The great thing about closing
a conference is that you get to sit and listen to five wonderful
messages before you have to preach. And I thought the same thing
after Chris preached. And I almost said, Frank, you
want to preach so bad, you go right ahead. I'll close it sitting right over
there. It's a privilege to be here. Double blessing for us because
we get to stay with Frank and Janet when we come. Hospitality's
been wonderful. We love you guys. Thank you so
much. We appreciate all the hard work.
You know what Chris said, so appreciative we understand the
hard work that goes into a conference. Y'all, wonderful host. We thank
you. Turn with me to the Gospel of
Moses. Genesis chapter 18. I want to read the first eight
verses. We've been studying through the
book of Genesis at home. And wanted to share these verses
with you today. Genesis 18 verse 1. And the Lord appeared unto him,
being Abraham, in the plains of Mamre. And he sat in the tent
door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and
looked, and lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them,
he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward
the ground and said, my Lord, if now I have found favor in
thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. And let
a little water, I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet and
rest yourselves under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of
bread and comfort ye your hearts. After that, ye shall pass on. For therefore, are you come to
your servant, and they said, so do as thou hast said. And
Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and he said, Make
ready quickly three measures of fine meal, and knead it, and
make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd,
and he fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a
young man, and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter and milk
and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them, And he
stood by them under the tree, and they did eat." I'm normally
not very good at titling messages, but I was thinking this morning
a good title for this message would be, Lord Stand By Me. Lord Stand By Me. Now we have
an amazing story in these first eight verses, and God's word
is full of amazing stories. No doubt in these eight verses,
there's a wonderful story of how God's people should be gracious
to others as God has been gracious to them. In Hebrews chapter 13,
you're familiar with the passage. Verse two of that chapter reads,
be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have
entertained angels unaware. And most every commentator that
you read on that passage in Hebrews chapter 13 refers to this wonderful
story that we just read in Genesis 18. But if all we see in these
verses is that we should be gracious to entertain strangers, then
I'm afraid that we've all together missed the gospel message found
in these verses. Friends, God's Word is not an
instruction book on how we should live. That's the reason that
we have the mess in religion that we have today. This inspired
book is about how a Christ holy God saves and reconciles himself
to the wretched offenders of his just and holy law. That's
what this book is about. And as Chris so ably said, it's
absolutely crucial for us to understand that there's only
one way. Just one way that God Almighty, who's holy, just, and
perfectly righteous, can justify. And that simply means make another
holy, just, and perfectly righteous and at the same time remain whole,
just, and perfectly righteous. Just one way. Christ is Lord. You see, the holy justice of
God will not allow God to compromise his holy character by merely
excusing and sweeping our sin under a rug. God demands Justice. The wages of sin is death. And
God requires that the wages for our sin be paid. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. God demands it. His holy justice
requires it. And the rest of that verse there
in Ezekiel, so many times I just quote the first part, the soul
that's in it that shall die. But the rest of that verse reads,
the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and neither shall
the father bear the iniquity of the son. Every sinner is gonna
stand accountable before God for their own sin. I cannot bear
your sin and you cannot bear mine. And friends, only God incarnate
can pay the debt of sin so that the chosen sinner can be reconciled
and brought back into fellowship with God. And here in the verses
before us, I pray that God will enable us to once again see the
marvelous grace of God in Christ for the salvation of his people.
I pray that we might be made to see how that Jesus Christ,
that one mediator between God and man, there's only one, only
one here, only one. May God enable us to see him
again this hour. Look at the first part of verse
one with me. And the Lord appeared unto him,
being Abraham, in the plains of Mamre. Notice that Lord is
capitalized. This speaks of Jehovah, as Chris
said, the one true God, the self-existent one. And if you, I, or any sinner
has ever to be saved, the Lord must appear and reveal himself
to us. He must, no other way. And how can folks say they found
Jesus? How can you say you found Jesus?
He's never been lost, never been lost. The Lord found us, we're
the lost ones, and the gospel is the blessed truth of how God
came into the world to save sinners who were lost. The gospel is
the message of how Christ came to seek and to save that which
was lost. Salvation always begins with
the Lord's initiating, always. It's always the Lord who initiates
the action and the fulfillment of our redemption. And we love
Him truly because, only one cause, because He first loved us. That's the only reason that we
who, Scripture says, hated Him without a cause. It's the only
reason that you and I Love Him. No other reason. Your love for
Christ was not initiated by you. And if you love Christ, it's
only because He first loved you. How wonderful is that? God initiates
salvation. God's Word proclaims that salvation
is of the Lord. Do you know what follows that
in the Scriptures? A period. I wish folks could see that little
period. Salvation is of the Lord, period. It doesn't say salvation is of
the Lord if you give your heart to Jesus. Does it say that? Does it say that anywhere in
scripture? Our Lord said, you've not chosen
me, but I've chosen you. Does that need interpretation?
You have not chosen me. but I've chosen you. Doesn't
need interpretation. You and I were headed for hell
just as fast as we could go. But God decided. Men and women
sing, I have decided to follow Jesus. No, you haven't. No, you
haven't. But God decided to sovereignly
and divinely intervene in our lives. And you and I decided
to ignore our creator. We would not have the man Christ
Jesus to rule over us. But God made us willing in the
day of his power. And that's the beauty of the
gospel. God made us willing. We would not have him to rule
over us, but God made us willing. God decided not to ignore those
whom He determined to love, call, and save for the foundation of
the world. That's why God gets all the glory
in the salvation of sinners. Salvation starts with Him, it
ends with Him, and it's only His to give. And notice that
the Lord appeared to Abram in the plains of Mamre. You might
find it interesting to know that Mamre means lusty land of rebellion. Mamre comes from a Hebrew root
word that means filthy. Mamre makes reference to a place
where one lifts up self. Isn't that a good description
of where the Lord found you? Those of you that know him, that's
where we were and that's where we all dwell by nature in our
fallen state. We dwell in a lusty land of rebellion. We reside in the filth of this
ungodly world, in the imaginary strength and fatness of self. And the Lord appeared unto Abraham
in the plains of Mamre. And notice what it says after
that. And he sat in the tent door in
the heat of the day. Now had Abraham done anything
that would have caused God to visit him in mercy and in grace? No, he sat in the tent of his
own dwelling. and the filth and the fatness
of self. And he, like all of us, sat at
the tent door of rebellion, endeavoring to cool himself from the heat
of God's wrath against us. And sinful men and women can
do nothing that would cause God to be mindful of them. Is man deserving of God's magnifying
grace? What did Job say? Job said, what
is man that God would magnify him? Has the saved sinner done
anything to deserve any affection from the heart of God? Job said,
what is man that thou, God, should set thine heart upon him? David
wrote, what is man that thou would be mindful of him? The
son of man that thou visiteth Him. What was it that caused
the Lord to appear unto Abraham and visit him? It sure wasn't
anything found in Abraham. And it sure wasn't anything found
in us. It was because of what's found
in God. That's the glory of God. God
said, I will have mercy. on whom I'll have mercy. That's
God's glory. He has mercy on whom He'll have
mercy. And the Lord appears unto His
own because of the love and the compassion and the mercy and
grace found in His own heart. Nothing outside of Himself. Sure nothing found in you or
I. Give Jesus your heart, men say.
God don't want your heart. It's deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked. The heart of man is only evil,
continual. God doesn't want your heart,
Prince. He's gonna give his people a new one though. Look at verse two. And he, Abraham,
lift up his eyes and looked. And works religion to say right
there, you see right there, Abraham had to lift up his eyes and look. Well, you gotta do something
to be saved. Well, you know what? You won't
get any argument from me on that. If Abraham had not lifted up
his eyes and looked, he would have never seen the Lord. But here's the dilemma. How does
anyone who is dead lift up their eyes and look? That's the dilemma. I think about this so much. I
love the story of Lazarus. The Lord Jesus stands before
the tomb and he says, Lazarus, come forth. And the scriptures
say, he that was dead came forth. Now the question that I would
like to ask the free willers of this world, was Lazarus given
life when he came forth from the grave? That's a ridiculous question.
He was dead. And yet that is exactly what
free will works religion teaches. You come down front. You give
your heart to Jesus and He'll save you and give you eternal
life. You know, that'll only work if a dead man can take the
first step. Right? One who is dead can't take the
first step. Life has to first be given. We're going to have to look up
to be saved. We're going to have to look up
and we're going to have to look out of ourselves. And I think
that's a beautiful picture here of what salvation is. We're not
going to be able to look within to find what God requires. You
know what God requires from you? Perfection. That's, I'm afraid, a word we
don't know much about. Perfection. Salvation is not
going to be found inside our tent door in the land of Mamre.
It's not. I know that much, and you and
I cannot lift up our eyes and look until God first gives us
life. Why? Because we're dead. And
that's the problem today. Folks don't believe that they're
dead. And trespass is insane. Did man
just stump his toe in the garden when he disobeyed God? Or did
he die as God said he would? And the day you eat thereof,
God gave Adam one commandment. Men say, oh, I keep the ten commandments. A perfect and righteous man couldn't
keep one? Oh, it's not in our keeping,
is it? No, no, no. The will of man is so in bondage
to sin, as Chris said, that I wonder how anyone could ever refer to
it as free. God's Word is so clear about
the will of fallen and dead sinners. And the will of the natural man
is the same as the will of a dead man. It's non-existent. Verse 2, And he lifted up his
eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him. When God gives
us life, when we by grace and mercy look up, we will see the
blessed Trinity, God in three persons, the Father, Son, and
the Holy Spirit. We're gonna see that God is almighty. Look back at Genesis chapter
17 just for a moment. Look at verse one with me. And when Abram was 90 years old
and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and he said, I am the almighty
God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. Now it's going to take a divine
intervention from God for us to see who God is and what we
are. Abraham and Sarah had, as you
know the story, had taken matters into their own hands with the
promise of a son to them. Sarah said, I want you to take
unto yourself my bond servant, Hagar. But you know, God always
rejects the works of our hands when it comes to the fulfillment
of his promises. And for 13 years, for 13 years,
God didn't, Abraham didn't hear a word from God. 13 years. And Romans 4 and 19
tells us that Abraham was about a hundred years old. He learned
something about himself. You know what he learned? That
his body was now dead. Oh, sinner, you're going to have
to learn that you're dead. You cannot do anything to give
yourself life. Have you learned that? Have you
learned that you're dead to do anything that would bring about
God's promise of life to you? We're going to have to learn
something about who God is, and we're going to have to learn
something about what we are. God's almighty, and we're dead. How are we gonna be reconciled?
He's gonna have to give us life. And that's the beauty of the
gospel. Verse two, and he lifted up his
eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him, and when he
saw them, he ran to meet them. I love that. I absolutely love
that. It was not Abraham's running
that saved him. The scriptures say it's not of
him that willeth, it's not of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. That's the gospel in three words,
isn't it? But of God. Salvation is of God
that showeth mercy. It was the mercy of God that
caused Abraham to run to the one who saved him. Life had already
been given. Oh my, the chosen sinner will
not have to be begged and enticed to come to Christ? Fellas, sing another verse of
just as I. No, no. If God calls, you'll come. And
you won't have to move from the back of the church to the front.
You'll come right here in your heart without moving a muscle. You see, Abraham ran to meet
them from the tent door and he bowed himself toward the ground.
To bow to Christ is to submit To submit to Christ is to submit
to Him as God. Do you see that Jesus Christ
is God? I never forget, I've told this
story often. I know some of you have probably
heard me say it, but Cody Groover in Mexico had a young Mexican
girl, I think about 10 years old, come to him and say, Pastor,
I want to be baptized. Being a bit concerned about her
age, he said, honey, why do you want to be baptized? And she said, because I've seen
that Jesus is God. Have you seen Jesus is God. We submit to Christ as God, because
as God, he's in control of everything and he's causing everything to
work together for the good of those that love Him who are Thee
called according to His purpose. And notice the believers' conversation
when they submit and bow to Christ as their mighty God. Look at
verse 3. Abraham said, My Lord, if now
I have found favor in Thy sight, pass not away. I pray Thee from
Thy servant. When we find favor in God's sight,
Our desire will be for Christ to never leave us nor forsake
us. And he promises that he won't.
I will never leave you nor forsake you. Never is a long, long time. Our desire is to be nothing more
than servants. I pray thee, depart not from
thy servant. Notice The believer's attitude,
the believer's desire is to be nothing more than a servant.
David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than
to dwell in the tents of the wicked. Notice the believer's
attitude. Verse 4. Let a little water,
I pray you, be fetched. Religion says let go and let
God. We don't let God do anything.
But God must let us be His. The believer says, Lord, let
me fetch a little water, but it's all up to You if I fetch
it or not. That leper said, Lord, if You
will, You can make me whole. I know that You can, but will
You? Will You let Your grace and mercy
fall upon one such as I? Oh, friends, that's the attitude
of the saved sinner. Lord, let a little water, I pray
you, be fetched and wash your feet and rest yourselves under
the tree. Salvation has nothing to do with
us letting God, but God letting us. I notice that Abraham goes
on to say in verse 5 of Genesis, He said, I'll fetch a morsel
of bread and comfort you your hearts. After that, you shall
pass on. For therefore, are you come to
your servant. I believe this is what Abraham
is saying. He's saying, Lord, you've providentially
come my way. Will you allow and enable me
to serve you? Isn't it a privilege to serve
the One who loved us and gave Himself for us? Oh, make me your servant. Let me do this. Let me do that
for your glory. And the child of God longs to
hear the words that Abraham heard. The Lord said, so do as thou
hast said. I'd have you notice too the urgency
to the service of God. There's an urgency. and what
we're doing. Oh, I wish God would make that
real to our hearts, just how urgent a matter this is. Verse six, and Abraham hastened. That word means swiftly, speedily,
hurriedly with urgency. He hastened into the tent unto
Sarah and he said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine
meal when needed, and make cakes upon the hearth. Verse 7, and
Abraham ran into the herd. Abraham ran into the herd. He's
100 years old. And he runs. There's urgency
in this matter. He ran into the herd and he fetched
a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man. And he
hasted to dress it. Urgency. The service of the Lord
is an urgent matter. It's a matter of life and death. Paul said now is the time to
awake and sleep. When? Right now. Right now. And I promise to you more than
that. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Speaking of Zacchaeus, Christ
said, today has salvation come to your house. When? Today it has. May not be tomorrow. He said to that thief on the
cross, today you'll be with me in paradise. Now and today may
be all the time that some sinners are given. Urgency. Urgency. Oh, God don't, ever
let us take lightly the urgency of preaching the gospel. I heard
Brother Mahan say one time, Paul didn't say, woe unto me if I
preach not. He said, woe unto me if I preach
not the gospel. Big difference. A lot of folks
preaching today, but they're not preaching the gospel. And
it's the only message by which sinners are saved. Oh my, how
urgent is our message? It's the only message that declares
unto dead dog sinners life everlasting. Oh Lord, make it urgent to me. Verse eight, and he took butter
and milk and the calf which he had dressed." You know, the true
servant of God, as I read these verses, I thought, you know,
God's true servants, they'll always go above and beyond in
their service of God. Won't they? The suggestion of
a little water and a little bread had now turned into a full course
meal. Abraham said, let me fetch a
little water, let me wash your feet. Let you refresh your lips. Let me get a little bread. And
now he's bringing cakes and butter. Oh, can you imagine? The fatted
calf dressed. Full course meal. And yet when
God's servants have done all these things, you know what they
say? We're but unprofitable servants. Just unprofitable. We've done
that which was our duty to do. We don't serve God to merit salvation. We serve God because salvation's
already been given out of love for our Redeemer who loved us
and gave Himself for us. And what did the Lord do when
this work was done unto Him? He enabled and he allowed Abraham
to stand by him. You see that? And he, Abraham, stood by them
under the tree and they did eat. They ate together. Don't you
imagine Abraham ate with them? Dear friend, God accepts the
work of redemption that Christ provided for the payment of the
Alexian. You see, all that Abraham brought
to the table, the Lord had provided for him. When the Lord called
Abram out of the land of Chaldees, you know what he was doing? He
was worshiping an idol. He was an idol worshiper. And
you know, he went down into Egypt and he sold, he lied about his
wife. And the king took her to be his
own wife and then God afflicted the king and he said, what have
you done? Go, get out of here and take
all this stuff with you. God provided that tab. He's able
to provide himself as a sacrifice. God provides all that he requires. Isn't that the gospel? God provides
for us all that He requires of us. No wonder, Mike, our Lord
cried, it's finished. Beloved, with the safe center
of the results is always the same. Our verse here says, Abraham
stood by them under the tree. And at the foot of Christ's cross,
that rugged tree on which the Lamb of God died. That's where
the redeemed of the Lord stand next to God. Jesus Christ and
Him crucified is the message. Isn't it? Isn't that what the
message is? Who's Jesus Christ? He's God. What did He do? He died. God died to save you
from your sins. Never heard anything more glorious
than that. Never in my 60 years on this
earth. It's in the Christ of the cross,
not in that piece of wood on which He hung. It's in that solid
rock, that rock of ages, that cleft of the rock that God's
people are put and covered by His hand. In Exodus, I believe
33, and the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by Me You know what that place is,
don't you? You know who that place is. And thou shalt stand
upon a rock, and friends, that rock is Christ. It's on Him that
we stand, and it's in Him whom we hide. And it's Christ alone
where God dines with His people. He prepares a table for me in
the midst of my enemies. And I sit and dine with God Almighty. What a glorious thought. It's on Him that we stand. It's in Him whom we hide. It's
Christ alone. And it's in Him that His people
live in blessed harmony and eternal fellowship. I believe that's
the gospel. Lord, stand by me. Stand by me. Okay. Thank you.