Obviously God knows Sodom and Gomorrah is wicked and Abraham obviously knows this because
Abraham has some fear when he says I'm gonna go down and see whether they've done this
Abraham tries to stop him because he doesn't want it to be destroyed
What I want to look at in this sermon is just three different areas where you see the love of a soul winner in this
Sermon three different areas. You can see the love of a soul winner now
Verse number 22 the Bible reads and the men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom
But Abraham stood yet before the Lord and Abraham Abraham drew near and said wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked and
The first area of groups of people that we should love and care about is a love for safe people
We ought to have a love for other safe people and what Abraham said is are you going to destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Now I want you to realize that we know there is none righteous. No, not one
However, the word righteous is sometimes used as a terminology for a safe person because when you get saved
You're imputed with the righteousness of God
So when he's saying are you going to destroy the righteous with the wicked? What he's saying is there's safe people that live there
Okay, that's the context of what he's saying
He's not saying 50 people that are really serving God and going soul winning and really living a good life
What he's referring to is 50 people that are saved
Okay, so he says without also destroy the righteous with the wicked
Abraham's saying you know, you shouldn't destroy this city because there's safe people that are here
Then it says in verse 24 per adventure there be 50 rights within the city
wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the 50 righteous that are therein and
So Abraham tries to get him down to this number 50 righteous if there's just 50 safe people are you in a spare the city?
Okay, now I want you to realize that there's no question that God is right in this situation
God is right in the judgment, which he pours out, but I want you to realize I don't really think Abraham's wrong though
Because look as humans we should care about safe people
I mean if I heard a whole city was going to be destroyed even if there's only a couple safe people in my heart
I'm gonna feel bad for those people
Right, so I believe that Abraham showing compassion and love and mercy is a good characteristic at the end of the day
We don't have the mind of God. We can't fully comprehend these things and we ought to have a love for safe people
We shouldn't want safe people to be destroyed. Look a lot of safe people are not living righteous lives. They don't go to church
I don't want their lives destroyed though. I don't want them to tragically die
Right. I don't want something to happen to them
Anyone if that's God's judgment, that's God's judgment, but as a human being we should have compassion
Okay, I'll be honest you run into people that sometimes are just like too hardcore. They want everybody to be destroyed
Right. We see those examples where they say to Jesus. So we just destroy all and it's like no, you know calm down
Right and honestly, we should have compassion on people for number one for safe people and he says if there's just 50 safe people
50 righteous people will you not spare the place for 50 righteous?
then he says that be far from me to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should
Be as the wicked that be far from me shall not the judge of all the earth do right now
Look Abraham's pouring out his heart and he's basically pleading because you have to understand his nephew is one of the people in the city
And we'll talk about that later on during the sermon
I don't believe what he says in verse 25 is accurate because obviously God can pour out judgment
I mean, obviously that the flood a lot of safe people died in the flood and
The judge of all the earth did right
But you have to understand that if you had a family member that was saved in a city that's going to be destroyed
I mean, of course, you're going to be pleading with them as well
So I don't believe what Abraham says is right in verse 25 when he says that you know
What basically you're doing wrong if you kill them?
But I see the heart in Abraham that he cares about these safe people and it's actually a good characteristic
I mean, I would be a little bit afraid if God said hey, you know what? I'm gonna destroy this city
And Abraham's like yes
It's just like when his nephew is there and other safe people. I mean, that's not really a normal reaction
So it makes sense. Abraham has this compassion
That's a good thing and the Lord said if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city
Then I will spare all the place for their sakes now. We don't know how many people live in Sodom and Gomorrah
I'm sure it's a lot of people though
and
The idea is that 50 saves is a very small percentage because you look at the world today
And a lot of countries and a lot of locations have less than 1% of people saved
Right around the world in countries with with you know heat and religions. It's definitely under 1%
I'm not sure what the percentage is here, but it's certainly below 10% even if you're super optimistic
It's certainly below 5% even if you're really optimistic
Right, it's not high. So I'd imagine for this city to be so wicked and got to destroy it
I mean, it's a very low percentage right now. Obviously, there's not even 50 saved
It's actually a lot lower, you know than that whatever the actual number is now turn to 1st John 4 1st
John 4 1st John chapter 4
Let me just show this to you in the Bible that you know
We ought to have love for our brothers and sisters in Christ
We ought to have a love for other safe people
Now at the end of the day, of course God
It's it's up to God if he pours out judgment on someone or if they reap what they sow
But as safe people we ought to have a love for other safe people and if people's lives get messed up
I I don't take joy in that and I don't believe we should take joy in that even if
Even if somebody does something a safe person and in your mind and heart you're thinking well you reap what you sow
Right because realistically sometimes maybe things happen inside your heart
You might think that but you know what? Honestly, you shouldn't be happy about it. Even if that's true
I do think we should err on the side of caution and just say it's a possibility of a job situation
Or just an occurrence. It doesn't mean somebody did something majorly wrong
But even if you think that they did something to deserve it, you shouldn't be happy about it
It shouldn't be like well, that's what you get
It's a bad attitude, right?
You should have the attitude of compassion on that person even if they messed up and even if they're getting what they deserve
first John 4 verse 19
We love him because he first loved us. The only reason why we love God is because he loved us first
He died he paid for our sins and we love him because of the things that he's done for us
If a man say I love God and hateth his brother. He is a liar
For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how could he love God?
O me hath not seen and this commandment have we from them that he loveth God love his brother
Also Bible says that you say you love God, but you hate your brothers and sisters in Christ. You don't love God
That's what the Bible says
Right now this is not a perfect analogy
but just think about if you have kids and
You know one of your sons or one of your daughters just hates the other one and you tell them hey
You need to love your brother and sister
But they don't listen to anything you say and they just keep disobeying and just really mean to the other child and hurting them
Or whatever. This is not a personal example. I'm just using an illustration. Okay, this is not an example with my kids
But what I'm saying is that you know what you'd be like
Hey, you know you say you love me your dad, but I'm giving you rules and you're not listening
I'm telling you get along with your sister get along with your brother and then they don't listen. They don't listen
They can say all day
Hey, I love you and respect you
But why aren't you doing what I say then and see the Bible tells us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ
So you can't say you love God and then hate your brothers and sisters in Christ when God says hey
Love your brothers and sisters in Christ. It's like well, I love you, but not them. Well, you're not doing what I say, so
Jesus said you're my friends if you do
Whatsoever I command you so when he commands us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ
We ought to love our brothers and sisters in Christ
Go to first John 5 first on 5 verse 1 first on 5 verse 1
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and
Everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that has begotten of him by this
We know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments
You see love is something in the Bible that of course
There's feelings associated when you're talking especially about like a romantic relationship
Obviously, we're getting here to our sweetheart banquet this coming weekend. But what I'm saying is there's also always action
It's not just a feeling because in movies. It's kind of you love someone because you find them attractive
I just feel this attraction to them and look obviously if you marry someone you should be attracted to them and enjoy spending time
Of course
Right, but at the end of the day, there's action associated with love
It's not just a feeling if you say you love someone there ought to be action associated with that
Okay, and the Bible says that you know what if we love our brothers and sisters in Christ
How do we know if that's real because everybody would stand up here and say, you know what?
I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. No Christian is going to tell you they hate other brothers and sisters in Christ
Everyone's gonna say they love them
But how do you know that?
Well, you know that if you keep God's commandments, that's what the Bible says you say
Well, why does keeping God's commandments have anything to do with loving my brother sister in Christ because when you break
Commandments of God whether you realize it or not you harm your brothers and sisters in Christ
When you break God's rules and break God's commandments
It is harming other brothers and sisters in Christ verse 3 for this is the love of God
That we keep his commandments and his commandments
Or not grievous, you know, God is not expecting us to do things that are impossible for us to do
Basic commandments. It's just the sins of our own flesh in the lusts of our flesh
It causes to do wrong go to Romans chapter 13
Romans 13 this idea is taught all throughout the Bible about how loving your brother and sister in Christ and even loving God is
Associated with keeping the commandments of God and not sinning against your brothers and sisters in Christ
Romans
13 verse 8
Owe no man anything but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law
The Bible says that if you love one another you've actually fulfilled the law. You've actually kept God's rules
You say why because of the fact if you love someone you're not going to want to sin against them
Right, like let's say for example, you know, there's somebody that you know
You don't care about and you're really you really need money and you're like, you know what? I'm just gonna steal from them
We didn't have any love for them. That's why you stole from them
But if you actually had love for that person you'd say hey, I need the money. I'm desperate but I
Care about them. I'm not going to take their money
Right. You can't say that you love the person when you're sinning against them by stealing their money
Right when you when you lie to somebody what you're showing is you care more about yourself than you do about them
You're lying to cover up whatever reason I mean and look we all lie. Obviously, we're not perfect
What I'm saying is you're obviously showing you care more about yourself. I mean if you kill someone
You obviously don't care very much about them. You obviously don't care about the families that are affected
I mean if you murder someone they're probably married or they have kids or they have parents they have relatives
They have loved ones that care about them. You don't care about them if you commit a sin like that
I mean if you commit adultery, you're not caring about your own spouse. You're also not caring about the other family that's being affected
Right when you when you break God's Commandments
I mean we could go through every single commandment even outside the Ten Commandments, but when you're breaking God's Commandments
You're actually harming other people look even even the first four Commandments
Which are associated with God if you use the Lord's name in vain other people are going to think it's no big deal
They'll start doing it
Can you imagine if there's somebody at our church that just started, you know using Lord's name in vain from time to time?
Look it's possible other people would just say it out of habit
And we probably have some of our kids just repeat it because they hear which would be terrible
Because kids repeat the things they hear right and so look you're obviously not caring about other people you say
I mean when you lose your temper and use the Lord's name in vain it's causing other people to do the same thing
Right they're going to start doing that they're going to pick up those habits right when you do wrong
You affect other people so how do you fix this well if you love one another?
It's going to cause you to fulfill the law and
Fulfilling the law is proof that you actually love other people verse 9 for this thou shalt not commit adultery like we said
Adultery is going to affect other people when you're committing adultery you're caring about yourself. You're not caring about them, right?
Thou shalt not kill when you kill someone you're obviously not caring about them thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness thou
Shall not covet and look this is just a template because it says and if there be any other commandment
It is briefly comprehended in the saying
Namely thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself
So the Bible is saying if there's any other commandment, and we're not just saying the Ten Commandments
We're saying any commandment whether you realize it or not affects other people
The Ten Commandments is just a good way to kind of sum it up
But you could go outside the Ten Commandments and they would it would be affecting other people as well the actions
We do in life affect other people the Bible says no man liveth to himself
Meaning that you say well brother sucky. I've got these sins. I've got this worldliness. I have this area
I know it's not right, but I'm not affecting other people. That's wrong
You are affecting other people whether you realize it or not because no man liveth to himself
The way you live your life affects other people look if somebody at our church decided just to quit church and stop serving
God you know what that would affect our members of our church. It wouldn't just affect you
Now I hope that never happens, but the reality is that happens at church. You know what it affects other people if
One person leaves other people might leave also or they might get backslidden. They might get depressed
They might stop serving God the actions you do in life affect other people Peter quit serving God
Guess what everyone's like I go a-fishing
right
It's reality. It's not just me. It's not just if I quit if you quit it would affect other people also
No, man liveth to himself the actions. We take they affect other people
Likewise let's say you get on fire for God, and you're getting lots of people saved and bringing people to church
Well, that's gonna affect everybody in a positive way
Right the actions we do affect other people so when we sin we're being selfish
Look obviously you know ma casa Lana entire we all sin, but here's the thing when we do we are being selfish
That's reality because no man liveth to himself
The Bible says in verse 10 love worketh no ill to his neighbor therefore
Love is the fulfilling of the law. It's just important for us to understand. What love is in the Bible
It's not merely a feeling
Right I mean you can feel like you love your brother in Christ, and then you steal money from him
What's like you can feel like you love them great job?
Where's the actions that prove that?
Right you can feel like you care about someone your feelings can be deceiving
They can trick you if we ask people when we went out soul-winning if you ask them. Do you love God?
Everybody would say yes
Everybody would say yes, they feel like they love God that doesn't mean they do love God though, right?
Where are the actions associated with it turn to mark 12 mark 12?
mark 12
Now perhaps they love the God they've made up in their mind
They love the God that doesn't require them to read the Bible or go to church or go soul-winning or do it do anything
They love the God that just you know
Whatever yeah, they make up their own God
but not the actual God of the Bible mark 12 verse 28 and
One of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them well asked
Asked him which is the first commandment of all?
Now look that's a tough question. You know which is the first commandment of all I mean because they're trying to basically whatever he says
they'll try to argue it and debate it basically basically try to criticize him and
He says in verse 29 and Jesus answered him
The first of all the commandments is hero Israel the Lord our God is one Lord
Now shall I love the Lord the God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy mind and with all thy strength
This is the first commandment and the second is like namely this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself
There is none other greater commander commandment than these
So the first commandment is to love God
But at the same time you can't love God if you don't love your brothers and sisters in Christ
So in a way it's kind of like a symbiotic relationship they both need to exist
You know to actually say that you love God you've got to love your brother in Christ
Right and so what God says is basically you know what love God and love your brother in Christ
Love your brother and sister in Christ the Ten Commandments the first four commandments are all Commandments relating to God basically
Right, you know thou shalt have no other gods before me thou shalt not make any graven image thou shalt not
Take the name of the Lord thy God vain remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy the fifth commandment honor thy father and thy
Mother obviously, you know, God is your father if you're saved, but I really think that's a commandment for your physical parents
Then you know thou shalt not kill thou shalt not commit adultery steel bear false witness and covet. Those are associated with man
So in the Ten Commandments, it's sort of split in half or split, you know, 40%
60% but that's basically a template of the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of commandments that there are
Right. There's obviously lots of Commandments, but those are Commandments from God. So you say well, I keep the first four Commandments. I
Don't use the Lord's name in vain
Right and look you don't even have to keep the Sabbath anymore. So there you go. You only need to do three
I don't take the name the Lord in vain
I don't have this image of Shiva in my house or Mary or Padre Pio or whomever, right?
And you know what? I I don't put anything before God, right?
But then, you know, you're murdering and you're committing adultery and stealing and coveting
It's just like we can't say you love God because those are God's commandments and look everybody's gonna say, you know
They love God if there's no love for your brothers and sisters in Christ, and here's the thing love implies action
We're not merely talking about a feeling
so if you got to care about your brothers and sisters in Christ in our church if
They're in need you should try to help out
Right, I mean if they've got something major in their life, you know at least pray for them at the very least
I mean do what you can to help but pray for them care about them
Think about them try to encourage people that maybe fall down a bit get a back bit
Backslidden or whatever because it happens to all of us from time to time
I mean, we ought to care about our brothers and sisters in Christ, right?
It's not just a feeling there should be action associated with that. Look you should love fellowshipping with the people of God
Look at our church, you know people like to stick around and fellowship and stuff
but I've been to a lot of churches where there's someone who loves the sermons and they basically show up a
Minute before the church starts I leave a minute after I had a friend of mine
He literally would be outside the church building before the prayer was even over
He would always show up, you know late miss the songs just kind of show up right for the sermon
You know bow your heads at the closing prayer and then all of a sudden when you open he's already gone
It's like can't you stay in fellowship? I mean, it's just like just a little bit
And I look I get it. Not everybody's the most outgoing person
But you know, actually it's something that we should try to change if if we're not we need to you need to have friends
You know your local church that you care about I mean and you know
If you love your brothers and sisters of Christ, it shouldn't be difficult
I enjoy fellowshipping with people of God what we're built to be around people
There's kind of this dream people have it's like I wish I lived up on a
Mountain and just never saw anybody just this beautiful thing in nature and everything and look I've ever thought I grew up in West, Virginia
Okay, my parents live in a nice house
It's really away from just about everybody and everything and look it's really beautiful
But at the end of the day if you're never around people you're gonna start getting depressed no matter how beautiful
It is where you're around we're built to be around people and when you're not there's something missing in your life because God created you like
Right because there's always been sort of this thing in my mind like with my personality
I feel like man
I kind of would just wish I just lived away from people and like in my my
Personality I would just show up for work and come home and I'm just kind of away from everybody live in this beautiful place
But but then it's like well, how are you gonna do any soul-winning if you're not around people? I
Mean, there's a lot of things I don't like about packed cities, but at the end of the day
That's
Where you do your soul-winning that's where you get people saved
I lived in an area in West Virginia a lot of the areas you drive from house to house for soul-winning
You can't walk from house to house or it's gonna take you like five minutes to get from house to house
So you'll drive in they've got the steep driveway. So you drive from house to house
Preaching the gospel because otherwise and I'll tell you what
I mean, of course we knock those doors we talk to those people
But you know what you're able to talk to a lot more people very quickly here
And so there's a lot of benefits of having a packed city and lots of people or a packed location
There's a lot of drawbacks. But as Christians, it's actually a good thing for us that there's a lot of people to talk to right
Turn your Bible to
Genesis 18 Genesis 18
I
Mean we get a lot of people saved that are never going to come to our church, right?
We got a lot of people saved here today. I mean lots of people get saved and most don't come to church
But you know what?
Call me crazy
But the Bible says charity believeth all things when I get people saved
I still have that hope on the inside that maybe they'll start coming to church, you know, they seem interested
Maybe they can come and you know what? I don't necessarily think it's a naive thing
It's just charity believeth all things you want to think the best you want to hope for you want to pray for them and care
About them but look even if they never come to our church, we should actually love those people and care about them
I mean if I see somebody I won to the Lord
You know at the grocery store or whatever, you know, I'd be like, hey, how are you doing?
I'd be happy to see them right? I wouldn't be like, oh you didn't come to church. I don't want to ever talk to you again
I'll see you in heaven, but just get out of here
Right, I'd be happy to see them say hey, it's great to see you, right?
We should have a love for the saved but number two
Not only do we see Abraham having a love for the saved
I also believe in this story we can kind of tell from the references
I believe he has a love for the sinner as well and the Bible does use this terminology of the sinner being an unsafe person
Obviously we are all sinners, but basically the the normal unsafe person
Genesis 18 verse 27 and
Abraham answered and said behold now I've taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which in but dust and ashes
Per adventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous without destroy all the city for lack of five
And he said if I find there forty and five I will not destroy it
He spake on him yet again and said per adventure there per adventure
There should be forty found there and he said I will not do it for forty sake
He said on them all that not the Lord be angry and I will speak
Per adventure there should be thirty found there
And he said I will not do it if I find thirty there so he's trying to bring these numbers down and
I'm not sure what Abraham's thinking. I don't know if Abraham has a number in his head of how many things are saved
Or whether or not now I do believe that
Sodom and Gomorrah would have been destroyed no matter what Abraham said
So if Abraham actually got down to that number God would say, you know, no, there's got to be more saved than that. Okay?
But I do believe that sometimes Moses actually bargains with God and basically God actually
Will follow what Moses says because Moses actually caring about the people and praying for them
Remember God said he would destroy all the people and start over with Moses family
Moses actually intervenes and I do believe he changes the mind of God obviously God knew that was going to take place
What I'm saying is because of the actions God said, okay, you know what or like the king of Nineveh
I mean actions were actually because actions took place God actually changed what he was going to do right in this story. I
Don't believe that God would have spared Sodom and Gomorrah right because Abraham as far as we know Abraham stops at 10
It doesn't mention anything after that. I'm assuming it stops at that point
I don't think Abraham said there's one person right but here's the thing. I don't believe God would have agreed to that
I think he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because he had already determined it's just too wicked
Right. The last thing I think Abraham could have done is maybe plead to do a soul winning marathon
Let it let us just have one so winning marathon
See if we can get a few people saved or something like that go to 2nd Corinthians 5 2nd Corinthians 5
Now when I say a love for the sinner, I'm not saying a love for the sodomite
Understand the difference of what I'm saying here
Now obviously in Sodom and Gomorrah there were a lot of homos
But I don't believe that everyone was a homo of the unsaved people. I don't believe the majority were I
Believe that most were just unsaved people and I'll be honest if there was a city being destroyed because look
There's a lot of cities here in the Philippines with a lot of homos
Right where maybe God would decide to judge it one day, but here's the thing
It's not like most of them are homos and not only that it's just like if God destroyed a city number one
We should care about saved people and say man
I don't want to see saved brothers and sisters in Christ be destroyed
But in my heart, I wouldn't want to see unsaved people be destroyed
Right. I mean you want to see unsaved people just I wouldn't want that to happen
Right me. I'm sure when Noah lived and then the world's being flooded
I'm sure he wasn't happy that unsaved people ended up dying and going to hell especially a lot of people know it probably preached to
It's not going to be happy about that and I don't believe Abraham's happy either that now I don't believe Abraham
Comprehends how bad Sodom and Gomorrah is and
Inside Abraham's heart. He has mercy and compassion, but it's kind of a situation kind of like
Moses where Moses pleads for the people
Then he comes down the mountain and he sees them worshipping the golden calf and then he gets really angry and he kind of realizes
Well, that's why God was so mad right the book of Ezekiel talks about you think things are bad
You don't know what's actually going on behind closed doors
Right, and this is certainly true when it comes to sodomites a lot of wicked and evil things are being done
But it's not always surface level. You don't know that
It's just you hear stories and then you can infer it's actually a lot worse than we think though, right?
2nd Corinthians 5 let's see what the responsibility is for us as safe people 2nd Corinthians 5 verse 18 and
All things are of God who have reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and have given to us the ministry of reconciliation
He's given this job to us to reconcile people to the Savior to wit that God was in Christ
Reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses on to them and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us
We pray you in Christ said be reconciled to God and look wherever you live
You ought to look at yourself as an ambassador for that area, you know nations will have like an ambassador
Which is kind of like a representative that's trusted by the government
And you know those people it's a big responsibility to be an ambassador for a country, right?
We're ambassadors for Christ no matter where you live
Now we're ambassadors here in Pampanga, you know, we all live in kind of different parts of Pampanga
But we're ambassadors here for Pampanga and there's what there's more than 2 million people
Aren't there that live in Pampanga if I remember correctly
There's more than 2 million people that live in Pampanga if I remember correctly, so and it's increasing quite a bit
So that's a lot of people
It's like we only got a small handful of ambassadors, right?
But we are the ambassadors for Pampanga people that work as OFW's in countries
You know what? They're ambassadors for those locations
A lot of times they go to countries where there's very few safe people heathen religions
People go to Muslim countries and they work overseas. It's like well while they're in that area, they're ambassadors in that area
Right now obviously people make decisions for different reasons
I wouldn't always necessarily think it's the right choice to be an OFW
But if that's the choice that you made and that's where you are be an ambassador for Christ in that area, right?
Wherever you are in life, it's like serve God and be a representative for him
And what I believe Abraham looked at this and said, you know what? I'd like to get some of these people saved
I don't want them to all die and go to hell go to Matthew 9 Matthew 9
Now
If you love if you really love the unsaved people and look we ought to love saved people more than unsaved people
That's very clear in the Bible
Jesus I'm sure he prayed for unsaved people a lot
But he specifically talked about praying for those that are saved and those that will end up getting saved
He talked about praying for the safe. We should spend more time praying for saved people than unsaved. That's what I believe
That's what I see in the Bible loving your brothers and sisters in Christ
But we ought to have a love for unsaved people as well
We go soul winning and we pray that we'll be able to get people saved
We pray for unsaved family members and relatives right now. Hopefully you're not just praying for them
You're actually doing the work, but we should have a love for unsaved people as well. And if you do
Then you're gonna go soul winning not just simply out of duty
But that because you actually care about those people you have compassion on them
Matthew 9 verse 35 and
Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching their synagogues and
Preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people
When he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd
Then saith the unto his disciples the harvest truly is punchiest, but the labors are few pray
Therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth
labors into his harvest
you know, I've thought about something this story before when I've been so winning in areas like
Lunetta or Rizal Park in Ermita
Because it's very packed on evenings. At least it was Bago Nang pandemic. I don't really know about now
You know how it is, but basically at night times
It would be like really really packed and we had so many marathons there for missions trips and things like that
And it's like we get a lot of people saved
But then you looked out at just like a thousand people and it's like we actually got a very small percentage of these people saved
And
This is of course a smaller number than what you see in the Bible because Jesus had a lot of people following him
But it's like as much work as you do. It's just like
It's really a small percentage. I mean if you go so winning you get three people saved in a day. Praise the Lord for that
It's a lot of people but then you look out at thousands and thousands of people. It's like man
barely did anything
Now honestly you did a lot
But it's just a small drop in the bucket
And of course we need to get as many drops in that bucket as we can
But I'm just saying there's just so many unsaved people. We need more saved people stepping up to the plate
We need more saved people getting involved in the work of going soul winning. You say why? Because the harvest truly is punchiest
But the labors are few
Very few people are actually willing to go out and do the work and get go soul winning and get people saved
Go to Jude chapter 1. Jude 1
Jude 1
Look I don't believe that God would have used Abraham
Unless he was a mighty soul winner for the Lord and I mean that's part of being a good believer
Is that you are a soul winner and Abraham was greatly used by God
So I do believe that Abraham preached the gospel and got people saved, right?
I think there's no question about that. And I believe that was inside of his heart to want to get people saved. Jude 1 verse 22
And
if some and if some have compassion making a difference and
Others say with fear of pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flesh
What it says in verse 22 is and if some have compassion making a difference now
This is referring to unsaved people that we should have compassion on but the Bible saying is we should have compassion on
Unsaved people to want to make a difference
Okay, what that is is basically hey, you know what I want to go soul winning because of the fact I care about these people
Okay
But then it says in verse 23 and others save with fear
Pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flesh now
It says others save with fear and I want you to realize notice it says pulling them out of the fire
Well, who's the one who's afraid the soul winners the one who's afraid? I
Don't I don't believe it's saying save them with fear as in scare them into getting saved now
I look of course we talk about hell don't misunderstand me
I'm not saying we avoid what I'm saying is the Bible saying hey, you know what have compassion to get people saved
If you don't have compassion out of fear out of fear for what out of fear of them burning in hell pull them out of
the fire
Right. We know that they're in a building that's on fire. They don't know that pull them out of fire
You say why because you're afraid you're afraid that they're gonna die and go to go to hell right others say with fear
Look, there's many reasons why we might go so winning if you go so winning because you want to get rewards in heaven
There's nothing wrong with that. The Bible says use that as a motivation
If you want to go so winning because you have compassion like man, I care about these people. I love them. That's great
That's verse 22
For me, the biggest motivation is verse 23. I'm just afraid of them going to hell
Right where it's like there's times where it's like man. I don't I don't feel like going so winning. I
Don't want them to go to hell though, right?
And it's like sometimes that's a big motivation to get us over the laziness or whatever that makes us want to go because we're like
Man, you know what? I care about these people. We need to give them a gospel
Right and look last I checked hell is not cooling off
Last I checked hell's enlarging itself because more and more people are going there
Last I checked most people are unsaved and it's just like hey out of fear
Right the Bible says Noah moved with fear build an ark right fear is a great
motivation in life and
It's just like fear of people going to hell. That's a big motivation
I've had times at night time where I just have some free time and I just kind of sit down and I stop I
Just think about help. I try to do that
I wish I did it more than I do because that motivates me
Because sometimes you go through life and of course, we believe in hell, but it's not really a reality because we don't see it
and
Just thinking about it and putting it in your minds
It motivates you it motivates me to want to get people saved. It's like man out of fear of people dying going to hell
It's like I want to get him saved, right?
Turn your Bible to Genesis 18
Genesis 18
Unfortunately, there's a lot more lots than Abraham's a
Lot of people choke with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life
A lot of people fade out due to trials and temptation
It's a lot more lots than there are Abraham's and that's a sad thing because I'm sure Abraham got a lot of people saved in
His life. I'm positive of it a lot
Well, I don't know if he got anybody say maybe he did before he's backslidden maybe he got one person saved in Sodom and Gomorrah
Maybe some of his kids were saved. I'm not super confident, but maybe I'm not really sure right
We ought to have a love for the save number one
We ought to have a love for the sinner as well. And I think we see that in the story
I mean one reason why Abraham doesn't want it to be destroyed is because you know what there's unsafe people that are still reachable
Right and look I do believe that there are people in Sodom and Gomorrah that were reachable and the Bible even says that if
They had gotten to Sodom and Gomorrah sooner
There would actually be people that had changed their mind and believed on Jesus
Right Bible says that they would have repented meaning changing their mind about what they believe
You know if a lot had gone in there and preached the gospel, I'm not saying most people would have gotten saved
I'm not saying the culture would have just been all of a sudden turned non homo
I mean, obviously it was infested with that. But you know what? I believe he could have gotten some people saved
And look
Aren't there people in 2022 that look at what's going on with the homos and the cross-dressers?
And it's like these people are a bunch of weirdos and freaks
Aren't there a lot of people just normal people that think that I
Mean do you think we're the only ones that think vice pong eats a disgusting?
We're not the only ones a lot of people see that
Right and look it's it's everywhere I was going so money on Sunday with brother Marlin we were paired up and we
It was really weird. It's one of those, you know, brother Corbin rest
I'll preach a sermon recently at Verity where you had to be there
This is one of those where you had to be there to fully experience
But you know, we call them call to the person, you know towel pull and then all of a sudden the person came
they open the door and they're like
looking really weird and
then they just
Then they ended up I mean it was it was strange and I was just like it was it was a woman or at least
I thought it was a woman. Okay
And I was just like man. Well, what an ugly woman
But she was just acting really strange just like and I was like what in the world was wrong with that woman
Marlon's like that's not a woman. I'm like, oh
That's disgusting. Right? Do you think we're the only ones that have that reaction though?
I mean, there's a lot of people that see that and it's just like oh
It's disgusting
Right. It's not like that just magically appears when you get the Holy Spirit of God
It's like no people feel that way
What happens is there's a lot of people that feel that way and they think that they're supposed to just you know
Love everyone and and they feel guilty about feeling that way but inside they're like, this is terrible. This is disgusting
It's an abomination many people think that it's not just us many people actually think that
So number one we should have a love for the save number two a love for the sinner not the sodomite a love for the
Sinner not the sodomite. Okay, it's it's an illiterate sermon love for the save love for the sinner love for the sodomite
No, it's not. Okay, that's not point number three
Number three is a love for siblings family and friends
So basically, you know his nephew lot and you know
Of course
We see that in this story that Abraham has a love for his nephew
Genesis 18 verse 31 and he said behold now I've taken upon me to speak unto the Lord peradventure
There should be 20 found there and he said I will not destroy it for 20 sake
He said oh let not the Lord be angry and I'll speak yet
But this once peradventure 10 shall be found there and he said I will not destroy it for 10 say now
I'm really curious of Abraham's reaction. I wonder whether he thought there was 10 saved or whether or not he wasn't sure
It's like I'm not really sure what he was thinking but he gets the number down to 10 and God says
I'm not going to destroy it for 10 sake meaning there was less than 10 people saved in Sodom and Gomorrah
We don't know what the number is. We're not I don't I'm I'm personally not confident with other members of Lot's family
I hope that they were all saved, but he has at least four daughters
And he has a wife
I mean if all of them were saved that would be six which maybe they were right the sons-in-law certainly
Don't believe though they basically reject so I'm not even sure that his his daughters that were married to them
Believe it or not. I'm not really sure go to Luke chapter 16
Luke 16
We should have a love for saved people we should have a love for sinners
But you know there should be a love for people that you personally know your siblings family friends co-workers
I mean obviously
God gave you cousins for a reason God gave you aunts and uncles and grandparents obviously you're related for a reason look
Let's just be honest. We care more about getting a relative saved than a normal person that we don't know
Right I mean if you've gotten relatives saved in your life. I mean that was very exciting for you
Right it's more important to us
Right then I mean and obviously I mean and it makes sense. I mean you know them
I mean you care about getting a co-worker save is probably more exciting than just getting a random person saved door-to-door
Now of course we need both
Everyone needs the gospel, but what I believe is this
That God has given every single person in this world a soul winner that is meant to preach the gospel to them in fact
Let's let's just turn there now first Corinthians 3. I'm adding this in my notes is not in my notes
So first Corinthians 3 let me show this to you. I
Should have put this in the sermon
First Corinthians 3 verse 5
Who
Then is Paul and who is a Paulist but ministers by whom he believed
Even as the Lord gave to every man what the Bible is saying in 1st Corinthians 3 verse 5 is the Lord gave to
every man a
Minister or someone that's meant to preach them the gospel now
It does not mean that everybody's heard the gospel
But what it does mean is God has designed every single person in this world to specifically have someone
Who's meant to preach the gospel to them and that's true even in heathen countries
Now I'm not saying that there's a whole lot of people saved in some of these countries
But honestly that if you have just you know
0.1 percent of a culture saved one out of a thousand people well over the course of
Three years if you preach the gospel to one person a day, you know
You'd reach a thousand people you run in contact with a lot of people and it's like if everybody was doing the work
Everybody would hear the gospel right the Lord gave to every man someone
So here's the thing if you have cousins and relatives and moms dads, you know, aunts uncles kids and everything
Who do you think God has designed to preach the gospel to them? Who do you think is meant to get your cousin saves?
you
Who's meant to get your parents saved you who's meant to get your aunt your uncle saved you
Doesn't I mean if God's given to every single unsaved person a
Minister to preach the gospel to them doesn't it just make sense that you know what if you're in close contact with someone
You're probably the one I
Mean we should take that attitude with us if you have a co-worker at work, you know, you're probably the one
right
If you got into Queens that you see in a regular basis, you're probably the one that's meant to preach the gospel to them
I mean look in praise the Lord if if if any of our family members get saved
I mean, that'd be great. If any of us preach the gospel to other people's family members or had that opportunity, but quite honestly
I'm probably not going to have opportunities to preach to your family members. You're probably not going to have opportunities to preach to mine
You're probably the person that's designed to get them saved
Right, and I do believe that we should have a special love for those that are in our circle of acquaintances
Friends and family to at least try to get them saved. I'm not saying be best friends with them
I'm not saying just hang out with them at bars and everything to try to get them saved
But I'm saying just opening your mouth and trying boldly to try to get them safe. Go back to Luke 16
Luke 16
Luke 16 verse 19
There is a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day
And there's a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs
Which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores
And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels in Abraham's bosom
The rich man also died and was buried and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torments and see if Abraham afar off
And Lazarus in his bosom and he cried and said father Abraham have mercy on me and sin Lazarus that he may dip the tip
Of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame now
We don't know whether Lazarus gave the gospel to this rich man or not
The rich man obviously talked to him from time to time
I would say I mean he
Got kind of crumbs or leftovers from the rich man or whatever the rich man seems like an okay guy
Maybe Lazarus felt like he wouldn't listen to him or whatever
But I'm just saying if you're in this sort of situation where you know somebody like this, you know what?
That's you're probably the person designed to preach the gospel to him
You're probably the one designed to try to get him saved and
The reality is these unsaved people die. They're tormented in hell forever. You know what? Honestly, we should think about that more. I
Should think about that more it will motivate us to realize that you know, what don't have this attitude. Well just next week
Just next month
Just next year. Well, what if that doesn't come?
Right. I mean, I've heard stories from preachers that talk about people they knew that just tragically died
I've heard stories about people that they went soul-winding
There's this family, you know
and then the the father of the family was not saved but the the mom and the kids were going to church and then the
Father died in a car accident and these are people that are saying personal stories. I don't think they're all fake stories
I mean this happens things happen and you want sometimes it can just be too late for someone
Right go back to Genesis 18 Genesis 18
You
See Abraham had a nephew whose name was Lot and
I believe that's a large part of why this was so personal to Abraham. He's like, hey, I've got my nephew and look
The Bible doesn't necessarily explicitly say but I don't think Abraham was happy when Lot departed from him and he didn't really see him anymore
I'm just like that's I mean in in many ways
Abraham was like a father a lot
Because Lot's father as long as I'm not misremembering had already passed away
So I believe Abraham was like a father to him. And so he was actually his nephew
But in many ways he was sort of like a mentor kind of like his father and he kind of took him under his wing
And you see Lot obviously with him, right?
Well, imagine how painful that is
If you know that they're gonna be destroyed and hey, you know what Lot is actually in there in Sodom and Gomorrah, right?
He had a love for his nephew Lot
Genesis 18 verse 33 and
The Lord went his way as soon as he had left communing with Abraham and Abraham returned on to his place now
You say brother Stuckey you're talking about this love for Abraham a love for the save a love for the sinner love for siblings love
For his nephew Lot. Well, how do you really know this because you're trying to infer from the passage?
Well, you know, it does specifically say you had a love for the save
I believe he can tell you as a love for the sinner just a norm unsafe person as well
But let me just prove you in Genesis 19 go to Genesis 19 and I believe you can see in Genesis 19 the love that Abraham
has
Genesis 19 verse 27
And
Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord and he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah and
Toward all the land of the plain and beheld and lo the smoke of the country went up as a smoke of a furnace
You see Abraham wakes up early in the morning
To see what's going to happen to Sodom and Gomorrah. This is obviously something that's important to him, right?
He's not affected by this but Abraham, you know, he's not personally affected but Abraham wakes up to see
To look at what's going to take place you say what he didn't want it destroyed
He didn't know what was gonna happen
And look, I do believe Abraham was a man who had a pattern of waking up early
But I also think the Bible's trying to tell you something when it says he got up early in the morning
Right, you know sometimes when you have something really important to do you wake up early
I got to be ready for this
I got to be prepared for this and Abraham got up early in the morning
Early in the morning to the place where he stood when he talked with the Lord the previous day and he looks towards Sodom and Gomorrah
And he sees it go up as a smoke
the smoke of a furnace
Right, I can imagine Abraham's thinking man, I hope there's ten people saved here just ten people saves and then
Not even ten people saved right? Look Abraham had more of a love for Sodom and Gomorrah than Lot did
Do you see the love of a soul winner?
Because Abraham is a soul winner that serves God and loves God
Of course, it doesn't explicitly talk about his soul winning but every great person ever used by God
He that wanted souls is wise it's in the Old Testament
Lot is not a soul winner. Lot is your typical Christian typical worldly Christian doesn't care about anybody except himself, right?
Abraham care Abraham cares more about the area lots living in than lot really does now a lot gets frantic and he's trying to you
Know help fix the situation everything like that
But it's just like they have to grab a hold of lot
I mean doesn't take it very seriously in Genesis 19, which we're gonna see in the next couple weeks
but
Abraham actually really cares and I can imagine the night before Abraham's just praying God
Please turn your hand of mercy. Give them another chance. He's saying everything he can then he wakes up early in the morning
He looks at Sodom and Gomorrah
Imagine if God came to you, which obviously is not going to happen
But imagine if God came to you and said, you know what you think Mount Pentateuch was bad
It's like this time it's gonna blow ten times as bad
Right and you know, let's say you're outside of the zone
It's just like imagine it's like man. I don't want to see everybody in Pampanga and Tarlac and everywhere just their lives destroyed. I
Don't want to see I don't want it to happen to save people. We've gotten plenty of people saved
I don't want their lives to be destroyed
Right everything in your life is uprooted. Who knows what's gonna happen. Your career is probably done and all kinds of things
I mean every I don't want that to happen to people, you know
I don't want to see just the normal sinner just you know end up dying in some sort of accident like that
I don't like seeing that
Right, and of course if you have relatives you don't that to happen to them
But see here's the thing you say brother Stuckey. Was it a waste on Abraham's part of me?
He pleads with God and he cares about him. He wakes up early in the morning. What a waste boy
Is it a waste notice what it says in verse 29?
Genesis 19 verse 29 and it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain
That God remembered that lot was saved and spared him. Is that what the Bible says?
See
I think people assume Lot was spared because he was a saved person. No
Lot was not spared because he was a saved person
God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt
See the reason why Lot was spared was not because of Lot. See God would have just killed Lot
That's what we're seeing
God doesn't say I spared Lot because of Lot. He's a saved person and look
I would never allow anything to happen to a saved person. Well, I'm sorry, but that's not actually who God is
The flood destroyed a lot of saved people and you know what God spared Lot because of Abraham. I
Mean if it's not clear and I mean common sense will tell you he has a love for Lot
But the proof is right here in Genesis 19 verse 29
Here's his love because the reason why God spares Lot is because Abraham cared about Lot. God knew it Abraham
I'm sure was praying for a lot. It's like hey if they do get destroyed, please allow Lot to be spared
God remembers Abraham and he says you know what this soul winner cares about him so much and he's serving me
I want to answer the request of Abraham
Not of Lot. I mean we're in I'm not trying to get into it for sake of time
We're going to talk about Genesis 19
You know the next several weeks
but
Lot is told it's going to be destroyed and he's lingering like him and his wife like the angels have to just like pull them
Out of the city. It's like what's wrong with you? Look the angel would have been like, hey, we'll just leave you right
But except for Abraham it wasn't because of Lot. It's not like well God would never let anything happen to a saved person
That's not reality
God does allow saved people to die and and you know what if there is this sort of judgment that went down
Sometimes the worldly are going to go down with the unsaved
When the flood took place a lot of saved people died
But here's the thing if you are living a godly life
I do believe God's hand of protection is most likely going to be upon you
He's probably going to spare you in a situation like this, but Lot wasn't exactly living a godly life
So it's kind of like what's the purpose of in God's eyes? It's like well, he's not doing anything for me
Anyway, I might as well just take him home to heaven
Right because honestly if you're not if you're not helping you're just hurting
God's you're either helping or hurting. So I'd imagine in God's eyes. It's like well lots certainly not helping
It's like let's just take him home to heaven before he does more harm
Right. This is my ambassador for Sodom and Gomorrah Lot
It's like wow. It's like I have a bad ambassador for this area, right?
The reason why Lot was spared is because Abraham really loved his family
He loved his nephew Lot even though Lot was back sitting and here's the thing
You know what? I do believe that if you have family members whether
saved
Or unsaved, you know what there should be natural love for those people. I don't think that's a bad thing
I'm not one of these people that says well, you know what you're a safe person
You should never ever talk to your relatives ever again
Because I believe God has placed those people in your life for a reason now
I don't think they should be your best friends
But but we should have a proper balance on these things. Of course, you have that love and desire to get them saved
That's not a bad thing
Right. We see that with Abraham. That's actually a good characteristic having that love and you know, these are traits of a soul winner
These are not traits of the lots of the world or the normal safe person us as soul winners
We have a love for other safe people
We have a love for sinners
Unsafe people that's the main reason why we go so when we have a love for unsafe people and
There should also be a love for siblings and family and friends
I don't think it's a good attitude to say well, you know what? They're not serving God or they're not saved
You know, I don't I don't want to ever talk to them
It's like I would try to get your family member saved at a Christmas function or whatever if you're around them
And I understand sometimes there has to be a separation. I've obviously preached those things
I'm just saying there is that natural desire to get him saved
We see that with Abraham and you know what it makes a difference
Abraham gets lots life spared because of the love that he had for his nephew lot. Let's close an order prayer