Transcription
When I was a little boy, I heard a preacher use this illustration and I have never forgotten it. He said that there is a certain species of monkey in a certain place in South America and various zoos around the world wanted this particular monkey. So they employed the natives of that area to capture as many as they could without harming them. So here's how they did it. They took a gourd. They let it dry. They reamed it out. And then they cut a hole in it about yay big. Small enough for a monkey's hand or paw to go into it. And then they filled it full of rice, sometimes some fruit. They would set it on the ground and leave.
As soon as the monkeys saw that the coast was clear, they would go. And out of their hunger, they stuck their little hands down in the gourd and grabbed as much rice and fruit as they could and balled up their fist. And so when their captors came to get them, instead of letting go so that they could slide their little hands out, in their hunger and greed, they held on to it and the gourd was too heavy for them to carry. And so their captors just simply came and put a rag over their face, cut a little more out, took their hand out, and they had their prey. They were so obsessed with what was in their hand, they couldn't let go of it, and they became victims of their own greed.
So now I'd like to read a passage of scripture to you in the 17th chapter of Luke, beginning with verse 26. "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man." Let me stop. I am so curious. I cannot get enough of Noah's ark, the flood, the miracle, that whole thing. I just am obsessed with it. So even last night I Googled or I Siri and I said, "Hey Siri, how many people were on the earth before Noah's flood?" And she responded quite promptly. And she said between 750 million to 4 billion. I thought that's kind of a large discrepancy there. But I then read more and said because of, you know, certain statistics and calculations and extrapolations of death and length of life and so on and so forth, it could have been that, you know, 750 million is the population of Europe and four billion is half of the population of the earth right now. That's a lot of people. So when I read that, "As it was in the days of Noah," and then I read that Noah entered the ark, just eight entered the ark, I'm thinking Noah was not a very good evangelist because the entire world drowned as he and his family went into the boat.
Then I started thinking, I'm off course now, y'all. I'm just this is way it works. When Revelation says, "And the sea gave up its dead and they stood before God at the white throne judgment." That's a lot of people because everybody that died in the flood died in the sea. And on that day, everybody that died and drowned in the sea, plus all of those that drowned on the land are going to be appointed to stand before God Almighty. So I continue to read, "As it was in the days of Noah, it will also be that way in the days of the Son of Man." What were they doing? "They were eating and they drank and they married wives and they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed."
Now listen to these instructions that the Lord gave to Israel concerning the tribulation. "In that day, he who was on the housetop and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away." Leave the rice alone. Get your hand out of the gourd. "And likewise the one who was in the field, let him not turn back." There's nothing there. It's not worth it. Don't risk your life. Don't risk destruction. It is coming suddenly. Run. Escape. Go. And then he said, "Remember Lot's wife." Remember I talk about short verses. "Jesus wept." Last week was "Have faith in God." Today, "Remember Lot's wife." Jesus wasn't making a suggestion there. "Hey, by the way, if you ever think about it, remember Lot's wife." He said, "Remember Lot's wife." "Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it." May I paraphrase? Whoever works hard at having a good life here and now will lose it. Whoever loses his life, decides that this is not worth it, will save it. I tell you in that night there will be two men in one bed. The one taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding together. The one taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field, the one taken and the other left.
This is important. Jesus is giving instructions for something that would happen 2,000 years later. There's going to be a great division. Jesus is going to divide. Jesus is going to take and leave. By the way, Jesus never leaves his own anywhere or alone. Jesus is going to take those who were ready. Those who decide that this is not real life here. This is just practice. This is preparation. Jesus is coming to take away those who realize rice isn't worth being destroyed. Fruit in a gourd is not worth it. Don't let your desire for things, your greed for things cause you to forget how suddenly this thing could be over. How quickly Jesus could call the church home. And we want to be rid of every weight and the sin which so easily besets us. We want to be looking unto Jesus, relying upon Jesus.
So Jesus said, "Remember Lot's wife." What, what would you like for me to remember about Lot's wife, Lord? There's a lot in there about Lot, about him, his spirituality, his attitude, his position in the community. There's some in there about his daughters. There's even an anecdote in there about his sons-in-law that they thought Lot was kidding about destruction, so they laughed at him and kept on living the way they were living. So, what is it that you want me to remember about Lot's wife? So, the two angels showed up and they found Lot. And you know that whole story there and they said to Lot, "You got to get out of this place. So, get your wife and your family, daughters and their husbands." And of course, the husbands laughed. So, the angel said, "This is serious. You don't have time to dawdle." And he grabbed them by the, they grabbed them by the hands and pulled them out of Sodom and said, "Escape for your life." And the Bible says, "Because the Lord was merciful to them." Because the Lord is merciful to us, we get to escape that destruction that is coming upon the whole world, my brother. But I don't want my hand stuck in the gourd grabbing something that's worthless and temporary. I want to be free. And I want to do exactly what the Bible teaches me to do. Escape. Run. Get away from it. Get as far away from it as you possibly can. Don't mix. Don't mingle. Don't fool around. Be done with it. Come out from it.
This is important, ladies and gentlemen, because I'm talking to people who are living in the last days. I'm talking to people that do not belong to this world. Let me say it again. This is not my world. Do you hear me? This is not my world. This is not my home. I live in an apartment down here. I'm renting for a while. I'm traveling. I'm passing through. I'm making a journey. I'm headed somewhere else. There's not a city down here I want to live in. There's a city made in heaven for you and me if we will but serve the Lord and be faithful to the call of God. Escape. Don't look back. He said that was a commandment. I she was running that way but she was looking that way. Oh my. She was moving in the direction of the escape, but she was looking back at the stuff she left behind. She was thinking about her rice, her fruit, her things that are passing away with time, things that stole her heart, won her heart, her affection, things she put her life into, things her emotions were spent upon. But he said, "Leave and don't look back. Escape for your life. Run to the highest place." And that's how we will make it, my brother. That's the thing that will deliver our souls. That we realize because of the mercy of God, the blood of Jesus, the old rugged cross. I don't want to ever preach a sermon without mentioning the cross of Jesus Christ or the blood of Jesus. I want you to know it's because of that that God has shown mercy to you and me and allowed us to escape before the damage is done and the destruction comes. But he tells us, don't look back. Get yesterday off your mind. There was nothing there then and it's not here now. It's gone and it's over. Run to the highest place. Run to the most holy place. Run to the feet of Jesus. Live at the feet of Jesus. Set your affection on things above. Look at Jesus day and night and night and day because we're all subject, you see, to looking back. It's just the world we live in.
I've come today to gently and as a pastor warn you. Don't let rice make you a captive. You know what I mean by rice? Am I going to have to explain this? It could be anything you really want. Anything you've always wanted to have. Any dream, any goal, any ambition, any attainment, any achievement. That's your rice and it's good for a while. But when it becomes your life to the point that you risk your life, then it's a danger and a detriment. So, let me just do this one more time. On occasions, I have people who say to me, "You know, pastor, I I I would really love to bring my neighbor. I think she's almost there. I've been witnessing to her. My friend, he's almost there, but I'm afraid that you'll preach one of those sermons." Do you think I'm making this up, church? People say these things to me. They say these things to me, "Pastor, my son, oh, he's just he's he's almost there. I'd love to bring him, but I I just don't know what you're going to say." Now, I I just think you need to understand something. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not to be customized for your boy or your neighbor. But it's too harsh, pastor. The Lord didn't think it was too harsh. He wrote it. And we're supposed to preach every word of it. Do you understand that the most offensive preacher that ever lived was Jesus? Yes, sir. He poked people in the eye. He insulted their religion. He called them names. And then he said, "You're not worthy of me. If you won't take up a cross and follow me every day, and if you don't love me, you will die in your sins." And then he was so presumptuous to say that there is a place called hell and it's made of fire and brimstone and worms and misery and you're going there unless you repent of your sins, do a 180 and live for God the rest of your life. How insulting. Some of you wouldn't take your boy to hear Jesus. You wouldn't take him, take your neighbor to hear Jude or John. Let me tell you where I'm coming from. I don't want to take a whole lot of time. You think I'm mad, don't you? I'm not mad. I'm just telling you how I feel right now. The Bible tells me, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God." You know what that means? If any man gets up to preach, let him preach like God's doing the preaching. Say what God would say. Say it in the way God would say it. Don't apologize for God, folks. I'm not apologizing for the Bible or anything it says. I'm here to proclaim it and lift it up because if you hear that, it will save your soul.
All right. Done with it. So listen very carefully since you went so wild with that applause. Listen to this preacher. Nobody is going to save this country. Where's the wild applause now? Nobody's going to save this country. There are some individuals that might save the economy for a while. There are some persons that might close up the border for a while. There are some persons that might help you get your loans paid off for a while. But they're all lying because they don't have the power to do anything. So while I am a stranger and a pilgrim and a vagabond, I am still a citizen and I will do what I can with the method of this society to change things that I think should be more like godliness and holiness. But as a vagabond, a stranger and a passer through, I got to remember nobody can save this country. The Bible says that the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord. I hear you now. The Bible says that God puts them in and takes them out. He does it. Yeah, but he does it if we do it. You are so wrong. You are so backward. Oh my god, you are so ignorant. No, he doesn't do anything because we do it. We do it because he first did it. So on the day after the election, I'm not going to be any happier or any sadder because I've already decided who my leader is. And I've already got a place to go. I don't want to sound preachy. And where I'm going, there are no economic problems. I I I could take off right now, but some of you would accuse me of trying to work the crowd. So, I'm just going to say some things you need to hear. Yesterday's gone. It'll never come back. Nothing can ever be young again. So when I was little and Dennis was little and Janice was little and we lived in a little house in a little town in Wsboro and Quendall lived in a little house in a little town. We would go to bed at night with the doors unlocked, not even closed. Right. In fact, I I heard my mother say a number of times to my dad, "Did you latch the screen? The door's wide open. Did you latch the screen?" Like nobody could come through that screen. Hey, we're never going to pray in schools again, public schools. The government's never going to be the same. Justice has never prevailed and it's going to get even worse. All government agencies and authorities are rotten and nothing is going to restore integrity. That's just the way it is. So when people talk about doing something again, I understand that because that's all they've got to hope in. I'm not interested in trying to get something that was to be again. Listen, I want to say it again. Nothing can ever be young again. Nothing created can ever revert to its former condition. Rotten cannot be refreshed. And nothing lives unless God speaks life. And so what I'm trying to tell you is do not get caught up or excited about your person's polls. You ought to get your eyes off this world that's passing away and off the people that are lost and don't know how to tell the truth. Don't put your hope in a man or a woman. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
So, what did the angel say to Lot and his wife? "Don't look back." Quit it. Stop it. Don't look back. Run to the highest place. Run. Run to that place that's above all of the fray and the mess down here. As far as I'm concerned, we're at a high place right here. When I come to church, I'm way up above all that mess. Oh, they're out there arguing and lying and cheating and bribing right now, but I'm sitting with my family. Here it is. This is the church of the living God. Most of us here are saved. We're going to heaven. We're looking for a better place. Don't you see? The Bible says, "Don't look back." And there's a reason for that. If you look back, you might be tempted to go back. If you do on it, it might actually deceive you into thinking you did have a good time. That that really was good. Was it? Then why did you run from it? And why did you ask God to save you from it if it was that good? I remember Steven's message before they martyred him in Acts chapter 7. He kind of summed it up to his people by saying, "Our people came out of Egypt. They were delivered by the hand of God, but in their hearts they turned back. They physically came out, but their hearts never left Egypt." So then I found in Numbers 14:4, one of those little things I highlighted it and then I circled it and then I said, "Praise the Lord." I'd never seen it before because when Moses was up in the mountain communing with God and the people were down below backsliding from God and rebelling against Moses, they rose up and said, "Let us appoint leaders to take us back to Egypt." Have you ever seen that? "Let us appoint leaders to take us back to Egypt." Let us call out people and let us give them authority to take us back. We want leaders. They didn't just decide to go back on their own. They wanted somebody to stand up and give them leadership and affirmation as to the fact that they wanted to go back. When they were in Egypt, all they did was cry and moan and beg and suffer. But now that they're out, they forgot the pain. They didn't like their present circumstances and they said, "We had it better. We had leeks and garlics and cabbage and stuff in Egypt that we don't have here." Who goes back to Egypt for garlic? Now listen, this is the way I think. This is the way I preach. "Let us appoint leaders that they may take us back to Egypt." It sounds to me like a lukewarm, liberal, worldly church today. People are looking for leaders to tell them Egypt wasn't that bad. They want to find somebody who preaches along their lines. They don't want to be legalistic. They don't want to hear about a holy life and purity of heart and mind and praying and seeking the face of God and telling the truth. They don't want to know about commitment to Jesus. They want to be associated with Christianity, but they really want them to be told Egypt wasn't that bad to start with. Those are just legalistic people. It's okay. Long as you're saved, that's all that matters. And I can tell when somebody has been looking for a leader to take them back to Egypt, when they come to me and say, "Hey, I never thought about this until I read this." And I look at what they read and it wasn't the Bible. It was some leader's explanation of the Bible, some mega-church pastor's interpretation of a particular scripture and they were in it. They wanted it because that's where their heart was and they wanted me to get into that. And I simply say, I don't really trust anything that anybody writes unless Jesus wrote it, Paul wrote it, Moses wrote it and on and on and on because this is subject to interpretation and change. But the word of God stands forever. It will never change. It will never be customized and recrafted. It is the word of the Lord forever. You ought to praise God for that.
So if we start looking back, we might go back. Is that a possibility? Well, let me read to you what it says in Hebrews chapter 11. "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were assured of them. They embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Stop. Have you confessed it lately? Till I got up here a few minutes ago, have you confessed it lately? Have you confessed, "This is not my home. This is not my world." Have you confessed with your mouth? "I don't belong here. I'm a stranger. I'm a pilgrim. I'm an alien. I'm a weirdo. I'm out of here." If you haven't done it, you ought to do it sometime today. "For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind the country from which they had come out, they might have had opportunity to return." If they started thinking about yesterday, they might want to go back. If they started thinking about that old flame, they might want to go back. "But now they desire a better, that is an heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God because he has prepared for them a city."
You know, this whole rice and the gourd thing has got me thinking. I wonder if that's what Jesus was telling us when he gave the parable of the sower of seeds. And you know, the first seeds fell by the wayside and the devil stole it. And then the second fell on shallow rocky ground and it withered. But the third seed actually took root and came up. But because it was choked, it didn't bear fruit. Choked with what? Pleasures, cares of this life, lust and desire for things. And that's what kept that plant from bearing fruit. And that's why that plant was disqualified because it bore no fruit. Maybe Jesus was also telling us when he said, "No man that puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of heaven." How many of you have ever seen a farmer plowing, say, with a mule? Have you? Oh, you old folks. I've seen it. We saw it down in Nans County. There was a guy that lived below us and he had an old mule and he had a plow and he had on his overalls. That's what we call them. And he'd take the reins and he'd throw them over his shoulder and he'd hit the rein and the mule would start pulling. And when he would want the mule to go left, he'd say "Gee." Because to a mule, "Gee" means left. If he wanted to go right, he'd say "Haw." Because to a mule, "Haw" means right. So that's the "jiha" of the whole story. See, that's right. But if that farmer did not keep that mule in line, he would tend to veer to the left or to the right. So the farmer could not afford to be plowing this way and looking that way. See what I'm doing now? I'm pulling. So Jesus said, "If you're going to plow in this kingdom, don't you dare look back. Don't you dare look back."
I had or I knew a man once. I still know him. Just haven't seen him for years. This man had become, I'm going to say famous in a certain industry in this country, the entertainment industry. I met him personally. He got saved in this church and went on to serve the Lord for a long, long time. I played golf with him. I ate with him. We worked out together. Can't you tell? Okay. I caught a cold. And well, just but every time we were together, he talked about he remembers when man talked about autographs and phone calls and being famous. And I said one day, "Wait a minute. If that's so good, why did you leave it? Why did you ask Jesus to save you from that if it's so good that's all you ever talk about when we're together? What it used to be. What it was." You're a new creation in Christ. Jesus saved you from that foolishness. He delivered you from rice. He left shortly after that. Not because of that. Jesus moved on. A little later, somebody came to me and said, "Lorent, have you seen this person? Have you seen what they're doing now?" And they showed me a YouTube thing. I could have cried. It was this person trying to revive that old industry, that old thing he did, and he was making an utter fool of himself. Now, people wonder, how does that happen? If Jesus saves you, how can you possibly look back, stare back, and want it back? I'll tell you how. Because you may have left it physically, but your heart was still there. It's like cheating on your wife. If you leave her or leave that one, go back to your wife, but your heart is still with her, brother, you got problems. So the Bible says, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." So why was Israel complaining about Moses and God? Because they left physically, but their hearts never left Egypt. That's something we all have to deal with, think about and pray about. If we are constantly looking back thinking how good it was and even, you know, making fun, telling jokes, man, I remember what I used to do this and that, how I felt, how much I drank, what I did, and what her name was. There's a problem, sir. You ought to be ashamed of it. Shame. You ought to be so humiliated by the fact that you had your hand in the gourd and you cared about rice more than you did your own life. But God, who was rich in mercy, saved you from all of that. Why do people backslide then? Because their hearts are never transformed. Just because you go to church doesn't mean your heart has been changed. You can go to church for years and do all the stuff without a changed heart, but sooner or later it's going to come to the surface. And that's why we have to live on our faces and live in the word of God. This is the way it is.
You know, I want to stop at this point and say if you know of somebody that used to be in church but they're not now because they have found other interests, things they would rather do on the weekend, things that are more fun. You know, they don't want to waste their life working five, six days a week, so they're going to use Sunday to have some fun. If you know somebody that used to be regular here or at a church, if you know somebody that used to love the Lord, but now something else has stolen their love. I'm inviting you to call them, make a contact. Listen, it's going to sound crazy. And ask them to listen to this service today. Yeah. Put them on the spot. We're talking about eternity right here. Say, "I want you to promise me that you will watch this." You don't want to do that, do you? We just don't want to be forceful, folks. We're talking about eternity. Now, why are we trying to be diplomatic when people are facing eternity? I'd say put them on the spot and say, "I want you to listen to this pastor's message today about looking back or where your heart is because Jesus said, 'Where your treasure is, there will your heart be.'" Right? Uh-huh. Where your treasure is, that's where your heart is. Whatever you value, that's where your heart is. Jesus was telling us, you can lay up all kinds of treasures on earth, but that's as far as that's as high as your heart will ever get. No. "If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is, where Christ sits on the right hand of the Father. Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth. For you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. And Paul said, 'Our citizenship is in heaven from whence we look for the Lord Jesus Christ who will one day change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.'" Bottom line is if you've been saved from your sins, go forward. Escape. Don't look back. Go for it with all of your heart, your mind, your soul, and leave this old world behind.
Stand with me, please. I am going to ask our council members and their wives to come and stand in front of you and face you. If you would, please come right ahead. And y'all might want to spread out just a little bit. Here's what I felt impressed of the Lord to do this morning. That's good. If you know of someone who's looking back. They actually should be here today, but they're having fun somewhere else. They've set their affection on lower things. If you know of somebody like that, you can come down and I want them to pray with you. Now, listen, this is not a prayer for the healing of your body. This is not a prayer to get a new job. This is specifically to have somebody agree with you that someone who you love has looked back and they don't realize how quick things could change. This is for somebody that has a handful of rice and is taking a chance with his soul. Father in heaven, I ask now that the Holy Spirit do a mighty work even now as we pray and agree together. I'm asking you, Jesus, wake somebody up this morning. Make them let go of it so you can rescue them. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. Come right ahead whenever you're ready. Serge, would you in Atlanta come down please and pray? Come on.