Book of Genesis - Ch. 13, Vs. 1-18 (07/30/2000)

Park Meadows Church

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Alright, we're ten minutes late, but that'll come off of your time, not mine.

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What? We're still having it.

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It's not over. Just wait till we're through with this lesson.

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Genesis chapter 13. It's in the

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Old Testament. That's in the

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Old, Old Testament. We stopped at an antique place one time in Tennessee and was looking at a lot of antiques and an old bearded man running it.

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He wasn't so old either. But one of us picked up some small item and looked at it.

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And he said, now, that is an old, old antique. And Abram went up out of Egypt.

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He and his wife and all that he had and a lot with him into the south.

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The south part of what? Everybody answered.

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It was Oklahoma. Oh, Greg, turn it down just a little.

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They're complaining about feedback, whatever that is. No, no.

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And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

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The property of these old patriarchs in that day and time consisted not only in flocks, but also in silver and gold.

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And in all of these respects, Abram was exceedingly rich. It's very possible that he was the richest man in the world.

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Josephus tells us that a part of this property was acquired by teaching the Egyptians art and science.

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You know, Russell, lots of times we get locked in and are thinking that we're the only smart people that ever lived.

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Yet there are buildings standing from a thousand years ago, still standing and workable today, and we have buildings here built 50 years ago that's fallen down.

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From his teaching arts and science, thus did

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God fulfill his promise to him by protecting and giving him a great profusion of temporal blessings.

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Now, we must remember, everything in the Old Testament is a picture for us. That was in the physical, we're in the spiritual.

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An Arab sheik is considered rich who has 100 or 200 tents.

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From 60 to 100 camels, a thousand sheep and goats, respectively. And Abram, being very rich, must have far exceeded the amount of that.

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He was an extremely, extremely rich man. Three, and he went up on his journey from the south even to Bethel.

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Now, what happened at Bethel before this? Russ? You have to watch

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Russ, you'll never know what he's talking about. All right, he went to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Haii.

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Unto the place of the altar which he had made there at first, and there Abram called upon the name of the

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Lord. Greg, why do you suppose he went back to the same place?

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All right. Did you ever see a squirrel run across a road and he gets about halfway and he'll turn and go back?

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Why is that? He knows what's behind.

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All right, what did you want to say, Fred? All right.

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That's where all the rich parents went. That's where they wanted to build a tomb for their children and their rich.

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And there were the most, the Egyptians were the most advanced in making monies, not a dime, to make a permanent.

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All right. Is that one of the reasons why he went there? Well, he went there primarily to escape famine.

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Now, he went down south and he come back north. He went down into Egypt.

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And in today's lesson, in, well, in the, oh, you're right, he went into the south.

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All right. So, he's back now at Bethel where he had worshipped

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God once before. And Lot is with him. Please keep that in mind.

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And also Lot, which went up, went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents.

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Where do you suppose, Verge, he learned how to do this? Lot. Lot.

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Boy, I didn't think I could lose anybody.

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All right. It says Lot had flocks and herds and tents and sheep and money.

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Where did Lot learn how to accumulate things? From his uncle.

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He's no dummy. Well, we're not told he wanted to, we're just told that Abram took him.

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I think partly because Lot's father had died and Abram felt responsible. But we're going to see something here.

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Yes. The land was not able to bear them. That they might dwell together, for their substance was great.

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Their substance was great. So that they could not dwell together. This inconvenience that has come up between them was because of what?

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Too much wealth. Riches. And unless you really stay in the

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Lord, riches will cause you trouble every time. And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle.

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And a Canaanite and a Prezite dwelt in the land. Now, we have the first range war here over water rights, probably.

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But my question is, why does the Word in verse 7, why does

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God's Holy Word simply break in in the middle of the story and told us that the

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Canaanites and these other people were living in the land? What difference does that make to us? Or to them?

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Yeah, who? Parasites? Can you pronounce my name?

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Well, let's see if we can find another reason. Anybody?

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Anybody? What difference should that make to us?

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Think about it. Russ? All right.

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That really hasn't come along yet, but that's exactly what happened. Let's expand a little bit upon Bill's thought.

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What purpose is there? Russell, there's always something in the

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Old Testament to teach us today. What does it teach us that we know now that these foreigners were living in the land, only they were not foreigners to the land?

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All right. You and Bill have struck on the very heart of it.

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Here are two people, Lot and Abram.

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They worship a different god than the rest of the world. They conduct themselves differently.

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And they've turned up having quarrels between them just like we do. So what good is what they're thinking and they're worshiping if that's the way they act?

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And it could bring on a blaspheme of God and destroy everything.

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So, folks, it does make a difference how we treat each other in this world because we're in front of the world and they look at us.

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So, in order to live the right kind of life, what must we do?

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All right. All right. But I don't understand that.

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Part of Washington is not separate.

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I don't know what that separates us. We're supposed to separate, but we're still supposed to be separate.

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Well, they were communicating, but in the wrong kind. All right. But notice it was not between Lot and Abram.

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It was between their hired help. All right.

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So, Uncle Abram says to Lot, Let there be no strife,

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I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, because we're brethren.

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Well, would that not apply to us today also, those very words? So we see that there is no secular advantages that can counterbalance the loss of peace.

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Nine. Is not the whole land before thee? Now, this is

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Abram speaking. He tells Lot, his nephew, he says, Is not all of this land before you?

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Well, Virg, wasn't it also before Abram? But Abram doesn't take that approach.

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He says, It's before you. Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me.

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You separate from me. If you will go to the left, then

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I'll go to the right, or if you depart to the right, then I'll go to the left. Now, what do we see that's a little bit strange in what

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Abram has just said? Do you know what?

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Well, that's certainly true. Do you see any... How can

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I word it? Can you see anything on Abram's part that gives us an insight to his character?

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Well, do

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I see a hand? That's true.

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And also, by seniority,

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Abram had the right choice. He could have taken whatever he wanted and left the rest of it for Lot.

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But he didn't do that. Now, is that a lesson for us? If we say we have faith, and if we say we trust

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God, and if we say that He is sovereign and He controls everything, then why do we try to hog everything ourselves?

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You don't get ahead like that. So he says, Lot, you pick out whatever you want, and I'll take what's left.

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The whole land is before you. And Lot lifted up his eyes.

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Notice the word eyes. And behold, all the plain of Jordan, and it was well watered everywhere, which led me to believe that it was over water rights that they disagreed, everywhere before the

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Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto

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Zor. So Lot chose by what method?

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By sight, not by faith, did he? Anything not of faith is first sin, and then it has to be by sight.

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If it has to be something that you can see and touch before you ever believe it, you need to go back and study the

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Word. So he used his eyes.

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He looked at the bright lights of the city and said, boy, that's for me. So he told his uncle

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Abram, he said, I think, I really think that today would be a good day to go to Sodom.

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And off he goes. Then Lot chose them all the plain of Jordan. Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves the one from the other.

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Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain. And he pitched his tent toward what?

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My, my, David, you could get a whole series of lessons out of that.

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He pitched his tent toward Sodom. Bill, what's it mean he pitched it toward Sodom?

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That's exactly right. And it tells us, Diane, that he had in his mind all the time to move a little closer and a little closer.

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That's right. So the lesson there is, if you don't want to go someplace, don't look at it.

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But the men of Sodom were kind and patient. I have a new version.

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The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.

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Fred, there's a powerful word. Exceedingly. Russell, explain that word to me.

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Say it again. All right. Exceedingly.

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If someone dreamed up a new way, they would adapt it and adopt it.

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Well, Kay, we see that Lot, thinking that he was going to get paradise, found hell is what he did.

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A sinner is one who is ever aiming at happiness and constantly missing his mark.

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Because he's being wicked, radically wicked, evil within, every affection and passion, depraved and out of order, he seeks for happiness where it never can be found.

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So he seeks for happiness in things. Did you ever think that if I just had that,

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I'd be happy? Did you ever think that if I just had a nice doctor's degree,

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I would be happy? It's all man -made.

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Sensual gratification. And the end of it is disappointment, affliction, vexation, and ruin.

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Now, such as these were the companions of Lot. And even though they were in a very fruitful land,

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Lot chose to go live with them. Money. Well, this, however, amounts to no more than the common character of a sinful man.

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They excelled in unrighteousness and soon filled up their measure of their iniquities.

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How do we know that? That they soon filled up their measure of sinning.

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Payday is coming. All right, now the 14th verse has a word in it that I want us to pay close attention.

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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, southward, eastward, and westward.

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Go to the 12th chapter of Genesis and the first verse. John read that to me.

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All right, so his instructions were what? Leave his family.

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Did that family include Lot? Now let's go back to verse 14.

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And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes.

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What does the word now mean? Now comes some more promise.

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Now you're ready. Now I've brought you to the point where it will mean something additional to you.

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Look to the north. Look to the south. Look to the east.

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And look to the west. Now David, how much of the circumference did that leave out?

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All right. For all of the land which thou seest, to thee will

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I give it, and to thy seed forever. Now did this include the portion that Lot chose?

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Abram got it anyhow. He got it all. Why? The point here to me is that now since you are where you should be, now

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I'll give it all to you. Even though you allowed Lot to take part of it, even what you allowed him to have belongs to you.

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This land was given to Abram that it might legally descend to his posterity.

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And through Abram himself, though Abram himself could not or cannot be said to have a possessing of it, a possession of it.

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Go to the book of Acts, the seventh chapter, please. Was it given to Abram exclusively?

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It was really given to his descendants. 7 verse 5.

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And John, read that. Yet he gave him no inheritable property, and had not even enough ground to set his foot on.

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But he promised that he would give it to him for a permanent possession to his descendants after him, even though he had no child.

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Okay. So Abram never owned but one little piece of ground.

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Does anybody know where that was? Russ thinks he does.

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That's right. All right.

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Verse 16. That I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth.

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Now, your assignment for this week is to get a pan full of dust and count it.

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Don't laugh. If you can't find dust in your house, go to your neighbors. I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth.

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What's he talking about, Russ? So that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

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Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee.

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Why was Abram commanded to walk throughout the land? But he's not going to own any of it.

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Bill, why did God have him walk all over the land?

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All right. Anybody else have any other thoughts? How? How?

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How could this be like a covenant? Yes. I just saw what

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God... Huh? Yeah, kind of like, you know, when

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God had an animal and he had to do that, he went and kind of saw that picture that he'd walk the land in agreement.

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God was just discussing. That's all I need to know. All right.

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Fred? What did he say? All right.

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Russ? The prophets made it all for purpose.

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Well, that's a good thought.

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It doesn't say that. But you certainly have a good point. Well, first of all, it was so he would know what he had.

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Who was he going to need to describe all of this to?

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Could they go see for themselves? All right.

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What is occurring right here is the beginning of the promise of the exodus to the promised land.

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And if Abram hadn't known what it was and of what it consisted and what it was like, he would not have been able to pass that on.

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And he had to do that. Now, that's an extremely good illustration and lesson for us.

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Who can see the lesson in that? All right.

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What is it that he has given us? But what has he given us right now?

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The land was real. Abram could pick up a handful of dirt or a chunk of rock.

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It does. What do we have, though, that we can get a hold of?

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We got the word. Did you know we're supposed to walk through this word?

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We're supposed to claim it. And he'll give us, as Russ says, that that we step on.

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Beautiful illustration, Virge, of just Abram being told to walk throughout the land.

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Walk all the way to Dirty. Walk all the way to Dirty and Dirty. I don't know what to do with your son sometimes.

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That's a lot of praise for him. It's good. It's going to take more than coffee twice a week,

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I think. Well, I think the greatest lesson is that we have his word.

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And we possess it as we walk through it. To have it and possess it are two different things.

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It had been given to Abram, but he was told to possess it. Now, the children are told to possess it when they come back.

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But they're going to have to fight for it. We have to fight for it. And maybe for too long we'll really be fighting harder for it.

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That's right. Then Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebrew, and built there an altar unto the

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Lord. If earthly possessions could produce happiness, it must be granted that by now a considerable share of it had to be in the power of Abram.

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But happiness must have its seat in the mind. The only happiness you can possibly experience is in your mind.

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We say in your heart. But inside of you, that's the only place happiness exists.

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It does not exist in the pew, even in the Bible as itself.

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It's contained within it, but the Bible itself does not produce happiness.

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So happiness must reside in the mind. And like that, happiness is of a spiritual nature.

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Because we can't get a hold of it. It's in our mind and our heart. Consequently, earthly goods cannot give it.

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The object itself cannot give happiness. Because happiness is in the mind.

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Now maybe knowing that you possess it and own it would bring happiness. These things are so far from producing or procuring it, that they always engender care and anxiety.

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Very, very few extremely wealthy people in this world can sleep as well at night as you and I.

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And often strife and contentions come from it, especially when they die.

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Don't you think for one minute that if you've had a happy home, you've raised up wonderful children, and you and your husband die and leave a dollar and a half, there's going to be a squabble.

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If not, it means you have really done well in raising them in the

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Christian attitude. I think it's a sad thing for a man to die and leave money.

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He should spend it while he's here. Do I gather from that you plan on leaving first?

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Russ? That's right.

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Every decision we ever make will always end up like a loss. And there's a lot that's got a little land that can do with the rest of the land that was, being in that place that was.

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Like Mark Twain said when he came to the country, the country was going to be rocked.

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It was going to go barren. He had a grief. Like your decision to leave the country.

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That's one of the points. By faith, they were in a wonderful town.

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God honored him. And one of God's blessings, they were strong.

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We'll stand and we'll be dismissed. Bill, would you dismiss us today, please?