Address—Robert Boulard
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I'd like to turn to just a passage of Scripture in Proverbs chapter 30, just to read one verse there, and then we'll read a couple of verses in Proverbs chapter 3, and then, Lord willing, I have it on my heart.
A deep burden upon my heart to just take up some of the thoughts in the Word of God in connection with what God says about Abraham's life.
And what it meant to him to have a friend like Abraham. And so we'll read portions if the Lord tarries and gives us the time in Genesis Chapter 11. Perhaps another couple of passages, but the first passage I like to read in Proverbs chapter 30, verse five says every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
And then turned back to Proverbs chapter 3.
Verses that we often read often quote. Perhaps every young person in the room could quote these verses of Scripture.
Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 5.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding or intelligence. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Well. I read these verses here in the book of Proverbs because you know in this book the young man's book. Perhaps instruction given one chapter for every day of the month for young people and for those that are older too. I find myself oftentimes thinking of the book of Proverbs and quoting.
Versus of scripture in the book of Proverbs. But you know it touches my heart when I read this and it says every word of God is pure.
Holy.
And God, you know, beloved brethren, hasn't given us a divine book.
Of suggestions.
He didn't write the 10 suggestions, the 10 commandments, those are 10 instructions for his people and how they were to conduct themselves morally in the course of life in his presence as they walked through the wilderness scene, but then when they got into the land. And so I say that this book is not a book of divine suggestions. It's a book of divine holy words that ought to touch my heart, my conscience, and that I ought to, with desire in the energy of faith, to walk in the goodness.
And it's going to be for my blessing if I do so. It says every word of God is pure.
And then we read here in Proverbs chapter 3 that umm trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
And lean not unto thine own understandings and own intelligence, and the natural intelligence of the.
Of man in his fallen condition has no use for the wisdom of God.
No use for the purity of the Holy Word of God and your flesh and my flesh is no different. If we desire to walk in the flesh, we'll have no appreciation for the purity and the holiness of the Word of God. And we need grace from God Himself, from heaven above to see and to desire to value the truth of the Word of God. And His desire is this afternoon that every one of us should have an appreciation.
For that holy Word and that we should use it.
It says, In all thy ways acknowledge him, let him have his way. Let him.
Direct says he shall direct thy paths, or make plain thy paths. Well, let's turn to Genesis Chapter 11. Perhaps we'll read the last part of chapter 10.
Genesis chapter 10.
And umm, pardon me, Verse Chapter 11, just at the end of Chapter 11, Chapter 11, verse 27.
Now these are the generations of Tierra. Tierra began Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran begat Lot, and Heran died before his father Tyra in the land of his nativity in ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nehor took them wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nehor's wife Milka, the daughter of Heran, the father of Milka and the father of Visca. But Sarai I was barren. She had no child. And Tyra took Abram his son, and Lot.
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The son of Heran, his son's son, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife.
And they went forth with them from Urv the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. And they came unto Heran, and dwelt there. And the days of Tyra were 205 years, and Tyra died in Haran. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house unto a land, that I will show thee, and I will make thee of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great.
And thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee. And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him.
And Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother, son and all their substance.
And they had got that. They had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten inherent, and they went forth into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.
And Abram passed through the land unto the place of psychom, under the playing of Moray. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed, will I give this land? And there build he an altar unto the Lord, whom who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the West.
And hey, I on the east. And there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.
And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South, and there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land.
Well, we're not gonna read further than that at the present time, but I just want to review the history. You know God gives us in Genesis chapter six He says there of what he saw in the earth after he created man and man had fallen into sin. In chapter six He says in verse five, you know sometimes I take an underlying just a few words in a verse of Scripture and this is what I have underlined in verse five of Genesis chapter 6 and God saw.
And God saw, what did he see?
That wickedness, the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart, while we know that judgment came in. And so the flood came upon the earth, and Noah feared God. It says, you know, but Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord, and then, you know, after the flood we have.
A picture given to us here in chapter 10 of the nations. It says in chapter 10 verse one. Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem and Ham and Japheth.
And unto them were sons born after the flood. And then we have a whole list of the generations. Brother told me not too long ago that he believed there were 153 nations, 153 lines of the families of the earth that are really come spring forth from, uh, that, uh, beginning in Genesis, you know, I believe it's 16156 years, uh, after the, uh.
Creation of the world and the flood came upon this world and there was judgment. And then 300 years later we read about this occurrence in Chapter 11 and how or chapter 12 and verse one and how Abram had been called of God. And I believe there's a little picture here, brethren, and that is this, that the whole thing would have all happened all over again. God would have come down as it were. It would have seen the evil.
And man's heart hadn't changed, and the whole thing would have taken place again, except maybe not a flood, but some other form of judgment. And we read in the Book of Revelation the judgment that's going to come upon this world because of its rejection of Christ and because of its rejection of the Word of God and the principles of righteousness. And so God in divine intervention called Noah or called Abram.
And so he says here in chapter one, in chapter 12.
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And verse one, the Lord had said unto Abram, the Lord who is this, that had sought to have divine intervention in the course of man, in the course of the history of men, so that things wouldn't go the same way, so that the heart of man would be restrained and that there would be fruit for God. Who was it? It was the Lord Jesus. You know what says it's the same person that's referred to in Revelation chapter 2? I believe it is.
No, it's chapter one and verse four, it's Jehovah God. It says here in John or Revelation chapter one and verse 4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you, and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come, that eternal one, that ever self existent one, the Lord Jesus, He's the one that intervened. He's the one that created man.
Placed him in the garden, that he might have fellowship with him, and sin came in and ruined that communion.
And he wanted to have that fellowship with his creature man. And here he intervention speaks to Noah. The Lord said unto Abram. And so you know, the first thing that I want to point out is that God.
Has said to Abram here he gave him some instructions, some new instructions, a new word God had spoken and so God has spoken in son. It says in Hebrews chapter one and God has spoken to you and I. What does he use in the word of in our lives to speak to us? It is the word of God.
It is the word of God that he uses and Noah or Abram here didn't have a Bible, didn't have a written word of God. It says unto them were delivered the oracles of God. And so Abram the Lord intervened and he spoke to Abram there. He spoke to him in ur of the Chaldees and ur means a light and Chaldeans has something to do with the meaning of occult or spiritism. And so here he dwelt in a place that was characterized by.
A false light and spiritism, Occultism. And it was.
Really a place of civilization, the highest civilization perhaps at the time that Abram lived, and he was living in a place of comfort and ease and luxury, you might say, in a city.
In a city, you know, they I looked up the meaning of a city in Webb's jurisdiction area once, and I don't know if I've got it exactly right, but something like this. The city is a group of individuals living in a community for mutual fellowship and protection.
That's what it is, a group of individuals living in a community for mutual fellowship.
And protection. And so these men had banded together and built homes and so on, and built a civilization that they might live in a place in Irv, the Chaldees.
Characterized by the wickedness of this world. And God in His sovereignty intervened and called out one man, Abram, and he gave him instructions. The Lord spoke to him. He spoke to him directly, and he gave him this instruction. Get the out from thy country. Get thee out from thy country. And why did he say get thee out of thy country? It was because you know there was a nation there that wasn't.
Walking in righteousness, it wasn't characteristic of God's holiness. And he was being called out of that wicked scene to walk in a holy path, a holy place with God. He was being called out that there might be that companion. He might be a companion with the Lord. You know, I'll just give you a little illustration of this and we know we could. We'll read perhaps in Hebrews Chapter 11. Maybe we should do that before we go further.
Hebrews, Chapter 11.
And, umm.
Verse 8.
By faith, Abram Abraham, when he was called out to go into a place.
Which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whether whether he went by faith. He sojourned in the land of promise, as in as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob.
The heirs with him of the same promise, for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
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Through faith, Sarah, also Sarah herself received strength to concede, conceive, seed. And then in verse, uh, chapter, uh, same Chapter 11, here in verse, uh, just at the end of, uh, well, let's read verse 13. These all died in faith, having not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
For they that say such thing declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country that is in heavenly, wherefore God is not called, and they're not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared them for them a city. Well, I just read this, you know, in verse 15, it says truly they if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out.
They might have had opportunity to have returned, but you know, Abraham never returned to that country that he left. He never returned to that city. He never returned to that place when I was, uh, in business. I'll give you this little illustration, a feeble illustration from my own life. But in 1997, we sold our business in Hammer Bay and umm, we moved to Detroit, MI.
Area and left behind the nation of Canada.
Went to the US, bought another home, furnished that home, lived there in Detroit for four years and then moved another place to Cuyahoga Falls, OH, area. Lived there for six years. And, you know, I thought of this scripture in connection with Abraham, that he would have had opportunity to have returned at some point if he'd been mindful of that country. And I want to say this, that Janet and I and our family often return to Canada, often returned to Hammer Bay because we did something that Abraham didn't do.
We kept our home there. We kept a little home in Hammer Bay, and it was a tie there and it always was home, as it were. And there was just that pull back home to the family, into that place. But you know what God had said to Abram here? He'd given him instructions, a new instruction to the man of faith. Get the out of thy country. And that is that God was going to form a new nation.
And so Abram was going to have to leave that place and he didn't have any more ties there, it says.
In Hebrews Chapter 11 That he left that country, he abandoned every prospect that he had in ur of the Chaldeans. And I just asked you this. It searches my own conscience. Have we in our hearts not only left this world, but we have we forsaken in our hearts forsaken?
Abandoned every prospect that this world has, every prospect that this world has for wealth and for all of the things that it goes on with in opposition to God himself. Have we abandoned every aspect of this world in our own hearts and gone out. Well, this is what Abram was called to do. And then it says from thy kindred. And so there was going to be a new family. He was going to have to have the he was going to be the father.
Of a family of faith. And so he was going to leave the natural family that he had.
You know, I just desire to turn to, I think it's Matthew chapter 10 there and justice give a little verse of Scripture that gives us encouragement to do the same thing ourselves.
Matthew, Chapter 10.
And verse 37.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of Maine.
And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of Maine. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me is not worthy of Maine.
He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake.
Shall find it. Well, the Lord Jesus spoke those words, and he was speaking to us as well.
He, that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of Maine. And so in the path of faith, Abram was called and he had to leave those natural relationships. And so that's the third thing that he had to leave. And then it says really from his relatives there, and then from my father's house, it speaks of a new authority. And so when a man takes a wife and forms a new household, there's a new authority, there's a new home set up, and he becomes the head or the authority in that home, and he's responsible for what goes on in that home.
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Abram was called to go to leave his father's authority in the father's realm.
As it were, and to go and to a land that I will show thee. And then it says sevenfold promise that God makes to him in verse two. I will make of thee a great nation. I will bless thee, will make thy name great. Thou shalt be a blessing. I will bless them that bless thee. Curse him that curseth thee. And then the 7th one is in thee. Shall all the families of the earth be blessed? And so it speaks of Christ himself coming into this world, being at the seed of Abraham.
The seed of faith, and it says in verse four, So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him. You know, God had said a lot of things to Abram and he really painted a little, uh, picture here. A promise was given to Abram and Abram was going to leave versus one and two ER of the Chaldeans, that which he could see with his eyes, that which he enjoyed naturally speaking in the land of ER and what was he going to leave?
Ur of the calories with who's going to leave and the only thing he was going to bring with him was the word of God.
The promise of God, the word that's all he had was a promise. He left that country. He never ever went back to that country. He laughed and he went part way. He went to Haran and perhaps were given the little indication here in verse 32 That Tyra wasn't in was his father. His natural father was a hindrance in the path. And so the days of terror were 205 years and Tyra died inherent and then Abram walks and acts upon what God had told him. But you know he left ur the Chaldees. The only thing he had.
With the Word and the promise of God.
And if you and I are going to walk in the path of faith, we're going to have to lay hold upon, by faith upon the word of God. And we're going to have to take that word and believe it that it is the truth of God and that it is direction for our path. That it is something that we can lay hold of. And that's solid. And that all of the wisdom of the natural man that's found in this scene, that's characteristic of UR, the Chaldees.
Is not to be dependent on and so it says he departed as the Lord had spoken unto him and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. So there was a new course for Abraham for Abram. It says in verse 4A new course and it was a course of obedience. You know, I want to just point out that there were.
I believe Abraham or Abram is Abram means of umm, an exalted father. But uh, Abraham, we find his name has changed a little bit later on in chapter 17 and verse five, it says thy name shall be Abraham. For a father of many nations have I made thee, and I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee in king shall come out of thee. While Abraham got a new name. It means the father of many nations.
And it's denoted a new authority in his life and a new beginning, a new beginning in his life because he laid hold upon the promises of God. And it says here in chapter 15 and verse six, I'm just going to mention a couple of verses of Scripture here. It says he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness. While I was going to say is this that Abram is the only man I believe in Scripture in the Old Testament that is called.
The friend of God, the friend of God and why is it because he obeyed the word of God. His life was characterized by obedience. His life was not characterized by questioning the word of God. He did have the conversation. You know it says in you, you find him interceding for the for a lot and those that were righteous in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah there or Sodom you find.
Abraham interceding there for the people of faith.
But you know, he was called the friend of God. I just want to turn to those passages of Scripture in this, in the Word of God that call Abraham the friend of God. Second Chronicles, chapter 20.
10 verse 7.
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Second Chronicles 20 and verse 7. Art not thou our God, who did drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gave us it to thy, to the seed of Abraham, thy friend forever, Abraham, thy friend forever. The land was given to Abraham, and to those that would come after him to his seed. Isaiah chapter 40.
And verse 8 But thou, Israel, art my servant Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend, thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant. I have chosen thee and not cast thee away. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yeah, I will help thee. Yeah, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
And then in James chapter 2.
Verse 23 The scripture was fulfilled with saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. And then just one other scripture in John's Gospel chapter 15.
In verse 13.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends.
If you do whatsoever I command you, henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends.
For all things that I have heard of my father I have made known unto you. Well, you know, I find this a very real encouragement that God speaks of Abraham and records in his own word that Abraham was his friend, and he records it.
Three times.
God valued the fact that Abraham he could speak to Abraham, and Abraham took him at His word. He believed and he acted upon faith, and he left what was going to satisfy him in a natural sense, but in the grace of God and His sovereignty He called Abram, and he departed. He left what he felt was what was what was naturally appealing to him, and he left, and he went into a land not knowing whither.
He whatever he went and then it says lot went with him. So I just wonder, you know, many of us here have grew up in Christian homes. Perhaps you're a young person sitting here in this room this afternoon and your parents heard the call of God.
They heard the direction that they should not put sync all of their lives into IRV, the Chaldeans. They sought not to make the education of this world.
And all of the prospects that this world offers them, they sought not to make that their objective in life.
And they sought to make the Lord their objective. They sought to place value upon the word of God. They sought to walk in obedience to the truth of God. They sought to bring you into the assembly where you might sit under the sound of the truth of God. Possess this is solemn. It says lot went with him. And so you might have come along for the ride, so to speak. You might have come into the assembly, come with your parents to the assembly meetings and come even to this address.
But you know there isn't that spiritual exercise yourself. And so it's solemn that law. It just says law went with him 4 words went with that man of faith, Abram, and he was 75 years old and he departed out of Haran. And then it says a little bit further on that in verse six that Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sychem under the plain of Mori in the Canaanite was.
There in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, unto thy seed, will I give this land, and there build it he and altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the West, and hey, I on the east. And there he builded an altar under the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. Well, you know, in the in the life of Abram there was a step, there was a call, there was instruction given to him of God.
And he had to act upon that instruction and he wasn't going to get any more instruction from God, as it were. There wasn't going to be a following through. If he wasn't going to follow through in responsibility, then he wasn't going to get more light. He was going wasn't going to get more instruction. And you know, I started out this afternoon by saying that this book is not a book of divine suggestions. It's a book that's written from the heart of God himself for you.
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To give Devi divine direction, holy words that will give life and lead in the path of life. And God has given you light. The word of God has been read in your home assembly. It's been read in your homes.
And God is not going to give you light.
If you don't, obey and walk in the path of faith in what you know.
There's, it's a solemn thing not to walk in obedience to the truth of God and not to walk in affection for the word of God, to walk in faith with the Lord. And so it says here that the Lord appeared unto Abram. You know, I think it's seven times that the Lord appeared to Abram, 7 times. And he got new light, new instructions every time that the Lord appeared to him.
And the Lord desires to manifest himself to you. He desires your friendship, your companionship. And when we were by nature and by practice far from God, why, that's when the Lord looked down upon us. And when we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. And so he intervened in his wisdom and according to his mind, that there might be fruit for himself in your life. And he appeared. Perhaps he's given you instruction.
Here Abram gets S some more instructions, some more light. Until thy seed will I give this land. And there bill that he and altar unto the Lord, who had appeared unto him. And so Abram became a worshipper. I want to ask you this afternoon, are you a worshipper? You know it's a wonderful thing to come into the presence of the Lord. We come to remember him in the circumstances of his death, when we come on the Lord's Day morning, and we come in the table, is there the cup?
In the loaf. And what a reminder it is of the cost of our redemption.
You know, a brother mentioned this morning in the Reading meeting that there were two cups. There was a cup really in connection with the Passover and then there was the cup in connection with the remembrance of the Lord. And those two cups are mentioned in the upper room. And then there's 1/3 cup that was mentioned in, uh, Luke really it's, and perhaps in Matthew. Father, if it be, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but fine be done. And that's the cup of judgment.
That was poured out upon the Lord. He drank every drop of the judgment of the righteous God, holy God, against sin, that your sin might be put away. But you know, I just ask you this, are you a worshipper? Are you a worshiper? When you come into the presence of the Lord on the Lord's Day morning, is it a wonderful thing to come and to sit in His presence? And is there a worship that flows forth? Have you been occupied with Christ during the week? I ask myself that so often. You know, I need to be occupied with Christ and reading His words.
Being going, I need to go to all of the assembly meetings that I can possibly get to that when it comes time to be in the presence of the Lord to remember him in the circumstances of his death that the worship is there that just flows forth. You know what worship is. It's the overflow of a heart filled with Christ, the overflow of a heart that's just filled with Christ. And so you know what happened to Abram here is that there was worship. There was an altar. He built an altar and then he dwelt between Bethel means the the House of God.
And I believe, hey, I means that a heap of ruins. And so there he is in the land, there in Bethel, in the promised land that he would receive in a future day, His seed would receive. And there he dwelt. And he was a worshipper, and he called upon the name of the Lord. It's a wonderful thing to come into the presence of the Lord and to be a worshiper. You know, I never remembered the Lord Jesus and his death until I was perhaps I think it was 1415 years old.
And, umm, one of the things that exercise my heart, my conscience.
Was this that I thought, you know, if the Lord comes and I haven't remembered?
Him and his death, if I hadn't remembered the Lord Jesus and his death and I come and I'm there, perhaps at the judgment seat of Christ and he says, why didn't you Remember Me? I couldn't say that I didn't know. I couldn't say that I didn't have time. I could perhaps say that I didn't have the heart. I didn't have I had some other objects before my heart. But you know, it's nice here that Abram in connection with Abram, he's mentioned here as being a man that was characterized by worship.
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But then in verse 10 it says there was a famine in the land and Abram went down into Egypt a soldier and there.
Well, he had begun in a path of faith. He'd been called out of Ur, the Chaldees, and he'd left that land.
And at 75 years old, and he'd begun in the path of faith.
He had the word of God, He left, and that's all he had is the word of God. And then he came into the land. He became a worshipper. And then there was a test. There was a famine. And God is going to test your faith and mine. He's going to test it. There's going to be a famine. Perhaps there's going to be a famine in business. Perhaps there's going to be a famine in the family. Perhaps they're going to be a famine in the assembly. And you don't find Abraham here calling upon the name of the Lord and crying for help and for sustenance.
There he was a man of dependence upon God. We learned that a little bit later on. But you know, he, the Lord, as it were, allowed him to go down into Egypt to learn his own weakness, to learn that he wasn't sufficient to.
Escape that famine. And so he went down in the natural wisdom, and he went down into Egypt. And we read of how he denied his wife and so on. And then in verse 20 of this chapter 12, Pharaoh commanded him, his men concerning him, that they sent him away and his wife and all that he had.
And then we find here in UMM. I just want to read in UMM.
Chapter 13. Verse 10. 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 and land, Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves, the one from the other. And then in verse 14, the Lord said unto Abraham, Abraham.
After the lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward and southward, and eastward and westward, for all the land that thou seest. To thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land and the length of it, and the breath of it, for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent.
And came and dwelt in the plain of Mammary, which is in Hebron, and.
Built an altar unto the Lord. Well, you know, the Lord has said to Abram to remove himself from ur, the Chaldees. Then we find that he went into Egypt. He was tested there. And we know that the flesh is weak, the flesh profiteth nothing. And if you and I seek to escape the famine in our own natural intelligence, there isn't going to be that fruit for God in our lives. There is going to be sorrow. And so we need to submit to the famine. We need to submit to what God allows in our land, in our lives.
Personally, individually, we need to submit to the famine that the Lord might allow in the assembly into our homes, whatever sphere it is. We need to submit to that discipline as it were. Well, Abram, he went down into Egypt. Then we find here it's often being stated that Lot perhaps had a saw something in Egypt that appealed to him and he lifted up his eyes in verse 10 and he saw.
Something and his feet followed. You know, I would just want to make this comment that in the 119th Psalm.
The Lord mentions the harp 14 times. I believe it's 14 times. Maybe someone can count them up. And umm, but I've counted it up in the 119th Psalm and the Word of God, the commandments, the testimonies, all those things. He mentions the heart 14 times. And that is because I believe 2 * 7 two times, completeness, if you will, that were to have an affection for the Word of God and for the truth of God and.
What a what Lot saw, he lifted up his eyes. He saw something of this world that he wanted. And instead of judging himself, instead of judging that desire, instead of realizing that he had perhaps just come along for the ride with Abram, he saw something and he went after it. And his heart, his feet soon followed what his heart wanted and what his eyes had seen. And so, you know, the psalmist could say, I've set before me no evil thing.
And so he saw this even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. And he went down into that place, and then he dwelt there. And then the Lord appeared to Abram said, I'm going to give you something that is better than Sodom.
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Do you believe the word of God?
Do you believe the word of God? Do you believe that? Umm.
We're going to have a heavenly portion in Christ.
So we're going to leave this sin filled world behind, everything in it, and it's going to be judged, burned up, every bit of it, everything that man has created to enjoy and to try to escape the consequences of sin and to live in a state of alienation with God. You believe God, do you believe that he's going to destroy this scene? You know?
I say this to myself.
If I really believed that God was going to destroy all of this scene, I might be living differently than what I live.
Today I might be living differently. I might be living with much more of a heart for the Lord.
Well, Sodom was there before Lot. Abram was given a promise from God.
And it broke his heart. I believe he was a broken hearted man, Abram, as he saw a Lot leave and go towards that place because he knew what the end of the pathway was going to be. He knew in a sense what Lot was going towards. And it wasn't going to be for blessing, for his own blessing. And it was going to end in ruin.
You know, the word of God gives us wisdom, gives us light, and it gives us the end of the path. Let's just turn to, uh, the Psalm, Psalm 119.
Verse 105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light under my path. And so there's a lamp given, and a light. A lamp gives us light for one step at a time, and the light gives us a path that shows us where the path ends. And so the word of God shows us where the course.
Ends the course of this world well sodom is a picture of this world and its moral corruption and that's what lot went to live there and it says here let's just turn over to.
Let's read verse chapter 14 and verse 13.
Genesis 14, verse 13 There came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew, For he dwelt in the plain of Mammary the Amorite, brother of Eschol, the brother of Anor. These were confederate with Abram. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants born in his own house, 318 and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hoba, which is on the left hand of Damascus, and he brought back.
All the goods and also abroad again his brother lot and his goods.
And the women also, and the people, and the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Kedar Laomer, and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Sheva, which is the Kingsdale. And Melchizedek the king of Salem brought forth bread and wine, and he was priest of the Most High God. And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and he blessed and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.
And he gave him tithes of all. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said unto the king of Sodom, I have lift up my hand unto the Lord, the most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take.
From a thread, even through a shoe latchet. And that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldst say I have made Abram rich, save only that which the young men have eaten. And the portion of the men which went with me, Einar, Escoll, and Mamrie, let them take their portion. Well, you know Lot went into Sodom. We know the story well. But who was it that had the moral courage, the moral strength to go in and to deliver law when he was taken captive here by these kings, you know?
There was that moral corruption and Lot was sent a warning. God allowed that Lot would be taken among those captives. Lot and his family in all of his possessions were taken. It's a picture to us that this world and all that it has is going to be brought under judgment and none of it is going to escape. But you know, it says in Revelation, it says come out from among her, my people, and be not partaker of her sins.
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Thank you be not judged with her and so you know that's a picture of the.
Professing Christianity, Christianity perhaps the Roman Catholic system itself in the coming day. And God speaks to his people and says come out from among them. And here Abraham had the moral courage to go and to deliver his brother says, and to take all of his goods. And then Melchizedek met met Abram, king of righteousness is what his name means, and he was the king of Salem means king of peace.
And God wants his people to have peace. And we know here that this is a picture here of Sodom. And the king of Sodom came out to meet Abram. And the king of Sodom wanted the souls of the men, but he didn't want the goods. He said, Abram, you take the goods of this world, you take this goods of Sodom and give me the souls. And the enemy of our souls wants to.
Take that which is precious to God himself, the very souls of our, our, umm, our spiritual life and to destroy them. You know, I just, uh, want to mention here in Revelation chapter 20, oftentimes we think that we, we don't think seriously about the enemy that we have in Revelation chapter 20 and verse 2.
It says he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and bound him 1000 years.
And so in the coming day, the enemy of our souls, the one that wants the souls but doesn't want the goods, is going to be destroyed. He's going to be taken, I should say, and cast into the bottomless pit. Here it says in chapter 20 and verse two that he's going to be bound for 1000 years and then he's going to be loose for a little while. But it speaks to him and speaks of him in four characteristics. One is that he's a dragon and that is he's a destroyer. He destroys, he doesn't know how to create, He's not a creator. We know the creator God, it's the Lord Jesus himself.
But Satan is a destroyer, and he wanted to destroy Lot's life, and he wants to destroy your life and mine. He doesn't care how he does it. He just wants to destroy. And the word of God, every word of God is pure, and he tells us what his tactics are. He wants to destroy. And then it says here that the old serpent speaks of him in the characteristic of being subtle and the deceiver. And that's Genesis chapter 3.
And then it speaks to him, speaks of him as the devil. His character is a tempter. And so he wants to tempt us to walk in the course and the paths of disobedience to the word of God. And then it speaks of them too as Satan, and that's really in his character as a dragon. Well, you know, we find here in Genesis chapter 14 how Abram wanted what the Lord would provide. And he says to the king of Sodom, I have lift up my hand unto the Lord.
The Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth, and he wanted what God had.
He wanted the provision of the Lord himself. He had learned to trust the Lord. He learned that the provision of God himself was far better than what Sodom had, what ur the Chaldees had. And he valued the word of God. He valued the friendship of God. He valued the communion with his God. He valued what it was to be a worshipper. And he desired to walk in communion with the Lord. And so when he had a need now.
Instead of going down into Egypt, he lift up his hand that says, under the Most High God unto the Lord, the most High God the possessor.
Of heaven and earth, and he sought to receive what he needed from God himself.
Well, let's sing #180.
#180.