Introduction: How To Receive The Lord Jesus Christ Series

Great Prayers of the Old Testament

Introduction: How to Receive the Lord Jesus Christ

Genesis 18:1-15

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared September 24, 2024)

BACKGROUND:

*Anyone who has read a good portion of God's Word knows that there are a lot of prayers provided for us in the Bible. The Dake Annotated Reference Bible lists 222 different prayers in the Bible: 176 prayers in the Old Testament, and 46 prayers in the New Testament. (1)

*Today we begin a series on some of those great prayers, but first we need to see the background to Abraham's prayer for Sodom and Gomorrah. And these verses also go a long way to help us understand life's most important question. Let's get started by reading Genesis 18:1-15.

MESSAGE:

*Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? This is one of the ways to ask life's most important question. How we answer this question makes the difference between staying lost or being saved. It's the difference between eternal death or eternal life, the difference between eternal suffering in hell or eternal joy in Heaven.

*Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? This makes all the difference in the world because John 1:12 says, "As many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."

*But how do you receive the Lord? God surely wants us to know, so He makes it very clear in His Word. And He says things like John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." And Romans 10:13 says, "For whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.''

*God also uses earthly things to help us understand heavenly things. Think about good friends for example. I'm talking about people who really care for you, people you can count on. That's the kind of friend Jesus Christ wants to be for us all. So talking about the cross in John 15:13 Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down His life for His friends."

*God uses earthly things to help us understand eternal things. And in Revelation 3:20 Jesus said something very interesting: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." That's what receiving the Lord is like. It's like opening a door, opening a spiritual door. It's opening the door of your heart to let Jesus come in and sit down to dinner with you. It is a spiritual feast with Jesus that will last forever and ever!

*Jesus loves to eat with people. Luke's Gospel shows Jesus sharing meals with people 10 different times! Luke 5:27-31 for example, tells us about a feast in the home of Matthew the tax collector, who was also called Levi:

27. After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me.''

28. And he left all, rose up, and followed Him.

29. Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.

30. But their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?''

31. And Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick.

*That's the kind of Savior we have in Jesus Christ. He is the only Savior of the world, and He is a Savior who is willing to meet with sinners right where they are. Jesus is willing to sit down to supper with sinners like us, so that He might spiritually heal us forever. Jesus wants to transform us like He transformed the corrupt tax collector, Matthew, into the disciple who later wrote the Gospel of Matthew.

*Matthew Levi received Jesus into his home, but the most important thing is that Matthew received Jesus into his heart. That's what God wants all of us to do, and today's Scripture can help us, because the same Lord who went to eat with Abraham, is the same Lord who died on the cross for our sins.

1. SO, HOW SHOULD WE RECEIVE THE LORD? -- FIRST: RECEIVE JESUS WITH HOSPITALITY.

*Give Jesus your generous hospitality. This is what Abraham did in vs. 1-4:

1. Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth (or oak) trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day