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Scripture passage: Gen. 12:10-13; 13:1-18.
Introduction
This morning, we observe the first week of Advent.
For those of us unfamiliar with the term, advent is a season where the Christians around the world prepare for Christmas.
Advent comes from the Latin word adventus, which meaning ‘Coming.’
And it does not only refer to the first coming of Christ, but also to His return as the second coming Lord.
It has been the practice of the church to devote itself to one of four aspects of the gospel for each week of Advent, namely, hope, love, joy, and peace.
And so this morning we look at hope.
Now, there are two kinds of hope.
The first is a hope without assurance.
That is your day dreaming, your wishful thinking, your fantasizing.
There’s no real reason to believe any of it will happen.
But there’s the other kind of hope, a hope with assurance.
I’ve put two very old and very expensive copies of John Calvin’s Instituties of the Christian Religion on a chair backstage.
And the elder who came up with me earlier saw it.
And the praise team would have seen it also.
They would tell you the books are there.
They are witnesses, and you can trust them.
Why?
Because there’s no reason for them to lie about it.
And likewise, the Apostles had no reason to lie about the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ.
In fact, they proclaimed the Gospel truth even when it brought them suffering, torture, and death.
They had seen Jesus with their own eyes, and they witnessed how Jesus fulfilled the covenantal promises of God.
See, the gospels do not begin with ‘once upon a time,’ but with a genealogy of the Messiah rooted in history.
The Messiah has come as promised, He has fulfilled the promises, and He is coming back to finish the last one.
This means that the Gospel is good news; it’s not just good advice.
This morning, some of us might still hope in Jesus and the Gospel story without any assurance or certainty.
But I want to encourage you this morning to take active steps toward growing in assurance.
This is of utmost importance and must be done without any delay.
And here is why.
Two Cities, Two Governors
St. Augustine was one of the most prominent fathers of the early church, and he wrote a book in the fifth century called The City of God.
In it he talks about two cities: the city of God, and the city of Man.
Now all human beings live in the city of Man, with all its godless vice and worldly pleasures.
But as for Christians, they have changed allegiance.
They have changed governor.
And they are now citizens of the city of God, but are currently living in the city of Man.
And the governor of the city of Man knows this.
Who is this governor?
The Apostle Paul calls him ‘The prince of the power of the air.’
Adam and Eve, in obeying the word of the serpent, had submitted themselves and the human race to the authority of the serpent.
And the serpent is a cruel governor who drags us along in following the course of this world, of the city of Man.
And when the course of this world meets its end, woe to its citizens.
Woe to those who fail to prove their heavenly citizenship.
And what is that proof, if not faith itself?
And what is that faith, if not without assurance?
So we must take action to grow in assurance without delay, before our Lord returns.
The world will mock us for it.
They will call us mentally fragile, smoking a spiritual opium.
They will say that church is a waste of time, effort, and money.
The governor of the city of Man will tempt us with what his city has to offer.
Power, fame, wealth, comfort, safety.
But the last of these is a lie and an illusion.
There is no safety for those living under Satan’s jurisdiction.
And St. Augustine writes about the efforts of the enemy to gain a foothold in our hearts.
He says that every human being has an Ordo Amoris, an order of affections or loves.
It’s a ladder of loves, and at the very top of that ladder is a throne.
And whatever sits on that throne governs our lives and makes decisions for us.
And as it stays seated up there, we offer sacrifices to it.
For example,
If your career sits on the throne, then it’s going to demand you to work harder and harder for the next promotion.
It’s going to demand that you work overtime, sacrificing your time for family, for hobbies, and so on.
And whatever is enthroned in your heart is going to demand that you constantly think about it, look at it, and anchor your life upon it.
But here’s the crucial point: if that thing seated up there is from the city of man, it’s going to be a cruel governor over your life.
And that’s because such things do not last.
They are temporary, fleeting attractions used by the enemy to keep us distracted from the impending fate of his city.
He knows he’s going down, and all he wants is to drag us along, using his weapon of mass distraction.
And we have a case in point in the story of Abraham and Lot.
We have two citizens of the city of God, living in the city of Man.
Abraham in the City of Man
In today’s Scripture passage, we have Abraham and Lot, his nephew.
Now, Abraham and Lot have gone through thick and thin together.
When God called Abraham to go to the promised land, Lot followed.
So the two of them reach the land of Canaan, and God tells them, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’
(Gen.
12:7).
But the promised land fails to meet their expectations.
All of a sudden, three bible verses later, the harvest fails, the supermarket prices skyrocket, and they’re at risk of starvation.
They must have been so confused.
“God, didn’t you promise to bless me?
What is this?”
And so they look to Egypt.
They see its abundance, its luxuries, its comforts, and, they decide to compromise with their faith.
“God, I’ll come back when things get better.
But for now, I’m going elsewhere.”
God’s promise lost its place on their ladder of loves, and Egypt now sits upon the throne.
And as the new, cruel governor, Egypt demands a sacrifice.
In order to live in the city of Man, you need to sacrifice something.
And so Abraham sacrifices his wife: ‘Tell them you’re my sister.’
He remains silent as Pharaoh claims her for himself, and takes her into his bedchamber.
And he receives the abundant gifts of Egypt: sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels, and servants.
And we see what happens next.
God judges Pharaoh and Egypt with plagues, and Abraham and Lot leave the land of Egypt for the promised land.
But then comes another test.
They’re both now wealthy nomads with an abundance of livestock, but the promised land is unable to support their parallel prosperity.
Whereas the land once failed them when they had nothing, it now fails them when they have everything.
So Abraham gives Lot the first choice, even though he was the elder of the two.
And in giving Lot the first choice, he was really giving the first choice to God: “God, whatever it is You want me to have, I will have it.
Be it a land of little or a land of plenty, I will hold onto Your promise.”
Abraham here evidences his true repentance before God, and assurance in God’s promise.
And so he says to Lot,
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