, or how to handle a situation. This is not His character. 

And if God knows, God cares and God can do the impossible, then what good is it to fear? 

Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be [a]safe.

Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Psalm 56:3  Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.

In the midst of your fear, you have to turn your eyes upon Jesus and lean into Him, trust His word and His faithful character. Sometimes, this is a “by the hour” thing. It is rarely a “one and done”

God never promises to deliver us from circumstances, but He does promise to deliver us from all our fears.

Psalm 34:4  I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.

In the midst of my pain, in the midst of my suffering, in the midst of my trial- I sought the Lord and HE heard and He answered.

What fears?? ALL my fears. My fear of rejection. My fear of failure.  My fear of performance and perfection. My fear of loneliness and being alone.  My fear of failure and my fears of success. My fear of “not enough” and “not having enough”. My fear of provision, protection and providence. My fear of death and my fear of the unknown. 

The bible says that fear brings torment. How many of you know this is true?  Fear is tormenting. Fear has made me do many stupid things and make seriously unwise decisions.

Like Hezekiah, in the midst of a death sentence, turn your face to the wall

Remind yourself of His goodness. Throw yourself unto His mercy.

Point 2: God Protects What Belongs to Him

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is [a]a man’s wife.”

Before Abraham can fix his mistake…God steps in. God appears to Abimelech in a dream.

Notice: Abraham failed. Sarah was put in a VERY vulnerable position. But God intervened.

Why? Because Isaac had not yet been born. God’s covenant could not be stopped. Despite Abraham’s failure to really trust God in the situation, God did not abandon him. He would not let Abimelech touch Sarah. Her womb was going to bring forth the son of promise, who would eventually bring forth God’s Messiah. God would not leave this matter up to man.

God’s promises are never dependent upon our flawless performance. The covenant rested on God, not Abraham.

Numbers 23:19  “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

Isaiah 46:9-10  Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’

Philippians 1:6  being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Is this not the most encouraging thing!?? Even when we fail, God is faithful. Even when we highly mess up, God is faithful. 

There are so many mountains I go around, and I get so angry with myself, thinking God is done with me. BUT HE IS NOT FINISHED WITH ME YET! He is faithful to complete His work in me.

He can handle all my foolish mistakes. He does not just give up on me like so many that failed me in my life. He is a Faithful and merciful God. I remember a time when my panic and anxiety was so bad, that God was just done with me, I wanted to run away from everything and everyone, hide myself away. I felt like a huge failure and fraud. B\ut He was still faithful. 

In Jonah 2:8, Jonah reflects on his deliverance from the belly of the fish, stating: 

“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs” (NIV). 

Jonah, after disobeying the Lord’s will, cries out from the belly of hell (as it states in Scripture) and God delivers him. Even though he was disobedient, even though he had to face 3 days of horrible circumstances, his only hope was to cry out to the Lord for help, no other source could help him- God was his only source of grace, love and mercy.

God was not done with the prophet. This gives me so much hope. Even when I am disobedient and God has to chasten me, He is not done with me.

Point 3: Integrity Without Relationship Is Still Incomplete

1. 6 And God said to him (Abimelech) in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. 

Abimelech protests: “I acted with integrity.” God agrees. This is fascinating. An unbelieving king displays more outward integrity than Abraham. Yet God still identifies Abraham as: “He is a prophet.” Why?

Because righteousness comes through faith in God, not perfect behavior.

Abraham was called a friend of God, and now God refers to him as His prophet, one who speaks on God’s behalf, even though he told a lie that could have caused great destruction.

Moral behavior alone does not replace a relationship with God. God desires integrity, but a relationship with the Lord only comes through being born again and put back into a right relationship with God. This only comes by grace through faith

Titus 3:3-6 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

His mercy is everlasting. You were saved for Him, God wants to know YOU. He wants you to call out to Him and trust Him. HE wants to make you new. He wants you to believe Him and take Him at His Word, so then He can call you His prophet and He can send you out to pray for others.

Point 4: Broken People Can Still Be Used by God

God tells Abimelech: “Have Abraham pray for you.” Think about that. The man who lied… Now becomes the man who prays. Only grace can explain this. God still uses imperfect vessels.

James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, [b]fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Romans 11:29  For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

This statement in context is applied to Israel, but it is the same for us nonetheless. God gives gifts and He expects us to use them, even when we fail. Even when we are broken. HE does not remove our gifts because we are in a bad season. I knew a man that has an incredible gift of prophecy. For a time, his wife left him and he fell into deep and disgusting sin. Even through it all, God still used him. He came out of it, repented and God has restored his life and he is still operating beautifully in his gift.

Even when we are faithless, God is still faithful. Be aware- His faithfulness is not an approval on our life, it is a mark of His character. We have to always be examining our lives and hearts.

He is always good and He is always faithful.

Point 5: Restoration Is Complete

Abimelech restores everything. Sarah is vindicated publicly. Abraham prays.

God heals Abimelech’s household.

Notice the progression:

Failure 

Correction

Repentance

Prayer

Healing

Blessing

That is often God’s pattern.

2 Chronicles 7:14  if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Genesis 20 reminds us that none of us are righteous enough to secure God’s promises.

Abraham couldn’t. Sarah couldn’t. Neither can we.

The promise is secure because Jesus perfectly obeyed where Abraham failed.

Jesus never acted from fear. Jesus never deceived.

Jesus perfectly fulfilled the covenant and now intercedes for us just as Abraham interceded for Abimelech 

Hebrews 7:25 Holman Christian Standard Bible

 Therefore, He is always able to save[a] those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.

Let me ask you this–

• Where has fear caused you to stop trusting God?
• Are you trying to protect yourself instead of trusting God’s promises?
• Have you believed your failure has disqualified you from being used by God?

Scripture declares that while God does confront sin, His covenant faithfulness is greater than our failures. He restores, He protects His promises, and He continues to use those who humbly return to Him.

“Your failure may interrupt your fellowship, but it cannot overturn God’s faithfulness. When God makes a promise, He Himself becomes its protector.”