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Okay, so we're up to Genesis chapter 18 now in our Genesis Bible study, we're in obviously Genesis 17 last week where Abram, it was still Abram at this point, was 99 years old and told to walk before God and be perfect, which another word you could say is to be complete. And look, God doesn't give us a bye when we get older, does he? Okay, he was 99, he said look, walk before me and be thou perfect, right? And there's no bye, he wants us to serve him all our lives. If anyone's sitting here thinking, well, once I get to this age and I put my feet up, I'll probably cut it down once a month, so that's not all right in God's eyes. Really, what else are you going to do with your life anyway, right? As you get older, I want to be serving God even much the more. And if I don't have to work and I don't, you know, and somehow get to a point where maybe, you know, I'm retiring to some degree, I need to be busy, right? You need to be busy in life, you need to be busy and what better thing than to be busy serving God, right? And that's something hopefully everyone here hasn't been pulled into the whole world, you know, somehow I'm going to be on an island somewhere with my feet up or doing nothing or, you know, whatever else. Well, that's not, you're actually not going to be that fulfilled by that either. And he said to him, look, he told him to walk before him, be perfect. At 99 years old, he made a covenant with Abram that he would multiply his seed, that he would be a father of many nations, kings would come from him, that the covenant would continue with Abram, seeing that it was an everlasting covenant. We see that the seed continued to Jesus Christ and that those of faith accounted for the seed, right? We also saw that Abram's side of the covenant, circumcision it was, is a picture of the circumcision of the heart, the putting away of the flesh through faith in Christ, okay? We looked at that last week. The names were changed to Abraham and Sarah, meaning father of a multitude and princess of a multitude, which you can imagine was probably a bit ironic, wasn't it? If you think about that for a second, considering that at this point there was only Ishmael and they were both getting on a bit, yeah? So people were probably thinking, what a strange name, you know? You're called father of multitude and you've got one son by your kind of bondmaid, sort of second wife, and she was called princess of a multitude, she just had her name changed, and at this point she wasn't pregnant yet either. So a bit strange, right? And probably unlikely that she was going to become that in people's eyes. But, you know, you could say even after Isaac as well, but I'll tell you what it probably was, was a good conversation started for the Gospel, wasn't it? You know, why are you called princess of a multitude? Or why are you called, you know, why are you called father of multitude? Well, funny story there actually, because, you know, all good conversation starters. We then saw that Ishmael had 12 sons who looked at the picture of the two covenants, didn't we? With Ishmael, the son of the bomb woman Hagar, represented the law, as opposed to the son of the free Isaac, represented the new covenant, and how they also represented those that trusted in the law, as opposed to those that were trusting in grace through faith. Finally, we saw Abraham getting on with it straight away and performing literally hundreds of circumcisions that self-same day. And we looked at that and just said, like, what a great example he was. He was told, right, you need to get on with it and circumcise everyone, including yourself, mate. And he did it that self-same day. And that's a great example, really. No, we're not going to all have to rush out and perform a load of circumcisions. However, we're told to do many other things that are much easier and we don't get on with it the self-same day, do we? And Abraham was a great example there. It said in verse 23 of Genesis 17, And Abraham took Ishmael his son and all that were born in his house and all that were bought with his money. Every male among the men of Abraham's house has circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the self-same day as God has said unto him. And Abraham was 90 years old and nine when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the self-same day was Abraham circumcised in Ishmael his son and all the men of his house born in the house and bought with money of the stranger was circumcised with him. By the way, circumcision is done away with in case anyone's getting worried who didn't listen last week. Okay, in Genesis chapter 18 of verse 1 begins with this, And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and looked to loathe three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the ground and said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away I pray thee from thy servant. Then a little water I pray you be fetch and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort you your hearts after that you shall pass on. For therefore are you come to your servant. And they said, so do as they were said. I'd like to pray before we continue with this chapter. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this just great chapter, the Bible Lord chapter we can learn so much from. Please help me to preach the messages that I've taken from this and I believe that you've given me from this as I've looked through it, studied it to preach today. Lord, just help me to preach those messages clearly accurately, boldly, Lord, in a way that people will be able to take away what they need to take away from it. And Lord, just help everyone have a tent of his as well. Fill in with your spirit and in Jesus name for all of this. Amen. Okay, so chapter 17, by the way, verse 27 said, And all the men of his house, born in the house and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him. Then verse one of the chapter we're in then just continues with, And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat at the tent door in the heat of the day. You get the feeling that this isn't long after Abraham obeyed God with the mass circumcision, don't you? Okay, it is actually pretty soon after, as we're going to see later, there's only a couple of months span between this point and then a later point that we're going to see in two chapters on. And the reason I say that is because when you're in God's will, okay, when you're obeying him the self-same day, you're that much closer to him, aren't you? You're that much closer and God then appears to you pretty soon after when you're doing what he wants you to do. You know, he circumcised him that self-same day and then it says, Verse one, The Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre. Because next thing you know, he's there showing you his plans and that's what we're going to see. He turns up next soon after, you've obeyed him, you're doing his will, that self-same day and suddenly you know his plans, you know his will. You're no longer, I just don't know what God's will is like so many people do, so many Christians do, if only I knew God's will. No, you know his will because you're obeying what he's told you to do. You do what he tells you to do and his will for your life, his will for your future, his will in many situations will become apparent to you pretty quickly. The Lord will appear to you quickly when you obey the simple stuff, when you obey the clear commands, then the things which are a bit more hazy, a bit more unsure will become clear. In fact, you can even ask him and talk to him and you'll get the answers we're going to see in a minute. Here, it seems like he's interceding but we're going to look at that shortly for family members and again, you need to be close to God to be able to do any of that sort of stuff. Depending on how you read that section, we're going to look at that shortly. Now notice how it said that the Lord appeared unto him. It said in verse 2, and he lifted up his eyes and looked and lo, three men stood by him and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the ground. So one of these men is the Lord. Who is it? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Another point and we've already seen a few of these already, haven't we? In such a short amount of time in the first book of the Bible and we're seeing the Lord Jesus Christ coming to people in the Old Testament, he said the Lord appeared unto him. You cannot see the Father and live. It had to be the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? And the Lord Jesus Christ is standing in front of him here as a man. Three men appeared or he said the Lord appeared and then we looked up and three men stood by him and when he saw them, did he sit there waiting for them to come to the tent? Is that what it says? He saw the Lord and he just waited and thought, well let's see if he's going to come along. No, he ran to meet them, didn't he? He ran to meet them and that's good attitude, isn't it? Okay, we come to meet the Lord, don't we? A lot of people are sitting there at home, you know, twiddling their thumbs going, oh Lord, why aren't you coming to me and showing me this? Oh Lord, I need you close to me, I need you to do this, I need you to do that. Well, how about you go to the Lord? How about you go to him, how'd you go to the Lord? Well, you go to the Lord through your Bible, you can hear what he's got to say to you through your Bible, you can go to the Lord in prayer, but you know where the Lord is right now? He's in this house, isn't he? Yeah, this is the house of God, the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the truth and when you are here, when we're here together, when we're gathered together in his name, the Lord Jesus Christ is here with us, right? Okay, you want to hear what God's going to say, you want to know what he wants, you come to the Lord, here he ran to him, yeah? How many people ran to church today? No, I'm kidding, you don't have to run to church, but you know what, you know what, it wouldn't be a bad thing and if you're late, run to church, right? Run to church because we're here to see the Lord, aren't we? And here Abraham, he ran, he ran to meet them from the dent door and then what did he do? He bowed himself toward the ground, okay, bowed himself. That's that reverence again, I think Brother Dan was preaching about reverence on Sunday, that reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Revering him, he ran to him and bowed his head toward the ground, we saw in the previous chapter him falling on his face and again how many people do that? So many Christians, they treat him like he's kind of like this buddy with their arm around him and they reprove him when they don't get what they want and everything else. How about you bow your face to the ground when you're praying to the Lord, how about that? How about you bow your face to the ground and show him the reverence and respect that we should show him because he's not the long-haired, dress-wearing hippie that the world will try and teach the Catholic Church to try and teach you. He's the Lord Jesus Christ and he's a scary God and we need to show him some reverence, don't we? Verse three says, and said, what did he say? And said, my Lord, singular by the way, okay, he's talking to him here, if now I've found favour in thy, singular sight, so there's three men here but he's talking to the Lord, isn't he? Because one of them is the Lord Jesus Christ, pass not away I pray thee from thy servant. Abraham I believe is referring to what just happened before, the circumcisions. He said, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away I pray thee from thy servant. Genesis 17 22 said, and he left off talking with him and God went up from Abraham. So remember he told him what to do, left off talking and went up, remember the Lord was down, okay, this was the Lord Jesus Christ chapter before, he now comes back and Abraham's saying, look, I've done what you said, I pray thee, basically, pass not away, don't go again now. I think that's what he's saying, he's saying, if I'm pleased with that, don't just go again. And back to the first point, when you're trying to live for God, obeying clear commands, you can say to him, pass not away I pray thee from thy servant. You can say that, you can say, look, I've done what you've said, I'm doing the clear commands that you told me to do, and there are some clear commands in the Bible, aren't there? Very clear commands that God wants of his children, and I'm doing that, pass not away I pray thee from thy servant. But when you're not doing any of that stuff, and you know what he wants you to do in your life, and there's some clear stuff that you know you're not doing, you don't really have a right to go, but why is he not here? Where is he? I'm not feeling him close to him, because you're disobeying his clear commands. Here he's obeying the commands, he's saying, look, if now I have found favour in thy sight, and remember, this is on the back of all that bizarre stuff with Hagar and everything else, yeah, he's kind of sorting himself out a bit, it's never too late to sort yourself out, right? You're saved, it's never too late, right? He's sorting himself out and he's saying, look, if for now I've found favour in thy sight, pass not away I pray thee from thy servant. Pass not away I pray thee from thy servant. And I say that because, look, it's something that I think a lot of people forget, Isaiah 59 too, you don't have to turn there, it says, but your iniquities are separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. Now I'm not telling you to not pray to God if you feel like there's sin in my life and everything else, but I'm telling you to get right with God and obey his clear commands, and you might feel that little bit closer, you might feel like he's not going away from you, right? Now God is there and ultimately we pull away from him, don't we? But either way you need to get right, obey his clear commands and you can go, look, don't pass away. James 4-8 says, draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you, cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded. Yeah, draw nigh to God, get close to God, and how we do that? Obey his commands, read his word, pray to him, get in church, and that's a clear command, isn't it? To be in church, don't forsake it, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, how many Christians do? And then just go, I just can't work out why this happened, I can't work out. I mean, I had a funny one today, I had a lady on the door today told me, oh, well, no, no, no, not into any of that at all. My father, nah, in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, she said, five years, he does not have time for any religion. I said, oh, why is that? Well, basically, how could God have let that happen? So I said to her in a polite way, I said, so your father, who doesn't believe in God, and doesn't worship God, is upset that God didn't intercede in his life? Well, yeah, I suppose, I said, well, okay, and then tried him. She didn't really want to hear much more anyway, but that's what people are like, aren't they? They're like, you know, where's God? Why is he not doing this? Well, what are you doing? And you're saved, and you know the clear commands of the Bible, what are you doing, right? You're doing things right, you're trying to live for God, you're trying to obey him, you're trying to live for him, you're trying to obey his commands, then you can turn around and say, look, you're not away from me, I pray thee, from my servant, right? But why does Abraham want him close? Is it so that he can rub the lamp and ask for all his desires? Is that why? It's so that he can serve it, that's why he wants him close. Abraham's got it, he's got it right. Look at what he says in verse four, let a little water, I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, and I will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort ye your hearts, after that you shall pass on, for therefore, therefore are ye come to your servant, and they said so do, as they are said. What's Abraham doing? He's highlighting our role in life, isn't he? He's highlighting his role, and I'll tell you what, that's your role in life as well. You're God's servant, he's not your servant, you're God's servant, and how many Christians need to get that in their head? He's not your servant, yeah? Abraham understood that. Abraham talked with God face to face, and he's not going, oh right, right, you come again, well I need you to sort out this, could you sort this out for me, can you do this for me? No, he's saying I'm here, just stay there so I can serve you. But you know what, how many people, even if Jesus Christ walked in here today, would be like, yeah, well yeah, I'm a bit busy actually, I've got to get on now, I don't want to do anything for you. People like that, right? They just cannot serve, they just find it so hard, it's pride ultimately and ego, isn't it? But we're here to serve, aren't we? We're here to serve the Lord. He said, for therefore you come to your servant. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 10, we come to serve. Something that I think is so important for especially probably nowadays for the Christian to understand with so much false teaching about God, is that he's God, we're his people, you're one of his people, he's not one of your people. Many have this the wrong way around, they really do, okay? They don't understand this point, okay? You're here to serve God, that's your function, that's your role. Now if you can get some blessings, if you can get some, and you will get blessing, you will get fulfillment, but that's all extras. Our job is to serve God and Abraham just wants him to stay so that he can serve him. He'll run off and get him things and serve him and wash their feet and do things and that is an honour, isn't it? I think many people look at heaven and maybe think, oh, I don't know if you've got to serve God a lot, that might be a little like the bad part of it, but hopefully get a bit of relax time as well. But what an honour it would be to just be up there serving him, wouldn't it? To be there with the Lord Jesus Christ serving him and you know what? Deep down that will be ultimate fulfillment as well, won't it? Because that's what we're here for. What does it say in verse 12 of Deuteronomy 10? Deuteronomy 10 and verse 12 says, and now Israel what does the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in all his ways and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. By the way, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord your God to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes which I command thee this day for thy good. That's what he requires of us. That's what he requires. That's what he needs from you for your own good. He requires that of you. Why do we serve him? Because he requires it. Where do we serve him? The local New Testament church. And if there's, if there's, there isn't one anywhere near, okay, because look sometimes I preach this stuff and I know there are people that travel or people that watch us online and stuff. I understand there are people that don't have a new, a local New Testament church, but you do your best to serve it. You do your best to serve and hopefully get a New Testament church or you find your way getting to one. Or you, look even if you, and the truth is I know it's a big deal and I'll never tell someone to do this, but you know what? Moving to be near a church has got to be the no-brainer hasn't it? If there's no chance of having a church where you are, look if you've got like 10, 15 or you think you could build up to 10, 15, 20 people that are all saved in an area and you think yeah this might be God's will for church, they're great. I wouldn't say right all of you need to move and go to like the local church. However, if you don't have that is there anything more important? People will move for a job won't they? People will move across the world for a job. People will move across the nation, across the world, do all sorts of crazy stuff. People will move across the world for some woman they've probably met online or a man they've met online. People will move for all sorts of things, but when you tell someone, if you tell someone I'm moving home for a church, they'll look at you like you're mad, wouldn't they? They'll look at you like you must be a nutter, must be a cult or anything else. No, because you're trying to get close to God aren't you? Because what are we here to do to serve the Lord? To serve him. Why? Look at verse 14. Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's eye God, the earth also and all that therein is. Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them and he chose a seed after them, even you above all people as it is this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff neck. He's saying stop being stubborn about it. Stop being stubborn about it and serve him for the Lord your God is God of gods, the Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible which regardeth not persons nor taketh war. It doesn't matter how special you think you are. It doesn't matter how much you think you're doing somewhere. Look, you're here to serve him. It doesn't matter who you are. He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow and loveth the stranger giving him food of raiment. He's a loving God. Love ye therefore the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God. Him shalt thou serve and to him shalt thou cleave and swear by his name. He is thy praise and he is thy God that has done for thee these great and terrible things which thine eyes have seen. My fathers went down into Egypt with three score and ten persons and now the Lord thy God has made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude. And you know what? Abraham understood this didn't he? Abraham understood this. The Lord turned up there and he ran to serve him and that's a great lesson for us. He ran to serve. Look back at verse five in Genesis chapter 18. Verse five says and I will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort ye your hearts after that you shall pass on for therefore, therefore you come to your servant and he said so do as I was said. You know what? If you don't like being a servant, if you don't like serving God and you know what the best way to serve God is through the New Testament church. Okay and look there are a hundred different types of jobs to do in a church like this. There's so much you can do and look don't get me wrong we've got a great church people that want to serve God. You know we had all sorts of people wanting to get involved, wanting to help out, wanting to get stuck in to everything we've done here. I mean some of you got a couple of lads here on the first day that we came here to this church building came in and this is a different place right? Okay this is a completely different place and that's due to just so much help, so much work, so many people that got involved in one way or another. Okay but if you don't like that, if you're like yeah but you know that's a bit beneath me or well you know I've got my important things and don't get me wrong, I know not everyone could. Some people had issues and family commitments and work things where it was hard right? However if it's because you find it hard to serve or when you're here you're like yeah I don't really want, I like that job, I don't like that job or anything else, you need to get your wicked heart right. You really do. You need to get your wicked heart right. You know what it's better to be a doorkeeper okay in the house of God yeah than to be with the wicked right? It's better to serve them anyway. If your job was literally just I just pick up bits of dirt off the chairs and off the floor, that's all I do at church. That what an honour that is isn't it? Because you're serving the Lord, you're making this place a nicer, cleaner, tidier place. It is an honour anything we do in the house of God right? And he had that right Abraham. Look he says in verse 6 says and Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah and by the way this is Abraham who's got about probably at this point 400 plus servants. He had 318 train servants that were born in his own house when he went off to to rescue Lot. He's got who knows how many people, this is the top of a pretty big, he's got a pretty big enterprise going on here Abraham and he's legging it to his wife to serve the Lord. He doesn't think he's too big and clever for that does he? Abraham hastened unto the tent unto Sarah and said make ready quickly, he said you better get quick as well women as well, he said make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it and make cakes upon the hearth and that's the attitude we should have yeah and and look when it comes to serving God here's another lesson for you from this verse when it comes serving God let's get on with it quickly as well right get on with it quickly if you're sitting there going yeah I don't know if I can make like make all three serves just get on with it yeah I don't know if I can read through the bible every year just get on with it you know I don't know if I could add soul winning in it just get on with it quickly get on with it stop stop tarrying and get on with serving the Lord quickly because you've only got one life to live and it could end like that you can end like that and you look back and think I could have just done so much more in my life and when I say so much more I'm not talking about all the all the junk the world tries to teach you saying so much more for the Lord right get on with it quickly verse seven and Abraham ran unto the herd he's carrying on running right he ran unto the herd and fetched a calf tender and good and gave it unto a young man and he hasted to dress it okay look he's just they're just busy busy for the Lord here okay we should be busy for the Lord shouldn't we and he took butter and milk and the calf which he addressed and set it before them and he stood by them under the tree and they did eat Jesus Christ God in the flesh Lord ate some tender veal didn't he he had some good veal there butter probably with the cakes made by Sarah and washed it down with a cup of milk yeah he had some tender veal washed down with a cup of milk and I say that because some people out there need to hear this sort of preaching don't they all these wicked vegans out there trying to trying to teach now look you want to be a vegan be a vegan that's your problem yeah but however you want to be a vegan trying to teach us this app that that's God's will for you you're a liar okay you're a lion you've got it all wrong because the Lord Jesus Christ came and ate some veal he didn't just eat some meat he didn't eat some old light old mutton yeah it was on its way out no he came and ate a young calf yeah so a nice slab of veal um and I bet it was cooked up I think that was tender stuff that was freshly slaughtered you go well you've already killed it now I better eat it but oh all God's creatures are so precious if only you hadn't I don't want it to go to waste I know he went yeah yeah I'm up for that this looks good some fresh veal you want to be vegan okay look again yes you're you can do what you want to go you shouldn't be mean to you if you want to be a vegan okay however don't try and tell us it's biblical okay there's killing God's creatures stuff and there are people out I preach a sermon this there are people out there claiming to be Christian claiming to teach the bible that you shouldn't eat meat yet Jesus Christ came and ate me let alone we could do a whole sermon on this we're not going to okay freshly slaughtered veal that's what the Lord Jesus Christ ate verse 9 says and they said unto him where is Sarah thy wife and he said behold in the tent and he said I will certainly return unto the according to the time of life and lo Sarah thy wife shall have a son and Sarah heard it in a tent door which was behind him now the time of life is a phrase used a few times by referring to conception have a quick look at Genesis chapter 21 when he fulfills this promise Genesis chapter 21 and verse 1 says and the Lord visited Sarah as he had said and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken for Sarah conceived okay that was when he was coming back at the time of life and bear Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him by the way that's not talking about the time of life that's referring to Genesis 17 21 when God said to Abraham but my covenant will I establish with Isaac which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year okay that's the set time that he'd spoken to her which considering that between him saying that in chapter 17 there were the events in Sodom in chapter 19 that we're going to look at next week followed by them dwelling in Gerar in chapter 20 this supports what what I said at the beginning which is that chapter 18 follows basically pretty much straight after the circumcisions for me okay very soon after he obeys God and God appears unto him when he's in the tent door uh in Mamre but don't miss as well by the way that Sarah is a picture of the Virgin Mary isn't she with her son Isaac picture in Christ the birth a result of a miraculous conception okay ceased to be with her in the manner of women she's unable should be unable to have children okay we're seeing a picture there of that with Sarah being what is she 90 years old and then Isaac goes on to be a picture of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as well yeah when he ends up you know Abraham's about to kill him as a picture of Christ but back in chapter 18 we'll be looking at that uh in in weeks to come back in chapter 18 Sarah is a bit shocked a bit shocked by this says in verse 11 now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in Asia and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying after I'm waxed old she'll have pleasure my lord being old also notice Sarah calling her husband lord within herself okay she ain't saying this out loud this is how she refers to her husband in her heart she refers to him as lord first peter in chapter three if you want to turn there you can when you look from verse six talks of the women of old being in subjection to their husbands first peter three six says even as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him lord whose daughters you are as long as you do well and are not afraid of any amazement okay that's for me referring to this point here where she was saying in her heart that's not someone who's just saying it's not saying it to please him it's not saying it because she knows that she should say that's not saying it because she's in front of people at church she's saying it in her heart because she really did submit to her husband she was in subjection like she should have been right and in her heart she called him her lord a great great uh great just small message there isn't it and what what a thing and and the thing is that something as women as wives you can choose to do you can choose not to do right and god wants you to choose to do that okay that's the commandment in fact to submit unto your husbands verse 13 says and the lord back where we were in in in genesis 18 the lord said unto Abraham wherefore did Sarah laugh saying shall I have a surety bear a child which I am old is it is anything too hard for the lord at the time appointed I will return unto thee according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son and that's a great statement by the lord isn't it is anything too hard for the lord is there anything too hard for the lord it's nothing too hard for the lord there is nothing too hard for the lord this isn't difficult at all for the lord is it then Sarah denied saying I laugh not for she was afraid yeah god's scary okay he's scary the lord Jesus Christ is scary and he said nay but thou didst laugh and god sees everything doesn't he sees what we think and feel internally as well doesn't he and by the way it's a good reminder as well with that because you can get a bit kind of and it helps us to understand the next passage the next bit as well because he does see everything he knows even what's going on in her heart but then we see what we're going to see in a second uh where he talks about going down to Sodom and we're going to look at that now verse 16 says and the men rose up from thence and look towards Sodom and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way and the lord said shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him by the way the lord doesn't hide from us things to come either okay there are many things to come in this world many things to come in life many things to come in in the well ultimately at the end of this world that god hasn't hidden from us there's an entire book of the bible called revelation isn't there which reveals unto us it's written for us because he doesn't hide anything from us that he will do yet how many people try and act like the book of revelation is just impossible for you to understand really now look you're not going to understand every single verse of the bible okay that that is impossible for you okay it's so rich there's so much there look you could try to though but the book of revelation a lot of it you can understand and and you know how you understand it you understand the book of revelation by studying the bible by studying the word of god by looking and comparing it and not comparing it to man and not comparing it to what some some probably reprobate like scofield said or or many of these guys or john nelson derby or any of these guys who have just who are unsaved heretics and just read the bible and compare it to itself secretary 215 says study to show thyself approved under god it's not study to show someone else approved a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth if you study it is that there is work it is a workman's job but it's all there it's all there isn't it it's not hidden unless you refuse to believe what the word says and you instead rely on corrupted men to teach you and that's what a lot of people that's what a lot of christians out there are all right they just cannot understand for example so much of the book of revelation they're just completely just way out there with it aren't they in fact they're way out there with the book of genesis half these guys as well come out with all sorts of crazy stuff all sorts of crazy bizarre doctrines because they're not just studying it for what it says and instead they're taking what other people say and they're believing i mean a big one for example is the sons of god i mean you you go and look in some old like dictionaries stuff they'll start saying sons of god you know this is or some of these old bible commentators they'll start trying to tell you these are angels and things like that but what's the bible say that says the sons of god are believers but they're not comparing it to the word of god instead they're just and then you go off into all these bizarre like angels having you know babies with with men and giants and all this crazy stuff right and but it's not biblical and it's same with the book of revelation the book of revelation is there for us to study don't be afraid to study it study it out but compare it to the word of god not to some clown commentary he said abraham is going to keep my covenant and through isaac isaac that seed will come okay and he then said for i know him that he will command his children his household after him and they shall keep the way of the lord to do justice and judgment that the lord may bring upon abraham that which he has spoken of him and the lord said because the cry of sodom and gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous i will go down now and see whether they have done all together according to the choir of it which is coming to me and if not i will know he said that the cry of sodom and gomorrah is great didn't he okay that's a big cry big shout out there's a there's a big issue going on there their sin is what very grievous okay what what's sodom and gomorrah known for well i'll tell you what it's known for because there was a there was a there was a word that's used in the bible because it's coined from from the name of the place sodom it's sodomite okay that sin is very grievous it's not just so well you know it's just a lifestyle choice it's just a little bit serious it's in the same bracket and i've seen this on independent fundamental baptist churches in this nation their statements of faith say things like we believe that homosexuality and and then they'll add things like fornication adultery and then they'll add like pornography and things are all a sin no no homosexuality is very grievous it's very grievous it's a wicked sin it's it's a vile sin it's a sin which which is a symptom of reprobation of a diseased warped mind a mind where the conscience has been seared he said the sin is very grievous of the words to describe from webster's 1828 dictionary for for grievous and remember it's very grievous so we would say very painful very sorrowful very or much causing much grief very distressing very atrocious that's how bad it is this isn't just another sin is it it really isn't now with this uh with this where it says that he said i will go down now see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is coming to me and if not i will know now of course proverbs 15 3 says the eyes of the lord are in every place beholding evil and the good and we've just seen that he knew what sarah was thinking in her heart so why does he have to go down there why is he going to see well for me it's because the insinuation here is judgment time if you look at verse 17 it said and the lord said shall i hide from abraham that thing which i do and in verse 23 abraham seems fully aware of what's going to happen it says in verse 23 and abraham drew near and said wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked he didn't mention anything about destruction here so here there's some obviously insinuation understanding what's going to happen i mean abraham knows obviously how wicked this place is for me the three men are going as the two or three witnesses okay uh revel uh sorry deuteronomy 17 6 says at the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death be put to death but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death and of course there are three that bear record in heaven right the father the word and the holy ghost and these feel one but here he's coming down as a physical witness to a physical punishment and i think that that it's to be and obviously the place is to be set for as an example to us all and as an example showing us the biblical way as well which is two or three witnesses yeah and by the way isn't that what's going to happen before the second coming the two witnesses and they are called two witnesses for a reason as well they're witnesses and by the way i would say one of many similarities and we've been talking about this a bit and thinking about just talking about the beast system right that one world beast system what's another word for a beast in the bible sodomite and what are we seeing in this world right now i mean we're seeing a beast system aren't we we're seeing it probably to a point where you're going to have to worship some so i mean the antichrist probably going to be some cross-dressing reprobate isn't he some sort of absolute freak that people are going to worship or some sort of at least you're going to have to get behind sodomy or something else maybe maybe it won't happen in a lifetime maybe this is all going to implode on itself i don't know but you wouldn't be surprised would you and there are similarities and obviously as we're going to see in the next chapter there's a massive picture in genesis chapter 19 of end times of of the rapture of the two witnesses going into sodom etc well back in verse 20 it said and the lord said because the cry of sodom and gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous i will go down now and see whether they've done all together according to the cry of it which has come unto me and if not i will know so this is to witness it and the men turned their faces from thence and went towards sodom but abraham stood yet before the lord and abraham drew near and said wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked so at first at first glance it looks like abraham is bartering with he's changing god's mind persuading him to spare the place that's what you kind of feel like when you read this don't you many people would i don't really believe that's the case okay the the lord is allowing him insight into what he will and won't do that's what i believe is going on here now abraham here obviously wants a lot to be spared okay however it's not that he persuades the lord to change his mind is there a point where he persuades the lord to change his mind but he gets to understand his mind that's what we see have a look because what did abraham do to be able to even have this dialogue with the lord he drew near didn't he so abraham drew near to the lord if you want to understand god's will you want to get to the bottom of what will and won't happen to backslid and family members for example you want to understand why judgment does and doesn't come on the wicked you want to try to know god more draw near to him yeah back to point number one and if you take nothing else with someone take that just draw near to god draw near to god you'll understand him so much more draw near to him draw nigh to him and he'll draw nigh to you okay and here abraham drew near verse 23 says and abraham drew near and said will they also destroy the righteous with the wicked now who the righteous or when being described as a righteous he's describing saved people the righteous are the saved now yes there are saved people whose righteousness is noted we saw nova being an obvious one in earlier on in in in genesis but without faith in christ your works of righteousness are as filthy racks okay so look without faith there's no righteousness at all okay but the righteous are the saved with jesus christ righteousness imputed unto us okay that's that's that's ultimately what's going on there psalm 69 verse 28 is talking of the enemies of god's people and there are a lot of those around by the way and it says let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous okay the righteous uh stay in the book of the living the book of life because they're saved it's not talking about people that are good or not or do good deeds or anything else that the the god's enemies are blotted out of the book of the living okay and not be written with the righteous that's the saved and surely i'd hope i wouldn't have to go into another little five ten minutes on salvation being by grace through faith alone that's clear as day in the bible okay here in genesis 18 abraham is asking if he will also destroy the saved over in sodom his nephew lot being an obvious one right turn to second peter too which helps to make this clear as well lot was a covetous guy wasn't he lot was covered he chased the money all the way to sodom didn't he he saw the well-watered plains and he he pitched his tent towards sodom he yoked up with these wicked sodomites i mean by the next chapter if anyone knows their bible in those chapter 19 of genesis he stooped to unbelievable lows okay i'm not going to go into it now we're going to look at that next week just unreal stuff you're like how on earth does someone does just a normal person do that stuff come up with that stuff yet this guy was a saved guy this guy was saved second peter too is telling us about these false prophets and how their judgment and damnation is coming in it says in verse four 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 the flood upon the world of the ungodly and turning the cities of sodom and gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow making them an ensemble unto those that after should live ungodly and delivered just lot and by the way he didn't deliver only lot that's not what he's saying because he also delivered lots daughters as well just lot is another word for justified lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked vex is troubled agitated afflicted and it sure did affect him because he was a pretty lousy christian wasn't he he was so vexed with the conversation of the wicked he was so affected by it that he came out with all bizarre things trying to offer his daughters to sodomites to save the angels i mean calling them brothers i mean this guy was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked and and here's just a quick point on this if you want to win the race you want to stand a faith you want to not backslide like lot and not backslid right i mean that's his backslid and you could imagine as you get he ends up in a cave drunken ending up committing incest i mean it's just horrendous lot's life he's just been described here as just lot you you want to do that you want you want to not be just just lot justified by faith in christ and have a lousy life with it you need to keep away from the wicked don't you you need to keep away from the wicked because you you will be vexed with the filthy and it's not conversation what comes out of their mouth it's a behavior the filthy behavior of the wicked and you know what nowadays nowadays do you know what that also includes keep away from the wicked on your handheld devices because you're around the wicked you're just staring at them watching them listening to them hearing them talk to you and like you're around the wicked probably more than lot was half the day in sodom lot was probably out working on his on his ranch or whatever if he still had the animals i don't know what happened after he ended up you know getting kidnapped and everything else i don't know what i do know is that nowadays a lot of people have spent a lot more time with the wicked than people of of yesteryear did through their handheld device but some people spend hours listening to these just clown like full on reprobate sometimes just full on reprobate false prophets social media influences in one way or another they're listening to them they're watching them and they're watching all this stuff they're wicked and and what happens it's not that oh he's just vexed he's a bit like upset because i think some people read that i just think yeah that's really wound him up no he was calling him brother he was affected he was infected and it ruined his life and you don't want your life ruined by the wicked you need to get them out of your life get them off your tv screen get them off your phone just get rid of them i'll tell you what live tv it's full of the wicked isn't it and nowadays so much of social media so much of it is just full of wicked people proverbs 12 26 out of 10 it says the righteous is more excellent than his neighbor but the way of the wicked seduce them look you might be more excellent you might have some good standards compared with the world but the way of the wicked will seduce you you spend your time with these people you hang around with these people you you're influenced by these people they're going to ruin your life they really will however lot was still saved wasn't he lot was a saved man he was just like that's justified lot justified by the blood of the lord jesus christ he was vexed with a filthy conversation of the wicked verse 8 says for that righteous man lot was described as a righteous man for that righteous man dwelling among them and seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with unlawful deeds the lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation to reserve the unjust and to the day of judgment to be punished he was just as opposed to unjust lot wasn't a righteous man but he was considered righteous by his faith in the coming christ and back in genesis 18 abraham is hoping that lot will be saved from physical destruction he says in verse 23 back in genesis 18 and abraham drew near and said will they also destroy the righteous with the wicked peradventure there'd be 50 righteous within the city will they also destroy and not spare the place for the 50 righteous that are therein why 50 well abraham had just circumcised his whole household and don't forget that circumcision was a picture of them being saved yeah previously we saw that he had 318 train servants born in his own house yeah i mean i don't know how many people he was circumcising i mean that must have been a grim day but wow however however he i think the picture there is that his whole household was saved in fact in fact he also if you remember he had fellowship with mammary eschle and aina the amorites that had resulted in him getting a stay of punishment from the lord for 400 years he said that their iniquity is not yet full genesis 15 16 said but in a fourth generation and at this point it was talking about 100 years they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the amorites is not yet full and that was i think thanks to abraham's influence on them he was confederate with abraham was getting people saved okay we just read in verse 19 the lord's saying for i know him that he will command his children his household after him and they shall keep the way of the lord to do justice and judgment that the lord may bring upon abraham that which he has spoken of him so i reckon that abraham base and we often do this based on our own how we live how we believe that that we're living as christians and and maybe people that zealous for the lord zealous for so many you just kind of assume that if you're saved surely you're going to feel something similar aren't you but that's not the case and we've got to be careful there because it's it's easy to just start assuming people that say they believe in the lord is christ can't be saved because they don't live like you do because they're not out preaching the gospel every week but the reality of it is there are saved lots out there aren't there they're saved lots living amongst sodomites calling them brother offering his daughters to them and and bruising up sitting there with a tin foil hat on in a cave saying the whole world's ended it's only us here left alive yet they're still saved okay because this whole like works will follow salvation stuff is nonsense absolute nonsense so he's thinking look but abraham's probably thinking a lot must have got some people saved surely you know he said pair of venture there'd be 50 rights within the city will they also destroy and not spare the place of the 50 rights that are therein that be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the right should be as a wicked that be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right now it's not that abraham is reproving god i for me he's showing that he his understanding of god what's he just said he said that'd be far from me to do after this manner he said i know you're not going to do that you're god he's saying to say the rights to the wicked that the right should be as a wicked that'd be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right look he's not going right it's not like oh god needed abraham to give him a sitting down lucky abraham had a word with him and told him what he should and shouldn't do no he's basically saying to him he said i know you're not going to do that because i know who you are because i know you and the lord said if i find in solid 50 rights in the city they will spare all the place for their sakes he didn't go okay well okay now you say it no he was already not going to do that okay that's for me it's not because i think people come you can look at this and think that it's like a bartering that that he's you know he's having a bit of a he's having a bit of a kind of go at god and going okay you need to sort yourself out but that's not really the case so guys okay that's not the case here he's just saying look i understand that you wouldn't do that okay he said i will spell the place for their sakes but he's not sure what number god would spare such a wicked place for is he and this is part of this communing with god to understand god's will there's a tipping point and abraham wants to find it he says in verse 27 because he's probably now thinking okay well he wouldn't do it for 50 yeah lot was pretty backslidden okay let's uh let's test the water a bit here and everyone answers said but hold now i've taken upon me to speak unto the lord which i'm but dust and ashes again that's some reverence isn't it god you listen to me why aren't you answering my prayers how abraham spoke no he didn't he said i am but dust and ashes and i'm speaking to you okay what a great example again here right and it's by the way the same god he doesn't change pair adventure maybe perhaps they shall lack five of the 50 righteous wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five and he said if i find their faulted father will not destroy it and he spake unto him yet again and said pair adventure there should be faulty found there and he said i will not do it for faulty's sake and he said unto him i'll let not the lord be angry and i will speak so he's going look again the reverence is so clear here isn't it the respect for the lord pair adventure there shall 30 be found there he said i'll not do it if i find 30 there so he wants to know the will of the lord how his judgments work and he discovers it with what with reverence with respect you respect the word of god yeah you respect the lord you respect the word you read it with respect with reverence you read it on the basis of every single word of god is pure and true you have that reverence that respect for the word of god that every single word of it from start to finish makes perfect sense when it's put together and you can understand the word of god you can understand the will of the lord but you have to start with that respect for it you have to start with that faith don't you and here he's showing that reverence and he's starting to understand how god thinks and how god does things when it comes to judgment and punishment of the wicked when the righteous are amongst them and he said behold now i've taken upon me to speak unto the lord pair adventure there shall be 20 found there and he said i will not destroy it for 20 sake and he said oh let not the lord be angry and i will speak yet but this once pair adventure 10 shall be found there and he said i will not destroy it for 10 sake and the lord went his way as soon as he had left communion with abraham and abraham returned unto his place what can we learn from this there are a few things we can learn from this that god would have spared a place as wicked as sodden as wicked as that vile place sodden for just 10 saved people 10 saved people and he would have spared sodden i mean that's a loving god isn't it those people are going to hell you right that place should have been wiped out rightfully it was right wiped out wasn't it but he would have spared it for 10 righteous people that's how much he loves you yeah he didn't save for 10 people who are you know doing this and doing that and soul winning everything else just 10 righteous the righteous he's talking about here he's talking about saved people and look god will spare places for saved people and here's the thing we can learn that soul winning isn't just a command it isn't just something to do for our for our own rewards it makes a real difference to a place getting people saved they're being a righteous remnant in a place in a nation in an area in a city whatever it is is really important for that place to not undergo the judgment of god on that place you know i've got i've got a feeling i might be wrong about this i have a feeling that when a lot of those places got wiped out in the tsunami i believe that there was probably uh hardly any righteous there places like poquette with all sorts of sex tourists and all sorts of wicked people everything else for me there was probably hardly any there weren't enough there the righteous was there were so few that that god's judgment came upon those places and it couldn't be protected from that and so winning look it makes a real difference and why by the way local area soul winning is so important okay look we went out important okay look we went out today and i don't know what happened today because i'm looking at this line i'm thinking man this is receptive you know there's all sorts of like freaks weirdos and people stumbling around and we literally just went behind a church and suddenly they were like stately homes i know they don't go out to the local shops with a bottle of milk because honestly we went by and it was like state it wasn't it like stately homes everyone else said bad it's posh around here so what on earth they were like multi-million pound homes you know and they weren't most of them weren't carved in the flats there was one lot that was carved into flats right and um and and it can be rough sometimes can't it sometimes and we're gonna find that and you're gonna have days and weeks and maybe even months where you're like oh this postcode area maybe isn't so receptive and then the next bit is and usually in south end they're kind of it's mixed up in a road anyway you kind of a lot of them are like chopped up and others aren't and stuff but it doesn't really matter because local area soul winning is important if we're gonna this is our base this is our church this is where we want god to we we want god to bless this area don't we we don't want the judgment of god to come upon this city because this is where our churches and and why in a way look you would encourage people it can be look the the hour and a half drive is doable for some the two hours maybe the hour whatever else but i think i think it's probably a good idea to be quite close to where your church is if that's where you're getting most people saved isn't it because i think probably you're going to find that that look that judgment of god is going to be less because we're going to get a lot of people saved around here we already have got people saved a year ago and and and the 18 months proceeding that in south end unfortunately there is a few dodgy numbers to add to that but now look look we're here and we're going to be getting a lot of people saved and local area so when he is important proverbs 12 7 says the wicked are overthrown and are not but the house of the righteous shall stand the house of the righteous stand the wicked get overthrown by the house of the righteous he was willing to spare sodom for 10 righteous people 10 safe people however there comes a point when if the place becomes as wicked as sodom the ratios of righteous are that low which for me equals a lack of soul winning as well so if you get to the point where there aren't even 10 there aren't even 10 safe people in the city and by the way this is a point where there is look it's not just not an abraham that are saved in the whole world okay it's not like look there are people been preaching from the beginning of the world there were people preaching the gospel from right at the beginning and it continued through continued up to the front by the way it was it that they were the only safe people yeah there was a picture of salvation there was a picture of the rapture etc however they were the people that got on the ark right and then continued from that there were people still with the gospel you think that it didn't just peter out because it's always been faith faith to faith isn't it so there are people saved they have the access to the gospel and we get the point where it's literally just a nation sorry not a nation a city of reprobates and the surrounding areas have all been infected as well well for me that showed that whatever safe people were there and stopped soul winning and stopped getting people saved there wasn't that righteous remnant that those righteous are then yoked up with the wicked aren't they because look there's a point when look there's a point for me when when there aren't enough okay there aren't enough righteous people and ultimately those righteous are going to get punished too because you got to watch when it gets to a place like sodom you got two options you go i shouldn't be anywhere near these people i need to get out and not be yoked up with them or you'd already put the work and effort in and got people saved and everything else and maybe reverse the downhill trend of that place well they're kind of lot shouldn't have been there should he he already had a chance already rescued a few chapters before and he went back there he shouldn't have been there and now really you could argue well they were going to get their just rewards but something else we can learn from this okay is that lot was a lousy soul winner wasn't he i mean what i know this guy must be one of the worst so what is out there you even get 10 righteous there abraham's got hundreds i mean what look and again you know obviously we we try not to get carder with this it's not like you're comparing who's the best soul winner and everything else but when you're not getting anyone saved and you know you you you're not really doing things right and this is many many decades later isn't it as well i mean what did they go out about 75 this is like 25 years later okay and and lot hasn't even got 10 people saved where he lives what's wrong with a guy there weren't even 10 righteous there what a contrast with abraham by the way massive contrast isn't it and what was the difference between the two of them so why was it why was it the case the obvious one was money wasn't it he had abraham that was like you choose where you want to go i don't care i don't want to strife let him i pray thee let there not be strife between my herman and my herman that's what he said to him didn't he he just said you choose you go one way i'll go the other you go the other one going i don't i don't care i just don't want strife and then you've got lot who sees the world water plains you don't care that it's solid because even then it said that the men of sodom were wicked and sinners before the lord exceedingly and lot went that way for the money and and people that are too distracted by money people are distracted by the things of this life by the stuff in this world they're lousy soul winners they are aren't they yeah you know what they they ain't going to be turning up at every marathon when there's a chance to make some extra cash they're not going to be at the midweek so winning events that abraham was putting on you know with his gang they're not they're not they're not going to be on the sunday so winning you know when all i could even i could get home and do a bit more work i will i'll miss out the odd sunday i'll miss out the obvious i miss out the midweek because i could work later because i could get more cash he's doing the night shifts while abraham's going i don't care i'm outsold winning and ultimately abraham got blessed anyway in terms of if you want to look at it like a blessing but then we saw much going from there at the least you could say well look abraham at least was comfortable with his money but it didn't really matter did it because abraham was serving god and abraham didn't have his focus on the money he didn't have his sights set on the money like lot did that was the the clear obvious difference we can see see in those in the little information we've been given about the two of them there weren't even 10 righteous in sodom but we are going to see a picture of the rapture and we are going to see that lot given a chance to escape and still his life goes down the pan what a mess but that was genesis chapter 18 and wow that for me that look the overriding that the the big message from that is what get close to god right get close to god you'll understand his will get close to god and you'll you'll start to learn more about him you'll know more about you'll be able to ask for things you'll be able to talk to him you'll be able to hear him get close to god yeah and on that let's pray father thank you for your word thank you for a great chapter of the bible lord a chapter with just some great lessons in there um lord just help us to be more like abraham and not and a lot less like lot uh help us to just be um you know just just be the sort of christians that just focus on on serving you lord and not on on the world not on the things of the world not on the money of the world help us to just keep away from the wicked lord in in the many ways that the wicked can can infect us in life convex our righteous souls lord and help us to just um to just focus on on you focus on your word focus on on serving you lord uh help us to uh all get home safe sound tonight and uh to all return on sunday for another day in your house cheers to this amen