Sermon

Remember Lot's Wife - Bob Smith 1/15/06

Church of Christ - Bakersfield, Ca

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  1. Frank recently taught about relationships in the workplace

  2. and really this is a good follow-up to that lesson.

  3. The lesson tonight is about relationships and influence from

  4. those relationships. It really stems from reading in

  5. the Old Testament. And I really got to thinking

  6. about this when I read about the destruction of Sodom and

  7. Gomorrah or the cities of the Plains and about lot and his

  8. family and and about Lot's wife. Wife, our text here in.

  9. Luke, the 17th chapter verse 32. Jesus says remember, Lot's wife

  10. in the car, in the parallel passage of Matthew 24, the Jesus

  11. is looking at the temple, he tells his disciples, There will

  12. not be one, stone left upon another and they asked Jesus

  13. will. When will these things be?

  14. And what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the

  15. world? They asked him these three

  16. questions and throughout that chapter he's talking to them

  17. about that. And so that's the that's the

  18. setup of that chapter and and and really the basis for what he

  19. says but they're there. He so combines them.

  20. It's hard to separate. To a many people just just

  21. recognize that chapter in what he says, about the destruction

  22. of Jerusalem, which happened in 70 AD but it is a type of the

  23. end of time. But not only that, he's talking

  24. about the establishment of the church.

  25. Because as Brian pointed out this morning, he says there be

  26. some standing here which shall not taste of death till all

  27. these things be accomplished. So you see talks about him in

  28. such a way that you can actually interpret them to mean each

  29. things, the destruction of Jerusalem as as well as the end

  30. of the world because that they become a type of the end of the

  31. world. He says, he really warns the

  32. people and talks to the people about.

  33. Well, the Pharisees asked him in verse 20 of Luke, when the

  34. kingdom of God would come. And Jesus says, the kingdom of

  35. God, will not come with observation.

  36. He says it's not. He says the the well the thing

  37. is it's not a physical Kingdom. And we know as Brian said this

  38. morning, people are still looking for the kingdom to be to

  39. be established. They're looking for it to be

  40. established in in Jerusalem. And Jesus is going to come their

  41. reign over the world, but the fact is it's not a physical

  42. Kingdom, like you can find on a map and you can point to a place

  43. on the map, where the Kingdom of Heaven is and you can go there.

  44. It's a spiritual Kingdom and so it doesn't come with

  45. observation. It does to the people of faith

  46. and to the people who recognize that is truly a spiritual

  47. Kingdom and that we can be part of the spiritual Kingdom today.

  48. So that's why he said it will not come with observation and he

  49. said, men will say, look here it is, or look there it is.

  50. He says, don't fall for that. He says, men will desire to see

  51. the days of the son of man and will not see it yet.

  52. He says, it'll be like the lightning, which shines across

  53. the heavens, because the church is throughout the world.

  54. And it is also part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

  55. The church are, the Kingdom of Heaven is part of Heaven, too.

  56. And so people of faith can see, the spiritual Kingdom can

  57. recognize the God has provided for us to be part of that

  58. Kingdom of Heaven, but people without faith, they don't even

  59. see it. Now Jesus warns in this chapter

  60. about the destruction of Jerusalem, he warns the the

  61. Christians to flee. He says when you see, when you

  62. see these things coming about, he says flee to the mountains,

  63. he says those that are on the rooftop, don't go down and into

  64. the house and gather your things.

  65. He says, just go those that are in the field, they weren't to

  66. stop to pick up their clothes. They were to just flee to the

  67. mountains. And to, and to refuse the

  68. mountains actually were had many Caves in it and actually

  69. thieves. And and criminals would use

  70. these case for hiding. But the the Israelites often

  71. times in times of trouble, would go there for safety.

  72. They could be hidden up there. And so Jesus warns the

  73. Christians to flee before these things take place and what

  74. happened the Roman armies Encompass Jerusalem Actually

  75. history records. That there were no Christians.

  76. Killed in the destruction of Jerusalem because of the

  77. warnings of Jesus. They heeded those warnings and

  78. they fled before the city was actually encompassed by the

  79. armies. And so the Roman armies led by

  80. Titus. They encircled the city and they

  81. built a wall around the city, so that, no, Provisions could go in

  82. and nobody could escape and their plan was to just starve

  83. them out. And I don't know how long that

  84. went, but the Jews decided to try to make an escape and when

  85. they tried some to fight their way out, well, the Romans just

  86. just fought them back and then entered the city and as they

  87. entered the city, they just killed as they went, there were

  88. it was just a total Destruction and and as Jesus said, the

  89. temple was destroyed and not completely flat.

  90. And it said of that of that destruction, that 90,000 people

  91. were taken captive and sold into slavery, or killed in the Arenas

  92. or crucified and 100 million. Three hundred thousand were

  93. slain. During that time the destruction

  94. of Jerusalem and it said that they were either killed by the

  95. sword or crucified. And that so many were crucified

  96. that they were running out of places to put crosses and

  97. Crosses to put bodies on. So, it was a very terrible

  98. destruction. But in that some say that was

  99. the Fulfillment of the cries of the Jews that Jesus blood be

  100. upon them and their children. Ian. but the Christians escaped

  101. and at because of Jesus warnings and Jesus said that that that

  102. time would be like the time of Noah and the time of Sodom when

  103. people were going about their lives, they were buying and

  104. selling eating and drinking building and marrying but as

  105. soon as lot left the city fire and brimstone came down from

  106. heaven and destroyed the city and then he said, remember Lot's

  107. wife Lot's wife is a an example of someone who didn't want to

  108. leave someone who looked back. And she perished with the city,

  109. we're told not to look back. He the Christians were warned,

  110. not, don't look back, just flee and don't save anything from the

  111. city. Don't don't collect your, don't

  112. take the time to collect your belongings, but just flee and

  113. they did and they were saved. And so we're not to look back

  114. and this is a type really Jesus says in the next verse, whoever

  115. seeks to save his life will lose it and whoever loses his life,

  116. will preserve it by dropping everything and leaving their

  117. life, their and fleeing they saved their life.

  118. So you see by losing their life, they saved, but if they sought

  119. to save it, They would lose it, they would lose their life with

  120. all the rest of the of the Jews. You know, this is, this is a

  121. also like, are giving up our life.

  122. This is not just a, this does not just apply to someone who

  123. gives up their physical life like like the martyrs, you know,

  124. they could say that that they give up their life for Christ

  125. for their faith and they did. And, and even Happily gladly

  126. they said they were, they were glad to be counted worthy to die

  127. for the Lord. and, And they did, they would go to the, to the

  128. Gallows or to the state or to the crosses.

  129. Peter even would ask that he be hung upside down on his cross

  130. because he was not worthy to die in the manner that Jesus did.

  131. But this is not does not just fit them.

  132. It also fits all people, all Christians of all generations

  133. and you and I that we give up our life, we don't live as the

  134. world does. We don't when we come to God, we

  135. repent of all the way we live and we turn to follow Jesus, and

  136. the teachings of God That's what repentance is a change.

  137. We changed our way of living. We no longer live, like the

  138. world. We live like the Lord, and we

  139. walk in his paths. Paul says, in Galatians 2 and

  140. 20, it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me and,

  141. and, you know, in everything in everything we do, we need to

  142. live as the as the Lord directs us and we and we follow the

  143. Commandments of God in the scriptures.

  144. The point of this lesson is to be careful about our

  145. relationships and we are warned in the scriptures to be very

  146. careful about who we are associated with.

  147. Because their influence Can lead us away from the right way from

  148. the right path that the influence of the world in the

  149. second Corinthians 6 and 14 it says be not do not be unequally

  150. yoked together with unbelievers for what Fellowship hath

  151. righteousness with lawlessness and what communion hath light

  152. with darkness and what Accord has Christ with Belial.

  153. Or what part has a Believer with an unbeliever and what agreement

  154. has the temple of God with idols.

  155. For you or the Temple of the Living.

  156. God we're not to have a we're not to be unequally yoked

  157. together with unbelievers. You know, you could say this is

  158. a Stern warning but really it's a command we're commanded not to

  159. be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

  160. I don't think you could twist it to being anything else and and

  161. the warning is so true that we are influenced by people.

  162. We associate with and it's not just actually let me explain

  163. Paul's warning here. Is to Pagan practices and he's

  164. warning them not to fellowship with paganism.

  165. But the practice of paganism is carried out into in today's the

  166. immoral living and the immoral practices is done in the world

  167. today, just like just like then not any, not any better.

  168. And so the warning is to us to in our relationships, not to

  169. those who become Believers and are married to, to unbeliever or

  170. a pagan because Paul deals with that.

  171. And he says, we're if the relationship is happy and First

  172. Corinthians 7th chapter, he says, if they're pleased to

  173. dwell with you, then they're not two separate but he's talking

  174. about people who are Christians. And become involved with an

  175. unbeliever. We're not too.

  176. We're not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

  177. With pagans and with the unrighteousness and with

  178. unholiness. And he says, what communion hath

  179. light with Darkness. We are the children of light and

  180. the world is Darkness. Paul says, in the verse verse of

  181. 1st 2nd Corinthians 4:6 chapter. He says, we then as workers

  182. together with you with we then as workers together with him

  183. beseech you all. So that you receive not the

  184. grace of God, in vain, And then he goes on to tell them that

  185. they were not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers

  186. by doing. So they cause their faith to be

  187. vain. They've received the grace of

  188. God, in vain. there's an illustration from in one of the

  189. commentaries that said, two businessmen went into business

  190. together, and one had money and the other had knowledge.

  191. And after a year's time, the one that had the knowledge had the

  192. money and the one that had the money had the knowledge and

  193. that's really the way it works, you know?

  194. That's a, that's that's an illustration of our

  195. relationships, you know, when we have a relationship with

  196. somebody soon, we become like them.

  197. And if we have a close relationship, we develop

  198. Tendencies of like our like our partner or like our friend, like

  199. our fellow Workman work person, so it's true, that relationships

  200. affect us, even though we may not feel like they do.

  201. They really do. The more we spend time with

  202. someone, the more we become like that person. so, Paul goes on to

  203. say, insecurity in the sixth chapter 17 and 18, wherefore

  204. come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord and

  205. touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be

  206. a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters.

  207. Saith the Lord Almighty first Peter 2:9 says, but ye are a

    1 Peter 2:9

  208. chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, A

  209. peculiar people that ye should Shew forth the Praises of him

  210. who had called you You out of Darkness into His Marvelous

  211. Light. That's what we're do project.

  212. And we need to be very careful about our associations in

  213. business at school and and certainly in marriage that we

  214. marry someone who is like minded or we will be headed for

  215. trouble. The rest of the lesson, this

  216. afternoon is examples examples of that very thing happening in

  217. In Genesis the 6 chapter talks about the flood there. and, Here

  218. it says Genesis 6 and verses 1 through 4, it says, and it came

  219. to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the

  220. Earth and daughters were born unto them.

  221. That the sons of God, saw the daughters of men that they were

  222. fair. And they took them wives of all

  223. which they chose. And the Lord said, my spirit

  224. shall not always strive with man for that he also is flesh.

  225. Yet his days shall be 120 years. There were giants in the earth

  226. in those days and after also after that, when the sons of God

  227. came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to

  228. them. The same became became Mighty

  229. Men which were of old men of renown.

  230. People get a lot of a lot of mileage out of these verses in

  231. the, and a lot of of misunderstanding from this

  232. simply you see, the sons of God, are the people of God, the men

  233. of God, the faithful. They marry the daughters of men.

  234. The daughters of the unrighteous, they saw the

  235. daughters of men that they were Fair.

  236. They were attractive and they desired them.

  237. So they took, they took Daughters of men of the world.

  238. Lehman the unrighteous the children of Cain.

  239. You might say, and they married them.

  240. And and God says the, the The Offspring, they bare children to

  241. them. That became mighty men that were

  242. of old men of renown. then in verse 5, it says and God saw the

  243. wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every

  244. imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil

  245. continually, You see what happened?

  246. The righteous intermarried with the unrighteous now, they lived

  247. a long time. Then it says in the previous

  248. chapter, Noah lived 500 years. Many before that lived, 800, 900

  249. years. And God says here, my my spirit

  250. verse 3, my spirit shall not always strive with, man, for

  251. that. He is flesh.

  252. Yet his days shall be 120 years, God shorten their life, But you

  253. can imagine in five, six hundred years.

  254. What a, what a what a, what a kingdom, you could build what

  255. masses of treasures you could collect.

  256. And that's what these men became men of renown Mighty Men because

  257. they amass greatness, but they were their heart was turned from

  258. righteousness. Turn From God because they

  259. intermarried with the daughters of men.

  260. And so they were turned from righteousness.

  261. And a God says in verse 6, and it repented, the Lord that he

  262. had made, man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart.

  263. And the Lord said, I will destroy man.

  264. Whom I have created from the face of the Earth, both man, and

  265. Beast and creeping things and fowls of the air.

  266. For repenteth me, that I have made them, but Noah found Grace

  267. in the eyes of the Lord, only Noah in the whole world.

  268. Noah and his family ate Souls. In the second Peter 2 4 and 5.

  269. It says for, if God did not spare the Angels, who sinned but

  270. cast them down to Hell and delivered them into chains of

  271. Darkness to be reserved for judgment, and did not spare the

  272. ancient world. But saved Noah, one of eight

  273. people, a preacher of righteousness bringing in the

  274. flood on the world of the ungodly.

  275. You see how the influence of a relationships can can well,

  276. corrupt people, it corrupted, the whole world because the

  277. unrighteous and the righteous mingled together.

  278. And more often than not, it seems the unrighteous has the

  279. overpowering influence. In second Peter 2, 6 through 8,

  280. it says and turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,

  281. condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those

  282. who afterward would live ungodly and delivered righteous lot who

  283. was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked for that

  284. righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous

  285. soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their Lawless Deeds.

  286. You know it says here that law was a righteous man and I

  287. certainly don't contradict the scriptures a lot lot held on to

  288. his righteousness. But he was in the middle of

  289. wickedness a wicked place. He married a wife of the city

  290. and and raise children but they were influenced by the

  291. wickedness of that City in Genesis 13 and 10.

  292. When it says there that lot lifted up his eyes, actually,

  293. you know, lot of Abraham travel together lot was Abraham's

  294. nephew and they live together but they were they had grown so

  295. large that they were. They were there was contention

  296. between Lots people and Abraham's people.

  297. So Abraham said, let's separate, let's divide up and you go your

  298. way you choose whichever way you want to go and I'll go the other

  299. way. So here in verse 10 lot looks

  300. out into the plains of Jordan, the beautiful well-watered

  301. Plains and the city's there and he says, I'm going to go there.

  302. And lot lifted up his eyes and beheld, all the plains of Jordan

  303. that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord

  304. destroyed, Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord,

  305. like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.

  306. That made me pause and think it says it was well watered before

  307. God destroyed. Sodom and Gomorrah.

  308. You know I've seen pictures of that area and there's nothing.

  309. There's just nothing attractive to me about it it's just desert

  310. but maybe it wasn't at one time. Maybe after God destroyed Sodom

  311. and Gomorrah and the cities there was by the way, five

  312. cities. But Sodom and Gomorrah are

  313. mentioned always and but there was five cities destroyed.

  314. Roid. All the cities of the planes

  315. were destroyed for actually Zoar was was saved.

  316. But But you know maybe that place has changed.

  317. Maybe the terrain has changed since God destroyed, Sodom and

  318. Gomorrah turn with me. If you want to Genesis 19 and

  319. will read their the account of lot being a saved there in in

  320. Sodom. Genesis 19.

  321. And there came two angels to Sodom at even and lot sat at

  322. the, in the gate of Sodom and lot seeing them rose up to meet

  323. them. And he bowed himself with his

  324. face toward the ground. And he said, behold.

  325. Now, my lords turn in. I pray you into your Servants

  326. house and tarry all night and wash your feet and ye shall rise

  327. up early and go on your ways. And they said nay, but we will

  328. abide in the street all night. Right, and he pressed upon them

  329. greatly and they turned in unto him and entered into his house

  330. and he made them a feast and did bake bake unleavened bread and

  331. they did eat. The scripture says these are two

  332. angels and, and, and three men had actually talked to Abraham

  333. in the previous chapter. And it's believed that one of

  334. those men was, was the Lord and the two angels and that these

  335. two were probably the two angels that were with Abraham and talk

  336. with him. Before.

  337. But here to Angels come to Sodom and they see lot sitting at the

  338. gate. Perhaps he was doing business

  339. and that was the place to where traffic has come through.

  340. I don't know, I don't know why he was sitting at the gate, but

  341. he sees them and I believe it seems like from the reading that

  342. he recognized them as holy men, or maybe even recognizes them as

  343. Angels, he'd boughs down to them, and he and he invites them

  344. and encourage them. Urges them to come into his

  345. house and and, and he would, he would feed them and wash their

  346. feet. It says, in verse 3 and he

  347. pressed upon them, greatly a lot, of course, they knew the

  348. city and lot knew the city. He wanted them off the street

  349. that night. Verse 4 and, but before they lay

  350. down the men of the city, even the men of Sodom compassed the

  351. house, round both old and young, all the people from every

  352. quarter, the whole city was like this, in other words.

  353. So, they it was not, it was not just a few that were evil, the

  354. whole city was corrupt, young and old from every quarter.

  355. They came and they said They called unto lot and said unto

  356. him, where are the men? Which came into the this night?

  357. Bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

  358. And lot went out at the door unto them and shut the door

  359. after him. And and said, I pray you

  360. Brethren, do not so wickedly behold.

  361. Now I have two daughters which have not known Men.

  362. Let me I pray you bring them out unto you and do ye to them as is

  363. good in your eyes, only unto these men.

  364. Do nothing for therefore came, they under the shadow of my

  365. roof. This really, this really is a

  366. hideous thought that lot would offer his daughters to these

  367. men. Of course, the women of this

  368. This day had very little to say and and they were really were a

  369. lower-class. It seemed like in this day, but

  370. still, you know, these were lots and lots of daughters and he

  371. offered them to the men of the city to save the men, the angels

  372. that were under his house. And they said, stand back and

  373. and they said again this one fellow came in to sojourn and he

  374. will needs be a judge. Now will we deal worse with thee

  375. than with them and they press sore upon the man, even lot and

  376. came near to break the door but the men put forth their hand and

  377. pulled lot into the house to them and shut the door.

  378. This is quite a scene and and its really well it speaks.

  379. For itself or the wickedness of the city and all of the city.

  380. And so lot was saved. They almost broke down the door,

  381. trying to get into lot. They weren't going to have

  382. anything to do with lots. You know, his appeasing them or

  383. holding them back. They just about knocked down the

  384. door going right through lat, the Angels reached out and

  385. grabbed lot and brought him inside and shut the door.

  386. Then they struck the people with the blindness.

  387. Commentators say that it's probably not a blindness

  388. literally that they would lose their sight.

  389. But with confusion because it says that they so that they

  390. couldn't even find the door. So, So again in verse 11 and

  391. they smote the men that were at the door of the house with

  392. blindness both small and great so that they we read themselves

  393. to find the door. And the men said, unto lot hast

  394. thou here any besides, son-in-law.

  395. And thy sons and thy daughters and whatsoever thou Hast in the

  396. city. Bring them out of this place

  397. for. We will destroy this place

  398. because the city The Cry of them is wax and great before the face

  399. of the Lord and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.

  400. And lot went out and spake unto his sons in law, which married

  401. his daughters and said up, get you out of this place.

  402. For the Lord will destroy this city, but he seemed as one that

  403. mocked unto his sons-in-law. One commentator said lock

  404. probably had four daughters and and it makes sense to me, some

  405. want to make these this, the betrothed to the two daughters

  406. that are in his house. But really, you know, lot could

  407. have had four daughters two virgin daughters in his house

  408. and two that had married and that makes sense.

  409. Whatever the case lot went to his sons-in-law and begged them

  410. to go with him and flee from the city.

  411. Because the city was going to be destroyed, and they thought he

  412. was, they thought I was joking and they wouldn't believe him

  413. and they mocked him. And so verse 15, when the

  414. morning arose, then the Angels hastened law saying, arise, take

  415. thy wife and thy two daughters which are here lest thou be

  416. consumed in the iniquity of the city and while he lingered.

  417. The men laid hold upon his hands and upon the hand of his wife

  418. and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being

  419. merciful unto him and they brought him forth and said him

  420. without the city. There are several points I want

  421. to make from this. First of all, his two daughters

  422. that were married had no say Lot, of course, had to speak to

  423. the to their husbands, but their husbands were men of the city

  424. and they thought he was a lunatic lot lost his two

  425. daughters. He had two daughters in the

  426. house and why he was lingering and why he was hesitating.

  427. Because of the influence of that City.

  428. Lot wanted to stay. Verse 17 and it came to pass

  429. when they had brought them forth abroad that he said, Escape for

  430. your life, look not behind thee. Neither stay thou in all the

  431. planes, escape to the mountains, lest thou be consumed.

  432. And lot said unto them, all my own.

  433. Not so my Lord behold now thy servant have found Grace in thy

  434. sight and thou Hast magnified thy mercy, which thou Hast

  435. showed unto me in saving my life.

  436. And I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil, take

  437. me and I die behold. Now this city is near to flee

  438. into and it is a little 10. Let me escape the other, is it

  439. not a little one? And my soul shall live.

  440. This was or, and so the angel agreed, he said unto him.

  441. See I have accepted the concerning this thing also and I

  442. will not overthrow this city for the which thou Hast spoken

  443. Jesus. The Escape their therefore I

  444. cannot do anything till thou become either.

  445. Therefore, the name of the city was called Zoar.

  446. The sun was risen upon the earth, when lot entered in twos

  447. or then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah

  448. Brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

  449. And he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the

  450. inhabitants of the cities and that which grew upon the ground.

  451. But his wife looked back from behind him and she became a

  452. pillar of salt. The really the whole the whole

  453. idea here in this reading and the points I want to bring out

  454. is the influence of the wicked upon righteous lat.

  455. Peter said he was vexed with their conversation day and night

  456. continually not only that lot, chose lot made some, he was a

  457. righteous man, the scripture says, but he made some poor

  458. decisions. He chose the beauty of the

  459. Plains and he went down there and became involved with the

  460. wickedness of the city's there became influenced, he lost his

  461. daughters, he lost his wife. He could very well have lost his

  462. own life. But for the sake of Abraham lot

  463. was saved. Imagine that the Angels took

  464. them by the hand and Drug them out of the city.

  465. They just tarried kept, tarrying, the Angels had to drag

  466. them out of the city and safely for your life.

  467. You know. The the Hebrews had a real

  468. problem with with this God talk, god, warned the Hebrews not to

  469. not to not to marry the people of the land.

  470. Abraham, Abraham commanded his servant and made him swear that

  471. he would take us a wife for Isaac of his of his family, in

  472. Genesis 24 and 3. It says, and I will make these

  473. swear by the Lord, the god of Heaven and the god of the earth.

  474. That thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of

  475. the Canaanites. So we know that Abraham servant

  476. went back to the Mesopotamia, or Abraham was from and found

  477. Rebecca and brought him back for Isaac as wife.

  478. Isaac and Rebecca had twins and Esau married.

  479. The women of the of the Canaanites in verse 26 and 34.

  480. It says and he saw was 40 years old when he took to wife Judith,

  481. the daughter of bear. I the hittite and, and Bash IMA

  482. the daughter of Elon the hittite, which was a grief of

  483. mind to Isaac. And to Rebecca, inverses chapter

  484. Twenty Eight, one and two. It's Says and Isaac called Jacob

  485. and blessed him and charged him and said unto him.

  486. Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of the of Canaan

  487. arise. Go to badda bedan, Aram to the

  488. house of the Thule thy mother's father and take thee.

  489. A wife from thence of the daughters of Laban.

  490. Later, Esau saw that that his parents were not happy with the

  491. dog, the the wives he got from the, you know, from the

  492. Canaanites. So he went to Ishmael and got

  493. one of got two of his daughters and married them.

  494. The point is that you see God's people had to be careful to

  495. marry the righteous and not enter mingle with the

  496. unrighteous because it would be their downfall.

  497. And it was Continually and Deuteronomy.

  498. It talks God warns, the people not to marry outside of Israel.

  499. Deuteronomy 7 and 3. Neither shalt thou make marriage

  500. with them by daughters. Thou shalt not give unto his

  501. sons, nor his daughter shalt. Thou take unto thy Sons for they

  502. will turn away thy sons from following me that they may serve

  503. other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be

  504. kindled against you and Destroy these.

  505. Suddenly But thus shall ye deal with him, you shall destroy

  506. their altars and break down their images and cut down their

  507. Groves and burn their graven. Images with fire for thou art,

  508. a, holy people unto the Lord thy God.

  509. And the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto

  510. him above all people that are upon the face of the Earth.

  511. We are God's people today and we are chosen of God, we are called

  512. of God and and we are we are we are purified and made holy

  513. Sanctified for the use of God. We need to be careful that we

  514. don't be influenced by the evil of the world as they were in

  515. Ezra 9 1 and 2. It says now when these things

  516. were done, the princes came to me saying the people of And the

  517. princes and the Levites have not separated themselves from the

  518. people of the land doing according to their abomination.

  519. Even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the parasites, the

  520. jebusites, the ammonites the moabites, the Egyptians, and the

  521. amorites for they have taken of their daughters for themselves

  522. and for their sons. So that the holy seed has

  523. mingled themselves with the people of the land.

  524. Yay, the panda, the princes and the rulers have.

  525. I've been Chief in this trespass.

  526. Solomon, of course, a a The wisest of the wisest of men, he

  527. had the wisdom of God and he was a great king and and and made

  528. Israel a great nation during his Reign but he married.

  529. He married. Hundreds of wives of the land.

  530. and if they led him away from God, In First Kings 11.

  531. And verse 1 and 2 says, but King Solomon, loved many strange

  532. women together with the daughters of pharaoh, women of

  533. the moabites and the ammonites, the edomites, the zidonians the

  534. Hittites of the nation's concerning, which the Lord said

  535. unto the children of Israel, ye shall not go into them.

  536. Neither shall they come in unto you for surely, they will turn

  537. away your heart. After other gods, Solomon, clave

  538. unto these in love. In versus night, beginning with

  539. verse 9, it says, and the Lord was angry with Solomon because

  540. his heart was turned from the Lord, God of Israel, which hath

  541. appeared unto him twice and had commanded him concerning this

  542. thing that he should not go after other gods, but he kept

  543. not that, which the Lord commanded wherefore.

  544. The Lord said unto Solomon for as much as this is done of thee,

  545. thou Hast, not kept my Covenant and my statutes, which I have

  546. commanded Thee. I will surely Rend the command

  547. the Kingdom, from the and we'll give it.

  548. To thy servant notwithstanding in thy day, I will not do it for

  549. David thy. Father sake for I will but I

  550. will rent it out of the hand of thy son.

  551. Albeit, I will not Rend away all the kingdom but we'll give One

  552. Tribe to thy son for David. My servants sake and for

  553. Jerusalem's sake, which I have chosen.

  554. Because of Solomon's involvement with these women of the land, he

  555. was taken away from God. And he is his conduct was was a

  556. sinful. He was led astray from God by

  557. those relationships and so God destroyed the kingdom took the

  558. kingdom out of his hand. But for David's sake, he saved

  559. Judah. Judah stayed in Jerusalem but

  560. during the reign of rehoboam the kingdom was divided.

  561. And as Brian was talking about the Northern Kingdom, Israel was

  562. the ten tribes. And then there was Judah which

  563. were was more faithful than Israel.

  564. Israel was not faithful. They served other gods and they

  565. lasted about 250 years and the Assyrians conquered them.

  566. And then they intermingled with the with the other people of the

  567. land and they are their bloodline was lost.

  568. They were no longer a pure bloodline and when they became

  569. the Samaritans and, you know, you've read about the Samaritans

  570. in the New Testament that the Jews hated them because they

  571. didn't follow, they don't worship God after the law of

  572. Moses anymore. They didn't even Worship in

  573. Jerusalem anymore. Only the Jews.

  574. As did. So the mayor, the Samaritans

  575. were a mixed race and they were, they were despised by the Jews

  576. because they were no longer the people of God.

  577. They were taken away by the marriage eating and the

  578. intermingling of other races. Other than this than the people

  579. of God. Well, the point of the lesson is

  580. afternoon, is to point out how we can be led astray and how it

  581. will damage us as people of God, in our relationships, in the

  582. world. Frank taught about this last

  583. week and I thought this would be a good follow-up to that.

  584. Again, let me read 2nd Corinthians a sixth chapter and

  585. verse 17. He says, therefore come out from

  586. among them and be Separate saith.

  587. The Lord. Do not touch that, which is

  588. unclean and I will receive you. I will be a father to you and

  589. you shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord

  590. Almighty. We thank you for listening to

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