GREAT SERMONS FROM STRANGE PREACHERS
"And the Lord said to Cain, ’Where is Abel your brother?’ He said, ’I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said, ’What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground." Genesis 4:9-10.
Throughout the years, God has used unique ways to teach His people some very important truths. Let us take a look at four "strange preachers" that God has chosen to use, whose messages we would be wise to heed.
I. THE BLOOD OF ABEL PROCLAIMED THREE TRUTHS!
1. Man cannot hide from God. Cain should have learned this from his parents (Adam and Eve) who tried to hide in the Garden from God.
2. Man cannot hide his sin from God: "What have you done?…"
"Be sure your sin will find you out." Numbers 32:23.
3. Sin always brings a consequence. All sin, unless forgiven, will be punished. Sometimes swiftly, sometimes delayed…but always certain.
II. THE PILLAR OF SALT IN THE VALLEY OF ZOAR!
"But his wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt." Genesis 19:26.
The pillar of salt teaches us that every commandment of God is to be obeyed. "Looking back at Sodom" did not seem such a grievous sin but it resulted in the death of Lot’s wife. No commandment of God is casual.
Samuel declared to God’s people: "If you do not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers." I Samuel 12:15.
III. THE DONKEY OF BALAAM THE PROPHET!
Peter, in speaking of the worldly-minded, declared: "They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have for- saken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity; a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet." II Peter 2:14b-16.
This incident warns us to take our God-given responsibility seriously.
"And the Angel of the Lord said to him, ’Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live." Numbers 22:32-33.
IV. THE ROOSTER THAT CROWED IN THE COURTYARD!
"Then He said: ’I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me." Luke 22:34.
"Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a certain servant-girl came to him and said, "You too were with Jesus the Galilean."
But he denied it before them all, saying, "I do not know what you are talking about."
And when he had gone out to the gateway, another servant-girl saw him and * said to those who were there, "This man was with Jesus of Nazareth."
And again he denied it with an oath, "I do not know the man."
And a little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, "Surely you too are one of them; for the way you talk gives you away."
Then he began to curse and swear, "I do not know the man!" And immediately a cock crowed.
And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, "Before a cock crows, you will deny Me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly."
Matthew 26:69-75 (NASB)
The crowing of the rooster in that Jerusalem courtyard has a message for us today: "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." I Corinthians 10:12.
