Faith and Choices

I neglected to mention something during announcement time and I think it's important enough to say something now. Thursday and Friday was the Pregnancy Care Center Gala and I want to praise God for the amount of our congregation that were there to help support this gospel ministry. Two of our folks, Kara Miller is the one who runs the Richwood office and Greg Field is on the board.

And so you express your gratitude to them as well for their work. And especially I want to thank the young people of our church who worked there that night. A bunch of them were there. and that was good. It was good to see you guys and gals serving and so I just wanted to say thank you and we need to be praying for that ministry. It's a unique ministry in the whole pro-life movement, I think.

And to me, it sets the standard. Well, we've come now to this part of our worship where we hear God speak to us. We have praised Him. We have given our offerings to Him. Now He speaks to us, and so let's ask Him to work in our hearts as we look into His Word. Our God and our Father, we are those who are in desperate need of direction from You.

Even with new life, we can still and are ignorant, and we need words from You in order to know how we ought to live. And so as we come to this text this morning, this ancient, ancient text that you wrote centuries and centuries ago for our benefit today, help us to understand it in a way that you want us to, help us to grasp its purpose, help us to change and be transformed by it as we seek by faith to obey and to become what you would have us to be. we anticipate your blessings as you speak to us we anticipate your blessings as we participate in this communion together as we celebrate what Jesus has done for us Help us now we pray Amen Some folks have the crazy idea that when you live by faith, you somehow escape all the difficulties of life in a fallen world. The other day, Beck and I were talking, we were traveling together.

I can't remember all the details. We started talking about growing up and some of the songs that we had heard and that we used to sing in our churches. And we started talking about a gospel song whose lyrics go like this. My heart has no desire to stay where doubts arise and fears dismay. Though some may dwell where these abound, my prayer, my aim is higher ground.

Lord, lift me up and let me stand by faith on heaven's table land. A higher plane than I have found. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. The problem with that is Scripture never assures you that by faith you will escape doubts and fears, complexities and adversities, and the necessity of choosing in the midst of them. In fact, the scripture teaches that instead of delivering us from doubts and fears and hard decision, faith actually equips us to handle them.

We Christians talk a lot about living by faith. But does faith determine how you make decisions? Does faith enter into your decision-making process? Now, in our text this morning, you will see faith intersecting with the nitty-gritty of life. In fact, as one of my mentors would put it, you see faith intersecting with the nasty now and now of life. What life is like, not delivering us from it, but equipping us to handle it and to choose.

And many times you have to make choices that prove difficult, but you can make proper wise and righteous decisions by faith Let look at our text this morning Let pick up the story where we left it off at Genesis chapter 13 beginning in verse 3 And Abram journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. and Lot who went with Abram also had flocks and herds and tents so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock at that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land then Abram said to Lot let there be no strife between you and me and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen for we are kinsmen. It's not the whole land before you.

Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. The Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are northward and southward and eastward and westward for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.

I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth so that if one can count the dust of the earth so your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land for I will give it to you. So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre which are at Hebron. There he built an altar to the Lord. Again, the story of Abram advances with another test of his faith Will Abram be a man of faith And in this narrative two men in this narrative you see two men One man, Lot, walking by sight.

Another man, Abram, walking by faith. Now pay careful attention then, and learn what happens when faith intersects with choices, with decisions. now before we get to the crunch of choice something has to be in place before before we can advance the story before Abram faces another test of his faith do you see what happens you see what happens before that test comes here's what you see happening he leaves Egypt and he makes a pilgrimage to the very last place where he had been before he went into Egypt the place where where he had met with the Lord, with Yahuwah. I think it's interesting that after failing the test as we saw before, after failing the test of faith in Egypt, Abram returned to this place of worship where it says in verse 4, he called upon the name of the Lord.

He goes to that place of worship and calls upon the name of the Lord. Now it's not as if Abram says to himself, wow, Not living by faith is a real bummer. I guess I learned my lesson. From now on, it's faith all the way. Right? Abram doesn't do that.

When you desire to live by faith, you don't decide just to do the right thing. You can't do that. It's like doing what you're supposed to do. It's like, oh man, I flunked that test. I better study harder for the next one. It isn't that at all.

Because faith is a living, active, supernatural quality that you can't just whomp up when you need it. Faith is the ability to live by the Word of God. Faith is the ability to live by the promises of God. And you just can't work that up when you need it. Abram went back to that sweet place of meeting with Yahweh and there he renewed, he rebuilt, he refreshed his faith.

Do you see what's happening here? It's not that, okay, I better live by faith now. Okay, faith, let's go. Faith is much more than that. It's this supernatural ability. to believe the promises of God and to live by them. And he went back to the place where he could renew that faith, where it could be refreshed, where he could rebuild it.

For faith to grow, you must go to God. So what's the point? The point is simply this. You must strengthen and build your faith. You must strengthen and build your faith. You say, well, how do I do that?

How do you build faith? This is a supernatural quality to live by the promises of God. It's not something you just do. How do you build up and strengthen faith? Well, let me give you some ideas here this morning. First of all, and most simply, be consistent in your worship of God.

Consistently meeting with God. That certainly involves the corporate worship of the church. now you know as elders as shepherds in this flock we get real concerned when people aren't coming to church now i'm talking to people who are at church the people who should be hearing this aren't here but at least you need to know that the reason why we get so concerned is simply this you don't come to church it's the first step in the slide down the grievous sin there's no way around that. Your faith will not grow if you're haphazard in your attendance to the worship with God's people.

That's entry level. Okay? That's entry level. That's the easiest thing to do. And when you're inconsistent, when you're here some days, some weeks, and some not, your faith is not going to grow. Your ability to live by the promises of God is not going to grow.

I want to encourage all of you here that you need to be consistent. I know, it's inconvenient to come now because we're so crowded. I bet there's some folks here who say, oh man, I came on the wrong Sunday. It's full. It's inconvenient to sit in the hallway. Isn't it?

It's inconvenient to sit shoulder to shoulder. I understand that. But if you want your faith to grow, you need to be consistent in your worship of God. Your faith is strengthened as you meet with God and hear about Him and you grasp that there is a God that greater than the world that you live in And you see as He works in history as we see your faith is strengthened today as you hear the story of a man of faith.

Your faith grows by consistent fellowship with God's people. That fellowship enlivens and strengthens your faith as you talk to one another, as you speak to one another about how God has been faithful to you. And as you tell each other, yeah, you know what? I believe this and God came through and He was faithful to us. Your faith grows as you pray with and for one another.

Not just here in church. Listen, can I tell you something, folks? We have a marvelous opportunity to strengthen each other's faith in our flock group. Some of you have never been to flock, or some of you came for a while and quit. You're giving up. It's like, I don't want a drink of water.

I'm thirsty, but I don't want a drink. I'm hungry, and I need food, but I'm just not going to eat. You need to be in those flocks where we can encourage one another. You see, the fellowship of God's people strengthens our faith, gives us the ability to live in the promises of God. Louis Zamperini was a former Olympic runner who in World War II became an airman in the United States Army Air Force.

He served in the Pacific. His plane went down and he was captured by the Japanese where he was starved, abused, and beaten. One day his captors, knowing he's an Olympic runner, brought one of the guards in to say, we want you to race this guy. Okay? We want you to race this guy. And he's laid out a track of about a mile and a half.

Here's the problem. He doesn't get enough to eat. He gets two measly meals a day, a ball of rice, and something else. He is in no condition to run. And the other thing is, if he does win, if he does win, they'll club him. The other guards will just get their clubs and beat him.

So he's running this race against this guard. And as he's running, his comrades the other POWs start cheering him And he said you know what I just couldn I just couldn let it go He says he put his whole heart into it And he beat the guard. And as a result, he got clubbed good. But he said it was worth it. Now what made him do that? His comrades cheering him on.

That's exactly what the fellowship of God is all about. You can't walk the life of faith unless you have people on the sidelines cheering you on. That's what it's about. You grow in faith with consistent personal prayer. This is the hardest. Consistent personal prayer, taking time to pray, to worship God in prayer, to speak to Him.

I would also say to you, not just set times of prayer, which are absolutely essential, but just praying all day long. Just talking to God. Consistent personal prayer will help your faith grow. Consistent reading of your Bible. Just read your Bible. Just read it.

And it's not like a magic thing, but when you read the Bible, you start to know the promises you're supposed to believe in, and you get to know the promise maker better. This is the living Word of God. Do you understand that? The Bible describes itself as living. When you read this Word, it's not like reading any other book on the face of the planet. When you read this book, you come face to face with the living God.

And He speaks to you. And there's something that resonates in your heart as you read the stories, the prophecies, the proverbs, the poetry, the gospels, the epistles, all of them. There's a sense in which you see and know God. And your faith is going to grow with consistent participation at the Lord's table where He gives you tangible guarantees of His promises.

This table is intended for you to hold that wafer in your hand and to say, and to say, this is a promise, this is a guarantee that God's going to keep His promises. You see? So before you face any test of your faith, before you make any decisions by faith, you have to have faith. and you need to build and strengthen, renew and refresh your faith through those consistent means that God has given you for building up that faith.

Now the faith of Abraham comes to another test as he returns to the land that God had promised to him and his descendants He comes back from Egypt The problem this time is not scarcity it not famine You know what the problem is this time? It's prosperity. Imagine that, prosperity being the test of faith. We tend to think prosperity is the last thing to test our faith.

We tend to think when prosperity is here, we don't have to have our faith tested. Oh, sometimes prosperity can be a great test of your faith. And here's how it worked out for him. Abram and his clan has returned to the land that God has promised his descendants. Rich people, not only in gold and silver, but in livestock. But Abram and Lot have so much livestock that the land that they return to can't support the herds.

Because they have to compete with one another for grazing land and water. Not only that, but the Canaanites and Perizzites are there, and they're competing with them for the good land and the water. This causes great strife between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen. Now Abram is a kind man. Abram is a man of God. Abram hates conflict.

He cannot abide the fact that there's conflict in the family, especially in a land where there are pagans around them seeing them. So in order to end the strife, he makes a proposal. He tells Lot, his nephew, that they ought to separate the herds. So he tells Lot, okay, come over here and lift up your eyes. And look over the land. You choose what you want and move your herds there.

I'll take whatever's remaining and move my herds there. So Lot takes a look out over the land and chooses the best land he can see. the rich, fertile Jordan Valley off to the east where it's easy to raise his herds, to raise his cattle. It's as fertile as Egypt and as beautiful as the Garden of Eden. Now, a reader of that day would immediately respond this way, Abram, what are you doing?

That's a wrong decision. That's a stupid decision. that is just not right because it sets a wrong precedent. Why? You see, Abram was the uncle of Lot. He is Lot's elder. He's not the one who should be deferring.

He's the one who should be dictating. He's Lot's elder, and on top of that, he's the patriarch of this clan. He's the head man of the whole clan. He is the undisputed social superior to Lot. He should never have given Lot the first choice. He should have told Lot what he was going to do, and Lot would have to live with a just, wise, and socially correct decision.

It would not have been wrong for Abram to say, alright Lot, this is not working, it's wrong to have this conflict. You go there and I'll go here. But Abram didn't do that. You see, God tests Abram's faith in this circumstances. And with his renewed confidence in the promises of God, Abram chooses by faith. Now that's what you have to see.

His choice is fueled, motivated by faith. Now let's look at how these two men made their decisions. Lot walks by sight. He makes his choice by immediate, tangible rewards. He does not consider the promise of God at all. At least this part of the promise.

Those who bless Abram will be blessed. He's not even thinking of that. He's not even thinking about Abram. He's not thinking of Abram or God's promise. He's thinking only of himself. He's living in the gap.

What's the gap? The gap between what he sees, a fertile valley that will guarantee more livestock, more riches, and what God promised. You bless Abram and you'll be blessed. this takes faith. That is immediate. He's living in the gap. Which way is he going to go?

By faith or by sight? He goes by sight. He's forgotten what God says. Link your fortunes to Abram. Listen to him. Bless him.

Lot could have said, Abram, you choose. I'm confident in your wisdom. I know that those who bless you will receive the promises of God I know that because God has said it You make the choice You lead It may be the common sense choice that he made but it's not the confident in God choice that he made. You see that? Oh, that's a common sense one. Oh yeah, that's a piece of cake.

That land down there. But there's this promise. Bless Abram and you'll be blessed. He takes the common sense walk by sight, not the confidence in God kind of decision. And just so you get the point, look at the descriptive phrases that are used here about Lot's choice. Number one, one thing it says, that it is fertile like Egypt.

The place of compromise from which God had just delivered them. And then it's like Eden, The place where sin was incubated. And then, it's a place that not only hints at sin, but flagrantly displays wickedness. It's fertile, but it is a wicked place. And Lot's choice notice is bracketed by that. And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was, this is verse 10, that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zohar.

Parentheses, this is before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Verse 13, now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. So you don't miss the point. He's choosing really wrong here. He's choosing a place where he shouldn't go. But none of that matters to Lot.

Abram, on the other hand, walks by faith. He's already received the land by faith. God promised it all to his descendants. But in this promise, Abram discerned something greater. Now look over again. We heard it this morning.

Pat read it to us. Turn to Hebrews 11. From whenever we read the story of Abram's faith, we always have to keep Hebrews 11 in mind. And somehow, either God revealed it to him, or he discerned it in God's promise. Whatever the case may be, here is the faith that motivated Abram By faith Hebrews 11 By faith Abram obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance and he went not knowing where he was going.

By faith he went to live in the land of promises in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For, why did he do that? Why did he live in a land as a foreigner? Why did he go there? Because God called him. for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. There was something more than just that physical land.

Somehow, God had revealed to him in some way that there was something greater promised to him. He lived in that land, always looking forward to the city whose architect and builder is God. The recipient of the promise did not have to guard his future possession jealously. Believe in God's promise. He has no fear in making this offer and treating Lot with such generosity.

Because of the promise, he can be generous. Wow, that just hits home to me. God has promised to meet all my needs if I seek His kingdom first, has He not? And when I see someone in need, I'll never forget meeting someone in need one time and I had $100 in my pocket. And I had plans for that money. It's going to go to my savings, right?

And so I'm in the gap. Because God says in Proverbs, if you have it in your hand to help your neighbor, right then, you help him. And that was ringing in my head. So I gave him the money. It wasn't throwing it away. He needed it.

I gave him the money. What am I going to do now? I'm going to trust God. He says he's going to meet all my needs. And he says, to give, when you have the ability to give, and your neighbor needs help, you don't wait, you do it. It just reminds, it rings in my head, that we live in this gap.

The gap between what we see and what God promises. And you've got to be confident in the promises of God. Obviously, I'm not starving to death, am I, from that. Alright? Learn this lesson. Learn this lesson.

Those who walk by sight can be deceived. Those who walk by faith can see clearly Do you get it Those who walk by sight can be deceived Those who walk by faith can see clearly. You must choose by faith. You must make your decisions by faith, based on the promises of God, not on what to you at that moment may look like the common sense thing. No, I'm not arguing against common sense here.

I'm not arguing against it. I mean, I need a lot more of it, to be honest with you. At least that's what I'm told. I don't have much, evidently. And I'm not arguing against it. But what I'm saying is when God clearly says, I promise this, and common sense says, don't do that.

No, no. No, no, that won't pay off. What are you going to go with? What are you going to do? What about that new job at another state? You go down there, you look it over, it's got position, it's got money, it's got everything you want, but there's one thing missing.

There's not a local church anywhere in that area where you can go to be spiritually fed. What are you going to do? What are you going to do? Yeah, not go. You say, but wait a minute, wait a minute, it just doesn't make any sense. God says you need to be fed.

You live by faith. You love that wonderful, bright, exciting, beautiful, brilliant, unbelieving girl. But God says the good life can only be found in marrying a believer. What are you going to believe? But at that moment, it just does not make sense at all. Right?

The biggest is this. Believe in Jesus and you'll have eternal life. you seen it yet you seen glory yet no you got to believe it doesn't make sense doesn't make sense that God says forget about all your work forget about trying to live in a way that pleases God so that you earn your way to heaven God says it doesn't happen that way you got to forget all that and just believe just trust in Jesus. That's it.

Nothing more. It takes faith, doesn't it? Now notice that choosing by faith produces a different kind of character. Do you notice that in these two men? There's a different kind of character. Look at Lot's character, the one who walks by sight.

Do you remember what we saw last time when we were in this chapter? Maybe you don't remember it. There are two things I said in that last sermon here, in this chapter. The lack of faith leads to the birth of sin. The lack of faith leads to the birth of sin. And this, unless faith grows, sin blossoms.

All right? If you are not living confidently in the promises of God, sin is going to grow. You see that in Lot's life. Because he lacks faith, Lot reaps a harvest of sin. Do you notice it? He's selfish.

He exhibits selfishness. Do you see what verse 11 says? He chose for himself. Lot makes his decision without any concern for his esteemed uncle, Abram. He is greedy. I want that.

Right? He is ungrateful. He owes everything that he has to his uncle. But he doesn't care about him. And all of this blinds him to the danger of the wickedness he's walking into. That's to me the greatest.

When you're not walking by faith, you're deceived, you cannot see clearly, and you're blind to the wickedness that you're walking into. That's exactly what happened to him. And all of this grows because he has little confidence in God's promises. Look at Abram's character. The two things that hop out, that jump out to me are this. Number one, his humility.

He had a superior position, but he doesn't insist on it. Number two, he's generous. He's generous. His faith, his confidence in the promises of God gives him the freedom to be generous. I want you to think about that for a moment. You know what?

I've never seen a congregation that's as generous as this. To be honest with you. When I go to other churches, I'm always looking in their bulletin, checking out their giving with their budget and stuff. You know, that kind of business. Because I think that faith is revealed in generosity. ask yourself this if I lived confident in God promises would I be more free to be generous and to give away more of my stuff and money Abram was generous because of his faith.

And then choosing by faith produces different results. Lot reaps cursed prosperity. Cursed prosperity. he gains the best land and the most opportunity for earthly wealth but at what cost we will see at what cost in a few more chapters and it's ugly it is ugly but he's rich he's got what the world has to offer he's got a lot of stuff but at what cost it's cursed prosperity abram on the other hand reaps true prosperity.

What true prosperity? Look at verses 14 through 17 with me. The Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, notice this phrase, lift up your eyes northward and southward and eastward and westward for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth so that if one can count the dust of the earth your offspring can also be counted.

Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you. What does he have? He has true prosperity. In what ways? Notice this. God says to Abram, lift up your eyes.

That's the very thing that Abram had said to Lot. Did you notice that? When you compare verse 10. And Lot lifted up his eyes. Now that all that's done, Lot's got the best. The Lord comes to Abram and says, Abram, lift up your eyes and you look now.

Everything that you see will be yours. So God promises to give Abram all that he can see. This is a gift from God. He promises him more offspring than he can imagine. He invites him to see the gift he gives him. He tells him, walk through the land.

Just walk through it. See what I've given you. But most of all, do you know what Abram has? Most of all, do you know what Abram has? he has God and Lot does not who is talking to Abram God in some fashion he communicating with God he has the greatest gift of all and that is the very person of God He has communion with and love for God. If you live by faith, you may never get rich, but you will be rich in God.

Suppose you have the opportunity to take that job that takes you away from your family three, four nights a week. You've got to be gone. You live by faith that says, you're responsible for bringing up those children. You're responsible. And I realize sometimes you've got to take those second, third shift jobs. I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about when this looks so good and this looks so poor. What are you going to choose? Are you going to live by faith? Or are you going to live by sight? What's it worth to you? What's it worth to you?

The last thing you see in verse 18 is this. You can experience the joy of proclaiming your faith. Abram walks through the land. And then he builds an altar at Hebron. Now remember what we saw before. By that action, he proclaims that he believes that his Lord owns the land.

His God owns the land. Not all the other gods that are proposed in this pagan area. His God owns the land. And by building that altar, He proclaims that He believes. He knows the joy of proclaiming His confidence in God. There is a reward in that.

Do you realize that? There is a reward in saying to others, My God has been faithful. There's great joy in talking about how God has been faithful to you as you have trusted Him. There are many Christians who, like what? don't have that joy because they've never ventured that way. To live by faith. You have the great privilege of talking about how God has taken care of you.

How He's come through. Do you ever sit there and think as someone tells you that, oh man, I wish that would happen to me. I'd love for God to come through like that for me. Do you ever feel that way I do I want to know that joy of seeing God provide You can be like Abram that way You might say how can that be I so weak in faith I afraid to live that way.

You know what I say to you? You've got to look to Jesus first then. You look to Jesus first. Do you recall that Jesus, that Satan came to Jesus and made the same offer you find in this chapter? Do you know that? Satan came to Jesus and essentially said to him, Jesus, lift up your eyes and look.

Do you see all those kingdoms out there? I will give you those kingdoms. wow you know what the temptation for Jesus was temptation for Jesus was this to get all the authority to get the crown without the cross but Jesus chose instead at that moment by faith in the promise of God who for the joy set before him the promise of joy endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God He has authority at God's right hand because He chose by faith and not by sight. And because Jesus chose by faith, He can free you from the short-sightedness of walking by sight.

If you trust Him, He will give you that faith. If you trust Him, He will open up the doors for you to live by faith. He will strengthen you. As in all those ways we've talked about, you see Jesus and He strengthens your faith. Take that first step of faith. You trust in the promises of God in Christ and He will strengthen you and give you more faith.

How are you living? That's the question you need to be asking today. How are you living? By faith or by sight? by faith or by sight. How do you make your decisions? How do you make your decisions?

We ought to make decisions. that stand out in this unbelieving world. People ought to see Christians making decisions in a distinctive way, in ways that they would never dream of. By faith, believing, just launching on the promises of God. Father, thank you for your word. oh we confess to you that we don't see Jesus enough because we don't seek him in his word we don't seek him in worship or fellowship we we confess that as sin and yet father we pray that you would by those means and and by other means that you have appointed strengthen our faith so that we can live in this dark unbelieving world as believers not just as a shorthanded way of speaking about us as Christians, but as people who actually believe the promises of God and live that way.

Help us to walk by faith and not by sight. Father, Lord, I pray, I earnestly pray that that this message will cause every person in this place to examine his and her life and say, where have I been walking by sight and where have I been walking by faith? God, cause us to stand out by truly being believers. Help us to that end. For Your glory, we pray. Amen.