Genesis 18. I hope you'll get
a blessing out of this this morning. I sure did enjoy studying it. I was looking forward to looking
at it with you. Let's go ahead and read verse
8, Genesis 18. And the Lord appeared unto 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 Let a little water, I pray you,
be fetched and wash your feet. Rest yourselves under the tree. And I'll fetch a morsel of bread
and comfort you, your hearts. After that, you shall pass on.
For therefore, you come to your servant." And they said, So do,
as thou hast said. And Abraham hastened into the
tent unto Sarah and said, Make ready. Three measures of fine
meal. Knead it and make cakes upon
the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd
and 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 a calf which he had dressed and set
it before them, the three men. And he stood by them under the
tree and they did eat. So as the Lord appeared, you
notice they're all capital letters. Whenever you see in Scripture
the word Lord in all capital letters, that's Jehovah. In the original, it actually
reads Jehovah. In the original Hebrew, Jehovah
appeared. Jehovah. Yes, this is at least
the third time that he appeared. Jesus Christ is Jehovah. That's why we say that we're
the true Jehovah Witnesses. Those that call themselves such
go door-to-door to try to disprove that, to try to renounce Christ
as being God. It says He appeared. That means
He actually came to Abraham in a bodily appearance, doesn't
it? That's what appear means. And
so He appeared to him. Now, I don't understand how that
Christ is God, but I believe it. I don't understand how three
can be one, but I believe it. I don't understand how the Scripture
says no man hath seen God or can see God, and yet Abraham
did, and Job said he would, and so will we see God. That's what
he said. I don't understand that, but
I believe it. I don't understand how the Son
can be both the Father and the Son, but I believe it. Don't
you? Christ said that. He said, He
that hath seen me hath seen thee also. So we believe it. The chapter begins with the word
and. This wasn't written in chapters
and verses. So something happened before
this. leading into this, and the Lord
appeared to him. It's very significant. It's connected. The Lord appeared to Abraham
right after he told Abraham to circumcise himself and his son
Ishmael and all his servants in his house. And it says up in verse 23 of
chapter 17, Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all that were born
in his house, and all the men and circumcised them. And Abraham
was ninety years old and nine when he was circumcised in the
flesh of his poor skin. Abraham did what the Lord told
him to do immediately. And this was very It was painful. Can you imagine? It was a very
painful thing. It was a humiliating thing. So he had just gone through great
pain and humiliation because the Lord told him to sacrifice
something he did to himself and to his son. Now, his son did
not understand. His son was too young. And yet
he said, we're going to do this. The Lord told us to. So the Lord,
right after this, after he's gone through this, that he's
willingly obedient, he makes this sacrifice and goes through
this pain and this suffering and this humiliation, the Lord
said, I want to go see him. I'm going to go busy with him.
I'm going to sit down. I'm going to suffer with him.
As if to say, he needs me right now. You see that? That blessed me thinking about
that. Just as when the Lord called him out of his father's house,
he left. He left immediately. That was
a great sacrifice. Great sorrow. The Lord came right after that
and made great promises to him. The man or woman that will do what the
Lord says Don't make the sacrifice, the Lord will be very near and
dear to that person. There's a lesson here. The lesson
here is, and James wrote a whole book pretty much about it, that
faith without works is dead. And he used Abraham as an example. He said, was not Abraham our
father justified by what he did? Meaning that his faith was justified,
that he proved his faith by his works. And I want to say this
one time, just for the sake of anybody that might not know or
may be a little confused, but shouldn't be, you've heard it
enough here. I'm going to say it one more time, one time, today. Works don't save us. And we don't
do works to be saved. We do them because we have them. Works don't merit us salvation
or don't merit us a crown or merit us any favor with God.
They don't merit. They're no merit. We don't get
merit badges from the Lord for doing things. No, no, no. They're
done out of love and appreciation to our Lord and seeing a need. Works are not to be accepted,
but because we're accepted. Faith is a gift of God, not of
your sin. Faith proves God. It's evidence
of things not sent. God gives us faith to believe
in unseen God and to really, I mean really believe with all
your heart unto salvation. To see one you can't see, to
hear his voice that's not audible, that's evidence that God has
proved. I think God is. And you can't
prove that to people. You can't prove God to people.
He has to reveal Himself to them like He did to you. But works
prove faith. Works prove faith to men. Now you at least see, like Peter
told a woman who's married to an unbelieving man, he may be
greatly influenced by your actions, your attitude. And the Lord says this in Hebrews
6, and I like that. He said, God is not unrighteous
to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed
toward his name in that you have ministered to the saints and
do ministry. God is not unrighteous to forget
that. He even said one place to his servant, Well done, thou
good and faithful servant. So God the Father is not unrighteous. Works of faith honor God. They
honor God before men. And God will honor that person. Sacrifice, suffering, patient,
enduring, that honors God before men. It honors Him, honors His
Word, and God will honor that person. He did Abraham did. He
did. Mostly, God will honor them personally
with his presence. He says, you draw near to me,
I'll draw nigh unto you. Now, we can't imagine how difficult
this was for Abraham to do, how painful it was for him to do
to his son. He's in pain and humiliation,
and here he sits and the Lord comes to him. The Lord comes
to him and says, I'm going to visit with Abraham. I'm going
to suffer with him. I'm going to talk with him. I'm
going to comfort him in all his afflictions. I'm going to comfort
him. Just as the Lord does to all
of his people, whatever they go through, the trials, the afflictions,
they do it and they suffer for his namesake, and he's near to
them in a special way. Especially those that suffer
for his namesake. Abraham was doing. I'm sure the
neighbors and people all around said, what in the world are you
doing this for? What are you doing? He said,
I'm doing what the Lord told me to do. They didn't understand.
Abraham did. So you see why that's so significant. But the Lord will greatly bless
those who do whatever for His name's sake. Abraham left his
home. Abraham left his family. I traveled in tents just like
the Lord. Abraham never did dwell in a
permanent dwelling place. And Sarah went through the same
thing. And the Lord said, there's no
man that hath left father, mother, houses and lands, home, son or
daughter or anything for my sake in the gospel that they will
not receive in this life a hundredfold and an eternal life to come. Now, I remember distinctly When
we left our home and literally sold our house and left our church
family full of all our friends that we accumulated over the
years, all our brethren that we had much fellowship with,
all our friends, family, mom, dad, brothers and sisters and
everyone. Comfortable home, comfortable
living and to come here to a strange place, to strange people. And
I remember distinctly lying on a mattress on the floor in a
rented home that was less than nice, the first one we stayed
in. Lying there on that mattress on the floor. And Hannah was
in another room, but Mindy was, well, she was crying. And I remember
thinking, what have I done to my family? What have I done to my family? But then the next day, I came
over here where the first thing I did was set up a little study
in one of those rooms, cleared out the junk out of it, and put
a desk in there and my books. And that's where I spent, you
know, I came here a month before she did. Dropped everything,
came here a month before she did. And that's where I sat for
up to 16 hours a day. I remember the next day after
that, coming over here, and I thought I was on the Mount of Transfiguration,
because the Lord was so near to me. He so blessed me. So great. The Lord will do that. He promised that. He promised
that. And our brother Gabe has done
the same thing. We've lost our family twice for
the sake of the gospel. The Lord will honor that. Well,
verse 1 says, The Lord appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre. This man named Mamre, we've already
seen him over in chapter 14. He was confederate with Abraham. They were three brothers. Three
brothers that were from this land. And they joined with Abraham. Apparently, the Lord revealed
Himself to them. And they were friends and joined
with Abraham in this cause. Remember, they went to help Abraham
rescue Lot, these three men. Mamre was one of them. Abraham
dwelt on his land, the plains of Mamre. This was his land.
And he dwelt there a long time. He pitched his tent there for
years, this man's land. Abraham didn't own this land,
Mamre did, and he pitched his tent there for years. You reckon
the Lord blessed Mamre for opening up his land to Abraham? When
I came down here, the Andersons opened their home to me. I stayed
with them every time I came down here until it began to be like
home to me. I could come and go as I pleased.
Just like the house of Obed-Edom was blessed with a gospel song.
The Lord promised. He blessed his people. Look at
Hebrews 13 very quickly. Hebrews 13. This is a lesson
to be learned here. Hebrews 13. And this is, if you
have a marginal reference, it gave this reference to that. Hebrews 13. That's often where
I find these verses of Scripture. It's already given for us. Hebrews
13 verse 1 and 2 says, Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful
to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels. Not aware that Abraham did just
that. And Lot, remember Lot, we're
going to see Lot in the next chapter, Not just angels, but
the Lord Himself. Now, it says in verse 1, the
Lord appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent
door in the heat of day. He sat in his tent door, it was
hot, in the heat of day, and he was in a, I don't know, a
tent made of some kind of cloth or skin. But the thing is, we
need to remember this when we are sitting in our nice, comfortable
home. And Abraham never had any such
thing, or Sarah. And we need to remember this
when our A.C. goes out, maybe, or when our
washer or dishwasher breaks down, or whatever. That sure is a light
thing. And Abraham and Sarah and Isaac
and Jacob, it says, dwelled in tents all their days. in the
heat of the day, in the heat of the day. But moreover, more
than that, our Lord said, the Son of Man, he didn't even have
a tent. He didn't have a tent. He had
not where to lay his head, Scripture said. So we need to remember
that when we complain about whatever. like the children of Israel murmured
in their tents. Well, be thankful you have a
tent. Our Lord didn't even have a tent. And Abraham was in the
tent door in the heat of the day. I couldn't help but think
about Lot. We're going to find him standing
in his tent door in the heat of the day too. I believe he's
looking out. Abraham is too. He's looking
out of his tent door. Maybe he's longing. forward to
something, and I believe he is. This is what Scripture says.
It says that he looked for a city which had foundations, whose
builder and maker is God. He's sitting in his tent, looking
out the door, longing for the day when he'll be in the promised
land with the Lord. Out of this heathen land and
this veil of tears and sorrow, looking forward to that day,
as do we. As do we. Strangers and pilgrims
and sojourners like Abraham. Well, here he sits. He sits in
his tent door. He's hot. He's hurting. He's
downcast. He's downcast. And it says in
verse 2, he lift up his eyes and look low. Three men stood
by him. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Hope thou in God. Look up, Scripture
says, your redemption draweth nigh. Look up. God is with you. And if God be for you, God stands
by, watches over, who can be against us? Three men, it says. Three men. And the Lord was one
of them. Three men. Men, the Lord and
two angels, men. God was manifest in flesh, tabernacled
among us. And I'm never tired of reading
these verses to you, to myself. Hebrews 2 says, For as much as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. He didn't take on the nature
of angels, but took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, when
all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people, and
in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, He's able to succor. He's able to help them that are
tempted. You hear a man come in the heat
of the day, walking. How far did he walk? It didn't
matter. It wasn't too far to go help
his brother with. Three men. Who were the other two men? It
doesn't say that. It's not important. It's not
important. One time, our Lord, on the Mount
of Transfiguration, the Lord had two men with him, remember?
Moses and Elijah. Who were these two men? Well,
I don't know, but I imagine if the Lord had said, whom shall
I send? Who will go with me to go comfort
our brother? How many hands went up in glory?
How many hands? Here am I. Send me. Let me go
on this wonderful mission of mercy. That's right. This is
real, two men. Adam, was it Adam? I heard the
Lord came to Adam walking in the cool of the day. Abel, was
it Abel? Abel, you've honored me by your
blood, and I'll honor you. Go with me. Enoch, Enoch, you
walked with me for so many years. Now come, take a walk with me
to comfort my brother. Noah? A hundred years, Noah,
you served me, now come with me. Come with me. And so there
were two men with him. The Lord sent out disciples by
pairs to preach, to comfort. Comfort you, comfort you, my
people. And he was always with them. We used to always do this,
I remember so well. We'd go out, young men, early
on, beginning to preach, and we always went out by pairs. And what a blessing that was.
And I've gone places even now, and someone's accompanied me,
and it's just always better by two. These two men went with
him, and it says in verse 2, Abraham ran to meet them from
the tent door and bowed himself toward the ground. Ran. Here
are these servants. The Lord, He knew who He was.
He'd seen them before. He'd come to him before. He ran. The Lord came to meet him and
he ran to meet the Lord. Would that we were so ready to
meet with the Lord. He said, where two or three are
gathered, that's where I'll be. Run. Abraham got a blessing. He recognized it. Oh, and how
reverent, how respectful, how appreciative, How thankful Abraham
was for this visit. He ran. He bowed. He bowed. Three men bowed to him. Well,
showed great respect. Great respect. He knew one was
the Lord. John, remember, fell at the feet of that angel. The
angel told him, don't do that. But John showed great respect. Great respect. Verse 3. And Abraham said this, My Lord,
if I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray
thee, from thy servant. You know, Abraham doesn't ask
for one thing here. He just asks the Lord not to
leave him. He asks the Lord not to go away. He asks the Lord to let him serve
him. Let him get him a little water
to wash his feet and a little food to nourish himself and comfort
himself. He just don't leave. Just whatever
you do, just stay with me. All I need is for you. I'm just
so thankful you're here with me. I need a word from you. I need to sit down with you and
have you speak to me right now. I need your presence. Don't leave.
Please don't leave. I'll serve you. Just stay with
me. They didn't know it was the Lord.
They thought it was just a preacher. Just a preacher. They thought
it was a preacher, and boy, they were just so glad. They said,
don't leave. Please don't leave. Lord, don't
let this man leave. Let him stay here. We'll do what
we can to keep him comfortable. That's what Abraham did. He has
two God's people now. But he said in verse 3, he said,
and thy servant." I'm your servant. What's the scripture say? Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who took
upon him the form of a servant. Well, it was in Abraham. God highly exalted Abraham and
gave him a name. We're still honoring him, Abraham. I'm your servant. Abraham said,
let a little water, I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet
and rest yourselves unto the tree. A little water to wash
your feet. Now, think just a minute with
me back. Abraham is the covenant head. Abraham is the one that the Lord
spoke to and said, I've established my covenant with you and your
seed. You're going to be a blessing.
All will be blessed through you. Abraham is a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ. All right, Abraham, who's a covenant
head, washing his feet. Isn't the Lord's Word so perfect?
Abraham, such a type of pride in every way, who's a servant,
who's a covenant head, and the first thing Abraham does is wash
the Lord's feet. What did our Lord do in John
15? Wash feet. He said, oh no, I
have to do this. Well, it was under a tree. My,
my. Under a tree. And our Lord is
the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same Lord Jesus
a little later in the book of Judges. You love the book of
Judges, John. There was a young man named Gideon
who was in captivity. And he was threshing wheat for
his family. They were in captivity, and he
was so sorrowful. He was so downcast. He was so
depressed. And he was threshing his wheat
in danger of being found out, and they would have apprehended
him. But he would do it anyway to try to feed his family. And
lo and behold, he looked up, and sitting under an oak tree, And that angel of the Lord, watching
this man in sorrow, threshing wheat, in bondage, in fear and
worry, he said, the first thing out of his mouth, the Lord said
to Gideon, The Lord is with you. It didn't look like it did, but
he brought it. There he sits under that tree. Verse 5. So Abraham said, I'll
fetch a morsel of bread of comfort in your hearts, and after that
you shall pass on, for therefore you come to your servant. And
they said, So do as I say. Abraham said, Let me fetch you
a morsel of bread. Let me feed you. Let me wash
your feet. Let me feed you. What did our Lord do? He fed
us. He fed His disciples, 5,000,
7,000, with bread and fish and comfort your hearts. And He said,
Then pass on, for this is why you came to me. What He said
is, This is why you came to me. You came to comfort me. If you
came to comfort me, let me comfort you. Let me comfort you. And that's what we're to do.
If we get any comfort from this message, we're to do some comforting. Or let me ask this question. Are we always needing comfort? Are we always needing comfort?
Are others always comforting us? Or do we do any comforting? Be like Abraham. Be like our
Lord. Our Lord said, with the same
measure you meet, be meted to you. Give that will be given
to you. Comfort, you'll be comforted. Feed, you'll be fed. Be a friend,
you'll have friends. So much, Verse 6, Abraham hasted to the
tent. Sarah said, Make ready quickly
three measures of fine meal, not the best meal. Three measures? Oh, there's so much here, we
don't have time to look at it all. But make ready three measures
of fine meal, one for each. Knead it, work it with your hand,
make cakes upon the hearth. And verse 7, Abraham ran unto
the herd and fetched a calf, tender and good, and gave it
to a young man to be hasted. And he hasted to dress it. I
thought, I wonder if Sarah resented this. He didn't ask her, he told
her to do it. Here, quick, take this, cook
it. Did she resent it? Maybe. Possibly. Too hot to be
cooking. Somebody else do this. Well, she did it. Willingly or
not, she did it, and oh, my, was she blessed. in doing it. This is the chapter I believe
the Lord reveals himself there. But anyway, Abraham ran. It says
he ran. There he is running. He's always
running to do something. He that believeth shall make
haste. There's a time we don't make haste. He that believeth
shall not make haste. There's a time we wait on the
Lord. We're not in a hurry because we know the Lord's providence
is is moving and we just wait on Him. But there's a time when
He says, do this, and he that believeth makes haste. Abraham,
immediately when he was called to go out, he went out. He went
out immediately. When the Lord appeared to him,
he ran to meet Him. When He said, circumcise yourself
and your son, it says, that day he did it. That day. Oh, today is the day of salvation. So he ran, and he fetched a calf. And what a picture this is of
our Lord sending out a gospel preacher. He fetched a calf.
There's a type of Christ that's a red heifer in Scripture. And
he told this young man to get this tender and good calf, young,
and dress it as food for food. That's a picture of our Lord
choosing his young disciples to preach the gospel about that
red heifer, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Verse 8, And he took
butter and milk, the calf which he had dressed, and set it before
them. And Abraham stood by them under
the tree and they didn't eat. I couldn't help but think about,
we went to Mexico years ago when Hannah was very young and dad and mom, no they weren't there,
just me and Hannah. But anyway, we went out into
one of those poor villages And this woman named Fondila, a very
poor Mayan lady, lived in a grass hut with a dirt floor, very,
very poor. And we preached that night. I preached and Cody translated. And after the service, that woman
had prepared in her house a fine meal, what was to her a fine
meal. She had a table in the middle
of the room with dishes all around for Walter and Betty and Cody
and Winna and Mindy and I and Hannah. And she had prepared
the finest food that they had, which looked, and I just got to say this, it looked
kind of like canned dog food. But it was the best that she
had. And they had us sit around and just honored us greatly,
just loved us being there. And while they stood, she stood
in the door and watched as we ate and all the other people,
the children, the whole family stood around. They didn't eat,
they just watched us eat with great big smiles on their faces. Just so happy, so honored We
were there. Who was honored? Oh my. We felt it was an honor to be
in her home. And you know, you just don't
eat the food in those buildings. You don't do it. You just don't
do it. So you will get deathly sick. I've been there. We've all been
deathly sick of it. And we thought, we've got to
eat this food. We've got to eat this food. Hannah,
I guess she was too young to know better, and she said, I'm
hungry. She dove in. I thought, well, if she gets
sick, I'm going to get sick. Mindy did, too. And of course,
Cody and Winnow, they can take it in there, Walter and Betty.
So we ate it. We had to eat what she had prepared
us. And you know what? We didn't
get sick. Oh, no. Not even a little bit
of monazem was hurt. Not even a little bit. Not the
slightest bit. I ate it just fine. But I'll
tell you this, I rode on one of the finest airlines on the
way home, and they served a meal, and I ate that meal. I was the
only one that did. And I got salmonella. So there. Brother Bill Clark used to go
out all over the world and eat things. He said I never asked
him what it was. African places he said I wouldn't ask. Afraid
to. He ate it. He did get sick a lot. He had
malaria all his life. He said you can't get rid of
it. But he didn't die from it. took butter and milk and veal,
young calf, and set it, dressed it, and set it before them. And
he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. And Abraham's
so happy, oh, he's so happy the Lord is here. Do you know why
the Lord came? You know, Abraham went through
a great deal of trouble. He went through pain and suffering.
and sorrow. But again, the Lord has come
to him again, again. He keeps coming to him to to
repeat the same, blessed, exceeding, great and precious promises,
which he lives on. He lives by these promises. He's kept by these promises. Keeps him from despair. Keeps
him from depression. Keeps him from all these things.
He lives on these. And the Lord, in great mercy,
comes in person. He said, My sheep will hear my
voice. came to him and spoke to him and said, Abraham, you
know what I said to you? It's true. It's true. And he kept reminding him. And
not only that, Abraham sacrificed a great deal. Abraham went through
a great deal of pain. But not only that, the Lord came
to save his wife. This is when he reveals himself
to Sarah. Is it worth it all? Any degree of suffering or sacrifice
or pain, is it worth it? Any? Oh, my. Abraham and Sarah woke up in
glory one day together. Oh, my. That was just very light
affliction we went through, wasn't it, dear Sarah? Aren't we glad
that the Lord had mercy upon us and gave us the great privilege
and honor of entertaining Him and His angels like He did us? Oh, what is man that thou art
mindful of Him, and the Son of Man, that ye would visit Him?