SOUL SEARCHING
Gen 18:16-33
16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.
17 And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
20 And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord.
23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
26 And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:
28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.
29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.
30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.
32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.
33 And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
Often, we look at this passage of Scripture as an illustration of God’s judgement on sin.
But when we look a little closer, we find an example of one of the greatest missionary hearts ever found in the Bible! Abraham cared about people that no one else would have cared for. He didn’t just have a concern for the people; he let his concern take action!
In 1886, Dr. John Pemberton’s concern took action. One day he introduced Atlanta, Georgia to his caramel-colored syrup concoction. He first distributed this concoction to Jacobs Pharmacy where Coca-Cola was sold for the first time. As its popularity rose, Dr. Pemberton’s concern was that, every person alive, should be able to taste his product at least once in their lifetime!
It has been over 100 years since Dr. Pemberton’s concern took action. Surveys now show that 97% of the world has heard of Coca-Cola, 72% has seen a can of Coca-Cola, and 51% has tasted Coca-Cola!
Today, many people claim to have the same concern for souls as Abraham but feel that the task is too great to see the Gospel truly proclaimed to every individual person.
But which is more important: Coca-Cola or the souls who are lost without Christ?
Most people are concerned about the physical wellbeing of others. There are a great number of concerns in the world that will testify to that. Food banks, free medical treatment, the Red Cross, free counseling, and financial aid just to mention a few.
We respect the physical life (once its outside the womb of course) but have no real concern beyond that.
If we are ever going to truly make an impact on the world for Christ, then there are some things that we as individuals are going to have to do:
I. We must understand what it means to be lost.
We must see our need for a personal Savior and then respond to that need. Asking for mercy and forgiveness for our sins. Thus being born again.
We know what it is to be lost and we can relate to the lost condition of mankind, and from there comes the burden that moves us to rescue them from an eternal death.
Preventable deaths are a tragedy. More people die every year from tobacco products than from AIDS, car wrecks, and heart problems combined, and worldly concerns are making great efforts (time, patience, money, media) to convince people of the danger of loosing their lives.
But wouldn’t you agree with me, that it is a greater tragedy to sit idle in our little Christian box and let people die in sin and go to Hell without an attempt to rescue them?
Dying in itself is not a sin, but to die without Christ as Savior is a unpardonable sin that carries a punishment of an eternity without God in a place call Hell.
Does that stir you just a little bit? It does me.
II. What we also must do is see the world through the eyes of God.
In my prayer closet, I have revisited the hell holes that I used to hang out in and I’ve seen with my minds eye the multitudes of people there and could hear the chatter, foul language, sexual innuendo’s, smell of smoke and alcohol, hear the misic blasting and see all the drunkenness, and I would weep because they were so lost. And that would be just one of thousands of places like that one.
How do you reach a world so blind to their need for Christ and dying in sin and going to Hell every day? Its overwhelming.
We try to figure out how to save the masses and that’s wrong thinking. We can’t save them in groves, but we can bring them to Jesus one soul at a time.
As lost souls wander blindly through this life on their way to an eternity without God, God stragically places you and I in their paths to try and save them from destruction.
Matt 9:36
36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
Do you believe that God weeps?
To weep, there would have to be emotiom. Is God emotional?
He cried on the cross, but He can’t cry on the throne?
Lets see, is He emotional?
He loves, He gets jealous, He can get angry, He is moved with compassion, and can be grieved.
Grieve-to feel deep, acute sorrow or distress; mourn
So, does God cry? I think so.
So, what would cause God to weep?
Two things. And the reason that He weeps is because these two things are out of His control.
1. He weeps over those who die everyday without Christ in their heart. (He won’t force you to accept Him as Savior.)
Heb 9:27
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
2. He weeps because those He has extended mercy to, do not have enough compassion to try to do anything about those in the first reason.
1 Cor 15:34
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
James 5:20
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
III. We must share Christ’ burden for the Lost.
Luke 19:10
10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
You can have no concern for the spiritual needs of others until you really understand your own spiritual need. You can have no concern about others going to Hell until you are made aware that that is where you would go if you are not saved.
If Jesus was so concerned that He sacrificed His life to keep people from going there, what kind of sacrifices are we making to keep people out of that place?
I think we all used to have some, what of a burden for the lost. But I think that the challenge of reaching them became greater that the effort that we wanted to put into it and so we stopped seeking opportunities on a personal level.
I mean, we send money every month to missionaries and we must continue to do so, but while the number of lost souls are shrinking on the foriegn fields, the numbers are growing here in our back yards.
We as individuals must do something to bring our unsaved family members, friends and people in our community to Christ.
We must realize that before the harvest, we must plant the seeds. It is just as important to plant seeds as it is to harvest the fruit after it comes up.
IV. We must intercede on the behalf of others.
23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
26 And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:
28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.
29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.
30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.
32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.
A. We intercede through prayer. (You and I who are saved today, are so because someone prayed for us.)
B. We intercede through going
Luke 14:23
Go out into the highways (roads) and hedges (country lanes), and compel them to come in,
C. We intercede through sending others where you can not go.
V. We must realize that we do not have much time left to reach the lost.
Jer 8:20
20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
Jesus told His desciples to:
Matt 9:38
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
They prayed and we are the answer to that prayer. We are called to be labors into His harvest.
Conclusion:
What we need is more people like Abraham that will let there concern move them to action!
Because one man let his concern move him to action, 97% of the world has heard of Coca-Cola.
What percent of your world has heard your testimony?
Pray that God would grant you the priviledge to lead many lost souls to Him before you leave this world.
Don’t go through the gate empty handed.
Ps 126:6
6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
Lets pray.
