This should be a very profitable
and constructive message, practical message, I hope. The Lord's pleased to give us
something from it. Let's read now the first four
verses again. Abram went up out of Egypt, he
and his wife and all that he had. and lot with him into the
south. Abram was very rich in cattle,
silver, and gold. He went on his journeys from
the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had
been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai, unto the place
of the altar which he had made there at the first. And there
Abram called on the name of the Lord. Abram was a chosen, called, and
justified man. He was a believer, a righteous
man, righteous by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. And like all believers, Abram
made a serious mistake. He fell terrible fault. He ignored God. He brought reproach
upon his faith. Like Nathan said to David that
time, he said, You have given the enemies of our Lord great
cause to blaspheme. He brought reproach. Abram did
that. He brought reproach upon his
faith, upon his family. and upon himself, because Abram
left the place of God's blessings, God's calling, and went into
Egypt. Abram prospered materially, but
he suffered spiritually. Spiritual prosperity doesn't
always mean the blessings of God, does it? Sometimes it can
be a curse, as we're going to see in a moment. Abram prospered
materially but suffered, was in lean times spiritually. But
God, who is rich in mercy for his great love that he loved
Abraham, brought Abram back to himself like the prodigal son
and brought him out of the place that he was at and brought him
back to his father's house. But not before he had a great
humiliation. He had a great fall. Abram was
humbled by this, was broken by this. He was broken before men
and before his family. He was humiliated. This was a
humiliating experience for Abram. You know it was. You know he
never got over this. I believe that's part of the
reason that the Apostle Paul was such a meek and humble man. He never got over what he was
before, a blasphemer, a persecutor, an injurious. He never got over
that. That's the reason he said all the time, I'm not fit to
be called an apostle. Abram would have said the same
thing had you asked him that. I'm not fit to be called the
father of the faithful. I'm not fit. I'm unworthy, less
than the least. He'd have said that, like every
believer thinks about themselves. I'm not fit. I'm not worthy to
be numbered with God's people. Abram was broken by all of this,
and he was humiliated. Now, we don't need to be humiliated
to learn a lesson, do we? We don't need to be. If we need
to be broken, we don't need to be humiliated to learn a lesson. Humility and brokenness is what
God aims at for us. That's what God aims at for us,
to break us. and humble us. But we don't need
to be humiliated, per se. If we would just listen to God's
Word and God's Holy Spirit, His leadership, and men, wise counsel
from the Lord, we might learn without having to go through
a terrible, humiliating experience. I remember when my pastor was
telling several of us young preachers about his experiences, what all
he went through, the mistakes he made as a young man. I remember
telling him afterward, I said, I'm glad the Lord put you through
all of that. Maybe he put you through all
of that so I don't have to go through it. If I'll just listen,
I might learn. without having to go through
that and experience it myself, right? Now, Abram was a type
of a believer, leaving where the gospel was, like Lot in this
chapter. We're going to see that about
Lot. Abram learned his lesson very quickly, thankfully. He learned his lesson very quickly.
Lot, it took Lot a long time, didn't it? to learn his lesson. Abram was very teachable, very
teachable. Apparently Lot wasn't. Lot was
obstinate. Abram wasn't too proud to go
home. Lot had to be dragged down and
suffered great loss in the process. You see the point I'm trying
to make? Abram, by God's grace, was brought back to Bethel. Verse
3, back to Bethel where his tent had been at the beginning, where he pitched his tent at
the beginning. Verse 4 says, Under the place of the altar,
where he heard the truth, where God appeared to him, where he
worshiped God. We have an altar, John, don't
we? Jesus Christ, the gospel. concerning our Lord Jesus Christ,
whose blood makes propitiation upon the mercy seat. Christ is
our altar. Christ is our tabernacle. Christ is our dwelling place.
Christ is where we pitch our tent, where we heard the gospel. Christ came to us in the form
of the gospel. It says, Abraham called on the name of the Lord.
I said this morning that it could be that Abraham got lifted up
with pride. from the time that God called
him till he went down to Egypt. Well, there's no could be to
it. Abram was a man, and I guarantee you he got lifted up with pride
after hearing all that God was going to do for him and through
him. I've often heard my pastor make
this statement. He said there's basically three
forms of pride. There's pride of race. white race, black race, whatever,
pride of race, pride of face. I'm pretty, you know. I'm somebody. Pride of grace, pride of what
you have, pride of what you know. He said the worst form of pride
is the pride of grace, the worst form. The rest of them are grace
too, aren't they? Your face is grace. But proud,
how can a man ever be proud of what he's been given? That's
what 1 Corinthians 4 says. What do you have that you have
not received? Now, if you received it, how could you possibly glory
as if you had not received it? Well, maybe Abram became a theologian. He became a theologian. That's
generally the downfall of a man, that he gets a little knowledge,
gets puffed up. Scripture said. He became an
expert. Also, I may quote my pastor many
times. We spent several hours together
recently, and he was just relating some things to me over the years. And he said, You know, every
mother's son—he said, Ours is the only—he's talking about preaching. He said, ours is the only vocation
where every mother's son is an expert at it. Every mother's daughter, too,
an expert. Ours is the only vocation. I
wouldn't begin to tell Henry how to do his business. I hadn't
been in it. I don't know if he'd been in it for a year. I wouldn't
begin to tell him. I wouldn't begin to tell Rick how to build
houses. That's his business. He studied it. He's worked at
it a long time. But everybody's an expert on
the Bible out there. Everybody. Abram probably became
an expert. Learned a little doctrine and
became an expert. And nobody could tell him anything. He was
somebody now who knew something, but God whittled him down, didn't
He? Anybody that gets puffed up, if they're God's people,
God will whittle us down by our own mistakes. He'll show us,
he'll prove to us what we are. He'll prove to us what we are—nobodies,
nothings. And he brought Abram back to
where he was in the beginning. Brought Abram back to where he
should have stayed in the beginning. Where is that? A sinner. before
the Lord, calling on the Lord in need of mercy, a nobody from
nowhere receiving everything from the hand of his God, instead
of taking matters into his own hand. And we need to remember,
like the Scripture said, we need to remember the pit from which
we were digged at all times. Never forget that. The pit from
which we were digged. We need to remember That in time
past, Scripture says, in time past we were without Christ,
without God, without, we're strangers without hope, without God in
this world. Nobody's from nowhere. And if
you'll look through the Scriptures, you'll find different men that
fell. I think it was a direct result
of that. David fell. David fell when he forgot that
God found him as a poor little shepherd. Nathan had just told
him that. Nathan had just come to him before
that, not long before he fell. Nathan had come to him and said
a message from the Lord, saying, I took you from a sheep coat,
from following sheep, and made you ruler over my people. A shepherd
came and hand-chose you, a little shepherd boy, from following
sheep. What were David's credentials? Following sheep. And made him
ruler over the greatest nation on earth at that time. David
quickly forgot that, didn't he, when he got in power and he fell?
It ain't fair. Moses did the same thing. Must
I fetch you water out of the rock? Moses, you never did fetch
us water out of the rock. God gave that water. Christ is
that rock. You didn't fetch him down. He
came down. Moses got lifted up, didn't he?
The apostles were not the apostles. Later on, they were arguing about
who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, right?
And the Lord overheard them and looked at them. Their mother
got in on them, and he looked at them. Have you forgotten where
you came from? That's the only reason a man
would get lifted up with pride in it. That I called you, I got
you down off the wharf. Have a fishing boat, a John boat. My, my. So Abram came back. Why? By God's grace. By humiliating experience. He
was a broken man. This is how he started. He came
back, calling on the Lord. All right, let's look now at
Abram and Lot. And those were choice words that
we needed to learn there. That's a lesson we need to always
remember. Never forget the pit from which
we were digging. Never rise above. By order of
Jesus, I say, don't ever lose sight of the fact that you're
just nothing but a sinner saved by grace. Don't ever rise above
your sinnerhood. You'll quit needing Christ, you'll
quit needing the gospel, you'll think you're somebody, and so
forth. All right. Abram and Lot. Both of these
men were believers. Abram and Lot were both believers,
and the only reason they were was because God made them so,
right? We saw that this morning. God
sovereignly called them and chose them and brought them to himself
and revealed the gospel to them. The only reason that they were
is because God made them believers. The only reason we know Lot was—the
only way we know that Lot is a believer is because God said
so. No, right, Henry? If you were
looking, if God hadn't wrote 2 Peter 2, 7 and 8, would you think Lot was a believer?
By looking at his life? No. His sons didn't think so,
sons-in-law. His daughters, his wife, nobody
else thought so. His neighbors didn't think so.
Right? The only reason we know so, because
God said in 2 Peter 2.7, that just man, Lot, that just man,
vexed his righteous soul daily with a conversation in the wick.
It was that, that just man. Because God said he was a just.
And I'm here to tell you, that's the only reason any of us are
called believers. There can be a lot laid to our charge. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect of God justified? Is he a believer? Look at him.
Look what he's doing. Look at that. I heard that. Wish I could tell you what an
old preacher one time said when he mashed his thumb, he hollered
out an oath. And his wife, who was a snob,
said, I thought she was a Christian. Wish I could tell you what he
said to her, but I can't. Ask me privately. The only reason
most of the time, much of the time anyway, anybody would know,
or you would know that we're believers because God said so.
Just about. Am I right? A man asked Brother Barnard one
time, he said, Brother Barnard, do you think I'm a believer? Brother Barnard said, I don't
know. He said, see me in about thirty years. I don't know. We'll wait and find out. I don't
know. Lord knows. And the foundation
of the Lord standing sure of the scripture said, Lord knows,
then there he is. And that's my only hope. I dare not trust
the sweetest front, right? I'm resting on that solid foundation
of promises of God, not on myself. I'm not looking to put no confidence
in the flesh, none whatsoever. Abram gave many evidences throughout
his life, and I don't want to make light of those things. I
said this morning, I said, what kind of man did Abram become
after the Lord revealed the gospel? He became a fine man. He was
an example. The Lord brags on him in Hebrews
11, doesn't he? And all through the scriptures.
Yes, Abram's faith is commended. That's just like our Lord commending
his children for what he does, isn't it? It's just like him.
But Abram was a man whose faith was to be emulated. He was. He
gave many evidences of being a believer. He did believe God,
and it was counted unto him for righteous. Now, why did he believe
God? Because God gave it to him. But he did believe God, right?
He did. Abram gave many evidences. He
took his boy now. Now, if that isn't an evidence,
he took Isaac and was going to kill him. And he was an old man
by that time. Finally, he finally revealed
some evidences, didn't he? A hundred and ten years, fifteen,
twenty years old. He finally started acting his
age, and acting like he believed God then, finally. He didn't
at seventy-five, did he, Charles? He didn't at seventy-five, but
later on, he finally did give some evidence of being a believer.
Locke didn't give any, hardly. And we're going to see that.
came to Lot personally and told him, get out, get out, and he
had to drag him out. He had to take him by the hand
and drag him out. And Lot, though he was a believer,
he was a miserable fellow, wasn't he? He was a miserable fellow
all his life. The story of Lot, he was a miserable
fellow all his life. He did nothing but trouble. Got
into trouble. All with his own sinfulness and
his own ignorance. John and I were talking about
this in a study earlier. I said, I'm glad the Lord reveals
the faults of his men. I'm glad. Like Abram. Wasn't
that comforting to you this morning? How that the Lord reveals men
for what they are. He doesn't gloss over their sin. He exposes them. He exposes men
and women for what they are. And that gives me comfort, because
I'm a man. And I fail just like Abram did.
I fail miserably. But God also, on the other hand,
commends them and their faith, and so gives us examples. Remember,
he gives us examples of men like Daniel and Joseph and Enoch,
who lived exemplary lives. Why? So that we're without excuse. Right? Right? We're without excuse, Henry.
And while we comfort ourselves from Lot's life, we comfort ourselves
in that. I get some comfort from Lot.
He was the worst of the worst, yet the Lord said, he's mine.
Jacob! I can't wait to get to Jacob.
Can't wait to talk about Jacob. I get a lot of comfort from Jacob.
He was a scoundrel. He never did anything right,
but the Lord said, you're mine. And we get comfort from that.
But we need to remember, though, those fellas got in a lot of
trouble. Didn't a lot. No pun intended. Got in a lot of trouble and misery. And we don't have to do that.
We just don't have to. Stan, we don't have to do it.
Let's learn from Abram and not a lot, OK? We'll learn from both
of them. All right, these two men, they
were both believers. Verse 2. And it says, Abram was very rich,
verse 5. Lot was very rich. Both of them
were very rich. Very rich. And riches, there's a lot. Turn
over to Deuteronomy chapter 8. Deuteronomy chapter 8. There's a lot said in the scriptures
about riches. an awful lot said about riches
throughout the Scripture. Our Lord said much about riches.
James speaks of riches. All through the Scripture, riches
are dealt with. Riches can sometimes be a blessing,
but most of the time they're a curse. They were in the case of Abram
and Lot, both of them. It proved to be a curse to both
of them. Our Lord said how hardly shall
they that have riches enter the kingdom of heaven." He didn't
say it's impossible. He didn't say it's impossible.
He said it's hard. He said it's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of heaven. And that's when the disciples said, Lord,
who then can be saved? I've pointed out before that
the disciples were not poor men. Luke was a doctor Peter, James,
and John and Andrew were fishermen. They were businessmen. They had
their own boats and houses and so forth. Abram was rich. David was rich. Solomon was rich.
Go on and on through the Scripture. And we, there's not a person
in here who is not rich and increased with goods and has need of nothing. Right? What is riches? It's an
abundance of things. Is there anybody in here who
does not have two meals stored up? That's riches. Ask them in Mexico. Ask them,
is there anybody in the area who has not had one car? Let
alone five or six. We're rich, folks, aren't we?
We're rich. Right? You say, I don't have
much money. We sell half what we got. We'd
have somebody's back. Right? We're everybody in here.
Everybody in here. Without exception. Riches can be a snare and a burden.
Several reasons. Riches are a snare in getting
them. Riches are a snare in keeping them. A burden in getting them. A burden to keep them. A burden
in using them. When you got them, you feel guilty
about having them. You feel guilty about not using
them. You feel guilty about what you do use them on. It's just
a burden, aren't they? Money. I heard a man say to me
the other day, I don't like money. And he was working for me, earning
money. I started to say, well, I won't
pay you anything. But I know what he meant. I feel
the same way. Money is a burden to think about,
to earn, to take care of. It's a burden to get, it's a
burden to keep, it's a burden to use, it's a burden to lose.
Riches. Riches. Riches are a trial. I
really believe, we were talking last night, we were over at somebody's
house last night, we were talking about the end time, and I really
believe, I see from the scriptures and I really believe, based upon
the scriptures and based upon the times we're in, that I don't
think there's going to be great famine or dearth or poverty in
the last days before the Lord comes, I think there's going
to be great abundance and riches. I think that's going to be the
great and final trial on this earth immediately before the
Lord comes. And I think it's begun at the
house of God, like Peter said. Judgment has begun at the house
of God. I think that an abundance of things is what's going to
try people's hearts. In poor and lean times, people
call on the Lord, don't they? And this is what it says here,
and here's a verse of scripture for this, giving you my reasoning
behind it. Deuteronomy chapter 8. Deuteronomy
8, the children of Israel called on the Lord when they were suffering,
didn't they? When they were in need, when
they were hurting, and so look at verse 13. The Lord said, Now
when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver, well verse 12,
when you have eaten and are full and your built goodly houses
and dwelt therein. He's not condemning these things,
is he? The Lord Jesus Christ never condemned these things.
He just said, no, this is the facts. Now, there's another scripture
in this thing. The Lord said, as in the days
of Noah. As in the day of Noah, when they're building, buying,
selling, days of lot, and Sodom was a rich place. Verse 13, when
your herds and flocks multiply, when your silver and gold is
multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, bend thine
heart and be lifted up, and you forget the Lord thy God. which
brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house
of bondage, who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness,
wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and droughts,
and the water, who brought thee forth water out of the rock of
flint, who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers
knew not, that he might humble thee." He's talking about election
here. "...that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter
end. And thou say in thine heart,
My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this thou
shalt remember the Lord thy God, it is he that giveth thee power
to get well. But it shall be, if thou do it
all, forget the Lord thy God." I testify against you in the
last part of that verse, you're going to perish. Do you see that? I really think that prosperity
is the great and final trial. I really did. I really did. I don't think it's
going to be sickness and dearth and famine. It's going to be
a famine, all right. It's not going to be a bread. You know
what it says in the Scripture? Not of bread, but of the hearing
of the Word. Why? It's like the children of
Israel. It says after they'd eaten and
drank and were full, they rose up to play. They went out and
played with their boats, Ed, or whatever it was they had,
their toys. They had a lot of things. I believe that, based
on the Scripture. It happened to the children of
Israel. It'll happen to us if we're not careful. It happened to Abram
and Lot. It happened to Lot. Both of these
men, both were rich. Both of these men had homes,
families, jobs, responsibilities. Go back to the text in Genesis
13. Both of them had homes and families,
jobs, responsibilities, which things are not evil in themselves. They're not evil
in themselves, but only what we do with them. Only what we
do with them, right? It's the Lord. We saw that. The Lord said it is He that gives
us power to get wealth, right? It's evil. He says, promotion
comes from the Lord. The Lord gives us all things
richly to enjoy. If riches increase, James said,
the Lord gives riches. The Lord made Abram rich, made
Lot rich. He did. They had homes and families
and so forth. These things are not evil in
themselves, only what we do with them. Look at verses 7 through
10. There was a strife between the herdmen of Abram cattle,
and the herdmen of Lot's cattle, and the Canaanite and Perizzite
dwelt then in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, Let
there be no strife between us, I pray thee. Separate yourself.
You go to the left, I'll go to the right. You go to the right,
I'll go to the left. Verse 10, it says, Lot lifted up his eyes,
and he held the plain of Jordan, well watered everywhere. Before
the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, it was like the Garden
of Eden. like the land of Egypt as you
come out of Zabon. And he left. Now, there's no mention of Lot's
wife. There's no mention of his wife
until we get to Sodom, until he's rescued from Sodom. I don't
know if he had one before or not. I don't know. I looked,
and I just couldn't find her anywhere. She was first mentioned
when he came out of Sodom. And that's when it says, remember,
Lot's wife. And I don't know, he either married
a woman who was a worldly woman, who had eyes after Sodom, or
he married a woman down in Sodom. He married a Sodomite. I don't
know. The point is, evil communications
corrupt good manners. Now, he listened to the wrong
voices. He listened to his herdmen there.
I really believe that they had an influence over him. I really
do. If he had a wife, I believe she
had an influence over him. Lot should have listened to Abram,
shouldn't he? God's chosen and called man.
Instead, he listened to others. Lot's herdsmen. Friends and associates
and family influenced him, I'm sure. I'm certain of it. I'm
certain of it. When they heard, hey, we get
a choice. We get a choice. Locke said, no, here's the choice
we get. We get either the plane or we get these mountains here.
Oh, Locke, Locke, Locke! Look at that city. Let's go there.
That's a good place. If you had a family and children,
yeah, yeah, let's go there. And the point I'm trying to make
here is that unregenerate men, women, and children can be the
means of separating their friends and separating believers from
the gospel. It's so. Unregenerate men, women,
and children, family, friends, associates can separate us from
our brethren and even from the gospel. Verse 7 says there's a strife
between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's.
It says the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled in the land
there. Here's the glaring, the terrible thing about this whole
thing that happened, was that the Canaanites were watching. See, this all happened, this
squabble between these two believers, and Lot leaving, and so forth,
this strife that went on. It was done in front of their
neighbors. That's the bad thing about it. The world was watching.
The world was watching. Well, look now. Let's see Abraham
as the peacemaker. Look at verse 8 and 9. Abram
said unto Lot, No, let's not have this strife. I pray thee,
between me and thee, between my herdmen... is to say we'd be men brethren. Both apply there. Abram was saying
here, now we're men. Let's act like men here. Let's
not act like spoiled children. Let's act like men. Let's talk
this thing over. Let's act like brethren. We're
brothers here. We ought not to get in a fight
like this. Let's act like brethren. Let's see that we love one another
with a pure heart personally. That's what the Scripture says.
See that we love one another as brethren, the Scripture says.
Let's look on the things above. Let's just do this right, like
we profess to be brothers, okay? Abram proved himself a man here,
didn't he? I said he gave some evidences
of being a Christ-like man, a child of God. Right here's one. Didn't
he? Let's not have that. He proved
himself to be God's man, the peacemaker. Blessed are the peacemakers. They shall be called the sons
of God. Blessed are the peacemakers. Let's not have this drive. Whatever
you want, take it. Take it. That reminds me of somebody. I talked about Abram being God's
man. This reminds me of the God man.
This whole story right here reminds me of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the peacemaker. Huh? The peacemaker, when he
was reviled, he reviled not again, didn't he? When he made, he was
the one that made peace, we didn't offer, we didn't come to him
with peace. We want peace. No, we, Cardinal
Meyer, we were enmity against God, right? Children of wrath,
even as others. He came to us, John, with peace.
Peace, peace. Come now, let us reason together.
You're under the wrath of God. God's angry with the wicked.
You don't want to perish unless I do something for you. Make
peace by the blood of my cross? Come now. Though your sins be
as scarlet, I'll make them white as snow. He's the peacemaker,
isn't He? Blessed are the peacemakers.
They should be called the children of God. He's called the Son of
the Highest because He's the one that made peace with God. And He gave us, like Abram said,
now you take the good part, I'll take the bad. That remind you
of Christ, huh? You take the good, and I'll take
the bad. Christ took our sin. We took
his righteousness, right? That's a picture of Christ, isn't
it? Who gave us the blessing. Lot thought, you know, he got
the well-watered plains. Abram got the old scruffy mountain.
We got set free. Christ was bound to the cross. We got the smile of God. Christ
got the frown, the wrath of God. Right? We got to go free. The blessed man, peacemaker,
Christ. Let's look at their choice, man,
and I'll hurry. I'm just about through here.
Just a little bit more. Let's look at their choice. You know, salvation is not by
our choice. We've seen that and saw that
this morning. We know that. God choosing us. God choosing
us, making us his choice. That's salvation. God making
us his choice and making us willing and calling on the name of the
Lord. But God gives us choices after he has made us his choice. He gives us choices to prove
us. Yeah, he does, doesn't he? Do you agree with that? It's plain from the Scripture.
God gives his people choices to prove us afterward, prove
us. The Scripture says, choose you this day whom you will serve.
Scripture says, God, Christ said, you cannot serve God in mammon. Which will it be? He said to
Peter, Peter, lovest thou me more than these? Isn't it? So did all the disciples. Will you also go with? You want
to go? There's the door. There's the
door. Now we say, he gives us choices,
doesn't he? To prove us. Yes, he does. And
if we're proved true, it's because he made us. Isn't it? He worked in us both to will
and to do of his good pleasure. I know that. The fact is that
we are responsible. Verse 9 and 11, through 11. Abram
said, He's not the whole land before thee. Abram said, Take
what you want. I'll go to the right, you go
to the left, I'll go to the right, you go to the right, I'll go
to the left. I've got what I want, Abram said. I've got what I want. What did he have? Well, you remember,
Abram, when he came to Bethel, the Lord appeared to him and
gave him those blessed The Lord appeared to him. Chapter 15,
over there it says, Abram, I am thy exceeding great reward. You get me, Abraham. You get
me. In eternal life. You get me.
Abram tried other things, didn't he, John? He went down to Egypt
and was made rich and all that. What'd he do? He came back where
he started. He said he realized those things,
vanity of vanities. Had Abraham wrote the proverb,
that would have been it, saying, vanity of vanities, thus saith
Abraham, vanity of vanities, all flesh is vanity. I've tried
it, he said, I've been down to Egypt. God is all we need. All we need. Brother Scott said, God, if God
is all you got, then he's all you need. That's what, that's the point
that God brings his people to, that time. Abram, Abram said, take what
you want, Lot, and I'll take the rest. Lot lifted up his eyes,
look at it, verse ten, Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the
plain of Jordan, it was well watered, everywhere like the
Garden of Eden. He lifted up his eyes, he had
lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. This remind you of anybody? About
eleven chapters back, ten chapters back, a woman in a garden lifted up his eyes and beheld
it was goodly to look at, and life chose him all the plain,
chose the easy way, chose the easy way. And I say to you young
people, you young children now, the way of the transgressor is
hard, the way of the world is hard. enticing and pleasing,
but it's hard. It's hard. The way of the world is smooth
for a time, but it will be rough sailing at the end. I want to draw your attention,
in closing, to the article in the Bulletin. I'll just close
with this. It said that Abram dwelled in
the land of Canaan. in the cities of the plain, puts
his tent toward Sodom. The men of Sodom were wicked
and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." I want to draw your attention
to this article by Matthew Henry in the Bulletin. This was his
commentary on this verse. It says that sensual choices,
by that What he means by that is lust of the eyes, lust of
the flesh, and pride of the heart. Choices made without an eye to
God's Word, without a thought to what's spiritually good and
profitable. Sensual choice. We don't walk
by sight. We're not supposed to walk by
sight. Well, that looks good. I'll do that. No, we're supposed
to walk by faith, right? We just shall live by faith.
We walk by faith, not by sight. We're supposed to consult God
in everything, right? In everything by prayer and supplication
that you request be made known, right? Everything. Sensual choices
are sinful choices and seldom speed well, seldom speed well. Those who, in choosing relations,
you young people or unmarried, whoever, choosing relations,
pointed us out. Evidently, Lot married a Sodomite
woman. Or at least she's a woman who
had Sodom in her heart. I always wanted to go live there.
She'd heard about it. She always wanted to live there. She proved to be what she was,
didn't she? She proved to be a real snare to a lot. She almost
took a lot down with her. Evil communications corrupt good
manners. The scripture says light can't
have fellowship with darkness. You consider that. in choosing
relations, callings, jobs, dwellings, settlements, place to live. They're
guided by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride
of life, and consult not the interests of your souls, your
religion. That means gospel, what that
means, wherever the gospel is. You can't expect God's presence,
nor his blessing upon what you're doing. Can't do it. And riches doesn't mean that
God's blessed you, does it? May have cursed you. Because we go somewhere and we're
blessed. When I was without God, my pockets were full of cash.
When I was young and single, my pockets were full of cash.
I went anywhere, did anything, anything my heart's desire. Does
that mean the Lord's a blessing me? Oh, I was under the curse. I didn't mean any of that. You
cannot expect God's presence with you or His blessing upon
you. You're commonly disappointed, even in that which you principally
aim at, that is, satisfaction. You miss it, that which you promised
you set satisfaction in. In all our choices, this is Matthew
Henry speaking, and it's good, in all our choices, This principle
should overrule us. That is best for us, which is
best for our souls. Isn't that good, Vicki? That's
good advice. In your callings, in your dwellings,
in your settlements, in whatever you've been. You know, Sodom,
and I'll have you note this one more thing. It says, Abram grew
up in the land of Canaan. He said, life shouldn't have
gone to Sodom. That's right, it shouldn't have. primarily
because there was no gospel there, none of God's people there. When
the Lord came, Barbara, he said, I'll spare that man if there's
five. There's five. Five righteous. There weren't
five. There was one. One. A lot. Even his daughters
turned out. But Sodom is not a place. person. Sodom is whoever you're
with, or wherever you are, and where God is not. You see, Abram dwelt in Canaan,
right? The Canaanites were there. They
weren't any better than the Sodomites. Canaanites, they were the enemies
of Cain. Canaan, cursed be Canaan, son
of Ham. That's where Abram was brought
into town. We're dwelling in Sodom. If I move out on the farm
to get away from the city, Sodom, that doesn't mean I'm out of
Sodom. My neighbor is a Sodomite. Right there at that old farmer
next door, he's a rotten, no-good bum. He never gives thanks to
God. Right? See what I'm saying? Little old Rocky Man. I thought
this was kind of a haven, a Bible Belt, you know. We'll say something
in the paper about it. homosexuals, and you'll find
out that Sodom reigns here, too. Sodomites are here, too, right? Sodom—here's the point I'm trying
to make. Sodom is not a place, but it's whoever and wherever
God is not. Canaan was where Abram dwelt,
but that's where God was. That's where the gospel was.
Does that make sense? Wherever you go or whoever you
go with, wherever God is not, wherever the gospel is not found,
that's Sodom. Right? Even the old Bible Belt
town, good old Southern redneck, where good old boys live. Sodomites
don't carry anything from God. But now if the gospel's there,
if there's an altar there, you can dwell there, see? If
there's an altar there. And that's the choice that we
are given. And that's where we need to stay,
wherever the altar is, wherever God's people are, wherever the
gospel is. And it'll go well with you. And
you know, I bet you lots justified himself in moving. I guarantee
you do. We always do. We can find something
to justify. Mindy, we've seen a lot of people
come and go, haven't we? Leave the gospel and go in search
of whatever. And they say, oh, we'll be all
right. The Lord blessed us, found us a good home, found us a good
job and a nice town and all that. What about the gospel? Oh, we'll
find that. We're looking. That's not the
way it's done. You find where the altar is.
find where the altar is, right? Where God is, where God's people
dwell, where the worship of God is found. And that's where you
go first. That's what you seek. You seek
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these
things you have to do. All right, stand with me.