Turn with me in your Bibles,
please, to the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 4. The Gospel of Luke,
Chapter 4. In this chapter, we'll see that
the Lord Jesus is full of the Holy Ghost, led by the Spirit,
and the Spirit of God was upon Him. In this chapter, we also
see that the Lord Jesus answers Satan with his own words. It is written. And you know he
wrote them. He answers them with his own
words. And then one of his first messages,
they wondered at it, at his gracious words. That's all that ever comes
out of his lips. Psalm 45, there's grace poured
into his lips. And then at the end, toward the
end of the chapter, he goes to another place and preaches there,
and they're astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with
power. That's why we have to have the
Lord here, because then we'll hear his gracious words, and
then his word will be with power. Luke chapter 4. And Jesus, being
full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the
Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat
nothing, and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the
devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this
stone that it may be made bread.' Jesus answered him, saying, It
is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word of God. And the devil, taking him up
into a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world
in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him,
All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them, for that
is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore will worship
me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem,
and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him,
If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from thence. For
it is written, He shall give His angels charge over thee to
keep thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest
at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering
said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God. And when the devil had ended
all the temptations, He departed from him for a season. He was
tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He was tempted with the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life in
these three temptations. Verse 14, And Jesus returned
in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out a
fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in
their synagogues, being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth,
where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he
gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of
all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he
began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears. And all bear him witness, and
wondered. at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's
son? And he said unto them, Ye will
surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever
we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in
his own country. And I tell you a truth, many
widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens
were shut up three years and six months, when great famine
was throughout all the land. But unto none of them was Elijah
sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was
a widow. And many lepers were in Israel
in the time of Elisha the prophet. And none of them was cleansed,
saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose
up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow
of the hill, whereon their city was built, that they might cast
him down headlong. But he passing through the midst
of them went his way, and came down to Capernaum, a city of
Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. And they were astonished
at his doctrine. For his word was with power. The Bible is with me, if you
will, to Genesis 13. Genesis 13, continuing our study
in Genesis. Last week, I talked about Abraham's
journey. He went down into Egypt. You've
got to go down. And how he was afraid for his
life, very selfish instead of his wife. Then he came back up
out of Egypt. Went right back where he started
at. Where he first had his tent and where he first built the
altar. But now in verse 5 through 18, I hope I can deal with these
verses tonight. And Lot also which went with
Abram had flocks and herds and tents. And the land was not able
to bear them that they might dwell together for their substance
was great so that they could not dwell together. And there
was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen
of Lot's cattle, and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled in
them. And Abram said unto Lot, Let
there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, between
my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we be brethren. Is not the whole
land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee,
from me. If thou wilt take the left hand,
then I'll go to the right. If thou wilt depart to the right
hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and
beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere
before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden
of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain
of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves
the one from the other. And Abram dwelt in the land of
Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched
his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked
and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. And the LORD said unto Abram,
after that lot was separated for him, Lift up now thine eyes,
and look from the place where thou art, northward, southward,
eastward, and westward, for all the land which thou seest, to
thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make
thy seed as the dust of the earth, that if a man can number the
dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise,
walk through the land, in the length of it and breadth of it,
for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent,
and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron,
and built there an altar unto the Lord." Now here's two different
men, two different men, very different men, different in their
outlooks, different in the way they saw things. what they looked
at and how they looked at them told a lot about their character
as it would ours but what we're looking at first of all you have
lot it says there in verse 10 lot lifted up his eyes and beheld
the plain of jordan is well watered but down in verse 14 and the
lord said unto abram after that lot was separated up for him
god told him to lift up now your eyes one lifted up his eyes to
see which was the best way for him to go. Abram didn't lift
up his eyes till the Lord told him to. One looked in the wrong
direction, one looked in the right. What made the difference?
God made the difference. God made the difference. And
here we read and we see these two men and we see by this that
as a man sows, so shall he also reap. especially in Lot's case. We don't have any problem with
Abraham's faith and of him being a righteous man, but if you look
at Lot, as you see his character and how he was in the Old Testament,
it'd be awful hard to call him a righteous man if the Lord didn't
call him that in the book of James. Called him a righteous
man. Called him Righteous Lot. But
it's hard to come to that conclusion as we view him in Genesis. Lot
lived by sight, Lot lived by sense, and sought only his own
pleasure and his own profit. But Abraham, he lived by faith. God told him to lift up his eyes.
Abraham could help Lot, but Lot couldn't do a thing in the world
for Abraham. That's the difference. Abraham, the man of faith, could
do something for Lot. But Lot couldn't do a thing in
the world for Abraham. Lot never, here's another thing
about Lot, Lot never, ever built an altar. You never find him
building an altar. You never find him worshiping
God. You never find him calling on
the Lord. And everywhere already, it's already told us here about
Abram, how that he built an altar unto the Lord in Bethel. Then
when he moved to the plain of Mamre, he came right back when
he went to Egypt, right back to where that altar was, where
his tent was built. And now he goes to the plain
of Mamre and he builds him an altar, but Lot never built an
altar. Lot never, you never find him
calling on God, never find him worshiping the Lord. In fact,
in fact, he was so, so fleshly, so carnal, so selfish, that the
Lord had to go down and lay hands on him and bring him out of Sodom. He would not have come here to
perish there if the Lord, if he hadn't been one of God's elect.
This goes to show you, I tell you, you can get in a bad shape
and God's still gonna bring you out of Sodom. He's gonna bring
you out of Sodom. And so let's look at these two
men here, lifting up the eyes. What eyes do you lift up? Do
you lift up your eyes? For God say, lift up your eyes.
Are you looking towards Sodom? Or are you looking towards heaven?
Huh? But the first thing I want us
to see here is an impossible relationship. Look what it says
in verse 6. An impossible relationship. And
the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together. For their substance was great,
so that they could not dwell together. The land wasn't able
to bear them. And it says they could not dwell
together. You know, the scripture said
in Amos 3, it says, how can two walk together except they be
agreed? Here's two men that were not
agreed. They were not agreed. Faith and sight can't be yoked
together. even in the land of promise.
Lot lived by sight, Abraham lived by faith. And I tell you what,
beloved, these two men, they couldn't dwell together. And
I'll tell you something about the scriptures, you know, said,
here's the first place where you find the word rich in the
scriptures. Look back up here in verse two,
chapter 13. And Abram was very rich in cattle
and silver and gold. And Lot also was rich. Lot also
had lots and lots of things. But there was a strife. It says
there that in verse 7, and there was a strife. There was a strife
between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's
cattle. There was a strife. What was
this strife over? What was this strife about? And
I read it tonight back in the study where there's envy and
strife. There's confusion in every evil
work. And this fellow began to have
a strife between them. There began to be an argument
about it. There began to be strife between
them. And you know what the strife was about? It was over worldly
possessions. It was over how much they had.
And it was over who was going to be able to find the best place
to take the things that they had. Abram was very rich. And the reason you know God,
the riches come of the Lord, and poverty comes of the Lord.
That's why Agar said, Lord, make me neither rich nor make me poor.
For if thou makest me rich, I deny you, and if you make me poor,
I'll end up stealing and I'll dishonor you. So you give me
what you'd have me to have. And very few people can handle
riches, but here's what happened. The first time riches is mentioned,
and then it calls sorrow, and it caused strife. It caused sorrow
and it caused strife. And this relationship, it couldn't
continue because it was over carnal things, fleshly things.
And I tell you what, it says there was a strife between them.
But look how Abraham, look how generous Abraham was. Look how
faithful Abraham was. Look how Abraham looked to the
Lord. And Abram said unto, verse 8,
Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife. Let there be no
strife. Huh? He said, between me and
you, between me and you, we're brethren. And I tell you what,
He says, it's not the whole land before you. The whole land's
before you. Separate yourself and go where
you want to. If you go to the left, I'll go
to the right. If you go to the right, I'll
go to the left. What made Him do this? Because
He knows whichever way He went, God was going to be with Him.
Whether he went left or whether he went right, it made him no
difference. You know, he said, the whole land is before you.
And there's no reason for there to be strife between us. There's
no reason for strife between us. We're brethren. We're brethren. Oh listen, Lot, Abraham raised
Lot. It tells us about his daddy dying
and Abraham and Sarah took Lot into their home. They took him
into their home and they raised this boy and they took care of
this boy and everything that he had he got because Abraham
raised him and Abraham taught him and Abraham took him into
his home. But look, don't let there be no strife between us.
We're brethren. Why would we have an argument?
What's the reason for this strife? And all the scriptures tells
us, let us live peaceably with all men as much as it be possible. And this is what Abraham said.
I ain't going to be no strife on my part. I'm not going to
strive with you lot. I'm not going to argue with you
lot. I'm not going to fuss with you lot. I'm not going to argue
with you. I'm not going to debate with you. I'm not going to argue. I'm not going to do that lot. He said, I tell you what, he
said, you look, the whole land's before you. Everything's before
you. And if you go to the right, that
makes no difference to me. You go to the left, whichever
way you go, I'll go the opposite. I'll let you Well, look what it says. Lot
being greedy, selfish, living by sight. Now here's what he
did. He took advantage of his uncle's
generosity and grace and kindness. He was the youngest. He was the
youngest. You know what he should have
said? He should have said, Oh, Abraham, Abraham. You, no, don't
let me make the decision. You choose where you want to
go and then I'll take what's left. That's what he should have
done. He's the youngest. He's the youngest. He should
have deferred. He should have respected his
elders. He should have respected his uncle. He's seen him go to
his altar. He's seen him call on God. He's
seen him worship the Lord. He's seen him come into the land
of Canaan. And as the youngest one, he should
have deferred to his uncle Abram. But he didn't do that. Look what
it says. And Lot lifted up his eyes and
beheld all the plain of Jordan. Listen to this, that it was well
watered everywhere. I mean, they had wells, they
had springs, they had water there. And I tell you, water is a rare
thing over in that part of the world. And before the Lord destroyed
Sodom and Gomorrah, He went right down there where Sodom was, even
as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Israel. And what
Abram is saying here to Lot, said, Lot, if you want the chief's
seat, if you want the chief's seat, you're welcome to it. You
go ahead and you live by sight. You live by your flesh, you live
by your greed, you live by your selfishness. And he said, as
for me, I desire peace. You do what you want to do, and
I'll take what's left. And a man of faith can do that.
He said, the world can have what it wants, but I'm going to live
by faith. And you know why he did this?
First and foremost, he loved his God. He believed his God.
And secondly, he loved Lot. He wanted Lot, really, to have
the best, to have the best. And oh, Lot lifted up his eyes,
and he looked, and he looked, and looked, and looked, and he
looked this way. He said, boy, that's awful dry over there.
He looked over here and said, boy, that's kind of a desert
place. There's a lot of mountains, John Way. And he looked way down
there, and he saw all this green grass, saw all this water, saw
as far as he could see, green water, green grass, water, and
everything. Oh, my, big old valley. Every
time I go through Squatchy Valley, I say, boy, I'd love to have
one of these valley farms. I do know them big old beautiful
valley farms. But here he goes. He looks down
through there. And he said, that's what I want.
That's what I want. That's what I want. And oh, he
looked for the best. He chose it and never took to
his uncle and said, thank you, Abram. I appreciate it. Didn't
say that. And oh my. And he said, and Lot
lifted up his eyes. And look what it says there in
verse 10 or 11, excuse me, 11. Then Lot chose him, all the plain
of Jordan, And Lot journeyed toward east, and they separated
themselves the one for the other. But you know Abraham, he endured
as seeing him who is invisible. Lot would rather walk by sight,
separate himself from a man of faith, separate himself from
a worshiper of God, with not a qualm in his conscience. Not
a qualm in his conscience. And then look what it says. In
verses, so he separated themselves one from the other, and Abram
dwelled in the land of Canaan. And listen to this, Lot dwelled
in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent towards Sodom. Oh boy, that's a mouthful. Pitched
his tent toward Sodom. And you know what God said of
Sodom? Years and years before he destroyed it. And this is
where Lot headed for. This is where Lot pitched his
tent for. And he says there, but the men of Sodom were wicked
sinners before the Lord exceedingly, exceedingly. And oh my, he separated
himself from this man of faith, this man, this worshiper of God,
this man who had an altar, but his mind was on earthly prosperity. His wife said, oh, listen, they
got lots of malls down there, best shopping in towns down here.
And he pitched his tent towards Sodom. And I'll tell you something,
I thought, oh, surely they're sitting there looking at my notes
this afternoon. And I said, and you know, and God burned him
out. God eventually burned him out of his house and everything
that he owned. And you know where he ended up?
In a cave. He pissed, and God burned him
out. And then he himself was so, it
was almost, he was saved by fire, because God brought him up out
of the body. And how much trouble, how much
trouble have our eyes got us into? Because he lifted up his
eyes. You know, David, his eyes got
him in trouble. Simon Peter, he was walking on
the water and when he saw the waves, his eyes got him in trouble. Men's eyes has got him in trouble
time and time again. That's why Job said it this,
said, Oh Lord, I'm gonna keep my eyes. Don't let my eyes look. And oh my, all the trouble that
our eyes has got us into. But look what happens here now.
The blessings and privilege that God gave to Abram. And the Lord
said unto Abram, now listen to this, after, after what? After what? after a lot was separated
from him. Huh? After the separation, after
the strife, after the giving up of his rights, God gives him
comfort and God gives him assurance in this world. Look what he said.
And the Lord said unto Abram, after that lot was separated
from him, now God said, lift up now your eyes, lift up your
eyes, lift up your eyes. Oh, God said, you know, he tells
us to lift up our eyes. Well, you know where he tells
us to look? First place, he tells us, look, look unto me and be
you saved all the ends of the earth for I am a just God and
a savior. Then he says, looking unto Jesus
the author and finisher of our faith. As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness and whosoever looketh on that serpent
shall be healed of that disease that he has. Oh my these eyes
God take these eyes take these eyes and set them above set them
on things above let us look past this world, let us look past
this flesh, let us look to the Lord Jesus Christ, let us look
not to the sorrows and grief, let us look never at ourselves,
always look to the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh, after, after
the strife, after the separation, after Abram gave up his rights,
you take what you want and I'll take what's left. Then God came
and gave him his word and gave him assurance And look what he
said. Look what he says. And look from
the place where you are right now. Look from where you stand. Look from where you stand right
now. Don't even worry about where Lot's at. Look where you are
right now, where you're standing right now. You look eastward,
westward, northward, southward. Let Lot do us, but it all belongs
to you. You know why it all belongs to
you? Because I'm going to give it to you. It belongs to me.
I'm the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof and I'm
going to give it to you, Abram. Oh my, oh Lot looked at the earthly
things. Abram looked to the heavenly
things. God said, lift up your eyes. And he said, for all the
land that you see, I'm going to give it to you. And not only
am I going to give it to you, but I'm going to give it to your
seed. I told you all this before. I am an absolute true Jew. I'm an absolutely true Jew. I am. Let me show you something
in Romans 4. You know, I've showed you this
in Romans 2, but look here in Romans 4. Look what it says here
about in verse, Romans 4.11, that's what
I'm telling you about. He said, and I'm going to give
it to your seed after you. Now the Lord, He's talking about
as far as your eye can see in any direction. It's yours, Abram. And Abram spent his life, spent
his whole life looking for a city which has foundations, whose
builder is maker is God, the city of God. That's what he's
looking for. And look what he said here. And it said in verse
12, excuse me, verse 11, he received the sign of circumcision, a seal
of the righteousness of the faith, which he had yet before he was
ever circumcised, when he was uncircumcised. Now listen to
this, that he might be the father of all them that who believe. Now I'm a son of Abraham. And now I believe I have the
same faith as Abraham. Like we talked about the apostles
this morning. Though they be not circumcised.
I'm a true Jew, and I have a circumcision, not of the flesh, but of the
heart. He said, don't circumcise your
flesh, circumcise your heart. You unclean of hearts, you uncircumcised
of heart and ears. That's what God said to the Jews.
They had that circumcision sign of the covenant, but God says
you're uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in ears. You
can't hear nothing and you can't feel nothing. And everybody who's
uncircumcised, he's talking about the Gentiles here, people that's
not in that covenant have that sign of the seal of the covenant.
that they believe which mean they may not that righteousness
might be imputed unto them. Listen, and the father of circumcision
to them that are the circumcision to the Jews, but also who walk
in the steps of that faith of our father which he had being
yet uncircumcised. Why do we walk in the same steps
of faith that Abraham did? Huh? Oh, listen. God, what God
said to Abraham, He said to us. What He gave to Abraham, He gave
to us. And the scripture said in Galatians 3 that Abraham had
the gospel before preached unto him. Had the gospel preached
unto him. He told that bunch of Jews in
John chapter 8, they said, oh, know the truth and the truth
will set you free. He said, well, we've never been in bodies to
anybody. were Abraham's seed, never been in bondage. And our
Lord Jesus said, if you were Abraham's, you'd do the works
of Abraham. What did Abraham do? He believed
me. And Abraham saw my day and rejoiced
in it. And they said, what in the world
are you talking about? You're not even 50 years old
yet and say, Abraham saw my day? Listen, beloved, I see the day
of the coming of Christ. And it ain't come yet, but I
see it coming. Do I'm looking for it and all
my so let's go back and we're back over here now And always
said all the land. I'm gonna give to you and your
seed I'm one Abraham see and listen This is how we know that
that's why he's talking about and I'll make thy seed as the
dust of the earth Wonder how many of God's people's been on
this earth since the beginning How many since Adam how many
people have been on this earth since Adam? I know this you can
take you can go back in your Genealogy and you got a mother
you got a grandpa and a grandma if they had five kids each and
they got married Then all of them have five kids, you know
in in four generations You'd have more people than this building
or two just like it could ever possibly hold and God said multiply
and replenish the earth. So there's been a, you're talking
about how many of God's people have been on the face? He saved,
in just the book of Acts, He saved 5,000 one time, 3,000 in
another. That's 8,000 people, just in
two messages. I ain't had a profession now
in months and months and months. But that's, you know, Gospels
being preached, let people do what they will with it. But here's
the thing about it. He said, they're going to be
as the dust of the earth. Out of the dust you come, and
to the dust you're going back. And I'll tell you what, he says
this, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall
I be able to number your seed also. And what did Revelation
say? A number But here's something about it.
God knows every single one of them. Yeah, he knows every single
one of them. Oh my. And then look what happens
now in verse 18. Abraham built him another altar.
Then Abraham removed his tent. Lot went towards Sodom. Abraham
lifted up, moved his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of
Mamre, which is in Hebron. That's where they first started
to be called Hebrews, because they dwelt in Hebron. This is
where the first mention of a Hebrew is, right here, in Hebron, and
built there an altar unto the Lord. Abraham's testimony is
clear, it's plain, it's strong. Lot pitched his tent towards
Sodom. And look, you keep this and look with me over here in
Genesis 19 verse 14. Look what happens to Lot. Genesis
19 and verse 14. Look what happens here. Oh, Abraham,
testimony's clear, plain, strong. Lot pitched his tent towards
Sodom. And look what it says. God's gonna destroy this place.
And Lot went out. and spake unto his sons-in-law,
which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of
this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed
as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law." He destroyed his own testimony,
destroyed his own witness, but Abraham's witness was faithful.
And you know what it says here? He dwelt in the plain of Mamre,
which is in Hebron, and built there an altar, listen to this,
unto the Lord. Built him an altar unto the Lord.
The just shall live by faith. And you know, you look in the
scriptures, and God often places men of opposite in the scriptures. There's Cain and Abel, both brothers. But oh, listen, how different
they were. Abel, God testified of him, Cain,
went out from the presence of the Lord. Moses and Aaron, while
Moses is up on the mountain, in the presence of God, in God's
glory, falling all around him, standing before that burning,
fiery, burning bush. There he was, while he was up
there, Aaron was down there building a golden calf. David and Solomon
David was a man of war a man after God's own heart Solomon
was a wise man David shed lots of blood Solomon had a kingdom
full of peace and he built a he built a temple and it was a most
glorious Temple that's ever been made and it all spoke of the
Lord Jesus Christ and all the difference in them And here's
the difference between Lot and Abram. Abram walked by faith,
Lot walked by sight. Abram was generous, Lot was greedy
and worldly. Abram looked for a city whose
builder and maker was God. Lot made his home in a city built
by men and was destroyed by God. Abram's the father of all who
believe, Lot is the father of all those who live in infamy.
Abram was made an heir of the world, locked with all his possessions,
was destroyed in Sodom, and brought to dwell in a cave with two of
his daughters. And where do you lift up your
eyes? Towards Sodom or towards hell? Which way are you looking? Because it'll tell you something
about your character. It told the character of these
two men. Where are you looking? Let us
look. unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. Oh, my. Our Father, oh, our Father, in
the blessed name of Christ our Lord, I know Lot was a saved
man. I know you took him out of Sodom
and you had to take him by the hand and bring him out. Lord,
let us be as Abram, not like Lot. Let us be as Abram. Help
us not to be greedy, or selfish, or envious, or look at the live
by sight, but oh God, help us to walk by faith, live by faith. Take what you give us in this
world, and just render back unto you what you yourself's already
given us. Thank you for this day. Thank
you for your blessings. Thank you for the hearing. And
thank you for the saints of God. Lord, continue to bless and strengthen
the weak, the frail among us. Save your people in this place.
We ask it for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen.