All right, now if you will turn
with me to Genesis chapter 13. I want to begin reading in verse
1, and I'm going to read through verse 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 in cattle,
in silver and in gold. And 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 Haiah, unto 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. 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 there
in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, Let
there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between
my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we are brethren. Is not the whole
land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee,
from me. If thou wilt 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. 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." I selected a portion of scripture
to talk to you about tonight out of verse 8 of Genesis chapter
13. I believe this is a needful lesson.
and one that we're going to be exposed to. It's not an iffy
thing. We will be exposed to this. We're
going to have this same discussion. We're going to have this same
confrontation that Abraham was confronted with, this same contention.
We're going to have it, maybe more than once. And we're going
to be exposed to it time and again throughout our lives on
this earth. The story preserved here in Holy
Scripture is one concerning two men of God. That is the first
thing I want you to see. Two objects of God's grace, two
heirs of the inheritance of the saints of God. In 2 Peter chapter
2, if you are taking notes and giving examples of God's ability
and faithfulness to deliver the godly out of temptation, and
to preserve the unjust unto the day of judgment, he points to
Lot as the example. 2 Peter 2, verse 6, he says,
And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned
them with an overflow, making them an example unto those that
after should live ungodly, and delivered just Lot. vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked. For that righteous man dwelling
among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from
day to day with their unlawful deeds. Lot was a believer, and
so was Abraham. And the strife here spoken of
is not talking about all strife in every situation, but a particular
strife between particular persons. This is something preserved in
scripture of two believers. These two men were brought to
a confrontation. Now, it shouldn't be. We have
nothing to contend with one another over. We have been brought into
peace with God. We've got no foundation for argument
except this flesh that we drag along with us, and that's what
brings the contention. Unbelieving men have minds which
are said in the scripture to be enmity against God. Not their
God. They're not upset with their
God. They're not angry with their God. They're not angry with God
in the universal sense. And I'm talking now about the
God of this world as he's revealed. Now, they may argue with each
other over church government, and they may argue over this
and that, but their gods are pretty much the same, pretty
much the same. And unbelieving men, their minds
are enmity against the living God, the God of revelation, the
God of this book, the God of glory as he's revealed in his
words. And there's always going to be
strife and contention between believers and unbelievers. You
can't help it. If you open your mouth and say
anything at all to the glory of God, there's going to be contention.
There's going to be contention. Somebody said at the wedding
I performed before they were worried about it because the
bride had some Jewish friends. Afraid that I might say something
to offend her Jewish friends. And of course, this was a wedding,
and I told him, I said, unless he's offended by hearing the
name God, I don't see what else in my, I'm not going to preach
to you, I'm just going to perform a marriage ceremony. But there's
always going to be strife and contention between believers
and unbelievers. The preaching of the gospel unto
them who are perishing is foolishness. And we need to think about that.
It's Buddhist. We want to give them a little
common ground, don't we? But there is none. We want to say this one, I want
to pick one out and say this one's a little closer. He's got
a better shot at this than this guy. They both did. They both did. One of them's
a Baptist and one of them's a Buddhist. There isn't a ten cent difference
between the two. One's not closer than the other.
We're all dead. That's what Paul said in Ephesians
2. You who sometimes were far off. Who was he talking to? He talked
to believers. Talked to those believers. Far
off. It's always going to be foolishness
to those who are perishing. And because it's foolishness,
he won't receive it. And because he won't receive
it, he cannot know it. That's what he says in 1 Corinthians,
chapter 2 about the natural man. And I want you to know this and
understand this. It's not an evil thing to contend
for the truth. I do it every day. It's not evil
to contend for the truth. It's not evil to contend for
the faith. It's not an evil thing when somebody
says something to you that's not so for you to say, No, I
don't believe that. That's not true. Let's go to
the Word of God and see what God says. I like to shut men
up to this book. Don't tell them what you think.
It doesn't matter what you think. Take them to this book. Say,
you know, can we make this book the foundation of what it is
we're going to say? Because if it's just opinions,
everybody has one. But if we can make this book
the foundation, maybe I can come in here and show you why I don't
believe that and why I believe this. It's not an evil thing
to contend for the faith. Paul, seeing the city of Athens
wholly given to idolatry, disputed in the marketplace. He went right
out in the middle of the marketplace and found those Jews, found those
people that he had something in common with, and began to
talk to them. Then they invited him down. He
went down to the synagogue and contended with them there, contended over the gospel of
Christ. But what took place here in Genesis 13 is not about this. It was about things. It was about
things. It was about standing. It was
about station. It was about possessions, business,
prominence. Now, I want to start right here.
Abraham as a man, this is what I want you to consider. was head and shoulders above
lot. Is that a true statement? You've
read the account. Would you say that? Head and
shoulders. This man was a man that God equipped. It wasn't through his natural
abilities, although some of it was due to natural abilities,
but who gives you the natural abilities? God does. God set
Abraham aside for a very special purpose. I mentioned that before
we even started these studies in here, that he used twelve
chapters to incorporate all of the flood and creation and all
of these things, and then he spends twelve chapters talking
about nobody but Abraham. He was a very special man, and
God equipped him for that purpose. He gave him natural talents.
He gave him intelligence. He gave him a backbone. He gave
him common sense. He stood head and shoulders above
lots. And pretty much everything Lot
had was owing to Abraham. Now, the scriptures are very
general in the outline of this, very general. But from what I
can read, his daddy died when Lot was at a young age, and Abraham
took him up under his wing and raised him. So whatever he had,
it was owing to Abraham, wasn't it? All owing to Abraham. He owed his uncle everything.
But now he had some holdings, and now he had a reputation.
Now he had some servants and herdmen so that the land could
not support them both without some overlapping of one onto
the other, and a contention began to brew. And then notice this. It was an indirect contention.
It was not Abraham and Lot doing the arguing. It was the herdmen.
But what would it have taken to stop the herdmen? Abraham
or Lot. These guys were princes. They
were kings, so to speak. If they said, hey, you shut up,
he would shut up. I guarantee you. His own wife
called him Lord. He was a very wealthy man, and
he didn't get that way because he was very timid about giving
direction. I guarantee you. All he had to
do was tell that herdman, be still, and that herdman wouldn't
have said a word. So this thing is indirect, and these two are
sitting here quiet. They're sitting here quiet. And
Satan's very subtle. He's clever. He's sneaky in his
dealings with men. And he knows how to start trouble
and then get out of the way. That's how Satan works. All through
the New Testament churches, once you've read and you're grounded
and you've settled on those things that Paul says up front, read
the other three chapters in each one of those epistles. that began
to deal with these troubles in these churches and the warnings
of this apostle to those churches about such men. And it always
talks about them coming in unaware, sneaking in, pretending to be
a sheep, unnoticed. All of a sudden, they just appear.
They're like clouds, he said, that promise rain, but then when
it comes time, they don't deliver. They come in sneaky. And that's
how Satan works, and that's how he works Between believers, that's
how these contentions begin. Somebody stirs something up and
then they get out of the way. And then here's the confrontation.
And to be honest with you, the two doing the confronting, it's
on them before they even know it's on them. And that's what
I believe is going on here with Abraham and Lot. He knows how
to start trouble. And most of the troublemakers
in the New Testament churches came in unnoticed. And they prodded
and they poked and they picked until a division was formed.
And Paul called these pokings and proddings. He called them
the fiery darts of the wicked. That's what he called them. You
sit and think about what he's talking about, a fiery dart.
He's not talking about an arrow that kills. He's talking about
a dart that hits and burns and irritates. That's what he's talking
about. He said take that shield of faith that you might guard
against those fiery darts of the wicked. Not arrows to wound
and kill, but darts to aggravate and cause pain. And again, he
refers to these things as being tossed about with every wind
of doctrine. But now, if he was an apostle
and the church had a pastor, how did the wind get occasion
to blow? He said, don't be blown about
now. Where is the wind going to come from? There were pastors
there, there was an apostle there who founded this church, a missionary,
elders in that church. How does this wind get occasion
to blow? In Ephesians 4, verse 14, he
says, "...by the slight of means and cunning craftiness whereby
they lie in wait to deceive." No calling to teach. No calling to teach. No burden
for your soul, no eye to watch over you, no training. No recognition of the Church
as an elder, just a man being used of Satan to do his bidding
who has no idea he's even being used. Now, that's how these things
get started. That's exactly. And he spits
out words without consequence. What's he got to lose? What if
he gets caught in that? He'll just say, well, I'm sorry,
I didn't know that meant that. He's got nothing to lose. What's
he got to lose? Nothing. There's no consequence.
Turn with me to Philippians chapter 3. In this chapter, Paul paints
a clear picture of his religious past. He was a Pharisee, very
self-righteous Pharisee, and he shows us how that seeing the
glory of Christ exposed that self-righteous past for what
it was. And seeing it for what it was,
he cast it aside on the dung heap. Now, I'm telling you this. Beware
of any man who comes to you. I don't care who he is. I don't
care if he's your brother. I don't care if it's your daddy.
Beware of any man who comes to you out of worldly religion and
defends it. You watch him. That's a red flag,
ain't it? These guys have been in here
a while. That's a red flag. A man comes defending his profession
or defending that old religion that he comes out of, up goes
the flag. You watch him. You keep your
eyes on him. He's got a problem. He's got
a problem. Beware of any man who comes to
you out of worldly religion defending them. and himself and his profession. Paul said he suffered the loss
of all these things, and counted them but done, that he might
win Christ. And that's what every man that
God saves out of religion does. He sees it for what it is, it's
just crap, and he throws it on the pile with the rest of the
crap. And he goes on and begins to reach forward unto Christ.
And listen to this, he said, forgetting those things which
are behind. He wasn't defending them. He
tells you in the book of Galatians, he says, you know what my past
was and how I contended. I was full of contention, full
of persecution, persecuted the church of God. He said, you know
that. My life is an open book. But he said, forgetting those
things which are behind, he reached forth unto the things which are
before. Then in Philippians chapter 3,
not too very far from that text I just read to you, in verse
14, he said, I pressed toward the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now, listen to what he
said. Let us, therefore, as many as
be perfect, that word means mature, be thus minded. And if in anything
you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have
already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind
the same thing. Brethren, be followers together
of me, and mark them which walk so, as you have us as an example."
Mark them. Mark these men, for many walk
of whom I have told you often. I now tell you, even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end
is destruction, whose God is rebellion, whose glory is in
their shame, who mind earthly things. In Ephesians chapter
4, verse 27, he says this, Give no place to the devil. Is that what was going on with
Abraham and Lot? Somebody gave a place, didn't
they? be it Abraham or Lot, whichever, somebody gave him a place. Somebody
gave him a place. How do we give place to the devil?
How does that happen? We give place to the devil when
we contend with one another over unanswerable questions, genealogies,
things that have no spiritual significance in our lives. We
give place to the devil in our conversations that are unbecoming
of saints. We give place to the devil when
we embark on ways and means contrary to God's ordained means. We give a place to him. You can find it throughout the
history of Israel. God sets aside. He equips pastors
to teach and watch for your souls. This pastor watches and approves
elders and deacons in the church. I set aside these two men. I
know them well enough to say this. Watch them. Walk after
them. They are examples to you. They have been here for how many
years? Years and years and years. This church has experienced troubles
and trials and persecutions and things of all kinds. But these
men have stayed, stayed and stood for the gospel. Watch them. Mark
them. They are examples. They are examples. I am getting off my subject a
little bit. I want you to understand how subtle Satan is and how indirectly
he comes and he begins to drive a wedge. That's all he wants
to do, just drive a wedge. I don't care who it is, he might
just visit here one time. When he begins his talking and
he's driving a wedge, walk away from him. Just walk away from
him. Because that's what he's about.
That's what he's about. Listen to this, Ephesians 4.29,
"'Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but
that which is good to the use of edifying.' If it's not edifying,
just shut up. It's not worth saying. If it's
not going to edify and help a man and mature a man in the faith,
don't say it. Just don't say it. Don't tell
it. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth. but that which is good to the
use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not," this is what
we do, this is how serious this is, "'grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.'"
Don't grieve him. He's here to teach and admonish
and exhort and protect and preserve, and we just grieve him with these
things. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor. You know what clamor is? I looked
it up. I wanted to know. I'll give you a little English
lesson. That means when you cry out against something. That's
what it means. All this clamor. I haven't done that. Just be
still. Be still. Just be still and listen. Listen. Let all clamor and evil
speaking be put away from you with all manner. And be kind
one to another. Now, what kind of fellowship
would we have if we do this? Just be kind. Be kind one to
another. Tenderhearted. Forgiving one
another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Ephesians
5, 8, walk, he said, as children of life. What I'm saying to you is this,
we had no standing apart from grace. We had no justification
apart from faith, and we had no life apart from Christ. Anything
that any man points you to, no matter how good it sounds, that
does not point you to Christ is of the devil. It's of the
devil. And the heart of the trouble
here in Genesis chapter 13 is about recognition. Locke felt
like his uncle was still looking at him like an orphan. That's
the idea I get. And he lets his herdsmen begin
to argue. And naturally, the uncle who
was far richer, far held in much higher esteem than Locke, of
course his herdsmen would contend back. He felt like he needed some consideration,
some recognition and some respect. And the quarrel was getting loud,
and the enemies of God were listening. Every one of us is going to have
to do this one of these days. We're going to face this. I'm telling
you. Now, let me give you three things about these contentions
between believers that I believe will help you when this thing
happens. And I'll try to work in these things of Abraham as
I go. But the first thing is this. The man of faith loves
peace. more than he loves possessions.
Abraham loved peace. He knew what peace was. God come
to him and revealed himself to him and revealed to him those
promises in Christ and he loved peace. And he saw something here
eating away at this peace. And he loved that peace more
than he loved those possessions. He loved that peace more than
he loved his spot on that hillside. I don't know how to say this
any other way except just to say it. There is no explaining
the things of God. It's given to you in a declaration. But salvation, and I just keep
saying this time and time and time again. I don't know if anybody
hears me. But salvation is a heart work. God does a work in the
heart. The heart's changed. It's not
what it was. Speaking to the church, the Holy
Ghost said through the prophet Ezekiel, over in Ezekiel 11,
if you want to turn over there. He said, I'll gather you from
the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you've
been scattered, and I'll give you the land of Israel. Now,
we all know that that land has to do with those promises of
God and that holy city. He's talking about salvation.
Ezekiel 11, verse 18. He said, I'm going to gather.
Now, listen to what he said. And they shall come thither,
and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof,
and all the abominations thereof from thence." He's going to get
rid of them. What's he talking about? He's
talking about those high places. He's talking about those groves. He's talking about those places
that they made up on the mountainside and planted them fancy gardens
and fountains and all that stuff and went up there to worship
like it was a holy place. all their ignorant imaginations
concerning God and salvation and judgment, all their vain
traditions and forms of worship and prayer, all the detestable
things, he said, and abominations. Now listen, verse 19, and I give
them one heart. One heart. Not six or eight or ten. One. One heart. Children of God have
one heart. One man, one faith, one baptism,
one God. And I'll put a new spirit within
you. Now, listen to what he says here.
I will take that stony heart out of their flesh, and I'll
give them a heart of flesh. I'll touch them. I'll stick my
fingers through the hole of the door. Ain't that what he said
in his psalms? I'll give them a heart of flesh,
a broken, contrite heart, a sensitive heart, a heart touched with the
pain and suffering of others, a heart sympathetic to needs
and sympathetic to fears and sympathetic to doubts, a heart
of peace with God and men, a heart to love God and to love his Son
and to love the Brethren. He gives us this heart. That's
what he's saying. I'll take that other heart out.
I'm going to rip it out, and I'm going to give you a new heart. Now listen, here's why he does
it. That they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances,
and do them. And they should be my people,
and I'll be their God. But as for them whose heart walketh
after the heart of the detestable things and abominations, Those
who still hold value in those things, as to them, they still
have that heart. They love those detestable things.
They love those abominations. They still glory in them. They
still defend them. They still love them. They still
find pleasure in them. I will recompense their way upon
their own heads, saith the Lord God. And if this is not clear enough
for you, you can read it again in the New Testament light in
Hebrews 10 and 15 where it talks about this very fulfillment,
this very promise of God being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. This is the covenant that I'll
make with them after those days, saith the Lord. You've all read
that. The believer rests in the promises
of God in Christ in a redemption accomplished a righteousness
that satisfies and a justification that truly justifies. His hope
is in Christ alone, not Christ plus something, just Christ.
Christ alone. And if anything is required of
you to make his work effectual, you will never be saved. You
will never be saved. Any message that makes more out
of the church or the law or morality than it does out of Christ is
a farce. It's a lie. Any message that
puts more emphasis on your works than it does on his is a lie. I don't care what it is. Any
message that tells you to look at anything other than Christ
is a lie. Christ is said in the scriptures. It's not my opinion, it's what
the scriptures say. He is the author and finisher
of our faith. We don't have to look anywhere
else. I just look at him. It's a looking and a continual
looking. And we just keep looking. And
seeing him, we rejoice. And seeing him, our hearts are
filled with love and gratitude. Seeing him, we see ourselves
all on one level, all undeserving, unfit, unlovable, and yet by
his grace, blessed of God. Our hope, all of it, vested in
the seated reigning victorious mediate toward God. And we're
glad of it. I am. I'm glad it's in Him. I'm glad. And our hearts are
at peace with God and one another, being justified by faith. We
are at peace with God. That's what happens when that
justification, when that blood is applied to your conscience
by the Holy Spirit of God, you come into a peace, a peace with
God and peace with other men. It's all that's in you as best
you can do. I don't want to fight with anybody,
but I will contend over the faith. He said the fruit of the Spirit,
when I'm grafted into that vine, how do I know I'm grafted into
that vine? Because I produce fruit. And
what's the first fruit that appears on the stem? Peace. Peace. He said God has called us. There
is an effectual calling that the Scripture talks of. An effectual
calling, one that calls you out of darkness and calls you out
of that death, gives you life, establishes faith in you. And
he said we are called to peace. Called to peace. And we are exhorted
in the Scripture to follow things that make for peace. Ephesians
2 verse 14, he tells us Christ is our peace. These are opinions. And now he says here in Colossians
3, verse 15, he said, Let the peace of God, now here is what
I want you to hear. Let the peace of God rule in
your life. What does that mean? That means
when you've got these great possessions and a contention comes up, you
say, you go to the right, I'll take the left. You go to the
left, I'll take the right. You prefer that peace over that
position. Abraham preferred this peace
over his own honor, his own self-esteem, the way he appeared to his servants. He wanted this peace worse than
he wanted that. Abraham, I told you at the beginning,
stood head and shoulders above Lot, and he knew it. But he was
equal in the eyes of God, and he knew that too. And he treated
him as an equal. He treated him as an equal. He
treated him as one who had the right. What do you want? This
is not my inheritance, it's ours. What do you want? What is it
that will make you happy? What is it that will settle you
down? You want the plain? Take the plain. You want the
mountain? I'll take the plain. Whatever you want. Whatever you
want. That's what a man will do when
he's at peace with God. I love peace. I desire for others
to have it. I make decisions based on it.
I live by it. I'm ruled by it. I'm willing
to contend for it. And this peace of God in Christ
is precious to me. It means more to me than titles
and holding and self-esteem. Does it mean that to you? What
does this peace mean? What's it mean? Let it rule.
That's what it says. Let it rule. All right, here's the second
thing. Abraham let it roll. He resolved this whole situation
based on his peace. There it is. All right, here's
the second thing. The believer is willing to rest
these contentions in the hands of the sovereign mediator. Is
he in charge? Oh, we can all look at him. He's in charge. Abraham knew
that. He'd just come up out of Egypt. He just experienced that. He turned his wife over to that
evil king. And he put her down there in
the harem with the rest of the women, but he never touched her.
And God delivered her out of that and delivered her back into
his hands. He knew something about the sovereign God. He's
sovereign over these situations. He's sovereign over providence.
He's sovereign over these confrontations that we have. He's sovereign
over these contentions. I don't care who he is. He comes
in here. My God sits on the throne. He
rules. What are they going to do? Stir something up down here?
Let them stir. He will stir them. He turns things
around. My soul, look at Joseph's brother.
They took him and threw him in a pit. They couldn't stand to
look at him. They were jealous over him, hated him. Threw him
out into slavery. God turned that whole thing around,
didn't he? Huh? Turned that whole thing around.
You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. He meant it
for good. I don't know what brought this
contention on, but I know it was for evil, but God meant it
for good. His confidence was in Him who
rules all things. Listen to how faith pops. Romans
8, verse 31. Paul said, what shall we say
to these things? You all are familiar with these
scriptures that I'm quoting to you. Poor ordination, predestination,
divine calling, complete, absolute, holy justification. What shall we say to these things?
Now, here's what he said. Faith says, is God before us? If none can stay his hand in
these eternal matters and in his eternal counsels, who is
going to stay his hand now? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Abraham was quick to give away
earthly things for the sake of peace because he knew the giver,
and he knew the ruler of all things. And he found his satisfaction
in him. And I'm telling you this, I'm
going to give you five things here. A gracious heart will be
the first to speak, always. These matters come up, somebody
has to step aside. The gracious heart will always
be the first one. He'll say, I do, I do. Grace
will always make the greater sacrifice, always. Grace is always
ready to part with earthly possessions. Grace is always, always, every
time, self-denying. And grace always rests in the
sovereign wisdom and will of God. He understands that God
gives all things. Every good gift, every perfect
gift cometh down from the Father of lights. I'm resting in that,
can't you? And then thirdly, listen to this,
this man of faith, mature, grounded, effectual faith, he will always
give way in these contentions because his interests are not
here. They're there. And we're getting
older now, and that property of business and those things
just don't mean what it used to, does it? The kind of the
glitter and the glamour of it is gone. The confidence in it
is gone. I mean, we knew it in our hearts,
we knew it. But until you get older, it becomes
real. And more and more and more as
time goes on, the reality of it begins to set in. Paul said
in Colossians 3, verse 1, If you then be risen with Christ,
risen with him, he said, through the faith of the operation of
God, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above. Well, Christ sitted on the right
hand of God. Set your affections on things
above, not on things of the earth, for you are dead." Boy, we ought
to just camp there a while. We are dead. Dead in Adam to
all rights and claims. Dead spiritually to any and all
potential to reform or renew ourselves back into favor with
God. Dead in our ability and will
to do anything for ourselves. We won't even believe. You're dead, but your life is
hid with God in Christ. The reason for it, the reality
of it, the hope of it, the riches of it, all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge hid in him. Believers seek these things which
are above because there's nothing here to seek. They know that.
They rejoice in things above because there's nothing here
to rejoice in. And they're quick to depart with earthly possessions
because their treasures are laid up there where moth and rust
can't get at them. And if we've laid treasures up
here, you need to get another view. You need to get another
view. Here's what grace says. You choose.
You choose. I'll go the other way. Take whatever
you want. I'll get by them once and for
all. Why? Because he loved peace more than
possessions, because he trusted in sovereign grace, and because
he viewed these things here as temporary at best. Now, listen here to what it says
in Hebrews 11, 13, and I'll close. He said these, talking about
Abraham, talking about his sons, talking about these things that
were done after the journey was over. He said, These all died
in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen
them afar, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth. For they
that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. What is it we seek? I seek Him. I see Kim. He sits on the right
hand of God, and in his hand, in his possession, right now,
right now, are all things. Why are they yours? Because they're
his. And if they're his, they're ours.
We're joint heirs with him. What else could we possibly want?
What else is he going to hold back from you? He's going to
give you exactly what it takes to accomplish the purpose that
he's left you here today. That's exactly what you're going
to get. And we ought to be, what else would you, I don't want
something else. I don't want anything to hinder me. If it
takes poverty to do it, give me poverty. If it takes riches
to do it, give me riches. But give me a heart to know how
to handle it. Either way.