God Tests Before He Promotes - Part 5

You know, it's like doing business in a partnership with an unbeliever. I find a lot of believers who will never marry unbelievers, get into business partnerships with unbelievers and don't realize it's the same verse. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Because the unbeliever wants to cheat and tell lies and do all types of wrong things to promote the business. And God's blessing won't be on it. In fact, some believers like it because he'll do the dirty part of the job and I'll just get the profits. Okay, but the blessing of God won't be there. That's what happens when Abraham and Lot work together and God's determined to separate. Because the Bible says in 2nd Peter that Lot was a righteous man. I mean, if Peter hadn't said that inspired by the Holy Spirit, I wouldn't believe it. Because there's no evidence that this guy was righteous. This guy was an absolute compromiser. He only was interested in money, but maybe he had a little spark of desire. Because you'd remember Abraham. I have a feeling that Lot was like one of those poor sincere believers who got a bad wife. I've seen people like that. They are sincere and they get married to the wrong person. And boy, their life is hell. And for the sake of peace in the home, they have to not do this and not do that and allow this and allow that to please their wife. And I have a feeling Lot was like that. The poor man, it says in 2nd Peter, to his soul was vexed with all the things that were going on in his own house. He wanted to try and bring up his daughters in some way and the wife said, Nothing doing. I'm not going to allow you to bring up my girls that way. And the poor man said, OK darling, do it your way. And those girls grew up all worldly and got worldly boyfriends. It was a terrible thing. But this poor man, I think from 2nd Peter, I see that the guy was righteous. I've seen some believers exactly like Lot. Their life is miserable. I remember one person like that. Before he got married, I told him, he asked me, Do you have any advice for me? I said, Be the head of your home. I saw him about 7 or 8 years later and said, Do you have any advice for me? I said, Same thing. Be the head of your home. But now he had 7 or 8 years of experience in marriage and he said, Brother, if I try to assert my headship, there will be war at home. I said, Let there be war. Fight the war and win. Don't yield and give up to the devil. These are the battles of the Lord. You've got to win the battle. You can't hand over the headship of your house like Adam did. You know what happened in Eden when Adam handed over the headship to Eve. God said, You listen to the voice of your wife. That's what God told Adam. You listen to the voice of your wife. Get out of here. You want to listen to me? So Lot was like that. He failed, failed, failed, failed to please his wife. Maybe his wife was the one who said, Hey, Sodom is the best place. Grab it, man. Before Abraham changes his mind, he offered you first choice. Grab it. So he grabbed it. And he lost everything. He lost his wife. He lost his property. He lost all the money he had earned. And he lost his sons-in-law. They died. He lost his daughters. I mean, his daughters didn't die, but it would have been better if they had died. I tell you honestly, if daughters are going to commit adultery with their father, I would say any day it's better they die rather than... That was worse. And that's how the Moabites came. You know who Moab was? You hear of the Moabites in scripture? The enemies of Israel. They came from Lot having adultery with his own daughters. So, here God separated Abraham from Lot in that way too. There also he tested him. He tested him by allowing Lot, you know, this conflict to come. And God watches Abraham and says, Let me see what Abraham is going to do now. He's the senior man. He's the uncle. And they are having this disagreement. And Abraham, the senior godly man, comes to Lot in chapter 13 of Genesis. He says in verse 8, Don't let there be any strife between you and me, Lot, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are... What? Brothers. He wasn't his brother. You know how in India, uncles are... They have all these big, big titles in Tamil and Malayalam and everything. You can't call your uncle a brother. What do you mean brother? I'm so and so. Whatever title it is, you have in your language. You dare not call him as an equal. I love that about Abraham. 75 years old, he tells his 30 year old young man, He doesn't say, Listen man, your dad's my brother. I'm your uncle, okay? You never came. God didn't call you here. God called me. And I'm your uncle in every way. I have the right to choose first. So you just sit quietly. I'll take what I want. And if you want, you can go back home. He didn't say that. He said, We are brothers. The whole land is in front of you, verse 9. You take what you want. And I'll take whatever you don't want. Imagine a Christian. Sitting down with his family members when the father has died and the property is going to be divided. And speaking like this. That's a real Christian. Hey listen, you guys take what you want. And what you don't want, give it to me. I don't preach what I have not practiced. That is a Christian. I've seen that your attitude to money and property determines how much of salvation you have got in your life. The only time, the only time that Jesus said, Salvation has come to this house. Is in Luke chapter 19. When Zacchaeus said, Lord, I'll give half my money to the poor. And I'll give back four times all the money I've cheated other people off. Supposing a sales tax inspector in India says that one day. You'd really think he's saved, right? If he said, I'm going to go to all the shops and return all the four times the money I cheated from all those people. And I'm going to give half my money to the poor. I'd say, hey what happened to you? He says, I'm born again. I'd believe that. I'd believe that a hundred times more than some fellow who raises his hand in a meeting. Signs a decision card and says, I want to accept the Lord. It doesn't cost him anything. That's why Jesus said, when he heard that. Salvation has come here, boy. This guy's attitude to money has changed. That can't happen unless salvation has come. Has salvation come to you? Would Jesus say when he looks at you? Salvation has come to this fellow. Yeah. So the Lord said to Abraham, verse 14 of chapter 13. After Lot had separated from him. Lift up your eyes. Abraham, I saw everything that happened. Abraham, I was the silent listener to the conversation you and Lot were having with each other just now. You thought nobody was listening. Lot thought nobody was listening. I was listening. And Abraham, I saw how you conducted yourself. Nobly. As my son. As my friend. Abraham was called a friend of God. Okay Abraham, you think you're going to lose because you trusted me? You think you're going to lose out in life? Even in your earthly needs because you honored me? You think those who honor God and give up their property because they don't want to have a fight and give up their money because they don't want to have a fight, you think God will allow them to live on the roadside? No. He will not. You think he'll allow them to starve? You know what David said in Psalm 37? I think it's verse 25. He said, I was young once, but now I'm an old man. He probably wrote it when he was 65 years old after knowing the Lord for 45 years. And he said, I'll tell you one thing. In all my life, I've never seen a godly man forsaken by God. And I have never seen his children having to go around looking for a job, looking for food. Never. I believe that. I'm around the same age now when David wrote that psalm. And I think I've known the Lord also the same number of years that David knew the Lord. And I can say, I've been young and now I'm old. I have never seen a righteous man forsaken by God till today. And I've never seen a righteous man's children struggling without a job or struggling to find food or struggling to get a place to live. Never.