Let's open our Bibles to 2 Peter
chapter 2. 2 Peter chapter 2. As you're turning there, let
me point out we have a Bible down here for our high school
graduate this year, Riley Cook. And so if you all would, you
know the drill by now, sign it. And once everybody's signed it,
we'll give that to him. And when we can find an open
time in his rather busy schedule, we'll schedule a dinner in his
honor before he leaves us in the fall. All right, second Peter
chapter two, we'll read the first nine verses. But there are false prophets
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you, who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies, even
denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken
of. through covetousness, so they
with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of
a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down
to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved
unto judgment, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah
the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in
the flood upon the world of the ungodless, and turning the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemn them with an overthrow,
making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly,
and deliver just law, vexed with the filthy conversation of the
wicked. For that righteous man, dwelling among them and seeing
and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their
unlawful deeds. The Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godly out of temptation. and to reserve the unjust under
the day of judgment to be punished. We'll end our reading there.
All right, Sean. If you would, turn to song number
112, Blessed Redeemer. Up Calvary's mountain, one dreadful
morn, Walk Christ my Savior, weary and worn, Facing for sinners,
death on the cross, That He might save them from endless loss. Seems now I see him on Calvary's
tree. Wounded and bleeding, poor sinners
pleading. Blind and unheeding, dying for
me. Father, forgive them, thus did
He pray. Meanwhile, His lifeblood flowed
fast away. Praying for sinners while in
such woe, No one but Jesus ever loved so. Blessed, redeemed, Seems now I see Him on Calvary's
tree Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading Blind and unheeding,
dying for me O how I love Him, Savior and Friend! How can my praises ever find
end? Through years unnumbered on heaven's
shore, My tongue shall praise Him forevermore. Redeemer, precious Redeemer,
Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree, Wounded and bleeding, for
sinners pleading, Blind and unheeding, dying for me. Okay, if you would now turn to
song number 269, Under His Wings. Under his wings I am safely abiding Though the night deepens and
tempests are wild, still I can trust Him. I know He will keep
me. He has redeemed me, and I am
His child. Under His wings, under His wings,
Who from His love can sever? Under His wings, my soul shall
abide, Safely abide forever. Under His wings, what a refuge
in sorrow, how the heart yearningly turns to His rest. Often when earth has no balm
for my healing, there I find comfort and there I am blessed. Under his wings, under his wings,
Who from his love can sever? Under his wings, my soul shall
abide, Safely abide forever. Under His wings, oh, what precious
enjoyment! There will I hide till life's
trials are o'er. Sheltered, protected, no evil
can harm me. Resting in Jesus, I'm safe evermore. Under his wings, under his wings,
Who from his love can sever? Under his wings, my soul shall
abide, Safely abide forever. Now if you will, let's open our
Bibles to Genesis chapter 13. Genesis chapter 13. And Abram went up out of Egypt,
he and his wife and all that he had, and lot with him into
the south. And Abram was very rich. and
cattle and silver and in gold. And he went on his journeys from
the South, even to Bethel, under the place where his tent had
been at the beginning between Bethel and Hai, under the place
of the altar, which he had made there at the first. And there
Abram called on the name of the Lord. 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 herdman of Abram's
cattle and the herdman of Lot's cattle, and the Canaanite and
the Perizzite dwelt in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, let
there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between
my herdman and thy herdman, for we be brethren. Is not the whole
land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee,
from me. If thou will take the left hand,
then I will go to the right. or if thou 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
from him, lift up now thine eye, and look from the place where
thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward, for
all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to
thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the
dust of the earth, so 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 in the breadth of it,
for I will give it unto thee. And Abraham removed his tent
and came and dwelt on the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron,
and built there an altar unto the Lord. Well, thank God for
his word. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we've gathered here
together this evening, together with one heart, with one desire,
we bow before thy throne, seeking a blessing from the storehouses
of grace you have reserved for your people. Father, I pray that
this evening you'd speak to us through your word, that you would
enable us to, with the eye of faith and the ear of faith, to
see and to hear the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that
you would by your mercy and grace and power, cause us to run to
Christ, to cling to him, to rest in him. Father, there aren't human words
to express the thanksgiving and the awe that we have that you
had purposed such a salvation for such vile, sinful people,
all by the obedience and the death, the sacrifice of your
darling son. Father, how thankful we are and
how I beg of you that you enable us to truly see the Lord Jesus
Christ, to believe him, to rest in him, to see that truly he
is everything that we need. And Father, I pray you'd make
us faithful to this cause, faithful to this gospel, that you'd make
us faithful to our generation, to preach Christ in our generation. to show forth the glories of
Christ by preaching the gospel from this place. And I pray you'd
use it to call out your people, to save your sheep, to feed and
comfort and edify your people. Father, we dare not sin against
thee and forgetting to pray for your people who are in a great
time of trouble and trial. We pray that you'd heal, that
you'd strengthen, that you'd be with them in a mighty and
special way. We continue to pray for our brother,
D. Parks, that you give us a good
report, that you give the doctor some understanding of how to
treat him, that you might, by your power and mercy, restore
him to health. And Father, we thank you for all that you've
given us, how richly you've blessed us. And we beg your forgiveness
for the many times we seem to find fault with thy good providence,
and murmur and complain after all you've given us and all you've
done for us. Father, forgive us, we pray. It's in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. For his sake and the glory of
his name, we pray. Amen. All right, now I've titled
the message this evening, Walking by Faith or by Sight. Now all of us walk one way or
the other, either by faith or by sight. That means, when we
say we walk by sight, it means that the decisions we make, what
we're gonna do and how we're gonna do it, is based on what
we can see physically, what we understand with the natural mind.
That's walking by sight. And we walk by faith when the
decisions we make, what we're gonna do, how we're gonna do
it, is based on faith in God's word. Believing God's word and
believing God's promise. Now we know that unbelievers
can only walk by sight, can't they? Because God hasn't been
pleased to give them faith. But you know, over the course
of time, the believer does both. I'm not saying, oh, the unbeliever
only walks by sight and the believer only walks by faith. No, the
unbeliever does only walk by sight. But over the course of
time, the believer does both. Sometimes we do walk by faith.
And unfortunately, sometimes we walk by sight. And we have
a picture of that in our text this evening. I want to look
at Abraham and Lot as one believer, not two different men, but one
believer, the spirit, two different spirits. It's in the same believer
who sometimes walks by faith and sometimes walks by sight.
Now in our text, the chapter that we just read, Lot is the
one who's walking by sight. Abraham is the one who's walking
by faith, but now it's not always that way, is it? Just in the
last chapter we looked at last Wednesday night, Abraham was
the one who was walking by sight, wasn't he? Remember he went down
there to Egypt and he told Sarah, tell everybody you're my sister,
because you're a beautiful woman. Pharaoh want to marry you and
he'll kill me so he can marry you. So tell him you're my sister.
Now that's not walking by faith. That's not believing God's promise
that he's going to give Abraham a son through Sarah, that through
him is going to come this multitude of people. He's walking by sight,
not by faith. Well, lots of believer too. But
in this chapter, he's walking by sight, not by faith. Now,
if the Old Testament was all we had, we would naturally think,
well, Lot's an unbeliever. Based on what you read about
Lot in the Old Testament, that's what we think, isn't it? We'd
think that if we didn't have the New Testament commentary.
That's why I read that in 2 Peter 2. Peter, under inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, called Lot just Lot. He justified. He called
him a righteous man. Now the only way Lot could be
justified is by faith. It can't be by works. We don't
have, we don't have a recorded a single work that Lot did anybody
want to put their name to, you know, he had to be justified
by faith. That's the only way any of us
can be justified. We're all just like Lot. The
only way we could be justified before God is by faith in Christ. Lot was a man who justified. He's a righteous man. But sometimes
he walked by sight. Sound like anybody else you know?
Sounds like me to me, I'll tell you that. Well first, I want
us to look at walking by sight. And then we'll look at walking
by faith so we can end on a positive note. Number one, I want us to
see this. Walking by sight brings strife. Verse two, and Abram was very
rich in cattle and silver and in gold. And look down at verse
five, 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. The land
couldn't support them. 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 then in the land. Now, Abraham and
Lot had both become very, very wealthy. down there in Egypt.
And I reckon that that's good, in a sense, that we'd all rather
be rich than be poor. Everybody would choose to have
enough to pay your bills, enough to eat, rather than be poor and
not be able to afford any of those things. But Solomon said,
don't give me either. Don't give me riches or poverty.
Don't give me riches, I'll forget God. Don't give me poverty or
I'll steal. If the Lord's pleased to send
earthly riches our way, I promise you this, trouble and heartaches
come with them. You know, part of Abraham's riches that he got
down there in Egypt, men's servants and maid servants, one of those
maid servants was Hagar. That relationship caused him
trouble the rest of his days, and still causing trouble in
the rest of his days. Still causing trouble. You know, once you have
riches, I'm telling you there's trouble. There's trouble in keeping
them, and there's sorrow if you lose them. And for the believer,
I tell you, it's a burden. for a believer, if the Lord is
pleased to bless you with earthly riches, not to become selfish
with them. A pastor friend of mine told
me one time, he said, you know, people who are rich don't tend
to be rich by giving it away, you know. Don't tend to be, they're
selfish. And it's a burden to the believer
not to think our security is in those riches. You know, the
things that we can pay for. And the riches that Abraham and
Lot both had, ended up causing strife. You'd think, oh gosh,
you got no worries, you can afford anything you wanted, but it caused
strife between these two brethren, between uncle and nephew. Now
it might seem that Lot and Abraham should have stayed together,
they shouldn't have split up, but their herds were so large
the land could not support them both. They couldn't be in the
same place because of all this wealth, you know, they had to
split up. Now let me say this about strife, this strife that
came up between them. I want to apply this to us. There
should never, ever, ever be strife among believers. Never. Never. It would be good for us just
to be determined we're not going to have it. I mean, when our
girls were growing up, there's just no fussing. There's no fighting.
Janet wouldn't allow it. I mean, just simply would not
allow it. It just did not happen. They
might've felt it, but everybody knew better than to act on it.
She didn't allow it. That's the way it ought to be
in the family of God. But unfortunately, there's strife sometimes. And
next time there's strife and we find ourselves in the midst
of it, we need to remember this. Fussing and fighting between
believers brings a shame on the family of God. It really does. Paul shamed the church at Corinth
for that very thing. Strife going on between brother
taking brother to court. He said, you're shaming the whole
family of God, the whole church of God. And the strife that comes
up amongst believers is almost never. I mean, I would say never,
but almost never, certainly. It's never the gospel of Christ
because believers agree on the gospel. They agree on the blood.
They agree on the redemption by the blood. They agree that
righteousness is all in Christ. They agree on those things. Somebody
may, in vain, try to cloak their side of the strife and the argument
in scripture, but they can't do it. The issue that causes
the strife and this contention is always pride. Always. If it weren't for pride, otherwise,
some might be humble enough to give in and do what's right so
there'd be peace, wouldn't they? If there's a refusal to give
in, that's pride. If you can't give in and cause
peace, you know, for the sake of the gospel, it's because of
pride. Solomon said, Proverbs 13 verse 10, only by pride come
with contention. It's what brings this contention,
this strife and walking by sight is full of pride. Looking out
for me, I will not give up my rights. I'm going to push for
my way. I'm going to have my way no matter what leads to strife,
leads to strife. And the best thing each of us
can do is what the apostle Paul told the church at Ephesus endeavor
to keep the unity of spirit in the bond of peace. Work at this
thing, endeavor at it and do it with lowliness and meekness,
which is the opposite of pride, the opposite of walking by sight.
And if we don't contention and strife, we're going to come naturally
from it. All right. Number two, walking by sight
makes us seek security and earthly riches. Verse eight. 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 take the
left hand, then I'll go to the right. Or if thou depart to the
right hand, then I'll go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes,
and behold all the plain of Jordan. Then it was well watered everywhere,
before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, is even as the
garden of the Lord as the garden of Eden, like the land of Egypt
as thou comest into Zohar. Then Lot chose him all the plain
of Jordan and Lot journeyed east and they separated themselves,
the one from the other. Now, Abram was the, was the elder
here. He's the uncle. By all rights,
Abraham should have been the one to choose where he would
go first. He got seniority, but you notice how Abraham putting
into the strife, He put an end to the strife by giving up his
rights. By showing some humility, he's
walking by faith. And you notice that put an end
to the strife. There's no more strife after
that. But Lot, he chose the land that he wanted based on his eyes,
based on what he could see, based on what natural wisdom, natural
intellect would tell him to choose. Now that's walking by sight.
There's nothing wrong with the farmer or nothing wrong with
the herdsman choosing to live in a well-watered grassy plain. I mean, it just makes sense,
doesn't it? But the problem was this lot ignored how living in
that place is going to affect his spiritual life because verse
13 says the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the
Lord exceedingly. Now lot was seeking security
in earthly riches and in the things that the earth could could
produce. cursed earth, the ground that
was cursed. He was seeking security in those things. Even if he found
it in the midst of all this wickedness, there was exceeding wicked before
the Lord. And I just warned you pretty
much from, from what I can see our entire world of Sodom and
Gomorrah today, but just don't ever think that you can live
in the midst of that and be unaffected. We'll see in the coming weeks,
a lot was affected. by living in this place. And
it seems to me it would have been a more wise choice for Lot
to say, you know, God Almighty promised he would bless Abram
in the land of Canaan. That he would give that land
his descendants, that he would bless those people, that whoever
blesses Abram, God's gonna bless him. Seems to me like the land
of Canaan has to be large enough to support both me and Abram.
Years later, it supported 12 tribes. Don't you reckon it could
support two men, even if they are rich? I just think it'd been
better off for Lot to say, you know, I'd be better off rich,
living in Canaan, than super rich and living in Solomon. But
he didn't do that, because he's walking by sight. And not one
person here can throw a rock at him, because we've all done
it. But I'll apply this back to us now. You and I would be
better off. being poor or middle class, and
live in a place where the sound of the gospel is, where the gospel
is preached, where we can meet together with God's people and
worship publicly. God promises to bless his people
through the preaching of the word, through the public worship
service. Don't think that you can find
a substitute and say, well, I can go live in Timbuktu and I'll
just watch on the internet. It's not the same. I'm telling
you, it's not the same. I had to live on that for three
months when I was sick a couple years ago, and I'm telling you,
it's not the same. It's not the same. Walking by
sight says this. You know, I got to eat. I got to feed my children. I
got to feed my family. I'm going to go take care of
all my physical material needs first, and then I'll seek my
spiritual good. You know, just walking by sight
says it doesn't do me much good to seek spiritual good if I'm
someplace where I gotta be poor, you know. Well, I'll tell you
the problem with that. It puts God second. It puts our
soul second. That's a serious error. Walking
by faith seeks Christ and his kingdom first. But walking by
sight does the opposite. Problem number three, walking
by sight makes us seek a worldly city, a worldly citizenship that
we want to belong there. Verse 12 says, Abram dwelt in
the land of Canaan and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and
pitched his tent toward Sodom. Now Lot was leaning toward going
to Sodom all along. He pitched his tent toward, he
was always drawn to that. Cause that's, that's where the
city is. That's, that's where all the people is. That's where
all the money is. That's where, popularity and
security is, you know, if I can just live in that walled city,
you know, and be somebody in that walled city, everything
will be good. You know, I'll have a safe place
to live. My family will be better off. Well, that's what walking
by sight tells us, isn't it? You say, well, I know the people
there are wicked, but I won't get involved in that. Well, look
at Psalm 1. Psalm 1. Verse 1. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Now here's a slippery
slope. Walking by sight puts us on.
First we walk, then we stand, then we sit. First, we just walk
by the ungodly. Oh, they're doing what they're
doing. We just walk by. Then human nature is we'll stop
and stand for a little bit, kind of see what they're doing. We'll
stand and like watching a car wreck or something. And then
we find ourselves sitting in the seat of the scornful, being
the leader of the whole bunch. That's exactly what happened
to Lot in Solomon. He became one of the respected
men in that city, sitting in the gate, you know. That's what
happened because he's walking by sight. Lot was looking for
a city. He was looking for a refuge.
He was looking for a place that he could see, I'm going to be
benefited here. I remember Brother Henry saying,
when you walk by faith, God don't lay out to hold track all the
way across. He puts up one stone, and you
step on it, then he puts up theirs. You're not going to see this
thing from beginning to end. That's walking by faith. Walking by
sight is saying, oh, I've got to see how all this is going
to work out before I start. That's what Lot was doing, because natural
understanding makes you think, well, living in that city is
going to be good, you know. I can see that. But you know, that
has been man's problem from the very beginning. What we can see,
what we think we see. When Satan tempted Eve, showed
her that tree, what does scripture say? She saw that the tree was
good for food. She saw. It's just the natural
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye. what we see, the pride
of life, walking by sight. All right, fourthly, everything
gained from walking by sight will be lost. You know, look
for a city. He looked for a city that was
a good deal to him. Leave him safe. He could see
that naturally. And you know, for a while, Lot
prospered there. He did. He got a lot of stuff
there. He got even more wealthy. But for long, Lot lost it all. You know, we say you gather all
you can get from this world, but you're going to lose it all.
Someday you're going to die and you're going to lose it all. Lot didn't
even have to wait until he died to lose it all. I mean, God just
went in there and in an instant, it was all gone. Lot saw everything
that he gained was nothing more than wood, hay, and stubble.
God just burned it up in an instant. And I'm telling you, the same
things can be true of me, you and me, if we walk by sight.
not by faith. If we try to just get, get, get,
get, get for ourselves, God's not going to bless that. He does
not bless that for his people. And unfortunately, like I said,
believers do walk by sight from time to time. All of us know
we're guilty of it. But thankfully, by God's grace, he makes his
people walk in faith. He gives them faith, and God's
people walk by faith. And now I want to look at the
believer who walks by faith. Number one. When we walk by faith,
that sounds like a good deal. I want to do that, don't you?
But you beware of this. When we walk by faith, that faith
will be tried. under the place of the altar,
which he had made there at the first. And there Abram called
on the name of the Lord. Now, I just bet you when Abraham
left Egypt, I mean, he was leaving that place with his tail between
his legs, don't you reckon? I mean, he had to be so embarrassed.
He had to feel so low. Even the heathen scolded him.
Abraham, what you're doing here is so wicked. And he couldn't
say what drew. And he just left. I just bet
he felt so low. And he finally came back to Bethel,
where he built that altar. And he called on the name of
the Lord. He offered a sacrifice and he called on the name of
the Lord. And he worshipped. And I just bet Abraham thought,
I am never leaving this place again. I mean, I'm not going
to Egypt. I'm not going down the street. I'm never leaving
this place again. This is where the Lord is. This
is where God Almighty is worshipped. This is where I call the name
of the Lord. I'm going to stay right here. As long as I stay
right here, I'm not going to be more troubles. Abraham came
back to Bethel by faith. That's where he should have done.
I'm not saying he shouldn't. That's where he should have gone. He came
there by faith. But now that faith is going to
be tried. See, God-given faith must be tried. It's got to be
tried so that it will grow. I mean, that's just the way faith
grows. The way it's strengthened is
by being tested, just like your muscles. grow by being tested. Your faith grows when it's tested.
Faith must be proven to be real faith. Now, not just a religious
feeling, but real faith, genuine rest in Christ. I'm not just
being religious so I can get something from God, you know.
This is genuine faith in Christ. And Abraham's faith had to be
tried. I mean, no sooner did he think all my troubles are
over than this strife comes up between his herdsmen and Lot's
herdsmen, you know. And you know the story of Abraham's life.
He's going to be tried the rest of his life. Abraham's going
to be tried and ours will too. If God's given us faith, if we
have God given faith, it'll be tried. Now, if it's man given
faith, it probably won't be. But if it's God given faith,
it's going to be tried. But when the Lord sends trials,
remember this, the Lord will never allow the faith he's given
his people to fail. Never. He'll pray for his people
that our faith fail not the same way he prayed for Peter. Now,
Peter had a bad day, but his faith didn't fail, did it? The
same thing will happen to you and me in times of trouble and
trial. God's the one who's given us
faith. He won't let it fail. Our intercessor is seated at
the right hand of the father right now, praying for making
intercession for his people. And like I said, Abraham should
have come back to Bethel. He did exactly what he should have
done. But when he got there, his faith was tried and you'll
being in the house of the Lord, you know, that won't stop us
from having trials, but being in the house of the Lord will
strengthen us when we do have trials. Being in the house of
the Lord will, will strengthen our souls when we hear Christ
preached. See, this is the whole issue.
It's hearing Christ preach. This is the message I tried to
preach at the conference. The message we preach that God
uses to save His people is preaching Christ. It's that very same message
that feeds God's people, that strengthens them. When we hear
Christ preached, oh, that's Him. That's Him. That's the one I
believe. That's the one in whom my soul delights. I can believe
Him. And we find peace. comfort, rest
for our souls. God's people will endure trials,
and the way God strengthens his people through that time is through
the preaching of Christ. You know, the Lord sends you
a trial. Don't absent yourself from the
worship service. Be there more. Be there more,
because that's how God speaks to his people. Then number two,
walking by faith is following the example of our Savior. Verse
eight, and Abram said unto Lot, let there be no strife, I pray
thee, between me and thee, between my herdman and thy herdman, for
we be brethren. I mentioned this a minute ago,
Abraham gave up his rights. But all right, Abraham's the
one in charge here and he gave up his rights so that the strife
would end. And you know why Abraham could
do that? Why he could peacefully tell Lot, take whatever you want
and I'll take the rest. he trusted the Lord would provide.
That's why. And I hope the Lord enables us
to do that, to do this very same thing and put an end to strife.
We've got to give up our rights, we've got to, whatever we've
got to do, put an end to the strife so we can worship God
together in peace. I just don't see how we can worship
together if we're split down the middle, we're fussing and
fighting about something. I just don't see how it's possible
putting into it so we can worship God together in peace. I know
that's hard for the flesh. It's hard to say somebody in
the flesh, give up your rights. Give up. You want me to give
you real good motivation to give up your rights and humble yourself
for the good of God's people. Look at Philippians chapter two.
Doing that, giving up our rights, humbling ourselves for the good
of God's people so that there's peace and we can worship, that's
following the example of Christ our Savior. That's how he saved
his people. Look at Philippians chapter two,
verse one. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, any
comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels
and mercies, Fulfill ye my joy, that you be like-minded, having
the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Let nothing
be done through strife or vainglory, through pride, seeking vainglory.
But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than
themselves. Look not every man on his own things. Don't look
out after your rights and what belongs to you and what you're
able to do, but every man also on the things of others. It's
not what's best for me, it's what's best for you. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in
the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation. It took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of me. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient under
death, even the death of the cross. Now I'm afraid that if
that does not motivate you, to give up your rights and humble
yourself, to put an end to strife so that God's people can worship
together in peace, I'm afraid that's because you don't know
Christ. If you know Christ, if he dwells in your heart, that
motivates you, doesn't it? Oh, and I think what he's done
for me. How can I not try to do for you? How can I not? See,
our motivation to treat each other in love and compassion,
these vows of compassion, It's because of what Christ has done
for us. Isaiah said our Savior was led as a lame to the slaughter. He went there willing. He wasn't
driven. He was led there. As he hung there on the cross
in more agony than you and I can imagine, the scribes and Pharisees
were taunting him, saying, well, come down from the cross and
we'll believe you. He had every power to do that. He had every
power. He could have called 12 legions
of angels and snuffed this thing out in an instant. He had the
power, he had the right to do it, but he didn't. Gave up his rights and he humbled
himself. Died the death his people deserved
so his people could be redeemed. Oh my. I want to follow that
example, don't you? I love the gospel of redemption
in the blood of Christ. I love it. I mean, I love it.
It's my hope. It thrills my soul. And I'd say
it's a mighty good motivation for me to humble myself, to put
an end to strife, so this one who suffered and died for me
can be preached and worshipped and loved and adored in peace
and unity. There's just nothing more important
than that. we get all twisted up and just
thinking how what me is, things about me and things that I want
are so important. Bro, let me tell you this. There's nothing
important in us or about us worthy to be compared to Christ our
Savior. We come through these doors,
we're going to leave the rest of that junk outside and Christ will be worshiped
in here. By God's grace, that's what I
want to do. All right, thirdly, walking by faith. makes us seek
spiritual blessings and a heavenly citizenship. Verse 14, the Lord
said unto Abram after the lot was separated from him, lift
up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art. Look
northward, look southward, east and west, just all around. For
all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to
thy seed forever. And I'll make thy seed as the
dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of
the earth, Then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk
through the land, and the length of it, and the breadth of it.
Just walk through the land of God's love, the length of it,
the breadth of it, the depth of it. Walk through it. He says,
I'll give it to thee. And 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. See, everywhere Abram
went, he's building him an altar unto the Lord. He's calling on
the name of the Lord. Now Abraham and Lot were both
looking for a city. They were both looking for this
place to dwell where there's security. The difference is in
this chapter, Abraham's walking by faith. He's looking for a
city whose builder and maker is God. He's trusting his soul
to almighty God to do what he promised that he'd do. In verse
15 and 16, here's salvation. For all the land to thee I'll
give it to thee and I see to at forever and I'll make thy
seed as the dust of the earth. Salvation is God saying, I give
and I'll make, I'll give to you a righteousness. I'll give to
you salvation and I'll make you righteous. I'll make it as a
free gift to you. And Abraham walked through that
land, trusting God that he'd do what he promised that he would
do. And you just take every promise in this book, if you believe
Christ, and apply it to yourself. That promise is made to you,
and God's going to keep it. And you just don't have to worry
about it. You don't have to worry about it. Now, I say that, and
we do have to make some plans. Now, be prudent. Make a plan
for the future. plan for retirement, he probably
never will be able to. Save a little money for a rainy
day. I mean Solomon said, go to the ant, you sluggard. See
how that ant just works? Just constantly preparing for
winter. Winter's coming, make some plans. But do that trusting
the Lord to provide. Not trusting in the arm of the
flesh, trusting in the Lord to provide. Prepare for the future
knowing this, that the time is short. Time's short. Make some plans for the future,
but prepare for eternity. Maybe that's a good way to say
it, isn't it? If the Lord will give us that
mindset, put that in our heart, we'll seek Christ first. We'll
seek Him first and foremost. And based on His promise, He'll
add the rest of it to you. All right, here's the fourth
thing. When we walk by faith, we gain everything and lose nothing.
Now, if you step back and look at this situation with fleshly
eyes, you're going to be deceived. Look at Lot pitching his tent
towards Sodom. And then he goes, he gradually
gets closer and closer and closer. He lives in Sodom. And he grows
in the social hierarchy there in Sodom and becomes one of the
elders there in Sodom, sitting in the gate. Boy, you think, Lot's made a
pretty good choice here, hasn't he? I mean, look at Abraham and
Lot. Lot has children. He's got those
two daughters. Abraham's got no children. That was a real
curse on that day, to have no children. You'd think, well,
Lot's walking by faith, man. God blessed him. Isn't this way
good, walking by sight? I mean, look at Lot. He's got
a home made out of stone. He's got nice furniture and nice
things going on around. Abraham's living out there in
a tent. He's sleeping in a tent. He's a respected member of this
big community. Abraham's a hermit out there.
Nobody knows him. He's just living out there by
himself. I mean, both men are rich, but now Lot's wealth is
growing. I mean, Lot sure hasn't become
poor walking by sight. Maybe walking by sight's what
I ought to do. Would you? Would you be better
off doing that? It will look that way for a time.
I promise you that. But in short order, Lot's going
to lose everything that he gained walking by sight. Lot's going
to lose everything but Christ. And I point that out to comfort
our hearts when we find ourselves walking by sight and we're ashamed.
Lot lost everything but Christ. He didn't lose his salvation.
He didn't lose his justification. He didn't lose his righteousness.
It was a painful experience, but Lot didn't lose his salvation.
Because salvation, righteousness, justification, depends on the
person and work of Christ, not our person and not our works.
And a believer, when we find ourselves walking by sight, we're
gonna be just completely ashamed of ourselves. But you know what? That will not stop God's will
from being done. It was God's will. to give that
land of Canaan to Abraham. He told him so. This is my will.
I'm going to give you this land. Well, Abraham and Lot got in
this conflict. The strife is going on, and Abraham's going
to put an end to it, and told Lot, you choose whatever you
want. I'll take the rest. Now, Lot
chose what he wanted by his own free will. He's walking by sight.
That's what he wanted, and that's what he chose. What if Lot had
chose Canaan? Then Abraham wouldn't be living
in Canaan, would he? But that couldn't happen, because it wasn't
God's will. God's will would be done. I can't
explain this, but this is just so. Men make the choices that
they want to make. I don't know that you can't call
it free will, because our will is enslaved to sin. So the choices
that we make are evil choices. But God overrides man's will.
God overrides man choices to accomplish God's will. Only God
can bring good out of evil. And he does it. God can bring
his goodwill to pass out of the evil, sinful choices of men.
And the best example of that is the cross of Calvary. Men
did every evil thing they could think up to do. They wanted to
do every bit of it. to pluck the beard out of the
Savior's face. They wanted to spit in his face.
They wanted to lacerate his back. They wanted to beat him. They
wanted to nail him to the cross. They wanted to mock him as he
suffered and died. They did that because they wanted
to. They wanted to cast lots for his car. They did that because
that's what they wanted to do. And Almighty God brought redemption
out of it. Now that does not excuse me.
any means, our evil choices that we make. But thankful, I'm so
thankful to know my evil choices cannot derail the will of God.
God's will shall be done. I want to walk by faith, don't
you? Trusting God to fulfill his promise to his people. And
know this, God's going to perform his will. He's going to save
his people. And when we're disappointed in
ourselves, this is our comfort. I didn't do anything to save
myself, and I can't do anything to lose it. It's all based on
the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll learn a couple painful
lessons, like Lot did. I mean, it's just the way we
learn. But we won't lose our salvation. I hope that comforts
your heart. It does mine. All right, let's
bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your work. How we thank you for the comfort that you give
your people and your word, the comfort that we can find only
by looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, how we thank
you for your wisdom, your mercy, your grace, your love and compassion,
and purposing to save a sinful people and purposing to do it
through the suffering and the slaughter, the humiliation of
your son. Father, how we thank you. and
how thankful we are your will shall be accomplished. Father,
we pray for the grace and the faith to find our rest and hope
and peace and comfort in Christ our Savior. And Father, cause
us to love one another. Cause us to have some wisdom,
humility in how we treat one another. That we might endeavor
to promote peace and unity in this place. That if it could
be thy will, till Christ returns, that this could be a place where
your sheep can meet together in peace and unity and hear of
Christ our Savior, Christ and him crucified. Father, it's in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For his sake, for his glory,
we pray. Amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn to song
number 205 and stand as we sing Once For All. 205. Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus hath bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law
and bruised by the fall, Grace hath redeemed us once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Cling to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Now are we free, there's no condemnation. Jesus provides a perfect salvation. Come unto me, now hear His sweet
call. Come and He saves us once for
all. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Cling to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Children of God, O glorious calling,
surely His grace will keep us from falling. Passing from death
to life at His call, blessed salvation once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Claim to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all.