I'm going to ask you to turn in your Bibles, please, this morning to Genesis chapter 13, verse number 5. Genesis chapter 13, in the fifth verse, you recall that Abraham had been down in Egypt. He had come back with Lot, his nephew, and his family, and their families, and a problem arose in the family. And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents, and the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together, for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle, and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife. I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If I will take the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zor. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. And the Lord said unto Abram, After that Lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, so shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelled in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord. Abram was having in -law troubles. Did you ever have in -law troubles? His goods had increased, his family had multiplied, and Lot, his nephew, was equally prosperous. Their large families and possessions had outgrown the place in which they were living, and it was no longer possible for them to get along together. And so where they were going to live became a major point of contention between his servants and herdsmen, and Abram's servants and herdsmen. And so he makes a very wise decision in attempting to keep down the problems that had arisen between them. I suppose at any time relatives get together and move in with each other, the problem of who's going to live where is a big one. I always tell young couples, if you can possibly do it, don't live with your in -laws. You have to live in a tent. Get out and live by yourself. It's not, one roof is, these days, hardly big enough for one family, let alone two. He had some real problems with his in -laws. Well, that's another story. I'll preach on that another day. Not that I'm any authority, but I will. And so he had to make a decision, and it was in his life a most critical decision. What was he going to do? Dictionary tells us that a decision is a specific course of action to which one is committed, following serious deliberation and mental concentration upon a set of facts. And so this man had to make a decision as to what he was going to do. Life is filled with decisions. And I think today that we can learn how we best make our decisions from seeing what Abram did. I believe there are some very important decisions in life. What one does with Jesus Christ. What kind of business he goes into. how seriously he takes the commands and claims of the gospel on his life, who he marries, where he lives, how he lives. All of these are important decisions. There are some decisions that seemingly are less important and some that are very automatic. With most of us today, there was no question whether it was a holiday or not, or whether we would be here or not. It was just the Lord's house, the Lord's day, it's the thing to do, and here we are. It's automatic. With others, it was a little bit more difficult. We have to decide what to wear. We have to decide whether to go along with the style. With most of us men, it's not particularly hard to decide. Ah, but with the women, 17 pair of shoes and 400 dresses, they have to decide what to wear to come to church. And that's a serious problem. But when we face life, we always face decisions. Whether or not one will tithe, which church he joins, whether he is honest, I dare say that every one of us today are going through some kind of an experience of facing the resolution of a particular decision. It may be something as serious as running off with someone else's wife, or whether to begin taking narcotics for a teenager, or whether to begin to take the Lord seriously in his claims about tithing, or which church to join, or whether to move, or whether to remain honest in the very face of difficulty, when it means losing a job and losing the favor of other men and losing that promotion and maybe losing financial gain, whether I will always be absolutely honest or not. Now, in your decisions this morning, I hope to be able to help you in the future as we look to see how this good man decided to determine the best way to make our decisions. There are several tests through the years that I have applied to matters of question, trying to decide what to do and when to do it. Three things, I think, however, will crystallize our thoughts upon this morning. They are all obvious in the text. I call them simply the integrity test, the influence test, and the future test. Now, let's look at them one at a time. First of all, Abraham placed the question of what he was going to do with the integrity test. Someone has said that there is really only one question in life that a man has to answer, and that is, is it honest? Will I or will I not do what's right? Now, with Adam, with Abraham, it was a foregone conclusion. As God's man, he had been down into Egypt, he had had his fingers burned, he had learned his lesson, and he didn't want any more problems. And regardless of the consequence, regardless of what happened, he was dedicated to the fact that he was going to do right. And it was not right for him to fight with his brethren. It was not right for the world to lose influence as they looked at him. It was not right for him to be selfish. And so this man, in light of his relationship to God, made a very holy and good and godly and wholesome decision. He simply decided, I will do what's right. We will not fight. I will not be selfish. I will not have reproach brought in the name of Christ. And regardless of the consequence, regardless of what it means, he passed the integrity test. He simply decided that he would do right, that he would be honest. It's amazing how many times we think we can beat the odds and that we can get something right in the ultimate end by doing something wrong in the beginning. A very wise old man has said that that that is wrong never turns out right. There is just no way you can beat the odds. You can't break the laws. You cannot beat the game. You cannot accomplish something that is good by doing something wrong. You cannot ultimately end up with something right by going at it in the wrong way. Right breeds right, and wrong produces wrong. The Bible says, be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever, not whether it is good or wrong, whether it is evil or right, whatsoever, regardless of what a man sows, he reaps. Farmers tell us that there are some basic laws of sowing and reaping, of planting and gathering. For one thing, we gather exactly what we plant. We reap the very same thing we've sowed. Now, you can invest in the kingdom of God and reap the benefits of the kingdom of God or you can lay up all of your treasures on earth and reap the corruption and the decay that it can bring. We not only reap what we sow but we also reap later than we sow. It doesn't always come up on Saturday night but it always comes up. You may have the diamonds of a beautiful experience that may be wrong now and suffer dust later or you may have the dust of difficulty now and the diamonds of virtue later but either way you go dust or diamonds they'll both be there. There's a price to be paid for doing right and I doubt that most of us do not really know what is right in most of our decisions. Very seldom do I have great difficulty making decisions. I have severe difficulty keeping those decisions. It's not easy to carry out those resolutions. It's not easy to be consistent in that new year with what I have resolved to do but I do at least know to do right. And that's a point of departure from which this man began. He decided that he was going to do the right thing and the wrong thing would have been the the reproach on the name of the Lord. The wrong thing would have been the division in the family and there's no way that you can keep the thing together and have joy and happiness and unity. He had to do something right ultimately and so he did it at his own personal self -sacrifice. Now to do right is not always easy. To do right is always right. The Bible says all things work together for good. It doesn't say all things are good because sometimes right is distasteful and honesty is difficult. But when honesty and difficulty and that that is right are planted we may be certain that honesty and integrity will always come up. We reap what we sow. We reap later than we sow and it is a law of nature and a law of life that we also reap more than we sow. I guarantee you that the tithe given to the Lord will not just come back tenfold but a hundredfold. Our Lord has said test me try me prove me go ahead. It is the only place in the Bible where I find that God dares a man. He says I challenge you to out give me. I challenge you. I dare you. He said you begin to tithe and see if I will not give you good measure pressed down running over in such that you can't even contain it. Such is the bounty of our Lord. Lord. He simply decided to do right. He was going to keep harmony in the family. I said to you last week that a recent survey in the Baptist Standard indicated that the most important thing in all of the church of which people attend that they like the best is unity and harmony and fellowship and spirit. And if there's one thing that we will do it is to guard the harmony and the unity and the fellowship of First Baptist Church. It should well be written across the heart of every deacon and staff member and teacher and child and member among us the words of Abraham when he said let there be no strife. Let there be no division. There is enough of that in the world. This sin sick world needs a place where there is unity and joy and fellowship. And he decided whatever the cost of his own personal sacrifice he would guard that fellowship he would in integrity do what was right. A man came to me recently and was very earnestly in prayer about trying to accomplish something right and being able to pay off his bills and get out of debt through a medium that was wrong. And we had to agree together before God and in prayer that something that is wrong can never ultimately end up right. The integrity test. Is it right? And I dare say that the average individual of normal intelligence with a conscience that is half alive and half aware to the will and word of God can know what's right. That's not the problem. The problem is doing what's right, isn't it? And so he put in his decision the question to the integrity test and asked simply is it right and decided that he would do it. Now secondly he put it to the influence test which asked the question how will it affect other people? it was not peace at any price for there is a price to be paid by peace and he paid the price of his own sacrifice for the influence it was going to have upon others the herdmen were looking at him his family was looking at him indeed pharaoh had chastised him and obviously the whole world was aware of the prosperity of these grand two christian families and now would it all go down the drain with all of their influence with all of the image of god's goodness be lost over a petty fight and when he put it to the influence test he realized that he would influence other people by his actions and he must say at personal sacrifice and personal loss you take your choice and saying to his nephew lot who calls him father because he was his ancestral father and this was an a a title of honor rather than a biological relationship he says to his nephew you make the choice you go where you want to go you do what you want to do you make the choice and i'll take the leftovers and when you give a man a choice like that there's really very little he can do except decide he was going to keep peace the bible says blessed are the peacemakers and he was that a blessed peacemaker now you say oh to go over there to france and sit in uh in paris when these peace talks and be a peacemaker and try to bring peace in the world that's what god means that'd be wonderful i'd like to do that no you can be a peacemaker in your home in the office in school wherever you are i remind you the bible does not say blessed are the pacifists it says blessed are the peacemakers because sometimes the only way you can get peace is to go to war japan kicked up a little fuss about 25 years ago and america went over and busted some heads and dropped some bombs and we've been at peace with japan for 25 years had we not done something we would have been at war with them but they've left us alone now we made peace and sometimes it is an a difficult a personal self -sacrifice situation sometimes there is personal aggravation sometimes there is a price to be paid to bring about peace but the influence the test that was being placed to him of his own testimony and how it would affect other people was an absolute criteria in his life in deciding what he was going to do and then a third word he put it to the future test where is this thing going to lead now there are some things that are very very very harmless appearing today but ultimately are not harmless i don't know of anybody that ever got in too much trouble by going to too many football games and so i can decide whether or not to go to one football game and then put it to the future test and ask myself well what if i did this every week and went to a football game a week and in my life i went to a thousand football games and i would come up with the answer that though i would probably be a football nut it really wouldn't hurt me a whole lot the future test of going to a football game is all right but when i apply that same test to that first cigarette or that first marijuana or that first cocktail and i ask what can ultimately become of it if it is carried to its ultimate that's a different story when i ask myself in the question of drinking that suppose i could drink and i could be a social drinker and i would never become a drunkard or an alcoholic what about my influence with my children just suppose one of them can't contain theirs suppose my boy who took his first drink because of my first drink does not have my capacity to take one and stop and he can't handle the problem what about my influence on him what about the future where can this thing lead and so we i think need to answer three questions in making our decisions is it honest how does it affect other people because paul said though meat given to idols may not harm me it doesn't bother my faith what about the faith of a weaker brother and then the future test where will this thing lead now he was the older man and he was also the wiser man and the bible tells us that lot lifted up his eyes toward the east and when he lifted up his eyes the most immediate thing in front of him that he saw were the well -watered plains of canaan and he looked around and he decided to set his tent that direction and he pitched his tent towards sodom now he didn't go all the way into sodom with all of its allurements and all of its all of its sin and its attractions at first but there was a popular way of life down there. There he could sell his cattle. There there was merchandise. There he could buy and sell. There his daughters could be caught up in the social world. There he could be somebody important. There they could be wined and dined and danced and pranced in the society of Sodom. But closer and closer, the Bible tells us, he began to come. He did not go all the way at first. He lifted up his eyes. He took the short look and immaturity always takes the now look, the short look, the immediate gratification look. And he moved closer and closer and closer to Sodom. And finally he went into Sodom. But that in itself was not the problem. It wasn't that Lot moved into Sodom. The problem arose when Sodom moved into Lot. And so he lifted up his eyes, the Bible says, and looked toward the east. But I suggest to you that when he took the future test, that he did not lift them up high enough. Because we move toward a city whose builder and maker is God, that has foundations not made with hands, as seeing him, says the Bible, who is invisible. And so the older man, the wiser man, Abraham, when he took the future test, he looked beyond the immediate pleasure. He looked to where this thing can lead, where will it end? And he saw God. He saw him in faith who is invisible and committed himself to a program of action that would serve and honor the Lord. Now what happened to them? How did it come out? Well, here's Lot down in Sodom. We find him in the end of his life, an old disappointed man. He's lost his daughters. He's lost his influence. He is a broken old man. The devil has no happy old man. The finished product of the brewer's art is not a good advertisement for their industry. And so here is the man, Abraham, the man of integrity, who took the long look, the future look, and decided that the personal sacrifice today was worth a beautiful possession tomorrow. And he honored God and looked in faith toward God. And the Bible says in the 14th verse, the Lord said unto Abraham, after Lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes. He said, now Lot's lifted up his eyes. He's made his decision. He said, now I've got a surprise for you. Surprise, surprise, Abraham, at pace to serve Jesus. Lift up your eyes now and see what I've got for you. And he said, look toward the north and toward the south and toward the east and toward the west and all the land which thou seest will I give thee and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. He blessed him. He gave him. He honored him. He rewarded him because in faith he had looked beyond the short haul, beyond the temporal, beyond the immediate. He had invested himself in his life and his interest and his concern in that which is spiritual and eternal. And I want you to notice that the blessings that God promised him were physical, temporal, material blessings right here on this earth. Now, to be sure, the roll call of the faithful includes his name as one of those that have gone before and he has blessings unspeakable in heaven. But because he looked toward the spiritual and honored God first and looked into the future in this life, God rewarded him more right here than he did his brother, his nephew. I repeat, you cannot out give God. I am not really very good at anything except, well, maybe preaching a little bit. I like to preach. I'd rather preach than do anything. When it comes to fixing a car or mowing the yard or hitting a golf ball, I am the world's least physically inclined person. I don't do well things with my hands except shake them and jump up and down when I preach. And the thing, I guess, that I like to do worse than anything, better than anything and do the worst is to fish. I have never in all my life caught any fish. Now, I am here to tell you that I've probably been fishing 500 times in my life. I have never caught a fish, excuse me, over seven, eight inches. I never caught a bass big enough to keep. I never caught a bass period. I never caught a bass little enough to keep, for that matter. It's always, you know, if you could have just been here last week, oh, preacher, if you could just come back tomorrow, it's always too hot, it's too cold, it's something. I made that statement in Oregon, and a man came up to me and said, well, I'm going to change your luck, preacher. He said, tomorrow morning, steelhead season opens in the famous Rogue River, and I'm taking you down the river with a $35 guide at sunrise, and they'll jump in the boat. We did, but they didn't. I made the same statement in Anchorage, Alaska, and a man said to me, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll fly you back into one of these virgin lakes where man or beast has never set foot, and for two and a half hours, we did, and we trekked five miles, okay, a couple of miles through the snow, waist deep, sat for six and a half hours on a lake that had never been fished ever. One of these places where they jump in the boat, but they didn't. Six and a half hours later, nothing. The guy said to me, all right, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll take you to a game reservation where they're fixing to open the thing up, and we'll have a one -day jump on it, and they have some moose locked up in there, and I'll let you off, and we flew back in the interior of Alaska, and we landed on those skis and that ski plane, and he took off, and he said, now I'll get this little Piper Cub, and I'll just circle that moose. I'll just put my wingtip right on his antlers and circle him, and you walk to him and shoot him. It's just like shooting a cow in a stall. You can't miss. Now, preacher, you can do that, but I did miss. Hours later, I hadn't even seen a moose. He said I crisscrossed back within five feet of him a thousand times, no moose. We have a man in our church named Herman Cohen. I've heard for a year about the fishing exploits of Herman Cohen. He goes fishing the entire month of November every year, and Brother Cohen is the most unselfish man I've ever known at great personal expense. He fishes down in the bay around Port O 'Connor. He stays the month in his little trailer, and he gets hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds of redfish, and he comes home and puts them in everybody's deep freeze, and all year long, he feeds old people. He feeds poor people. He feeds the church fellowships. He feeds missions. He just gets his thrill doing that, and somebody said, you go with Herman Cohen, and you'll catch some fish. Well, Herman and Brother Bobo wrote me a little letter of all the things you were supposed to take. Six parkas, three pair of shoes, two long -handled somethings, all kinds of things. Well, we got down there, and when I got there, Herman said, Preacher, I've been here five days with no luck. I understand. I've heard that story before. So he said, now there just may come a norther tonight, and if it does, the redfish bite when the north wind blows, so get ready. Well, about one o 'clock in the morning in our little room, we woke up down there, and the wind was blowing. Now, I took Gerald Ray with me. He had never been fishing in his life ever, anything. At about 3, 30, 4 o 'clock in the morning, that wind was still blowing. I had on about six blankets. I said, Lord, I'm not getting out in this weather going fishing. Now, you don't just stand at the bank and fish, friend. You get out in the middle of the whole Pacific Ocean up to your neck and go fishing. Well, about 4 o 'clock, we got up and went over to Herman's, and I got back in bed in his little trailer. All these guys started to eat, and I said, Herman, the wind is blowing 30 miles an hour. There's small crap warnings out. It's 25 degrees. The chill factor is 10 below zero, and in six feet of the Atlantic Ocean going, I ain't. He said, Preacher, I've got the lions out. We've got to run them. We've got to go. So he got down and prayed. He said, Lord, we've got old people and little people. We've got poor people. We've got young couples. Jesus, you've got to give us some fish. Now, I found out how to catch fish. You've got to go with a Jew that's got a hot line, you see. He's old Herman Cohen. He's got a direct line through that I didn't know anything about. And we prayed and prayed. Now, I confess, never before have I prayed as faithlessly as that. I said, Lord, what are we praying about? I'm not even going. Now, I'm telling you the truth. We got on two pair of long... What were those things? Long -handled... Yeah, that's right. Some things. I'm telling you the gospel truth in this moment. Two pair of long -handleds, three pair of socks, a pair of tennis shoes, all insulated, three pair of pants, three shirts, a parka that came up and made a hood. My baptizing boots, if they leaked this morning, you know what the problem is.