See the Marriage Series Description for more information on this lesson.

Introduction

Question

How do we recover from sin?

Restatement

How do we come back from sin once we’ve refused to trust God, once we’ve taken off on our own, once we’ve exposed our family to the danger and pain that sin brings, once we’ve revealed our true character and been caught in an effort to deceive or misguide others?

Illustration

Suppose you decided to go for the gold, and determined that you had to deceive to do this. Suppose you saw a tremendous opportunity to make a ton of money. The opening was there, all it required was for you to be clever and take advantage of the situation. You were committed to Christ, i.e., you believed in Him and are counting on Him for eternal life. Your faith was known and evident to your wife, and both of you were seeking to obey Him and walk by faith in Him. Then came a hard time when your security was threatened, when it looked as if all you had built up was going to be used up because of these difficult moments. The market for your previous opportunity dried up, virtually without warning. It was going well, but orders seemed to slow down, at first almost imperceptibly, and then in a big rush.

You stood on the edge of a total wipe out; your assets were melting away faster than anyone could have possibly imagined and you had to do something or all would have been lost. You had always given God the credit for your success. “I’ve been blessed” was your way of saying, ‘God has done it all for me.’” But now He didn’t seem to be doing anything to help you.

Then you had an idea.

It wasn’t that a door was opened for you; it wasn’t that you felt a leading of any kind; it wasn’t that you had really spent a huge amount of time seeking God. Of course you prayed, as you had always prayed. But you didn’t set aside some time to seek Him out, to be in the Word, to fast and pray. You had never done that before; you had never needed to do that before.

You had worked, worked hard, prayed for help in a simple sort of way, read the Bible at times, usually with the help of some devotional booklet that made more sense to you than the Bible, and went after it, using your cleverness and business smarts to make it, and make it you did. So now you sit down and look for some opportunity in the midst of this terrible biblical famine.

Up until now you had always attempted to follow God and to obey Him in all that you did. But now He wasn’t delivering, and you faced the loss of everything in the time of the greatest need in your life.Then came this opportunity. Well, it wasn’t exactly an opportunity; it was more like an idea that could be turned into an opportunity with some cleverness on your part. It was something you could do from your home even.

All you had to do was to reach out and create a new dimension to your network, a dimension of the greatest and most powerful people you could ever reach, but you could do it. You had the ability to relate to such people because you were already relating to a few of them in your current situation. But this idea would take you to the very top, in touch with the most powerful people in your world. There was just one problem: to do this you would have to deceive these people by claiming something about your credentials was true that wasn’t and you would have to involve your wife in this deception because she was essential to the accomplishing of your plan. She has great social skills, makes a tremendous impression, and is worth ten times her weight in gold to this business idea you have.

So you do it, and you prosper. You come out better than you have in any other business deal. But then Mr. Big, the Biggest of the Big, figures out your scheme and discovers your deception. He confronts you publicly, kicks you out of the deal, and forces you to leave the business. You are certainly done in his circles.

Now you stand unmasked, rebuked for your deception, shamed as a man and a husband, and forced out of this business you had dreamed up. Now you stand rebuked for your deception by a man who has no commitment to Christ whatsoever.

Now you must put the pieces together again. Oh, you did fine. Your wealth is stable and secure. Your wealth is greater than ever. You are richer than you ever could possibly have been. Even in your deception you are forced to admit God has blessed you. But you have sinned and are a moral failure.

Question

How do you return? How do you come back to God? What do you do when you are forced to return from sin?

Transition

This is exactly the question we come to this morning in Abraham’s life.

Development

This is exactly where Abraham is as we come upon him today. He has been rebuked by Pharaoh for his deception, together with Sarah, which has made him rich and delivered him from famine in the place where God had put him and where he committed before God to stay. He has been driven from Pharaoh’s presence and kicked out of Egypt.

Transition

And now he must recover from his sin. This leads us to principle #3 in our study of Marriage God’s way. We have seen principles one and two:

Obey God at Home No Matter How Tough It Gets

and

Trust God for Career and Financial Success.

Preview

Now we see principle #3.

Learn from Your Sins.

Development

And in this we see three R’s, three words beginning with R that help us understand how we can learn from our sins.

The first word is RETURN.

The second word is REALIZE.

And the third word is REFUSE.

Transition

We begin with our first word, RETURN.

Return to God (Genesis 15:1-4)

A. Abraham Returned to God (Genesis 15:1-4)

1. Abraham left Egypt and went into the Negev, i.e., the wilderness in the southern part of the land God had promised him, the land of Canaan (Genesis 15:1-2).

a. He brought all that belonged to him along with his nephew, Lot who was like a son to him (Genesis 15:1).

b. He also brought all he had gained in Egypt which was so great that the writer notes that he was very rich in live-stock, silver, and gold (Genesis 15:2).

2. But Abraham doesn’t settle in the Negev where he had lived before he went to Egypt (Genesis 15:3).

a. Instead he goes further north, some distance north of what will some day be Jerusalem, near to a place that Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, will call Bethel.

Question

Where is this journey taking him? Why does he seem to head straight for Bethel?

b. He doesn’t just go anywhere; he’s headed for a particular place in his journey, a place pinpointed with specific accuracy as being between Bethel and Ai.

c. There is one key phrase that tells us all” “. . . where his tent had been at the beginning.”

Question

The beginning of what we ask.

Answer

The beginning of his walk with God in the promised land.

Point

The spot between Bethel and Ai is the last place where we saw Abraham before he journeyed to the Negev and then to Egypt, the spot where Abraham was last in touch with God.

3. It was there that he honored God and made his commitment to God public.

a. It was in that specific spot that Abraham built and altar and called on the name of the Lord (Genesis 12:8)

b. This wasn’t the first time Abraham had built an altar.

c. He first built and altar a few miles to the north of this spot in Shechem (Genesis 12:6-7)

d. But he had done something different at Bethel, he had called upon the name of the LORD. (Genesis 12:8)

e. This means he had publicly proclaimed his commitment to the Lord in the presence of those who lived in the land around him, the Canaanites mentioned in (Genesis 12:6)

f. This means he had declared himself to be a follower of the Lord who made the heavens and the earth, that he had publicly declared his total faith and trust in this God.

g. Then he had moved on and gone into Egypt with his clever plan to save and increase his assets.

4. Now he’s back, back to the place where he had proclaimed his commitment to the Lord and he does this same thing again (Genesis 13:4).

a. Perhaps he confessed his failure.

b. Perhaps he told others of God’s faithfulness to him despite his unfaithfulness.

Transition

Whatever he did, he recommitted himself to God.

5. When he built his altars, Abraham took a public stand for God in the presence of those who dwelt in the land.

a. He worshipped God, exalting Him and extolling His character, His faithfulness, and His loyalty; He declared the greatness of God.

b. He gave thanksto God for safety, blessing, and even protection now that he had sinned.
Even his sin did not nullify God’s faithfulness to him. We, too, can say this, but we don’t have the same guarantees as Abraham. God has not promised to bless us in the same way He promised to bless Abraham, and we may end up broken and shamed because of our sin.

c. He expressed his submission to God after his own acts of independence and self reliance.
He had been anything but submissive to God when he hit his hard times in the Negev. He had taken off on his own to solve his own problems.

d. He declared his dedicationto God as the exclusive object of his dependence and trust.
He is saying that he never again will act as he did by going to Egypt. He will trust God alone for his financial security and career success.

e. He made an assertion of the rule of God, an assertion that there is only one true God, no matter how many other gods might be worshipped in this land.

Question

What did Abraham do to recover from sin?

Answer

He returned to the last place where he had been in touch with God and recommitted his life to Him.

Transition

When we take over our careers and decide we can do it on our own and leave God behind, we must RETURN TO GOD.

Restatement

This is exactly what we must do when we wander away from God and our trust in Him.

B. When We Take Control of Our Careers and Our Financial Success and Fail, We Must Return to God.

1. Now there are many ways to fail.

a. We don’t have to deceive to fail.

b. We can be scrupulously honest (many unbelievers are) and still be in charge of our careers.

c. We can see the fruit of our independence in different ways than Abraham did.

d. It may not be that the rich and powerful rebuke us.

e. To the contrary, they may welcome us into their clubs and circles and societies.

f. It may be in our families that we see the fruit of our independence and ambition.

g. It may be in our bodies that we feel the pain of our drivenness and control.

h. There are many ways to fail when it comes to our trust in God.

2. However we find out about it, there is a decision we must make.

We Must Decide to Return to God

Question

How do we return to God?

A. Go Back to Where You Were Last with Him.

1. Return to the place of commitment when you were depending on Him, to the place where you said you would follow Him no matter what.

2. This may take you many years back in your life, back to your teenage years before you had any real idea of what the commitment you were making would mean to you.

3. This may take you back to when you first married and you and your mate committed yourselves to live only God’s way.

4. This may take you back to a previous career struggle when you realized the futility of your own efforts.

5. Take a block of time, a week-end or a week or two weeks, and think back across you life.

Go back physically.

Go back to the very place where you made your commitment, even as Abraham did. Go to the place where you built your spiritual altar, to the camp or the conference center or the church or the home or wherever it was. Go back to the sights and sounds and smells and feelings and even some of the people who surrounded you at that time. If you cannot go back physically, go back mentally or go back electronically over the telephone or the tape recorder or the computer to visit the very place where you first made your commitment.

Go back emotionally.

Consider what it has meant for you to be in control of your life. Think through the grace of God in giving you the gifts and abilities and education and opportunities and experience to get where you are. Think through what He has done and what you have done with what He has done. Remember and repent and confess.

Go back biblically.

Go back to the passages that meant so much to you at that time and review their meaning for you. Read them in the light of where you are now and what you now know they must mean in your life. Reaffirm their new meaning in you life.

Go back spiritually.

Spend time in prayer confessing, acknowledging your independence and God’s faithfulness, and giving yourself to Him once again.

Point

Do what Abraham did: go back to your spot between Bethel and Ai.

Transition

Next,

B. Think Through What It Means to Trust Him.

1. Look at your life as you now know it.
Look at your opportunities.
Look at your family.
Look at your possessions.
Look at your successes.
Look at your failures.
Look at what brought you to this point in life.
Look at it all with the mature understanding and judgment that you now have.

2. Think through what you are now doing.
Make this decision with the full knowledge of what it means for you.
Don’t make it with the naive enthusiasm of youth.
Make it with the full understanding of adulthood.
Now make a full commitment to God with a full understanding of what the altar between Bethel and Ai means in your life, even as Abraham did.

C. Make a Public Statement of Your Commitment.

1. Hold a public event in your home in which you invite in those who have a right to be there and declare that you are going to trust God no matter what.

2. You may not know all that this means, but you are going to rely on Him for your security and well-being, no matter what.

3. Be humble about this.
Acknowledge your fear that you will fail God again.
Invite those who know the Lord to pray for you and to support you.
Establish an accountability group to stand with you and join you in this same kind of public commitment.

4. Do what Abraham did and proclaim the name of the Lord.
Do what Abraham did and take a public stand by building an altar to God.
You cannot build a literal altar, of course, but you can build an altar in your heart that expresses your worship and thanksgiving and submission and dedication and the assertion that God alone will be the master of your career and financial security.

Conclusion

Question

How do we recover from sin?

Answer

First, we must RETURN,

We Must Decide to Return to God
and Reaffirm Our Commitment to Him.

Introduction

In recent years, the disciplines of preventive medicine have burst upon us.

Development

These disciplines consist primarily of diet, exercise, and stress control.

Diet

We are inundated by diet information.

Butter is not good for us.

But, more recently, margarine isn’t good for us either.

Eggs are not good for us.

But, more recently, eggs, in moderation, are good for us.

Red meat is not good for us.

The skin of the chicken is not good for us.

Eating six meals a day is better for us than eating three meals a day and snacking constantly in between.

If it flies or swims eat it; otherwise, it will eat you in its own way.

Grandma’s cooking was never good for us; that’s why grandpa died so soon.

The question though is how did grandma live so long? Probably because all she ever did was sample her own cooking since she was so busy making it she ran out of any appetite to eat it. So our refrigerators are full of food that’s good for us. Here’s a sample of what’s in our refrigerator.

low fat spread;

low fat cheese;

low fat lunch meat;

lot fat ice cream bars;

low fat yogurt;

low fat jelly;

skim milk.

In our pantry we have

low fat cereal;

low fat munchies;

low fat pretzels;

low fat chips;

low fat candy bars;

low fat cookies.

Now what I’m learning is that eating all that low fat stuff will keep me pretty high fat!

Point

Nonetheless, we are into a low fat diet and have been for some time.

Exercise

We are also told how important exercise is.

Aerobic exercise is the best. And the best aerobic exercise is simply walking twenty minutes a day three days a week. Of course, if you are willing to risk your knees, jog twenty minutes a day three days a week. If you are into machines at least one of the most recent studies tells us that the tread mill is the best, even though it doesn’t work your arms. However, if we have read what they put out, we know that swimming is the best exercise in the world for everything that we want to get. Golf is useless, no matter how many steps we have to take from the cart to the ball on days when the course is too wet for carts to leave the cart path.

Basketball, interestingly enough, is not all that helpful, although I can jog a whole lot longer than I could play any size court basketball. Weight lifting is very helpful for older people. Studies show that wheel chair bound people were able to get out of their chairs after only a few times of working out with weights.

Point

So I have joined a health club and am over there on the treadmill (because of a somewhat faulty knee) three days every week and also work out somewhat when I can.

Stress

Stress is another story. Because it is so self-imposed in my life I don’t know that I’ll ever get rid of it. I live on a steady diet of stress and exercise my tongue grandly to get rid of it.

Point

Preventive medicine is a good thing and because of it we may add eight months to our lives, but raise the quality of our lives significantly because of it.

Transition

But if preventive medicine is a good thing, what about preventive righteousness?

Point

After all, isn’t a great deal of our physical breakdown due to our spiritual breakdowns?

Development

Think of all the unnecessary stress my ego has brought into my life. Maybe we’d just as soon not think about this. Think of what anger does to us.

Or fear.

Or bitterness.

Or resentment.

Or immorality.

Or drugs.

Or alcohol.

Question

Would we not be wise to pursue preventive righteousness as well?

Transition

What would Abraham’s marriage have been like if he had pursued preventive righteousness?

Context

We are learning about life and marriage at the expense of Abraham and Sarah. They were committed to the Lord and to each other, but they made serious mistakes with their lives which cost them dearly, and we are gaining the benefit of their mistakes.

Development

For example, Abraham committed two key sins.

First, he went against God’s direct command as revealed in Genesis 12:2.

Second, he acted on his own when he ran into a situation in which he did not have a direct command even though he did have general information.

These are the same two kinds of situations we face.

Point #1

We do have direct commands from God:

Do not commit adultery;

do not steal;

do not bear false witness;

do not covet.

Question: What do we do with direct commands from God?

Answer: We obey them.

Point #2

We also face situations when all we have is general information with not specific direction.

Question: What do we do then?

Answer: Stop, pray, listen, and do what we can with the information we have without ever resorting to the untruthful or the deceptive.

Illustration

Chafer on May 6, 1929: $10,000, 5:00 A.M., Anderson +.

Transition

So then, how do we pursue preventive righteousness?

Preview

This is what I want to talk about this morning.

Act to Prevent Sin From
Controlling Your Life.

To help you understand how you can make progress toward doing this, I want to give you one “truth in lending” disclaimer and one core principle. From this we move to three insights we must have and six decisions we must make. That’s enough to keep you busy for a while!

You Must Know What God Has Done
Before You Can Do What God Wants Done

Preview

I want to give you some insights into how to prevent sin from gaining mastery over you.

INSIGHT #1: Sin Is No Longer Your King and Master.

By God’s grace, you have been identified with Christ on His cross and delivered from the reign of sin as your king and master. Now you have a choice, although it seems so overwhelming because you seem so powerless. Think according to this reality.

INSIGHT #2: Sin Begins as a Thought in The Head.

Sin never comes forth as a fully developed baby. There is a gestation period for sin, even as there is for a baby. If the thought is never entertained, the baby will never be conceived. Therefore, pay attention to the way you think. All of us think in ways that give sin mastery over us and don’t even know it. We think anger thoughts or pride thoughts or fear thoughts or any of a number of other kinds of thoughts without even knowing it.

Pay attention to the thoughts you think.

INSIGHT #3: Sin Moves to the Heart as a Desire.

Once sin settles in the mind, it moves as rapidly as it can to the heart as a desire. It moves from dream to desire, to longing, to something I must do or I must have. All of my values are being pushed aside in such a situation, and I am being hurried along by a current of lust. Thus, if sin breaks loose from my mind, I must pay attention to my feelings.

When sin breaks loose from my mind it is like a blood clot breaking loose from my leg and moving to my heart. I am headed for a heart attack unless I do something about it.

INSIGHT #4: Sin Expresses Itself Through My Hands as an Act.

If I do not stop it, once sin moves to my heart it is only a matter of time before it acts through my hands.

Question

How do we prevent this?

Answer

Here are some decisions I have made.

There are many better approaches, I’m sure, but this has helped me.

Transition

I present them to you in a series of decisions we need to make.

DECISION #1: Realize I Can Sin.

I can sin and I can sin in some very serious ways.

DECISION #2: Note the Sins You Are Most Prone to Commit.

What are you most likely to do? What are your strongest driving desires?

• Lust?
• Security?
• Fear?
• Anger?
• Competition?
• All of the above?

Each of these drives takes on a particular sin form, and you must note what form such desires take when you act on them in your life.

DECISION #3: Determine that You Will Not Commit These Sins.

Erect an altar and proclaim the name of the Lord. Make a private commitment to God and some kind of an accountable commitment to your mate or some other trusted friends who share the same values you have.

DECISION #4: Develop Disciplines to Resist Sin.

The vital disciplines are prayer and the Word + accountability with others who know and love you.

DECISION #5: Remember Sin Is More Than Skin Deep.

Too often we think of sin as behavior. Behavior is surface.

Sin is soul.

It is not enough to deal only with behavior. We must recognize the root of sin. Behavior is fruit: sins.

Sin is root: energy, force, power.

• We sin because something is more important to us than God.
• We sin because something is more satisfying for us than God.
• We sin because something is ore powerful in us than God.

DECISION #6: I Will Not Fight the Sin Battle Alone.

I will rely on the Holy Spirit. I will involve others with me in the battle with sin. In a recent time of discussion with Christian leaders who have fallen, one after another these fallen leaders told me that the two key realities of their lives were that they had failed in pursuing daily time with God and they were never in any true form of accountability.

Conclusion

Let’s do this. Let’s, every time we do something to practice preventive medicine, also do something to practice preventive righteousness. For example, every time we eat something low fat, let’s take a few minutes just to worship the Lord in prayer or praise.

Not necessarily in the same moment nor even overtly. Perhaps on the way back to the office or walking down the hall or brushing our teeth just to think words of praise and thanksgiving and dependence.

Or every time we jog or workout, take some time to cleanse our souls be confessing sin and thanking God for His patience with us. Or let’s get rid of stress by giving our fears or our concerns or our angers to the Lord.

Not only might we live longer; we’ll certainly live better!

Introduction

Story

When I was a little boy just about five years old I was eating breakfast in the kitchen with my mother one day. Our kitchen table was small so we were very close to one another. The toaster was right next to her, and she could feel the heat.

So she said to me, "You should feel this toaster. It is really hot."

Now she didn't mean for me to do that. She was just talking about how hot the toaster was. But I didn't know that, so I reached out and touched the toaster.

It was hot!

Immediately, I had a blister developing on my finger and I cried at the shock of the pain I was feeling. Mom cried with me.

"I didn't really mean for you to touch it," she said as she doctored my now fully blistered finger.

There's one thing that came out of that experience: I never touch toasters in the morning because they're hot.

Point

I Didn't Waste My Pain!

Story

At about that same time, probably within months of the hot toaster event, maybe within days, I don't remember, I had another memorable experience. My mother was outside our house, just a short distance away, and I was in the house alone. There was no TV in those days, so I had the earlier version of a baby sitter to keep me occupied, the radio. Essentially Mom was really in the house since she had gone outside for just a moment. But that was just long enough for me to notice an empty light socket in a turned on lamp. It was one of those multiple bulb lamps that did not have a bulb in every socket.

I was curious about that empty socket and what might happen if I put my finger in it. So, overcome by curiosity, I did just that; I put my finger in that empty socket. Immediately, I felt a jolt go up my arm as I sailed across the room and I found out what would happen if you put your chubby little five-year old finger in an empty lamp socket. Although I have been around many lamps with an empty bulb socket I have never put my finger in another one since.

Point

I Didn't Waste My Pain!

Story

Several years later, now an adult and married but without children yet, I was pastoring the church we started in San Jose. In those days we had only one car, and that made life difficult at times. On one particular morning when I really needed to study for next Sunday, Lynna had to be at a meeting with some key women in our church, but she had no way to get there. So, I had to take her because we only had one car. I needed it before she could get back home, and she could get a ride home but not there.

But I also had to study.

So I took her, but I didn't like it much and I made certain she never did that again. On the way back I was continuing to fume thinking that many of my other pastor colleagues never took their wives to some dumb meeting when they had to study for Sunday morning when I came to a stop sign. There was a car stopped in front of me, I looked and saw there was a wide open road, and started forward, assuming the other car had already gone.

I had barely started when I stopped, suddenly. The woman driving the car in front of me got out slowly and met me at the end of her car and the beginning of mine. I had hardly gotten started so there was no damage to either car, but she showed me the scar on the back of her neck from her recent back surgery.

I was scared.

I gave her my phone number and insurance information and drove home rather humbled and considerably less angry. Fortunately, I never heard from her. But I'll tell you, ever since then, when I come to a stop sign I look left, right, left, forward. I never assume a car has gone.

Point

I Didn't Waste My Pain!

Transition

One more story.

Story

Nearly twenty years ago I went to my doctor for a physical, and the first thing he said to me was, "What is that protrusion in your throat?" That protrusion turned out to be a potentially malignant nodule on my thyroid which I had surgically removed with no negative impact. At the time of the surgery, my surgeon said, "I want you to go on thyroid medication because these things have a tendency to grow back and if you go on thyroid that won't happen."

Well, I didn't want to become dependent on pills, so I didn't listen.

About two years later I had another nodule and I had to have my thyroid completely removed. Now I am totally, even desperately, dependent on pills.

Point

I Wasted My Pain!

Transition

I'm sure you could tell many stories like the ones I have told you this morning, stories in which you didn't waste your pain and stories in which you did.

Point

All of us have had experiences that have taught us not to touch hot toasters or put our fingers in lamp sockets or assume on other drivers or to listen to our doctors, and the majority of us have not wasted our pain.

Question

But what about sin?

Question

Have we learned not to waste our pain when it comes to sin?

Review

We are in the process of answering the question what do we do when we have come back from sin to God? We have finding our answers from the life of Abraham who is our teacher. And one of the things we are learning is that we always bring sin home.

Our Sin Patterns Become Our Family Patterns.

We have learned that the first step is to return to God; to go back. We have learned that our second step is to realize our past sin affects our present life. As a result, we need to act in every way we can to prevent sin from gripping our lives.

Preview

Today we turn to our third and last answer found in Genesis 14. Come with me to Genesis 14 where we see a historical event designed to teach us our last critical step.

Transition

We begin with the fact that

A. Abraham Has to Take a Risk Because of His Past Sin -
(Genesis 14:1-16)

Setting

In this passage filled with strange names and the description of a far-away skirmish, not even a blip on history's screen, we see two vital realities resulting in one key truth. We see Lot, the man who took his easy money and chose the fun life, in great trouble. And we see Abraham, the man who sinned and led Lot into sin in order to sin some more, complete his return to God.

Point

Abraham Didn't Waste His Pain.

1. There was a group of five ancient kings who had been forced into subjection to another group of four ancient kings.

a. For twelve years they paid tribute to their conquerors.

b. In the thirteenth year they refused to pay any more tribute.

c. So in the fourteenth year the four conquering kings came to collect their dues.

d. The four eastern kings came from modern day Iraq and they swept down the east side of the Jordan river to the south and southwest of the Dead Sea before turning northward to confront their four rebel leaders.

e. Even though the odds were in favor of the five, the four easily defeated them.

Question

Now it would be perfectly natural to ask why is this in the text?

Development

We are talking about one of the most important men in all of God's program. Why do we interrupt it with this useless story?

Transition

Look at verse 12: they took the easy money man, Lot.

2. Easy money comes with a high price.

a. Lot had come into everything through Abraham.

b. He had not gotten his wealth on his own, but through his uncle, Abraham.

c. Like so many Christians who focus on money, Lot was attracted to the good life, not the godly life.

d. There was no reference to God's will or purpose in Lot's choice.

e. He lifted up his eyes and saw (Genesis 13:10) and chose for himself the Jordan valley (Genesis 13:11).

f. Lot was attracted by the lust of his eyes.

g. Unfortunately, the lust of his eyes was not balanced by any values in his soul.

Point

Lot found it easy to live among immoral people.

Balance

Now we all have to learn to live among immoral people, as the Bible tells us in I Cor. 5:9-13.

h. But we cannot allow ourselves to enjoy the escapades of immoral people.

Illustration

Kelly and Tosha Williams are starting a church for Generation X'ers, and they are ministering to immoral people--but not enjoying their lifestyle.

Point

Lot loved the life in Sodom.

Point

And he was only there because Abraham disobeyed God and had to live with the results of his previous sin.

3. Abraham risked a rescue (Genesis 14:13-16).

Point

Past sin presents a present obligation to Abraham, because past sin sometimes stays for the rest of our lives.

a. He had allies (Genesis 14:13).

b. He had resources (Genesis 14:14).

c. He had wisdom (Genesis 14:15).

d. He won (Genesis 14:16).

Transition

Now we begin to see the point of this chapter.

Question

Why all this information about these strange sounding names, these irrelevant places, and these useless battles?

Transition

Let's see.

B. Abraham Remembers to Learn from His Past Sin
(Genesis 14:17-20).

Transition

Again, we are faced with another strange name and another strange event.

1. At this point Abraham faced a test, a choice between the old way and the new way.

2. The king of Sodom came out to meet him (Genesis 14:17).

3. At almost exactly the same time, the King of Jerusalem comes out to meet him (Genesis 14:18).

4. The King of Jerusalem is a man with a strange name who plays a great role in the Bible although this is the only time we meet him (Genesis 14:18).

a. His name means the King of Righteousness.

b. He is King of Jerusalem, so he is the King of Peace, since Salem means peace.

c. He is identified as a picture of Christ (Hebrews 7:2).

5. Acting on God's behalf, Melchizedek comes to bless Abraham (Genesis 14:19-20).

6. Melchizedek focuses Abraham's attention in the right place.

a. He speaks of God Most High, the mightiest and most powerful of all, greater than any king or potentate or president or prime minister or anyone in all of history.

b. He possesses heaven and earth.

c. All things are His, and there isn't anything that He does not own.

6. Abraham chooses to trust God by giving to His representative (Genesis 14:20).

a. Abraham is a changed man.

b. Before he acted to get.

c. Now he gets to give.

d. Abraham is beginning to understand the source of his true security.

e. It is found in the God Most High who possesses heaven and earth.

Transition

Now we see the point of this chapter, the third of our steps back from sin to God.

C. Abraham Did Not Waste His Pain
(Genesis 14:21-24).

Transition

This is the point of it all.

When It Comes to Sin Don't Waste Your Pain!

Development

Return To God.

Realize Your Past Sin Will Affect Your Present Life.

Remember to Learn from Past Sin So You Don't Do It Again in The Future.

Point

This is exactly what Abraham does.

1. The king of Sodom offers a great deal, such a great deal that only a fool would turn it down.

a. It was a valid offer because Abraham had earned it.

b. It made great sense.

2. It is a temptation in exactly the same area where Abraham had sinned before.

a. It was a temptation in the area of financial security.

b. He had turned to a king before.

Transition

Would he turn to a king now?

Answer

No!

3. Abraham had a new source of security (Genesis 14:22).

a. It is not his own cleverness.

b. It is not his own self-reliance.

c. It is not his own scheming.

d. It is the LORD Most High God.

4. Abraham rejects this offer.

a. In the eyes of most this is a stupid thing to do.

b. This is a valid offer.

c. He had earned it.

5. But the King of Righteousness and Peace taught him to trust the Most High God.

a. God was gracious to Abraham to send him help at just the right moment.

b. God knows our hearts and responds to them.

6. From now on, Abraham would trust God for his security.

Conclusion

The key point of our lesson today is this:

DON'T WASTE YOUR PAIN!

Transition

But there is an additional question we need to consider.

Question

How can you tell when you should turn down a deal?

Restatement

How can you tell whether it's the king of Sodom or the the King of Righteousness and Peace?

Preview

This is what I want to talk about in the next message.

Introduction

Point

Everything that God wants of us can be reduced to one word.

Restatement

If we are willing to do the one thing described by this one word we'll please God in every way.

Development

Now the call presented by this one word is a challenging call, an overwhelming call, a call that goes against everything within us. It is a call that demands great risk, the greatest risk possible. It is a call that means giving up everything. When I say this, I'm not talking about material things, as we often think, although material things will certainly be affected by taking this risk.. When I say this, I'm not talking about career, as we often think, although career will certainly be affected by taking this risk. When I say this, I'm not talking about lifestyle, as we often think, although lifestyle will certainly be affected by taking this risk.

Transition

To understand what I'm saying, you need to understand what the one word is.

Point

The one word is TRUST.

Restatement

The one thing God wants from us is TRUST.

Development

God wants us to TRUST Him in everything we do and for everything we have.

Transition

And when I say this means giving up everything, I am saying this means giving up ALL control.

Point

You cannot trust someone and strive to control that person.

Illustration

This is certainly the point of all the team building exercises the experts have developed.

Development

When you go through a team building exercise, what is it they are seeking to get you to do? They are seeking to get you to work together by trusting one another. But as long as you are seeking to be in control of the situation and those involved in it you are not trusting them. You say, "None of you can do it as well as I can. I only trust myself to get things done. Therefore, I will do everything I can to be in control of what is happening here." And when you say this, you destroy any opportunity for those involved to become a team.

Transition

Now God is exactly the same way.

Point

As long as we have to be in control of our lives, we cannot be trusting God. So God does exactly what the team building experts do: He brings us into life situations in which we must trust Him or fail--or die. He brings us into life situations in which we cannot maintain control over what is happening around us because life becomes so much bigger than we are.

Balance

Now God does not do this maliciously; He doesn't have to. Life is bigger than we are. All God has to do is let us go our own way under our own control and life will catch up with us. It is inevitable.

Transition

There are three primary areas in which God wants us to trust Him: finances, family, and life.

Development

We see this in the life of Abraham. He was called to leave all that could give him financial security: his roots, his network, his history, everything that could guarantee him wealth. He was also called to leave his family except for his wife. And all of this affected his life and well-being, and, eventually the place and way in which he would die.

Point

God expects us to TRUST Him in three areas:

FINANCES, FAMILY, AND LIFE

and often in that order.

Transition

Certainly that is the order for Abraham.

Summary

Now let me summarize what I have been saying as we move toward LIVING BY THE WORD IN OUR FAMILIES.

GOD WANTS US TO TAKE THE RISK OF TRUSTING HIM BY LIVING ACCORDING TO HIS WORD WITH OUR FINANCES, OUR FAMILIES, AND OUR VERY LIFE.

Transition

Come with me to Genesis 15 where we see this principle being developed in relation to Abraham's family.

God Promises to Protect and Provide
(Genesis 15:1)

A. ABRAHAM RISKED HIS PERSONAL SECURITY FOR GOD.

After These Things . . .

• After Abraham rescued his nephew who had been taken prisoner of war . . .
• After Abraham had chosen between the King of Sodom and the King of Righteousness . . .
• After Abraham had chosen to risk his financial well-being by trusting God for all wealth . . .
• After Abraham had given up all control of his career and his financial security . . .

After these things . . .

The Word of the Lord Came to Abraham.

1. He determined to trust God.

a. But the alien kings could turn on him.

b. The King of Sodom could turn on him in a perverse meanness because Abraham refused to become his ally.

c. Abraham risked his personal security when he chose to trust God.

d. Abraham had some real reasons to be afraid.

2. But now God promises to be His shield.

a. You have made the right choice, Abraham.

b. You have taken great risk, but you have taken the right risk.

c. In all of life we must take the risk of trusting someone.

d. It is not possible for us to live life without trusting someone.

e. Anyone who cannot trust others is regarded as mentally sick.

f. The key is to make sure we trust the right person.

g. God is the right person.

h. Do not fear!

i. This is the first time these words appear in the Bible.

Point

Do Not Fear Abraham When You Risk Trusting Me Because I Will Protect You.

Transition

But Abraham did more than risk his personal security by choosing to trust God.

B. Abraham Risked His Financial Security for God.

1. He determined to trust God for wealth.

2. He determined that He would only pursue wealth on God's terms.

Application

Now all of this has great implications for us. This means we must risk our personal security by risking our financial security. We do this when we must take an ethical stance that offends others. We do this when we use only God's means to gain financial security.

• We tell the truth at all times.
• We let only the finest quality mark what we do, even when quality cuts into our profit.
• We pursue the greatest efficiency possible even when this means conflict with those who want to do things the easy way.
• We act with utter, desperate dependence on God alone and give up all control of our own future by risking trust in Him.

Balance

Now let me just say that this means we will have to have some kind of human control to do this. But our values will conflict with the values of others, and this will lead to moments when we need God's shield and God's reward.

Point

Do Not Fear, Abraham, When You Risk Trusting Me Because I Will Provide For You.

I Will Be Your Shield and Your Reward.

Point

Abraham has not heard from God in quite a while.

Development

The last time Abraham had heard from God was in Ur of the Chaldees, a long time ago. But God had spoken to Abraham in His silence, and Abraham learned the point of his sojourn into Egypt. Abraham chose to trust himself for his security. In fact, this has been the primary test which Abraham has faced up until now. He has been tested in the area of financial and physical security, a burning issue to a homeless man. He had been tested in his ambition and his anxiety, but now God is going to move from finances to family.

Point

From this we learn that

Family Is as Much Faith as Finances.

Development

We all know that finances are a matter of faith.

Point

What we are now learning is that family is also a matter of faith.

Point

The point of it all is this:

When you are married, all you do centers on your marriage.

Development

All you do, whether it be good or bad, impacts your marriage.

Transition

But there is a very natural question that comes at this point in time.

Question

How can I know I can trust God with my finances and my family?

Point

Abraham has already settled the first issue as a result of the bitter lessons he has learned in life.

Transition

Now he enters into new territory and raises new questions.

Question

What is my reward? Where is the family you promised me?

Transition

God responds to his question.

God Cuts A Covenant to Confirm His Commitment to Abraham's Family
(Genesis 15:2-21)

A. Abraham Raises the Issue of His Family (Genesis 15:2-3).

1. Abraham asks for the reward he really wants, and it is not financial.

a. In Abraham's culture, a childless couple could select an heir to receive their goods and give them a burial if they have no son.

b. But Abraham doesn't want his servant to be his heir, especially since God had made a promise of a son.

c. It's interesting how utterly unconcerned Abraham is with his own physical and financial well-being.

d. His question rises out of faith: God has said He would protect him, and that is a settled issue.

e. Obviously, Abraham is focused on the original promise.

f. This is what got him to give up everything in the first place, and this is what has been keeping him going ever since then.

2. No matter how successful we are in our careers, there comes a time when our families mean the most to us.

a. We don't start out thinking this way.

b. We start out focused on our careers, our financial security and personal success.

c. But there comes a time when all of us would gladly sacrifice anything to have children who choose to walk with God.

d. This demands far more faith, far more trust, and far more risk than financial and career issues.

e. Money we can control; children we can't, whether it comes to having them or raising them.

Observation

This, by the way, is the first time the title Lord GOD is used in the Bible.

Development

This title focuses on two things:

God is Lord, master, in control.

When you see LORD in upper case, you see God's proper name, Yahweh, the name that focuses on His complete and utter self-reliance, His independence from all except Himself, His total lack of need for anything or anyone. Lord in lower case speaks of God's ownership and mastery of all, of the fact that He is sovereign over all that happens.

GOD, on the other hand, is Yahweh when used with Adonai.

Abraham combines two of God's greatest names to say to Him,

You who control all things and who has the capacity to do all things,

You who can do all of this,

Where is my reward?

B. The Lord Promises to Give Abraham a Family (Genesis 15:4-6)

1. This man will not be your heir (Genesis 15:4).

2. One born from you will be your heir (Genesis 15:4).

Observation

This promise leads Abraham into his next great test.

Development

Now he knows that he will father a son himself. Now comes the issue of whether or not Abraham will take the risk with God to trust Him to have that son through Sarah.

3. God promises to multiply Abraham (Genesis 15:5).

Transition

And all of this demonstrates Abraham's faith in God.

4. Abraham takes God at His Word.

Transition

Now the fact of the matter is this is not the first time Abraham has trusted God.

Point

This statement is designed to show Abraham's response of faith to be one that marked him at the essential center of his being. Hebrews tells us that Abraham was a believer when he left Ur of the Chaldees several years before. Stephen tells us that the God of glory appeared to Abraham, and he responded by trusting him and obeying him. We have, at times, been critical of Abraham, and rightfully so. But Abraham is a man of great faith who falters and fails at times in his pilgrimage of risk and trust in God. Yet, at the core of his being, he continues to believe and trust God for His promise, and his hope in life is based entirely on God's word. Abraham is a man who chose to risk his life on God word, and his questions here show that. Thus, Abraham's question is an expression of his underlying faith. We realize that a man of faith can take control of his life and put his wife at great risk, but he is still a man of faith, struggling to trust God in the overwhelming currents and tides of life.

It is on the basis of this faith that Abraham is declared righteous. It is not because he does righteous things all the time, because he doesn't. It is because he has chosen to take the risk to trust God for life and death. What Abraham is doing now is working out the implications of that choice and that risk. And this is exactly the same thing we are doing in our lives.

Conclusion

Point

There is one thing God wants us to do with our lives:

Take the Risk and Trust Him for Finances, Family, and Life.

Ultimately, this is the test of our faith.

Those Who Trust God for Eternal Life
Learn to Trust Him for Temporal Life.

We may struggle with our egos, with our fears, with our anger, with our bitterness, but those who trust God for eternal life learn to trust Him for temporal life. This is the working out of the righteousness God has implanted within them.