Abram and Lot

Answers Bible Curriculum Second Edition Unit 3 Lesson 34

This week in Sunday school, we look more at the life of Abram. Abram and Lot eventually have to separate from each other. Why was this separation important in God’s sovereign plan? How does this event become an occasion for displaying Abram’s faith in God? And how can people today be connected to the promises and blessings of God to Abram? We consider these questions and more!

Our main text for the lesson is Genesis 13:1-18.

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so it looks like the the WebEx application that we normally use for connection had an update or something so had to had to connect in a slightly different way this morning thank you for your patience while we work out that delay but I can see you I can hear you and hopefully you can see and hear me from the back screen looks like you can see near me so let’s get started well good morning and welcome to Sunday school we are moving on in studying the life of Abram last week we met this very key person in human history and in redemptive history calling him Abram his name will change but calling him Abram at this time we saw last time how God revealed himself to Abram and though Abram doesn’t appear to be anyone special at least from what the Bible records about him in the beginning God calls Abram to go on a long journey to Canaan and he gives Abram some great promises including a promise that through Abram all the families of the earth will be blessed Abram obeys God out of faith and at the center of his faith is a hope of a heavenly inheritance of a inheritance with God not strictly earthly blessings or an earthly inheritance he’s grateful for these things but what’s at the core of his motivation what’s at the heart of his faith is a future with God and of course that’s very instructive for the kind of faith that we are to have now Roy brought up a question last time which I wasn’t quite ready to answer about was Abraham a sanctifying testimony of Yahweh to his family so briefly I want to return to address that question on the one hand we do see Tara and lot they come with Abraham or Abram after God reveals himself to Abram Tara comes part of the way to came in but it sounded like he wanted to go all the way and lot does go all the way to came in and lot if we examine his life he’s implied to be righteous in the Old Testament and he is called righteous explicitly in the New Testament so was Abraham was Abram sanctifying with his sanctifying witness to law and Terah and Roy brought up last time when seeking a wife for Isaac Abram instructs his servant to go back to her and to upper Mesopotamia far away from Canaan to find a wife among his own kindred was this instruction because Abram didn’t want his son marrying a pagan and around him and Canaan were just all pagans and then by implication does that mean that his relatives were Yahweh followers well after reviewing some of the relevant biblical texts here’s what I’d say in response to that question we first must remember that many of these kinds of questions regarding historical details in the Bible especially in the Old Testament because it’s even further away from our own time the answer is gonna have to be we don’t know we can’t say for sure the Bible isn’t entirely clear now I’ve tried to walk a fine line in our Sunday School classes of acknowledging when we can’t ultimately know something and establishing certain probabilities of what the answer could be based on the little historical and Biblical evidence that we do have I recognize that speculation can be dangerous when taken to extremes and it can lead to false and faulty applications and I don’t want to get into that but in picturing someone’s biblical experience we can sometimes narrow the field of what is possible or even probable as an answer to a historical question so what about this one well Abram was surely a testimony of Yahweh testimony of faith in Yahweh on some level I mean we’re talking about his faith today right he’s recorded in the scriptures for a reason and he is noted as a man of faith and if that’s true hey it certainly was true back night I’m sure he stood at having a certain sense now Abraham’s family his servants they interacted with in a good deal they would have seen his faith waitjust by observing him or speaking with him it was Abram active proselytizer was he an evangelist for Yahweh those terms probably not the best to describe what Abram was doing this might not be something you’ve heard before but the evangelistic model that we see depicted in the Old Testament in terms of how do people come to know the true God with the patriarchs and with Israel in general it’s different than what’s depicted in the New Testament it’s an attraction ‘el type of evangelism and that is Israel doesn’t go out and they’re not called to go out until all the world and tell people about Yahweh rather as people hear of Yahweh’s great works in Israel the righteous Kings that reign in Israel how God has brought such blessing and wisdom to the people of Israel it’s people from all over the world that will come to Israel to seek Israel’s God they attracted by the light that’s going forth from Israel and the blessings and the promises being fulfilled to Israel and would you see how this does work to draw certain people in the Old Testament queen of sheba comes from the ends of the earth to hear solomon’s wisdom that came from Yahweh name in the Syrian comes to be healed by God’s prophet Rahab the harlot she turns against Jericho because she says I’ve heard about your God and about what he does for you and then ruth the moabite as’ when she meets Naomi and learns of Naomi’s God she comes with Naomi to Israel this was the model that’s at work in the Old Testament ultimately it doesn’t it doesn’t work it’s not fulfilled Israel doesn’t fulfill its role as an attraction ‘el evangelism site because if she’ll just can’t stay obedient to Yahweh they can’t reflect Yahweh to the world very well and that doesn’t attract the world to Yahweh of course the New Testament model is quite different we’re not a cook we’re not a couple to stain okay as Israel was we are called to go and make disciples and of course that’s most obviously stated in Matthew 28 we are Proclaimers the good news going out to all the world actively looking to make disciples which is different now what Israel and the page Jax did so back to Abram what is he an evangelist for Yahweh that’s not the right way to describe it surely he was a testimony but not an actor proselytizer as we would expect someone in the New Testament today now how effective was Abraham’s testimony what his relative safe man I’m not sure certainly not all of them should know that if I’m looking for a wife among his relatives maybe for another reason rather than theological or religious after all recognize not everyone in Canaan in Abraham’s day was a pagan we won’t have time to get to it later but in Genesis 14 we meet a man named Melchizedek who was really interesting character he was briefly in the Bible he’s called a genuine priest of the Most High God and Abram affirms – that’s the same as Yahweh and he lives near Sodom of all places this is my mare you expect to find true God followers apparently the knowledge of Yahweh of the true God it still existed in many in different parts of the world even in the land the Abram lived and not just in Abraham’s day but also afterwards because when we get to Moses Moses finds a wife for himself from the daughters of Jethro 8 as the Bible calls him a priest of Midian and Midian is a is associated with the Arab line of descent he has a wife who doesn’t come from the line of Abraham but from a different line and this priest of Midian he apparently probably was a yahweh follower and again in canaan or in and around the area where israel lived so it’s not necessarily true that there were no yahweh followers in abraham’s land it may be that abram sends his servant to get a wife from his kindred for a different reason other than religious it is true it is consistent with what would later be commanded to Israel don’t intermarry with the people of the land they are evil and I don’t want you to learn their practices Abraham’s behavior is consistent with what Israel would later be told to do but that may not be the main reason or reason at all for what I even did what he did it may have something more to do with not confusing the promises that were given to Abram and not the Canaanites the right to inheritance of the land that may be the greater reason why Abram sense is serving away the other thing we should notice that Abraham’s relatives are not exactly rock solid examples of faith in Yahweh at least Abraham’s servants Abraham’s servant meets with Beth ul Rebecca’s father and Laban Laban Rebecca’s brother this is what confused me last time I’m like Laban he’s there but isn’t he there later on yes he is he’s actually in both times when Isaac needs a wife and when Jacob needs a wife end up going to where Laban is Beth you Alan Laban recognized that Yahweh is involved in bringing about this match and they consent to it but that itself does not mean that their true true Yahweh worshipers it’s here’s another thing we had to remember in ancient days people are watching all sorts of gods and in some sense they’re a little bit tolerant about that hey I’ve got my god you’ve got your God I acknowledge that you’ve got your God I don’t I’m not saying that your God doesn’t exist it’s just not the God that I serve in fact we see a good example of this with Cyrus king of Persia do you remember Cyrus he’s the one who leaves the Persian Empire to overthrow the Babylonian Empire and according to in accordance with the prophecies that God gives through Isaiah and Cyrus and Ezra chapter one he acknowledges that Yahweh was the one who gave him dominion over the earth really the king of Persia is a yahweh follower oh he’s just doing this as a PR move it was true what he said but he said this about all the gods of the peoples of the land he conquered it was his policy to try and get all the peoples and their gods on his side by allowing the people to return to their land and reap their temples I mean this is a savvy political if you’re thinking as a pagan it makes sense religiously to make all the gods of my peoples happy that way my descendants will people to reign well so when he acknowledges Yahweh doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s a follower of Yahweh he just says all right that’s your God and yes I believe your God has given me Dominion the same thing could be happening with Abraham’s relatives now the other thing to notice is that when Laban shows up again with Jacob and he gives Leah and Rachel to Jacob as wives Laban does deal deceitfully with Jacob not exactly a upstanding example of faith though Jacob has his own problems moreover what is it that rachel takes from Levens house idols household idols and lately it even comes after Rachel for doing this he says why did you take away my God’s there’s a whole bunch of questions as to why she did that that says something strange about Rachel but it also says something about Laban and his his faith in Yahweh if he indeed had any so what does this all mean what’s the bottom line there are multiple reasons why Abraham’s relatives may have acknowledged Yahweh before Ava it could be that they actually do follow Yahweh at least some of them or it could be that they follow Yahweh and other gods at the same time I mean if the true knowledge we always pass down but other gods would introduce is possible that they served Yahweh along with other gods and we certainly know that this would be what you would try to do later on in this history would may be that these relatives didn’t follow Yahweh know but they say oh he’s your God all right I’ll acknowledge your God when I’m dealing with you but here’s what we can’t say there’s certainly a lot of uncertainty about this but here we can say Abram was surely a testimony of Yahweh his relatives knew something of Yahweh and some of his relatives became true followers imperfect but apparently true followers and those would be lot Rebecca Rachel and Leah because they’re all mentioned later on as being followers of that way so somewhat extended answer to to Roy’s question by interesting and it plays a little bit into what we’re gonna be talking about later on in today’s class but what are we talking about in today’s class talking about the separation of Abram and lot in Genesis 13 now originally I was going to talk about Genesis 13 and 14 but I think it’s good that we just focus on 13 today why is this chapter so significant we’re gonna find out here’s our outline some what I’ve extended introduction for today’s class we’re going to read and observe the chapter all Genesis 13 we consider what these events say about Abram and lot and then we’ll consider our own connection to the blessings of Abraham let’s pray before we continue well god I thank you for this day for this word for the connection me how to work the calabria prayed to continue to work and I pray God that we would understand the profound and destructive faith of Abram and on displaying this passage and Lord we would recognize how we have how we are connected to the blessings that you promise to Abraham and Jesus name Amen now one area of life that we might not expect a spiritual test is in the realm of eating I’m not talking about the temptation to overeat though that is a test in itself I’m talking about the temptation to secure the most and best food for yourself without regard to other people a temptation to take the food for yourself and not let others have it and I know this temptation all too well growing up in a household of six children as I was younger I learned quickly that if there’s good food in the house it’s not going to last long siblings are gonna go after it so if my mom made a delicious cake and I have a weakness for cake I love a chocolate cake with a nice vanilla frosting I had to be very savvy about consuming that cake I wanted as much of it as possible so when she when she first serves it I would eat at least two pieces and then later that day I’d circle back to have another piece and then I rise early in the morning the next morning to get another piece for breakfast because I knew that if I waited around if I wasn’t active about pursuing this cake it would be gone by noon the next day and I would have had hardly any of it I don’t know if you had this kind of experience yourself growing up maybe with cookies or maybe when you went out had a milkshake or maybe it’s something that you’ve experienced when it comes to french fries french fries french fries are very dangerous have you ever gone through the inner turmoil of someone asking you to share your fries especially if they if they told you in the beginning oh I don’t want any and then you have some and then I’m like oh can I have some of your fries oh that’s very painful you know how delicious those things are and you want to say to them in your flesh get your own these golden beauties are mine I think we’ve all experienced something like this and a one would expect one respect these experiences are trivial even to the point of being humorous but let’s be honest what’s happening in many of these situations when it comes to food and securing food for ourselves is that we’re tempted to be selfish just tempted to be selfish we want to say I have to have the best not you who cares about you I’m looking out for number one here and we can act this way not just with food but with many parts of life and even things that are more serious I have to have the best seat at the table I should be the one to talk now and you pay attention to me I’m the one who needs me time right now to watch my favorite show you can take care of the housework I should be the one to board the plane first and get my luggage in in this space before it runs out I need the organ donation not you I need to have my life saved and protected we’ll worry about you later it’s very easy to fall into this kind of thinking and it’s naturally how we think according to the sinful flesh it’s how we thought when we didn’t know Jesus Christ when we were dead in sin and we ignored God and just lived for ourselves in those days we were committed to to borrow a phrase from Joel Osteen your best like now we wanted a best life now even if it meant that others had to suffer or take second place or third place or even 10th place so what changed or what has to change in our thinking for us not to live this way anymore is it possible to change that perspective well it is of course we’d have to encounter Jesus Christ the god man and Savior we have to repent of our sin in our own way we have to believe in him and in doing this there’s a fundamental reorientation we’re turning in our perspective how so in many ways but in one way that I wants to focus on we move from seeking to live our best lives now and I mean that in a material world least sense there is a sense that walking with Jesus is the best life now but from a worldly perspective we change we reorient from looking for our best lives now to to what it’s looking for our best life later and looking for the life that is to come in Christ we are able to forego a temporary pleasure or gratification now because we know what’s coming and what’s coming something so much better for us this means that we don’t need to fight for every last drop of pleasure comfort or security on earth whether it’s something as trivial as tasty food or in something serious like our own physical life and the preservation of it we don’t have to worry about that we don’t have to contend for that why because we have God and we’re going to him he is our inheritance he is our fullness of joy we are bound for his country and his kingdom so why contend for the scraps of Earth on the contrary in Christ we gladly give up the gifts and treasures of Earth for the sake of God and for the sake of others because we know it will please him and we know that that will just cause – in July our future inheritance even more now is this your perspective is this a viewpoint that you have embraced it’s your heart speak this way because it is the perspective of Abram in fact it is the same perspective as Jesus Christ himself and really of all true followers of him and we’re going to encounter more of that perspective in order that we can be strengthened in faith and walk with greater joy and holiness before God and we’re gonna see that in Genesis 13 so if you haven’t done so yet please open your Bibles to Genesis 13 if you don’t have a Bible of course you can take the Pew Bible in front of you or only on page 12 I know it seems so strange to talk about turning to page 12 of your Bible but that’s where we are we’re right in the beginning in the bottom so page 12 in the few bottle otherwise you can find it in your Bible Genesis 13 we’re gonna read the whole chapter examine the whole chapter let me set the scene for you again remember I’ve just seen God bring Abram to Canaan but at the end of chapter 12 this is something we haven’t discussed yet a famine occurs in Canaan and Abram leaves kin for Egypt while in Egypt Abram undergoes a little testing he’s afraid that people will kill him to get his wife his wife Sarah I was very beautiful he says okay I need you to lie for me tell people that I’m just your brother you’re my sister that way they won’t kill me because they don’t know that I’m married to you well this plan backfires Abram or Sarah ends up being taken as wife by Pharaoh but God intervenes God actually curses Pharaoh for taking terrorizes wife and what’s fit Pharaoh figures out what’s going on he gives Terra back to Abram and he loads Sarah re Lodz Abram with a bunch of gifts and sends him on his way God was protecting Sarah from being violated by Pharaoh thank God was even being gracious to Abram who by lying really was not trusting God there so Pharaoh sends him on his way and he heads back into the land of Canaan and that’s where the narrative picks up in our chapter so follow along with me as I read Genesis thirteen one down to the end of the chapter so Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev and he and his wife and all that belonged to him and lot with him Abram was very rich in livestock in silver and in gold he went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel to the place where his tents had been at the beginning between Bethel and I to the place of the altar which he had made there formally and there even called on the name of the Lord with the name Yahweh now a lot who went with Abram also had flocks and herds and tents and the land could not sustain them while dwelling together for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abrams livestock and their hurts enough Lots livestock now the Canaanite and the perizzite we’re dwelling then in the land so Abram said to lot please let there be no strife between you and me nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen for we are brothers it’s not the whole land before you please separate from me if to the left and I will go to the right which are there right then I will go to the left Lotte lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan that it was well watered everywhere this was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah like the garden of the ahwe like the land of Egypt as you go to Zohar so a lot shows himself all the valley of the Jordan and macht journeyed eastward thus they separated from each other Abram settled in the land of Canaan while a lot settled in the cities of the valley and moved his tents as far as Sodom now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against Yahweh you always said to Abram after lot had separated from him now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are northward southward and eastward and westward for all the land which you see I will give it to you and to your descendants forever I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth then your descendants can also be numbered arise walk about the land through its length and breadth for I will give it to you the neighbor moved his tent and came in 12 by the Oaks of Mamre which are in Hebron and there he built an altar to Yahweh now let’s study this passage inductively as we do according to our method we start with simple observations his passage describes the separation of lot and all that belonged to him from Abram and all that belong to him why do they need separate we get that explained in verses 2 to 7 God is blessed Abram and lot with so much material blessing the land cannot sustain all their stuff together their servants are even quarreling with one another we could have a mini war on our hands and this between relatives something needs to be done by the way notice that the end of verse 7 says the Canaanite and the pair’s I are then in the land they’re not the only ones there they’re not the only ones making use of the land this land can’t sustain all this combined usage so notice when Abram does in verse 8 you initiates a conversation with lot saying doesn’t want strife between them and that they need to separate notice the offer that Abram gives lot and verse 9 basically Abram says slot take a look at the whole land and choose where you want to go if you go one way I’ll go the other that way Abraham’s implication is we won’t overload the land and come to strife now notice verse 10 it says lot lifted up his eyes now just a side comment don’t make the mistake of thinking this phrase means that lot was looking down and then he looked up and saw something that’s what it sounds like in English but you need to know that this is a common Hebrew saying is a common idiom idiom just like an idiomatic expression it just means he looked or he saw the phrase use all throughout the Old Testament and if we’re not careful we’ll be like oh you know he must’ve been so depressed or he must been so guilty he was looking down and then he lifted his eyes no no it doesn’t have any of that connotation it’s just another way of saying he looked or he saw so we see this in verse 10 we also see it in verse 14 when God tells Abram lift up your eyes again no connotation of depression or anything like that no it just means he looked at he saw so a lot in verse 10 takes a look around it looks his eye takes a look around what is he notice mmm valley of the Jordan that sure looks pretty nice it’s well watered like the garden of Yahweh like Eden itself it’s well watered also like parts of Egypt like around the Nile River this must be a very lush area if it gets those descriptions notice the statement in the middle of verse 10 though it’s a little little expression right in the middle this was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah now Sodom and Gomorrah were part of the Jordan Valley so quick interpretation question why would the author Moses feel compelled to put in this little insertion about Sodom and Gomorrah not being destroyed yet when lot is looking at the valley of the Jordan maybe they he says Wow that sure looks great and then Moses says by the way this is before Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed what’s he what’s he indicating alright we’ll talk about that idea it was a lot drawn to the sinful pleasures of Sodom and Gomorrah certainly the text doesn’t say that explicitly we’ll talk about whether we can infer that but I don’t think that’s the implication here from this from this middle verse about what were you gonna say it was yes I think this is the implication we were to draw from this well again we’ll talk about the idea of Sodom is wickedness but if he’s talking about how good the land looks and he’s like by the way this is before Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed implication is that the land had changed or at least part of the land did it didn’t look that way anymore and in fact we’re gonna see this ourselves in just a moment when we look at a map of Israel but he’s saying just remember at that time things were a little different sonna Gomorrah weren’t destroyed yet and so that’s why when he’s looking at this lush valley he sees what he sees in fact let’s pull up the map now this is a satellite image of the Land of Israel this will help us appreciate a little bit of what Lots looking at so let me pull out my little pointer here so if you don’t know anything about Israel’s geography and this is something I’ve come to know a little bit better since being in seminary is that Israel’s geography basically divides into four strips of terrains four kinds of environments and they basically run north to south so if you look where my pointer is here this section right near the coast this is coastal plain it runs basically down the whole length of Israel decent water here relatively flat then you have a strip in the middle of Israel this is Hill Country runs north and south very hilly more arid then you have a third strip that comes down right here from the Sea of Galilee Jordan River to the salt sea or the Dead Sea this is the Jordan Valley and as you can see from all the green up here this is a pretty well watered area even today it’s pretty lush now these other parts of Israel they have a little bit of greenery partially due to modern irrigation but here around there here in the Jordan Valley it is quite lush except may notice down here around the Dead Sea it’s not so lush down there oh all brown all density looking there’s a reason for that and then the fourth area of land will be on the other side of the Jordan this is the land of the trans Jordanian Plateau the elevation rises sharply and it becomes much more arid and it’s basically right on the edge of the desert so in many ways israel’s environment is is similar to the environment of Southern California where I’m living now around Los Angeles it’s an arid area but it does have rain seasonal rain and there there are some well watered sections particularly the Jordan Valley over here no major rivers there are some streams there are some Springs but it’s mainly dependent on rainfall this is technically the land of Canaan and this would be right on the edge right on the edge of Canyon so you can see why even today lot looks at the valley of the Jordan he says that looks pretty nice now what’s his gonna sit what’s his decision gonna be then Abraham’s giving him his choice of all the land he chooses the valley of the Jordan no-brainer it’s it’s the lushest area are likely the lushest area so we can see why la makes his choice but look again at verses 11 12 and 13 verse 11 says so lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan verse 12 says Abram settled in the land of Canaan and verse 12 further says Lots in the cities of the valley this is interesting lot is transitioning out of a nomadic lifestyle he was travelling in the country but now he’s settling in the cities and then verse 12 says at the end of verse 12 and he moved his tents as far as Sodom I think ken was thinking about this with his comment you hear Sodom you should be hearing a dramatic dunk dunk in your head because we know what songs associated with first ten already mentions that God would destroy Sodom along with Gomorrah unless we miss the association verse 13 says now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against Yahweh it’s a bit of foreshadowing of later events we’re gonna see what happens to Sodom but we can see now that law ended up living in the area of Sodom of an area of great evildoers but then notice verses 14 to 17 we see a new promise from God to Abram he says I will give to you and your descendants all the land around you that you see the land of Canaan now I say this is new because back in Genesis 12 God told Abram to go to Canaan and he said he would make Abram into a great nation but he did not specifically promise the land but now now that Abram is alone separated from lot God tells Abram I’m giving this land to you and to your seed now sea doesn’t appear in our translation but it’s just the more literal rendering of the word descendants we see descendants in our text to your descendants this is the same as the Hebrew word for seed and descendants is not a bad translation because seed even though it is singular and it’s a collective singing there it has the idea of a plural in it it’s Abraham’s lineage that we can refer to specific people in that lineage to this land God says it will belong to Abram and to his promised seed this is a new promise and God reiterates one of his previous promises also God promises to multiply Abraham’s Eve to be like the dust of the earth now how many pieces of dust are on earth it’s uncountable I mean just on one beach there’s an uncountable amount of dust or grains of sand let alone dust right I mean grains of sand is even even more substantial but dust God says so will your seed be Abram but by the way how many children is Abram have at this time none zero and how old is Abram past 75 years old and God says you’re gonna have descendants like the dust if you can count the dust you’ll be able to count your descendants now notice verse 17 God tells Abram walk about this promised land check it out go through its length and breadth or its width and breadth I was able to do in verse 18 starts doing that starts moving about the land and notice he built an altar to Yahweh by yokes of mom red he brought what’s an altar for usually it’s a worship place though it is also used in other parts of the Old Testament for memorials when something significant happens sometimes a person will build an altar to remember it but it is primarily a worship site for offering sacrifices or from remembrance now I think this is a really awesome passage I mean I seem like it’s that significant at first but let’s consider some things of yeah when it comes to interpretation let’s deal with the main question was lot being selfish or rude or sinful when he chose the Jordan Valley for himself the answer I believe is maybe but maybe not here’s where we might get into a little bit of trouble due to speculation one could argue Abram as the social superior as the millio superior to a lot when he offers a lot of choice of land lot should have as a sign of respect have given the choice back to Abram Abram is being polite hey you take your choice of land what lot should have done is to say no no no no no you should have that first choice or because of this relationship lot should have left the best lands Abram and taking a lesser choice for himself say oh thank you for that choice but I know I shouldn’t choose the best land I’m leaving that for you because you’re the one who should have it and the Jordan Valley is the place where Sodom is and where sinners are and a lot gets in trouble for living in that area chapter 14 he ends up being taken captive by marauding Kings and then we know what God does to Sodom later in Genesis 19 so God obviously disapproved of Lots choice well really I’m not quite sure because one could also argue that the way to honor somebody who gives you a genuine choice is to make a genuine choice or when someone gives you a gift the way to honor that person is to accept the gift and enjoy it I mean isn’t this what Paul does with the Philippians in the New Testament they send him a gift while he’s in prison and he writes a letter back to them telling them I didn’t need the gift but you know what I accept it I accept it as a sign of your love and as an offering to God as a way to increase your heavenly reward it doesn’t send a gift back to them that would have been hurtful he accepts it and we’re not aware of what exactly the customs would be at this time this is a long time ago and the culture that we don’t entirely understand we have very little historical information about the time of Abraham and the patriarchs outside of what the Bible expresses so was violating custom by not giving the choice back to Abram I don’t know maybe you can even say Locke was being thoughtful of Abraham in making this choice he could have said to himself well you know what the promise that Abram gave to God was about the land of Canaan if I choose the land of Canaan for myself I’ll be in pinching on what God said to Abram I’m gonna leave Canaan I’m gonna go to the Jordan Valley and leave came in to Abram because after all that’s what God promised it and was lot so aware of Psalms reputation at this time he’s a foreigner to the land we do know that Sodom is sinful we’re told that in the text but did he know that did he know just how bad it would be and if he did did he intend to go near Sodom was it other circumstances that later brought him there you get the idea with these questions there’s a lot of things we don’t know about what’s going on in lot’s mind and it’s very hard to judge 4000 years later in a very different culture maybe lot was being selfish maybe he was being naive maybe was being foolish maybe he didn’t know something about Sodom and he’s like you know what it’s not gonna affect him but Lots motivation and his thinking is not the key idea this passage it doesn’t really matter so much what Locke was thinking in the end what does matter here at least two things first of all we need to ask why is it important in God’s sovereign plan that lot separates from Abram here God’s promises were to Abram not to Lotte and specifically which promise that appears in this passage for the first time the land promise it’s significant that as soon as lot leaves what does God say to Abram I’m giving this land to you and to your seed if lot were still with Abram then that would be a confusing declaration because we would ask as other people would Oh is lot included our Lots descendants included and consider how significant this would be for the people visual because lots descendants end up being neighbors Ammon and Moab two kingdoms that are right on the edge of Israel they come from Lots line so if lot still with Abram will Ammon and Moab have a claim on camon that’s not a problem though with how the events actually turned out because lot according to God’s sovereign will separates from a room so God can give this promised Amon without any confusion no this is to Abram and to his seed not Lots and the other thing I think we should know what does offering this choice this choice in which Abram might not have come out with the best land depending on what lot chose what does it indicate about Abraham’s faith it has indicate that Abram trusted God to provide and keep his promises no matter what he didn’t have to worry about losing a certain piece of land a lot even the Jew Valley why he’s got God he’s got the promised future inheritance and God Abram can afford to be generous to lot and perhaps even be abused by Lots selfishness if Locke was indeed being selfish and why is that because Abram already and continually has a generous God you see how this ties in with what I was talking about in the beginning brothers and sisters it is the same for us this is why we can afford to be kind to others this is why we can give up the best on earth to others because we have something so much better than anything that is on earth we have our king and Savior Jesus Christ we have his amazing sacrificial work his continual tender intercession on our behalf we have everlasting life in God’s glorious kingdom so who cares even about the Jordan Valley a place like the Garden of God is nothing compared to the maker of the Garden of God and he’s the one that you have if you are in Jesus Christ so we can see some application here do you have a future looking faith that can be afford or that can afford to be kind and generous to others in the same way too Abram was able now one of the question I want to bring up with an answer that might surprise you is this the promises God made to Abram including the land promise they are said to be long to Abram into his promised seed who is the promised seed people once invited ways oh it’s real ethnic Israel right well we need to nuance that answer a little bit yes but one sense the people of Israel are Abraham’s seed and they would inherit the land promised to Abram at least temporarily but are all Israel the promised seed of Abraham are all Israel the inheritors of the blessings promised to Abraham remember the words of John the Baptist John the Baptist in Luke 3 verses 7 and 9 Luke 3 7 and 9 this is what he says to the Jews of his day verse 7 says so he began saying to the crowds who are going out to be baptized by him you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves we have Abraham for our Father for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire do you realize what John was saying he says even if you’re a physical descendant of Abraham if you’re not a spiritual descendant you aren’t getting his promises you are getting God’s wrath in fact in hyperbole John says that God is able to raise up descendants to Abraham who are not physically descendant of Abraham now that sounds really confusing right God can make descendants of Abraham who are not descendants of Abraham even from stones what how is that possible ah the Apostle Paul has something to say about that now listen to Galatians in return they have their wish if you wish Galatians 3 verses 13 and 14 Galatians 3 13 to 14 Paul writes this Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith and then Galatians 3:16 just a couple verses later now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed he does not say into seeds as referring to many but rather to one and to your seed that is Christ that is really profound who according to Paul is the ultimate promised seed of Abraham it’s Jesus Christ so this is to save the blessings of Abraham were passed down by promise from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob and down through history until they reached Christ who is Abraham’s seed so then who gets the blessings of Abraham not simply those who are in Israel but those who are in whom in Christ thus in an amazing way Gentiles too can be made inheritors of Abraham’s blessing by faith in Christ as doesn’t mean is just excluded when Israel repents and Israel will repent one day the Bible says of their wicked blasphemous rejection of God and a rejection of their Messiah this will be after God greatly judges then that will happen one day and they will share as a nation in the blessings of Christ and the blessings of Abraham but for the Jews who have already believed and for the Gentiles who are found in Christ they are already inheritors of Abraham’s blessings through Christ the ultimate seed of Abraham Gentiles then are not second-class citizens in God’s country in God’s kingdom behind the Jews but neither are they superior to or replacements up the Jews of believing Jews that is Paul talks about this in Ephesians 2 Jew and Gentile he says have been united until one man in Christ and thus Paul can say to the Gentiles in Ephesians 2:19 2:22 fusion two to nineteen to twenty two so then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the Saints and are of God’s household having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole bit of building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit that’s a wonderful reality all believers whether Jew or Gentile have been made fellow inheritors of God’s kingdom there will be a Millennial Kingdom one day in Israel under Messiah but who’s going to be ruling in that Kingdom with him believing Jews and believing Gentiles all of those who are true descendants and inheritors of Abraham through Christ so this actually ties right back into the application I mentioned earlier brothers and sisters at Calvary this is what you have to look forward to if you’re in Christ just as Abraham looked to that heavenly kingdom the heavenly City so do you in a very real sense even a literal sense so don’t get caught up in the things of the world gladly give up the passing treasures of Earth for God’s sake for others sake persevere in your faith don’t give up in the race because your reward is coming I know the summer class I’m in right now have a couple of summer classes then taking the first one I’m in is on exegesis of Hebrews the book of Hebrews in the New Testament and it’s been a great study so far but one of the themes of the book that comes through so clearly is that when we fix our eyes and our great Savior and on the reward that is coming in him and through him it received the grace we need to persevere in the present in this way really we become just like Abraham and all the other Saints of all who looked to God and obeyed in faith while they waited for God’s promise we are to fall right in line with them that’s God’s will for us that is the way of joy questions about what you’ve heard today yes is that a hand okay can I make a comment about what’s going on in Gaza and the Golan Heights I’m not super up-to-date with what’s going on politically in Israel I know just from the past decade or so that the people living in Israel now are in a continual conflict with non-jews who also want to live in the land one thing we do need to realize and this makes not controversial to you but I think this is just true according to the Scriptures is that modern Jews don’t believe in Christ are doing some very evil things in Israel and they’re doing it to the Palestinians and they they do it to their own people these are not modern Israelite or those who are Israelis they are unbelievers just like other unbelievers in the world and so they do wicked things modern Israel doesn’t get a pass because of what God did with Israel in in history this is the people that does not acknowledge God and so we should be we should not be quick to say oh they they have the right to the land they can kick out the Palestinians they can do whatever they want remember what Jesus said Israel your house is left to you desolate until you say blessed is he who comes the name of Lord Israel will have a kingdom in that land one day but that kingdom is promised to them when they repent so we should not automatically just support Israel and everything Israel does so I hope that hope you can appreciate the new ones saw that you’re welcome if you have more questions about that I’d love to talk to you more about that but then maybe maybe a little thought-provoking to you but we want to want to think biblically about this all right that’s art were you gonna say any more thank you right yeah you’re welcome and that’s let’s not say that Israel’s necessarily the the villain I mean there are people who are doing evil things to Israel or people who have done evil things to Jews all throughout history we have when this interesting situation of when it comes to Jews is that we do sympathise with them because their image bears of God and their their fellow people and they need to be saved just like everyone else but we can’t absolve them of evil things that they themselves do really they are in just as much need as everyone else in the world they need to turn repent acknowledge their Savior just as all the Gentile peoples who live in the world they need Christ that was Paul’s heart and you can hear that in the book of Romans he says my heart is for Israel it shall be saved and yet the Bible can also say those who are Jews and don’t believe in Christ they are synagogue of Satan so we have to kind of keep both of those things in our minds at the same time now that’s all we have time to talk about today I welcome welcome view more of the email if you have questions we’ve alluded to Sodom and Gomorrah in today’s class next time we’ll see what happened how God investigated and ultimately judged those cities that’s close in prayer well God we thank you for this testimony of Abram but thank you for your promises to him that we amazingly God we’ve become partakers and we’ve become inheritors of through Christ even though we are not most of us physically descended from Abraham thank you thank you for being so gracious to us and allowing us to enter in and even to become full inheritors Jesus Christ you are wonderful to us you are such a gracious Savior and we thank you for your intercession we thank you for saving us from our sins I pray God that at Calvary they would be more in awe of you today more enthralled by you and your great love and the wonderful salvation blessings we have in you Jesus name Amen all right thank you all