Intro:
1. As his UCLA football team suffered through a poor season in the early 1970s, head coach Pepper Rodgers came under intense criticism and pressure from alumni and fans.Things got so bad, he remembers with a smile, that friends became hard to find. He said, "My dog was my only true friend,"Looking for a little sympathy from his wife, he said, "I told my wife that every man needs at least two good friends—so she bought me another dog."
It is reported that Howard Hughes, when worth approximately 4 billion dollars, said, "I’d give it all for one good friend."
Rodney Dangerfield, Mr. I Don't get No respect, said, "Once I told my old man, ‘Nobody likes me, nobody wants to be my friend.’ He said, ‘Don’t say that—everybody hasn’t met you yet.’
On his deathbed, Revolutionary War traitor Benedict Arnold (1741-1801) was asked if he needed anything. He gasped, "Yes, a friend."
2. Sometimes real friends are hard to come by -Abraham always had such a friend...as so do we!
"7 Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?" 2 Chronicles 20:7
"But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, The descendants of Abraham My friend. Isaiah 41:8
"23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God." James 2:22-23
3. The man who was Friendly with God.
Trans:Gen. 18
I. FIRST, FRIENDS SHARE THEIR PRESENCE. 18:1-8
A. We have a Clear Revelation.
Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre - The word LORD is Yahweh, a title for deity. Since he appears as a man, "three men" v. 2, this is the Angel of the LORD or an O.T. appearance of Jesus Christ.
The other "two men" were angels - Gen. 19:1.
Trans:The only way to be a friend of God is to go through Jesus Christ. Jn. 14:6
Tony Campolo tells of taking an airplane from California to Philadelphia one stormy night. It was late, but when the man in the next seat learned that Campolo was a Christian, he wanted to talk. The man said, "I believe that going to heaven is like going to Philadelphia, you can get there by airplane, by train, by bus, by automobile. There are many ways to get to Philadelphia. Campolo writes: Tony said, "As we started descending into Philadelphia, the place was fogged in. The wind was blowing, the rain was beating on the plane, and everyone looked nervous and tight. As we were circling in the fog, I turned to the theological expert on my right. "I'm certainly glad the pilot doesn't agree with your theology," I said. "What do you mean?" he asked. "The people in the control booth are giving instructions to the pilot: 'Coming north by northwest, three degrees, you're on beam you're on beam, don't deviate from beam.' I'm glad the pilot's not saying, 'There are many ways into the airport. There are many approaches we can take.' I'm glad he is saying, 'There's only one way we can land this plane, and I'm going to stay with it.'"
There is only way to approach God as a friend and not a foe, is through Jesus Christ.
B. The Common Reaction - just three men!
To the undiscerning eye these wer just three men approaching him. Often because of our carnality we do not recognize the Lord.
Jacob confessed, "Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." Genesis 28:16
The two on the road to Emmaus were in the very presence of the Risen Lord and did not even recognize Him.
I wonder if we realize that God is right here - in us and with us!
The Parish Priest, of austerity,
Climbed up in the high church steeple
To be nearer God, that he might hand
His word down to the people.
And in sermon script he daily wrote
What he thought was sent from heaven;
And he dropped it down on the people's heads
Two times one day in seven.
In his age God said, "Come down and die."
And he cried out from the steeple:
"Where art thou, Lord?" And the Lord replied:
"Down here among My people. "
C. The Confident Recognition by Abraham.
(1) He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold - v. 2
NET Bible note, "The particle (hinneh) draws attention to what he saw. The drawn-out description focuses the reader's attention on Abraham's deliberate, fixed gaze and indicates that what he is seeing is significant."
(2) ran (v.2)...hurried...Quickly make...(v.6)...ran (v.7) - when you consider that this is in the heat of the day (v.1) and he is nearly 100 years old, it reveals that he did not view these as ordinary men.
(3) Bowed himself to the earth - v. 3
This word is used for worship...
(4) He calls Him "My Lord" (v.3), which is adonay, meaning Master, a term reserved for God.
(5) His offering indicates he knew that it was the LORD. 6-7
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, "Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes." 7 And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. - this is not some little snack! It was about 23 quarts of flour, far more then 3 passerby's would require!
Trans:A friend is someone you recognize - just the opposite of a stranger. Friends recognize each others presence.
D. A Correlating Response.
1. First, we should respond to God Enthusiastically - do we run to our prayer closets? Do we run to the Word of God to hear from Him? Do we run to the House of God to worship Him?
When we really know God as a friend we will have a zeal for Him!
A vital requirement for growth is heat. A tree may be flooded with light but unless the temperature is about 40 degrees Fahrenheit, there will be little or no growth. When trees grow at very high altitudes on mountains or on the fringe of the true Arctic zones they are dwarfed and stunted by growth....But the cedars of Lebanon have the benefit of being native to a warm and sunny climate. They enjoy a long growing season during which the weather is balmy and conducive to growth most of the year.
There are innumerable dwarfed Christians who have been exposed to a tremendous amount of light but there has been virtually no growth. They lack zeal enthusiasm, spiritual heat...they settle down for lukewarmness and therefore know very little about God's manifested presence.
2. We need Humility if we are going to cultivate God's presence.
Like Abraham we need to bow low before the Lord.
"For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isaiah 57:15
"For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist," Says the LORD. "But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word." Isaiah 66:2
"The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit." Psalm 34:18
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart-- These, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:17
In his book, Future Church, Jim Wilson writes, "Brokenness isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A farmer doesn’t plant his crop in cement; rather, he chooses good soil, breaks it up, and then sows the seed. Unbroken soil does not produce abundant crops, but cultivated soil incubates life."
3. Finally we need to realize that responding to God's presence is Costly.
Abraham didn't bring the left-overs! He brought fine flour; a tender and good calf; he gave God the best that he had. If we want to respond to God's presence it will cost us time, energy, resources, and inconvenience...
"23 All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king." And Araunah said to the king, "May the LORD your God accept you." 24 Then the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver." 2 Samuel 24:23-24
11 "I am honored all over the world. And there are people who know how to worship me all over the world, who honor me by bringing their best to me. They're saying it everywhere: 'God is greater, this [Lord of Hosts]. 12 "All except you. Instead of honoring me, you profane me. You profane me when you say, 'Worship is not important, and what we bring to worship is of no account,' 13 and when you say, 'I'm bored—this doesn't do anything for me.' You act so superior, sticking your noses in the air—act superior to me, the Lord of Host! And when you do offer something to me, it's a hand-me-down, or broken, or useless. Do you think I'm going to accept it? This is GOD speaking to you! 14 "A curse on the person who makes a big show of doing something great for me—an expensive sacrifice, say—and then at the last minute brings in something puny and worthless! I'm a great king, the Lord of Host, honored far and wide, and I'll not put up with it!" Malachi 1:11-14 (MSG)
Trans:God's real friends Recognize and honor His Presence.
D.L. Moody was asked how he managed to remain so intimate in his relationship with Christ. He said: "I have come to Him as the best friend I have ever found, and I can trust Him in that relationship. I have believed He is Savior; I have believed He is God; I have believed His atonement on the cross is mine, and I have come to Him and submitted myself on my knees, surrendered everything to Him, and gotten up and stood by His side as my friend, and there isnt any problem in my life, there isn't any uncertainty in my work but I turn and speak to Him as naturally as to someone in the same room."
II. FURTHERMORE, FRIENDS MAKE PROMISES. 18:9-15
Admittedly this is a one-sided thing - none of us have any promises that God needs. But he has made exceedingly great promises to us.
A. Sarah doubted God's Integrity. 9-13
9 Then they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" So he said, "Here, in the tent." 10 And He said, "I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son." (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" 13 And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?' 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. And He said, "No, but you did laugh!" - she simple did not really believe God!
Were not much different! How many of us really believe in the Rapture of the church - I mean so that it actually has an effect on our lifes?
How many really believer the promise of Rom. 8:28?
B. Sarah doubted God's Ability.
14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? - She did not believer that God could fulfill His promise!
Even the greatest among us has trouble believing God at times!
Moses was one of those great men of God - but not without doubts.
"18 Then you shall say to the people, 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, "Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt." Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat.
19 You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20 but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the LORD who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, "Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?" ' "
21 And Moses said, "The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, 'I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.' 22 Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?"
23 And the LORD said to Moses, "Has the LORD'S arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not." Numbers 11:17-23
What is sad we believer what are human friends promise us, but not what God has! How sad!
Reminds me of 3 turtles who decided to go on a picnic. They were the best of friends. Before long it started to rain, they decided that one of them should go back and get some umbrellas.
One turtle agreed to go but only if the other two promised not to begin eating until he returned. They promised. He headed out.
They waited a day, then a week, then a month, and finally a whole year. Still their friend had not returned with the umbrellas.
Finally, one said, "Look, he's not coming back, lets go ahead and eat." Just then the turtle who was suppose to be bringing the umbrellas, stuck his head out from behind a rock and said, "If you do, I won't go!"
C. But Sarah could not stop God's Veracity. 14b-15
At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. And He said, "No, but you did laugh!" - our unbelief will not stop God from fulfilling His promises.
"3 For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 4 Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar." Romans 3:3-4
Num.23:19/2 Tim. 2:13
Trans:Friends make promises - when the friend is God, they will come to pass! Even when we are slow to believer.
Butler, "The message continues about the promised son...Sarah in unbelief laughed. After the rejection of the promise, God still promised to bless her with a son. God would have been justified, in withholding, the blessing. But grace still prevailed!
How thankful we can all be that grace prevails in our lives. Not one blessing would be ours, if grace, was taken away from us."
III. THIRDLY, FRIENDS SHARE THEIR PLANS WITH ONE ANOTHER. 16-21
A. The Intimacy. 16-19
16 Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. 17 And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, 18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."
B. The Iniquity. 20-21
20 And the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know." - we will see this in chapter 19.
C. The Inquiry. 22-33
22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. 23 And Abraham came near and said, "Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" 26 So the LORD said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes." 27 Then Abraham answered and said, "Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: 28 Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?" So He said, "If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it." 29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, "Suppose there should be forty found there?" So He said, "I will not do it for the sake of forty." 30 Then he said, "Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?" So He said, "I will not do it if I find thirty there." 31 And he said, "Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?" So He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty." 32 Then he said, "Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?" And He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of ten." 33 So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place - two basic truths here.
A. Principle - God's people can postpone His wrath against the lost. If there had been just 10 believers - God would have spared the city!
There is no indication Laban was a believer but he was blessed because of Jacob and he knew it!
"And Laban said to him, "Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the LORD has blessed me for your sake." Genesis 30:27
Egypt was blessed because of Joseph.
"4 So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. 5 So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field." Genesis 39:4-5 (NKJV)
Why do you think God spared that Roman ship that was heading for Rome?
"22 And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, 24 saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.' Acts 27:21-24
You know why the Antichrist hasnt been revealed?
"5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders," 2 Thessalonians 2:5-9 (NKJV)
The restrainer is the Holy Spirit within His church...
Many in America have contempt for the us Christians - but it is the only thing thats keeping God from letting the hammer down! Once were removed - it's over!
B. Removal - God will remove Lot before He releases His wrath upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
The church will be removed before God's wrath is revealed in the Tribulation Period.
"and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." 1 Thessalonians 1:10
"For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Trans: My point is that friends share their Plans with one another.
"No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you." John 15:15
God has shared something with every believer who is listening - He is coming back soon for His church! We are going to be snatched up to meet Him in the air. Jn. 14:1-3
In 1996 George Tulloch led an exploration of the ruins of the sunken Titanic. He and his crew recovered numerous finds including eyeglasses, jewelry, fine china and various artifacts. In his search he realized that a large piece of the hull had broken off from the ship. He saw the opportunity to salvage a part of the famous ship. While the team attempted to raise the 22-ton piece of iron onto the boat, a storm blew in and kept them from gaining their treasure. Although the attempt failed, he resolved to return. But before he left, he descended 2 1/2 miles to the wreckage and, using the robotic arm of his submarine, attached a metal strip to the hull. On it, he had written: "I will come back, George Tulloch." Two years later, he returned and rescued the piece of iron.
We like that piece are in this world, a world like the Titanic that is sunk! But we are not of it - we like that piece are separated from it. And there is a message written on the church of the living God: "I will come back, to meet you in the air, Jesus Christ."
Con:
1. What a Friend we have in Jesus! We share His Presence; His Promises; and His Plan.
2. I came across this the other day:
"I am not sure the earth is round
Nor that the sky is really blue.
The tale of why the apples fall
May or may not be true.
I do not know what makes the tides
Nor what tomorrow's world may do,
But I have certainty enough
For I am sure of You."
Johnny Palmer Jr
StrugglingThruScriptures.ning.com
Blogtalkradio.com/johnnyPalmer
