Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world.
So that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in the United States. The friend read our passage that we're going to jump into today. I am aware of the time. It's 1052, but I do have a word from the Lord this morning, and I do feel this is the most important thing in a church service.
But I am also a preacher that's always mindful of your time. And so we're not going to waste a lot of time. We're going to get right to the meat of the matter. Our subject today is literally right from the Bible, which it is a lot. I like to use something directly from God's word, but this is something that God said about Abraham, and he said, for I know.
him. What Brother Frank just read is an interesting thing. I don't know if you've ever paid a lot of attention to this particular passage, what went on, but I think it's very interesting. Abraham one day was visited by three men.
Now, the Bible says that Abraham saw these three men and he ran to greet them. And when he got to them, he bowed down in front of them. That was not normal protocol. In Bible days, if someone was approaching, you would stand out in front of your dwelling and you would wait on them to get to you. That's what made it very interesting with the prodigal son.
The dad ran to meet him. Aren't you glad we have a Savior that came to us when we could not come to Him? But Abraham obviously runs to these three gentlemen and he gets down on his knees, bows down before him, and he wants to show great hospitality. And verses 1 and 2 says that obviously that here they are in the plains of Mamre. And so here's Abraham, here's Sarah.
They don't have a child yet or anything of this nature. And these three visitors are getting ready to change their lives. What's interesting is they come, Abraham runs out, greets them, says, listen, listen, stay, we'll get you some water, get your feet washed, and just come in and we want to show hospitality to you. And so the three men agree. And so they come in, and Abraham rushes into Sarah and he says, make some bread, fast.
He says, get some dough, knead it. It's amazing. He told her exactly, he said, get some meal, make some dough, knead it, make some bread. Apparently, she didn't know how to make bread, so he's going through the whole thing trying to tell her how to do it. And throw in a pinch of salt here or there, whatever, make sure the oven's at 350, whatever he had to do.
I mean, I understand what it's like to have to explain to a wife how to make the food. And so I understand my, I certainly. Don't throw that thing at me. Don't you dare do it. That is a joke.
It is a bad joke, but it was a good joke. I enjoyed it. And I do not have any idea what that's like. I'm picking. But he comes in and he tells Aaron, then Abraham goes and he runs and he finds a calf and he's going to kill this calf and his servants dress it really quickly.
He's trying to make a meal fast. He wants to show great hospitality to these three men.
Now you say, What's interesting, what is so special about these three men?
Well, Genesis chapter 18 verse 1. tells us that it was the Lord. Yahweh who appeared to Abraham.
Now that that's interesting because what it means is that this is one of two things. Either this was God who appeared to Abraham in flesh. That is what we call a theophany. That is when God in the Old Testament would appear in physical form to an individual.
Now, God would never, at those times that he did, didn't show his full glory. If you remember, obviously, we're not going to go through the whole thing with Moses, and he had to hide in the cleft of the rock, and God said, I'm going to let my glory pass by. I mean, for the first time, really, I'm going to let my glory pass by. But Moses, if you see it, you'd die instantly. That's how powerful our God is.
So God had to hide Moses in a rock, in the cleft of a rock. And God said, I'm not going to let all my glory pass by. I'm just going to let the last little bits of my glory pass by. And that was so powerful that Moses, the Bible said, when he came down off the mountain, his face glowed. It was so supernatural that when he came down off the mountain, everybody could tell he had been with God just from the effects of that little bit of God's glory.
But when God would appear before individuals in a physical form in the Old Testament, it would be a Theophany, but we believe also that Jesus Christ appeared in physical form in the Old Testament. That's what's called a Christophany.
Now, what we don't know here. If this was God the Father, if this was Jesus, we don't know if it was a Theophany or a Christophany, but what we do know is that it was God. And here's what's interesting: Abraham somehow immediately knew from a distance. who he was. Because the Bible says he broke protocol.
If he didn't know who these three men were, he would have stayed at his tent. He would have waited on them to approach. But the fact that he ran and bowed before them means that Abraham knew. that this was God.
Now, what's interesting, this is not the first time. That Abraham had had an encounter with God. In fact, in Genesis 12, He dealt with this and had this same experience when God first called him. Then, when Abraham parted ways with Lot in Genesis 13. God appeared to Abraham.
Then in Genesis chapter 14, possibly when Abraham met Melchizedek, God appeared in form there. Then in Genesis chapter 15, when God made a covenant with Abraham, He appeared before him. And when God restated his covenant in Genesis 17, God appeared before Abraham again. What's interesting, these three visitors. would tell Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah were going to be judged.
But what's also interesting is that during this encounter is when God Himself, be it through Jesus Christ, be it through God the Father. Be it through a Theophany or a Christophany, he told. Abraham that Sarah would become pregnant with a child. And at her age, the Bible says that Sarah heard this. And imagine God himself is telling you this is going to happen, and she laughed.
And God said, why is she laughing? In this story, you read the entire chapter. Why is she laughing? And Abraham said, Well, he starts making excuses. And what it was is she thought, Listen, I'm past that time of life.
I can't have a child. This is absolutely ridiculous. And that's where we get the verse, is anything? Too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for God?
And by the way, what we experienced last night, yesterday, and these last few months, and all the stuff with Israel, and all these different years, this all culminates from right here, where Abraham did not believe the promises of God. And Sarah laughed at that, and they took matters into their own hands to find an heir. And then Sarah was able to become pregnant and actually have a child. And the fight between those two heirs are what we are dealing with today. In the middle of all this, here's what we believe are two angels.
And Either a Theophany or a Christophany. An appearance of God or an appearance of Jesus Christ and two angels. We believe these two angels were also the ones that went to Sodom and Gomorrah for judgment. After this, and they're here to tell Abraham what he did. But here's what's interesting: I want to catch up the story because what we're going to talk about today briefly, you've got to understand the whole context.
Now, May I say this, that Abraham was sitting here dealing with God and with angels.
Now you would ask me this, do we deal with angels today? Yes, we do. You say, well, when and where are they? I don't know. Let me remind you of a.
I know one thing, I'm not one. That's all I know. Let me show you this verse to remind you about this verse, Hebrews chapter 13, verse 1. Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful.
To entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels. Unawares. You say, Preacher, do you believe that there are times in our life where we possibly could be an angel in physical form that we, yes. I absolutely do believe that. That is why.
You and I should be very careful. to always treat people the way Christ would treat people. Because you never know who you might be talking to. And I'll leave it at that. I want you to notice in Genesis chapter 18, verse 16, as we pick up the story where Brother Frank left, you've got to understand all this that's going on.
Abraham and Sarah, now they got these three guests, and they know that one is God Himself, and now He's told this promise and all these things. Look at verse 16. And the men arose from thence. and looked toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them.
To bring them on the way.
Now, look at verse 17. And the Lord said, Shall I hide From Abraham. That thing which I do.
Now that's an interesting statement. God says, you know Do I need to just keep it from him or Should I go ahead and tell him my mind? Should I go ahead and tell him? My plans. Should I go ahead and tell him?
What I'm going to do.
Now look at verse 17. Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Look at verse 18, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? Look at verse 19. For I know him.
That he will command his children and 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 hath spoken of him. God was getting ready to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham's nephew Lot was there. God is literally saying.
That I believe I can trust. Abraham enough. To let him know what I'm going to do, and when I let him know what my plans are, when I let him know what I'm up to, when I let him know what I'm going to do, I trust him that that's not going to change one thing about Abraham. I believe and I know him, God says. And I believe that I can trust him.
by sharing this with him.
Now this is one of the Most glowing reviews in scripture. That God has ever given anybody.
Now, might I remind you: was Abraham perfect? Absolutely not. I mean, we have thousands dying in the Middle East still because of Abraham's lack of faith. But just because a person does wrong doesn't mean that God knows the heart. And may I say something?
Often in the Bible, the Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart. I've heard people say, well, why in the world would God say that? Look what David did. Listen to me, the Bible says we're all flesh. We're all dust.
And by the way, in the midst of our failures and our faults, God also sees the good. God knows your strengths, and God knows the real you. It doesn't mean that you're not going to blow it sometimes, and you're not going to make a mistake sometimes. But by the way, that's not surprising to God because He knows you. God here literally says, you know what?
Should I hide it from him? Listen, I could probably share this with him because he's going to be blessed. There's going to be a great nation. And I know him, he says. And God literally gives some points here why he can trust Abraham.
And that's all I want to share with you today. I would ask you this question. Can God trust you? Viewer Trying to get a job, could you put God down as a reference? May I ask you something?
If God told you the future, Would you still keep doing what's right?
Now you say, well, it seems like a little bit of a scenario, preacher.
Well, no, let me tell you how the passage hit me. God set me down and said, Listen, Daniel, you're going to have a child. And this is the health stuff he's going to face. his entire life. Would that have changed anything?
When I've been mad at God. Would I have still wanted to keep pastoring at church? I don't know. May I ask you something I don't know about you? I'm glad I don't know the future.
Because if I knew it, I don't know if I could trust what I would do. In fact, half of us wouldn't do what we do if we knew the future because we would feel like it wouldn't be worth living it. Could God trust the fact that if he told you something and it wasn't what you wanted to hear and it wasn't the best of news, and guess what? It wasn't. Abraham's family was there.
He had connections there. Can God trust you enough that if he did tell you what he was up to, it wouldn't change you? Because your character Has been set. I want you to notice a couple things. I thought this was very interesting as I began to look at this.
Notice, number one, I want you to see in verse 19: God knew Abraham. He said in verse 19, 4, I know him. God said, You know, I think I can trust Abraham, and I'll tell you why, because I know him. Can I remind you of something today? God knows you.
Well, that was three of us. Can I remind you of something today to the rest of you? God knows you.
Your husband or your wife might not even really know you like they think they do. There might be a whole church full of people that don't really know you. There might be coworkers that know some things about you, but they don't really know you. But I want to remind you today: God knows you. God knows your heart.
God knows your mind. He knows your habits. He knows your strengths. He knows your weaknesses. God knows you.
You see, you and I, there ought to be this motivation not to impress people, not to arrange circumstances so we always put on a show to make people kind of think highly about us. You and I need to remember God's the one that knows the real us. And if you and I live every day with knowing God knows me, that's going to change us. It's going to change my decisions. It's going to change my actions.
It's going to change my attitude. It's going to change my spirit to remember that God knows me. Can I tell you something? God knows Daniel Hawtry, and that scares me half to death. How disappointed he must be.
I want you to notice secondly here. God says, I can trust Abraham, and here's why. First, I know him. Notice secondly here, God knew Abraham would lead. and not follow.
Now look at verse 19. He says, For I know him that he will command his children. and his household after him. Say, okay, you're just saying, preaching, I know he's going to raise his kids right. No, no, no, this goes further than that.
God said, Here's what I know about Abraham, because his family is even involved in Sodom and Gomorrah. But I believe with all my heart that I can tell Abraham my plans, and that's not going to change the fact that he is going to continue to lead, not follow. And may I say this: that God knew that Abraham would command his children and command his household. God trusted that Abraham would do the leading. Abraham would not be the one that would follow everyone else.
Abraham would be the guy that would lead the right way even if nobody else was going that way. Abraham would tell the children what to do, not let the children tell him what to do. Can I have an amen right there? We have a generation of people that are letting the children change them. They used to believe such and such, but well, my kids now.
They got into this, and kids have a way when they get older to make mom and dad look like old fogies, you know.
Well, you're just stuck back in the thing, and you're not up with the times, and you're not this, and you're not that. Let me tell you something, teenagers, you better be careful of that, because that's going to be happening to you one day. You're gonna have kids in your house, and they're gonna treat you the way you're treating your parents. And when it happens, I'm glad. Listen, I've been around a generation of preachers that used to believe one way, but they're kids.
Change them. And I'm not just talking about kids here. You see, God knew that Abraham was not the kind of guy that was going to be led around by what everybody else was doing. When God said, I know that he's going to lead his household, he's going to lead his children, what that means is this: he's a leader, not a follower. And I'm going to tell you what God looking at.
Can God trust you? And let me tell you something. One of the ways God can trust you is if you're a leader, not a follower. If you're walking around through life following what everybody else is doing, following this culture, following trends, following all this stuff, can I tell you something? God's not going to consider us trustworthy.
And God help us to be a church. that leads, not follows.
Now that's that's five of us. We went from three to five and I'm thankful for that. But may I'm gonna say this again. May we be the kind of church that is the kind of church that leads not follows. We don't literally turn on the news every week and find out what we need to be as a church.
And we don't find the local trend to find out what's popular now and what's bringing in the crowds. Listen, God said, I know one thing about Abraham. If his kids want to do something, that's not going to change him. He's going to tell them how things need to be.
Now, the kids might not end up growing up doing it, but it doesn't change the fact that Abraham knows it's the truth and he's still going to tell them the truth. Frank and I were eating this week. I thought it was good. By the way, Lloyd's not here, are you? If you're here, Lloyd, where's your hand?
I just want to check, make sure Lloyd's not here. I got nothing good to say about Lloyd, but we were eating at a local restaurant. And this man works at a restaurant. Kind of, it's a little bit like a fast food type of place. He works there and was doing trays and stuff.
Frank had a logo thing on from our church. And the guy came up and he said, oh, he says, I go to that church sometimes. And Frank said, what do you do? He said, yeah, maybe two, three times a month. I go to that church.
And Frank remember, well about that time I showed up. And the guy was talking to me. I had a logo shirt on, kind of a thing. And he says, I was just telling him I go to that church two or three times. I said, well, it's a good church.
I said, except for the pastor. I said, he's kind of a jerk sometimes. I said, to be honest with you, I said, but I found in my life you can't, you know, find everything perfect. And the guy looks at me and he kind of says, You're him, aren't you? And I said, yeah, I told you I was a jerk, so, you know, kind of a thing.
And we were talking to this guy. He said, No, he said, I like coming to your church. He says, You tell the truth. He said, I'm going to tell you, there's a lot of churches around here. He said, I don't go to 'em.
He said, They try to make you feel all comfortable and all this and that. And he said, I'm going to tell you, I like your music too. He said, You go to some churches like going to an ACDC concert. I didn't say that. But I like this guy.
He says, yeah. He says, you know, you preach the Bible. He said, you go to guys, they don't talk about the Bible, he said, you preach the truth of that place. I said, well, man, we appreciate you visiting, Lloyd, and thanks for coming. I hope you come back.
He said, well, you guys have a blessed day. About five minutes later, here comes Lloyd again. We're talking more stuff. He's talking about this and that kind of a thing. And may I say this, folks?
Listen. Let's remember this. The truth still works. The truth still works. And I told Lord, I said, Lord, I found out, I just learned, I'm just going to preach the Word of God and let God do with it what He's going to do.
Here's what's interesting. Can God trust you? Okay, here's one of the best ways to find out. Are you constantly changing what you think or believe, or all this? Because, well, there's a whole group over here that feels this.
And, well, they said this.
Well, you know, I don't want to feel like I'm out. You know, I'm kind of stuck old-fashioned over here. Can I tell you something? We need a generation, and we've lost this and generations slowly. And I'm not a chauvinist or anything of that nature, but can I tell you something?
We need men to be men nowadays. And we need boys to grow up to be men. I don't know what's happening. to our children. You're just like, I mean, we're a bunch of pussy-footing, you know, walk around and we're just wimpy and all this stuff.
Men need to be men. And there's still a preacher who's going to tell you that. And God looked down at Abraham and he said, You know what? He's going to command the children what to do. And he's going to command the household what to do.
He's going to lead, not follow around. Everywhere, not be proud beat by everybody and afraid to say this and afraid to do that. And we need God's people to stand up. And instead of following everyone else and trying to be what everyone else is, God needs his people to stand up and be truthful and be honest and do what's right. Amen.
God said, I can trust Abraham first because I know him. Second, because I know he will lead. and not follow.
Notice number three, God knew Abraham. would live like he led. Look at verse 19. And they shall keep. The way of the Lord.
Not the knowledge of the Lord. The way Of the Lord. Can I be honest with you this morning? Walking with God is not a one-time decision. It's a daily walk.
We keep God's way by following his word. It's one thing to have the knowledge. It's another thing to practice the obedience. May I say something, Abraham. didn't just keep the knowledge of God.
He kept away. of God. It was part of his daily walk. Can I tell you something why we've lost a generation of people at times? It's because the people that led did not live like they led.
They said one thing from the pulpit, another thing in life. And we have a generation of kids that grew up in a home where mom and dad said one thing but did another. Mom and dad showed up at church acting one way and the kids know how they live the rest of the week. Am I right about this saying, amen? God said, You know what?
I can trust Abraham. I'll tell you why. Because I know him. And I know that he's not going to be the one. Yeah.
fit in and change like everyone else. That was That was what Lot did. Abraham is going to lead. And not only that, Abraham's going to back it up with how he lives. He's going to keep the way.
of the Lord. By the way, may I say something? Every one of us here at this church, as we go off into the community and work jobs and all these things, your boss should see you as an individual. that lives the way of the Lord. This community should see us as people that keep the way of the Lord.
That means that we act like Christians even when we're not a church. I can see this is going over like a lead balloon this morning. I don't even know what that statement means, but my dad always said that. I've never seen a lead balloon, but... It couldn't have been very popular.
May I show you this next thing? God knew Abraham would try to make the right decision. Not the easy decision. Verse 18. He said, I know him.
I know that he's going to command his household. He's going to command his children. I know he shall keep the way of the Lord, but notice this: to do justice and judgment. To do justice and judgment. What does this mean?
Justice is how we react to others. Judgment is how we react to God. It means this is your actions and your decisions. To do justice is what you do. Judgment is how you decide.
It means this: this is you're doing right because you're thinking right. When you make the right decisions, you do the right things. And God knew that if I tell Abraham what's getting ready to happen. his family. If I tell Abraham what I'm getting ready to do, it is not going to be an easy decision for him.
You know, right there, if God told you the future of something. If God said, let me tell you something, you're going to meet a person and you're going to reach out to them, you're going to try to help them, you're going to mentor them, you're going to spend time with them, you're going to try to grow them in the Lord, you're going to invite them to church, you're going to feed them at your house, you're going to take them out to eat, you're going to talk to them, give them advice. When they're hurting and they're crying, they're going to come talk to you, you're going to help them, and you're going to do all kinds of things. But I'm going to tell you what's going to end up happening after about two years, they're going to stab you in the back, they're going to criticize you, they're going to turn on you, and they're going to make up things, they're going to talk bad about you.
Now, what are you going to do? That person shows up. Are you still going to do all that? Are you going to say, uh-uh, if that's how it's going to turn out? I'm going to avoid them.
Hello, can I have an amen right here? Am I being honest? If we know this is how this is going to turn out. I'm so glad I don't know the future. It would make it really hard to pastor.
The Lord knows I struggle enough as a pastor, and I'm not the best pastor in the world and preaching the world. I know that. But I'm going to tell you something: if God told you everything that everybody's going to do wrong to you, it would make you not want to do anything for anybody. But God said, I know Abraham, if I tell him what's on my mind. he is going to be willing to make the right decision.
Not the easy decision. God give us a church. God rise up a church that is willing to make the right decision. The greatest news that anyone can receive is the news of the free gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ. It is our desire for you to know him personally, Would you take a moment to hear this today?
Every man is born with a sin nature. Romans three twenty three says For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. No matter how hard we try, we're not good enough to obtain God's glory. or to get to heaven. Because of that, sin carries the penalty of death.
Romans 6.23 says, For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life. through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of our sin, or the payment of our sin, only equals death and separation from God. But it's only through God's gift salvation through Jesus Christ that we can accept Him as our Savior.
Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt. The Bible says in Romans 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. All you have to do is receive Christ. by faith as your Saviour. Romans ten nine says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Verse 13 continues, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's as simple as admitting that you're a sinner believing that Jesus is the only way. and calling upon his name. Bible says whosoever that's anyone can call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior?
There is no greater day than today to take care of this. Would you accept Christ as your Savior? If you have any questions, please give us a call at 336-993-5192 or visit our website at Kerwin Baptist Church. Dot com. or visits that person at one of our three service times.
We hope you have a great rest of your day. God bless you. Mm-hmm.
