PP0807 DATE
KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN!
Genesis 13:1-18
Ge 13:14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
18 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD. (KJV)
INTRODUCTION: A blind man walked into Wal-mart one day with his seeing eye dog. He stopped at one of the aisles and then reached down picking the dog up by the tail and began swinging it around and around, and the put it back on the floor. Someone asked him what that was all about and he responded, “I was just looking around.”
That’s what God has instructed Abraham to do in these Scripture verses. “Look around you. What do you see?” Abraham was instructed to look to (1) the North – (2) the South – (3) the East – and (4) the West. This pinpoints the spot where Abraham was at that moment. He was right in the spot where all four directions came together. That is where you are today. Wherever you stand that is the center point of the earth for you. The point where you are now is the point where God can use you – bless you – change you or save you.
God wanted Abraham to see where he was. Look from the place where thou art, or realize where we are. Before a person can be helped in any matter or problem he/she must understand where they are or what the problem is.
A lost person must admit he is a sinner. When a person accepts the truth about sin then he can be helped and directed to God. In my years of ministry I have found it hard to get a person to admit they are a sinner.
An alcoholic must admit he has a problem. Same thing – he must admit that he cannot help himself and is willing to allow someone to help him.
A thief must admit he is a thief.
A dope addict must admit he has a problem.
The pedophile must admit he is a molester.
This was a sad time for Abraham. Lot had chosen the well watered plains over the family ties that he had with Uncle Abraham. Lot was all the family Abraham had. Everyone else had died. He and Sarah had not had children yet. Abraham was depressed. Now Lot has chosen something above his love and devotion to Abraham. Often times following the will of God can be very lonely. There are times when no one understands what you are doing. Many may oppose the approach you are taking to a certain problem, and have turned against you, or it can be like the “Lot situation” – just turn their back on you for something more appealing. Paul felt somewhat the same way – in 2Ti 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world,…… (KJV)
Here Abraham is with his head hanging down and kicking rocks and thinking there is no one in the whole world who cares for me in the least.
God told Abraham to look to the north, the south, the east, and the west. There was his answer. What was it that God was telling Abraham? He was telling Abraham that he was right in the center of the everything including the will of God. He was centered in the presence of God – and God was telling him that He knew where he was and what was going on. It wasn’t the end of the world – there is still much good that is going to happen. Yes, Lot had just made a bad decision, but God was still leading Abraham, and things couldn’t be rosier – so Abraham, “KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN”. Look around you and what do you see?
I. LOOK TO THE NORTH –
What is to be seen by looking North? The Source Of Salvation
A. God Is Referred To As Being In The North. Ps. 48:1-2. Ps 48:1 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.
2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. (KJV)
Two or three years ago my wife and I went to Grand Lake area to visit one of my sisters. They had retired and moved to the lake. She had told me how to get to their place, but I couldn’t find it. I had driven up and down the street that she told me, yet I could not find it. So I called her from my cell phone and told her I was having trouble finding the house. She told me to look out of the left window of the van and I could see her waving at us. I did, and saw her waving us to her house. I didn’t look around very good. That is sort of what God is saying to Abraham. Look around and you will see where you are.
1. Look to the North or look to God. You are at a crossroads, Abraham. Your only friends have just left you, so now you must rely and draw from God.
2. Every person here will be in the same position sooner or later. You had better always look to God when those times come. Don’t go to some quack doctor to help you straighten out your spiritual life. A “shrink” will mess you up. Look to God.
When my family and I left the Southern Baptist Convention, some real close friends left us. Some of our family looked down on us. I thought for a while that we were at the end of the world – but God directed our lives in ways I had never thought about.
When hardships or depression comes every person will chose to follow God or to turn away from Him. Be sure you choose God. Look to the North – here I am waving at you.
a. Daniel chose God in his time of hardship.
b. David chose God also. His brothers made fun of him.
c. Joseph chose God, in spite of what his brothers did to him.
3. Humanism says give us a try, and we will confuse you so you won’t know what to do.
4. The devil says to compromise.
5. Your only source of help is God. Look to the North.
a. You may have experienced a death.
b. Maybe some other shattering experience. Look to the North. Look to God. Ps. 56:3; “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”
B. Ezekiel And Jeremiah Both Tell Us The Enemy Will Come From The North (Russia).
1. Be on the look out for the enemy.
2. Be sober. The devil walketh about devouring. The enemy is lurking all about each of us. He is looking for just the right time and opportunity to pounce on each of us and attempt to destroy our work for the Lord.
II. LOOK TO THE SOUTH
What’s South? The Sinner’s Life.
A. Egypt. Represents The Old Life Or Bondage Of Sin.
1. Remember Egypt.
Gen. 12:10 tells us of a famine in Canaan so Abraham went down to Egypt. There he got into trouble. Ge 12:10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land. (KJV)
2. So while you stand there, Abraham, remember Egypt. Don’t go back to Egypt – there is no help there.
B. Egypt. Represents An Unsaved Life.
1. Think back to the time before you were saved. One cause of Christian failure is, they forget where they were. They forget what it was like to be unsaved, to be lost.
Deut. 24:22, “And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.”
Never forget what it was to be numbered with the damned and the doomed.
Abraham had met God in the South at Bethel. Vs. 3&4. Ge 13:3 And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai;
4 Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD. (KJV)
2. Everyone is a sinner. If you will admit the truth you will openly say that you are a sinner in the eyes of God and the Bible.
3. Everyone must be saved.
C. Between Bethel And Egypt Are Two Very Important Landmarks.
Abraham was at Bethel – What lies between Bethel and Egypt?
1. One of those places is Bethlehem. In a manger 1900 years later the Messiah will be born.
The Messiah, that One that Isaac pictured.
The Messiah, that One that Isaiah would prophesy about.
The Messiah, that One that would come and redeem the fallen race of man.
Bethlehem was between Bethel and Egypt.
2. Jerusalem was also between Bethel and Egypt. It was in Jerusalem on a cross the Saviour was crucified. So while you are looking South I want you to see the Saviour and Him crucified for all mankind. This is the blessing to all families that God told him about in chapter 12.
One reason there is as much failure in Christians is they don’t continue to see the Saviour crucified for their sin.
“Abraham, you don’t know it yet but in a few years you will take your son Isaac to Mt. Moriah, and there in similitude you will give him as a sacrifice unto God.”
This pictures the cross. This pictures the redemptive plan for man.
III. LOOK TO THE EAST
What do we see East? Separation from the past.
A. Sodom Was East.
1. Lot journeyed east. Vs. 11. Remember your family – don’t take them into Sodom.
2. In Ch. 18, Abraham prayed for God to save Lot and his family.
3. So many today have family members lost and hell bound – a brother, a sister, or parents.
4. You will remember the list of names your turned in a year or so ago. More than 360 people were on that list of names. People for whom you were praying for. Most of them are not saved. Look to the East – See them in their lost ness and without God. Many family members are lost and you are the only hope for them to get saved. If you don’t lead them to Christ, they will die and go to Hell. If you don’t bring them to Christ you will someday stand before a casket and have to tell yourself they are in Hell.
Remember what is behind you.
B. His Home Land Was East.
You will more likely than not have to separate yourself from the homeland.
Abraham’s homeland was in the east. Babylon area. Ur of Chaldees. God had brought him from that land unto the land of Canaan. God’s place. God’s will for Abraham was to live in Canaan, and not back in the Ur of Chaldees. So Abraham was standing right smack-dab in the middle of God’s will.
Had he dwelled on the thought of the East he may have wanted to return to his old home. Heb 11:15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. (KJV)
When people start looking back to where they once were, when they start getting melancholy about the home land many develop a desire to go back to that former position or place. That usually spells trouble and problems. You can’t go back – those days and years cannot be recaptured. They are gone forever. Going back will stop you from going forward. You have to digress to go backward.
I can remember a few years after we got married. One summer I got real melancholy and wanted to go back to my home town and live again. I had been gone from there about ten or twelve years. We took a two weeks vacation and went back – while I was there I roamed the hills and the valleys where I had grown up in. They were not the same. Roadways had been built – fences had been added – even some homes had been built where I had hunted as a teenager. The old creek where I used to swim and fish was different. One family had a 20 or 30 acre orchard – apples – peaches – pears. I would go in that orchard as a boy and eat for an hour. What great times I had. That orchard had been plowed under and a big barn had been built there for cattle. Nothing was the same as I had remembered it. It never is. A lot of changes happen in a few years time.
My wife’s old home place – we did the same with it about 25 years after we had been married. It was changed so that she could hardly recognize it.
God tells us to remember from where He brought us. He brought us from the land of sin and planted our feet on a solid rock. Remember that He brought us out of sin that He might take us into the Land or place of Righteousness.
What was East?
C. Heathen Nations.
1. Missionary needs.
2. Lost souls by the millions. In the Eastern region there are three maybe four billion people who do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior.
3. That is where God made His promise to Abraham, in the Ur of Chaldees. Remember the promise.
What is East?
D. The Rising Sun.
1. Brings a new day.
2. A new opportunity. Don’t stand there dwelling on your misfortune. Look to the East. Things will be better tomorrow.
E. The East Has A Great Prophecy.
1. Abraham’s off-spring would dwell there. Ishmael; Saudia Arabia. All of the Arabic nations.
2. The armies of the kings of the east.
3. The return of the Messiah through the Eastern Gate.
IV. LOOK TO THE WEST
What do we see West? The Land Of Service.
A. West Of Bethel Lies The Mediterranean Sea.
“The Great Sea.” This inland sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia, and in the south by Africa. This 969,100 sq. mile body of water is approximately 2,300 miles in length, and has a maximum depth of 16,896 ft. Three and a quarter miles deep in some places. It was the sea port for all of these countries. What a great sea is was and still is today. It bordered all of the western side of Israel.
B. The Land Of Impossibility.
I’m familiar with Paul’s words in Philippians. “I can do all things through Christ.” That’s not what I am talking about.
There are some things a Christian cannot do and still be in fellowship with the Father. Some things are impossible for a Christian. You can’t go and be part of the crowd at work. There are people that you cannot be friends with – you can be friendly – but not friends. Making friends with unsaved people can destroy you. You can’t be friendly with the world and walk with God.
C. It’s Impossible To Walk With God And Play With The World At The Same Time.
Am 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed? (KJV) That means you must agree with God – not God agreeing with you.
D. It’s Impossible To Grow In Grace Without Practicing Faith. Heb. 11:6.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (KJV)
E. It’s Impossible To Out Give God.
No one has ever given God more than He has given them back. It is impossible.
F. It’s Impossible To Have An Open Prayer Line With Sin In Your Life.
H. It’s Impossible To Go To Heaven Without Being Saved.
The Old Golgotha Path is still the only way.
The Roman Road is the way to heaven.
Are you ready?
Look around you. What do you see?
The North – God – The Source Of Salvation.
The South – The Land Of The Sinner’s Life – South is the opposite of North. When you look South you have your back turned to the North.
The East – The Place Of Separation – leave the old life behind.
The West – The Place Of Service – the future.
INVITATION:
