Date of message: 24 November 2002
Subject: Righteousness Living

Shalom, Boker-tov (good morning),

The Bible records for us that, the moment we believed in Jesus and received Him into our hearts, God the Father will no longer impute our sins against us. Instead He exchanged our sin for Christ's righteousness and now whenever the Father looks at us, He does not see us as us but as Christ and He loves it. The Father's love for Jesus is eternal and since we are now in Christ, we will experience His love for us forever. What thrill and what joy that brings to our hearts.

This week, I have been directed to share with you the lives of two men from the Bible. Both of them have been called righteous by God but both had different qualities of life and that is the interesting part. I am referring to Abraham and his nephew Lot.

Abraham is called a 'Friend of God' because of his great faith. The Bible says that he believed God when God promised him descendents as numerous as the stars in the heavens and as the sand on the seashore and God rendered him righteous because of his faith (Genesis 15: 6 and Romans 4: 3). Abraham had his shortcomings - he lied about his wife twice and almost got Sarah into trouble in the harems of Pharoah and Abimelech but God delivered both of them. When the Lord lingered and did not give him his son for twenty five years, Abraham grew impatient and decided to give the Lord a 'helping hand' by having sexual relations with Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian maid.

Granted, Abraham had to live with the consequences of his actions (and till today his descendants the Jews are still at enmity with the Arabs who are the descendants of Ishmael, his first-born son from Hagar) but God was never angry with him. In fact Abraham continued to walk with the Lord with such intimacy that God Himself decided to come down from heaven with two of His angels to visit him and Sarah.

In Genesis 18, Abraham was resting in his tent beside the oak trees of Mamre (meaning 'strength' in Aramaic) and as he was scanning the horizon, he saw three men walking towards him. The Bible recorded for us that Abraham immediately got up from where he was sitting and ran towards them. He knew that these were exceptional Guests and not wanting to miss the opportunity to entertain them, he invited them to stay for fellowship and share a meal together to refresh themselves. When the Lord accepted his invitation for the meal, he immediately gave his servants instructions to prepare a lavish meal for his visitors. He also went to his flock and personally chose the best lamb to prepare the main meal.

Abraham had a good sense that these three visitors were no ordinary visitors but that they were sent from heaven. His ongoing close relationship with the Lord had given him the discernment to know that the three were sent from God and later through conversing with them he realized that the Lord Himself was in the midst. And what a great time Abraham must have had with God in person under his tent and sharing a meal with him. He must have been so thrilled just being able to entertain his supernatural guests. Abraham was such a great friend of the Lord that He decided to linger in his tent and to share some intimate thoughts with him. The Lord was about to send forth the two angels to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy both cities and He wanted to see Abraham's reaction. Of course, Abraham plucked up courage and started to negotiate with the Lord to spare the cities and finally the Lord decided that He would not destroy both cities if He could find just ten persons there who were righteous.

Lot, Abraham's nephew, by the time was living in Sodom and because of his wealth and also because of Abraham's intervention to retake the city after it was overrun by five armies, he became a judge and elder of the city. That evening, when the two angels approached the city gates, Lot was at the gates as usual and unlike his uncle, Lot did not rush forward to greet the two strangers. In fact, Lot waited until they were already at the gate and then he got up and greeted them and invited them to his house to refresh themselves and to have dinner with his family.

Lot was a shepherd when he was with Abraham and he only parted with his uncle when their combined flock outgrew the grazing areas. When Abraham told him of the intended split, Lot chose the city areas (towards the south of the Dead Sea) where the land was more fertile and also where he can enjoy more comforts of city living. Soon Lot did not tend his sheep and goats but hired professional shepherds to look after his flocks.

Throughout that evening, the homosexuals and gays in Sodom came to Lot's house and hankered after the two angels and Lot attempted some bargaining with them but to no avail. Finally, the two angels had to drag Lot, his wife and his two daughters out of their house by force, set them outside the city and sent them away from Sodom towards the northeast. The two angels had to rescue Lot because of his righteousness (2 Peter 2: 7). The Lord never intended that Lot should perish in that huge fire that night. The Lord is faithful and He remembers His own and would never allow His own children to receive the same fate as the rest of the people in the world.

In the end, Lot lost everything. His earthly possessions were all left behind in the house. His wife became a pillar of salt (I believe she was covered with the potash and sulphur ashes as she lingered outside the city gates and she must have been looking out for all her possessions left behind) and his two daughters committed incest with him. Each daughter conceived and bore a son and they grew up to become the ancestors of two Jordanian tribes - the Moabites and the Ammonites.

Unlike Lot, Abraham continued to prosper. Abraham learnt the valuable lesson of tithing everything that he prospered in. After defeating the five enemies who captured Sodom, Abraham gave to Melchizedek a tenth of all the spoils that he recovered from the kings as a form of worship to the Lord. Abraham had an extremely close relationship with the Lord and as a result, he never suffered any lack; instead Abraham continued to prosper and became more powerful by the day. I tried to look for the Old Testament reference that says that Lot tithed to the Lord but I could not find any verse.

So what is the secret? I believe the key to righteousness living lies in our attitude towards the Lord. Do we want to be like Lot who, though he believed in God, did not value his relationship with Him? He did not invest time to cultivate the relationship; instead, he decided that he should be enjoying life. Because he wanted city life and all the comforts associated with it, he ended up losing everything except his own life.

Abraham honoured the Lord by giving his tithes whenever he had the opportunity. By doing so, the Lord will turn the remaining 90 percent of his belongings into a huge bundle of blessing, the sum of which will far exceed his original blessing.

So how would you choose? Abraham honoured the Lord in all that he had and the Lord prospered him tremendously. Be like Abraham and start to receive His bountiful blessings. Or maybe you may not have received the Lord Jesus as your own personal Lord and Saviour. Take a couple of moments to pray this prayer asking Jesus to come into your heart.
Our Father, our Daddy Father in heaven, thank you that You love us so much that You sent us Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus came, loved You and loved us and was obedient to You even to the point that He died for all our sins and now we are made righteous before Your presence.

Thank you Lord Jesus that You took all our curses in Your body so that we can receive Your blessings in our lives. Thank you that we are made righteous by Your righteousness and that we are now children of the LORD and joint heirs with You in Your kingdom. Come, Lord Jesus, into my heart and take up precedence over my life.

Thank You Father that because of Your Beloved Son's death, I am now a child of Yours and I am greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved. Thank you and I pray all these in the most precious and holy name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our Yeshua Ha'Mashiarch (Jesus, the anointed One). Amen.

If you have prayed that prayer for the first time, welcome to the Family of the Father (and it is a very large universal family). It is important that you are not alone facing your personal trials but that you can obtain good help wherever you are. Why not take the time to find your own local Christian family (local church) and worship the Father together? You will be greatly encouraged when you meet together to worship the Father, for fellowship and for the study of the Word of Christ.
The Lord blesses you and keeps you,
The Lord makes His face shine upon you and be gracious to you and all your loved ones,
The Lord lifts up His countenance upon you and gives you His shalom peace.
Numbers 6: 24 - 26

Have a blessed week ahead, Shavrou-tov
Shalom,
Andrew L W Lee

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