应许遥不可及时——亞伯拉罕的信心之旅（九）
When Promises Seem Far Away——
Abraham’s Journey of Faith Message No.9
亚伯拉罕的信心之旅第九篇信息：
『一失足成千古恨THE ROAD TO DISASTER』
《创世记》Genesis 16：1-6
主讲：林慈信牧师_校对：刘加立
INTRODUCTION 引言
Abraham’s Journey of Faith Message No.9亚伯拉罕信心之旅第九篇的信息：The road to disaster一失足成千古恨。The scripture is《Genesis》Chapter 16 verse 1-6经文是《创世记》十六章第1节到第6节。《Genesis》16：Now Sarai，Abram’s wife had borne him no children.She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.And Sarai said to Abram“Behold now，the Lord has prevented me from bearing children.Go in to my servant；it may be that I shall obtain children by her.”And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai《创世记》第十六章：亚伯拉罕的妻子撒莱不给他生儿女，撒莱有一个使女名叫夏甲，是埃及人。撒莱对亚伯拉罕说：“耶和华使我不能生育，求你和我的使女同房，或者我可以因她得孩子。”亚伯拉罕听从了撒莱的话。So after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan，Sarai，Abram’s wife took Hagar the Egyptian her servant and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.And he went in to Hagar，and she conceived.
And when she saw that she had conceived，she looked with contempt on her mistress第三节：于是亚伯兰的妻子撒莱将使女埃及人夏甲给了丈夫为妾。那时亚伯兰在迦南已经住了十年。亚伯兰与夏甲同房，夏甲就怀了孕。她见自己有孕，就小看她的主母。And Sarai said to Abram“May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace，and when she saw that she had conceived，she looked on me with contempt.May the Lord judge between you and me!”撒莱对亚伯兰说：“我因你受屈，我将我的使女放在你怀中，她见自己有了孕就小看我，愿耶和华在你我中间判断。”But Abram said to Sarai“Behold，your servant is in your power；do to her as you please.”Then Sarai dealt harshly with her and she fled from her亚伯兰对撒莱说：＂使女在你手下，你可以随意带她。＂撒莱苦待她，她就从撒莱面前逃走。
Abraham who’s called the father of faith has made great progress in faith and obedience亚伯拉罕是信心之父，他在信心和顺服上帝方面是大有进步的。But now we meet Abram’s failure但是这段经文给我们看到的是亚伯兰的失败：He could not wait for God to fullfill his promise他等不及上帝亲自实现他的应许。He gave in temptation他面对试探降服了！And the results were disasters and long term结果不单是严重，更延伸到世世代代的！In 1 《Corinthians》Chapter 10 verse 12-13在《哥林多前书》第十章12到13节：Paul warned us：not to think of ourselves be too strong保罗警告我们：不要以为自己是强壮的。And the Old Testament examples were written to warn us旧约的这些的例子写下来是要警告我们的；we ought to take heed我们要警惕、要提防。
By the way what was God doing while these people make such a mess of themselves顺便一提，人在搞得一团糟的时候，上帝在做什么呢？God sees everything上帝鉴察一切。Now God is also merciful as we’ll see later on in the chapter上帝也是怜悯的上帝，接下去的经文我们会看到的。God is merciful to those who have been sinned against有些人，因为别人在他们身上犯罪，他们是受害者，上帝怜悯他们的。God is merciful，God is also just上帝是怜悯的；上帝也是公义的；and God is faithful而上帝也是信实的。God simply proceeded to realize his purpose上帝逐步实现他的计划的。Let us remember the context now我们记得这段经文的背景：It has been ten years since Abram arrived at the land of promise亚伯兰到达了这个应许之地，已经住了十年了，and Sarai is still barren可是撒莱仍然不能生育。
Now let’s take a look at the temptation and their sin from four different perspectives现在我们要从四方面、四个角度来看他们所面对的试探和他们所犯的罪：
I.PERSPECTIVE #1：第一个观点角度：THE TEMPTATION TO
FOLLOW THE WIFE’S SUGGESTION听从妻子建议的试探。
Very often the temptation comes from those closest、nearest to us很多时候试探往往从我们最亲近的人而来的。Let’s compare Abram here with Adam in《Genesis》3让我们比较一下这里的亚伯兰和《创世记》第三章的亚当：Adam listen to the voice of his wife亚当听从了他妻子的话或者妻子的声音；Abram listened to the voice of his wife亚伯兰听从了他妻子的话或者声音。Eve took the fruit and gave to Adam夏娃拿了果子给亚当；Sarai took the servant and gave her to Abram撒莱也取了、拿了她的使女给了亚伯兰。In both cases the man abdicated his God-given spiritual leadership in the home这两次丈夫在家里做属灵领袖的这方面都弃权了。Now before you protest你等一下，不要这么快抗议，we need to give a word of explanation here让我们在这里进一步的解释一下——four points四方面的解释：
1.First of all，here we see that the husband followed his wife into a path of disobedience在这段经文，我们不仅仅是看到丈夫听从妻子，所以他听从妻子行不顺从上帝的事：
Just as Sarai on that day，today our wives may have similar feelings正如撒莱在那个时候，今天的妻子们也有可能有同样的感觉：They may feel pain、anxiety妻子可能感觉到惧怕、痛苦、忧虑，and they suggest a sinful path to her husband可能就在这种情况之下向丈夫建议做一件犯罪的事。In these situations在这种的情况之下，the husband needs to love the wife enough to confront her with her wrong ideas在这种情况下，丈夫需要这样子爱妻子：因为为她的错误（有罪）的念头来面责她——That’s one kind of situation这个一种的情况。
2.The second situation第二种的情况：Very often the wife leads the husband to the truth and a path of obedience to God有的时候，妻子往往会带领丈夫在真道上走：顺服上帝：
《Proverbs》31《箴言》第三十一章give us a picture of a wife who does her husband good给我们看见一幅的图画：这个贤惠的妻子是为丈夫带来好处、带来益处的——对他有益的。In these situations the husband needs to listen to the wife’s advice在这种的情况之下，丈夫需要听从妻子的建议的。
3.The third kind of situation还有第三种的情况，and this is where the husband leads the wife to go astray有时候丈夫会带领妻子走偏路、犯罪：
In these situations the wife needs to confront the husband’s sinful ideas在这种的情况，妻子需要因为丈夫的错误或者有罪的念头面责他。
4.But then when all is said and done，God gave the role of spiritual headship to the husband但是，总的来说，上帝给了丈夫扮演一家的‘头’的这个角色：
The responsibility is：To shepherd and to lead the wife丈夫的责任是：牧养妻子，带领妻子。The husband needs to know God’s word well so that he would submit to God’s will丈夫必须熟读《圣经》，认识上帝的旨意而顺服上帝的旨意。Now very often we want to avoid conflict in the marriage很多时候我们往往想要避免婚姻中的冲突，and to preserve harmony in home希望家里面和谐。But when there is sinful suggestion但是当一些建议是有罪的时候， harmony can be a false goal这个‘和谐’可能是个错误的目标，it may become an“idol.”可能成为偶像。So we must discern each situation and each idea or each response所以我们必须要分辨每一个情况里面每一种的建议、每一种的回应——That’s the first perspective这个是第一个观点角度：Abram listen to his wife’s ideas to sin亚伯兰听从他的妻子而去犯罪。
II.PERSPECTIVE#2第二个观点角度：THE TEMPTATION TO FOLLOW FLESHLY OR WORLDLY WISDOM第二个观点角度是：跟从属血气的或者是属世界的智慧这种的试探：
What’s Sarai proposed was the custom rather common in ancient Near Eastern societies撤莱所提的建议是当时古近东社会一个常见的习惯。Ancient Near East legal documents revealed this古今中出土的文献显示出：A barren wife could use this method to provide her husband with offspring不能生育的妻子可以用这个方法来为丈夫留后代的。
The laws of 《Hammurabi（code）汉谟拉比（法典）》的法律——He（Hammurabi） was a King of Babylon 18th century BC他是主前十八世纪巴比伦王；and the laws that bear his name was written in Akkadian而用他的名字发表的法律用阿卡德文写下来的。Here is one section这里是一段：If a man’s wife bear his children and a slave woman also bears a children假如一个人的妻子生了孩子，而那个奴隶的女人也生了孩子的话，and during the father’s lifetime，he declares the children that the slave woman bore：“They are my children”而这个男人有生之年他宣告：“那个使女所生的孩子是我的孩子”——He declares他宣告；and he reckons them with the children of the first-ranking wife而且第二胎也算…这些孩子们与第一个妻子生的孩子都是（平等的）孩子的话。那么Then after the father goes to his fate那么当丈夫死了之后，the children of the first wife and children of the slave woman so equally divide the property那么第一个妻子的孩子们跟奴隶女人的孩子们是平分产业的。But the preferred heir is a son of the first-ranking wife，he shall select and take a share first但是，第一个妻子的其中一个儿子有先选产业的权力。However if the father during his lifetime does not declare但是有生之年，那个男人假如没有宣告concerning the children of the slave woman宣告那些奴隶的女人生下的孩子，if he does not declare:“You are my children”假如他没有宣告：“你们是我的孩子。”Then after he dies他死了之后，the children of the slave woman will not divide the property with the children of the first wife.”那么奴隶生下的孩子就不能够跟第一个太太生下的孩子同分产业的。There were other laws which dealt with another situation还有其他的律法处理不同的情况的：Laws dealt with a concubine who bears children and falls out of favor with mistresses有些法律是处理一个妾——生了孩子、但是被女主人厌弃了。Other laws protect concubine or prostitute and unmarried woman还有其他一些的世俗的律法保护这个妾、或者是妓女、或者没有结婚的女人的。 They also make the man responsible that he must decide how to care for his women and his children法律也把这个责任交给丈夫，要照顾、要养育他身边的女人和孩子们的。So even the secular laws knows about husband’s responsibility and certain rights for concubines所以连世界上的法律都知道：丈夫有责任的，然后对那些妾或者是妓女要照顾他们的。
But anyway this was not God’s original plan但是，总之这个不是上帝的原本的计划。We all know God’s plan in《Genesis》Chapter 2我们都知道上帝原本的旨意记载在《创世记》第二章。And by the way Abram and Sarai certainly did not treat Hagar fairly and mercifully after she became pregnant而很明显的，就是夏甲怀孕之后，亚伯兰和撒莱并没有以公平和怜悯对待她的。
Brothers and sisters弟兄姐妹，following the world’s wisdom makes us go astray from God’s way跟从世俗的智慧最容易让我们走歪，离开上帝的道路。1《Corinthians》Chapter 1 tells us保罗在《哥林多前书》第一章告诉我们：The world through its wisdom can not know God世界上的人用他们世界上的智慧是不能找到上帝、不能认识上帝的。Take heed我们要警惕、要提防! Take heed before we
attempt something that is both important and dangerous我们要提防!不要鲁莽地做一些重要而危险的决定。Instead let’s go to the word of God and go to pray反之我们要回到上帝的话、要祷告；ask for God’s guidance求上帝带领。Otherwise sin brings more sin plus trouble不然的话，罪会带来更多的罪和很多的麻烦；and these sins and trouble will not be far away那些更多的罪跟麻烦就离我们不远了——following the world’s wisdom跟从世界上的智慧；following the flesh’s wisdom跟从血气与肉体的智慧。未经同意，请勿擅自在其它网站或平台转载和刊登课程的逐字稿；课程的逐字稿的版权归「中华展望」，禁止复印出版等商业用途。ccnci.org中华展望圣约学院[email protected]
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