Working by faith involves a personal inventory of one's life, focusing on caring for one's body as God's temple, giving Christ one's best, and being a blessing to one's family. Abraham's life illustrates these principles, showing his immediate, personal, and joyous service to God, his concern for his family, and his deep fellowship with God. The sermon emphasizes that true service and blessing to others stem from a personal relationship with Christ and a commitment to daily communion with Him, contrasting Abraham's faithfulness with Lot's failures. Ultimately, learning to work by faith means becoming God's friend, which enables one to be a blessing to others and to fulfill God's purposes.
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It seems strange me being on the platform with a dear brother like David in the audience. I've invited him to minister to us tonight but he has declined. I wanted you all to know that and we'll have to work on him that he won't do that again. We were certainly happy to have him with us. We have some great times together. Whenever we get together our talk is about our blessed Lord, what is ours in him. Now, we're dealing with a school of faith. The day that we were saved, God enrolled us in the school of faith, and the dean of the school is Abraham.
And we've been looking at the lessons that we can learn in the school of faith from the life of Abraham. In chapters twelve and thirteen, we looked at how to live by faith. Faith brings us up, faith brings us in, faith brings us back, faith brings us through, and faith brings us on. Then in chapters fourteen and fifteen, we examined how to war by faith. And then the most difficult of all, chapters sixteen and seventeen, how to wait by faith. Our faith teaches us patience, and patience should have its perfect work.
And now, for half of a message tonight, I preached the first half last Sunday night. That's another reason I wanted David to speak. I preached the first half of this last Sunday night. We're in chapters eighteen and nineteen, basically, how to work by faith. This is the fourth of our lessons in the School of Faith. And when we examine the life of Abraham, we're amazed. Fourteen times in this eighteenth chapter, we find the expression, the Lord. Two times we find the expression, my servant or thy servant. And Abraham refers to himself as the servant of the Lord.
Again, let us read from a few verses in the opening. studied the first eight verses last week. And we're going to begin at verse nine, but before we do, I want to read the opening verses of the chapter. Verse one. And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of memory, and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day, and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself, toward the ground. Verse nine, And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife?
And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life. And lo, Sarah, thy wife, shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind it. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord being old also? And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child which am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord?
At the time appointed I will return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied saying, I laughed not, for she was afraid. And he said, Nay, but thou didst laugh. And the men arose up from thence and looked towards Sodom. And Abraham went with them to bring them on the way, and the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. 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 had spoken of him.
And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will now go down and see whether they have done altogether, according to the cry of it, which has come unto me. And if not, I will know. and the men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom. But Abraham stood yet before the Lord. And Abraham drew near and said, Will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Now may the Lord bless the reading of his word. Let us pray again. Father, as we multiply words upon the sacred scriptures, may it please thee, to cause thy word to bear fruit in our lives, that we may indeed not only live by faith and war by faith and wait by faith, but indeed work by faith.
We ask this for the honor and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Here we have the Lord Jesus and two angels visiting Abraham as he sat by his tent door. And as I said last Sunday night, there were so many prominent theological subjects in the eighteenth chapter. And yet, when you come to the book of Hebrews chapter eleven, the Spirit of God simply says of this chapter that we should entertain angels or entertain strangers, show hospitality for some of entertained angels unawares.
And I mentioned that Spurgeon said over this verse that our homes should be so heavenly that angels could visit with us and never know that they were out of heaven. That is a great statement. It isn't always like that, but it should be. Now as we examine this subject of serving God by faith, let me review what we went over last week very briefly. Number one. we're taking inventory of our own lives from chapter eighteen. And as we take inventory of our own lives, we're asking questions. Question number one from this chapter, am I taking care of my body?
Am I taking care of my body? We find Abraham sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. Abraham is ninety-nine years old, and in a tropical country, and in the east, they take a siesta in the middle of the day. And I learned the hard way when I went to Africa how important this is. I thought I didn't need any of these things that they do in other countries, but I learned that it's very important. It's important to us, beloved, because there are only two things that a servant can offer to God. Time and a body. You can't give God anything else.
And if we're going to be servants of God, there are two things that we have to give. We have time and a body. Our body is God's tool. If he wants to have a sermon preached, it takes a body. That's going to do what AP Gibbs said. Apply the seat of the trousers to the seat of the chair and maintain that point of contact until you master the subject, you're going to deliver. Our body is God's tool, but more than that it's His temple. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, but more than that it's His treasury. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
And we need to definitely ask ourselves the question, am I taking care of my body? No, we don't want to debase the body. it is to be offered to God. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your body a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God. The second question we looked at last Lord's day evening was, am I giving Jesus Christ my best? If I'm going to work for him, I must give him my best. We do not serve people. We serve him.
This we learned as we studied the induction of Aaron and his sons into the priesthood from Exodus chapter twenty-eight. And we saw it in the New Testament in Acts chapter thirteen. We minister unto him. We minister unto him. And when we looked at Abraham's ministry to the Lord, we noted, first of all, it was immediate. As soon as he saw them, he began to minister. It was immediate. And more than that, it was personal. He did it himself. He ran a ninety-nine-year-old man running into the herd to get a calf. And then it says it was tender and good.
Then notice he not only ministered immediately, but personally. He didn't have a substitute, but he did it speedily. He ran. And in the east, you don't find men running. especially not when they're ninety nine you see he did it speedily and you notice he told Sarah make three measures of fine meal notice he didn't say are there any leftovers around he didn't are there any leftovers around it often when we talk about giving Christ our best we give him leftovers leftover energy leftover money Left over time.
If I have any time left, then I'll read. If I have any time left, I'll pray. Not Abraham, you see. People want bread. They don't want stones. Abraham didn't go to the butcher and said, you have any bargains today. He ran into the herd and he fetched a calf that was tender. and young. But more than that, Abraham served the Lord joyously. He served the Lord joyously. He didn't complain about it. He wasn't like the elder brother of Luke fifteen who griped. But he served the Lord humbly.
He stood by as they partook of the feast that he prepared, waiting to serve them more. If there's anything else that he wanted, he waited upon them. Then he served the Lord cooperatively. He got other people involved. He got his servants involved. He got Sarah involved. He wanted others to share the blessing that he enjoyed. Am I giving my best to Christ? Well, friend, I'll say it again. If you're here without him, there isn't anything you have that you can give him. He has to first give to you a life in himself. In order that then you have something to give back to him.
If you are lost, you have nothing you can give him. There's much that you may try to give him, but he will not accept it. The only thing that is acceptable to God is that which God himself has provided. That's why we can cry out Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our sanctification. And we're accepted in him because we're dressed. In the righteousness of Christ. Now we come to the two final questions we want to ask in the inventory tonight. Question number three. Am I a blessing in my home? And you have that in verses nine through fifteen.
Where is Sarah thy wife? It would do well sometime maybe to preach on the three great questions of the book of Genesis. They're all in the ninth verse, by the way. They're all ninth verse questions. Chapter three, verse nine, Adam, where art thou? Chapter four, verse nine, where is Abel thy brother? Chapter eighteen, verse nine, where is Sarah thy wife? What a question. Where are you right now? Are you running away from God? Where is your brother?
You may say, am I my brother's keeper? Yes, you are. You are your brother's keeper. Where is your wife? You know, it's possible to be so busy in the work of the Lord as a servant of God that we bless everybody but our own family. Where is your wife? Remember when David in Second Samuel, chapter six, He brought back the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. This was the one desire on David's heart, even as a boy. I learned that from the hundred thirty-second psalm. In the hundred thirty-second psalm, we weed, lo, we heard it at Ephrata, lo, we heard it in the field of the wood.
And in the field of the wood is another expression for Kyrgyz Gerim. And Kyrgyz Gerim is a place where the ark was for about twenty years. And the longing of David's heart was to bring back the ark of God to Jerusalem. He made a mistake when he first tried it. He tried to put the ark on a cart like the world did, and God smote Uzzah when he tried to hold up the ark of God. Second Samuel six. But then David took time out and he saw God's method for handling the ark. And he brought up the ark with gladness to Jerusalem. And then he went in to bless his family.
He didn't forget his family and all the activities of that day. And you remember when he came to Michael, the daughter of Saul, one of David's wives, she wouldn't let him bless her. She was angry. And she paid for it. She paid dearly for it. She didn't want the blessing of the Lord. You know, it's possible to be a servant of the Lord, to be so busy, and not to be a blessing in your own family. When I was working six days a week as an electrician, and I was preaching on Lord's days and many nights of the week, many men were pushing me to go out into the Lord's work.
One dear brother... He taught metallurgy for years at Purdue University, Dr. Edgar Ainsley. He was a servant of the Lord. He said to me, he said, don't go out into the Lord's work while your children are young and do an itinerant ministry, traveling here and there. Don't do it. Wait till your children are grown. He said, your children need you. Your family need you. Stay home. That man had notes in his Bible in perfect handwriting on every verse in the Bible. He was a scholar. He said to me, remember, Noah preached for a hundred and twenty years.
That's longer than you'll preach, and that's longer than I'll preach. And he didn't win anybody. But he took his family in the ark. His family went with him in the ark. and he said don't get so busy that you'll lose your family and beloved when I went out in the Lord's work of all the great preachers that stayed in my home there's only one who wrote to me and it was that man and what he wrote was shine brightly for God a short letter shine brightly for God it's possible to be so busy in the Lord's work.
Remember, Abraham addressed himself as God's servant. Where is your wife? That was a question that God asked Abraham. Why did he ask it? He said, I'm going to bless her because of you, Abraham. That's why it's so important. I'm going to bless Sarah because of you, Abraham. In verse nineteen, it's a very interesting verse. for I knew it did you hear one of the way I said that I got my V and my W mixed okay a Dutchman will do it occasionally but watch the rear seat I tell you here we go verse nineteen for I know him that is a tremendous expression I know him and when he says I know him that means I have chosen him I have elected him and I know him that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord beloved when you go through the qualifications in first Timothy three and in
Titus chapter one concerning leaders in a local testimony You need to go through them and mark how many qualifications relate to the home. Abraham, where is your wife? And beloved, if it's ever necessary here to import a servant of the Lord, to minister on a permanent basis, it is necessary to examine not only the minister, but the whole family. It is necessary. There are times when the most godly home, beloved, has a prodigal. But it's a wonderful thing to realize that prodigals eventually come back.
But when our own children are under our roof, and if they're not obeying God, we're missing it. We're missing it. If he said of Abraham, he shall command. It's not the children commanding the parents. And a lot of children today have the idea that they have more intelligence than their parents, and the parents should be under their thumb. It's wrong. Abraham will command his children after me. You see, am I a blessing to my family? Now it's an interesting thing, two chapters further in the book of Genesis, Abraham again lies about his wife.
Because he's in the land of the Philistines, in the land of Gerar and the king of Gerar, Abimelech. He wants to take her for his harem. Now she's ninety years old. And the king wants her. Now remember, she didn't have the cosmetics that the people do today. She didn't have Max Factor and L'Oreal and all these other things, you know, and she couldn't get a facelift. She couldn't get her facelifted, you see. Why was Sarah such a beautiful woman? Ever ask yourself that question? What made Sarah so beautiful at ninety years of age?
I believe it was because of the resurrection power that God gave her through Abraham. Where is Sarah your wife? Ephesians chapter five, husbands, keep your wives young and beautiful. You see, when it says husbands love your wives, as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, He's saying, husbands, keep your wives young and beautiful. How do you do it? By the washing of water, by the word. It is the word of God in Ephesians five that keeps the family.
Am I a blessing in my home? Do my children rise up to call me blessed? Or are the children saying, I can't wait till I'm old enough to get out of here? I've had enough of this. I can't wait till I can leave the church and do what I please. Now it's an interesting thing to contrast the family of Abraham in Genesis eighteen and the family of Lot in Genesis nineteen. And if you've never done it, you need to. See, in chapter eighteen, Abraham is sitting in the tenth door.
And there's lots of light. Chapter nineteen, Lot is sitting in the gate of Sodom and its darkness. Lot's family went down in sin. Lot lost his testimony with his own family. When he went to speak to his sons-in-law, it was as though one mocked him. He told him, get out of this place. God is going to judge it. He looked at it and said, whose idea was it to come here? Whose idea was it to come here? It was yours. A lot ends up a drunk committing incest and bringing into the world the enemies of the people of God.
How terrible. On the other hand, Abraham obeyed God and the family of Abraham becomes a blessing to the whole world. I know Abraham. I have chosen him. I have elected him, and he's going to command his children after me. Where is your wife? Am I a blessing in my own home? So we see, we look at this, am I taking care of my body? See, it begins with me in the inventory. Number two, am I giving Christ my best?
Number three, Am I a blessing in my own family? Question number four. Am I spending time alone with Christ? In verse sixteen to the end of the chapter, Abraham walks with these three men, and then two of the angels go down to Sodom. You see, the Lord Jesus didn't go down to Sodom. He wouldn't dignify Sodom with his presence. He sent the angels down, but the Lord Jesus tarried and he taught with Abraham. You know, at the beginning of this chapter, we see Abraham busy.
He's running to fetch a kid. He's running to tell Sarah to make three measures of meal. In the beginning of the chapter, he's giving orders. At the end of the chapter, we see him waiting in the presence of God. At the end of the chapter we see him taking orders. At the beginning of the chapter we have Abraham the servant of God. At the end of the chapter we have Abraham the friend of God. Are you God's friend? So in verse seventeen the Lord can say of Abraham, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Seeing that Abraham surely shall become a great and mighty nation.
And all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. Shall I hide from Abraham? That's a friend. A friend is one with whom you can confide. And our Lord here is confiding in Abraham. It's like the twenty-fifth Psalm in the fourteenth verse. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. And he will show them his covenant. The secret of the Lord. And Abraham draws nearer to God. He draws near an intercession. My Bible says, draw an eye to God, and He will draw an eye to you. This is what Abraham is doing. Sometimes we in Christian service, we are so busy serving the Lord, we don't take time to be served by the Lord.
Beloved, it's much better to be served by the Lord. than to serve the Lord. Let me ask you, how is your devotional life? Now, I don't care what you call it. I don't care if you call it a quiet time or any other name that you call it, but I want to ask you a question. How is it? Are you doing it? A friend of mine who's not with the Lord, Elwood Shainley. He's a a salesman for a great Atlantic and Pacific tea company. He went around with a truck and he wrote choruses and he witnessed for Christ in a mighty way.
And I can tell you a lot of good things about him. But he used to wear a question mark in his lapel. And people would say, what is a question? I would and he'd come up with a real question. One morning he was going up the steps at one of the assemblies in Philadelphia. And a woman said to him, well, Brother Elwood, what is the question this morning? He said, the question this morning is, where are you reading in your daily devotions with the Lord? And her head dropped. She said, Elwood, I'm sorry, but I don't have daily devotions.
Let me ask you, in the seriousness of this meeting tonight, Where are you reading in your daily devotions? Are you having a time of daily fellowship with God? How is your personal devotion life? How is it? The poet put it like this, I met God in the morning when my day was at its best, and his presence came like sunlight, and his glory filled my breath. All day long his presence lingered all day long. He stayed with me, and we sailed in perfect calmness or a very troubled sea.
Other ships were torn and battered. Other ships were sore distressed. But the wind that seemed to drive them brought to me a perfect rest. Then I thought of other mornings. with a sorrow on my mind, how I too had left the harbor with my pilot far behind. Now I think I've learned a secret, learned from many a troubled way. You must meet God in the morning if you'll have him through the day.
Dr. Barnhouse, that great preacher that I love to listen to, He had a motto in their home, no Bible, no breakfast. Are we too busy to have a devotional time? You may say, I'm reading my Bible to prepare the Sunday school lesson. That's not your devotional time to the Lord. That's not your devotional time. Sometimes we as preachers get so busy. that we don't have time to draw near to the Lord and fellowship with him in intercessory prayer. Abraham was praying for Lot, a backslidden believer.
That's who he was praying for. He was praying for Sodom for a lost city. Keep in mind, beloved, when God destroyed the cities of the plains, Those people went to hell. Does it bother you? We can talk about the Sodomites, those perverts, and I could give you some names that I think about when I read and when I listen to James Dobbson speak on this business of AIDS. But they're individuals and they're going to a lost eternity. Does it bother us? Or we start in our own souls for the cities of America.
Here's Burlington. Here's where our lot is cast. And there are souls in Burlington who are lost. Does it bother us? Paul was concerned for lost people. Paul went to the cities. And we're abandoning the cities. Paul went to the cities because he knew that if he could capture a city for the Lord, it was then that he could capture the countryside as well. Abraham had a heart for those who are lost.
He prayed for lost. And when you go down, and I didn't read the intercessory prayer of Abraham, he begins with fifty, Lord, Will you destroy the cities if they're fifty righteous? He thought surely Lot won fifty through the Lord. It comes down to forty-five, then to forty, then to thirty, then to twenty, then to ten. And every time Abraham said, I will speak once more. And by the way, when he gets down to ten, he thought surely Lot had won his own family. But Lot didn't win anybody.
He was too busy raising cattle, and his children ended living like cattle. What a contrast between Abraham and Lot. And the only reason God spared Lot was because Abraham was praying. All the importance, beloved, of fellowship with God. It's a man who fellowshiped with God that brought Lot out of Sodom. He was brought up because of Abraham. Am I spending time alone with Christ? That's the inventory question. Abraham interceded and prayed and fellowshiped with the Lord on behalf of others.
And God saved Lot because of Abraham. God was merciful to Lot, not because of Lot, but because of Abraham. I have difficulty saying this, friends, but I'd like you to get it. I wonder how much longer the church can draw on the heritage of its past. Time is fast running out. The giants who invested themselves and we're drawing upon it.
When I listen to some of the music that's being written today, it isn't worth singing. It doesn't exalt the Lord. It exalts man. How long is the church able? to continue on the heritage of the past. On the other hand, we must ask another question. How long can our nation continue living on the dividends of the godly men of the past? When will the dividends run out? You see, the time came when the dividends ran up on Lot and his family.
And God had mercy on Lot because of Abraham. This is why we're exhorted in the epistles to pray for our leaders, to pray for our nation, in order that we might live a godly and peaceable life in all godliness. Now here we take a look at Abraham, God's servant. He's standing still. He's not running around. He's listening. He's praying. He's interceding. He's seeking to help someone else with a victory. That's Abraham. God bless Abraham. Intercessory prayer is one of the greatest privileges that we as a children of God possess.
We sin when we don't pray for others. That's what Samuel told Saul. God forbid that I should sin against the Lord. ceasing to pray for you first Samuel chapter twelve and verse twenty three no what do you pray about when you pray what do you pray about the prayer do you pray about your material needs now there's nothing wrong with that the Bible says we should pray give us this day our daily bread that's material needs do you pray about physical problems and there isn't anything wrong with that my question is do you pray about people Do you pray about people?
This is what a lot was interceding about. It was people. Do you have a list of missionaries, the servants of the Lord who are out there? Do you pray for them? You see, one of the delights in my life is to have a list of those in my mind who are proclaiming the Word of God and then to take the first chapter of Colossians and pray on their behalf an inspired prayer of Scripture. For here's a prayer that is born by the Spirit of God concerning those. Paul writes to them that they might, and he prays that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, that they might be fruitful in every good work, that they might increase in the knowledge of God.
All these things. He prays that, I tell you, if you want to pray for me, pray that inspired prayer of Colossians chapter one. You may do it as often as you like, every day, and I'll be happy. It's an inspired prayer. You see, beloved, it's a good thing to take an inventory. It's a good thing. Are you taking care of your body? There are only two things that a servant has, a time and a body. Are you giving God your best or your leftovers? Are you a blessing in your own family, your roommate, the associates you work with?
Are you a blessing to them? Are you spending time every day with Christ, being served by Him? That's how we work. My faith. God could say, Abraham, my servant, Abraham, my friend. Beloved, it's a wonderful thing when the servant of God is the friend of God. Abraham's family was blessed. Abraham's nation was blessed. And the whole world was blessed because of that man.
who was a servant of God and became the friend of God. Now you and I are in the school of faith. And to get in the school you have to know what it is to be justified by faith. And to be justified by faith means that regenerating grace has been working in your life. And beloved, Once regenerating grace has been working in our lives and we can sing as we did tonight, yea, justified, oh, blessed thought, yin, sanctified, salvation wrought. Then you're in the school of faith. And in the school of faith, we become a blessing to others when we learn what it is to work by faith.
If you're here tonight without Christ, you can't work by faith. You're not in the school of faith. You have not been justified by faith. You need the regenerating grace of God to be at work in your life. And your cry should be, oh God, work in me and regenerating grace. I want justification to be a real thing. I want to know the reality. what it is to be justified. I want to be a blessing to others. It's possible to be a curse.
There's a section in West Lebanon, Pennsylvania where a young man who has worked with me lived. There's a preacher there that I had some good fellowship with. And we were talking and he was visiting in the area of West Lebanon. And I can picture this place in my mind, but you can't. It was a rough area. All of our good people lived there, but it was rough. They were of the world. They were worldly. And I'll never forget this preacher saying to me, he said, I've seen families where the blessing of God is rested upon that family.
And he said, and then there's a family here, and no matter what part of that family you look at, it seems the curse of God rests upon them. Are you a blessing? It's possible to be a curse. And you know, beloved, I can think of a family name, and one comes to my mind, that everybody in that long family connection has done a work for God. And I'm thinking of the Armarding family. Old Dr.
Carl Armarding, he just recently went home to be with the Lord. His son Hudson Armarding. And then I think of a brother of Dr. Carl's and his son. Dr. Carl is now president of Regents College. And wherever I met with an armoureding, they knew the Lord, they loved the Lord, and they were going on for God. They loved me. That's what I want from my family. How to work for God. May God take these practical lessons and use them in our lives for His glory.
If you're here without Christ, you need to cry out for His mercy and His regenerating grace in your life in order that justification will be real. and that you can say I'm in this school of faith. Let's pray. And now we pray to our God and Father that I will take the word and bless it through every heart. We thank you for the privilege of looking at thy servant, Abraham, who is the friend of God. Oh, when a servant becomes a friend, Lord Jesus, we thank you that we can offer to you a body and time.
May it please you to use us as servants and to be able to call us friends for Jesus' sake.