Ruin of a Christian — Glenn Meldrum

For more messages by Glenn Meldrum and in his presence ministries go to www .IHP min Istry .com. You are welcome to make additional copies of this CD for free distribution. This morning. I want to look at a.

The Ruin and Making of a Christian

Message that I titled the ruin of a Christian and I want to look at what the ruin of a Christian is how a Christian is ruined what brings about a ruin of a Christian. Then at the end of the message I will look at the making of a Christian or looking at a man of God and what a man of God is and Some of the fruits of what that means.

God has not called his church to defeat. He's called his church to to triumph to be victorious, but we have to understand that there are certain things that bring about defeat. There's a pattern with it.

There's something that comes about in our lives that brings about defeat and the sooner We understand what that is the sooner We'll be able to take care of it and put things in order so that defeat will not happen.

God wants us to be victorious. The world is aching to see something real and I'm sorry to say that the world has not been curious about Christianity because it's not Offered it the real thing not just that is now we have a plague within the Pentecostal charismatic churches of seeker sensitivism.

That is an abomination to God just compromising the Word of God. Becoming as worldly as possible to supposedly let in more and more people. But though we fill churches and if they're not truly converted we damn them to hell.

I read a book recently that I had bought just because the title made me curious about it. And then I was had a little bit of knowledge of the theologian that wrote it. It was John Warwick Montgomery and the book was damned through the church.

It was interesting because he's a he's a Mainline denomination theologian and his whole premise of the whole book was saying that the church today is damning multitudes that come through the doors of their church because of cowardly preachers that are too afraid to preach the truth of the gospel and To allow the truths of the gospel to penetrate the heart to bring around about genuine and true repentance.

We have reduced repentance to something that is just raise your hand who wants to have this kind of faith who wants to know this kind of Jesus and we damn Multitudes through that where God has called us to be a voice crying in the wilderness to preach the truth of the gospel but I want to look at the ruin of a Christian.

The ruin of churches happens because of ruin of individuals and Individuals that make up churches and and the ruin of people who are the the leaders within churches. We have to see that there's a pattern there's something that happens.

We're going to look at one individual man in the beginning of the message and we'll look at another one. That is a very successful very triumphant Christian when we come to a close Turn with me to Genesis the 13th chapter.

Lot’s Choice and the Beginning of Compromise

While you're turning there, let me explain what's going on. We're going to look at a man named lot. And we're gonna see the compromise of lot. We're gonna see what the compromise of lot does. I pray that this message is very successful in revealing to your minds the reality of compromise you see we Can so whitewash sin and make it not to be what it really is that we make it not that bad.

Not that big a thing that we don't understand how devastating it is and the repercussions of it. And as we look at lot, we will see this but let me give you what's going on to the situation. We don't know how lot came into the family of Abram, but lot was a nephew of Abram and Lot ended up coming under the covering of Abram and Abram was a man of God.

Abram Loved the Lord walked in intimacy with this God that he knew that God had brought him out of his own people out of out Of the Chaldean people and separated him unto himself and Abram walked with God and lot walked with God while being under the roof of Abram and lots herds and lots possessions grew as God blessed Abram so lot was blessed as a result of it eventually.

Their possessions grew so much that Abram went to lot and says look at the land can't sustain us anymore. We should not be divided as brethren, so let's go and Separate lovingly you go into one part of the land I'll go in the other one that way there the land can sustain our herd and this way We'll be able to remain brethren and remain at peace with each other.

Abram who was the head of the household and in that day and age. He was the head of the clan. He was the one that Controlled and ruled the whole household and everybody every servant every family member that was under him.

He had the right to say this is what we're gonna do and everybody had to say yes. That's the way it'll be. But Abram was a kind and tender man and he went to lot and instead of himself saying lot I will take this land you will take that land.

He goes a lot. He says lot you can choose I'll let you choose whatever you choose then I'll go the opposite direction. What a kind and generous man that he was to allow his nephew to make that decision when Abram had the total right to be able to make that choice and so he makes a Choice and this is what we're going to look at we're gonna look at the choice of lot in Genesis 13 in a tense verse.

It says a lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered. Like the garden of the Lord like the land of Egypt towards or this was before The Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

So lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company. Abram Lived in the land of Canaan while lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.

Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord. Now before I go on and bring some explanation with a little of that verse. I want to develop a particular point when you go into ancient rabbinic writings the ancient Jewish writings.

You will find something within those writings that none of them ever thought that Lot was a righteous man. They all thought that lot was a very wicked man. But there's something interesting that comes out which is very strange and would not go in the in the train of normal Jewish thought.

Will you get into Peter and Peter brings out a statement from the revelation of God that I think is interesting in first Peter the second Chapter in verses 7 8 and says and delivered just a lot. Vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.

It's interesting that Peter referred to him as just. But you know, I want to bring out a point here is that lot was just only to a point. He only wanted so much of God in his life. He only wanted so much of righteousness.

He only wanted to walk so close to the Lord and it says that his righteous soul was vexed from day to day with what? went on. But you know we can be vexed to a point but not vexed to a righteous point that really motivates us.

Let me portray it in this way. We can go and turn on the television watch the evening news. We can see some horrendous crime go on and it can infuriate us. We look at that thing and it can just anger us with what we see going on.

It can be a righteous indignation in one sense that rises up but is it enough that we go out we strive to change our world. You see lot hated what went on in Sodom and Gomorrah. He didn't like the sin and everything else that went on but yet he still loved the glamour of Sodom.

He still loved being in the world, but he just didn't want to do all the bad stuff. He wanted all the benefits of being worldly, but didn't want the the consequences of it. You see he was only righteous to a point and as we get into his life You will see that he came to a point to make some decisions and there's heart decisions that reveal a depth of Sin within this man a worldliness that was so great that he devastated his family.

There's a scripture that's disturbing. It says in 2nd Timothy 3 5 that there are those who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. I Believe this is where lot was. Lot had a form of godliness outward.

He had the form of it. He looked like a pious man. He had some basic piety in his heart, but he was desirous of the world. I want you to think of how lot came to the decision of why he went to Sodom and Gomorrah and let's look at this.

Because this becomes a foundation of the ruin of a Christian. What ended up happening is he went and he looked over the lands? He went and stood on top of a big mountain and he went and looked and he saw well.

That's desert and that's pretty barren over there and ooh that valley over there man. Look at that and He made a decision by the lust of his eyes. By the pride of his life. He made a decision by what he saw with his eyes and he says look at that.

Look at how green that land is. Look at how plush. Everything is. Look at those cities that are prosperous my herds and and flocks were just man. They would grow left and right down there and I'd be so close to the marketplace.

He made a good business decision. But you know what he did not see or what you don't see in the scripture is you don't find a man who got on his face before God. You find absent absolutely 100 in the life of lot a man of intimacy a man of desperate prayer a man of Desperate relationship with the Living God.

He does not get on his face and say God what would be your will? He just looks with his eyes and he says that's what I want or this is what I want. That's the way I want to go and we can justify it in our own minds.

We can justify our own worldliness by saying well I want to offer my kids something. I want to give them a good future. I want to make sure they have college. I don't want them to grow up as I grew up with a little bit.

I want them to have much. We can justify our own worldliness through all kinds of ways. We've got to get down to the reality of what it really is. William law in his book a devout and holy life made this statement.

He says devotion is not prayer. But prayer is part of devotion. Devotion signifies a life given or devoted to God. The devout man. Therefore is one who lives no longer to his own will or to the way and spirit of the world, but solely to the will of God.

He considers God in everything and he serves God in everything. He makes every aspect of his common life into an aspect of piety by doing everything in the name of God into his glory. You see God has called the true Christian to a place of such intimacy that every dimension of their lives.

Every decision of their life every heartbeat in essence is to come under the Lordship of Christ. But what we want to do so often as Christians we want only dimensions. Well Lord, I'll let you have this part of my life.

I'll let you have that part of my life. But then we move so much after what we see with our eyes we go to the stores and we buy what we want. Just because we want them. We have a relative just and I have a relative that.

They walk through the doors of Walmart and the employees say hello. How are you? They name them by name? I mean they live at that store. They love that store. Their house is so packed with stuff. You can't imagine it and they do it just because it's an obsession.

They go after everything they want with their eyes. They walk in this wouldn't this be nice wouldn't that be nice and soon everything is so cluttered, but we can say well I'm not like that. God has called us more than just the aspect of how much we necessarily spend.

He's called us what we do exactly with our life has my life totally come under the Lordship of Christ. The real issue with lot is who is in control? Who was going to lead and dictate the life of this man and ultimately this family.

Who? Would make those choices. Would lot be the man to make those choices or would God be the one to make the choices and you find with lot that? God was not the one who made the choices. Lot is the one who made the choices.

That was the beginning of the downfall of lot compromise. Backslidings can happen over over five years ten years twenty years. It can be a slow process that can go on like divorce. No person gets married in a week later.

If they love each other and they get divorced on the road it is because they make Choices to stop loving one another. They make choices to let sin enter in that builds walls. It is deliberate choices to not forgive and to allow ways and ideas and and Mannerisms that cause division to allow them to fester and grow and grow and grow.

It is Choices of a husband and wife to allow that to happen it never just happens. It's never that two people are not compatible. It's always a situation that sin enters in and when sin enters in Compromise happens and Christians separate as a result of because they allow those little foxes to come in and spoil a whole vineyard.

When you look at lot you find a situation. It's interesting. It says first of all that lot moved outside of Sodom and Gomorrah. When you read on a little bit more in his life you see that lot moved into Sodom and Gomorrah and then when you read a little further you find that lot now sits at the gate of the city of Sodom and Gomorrah and what that means for a man to sit at the gate of the city means that he became a ruler of The city.

I want you to see what went on here is lot went and first pitched outside. He did what his eyes wanted what he wanted with his own heart with his own desires. He went after that he pitched outside knowing that Sodom was a wicked city.

Knowing that it was a vile place and that God hated the sin of that city. But yet he went and justified it in his own mind. Not that big a deal. Not that bad of an issue. Not that much trouble, you know, well, maybe this is a blessing of God.

I Think many times what we call blessings of God may be curses of the devil. Because we don't sit down and look at its source and look at the fruit that it starts producing in our lives is what? Supposedly God has given us is drawing me close to do or am I getting more worldly?

Am I getting more arrogant? Am I getting more self-will and my longing for God more than getting on my face for more and more because I ache and I yearn For him or am I getting further from him and my heart growing colder to things of God?

What is the actual fruits of it? But you see lot could justify it all he had good reason because he went after the lust of his eyes. It's an interesting thing on how. The selfish are always trying to get God to agree with them.

It is so interesting how how when we're selfish we want God to agree with we want somehow to get that little little Jesus stamp. Of approval on our actions on what we do. Oh Jesus. I know you agree with this.

It's not that bad of a thing. It's not that big of a deal. But you see that's not what he wants what he wants more than anything. It's absolute 100 surrender. More than anything and that's why it is so hard because surrender is a difficult thing to give.

We want control of our life. We want control of our wants of our purchases of everything. We want control of what we do. And we don't really want to relinquish that to God. Because what if he tells me to do something that I necessarily don't want to do.

Lot pitches outside of Sodom. Made perfect sense to move into Sodom. I mean if he moved into Sodom, it'd be so much easier to do business. I mean, it would just be be that much better. And so why don't.

Well I can. I can still be good. I can still do right. I can still walk with God, but I'll just move in the Sodom a little bit more and you know. It's just for business purposes. I'm gonna give my children a good education then.

But you see a little bit later He's ruling Sodom. But you have to understand something here. There's a difference between a man who goes into Sodom to win Sodom and a man who goes into Sodom to be won by Sodom.

Lot was going to be won by Sodom because he had no ambition to win Sodom. He was not a man who was intimate with God and had the heart of God for a perishing world. He was a man who had a heart for the world and wanted to be worldly wanted worldliness.

Wanted that in his life did not want a God that would lead him and guide him and direct him. He wanted to be directed by his own passions his own desires. It's interesting what Paul Smith said. Paul Smith says lack of separation from the world.

Always indicates a lack of separation on the Christ whenever we see worldliness in our life. It is always because we've not Relinquished an area of our life to God. Worldliness is a sure sign Of us not being in a spot with Jesus that we should.

When we're seeking after the things of this world when the passion of this world is what motivates us and drives us. It is a sure thing of a worldly heart of a worldly spirit. God has given us things whether homes or cars or whatever and all they are is tools.

It's all they are. Do you know the problem we have with tools? We like setting them up on altars and making them items. That's what we like doing. He gave us tools. Paul had the greatest Understanding of this.

He says I've learned how to be a base. I've learned how to abound and he says I don't care. I don't care if I have little. I don't care if I have a lot. He says I count it all done. Compared to the greatness of the excellency of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

It does not matter if the things in the way of God, it's gone. I don't care for the big house. I don't care for the car. I don't care what it is. It doesn't matter because all that matters is the excellency of knowing Christ Jesus.

Is it my sport? Is it my is it my entertainment? It doesn't matter because my desire is to know him and for him to rule and reign in my life. But you see so often when people look at the issue of holiness.

They don't understand that holiness is is an aspect of intimacy with God. Holiness Is so often reduced to legalism and I have heard time and again where people say well preacher you just preach legalism.

No, I don't. You better listen to the preaching. Because you got to understand holiness is an absolute command of God. God said without holiness. No one will ever see God. It is an absolute. Holiness does not come from the works of the law or the works of the flesh or a good deed because none are good.

Holiness can only come from intimacy with the Living God. With relationship because you see how it works when we begin to look at him. We see the eyes that burn with fire we see a God of holiness the God of power a God of goodness.

We gaze upon him and we are awestruck by him and we begin to fall in love with him. Then we go and they say God. Anything what do you want? What do you want me to do? What's displeasing to you God? What is pleasing to you anything?

Holiness is not a burden to those in love. To those not in love holiness is a tremendous burden because they say well, it's robbing me of my fun. It's I don't know if I want to do that. I don't know if I want to give those things up.

I don't think that's really way God does it. But it's just the justifications of men. During Genesis 15 through 18, you have something happening. You have Abram drawing near to God. You have Abram Having a new name that God gives him and calls him Abraham.

God makes covenant with Abraham. I'm not gonna take time to get in the covenant, but you have to understand how Phenomenal is the very aspect that God would give covenant that God would enter into covenant binding covenant with us in essence God signing a contract a legal contract with us.

We don't understand how phenomenal is. Here's the God who spoke everything into existence with a word power beyond what we can even fathom and then he Condescends comes down to us and makes covenant with us that he says if you will do this, I will do that Commits himself to us.

That Abraham now becomes the friend of God. The total opposite is going on with lot. Lot is becoming more worldly because through this time as Abrams drawing closer to God. It was the same time that lot was moving into Sodom and was the same time that lot Became a ruler of Sodom was the same time that lot was destroying his own family.

Lowered Standards and the Slow Process of Compromise

I want to take a few minutes and I want to look at some of the low standards that lot had. I'm just gonna touch on a couple of them. Lot had an unbelievable amount of standards that are low. But you know, it's really interesting.

I Became a Christian. When you first gave your heart to Jesus and the passion you had to walk near him the passion you had to have your life free from worldliness and and the ambitions of the things of this life and and when you first gave your heart to Jesus and I Would burned in your heart to know him and to walk with him and and prayer was a joy and it wasn't a burden.

But then as time goes on and life gets complicated and all this stuff starts happening and prayers put aside and intimacy gets to be lost and and Christianity is reduced to rituals and forms and things that we do rather than a relationship and and how so much changes.

Compromise doesn't happen overnight the things he started letting in his life did not happen. Overnight it happened through little choices a little bit at a time. The little foxes coming in and taking a grape at a time just a little grape.

It's not a big deal. Not that much but a little bit here and a little bit there. What we wouldn't watch at one time on television. The violence and the and the sexual jokes and all the sex scenes and everything else what we wouldn't even tolerate.

Now we tolerate what we wouldn't even even allow it to be entertainment in our life. Now we make it to be the norm. And it's a process that goes on but look at how we justify each step of the compromise.

Look at how we justify we say well, it's not that big a thing. It's not that bad. Well, God understands. It's just one scene or it's just just some different music. You know, I don't have to listen to Christian music and One thing after another and how we justify it where at one time we knew we wouldn't and it wasn't out of law.

It was out of relationship. It was out of desire of God. You see low standards come in through time. I Believe when lot walked with God when he was with Abraham. They were high standards. Lot walked in a place of intimacy with God at least to a point.

But when he got away from his uncle's influence then he started going downhill. It says that God sent in two angels. To get lot and his family out of Sodom and Gomorrah. To rescue them because God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

And so these two angels come into town and lot. Knowing it was a wicked town. Compelled the men not to sleep the night in the town square. But to come into his home into a place of safety which these two angels did.

He did not know they were angels at that time. They come into his home and it says when it was dark that the men of the city Gathered around the house and started beating on the door and says open to us.

Release these men that we might know them. That was very nice way of putting that it was homosexuals coming beating on the house saying let these men out that we might rape them. That's the reality of it.

Lot’s Moral Cowardice and the Loss of Absolutes

Now scripture will never change about homosexuality. No matter what Liberal churches will say no matter what the media says no matter what the Ability of the media to try and manipulate us to call us homophobes.

It's not true. I'm not a homophobe. But I am a man of God who says that sin is sin and homosexuality is absolute sin and will always be absolute sin before God. Just as fornication is absolute sin. Just as adultery is absolute sin.

Just as lying is absolute sin. They are all just as damnable. But it was interesting when the men come around The house and they're beating on at the door. It says that lot open the door went out and closed the door behind him.

And he did something that is very revealing and you know, we can read over this and have it not even fazes. But I want you to think about this for a minute. It says that he walked out there and the first thing that he said was brothers and this is very important.

This is very revealing about the mentality of lot and what went on with lot. First off we have to see according to the flesh. Nobody in that family in that city was brothers. None of the sodomites. Were brothers.

None of the people in that town were brothers. A relation of any state way shape or form. He went into a town as an alien. They were not relatives. So he wasn't calling them brothers on a standpoint of that.

They were not believers. They did not serve the Lord God. Not in any way shape or form but he comes before them and he says brothers. Let me put it to you like this. How many times have you gone to a funeral and you know the majority times that the majority of funerals?

They lie through their teeth at the funerals. I mean, this is what they do. I mean for some reason we have the idea that here can be a man who is abusive to his family and all kinds thing. And he's dead and the children go.

Oh dad was so good. No, he wasn't he was abusive drunkard. What are you doing saying that we all want to make it all feel a little bit better and well. Maybe he went to heaven before he did and how often I've heard people come up with means to try to justify their Relative lived in rebellion against God.

They died in rebellion against God and he tries it. Well, maybe this boy died. He might have said something I believe that God showed me went to heaven. Because we want to make it feel better. The reality is if your parent didn't walk with God, they're in hell.

But man will try and and we'll try and coddle it and everything else. It becomes a slow compromise that we do to try and justify it. It makes us feel a little better. You see something happened with lot as he had lost absolutes in his life.

Do you know I remember reading a while ago one of Barnum's polls and they they were polling people on the aspect of absolutes. And when they looked at the church, the church was almost equal with the world in the sense that there were no more absolutes.

That everything had become relative. Situational ethics everything became relative. Well, it's only from your viewpoint whether that's bad only from your viewpoint of homosexuality is wrong. Well, it's only from your viewpoint of sleeping with somebody's on you see today.

We don't look down upon it anymore that two people move in not married with each other. Give it 10 15 20 years and you'll see how acceptable Supposedly homosexuality will become. You haven't seen nothing yet.

Because as we open Pandora's box more and more the filth will rise more and more of it will come out more and more of it Will be revealed. He called his these people brothers because absolutes were lost.

There was no more white and black. It had become gray. I remember while I was pastoring in Detroit. I was driving on 96 heading west once there was a intense storm in front of me and it was pitch black.

But it was an interesting thing as I'm watching it driving into it all of a sudden by the time I got into the storm. It wasn't black anymore. It was gray and The deeper I got into that storm the grayer it became and I felt like the Lord speaking to my heart says this is what Compromise is when we walk in holiness.

We look back at it and we see white and darkness. We see a contrast. We see the God of creation. We see the devil. We see the world. We see what worldliness is. We see what compromise is. We understand it?

But as we start to compromise we it gets all obscured. We don't see those fine lines anymore. We don't see the differences. Now it gets gray. Because it's easier for us to deal with my how we can justify grace.

There's a man of God. His name was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He died for his faith in World War two. And he and his book cost of discipleship Brought up the situation of cheap grace and how at that time He was coming against the Lutheran Church because of their cheap grace.

But today America is filled with cheap grace. Our Pentecostal charismatic churches are filled full Overflowing with cheap grace. The idea that we can do anything We want and there's this big mushy God of grace that'll wash anything away.

And we are deceiving our own people by a perversion of grace. Grace is never for the justification of sin. Sin is always absolutely 100 wicked before God. I don't care what it is. I don't care if it's a little lie or if it's murder.

Jesus went so far to equate murder as hating a brother. And he went so far to equate adultery as lusting after a person. Because Jesus went deeper than what the law went. Jesus went to the heart. Because he was out after the character of the being not just the external actions of the individual.

Lot had a lot of slow standards. Paul Smith says Israel power was effective as long as they maintained a wall of separation between themselves. And the heathen tries roundabout, but the moment that barrier was removed the people of Israel lost their power.

Look at it in Scripture when they were holy the power of God was there. When they were holy God would be their defense and their buckler and their shield. When compromise came in God allowed them to be taken in by the devil and allowed them to be Mistreated and abused that they might come to genuine repentance.

But you know there's something else that happened here, and this is interesting as well. You see compromise always produces fear of man. You know that's why we compromise because we're afraid. One of the reasons why we compromise because we're afraid of what people think.

Well, what will they think if I become a fanatic? You know what a definition of fanatic is. Anybody who loves Jesus more than you? Well the reality is they love Jesus more than you they've given everything and you've not and so it's easy to go and say well.

They're just a fanatic. I don't know if that's the way it should be. Well if you went and read the New Testament if you read the Gospels the way that that is really there took it verbatim of what he went and said then you would see Jesus so phenomenally radical.

And that's what Christian is to be and are we even close to living what the gospel says much less what the epistles say. If we could but live the Sermon on the Mount. I'll tell you what we'd be changing our world.

Just a sermon on the Mount much less everything else. But think about the fear of man and how it produces compromise. You know how often we can be so ashamed of the gospel when we go in the workplace.

We're too afraid to speak. What do they think of me? What if I lose the promotion? What if this happens? What if that happens the fear of man? Manipulates us we allow ourselves be manipulated. You know how bizarre this is.

I want you to think of how bizarre this is. This is really strange here Christians true Christians are the bearers of truth. But yet we allow the devil who is the author of lies to manipulate us and make us afraid of the truth.

So we give in to the lie. How bizarre. How absolutely bizarre that we would give in to the lie when we know we got the truth. We know what we're saying is true. We know it's the only hope but yet we're afraid and so we keep it in because we're afraid of what people say.

Why. Because pride is so deep-rooted in our characters, but I want you to think about this. And here is an expression of the depth of compromise. With lot and women. I want I want to ask you this question.

Lot’s Offer of His Daughters

Would you want lot to be your daddy? Would you want lot to be your daddy in Genesis 19 verse 8 as The men of Sodom kept pushing upon lot. Lot ends up saying this he says behold now. I have two daughters.

Who have not known a man? Let me I pray you bring them out unto you and do ye to them as is good in your eyes. Now it doesn't take much imagination to imagine what would go on if they would have taken them.

Now is that a good daddy, I mean is that is that is that a man? You'd want to have as your father. Says well here take my daughters and and rape them do all the perverted stuff you want with but don't touch these men.

You see lot was a coward. He was a coward. He did not have the guts to say you will not touch my home. You will not touch these men. He was a coward. He was too afraid to stand up. He was too afraid to be ridiculed.