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  REFUSAL OF THE SMALL
  by Hugh Black
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Summary: Faith requires choosing the larger, eternal good over the
smaller, present gain, as exemplified by the choices of Paul and Abram.

Topics: "Faith And Obedience", "Spiritual Wisdom"
Scripture References: Matthew 16:26

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DESCRIPTION
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Hugh Black emphasizes the importance of faith by examining the choices
made by biblical figures like Moses, Demas, Abram, and Lot. He
highlights how faith involves refusing immediate gratification or
worldly success in exchange for a deeper, spiritual fulfillment and a
closer walk with God. The sermon warns against prioritizing worldly
gains over spiritual treasures like a good conscience, peace of heart,
and the hope of glory, using examples of individuals who made
detrimental choices based on worldly wisdom. Ultimately, the message
challenges listeners to consider what truly constitutes wisdom and to
prioritize a life of faith and obedience to God.

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CONTENT
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"By faith Moses...refused..."

(Heb. 11:24).

Faith is the refusal of the small, for the sake of the large. Faith will
make no decision, take no step, merely from worldly motives; for it sees
past the immediate good to a richer, grander good. Worldly-wisdom is not
wisdom; it is folly, the blind grasping at what is within reach. It is
folly, for any present good, to cut yourself off from your true life. A
good conscience, peace of heart, faith, the vision of God, the hope of
glory--it is a fool's bargain (let pot-house moralists prate as they
may) to barter these for any mess of pottage. To rake in the dust-heap
for scraps of treasure heedless of the golden crown to be had for the
looking and the taking--that was Lot's choice, and that is the choice of
every soul who seeks first the world. Demas thought he was doing a wise
thing in leaving Paul when earthly success seemed lost, but this present
world, seductive though it was to him, however much it brought him, was
a poor, a contemptible exchange for the days and nights with Paul, and
the life lived by the Son of God. And his name is an infamy. Lot thought
he was doing a wise thing in making the choice he did, but a share in
the wealth of Sodom was a pitiful substitute for a place in Abram's
company, and a share in Abram's thoughts and faith. And the end was a
ruined home, a desolate life, and a broken heart.

Which is the wiser choice? Paul and a Roman prison and Jesus Christ--or
Demas and the present world and an apostate's mind? Abram and the barren
hillside and God--or Lot and the cities of the plain and Sodom's shame?

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/hugh-black/refusal-of-the-small/
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