Abram & Lot part ways

Good morning. As we proceed into the passage here, just a couple things to draw to your attention. There's been a supplement that we've had kind of additional quantities every week for a few weeks here, and there are a few more last I checked of this one about archaeological and historical evidence for Serug Nehor and Terah, the father of Abraham. And so feel free to take advantage of that. There's also a new one that's out there, at least I hope there's still something out there.

And this one is modern maps of the area around Israel, in and around Israel, and modern maps of the Middle East with some of these key cities shown on top of it. I think that may help some people in terms of trying to place. Where are these places that we're talking about? Ur and Haran and Bethel and places like that.

So, feel free to avail yourselves of those. Also, just to kind of give us a little fore view, this month and into next month in terms of the passages that we'll be covering and some of the topics we'll be addressing here. We, of course, have finished with the first Sunday of the month last week, and today we'll finish up Abram and Lot parting ways. Once we get towards the end of July, we'll be doing kind of a pair of messages there. And in those, addressing the topics of homosexuality, secular society, and cavemen. So anyway, some interesting things ahead of us. Just to let you know.

Another thing, and we'll be touching on the very beginnings of it, is in the chapters that we're now beginning in Genesis, there are a great number of insights that I could wish that our nation's leaders were more aware of regarding how the Middle East came to be how it is now. Essentially what we're going to be seeing in today's chapter and in the chapters ahead is decisions made by one person are now affecting millions and continue to impact us now. And we will see that even as we proceed in today's chapter on into chapter 16. Alright, Genesis 13 that we're moving through today has two main themes and so we want to touch on that.

The first one is Abraham is going to be making an offer to Lot to choose whichever portion of the land he wishes. Lot, he will tell them, you pick this one or you pick that one. You and I just need to kind of move separate directions to avoid some of the conflicts that are starting to arise here. So that's one of the things that is going to be coming out and the passage that Wayne read for us is an introduction to that.

The second theme towards the end of chapter 13 is God's repeating a confirmation spelling out again that the very land that Abraham was then in was indeed the land that he had promised him where way back in chapter 12 he said the land that I will show you and now he is indeed showing him exactly that very land he is also going to tell him in here something else and that is your descendants will be great in number And he's going to spell that out. So that will be essentially added to the promises that have been made already. We're going to continue to see as we go through this chapter that even though Abraham will be far less than perfect, to put it actually nicely, in the way he carries things out, even though Abraham stumbles, the Lord is persistently merciful and gracious. We're going to see that again and again here.

All right, so that's the descendant. Anyway, okay. One of the things we mentioned is we could even wish that our own government was more aware and understood more fully the things that are here starting this very chapter. in the middle chapters of Genesis.

Tremendous insights into how the Middle East came to be what it is. Essentially, one way to sum up the Middle East is a 4,000 year long family feud. And 4,000 years is only the number so far. The first three verses of Genesis 13 begins with a series of events that would provide insights into how things came about in the Middle East, how things came about in Israel to have the conflicts that are there now. The Middle East is a powder keg ready to blow because of the conflicts that we see set up in these chapters of Genesis. And here's one other important insight. With all the peace efforts that go on in the Middle East, I'll just tell you right out, they will not be solved until Christ comes again. Just flat out. They will not be solved until Christ comes again.

These insights would guide our own nation in our own policies. Where should we put our efforts? Who should we support? Who should we keep away from? All those things. These chapters that we're beginning right now, and we'll see in the weeks ahead, are going to give insights into those very things. So if the CIA won't listen, at least perhaps you will, right? Okay. Now, recall how this story began. We want to kind of bring ourselves up to speed here.

One of the things we pointed out is Abram, or Abraham as he's later called, and his family started out at the city of Ur. Ur, as we had mentioned, was not some sort of primitive, backward, little tribal village. It was a very advanced civilization, likely the most advanced civilization of the time. Artistry, technologies, dealing with metals, all those things were very well advanced. They used the Euphrates River with canals and waterworks going around the city and had waste management programs in place. I mean, it was a very advanced city.

Abram, however, was told you need to leave there, okay? The family, including the extended family, all moved up to Haran. And essentially, Abram waited until his father Terah died, until proceeding on from Haran. Abraham went on, he and his wife Sarai, later called Sarah, went on into Canaan.

Canaan, by the way, was populated by a people not directly related to Abraham. So he's moving into a territory here. These people that are in the land, not of the same family stock as Abraham. So these are definitely foreigners and of a different culture and different background.

Lot, his nephew, goes with Abraham on this move and that will be a pivotal thing in what we study here this morning. The event that we looked at last week was Abraham because of a famine, and it's the first of three described in the book of Genesis. Abraham, because of a famine, was driven to go from the land that the Lord had promised him down into Egypt in order to gain supplies. Because Egypt relied on the Nile River with a much larger drainage area, and a pattern of this large river coming from quite a distance, the tendency towards fluctuations was greatly reduced and Egypt was often looked as a place to go get food when the famines would get bad in the land of Canaan. And so Abraham was driven along with Sarah, his wife, and Lot down to this land of Egypt. And one of the things we found out last week is, remember, Abraham cooked up a story. He saw, okay, we're going down to Egypt. I've got to cook up a story so that I'll survive.

Sarah, tell them you're my sister and then everything will be okay. Well, thinking that, the Egyptians gave Abraham all sorts of livestock and servants and loaded him up. But then when the Egyptians found that because they had taken Sarah into the harem, that all these great plagues came down upon them, that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. And that they'd better get Sarah out of the harem and that would cure their problem.

So, and here is where the Lord is gracious. Abraham could well have gotten some kind of real serious retribution from the Egyptians. The Egyptians could have said, let us have all our livestock and servants back. You didn't deserve them. Instead, he was treated mercifully and blessed in the middle of this. And so we saw the Lord's grace abundantly shown, as well as the Lord's mercy. Remember we said that grace is getting what you don't deserve. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Is that real clear now?

Okay. Genesis 13 here tells about what happened to Abraham and his nephew Lot when they returned from Egypt. And that's the account that we're stepping into now. Alright. Are you with me? In sync? Okay. Yes? No? Okay. Alright. We'll proceed anyway. Okay.

We know that Abraham should have trusted the Lord And he should have thought through, you know, the Lord has promised this land to my descendants. Right now I'm childless. So the only way the Lord's going to fulfill that is if the Lord preserves me. The Egyptians aren't going to kill me. I don't need to lie about who Sarah is. God will take care of me.

That's what he should have thought through. He should have trusted the Lord in spite of appearances to protect and preserve him. Guess what? He didn't. The events could have come out far worse, but God showed Abraham grace, that is, blessing he didn't deserve, and mercy. He withheld punishment and consequences that he certainly did deserve. Abraham seems to have learned some spiritual lessons as he comes back into the land of Canaan after this kind of misadventure down in Egypt. He seems to have learned some lessons.

It's like it finally dawns on him, Oh, you know, God will take care of me. God does. Lo and behold, God does intend to fulfill his promise. What do you think of that? It dawns on him that when God makes a promise, he means to keep it. Abraham seems to get this finally soaking into his mind that God is faithful and God is indeed the promise keeper. He is the one who keeps his promises.

It finally sinks in that God is rich in both grace and mercy and he doesn't need to cook up schemes and he doesn't need to tell half-truths in order for God to fulfill his promises. Well, after coming back from Egypt, now we get into the account that we read here this morning. Abraham and apparently Lot had both prospered greatly through this process of coming down into Canaan and now additionally by the Lord's gracious and merciful intervention on Abraham's behalf, And so they seem to have prospered well in their physical assets. And that was becoming quite clear.

What the scripture passage here lists is that Abraham had great wealth and silver and gold, but livestock was mentioned as the first item of the three on the list. Lots of livestock. Those animals were his primary asset. The things that are listed in Genesis 12-16 are particularly oxen and sheep and donkeys and camels.

Those four. And so it likely included those. It may have included some other animals as well. We don't know. At least in the asset category of livestock, when it came to lot, It also gives the impression he was doing quite well also. We don't know about his silver and gold, but at least in livestock he was doing well.

Enough so that the prosperity of each of them was coming to a problem. The problem that's going to create the divide that we're going to see here this morning. Have you ever noticed that sometimes material abundance comes with problems? Isn't that interesting? Material abundance can come with problems. All of a sudden, it's how do I deal with all this goodness, right? And so we see that happening here. It creates a conflict between Abraham and Lot. How does that happen?

The Canaanites, those who had been in the land first, had claimed certain portions of the land and particularly those areas where they had a city and the areas immediately around it would be claimed first. But this land was in some degree a frontier kind of place and so between those areas that the Canaanites had claimed, Abraham and Lot were free to go ahead and graze those areas and take advantage of the grass and the forage that was there. And so what happened there, to avoid the conflicts, Abraham and Lot would kind of work around the Canaanites in these areas that were remaining. And so while If the Canaanites had not been there, there probably wouldn't be any big squeeze. But the fact that they had to work in the areas that the Canaanites had not claimed, then comes the rub. It pushes the two of them together in the remaining land, and that created a conflict. Now if it was just simply a matter of Lot and Abraham, they probably would have got along.

But the difficulty comes that each had herdsmen. Those guys that were appointed to watch over the different kinds of livestock that were out there. And those herdsmen would get in conflicts over, this is our grass, this is our water. And they would end up arguing with one another when they bumped against each other. And it gives you some idea, even with the Canaanites having claimed some land, of the size of their flocks and the size of their herds at this point in time. There was getting to be a great number of livestock, sizable herds, sizable flocks, that had now come to a place of conflict. It wasn't just the animals eating the same land, but the herdsmen squabbling over the forage that was there, over the water that was available. That brought about Abraham's offer.

Abraham is seeing this conflict and saying, this isn't good. Here this guy is. He's family. He's my nephew. And now we've got this major conflict going on. We can't keep doing this. This is only going to get worse. So he says, I've got to make him an offer. Let me make you an offer. Okay? Only it's not like this one. Okay? Not like this kind of offer. He comes to Lot and he says, let me make you an offer. I will let you make the choice. How does he do that?

Think through what Abraham is learning from the Lord here. Lesson number one. The Lord will be faithful to His promise. Lesson number one. He's learned that. Ah, the Lord is faithful to His promise if He's promised me this land. I can offer Lot whatever I want, and the Lord's still going to give me, in the end, the promise that my descendants will end up with the land that He's promised. And that won't get thwarted. So, ding, ding, ding, the lights are going on, the bells are ringing. He's finally getting the point. When God promises something, He means it. So I don't have to come up with schemes. I can go ahead and let Lot choose whatever he wants and God will still keep his promise. So Abraham is starting to get it. Isn't that great? Okay.

He also didn't want to intensify the conflict. Already squabbling between herdsmen and this was only going to get more pinched as the flocks grew and as the herds grew and the numbers became greater. More and more intensity of conflict and frequency of conflict between the herds and the flocks and the herdsmen. Third thing, he offered Lot the first choice. Lot, you make whatever choice you want. You take first pick. I'll take the remainder.

I can even, Abraham's thinking, I can even let Lot pick what Lot thinks is the best part and God will still be faithful. How about that? He's actually learned to trust the Lord. Wow, this is a huge step forward in Abraham's spiritual understanding. I can go ahead and let Lot choose first and God will still be faithful and God will still give my descendants this land. I don't have to worry about it. So that's what he did. After Lot's first choice, Abraham would take whatever land remained.

Let Lot go ahead and have the best as he estimates it to be. God will still take care of me. God will still bless me, because he's promised to. And God will still give this land to my descendants. I don't have to worry about it. I can trust the Lord. Cool. God will be faithful to his promises. It's finally sinking in. Even giving lot first choice will not thwart God's promises. Yeah. Great lesson.

Now, he uses this expression right and left. Right? He says, you know, pick the right, I'll go to the left. You pick the left, I'll go to the right. And of course in this political season, you know what that means. You vote Democratic, I'll vote Republican. You vote Republican, I'll... No, never mind. That's not what he's talking about. Okay.

This passage begins a pattern in Scripture. As a matter of fact, we're going to see it more in Genesis, and you can see it throughout the rest of Scripture. It's kind of a Hebrew manner of speaking, where the left and the right are all the choices. Between this and that, it's all the choices. You pick this choice, I'll pick the other one.

And at some places, it is also used to tell someone not to deviate from a given path. Here is the path I want you to take. Don't go to the right or the left. In other words, don't make any of the other choices. Okay? So just like this little pathway here you see in the picture, don't deviate from the left or the right, especially the right. Okay? All right. So that's the idea with left and right. Whatever you pick, I'll take the other choice. You get first choice. That's what he's laying in front of him here.

Abraham himself, do you see this? Abraham himself is merciful and gracious. Why? Because God is merciful and gracious. Could he have come to Lot and said, Lot, get out of here. I'm the older guy, God is the one that gave me the promise. He could have squabbled over it. But instead, knowing that God is merciful and gracious, and knowing that God will be faithful to His promises, he is able to be merciful and gracious to Lot. Give Lot first choice. But, here is key.

Lot's view of the world caused him to make what was likely the worst choice of his life. Lot's view of the world caused him to make what is likely the worst choice of his life, the worst decision he could have made. Lot lifted up his eyes, and that's a Hebrew expression for looking in front of you and seeing what's there. He saw all the valley of the Jordan.

The valley of the Jordan, as we'll look at shortly, goes through the Sea of Galilee, down through the Jordan Valley that goes right by Jericho, and then down into the Dead Sea, which you see pictured here in the satellite photo. I think it would have been interesting to show Lot a satellite photo and have him pick, but that's not in the realm of possibility.

The Jordan Valley here is all self-contained. Everything in that valley flows into itself and has no exit. Nancy and I experienced that kind of thing when we lived in Nevada. Nevada, except for the very southern tip, all flows into itself. And there were times we would have floods in Carson City. Flooding with the river way over its banks. But when that river that was flooding way over its banks went out into the middle of the Nevada desert, it just dissipated in the salt pan. Disappeared.

Here what is happening is the Jordan River is now flowing into what is called the Dead Sea. at the time and both the biblical description and archaeological testing has determined that it was indeed fertile at this time and right now it's a salt-burned, hot, baked land. At the time it was a very fertile land and not only does Scripture described it right here in this chapter, but it has also been confirmed by numerous archaeological studies.

Lot saw the Jordan Valley and compared it to what he had heard of the Garden of Eden and his own experience, because remember he had just come back from Egypt, his own experience along the Nile River. I've got a picture on the overhead. This is the Nile Delta. It's where the Nile River comes out and kind of fans out, and the Nile Delta, as you can see from the satellite photo, very lush place. Lot's thinking, ah, this is great, like Egypt, very fertile, really great place. So he's thinking, this is the top pick. That's what he's thinking.

Here is the Sea of Galilee. And it's interesting, we may think of or see pictures of the Sea of Galilee and think of Jesus and the disciples. Almost 700 feet below sea level. It's way down. And then here is the Dead Sea, more than 1,300 feet below sea level. And that Dead Sea is something on the order of 1,000 feet deep. So this is land way below sea level and there is no place quite like it even here in the Western Hemisphere. And the Jordan River between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea is all in that stretch below sea level and flows between those two places.

Here's Lott. He's looking down at this place which at the time was very lush and he's saying, hey, that's the choice pick. Now, Lot should have seen the warning signs. Lot should have seen the warning signs that there's something wrong with this pick.

Genesis 13.10, just right following the passage that Wayne read for us here, says, this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot's looking down at it, seeing these cities and the fertile area around it, and saying, hey, that's the place to go. But this notation here lets us know it looked good before it got completely wrecked, and now it looks completely wrecked. Lot should have seen the signs. He should have picked up, there's something wrong with this. There's something wrong with this choice. And here's a thought, and this is only a thought.

As I read through chapter 13 and the next several chapters into chapter 19, I sometimes wonder if Abraham really intended to offer Lot to go down to Sodom and Gomorrah. I wonder if that, especially as you see Abraham pleading to preserve Lot as one of the few righteous there. And so I wonder, did Abraham really intend that Lot pick that as an option? Or was he saying, no, we've got this land here, up here, and you pick part of it higher up. And you pick part, and I'll just take another part. I somehow wonder if Abraham really ever had it in mind to offer Lot to go down to Sodom and Gomorrah. Nonetheless, that's clearly what he picked.

Chapter 13, verse 13, now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord. Their character was not subtle. They were overtly sin city. Very, very clearly. Finally, in chapter 18, and this is just before the conflagration that you see in the artwork there, Chapter 18 verse 20, And the Lord said, The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. Really bad. Really bad. This place stinks with a capital S. This place really stinks. Now, it's all in how you look at it. Here's the deal.

What we have between Abraham and Lot is two views of the world among believers. Got that? Two views of the world even among believers. Abraham, though he certainly stumbled, and we saw in chapter 12, the last part, evidence of his stumbling. He was a man of faith, even in the fact that he learned, as we saw earlier in this chapter, the lessons from his stumbling. And he learned that God is indeed faithful. And yes, I can indeed trust him. Lot is interesting.

2 Peter 2.7 calls him righteous. He viewed the world with earthly eyes. It looks good. It looks good. How does it look to me? How do I view it?

He didn't ask what's the spiritual impact of the choice I'm about to make. He didn't ask that question. It would be nice if he would have. I'm sure later on he thought it sure would have been nice if I had asked that question. Interestingly, Paul in 1 Corinthians writes to the believers there, and he spells out the difference between the spiritual man, the believer, and the natural man, an unbeliever. And then he makes a distinction among those who are indeed Christians, and he writes directly to the believers at Corinth, and this is what he says in chapter 3, the first three verses.

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as men of flesh. As to infants in Christ, they gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly? Are you not walking like mere men? Don't you look at the world even though you're saved? Don't you look at the world just like the unbelievers do?

This is the problem that Lot He looked at it and he didn't look at it in terms of, what are the consequences to my family? How's this going to end up with my wife? How's this going to end up with my daughters? What are we going to be like when this is all said and done? When we move down there, what's the impact going to be? He didn't think of the spiritual consequences. He just said, it looks good to me from a worldly, earthly, fleshly standpoint.

Notice too, Lot started in tents. That's what it says here in chapter 13. He started in tents. Living in tents. He ended up in a house. Genesis 13, 12 says Lot first moved to Sodom in tents. That's what he had. Why? He had this nomadic lifestyle. He was going to settle down. He initially went down there with this nomadic lifestyle kind of dwelling. just as a visitor, transient and passing through, at least by appearances.

But Genesis 19, we're going to see that here and so many chapters ahead, says that Lot ended up in a house in Sodom. He even sat at the gate, which in those days in the culture meant that he was a leader of the city. He went from being someone who looked at it and said, it looks good to me, to settling himself very comfortably in this place, even being looked upon as a leader, getting himself very situated right in the midst and among the world there. As we're going to see in the chapters ahead, especially in chapter 19, Lot's lack of discernment, his failure to ask the question, what will be the spiritual consequence of this decision?

That's going to cost him dearly, not just money. but in the people he cares about, the people he loves most dearly. A key point that comes out of here, as we look at Lot and we'll see how this thing turns out, is the most important issues are the spiritual ones. It is easy to say, oh, I can take on this great new job and we'll just see how the spiritual ins and outs work out. Let's go here and move to this place, and I don't know what will happen spiritually, but let's just see how it works out. Instead, asking the question, what will be the spiritual consequences of this move? What will be the spiritual consequences of this job? What will be the spiritual outcome to myself, my family, the people that I love? What's going to happen if I make this decision spiritually?

We can make it on the basis of what looks good, what seems to be the easiest path. I'm sure lots thinking, hey, you know, I'm up here. I'm looking down. Down is good. Down is easy, right? Okay. What's the easiest path? I can go from here to there. I can see that place. Down works out pretty good. There's no struggle to get uphill. Let's go down. What everybody else seems to be doing at the time, he goes down, moves into Sodom, and what's everybody else doing? Hey, let's join in.

The spiritual questions are indeed the ones worth asking. How will I and my family and others be spiritually impacted by this decision? What will be the outcome? What won't happen spiritually if I do this or don't do that? What will be the consequences if I make this decision or don't do this other thing? How is it all going to turn out?

Now, Abraham, however, is back home Once Lot made his choice, God restated and added to the covenant promises he'd already made with Abraham. We saw that in chapter 12, the first three verses. And then in chapter 12, verse 7, where he said, Abraham, the land that you're standing, this is it. That's the one I promised to you. God told Abraham again that this here is the land that I promised. North, south, east, west, this whole area right here. This is the land that I promised to you.

Abraham was even told by the Lord, I want you to walk this land. Walk around in it. Walk the land in all directions. In the ancient military pattern, to walk a land was to claim ownership over it and to claim dominance in it. It was a way of claiming a new land for one's own.

But that's not all. Okay? Alright. The other part here, God also gave Abraham total assurance that his descendants would be as innumerable. He gave the picture of dust there. So it's not just the land, it's also his descendants. That's quite a statement for a childless man to hear. Decades of life have gone by. He is childless. And the Lord's saying, don't worry about it.

You're going to have descendants that will be numbered as the pieces of dust of the earth. What Scripture tells us is that Abraham has many physical descendants. The people known as ethnically as the Jews are those descendants. And he also has many spiritual descendants. And that includes us here. If you're a believer here this morning, If you put your trust in Christ for salvation, you are among His spiritual descendants.

And Galatians 3.29 that we looked at some months back spells exactly that. As with Abraham, the Lord gives us plenty of assurance too. Have you noticed that?

What's interesting is as I look at this pattern in Scripture in the New Testament, John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

Galatians 2.20, which ends up with faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me. He loved and gave. Ephesians 5, 1 and 2, again, Christ loved and gave. later on in that same book again, loved and gave.

The Lord repeatedly assures us. He gives us wonderful assurance. And you know, when you look at passages like this, what it tells us is the Lord most definitely wants to assure us of the things that matter. He tells us those things again and again. And He doesn't leave it in the realm of the hypothetical. He says, do you want to know how much I love you? He says, that much, okay? That much. It wasn't just hypothetical. It wasn't just a lot of empty words. He says, I love you. Put the nails in. Okay? That's what he says.

He assures us of his love, and he spells it out with actions, not just with words that are hypothetical. The other thing that's abundantly clear in Scripture is that we have been blessed. Galatians chapter 3 again, which brings up Abraham, ends up in chapter 3 verse 9, so then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer. We are blessed. There is assurance of our blessing. The Lord doesn't end there.

Ephesians 1.3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. By the way, blessed be the God, the same words are used as we'll see in the next chapter of Genesis. That's where it comes from. Blessed be the God. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has, and we have this assurance, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.

Not some, not a skimpy few, Not a skimpy, wimpy dose. Every spiritual blessing. He gives us great and blessed assurance. The Lord wants us to be assured people. Isn't that neat? The Lord wants us to be people who have an assurance and a confidence like Abraham discovered. Oh, when God makes a promise, He actually intends to keep it. I can trust Him. Yeah. The Lord wants us to live as assured people, people who know His character, that what He says will be true forever. That's who the Lord is. That's the character that the Lord was teaching to Abraham. And it's the very character that He wants to convey to us because He loved, because He gave, because He's blessed. Let's pray.

Lord, we do thank you for who you are. We thank you for not leaving it in the realm of hypothesis, not leaving it in the realm of empty words or wishful thinking, but you have spelled things out for us very clearly and you have shown your love for us with your very life. We thank you for these things. We thank you for the assurance that we have by your doing, how you explicitly and repeatedly have assured us of your love and care for us and that you will be who you are and will do what you say. Thank you for that assurance. In Jesus' name, Amen.