this morning if you are visiting we are working through the book of genesis and we come to chapter 13 this morning chapter 13 and in your pew bible that is found on page 12 we are going to consider the entirety of the chapter let's give this morning our attention to the word of the lord So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him into the Negev. Now Abram was very rich in livestock and silver and in gold, and he journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first, and there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. At the time, the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land. Then Abram said to Lot, let there be no strife between you and me and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen for we are kinsmen it's not the whole land before you separate yourself from me if you take the left hand then i will go to the right or if you take the right hand then i will go to the left and lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the jordan valley was very well watered everywhere like the garden of the lord like the land of egypt in the direction of zoar This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, where Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you. So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. Years ago, I preached in preparation for the ministry. I remember preaching at an internship in a church, and I was talking with an old retired minister who came up to me, and he asked me, kind of indirectly, he said, you know, I want you to think about preaching Hebrews 11, which talks about this city whose builder and maker is God. He was an old pilgrim. He's since gone to be with the Lord. He was ready to die. He couldn't wait to meet his Savior face to face. He had lived a long, hard life. And I remember I went ahead and I preached that sermon and I preached from that text and I exposited what the world would be like that is to come, what God is preparing for those who love Him, the wonderful glories of Christ and what awaits those who walk and live by faith. And He came up after that sermon in tearful response and was ready. I then remember an elder approaching me right after that sermon and he said to me you know i have no idea how that applies to my daily life and i said you're telling me you just heard a sermon on the things that are held out for you god's description of this other world and the glorious riches that are yours that are going to be given to you all that awaits you all the joys of being freed from this life of misery and you don't know how that applies to your daily life have you figured out why the only reason is because your earthly life doesn't have the goal of the heavenly life and so we had a really good discussion about that but i realized something from both of these saints i realized something from both of these brothers that how to live the christian life living the christian life being Christians, going forward with what we believe, living it in a meaningful way is only done when you're ready to let go of it. Living this only becomes something when you're ready to let go of it. When we're living by faith, we sing the song, the things of this earth grow strangely dim. That is so true. When we're living by sight, all we end up doing is using God for the once of our daily life. Manipulating God for what we want to do. And that's Genesis 13. If you can see these two saints, and if you could have them set side by side, that's Genesis 13. That's Abram, that's Lot. It's a really glorious section, because what we're seeing in Genesis chapter 13 is the Lord bringing Abram to a place of trust. Bringing him to a place of living by faith. And I don't know how much you've given thought to this, but maybe you've really struggled with the question, what does it mean to live the Christian life by faith? How do I know? What does that look like? Well, I believe Genesis 13 encourages us in this very bright moment in the life of Abram's life to see what it looks like. He opens it up for you. That it would stand out in the midst of all of this mess that we have been studying with the life of Abram and that we would see Pilgrim progressing. That we would see that Pilgrim does progress. That we would see no matter how hard it gets along the way, the Lord is taking the Christian somewhere. It is, you may not see it, but the Lord is relentlessly working to bring us to a place of complete trust and rest in Him. That means that ultimately the Christian life is a forward-moving life, and even when we don't fully see that, the Christian life is a life, as Paul called, that has an upward calling that God has given to us, and that's where we're headed. We may not see it, but the Lord wants you to see it in His Word. He wants you to see it in the life of Abram that the Lord is progressing His sheep. And I need that encouragement. You need that encouragement because last week was awful last week was the greatest mess we've studied and i think this is really important to say that in one text you have the depths and in the next text you have the heights and you should be all saying that's the christian life that's that's what i experience i'm i am like a wave of the sea i am tossed up and back and forth i am incredibly up and down. And when we see that whole picture, we see what the goal of the Lord is in these bright moments, don't we? What faith looks like, and that we would learn from this this morning, how to live by faith and not by sight. That's the happiest place you'll ever be in this life. You try the other route, Lord's going to show you, you've got a lot of hardship coming oh you've got a lot of hardship coming we're seeing this now beginning to shine in father abram in the last scene he had single-handedly wrecked everything and i mean that god had given him promise after promise after promise god had called him he had made overwhelming promises i'm giving you the land i'm giving you the seed he's coming from you and you all the nations of the earth will be blessed your shem your name shall be great i've decided to do all of this for you abram he comes to the land he leaves and lo and behold the first thing that he's hit with is a very severe test behold a famine hit the land so this is this is a was a big moment last week because god had called him out to this with these wonderful promises and the first thing this is why I think professions are so important in light of this. The first thing that he's hit with is a test. And what a distressing scene the end of chapter 12 was. He had not yet learned to trust the Lord. He was fighting against that. So he goes down to Egypt, and we studied this decline. He leaves Bethel and the house of the Lord, and he begins to spiral down to a life of departure and deception and tragedy where by the end of it he had made up this scheming plan that so backfired on him he ended up losing his wife to pharaoh she's in pharaoh's arms you can't get out of that so the two great promises of the abrahamic covenant land and seed were single-handedly dumped by Abram. Thrown away. I can't imagine what despair this must have caused him. Do you ever pause and think at moments like that? If this is a real servant of the Lord, the despair, you've wrecked your life. You've completely wrecked it. It's over. What I've done, it's done. But then we came to verse 12. One of you emailed me last week and says now that's new you're now your new favorite verse in the bible it's a good verse to have as a favorite the lord plagued pharaoh's house with great plagues because of sarai abram's wife you imagine that the lord comes down and all you experience in your utter failure is that kind of gracious response and you see now you're beginning to see what motivates the christian life beginning to taste it a little bit what does sin do to you sin condemns your heart when you sin you go through awful if you are sensitive and i'm assuming a regenerate heart the dead heart can't hear the regenerate heart hears and it's sensitive and when you sin what begins to happen it begins to well up and guilt overcomes and when you experience this what do you do any sensitive conscience the first thing that you begin to question is can god really take me back will god really accept me that's the first thing that you're going to begin is there a path home in other words will god receive me have you ever felt it what i've done has been so terrible it has excluded me from the father's love abram wrecked everything and in the midst of such failure look at the lord's response he thundered down and he came and he rescued and now you're beginning to understand the beginnings and i i I really think even though we say we get grace, I don't believe grace is easily grasped. I think we fight against grace. God made a promise to Abram. What did he say? I will do this. You are receiving these things. They're all yours. God knew everything Abram was going to do before he even said that. He knew all of the failures. He knew all the sins. He knew all the rebellions. He knew that he would throw it all away. And because of the gracious love that he had loved him with from the foundation of the world and given to him in his son, Abram received deliverance in the midst of the failure. Abram didn't try to say, ah, I'm going to go and get my wife myself, pull myself out of this, and then ask whether God will accept me. What did he learn? He learned that when he was without strength, The Lord rescues. God's deliverance comes in the midst of failure. And isn't this the whole Christian message this morning? As we look at the big picture and we study the New Testament and we see the greater story, that when we were without strength, Christ died. You didn't ask for it. You didn't come seeking it. When you were completely helpless and in your sins, God thundered down and sent his son. And that kind of love, that kind of deliverance affects things. It's not going to make the true Christian careless. It affects how you go forward. And when we think about these things, when we sin and we stumble, when our eyes are fixed on the truth, when our hearts are fixed on the truth, that in A.D. 30, in the month of Nisan, at about the sixth hour of the day, Jesus said, it is finished. He answered. he had already answered. How do you think that affects the Christian life? When you've really believed that. When I sin and stumble, what should I do? I should come home. I should return. Realizing that the God I have run from has already answered me. And he said, whoever comes, I will not cast out. I should come. And now we begin to understand and see what this God is like. He's not a hard God. He's not like the pagan gods, even of the idols of the nations who are way harder. This God loves to show mercy. This God delights in mercy. And what you have in this transition from 12 to 13 is the story of the prodigal coming home. What did the son do in Jesus' parable when he had run? Remember, he did something stupid. He ran from his father's house and he went off to a far country and by the time the episode was over, he had lost everything. Sound familiar? Well, it's Genesis 12. We're all prodigals. We're all running. And listen to the language. And I've always loved it. It's the most powerful language that Jesus uses in the parable. When he came to himself, how many of my father's servants have bread enough to spare and I perish with hunger in other words i came down to egypt for bread and i'm starving and i've come home there in that home there's bread i'm going to go to my father i'm going to rise and i'm going to say i have sinned i'm no longer worthy to be called your son make me like one of your hired servants and he arose and he came to his father but when he was still a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him amazing that the lord would put the love of the father on that kind of display for you so abram comes home and he's renewed and that's where i love building and seeing what chapter 13 is showing us when it says that he came back from egypt he went up and he and his wife and all that he had in lot into the negev and Abram was rich in livestock and silver and in gold and he journeyed from the Gev as far as Bethel to the place I love this where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Ai to the place where he had made an altar at the first and there Abram called on the name of the Lord there's your path no one can ever say it wasn't clear what I should do when I sin come he went back to where he was before the departure and he called that's bethel we've looked at that the house of god and you know when we think of the whole picture here god has set up this house for you some of you tomorrow are going to depart some of you tomorrow are going to make decisions that are harmful to your life, and you'll wonder, is there any way out of this? Welcome to the Christian life. Up and down, up and down. Things I don't want to do, I do. And that's where I said the real litmus test last week of where you are is how much you love returning to Bethel. How much you love to come and to worship. it tells where you are. It's a spiritual gauge of where you are. Well, this is where we are at this point in the narrative. And the Lord now wants to encourage us. After that last terrible episode, Abram's returned. Abram's called out on the name of the Lord in worship. Now we see him beginning to live by faith. And notice the radical difference from these two narratives that the Lord is showing you this morning. He wants you to see it. He wants you to understand it. He wants you to know what the righteous life that he is after, what it looks like. And that's right here. Last time he failed, would he live by bread alone and not, or by the word of the Lord? What would he do? He failed. Well, now I want you to see verse five. Look at verse five. Another test right away. And Lot who went with Abram also had flocks and herds and tents so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together. For their possessions were so great, they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. And at that time, the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land. So he's returned and God has blessed him. God has flooded him with the riches of Egypt foreshadowing the future. But notice here now that there has been strife between the herdsmen. In other words, there has been so much blessing given by the Lord. What's happened? Well, how does the old saying go? The more money we make, the more problems we see. That's true. So here's the test. Abram and Lot, they go out and they stand over the mountains of Bethel, and this is about 3,000 feet up, and they're looking over the kingdoms of the world. So these tests are very similar throughout history, aren't they? And we see Jesus dealing with this. And a great contrast now is given between the hearts of Abram and Lot, and what is essentially shown to you is what belief looks like. Look at verse 8. Then Abram said to Lot, let there be no strife between you and me and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. It's not the whole land before you. Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left. Listen, I don't want strife between us. You pick. You take it. Now, that's an amazing response. That is an amazing response because the Lord has already told him, it's all his. It's all yours. He had been promised the land. This was his by promise. No one could take that. Well, if that's the case, go claim it now, right? Build the kingdom now. He has every right to it. You pick. You take it. You ever thought about what the life faith really looks like and what the fruits of it are like? What a radically different scene than the last one. Abram says you pick, it's not worth contention over these things. That's not how we operate, is it? Have you ever seen, this was years ago, but I can't get it out of my head, the Geico commercial, forgive us, Broward Insurance. Geico, the guy rams into the car and they both get out and you're expecting a brawl in the middle of the street and they both say, it was my fault. No, no, no, it was my fault. And they're arguing in the middle of the street as to whose fault it was. You take it. No, no, it's my fault. I'll take the hit. Who does that? You know how much misery and conflict I have seen among brothers over family inheritances in the time I've been in the ministry? You know what happens when a father or mother dies and the fights that I have seen? I had to break up a fight over two 60-year-old men. Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desire for pleasure? I think the whole scene must have been on the apostles' mind in 1 Corinthians 6 when he talked about brothers going to lawsuit against brothers and says, why don't you just rather accept the wrong? Why don't you let yourself be cheated? Why would Paul suggest that? Why would Jesus say, give your cloak, if someone asks. Just give it to them. It's because these are the responses of living by faith. The man who lives by faith, what has he learned to say? I don't worry about tomorrow. I don't worry about that. The Lord will provide the temporal things, the blessings that I enjoy in this life. What's it worth to be in contention over those things? I have a promise from God that it's all mine. You know Paul had to chide Corinth with that. Don't you realize you're fighting and it's all yours? You have it, says Abram. Abram's trusting. We're seeing what trusting looks like. Life's more than these things. Life's more than what I put on. Life's more than food. don't worry about any of that and yet we run around and we're worried about all sorts of things we're worried about retirement and we're worried about this and that do you know what hebrews tells us about abram and if truly they had called to mind that country which they had come out they would have had opportunity to return in other words if they were really going after that they would have got it but now they desire a better that is a heavenly country therefore god is not ashamed to be called their god for he has prepared a city for them do you realize that there's a city prepared for you a whole kingdom prepared for you and it's waiting and it's not this abram's beginning to believe this abram is starting to understand he's looking for a different land a different country another city and the promise of the gospel who is christ can you imagine if we live this way all of the agony we would save ourselves living by sight and trying to achieve our dreams as the culture tells us just listen to your heart and achieve your own dreams can you imagine if we were living not pushing our own rights over everyone else this is why we don't forgive this is why we don't love this is why we find ourselves in loads of conflict. This is why we find ourselves loving the things in the world and we create for ourselves a lot of agony. And I think that's what the text shows you now. I think the text is directly drawing the contrast to show you this, to show you the mess of living by sight. And the Lord wants you to see this is another righteous man. That's what I find so amazing about this text. This is another righteous man who the new testament says is a christian is saved who tried the other path and i believe the sole purpose of this is to give you a window into the painful consequences of trying to do this life by sight and that's why challenged us even on images That's why we don't make them. Look at verse 10. And Lot lifted up his eyes, there it is, and saw that the Jordan Valley was very well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. There they are, 3,000 miles up. Lot lifts up his eyes. Wow. Look at that. That, if there was ever a garden of God, that's it. This is like Egypt. Well, you see, this is a scene repeating itself, isn't it? Abram just tried this, by the way. Abram just went down and pitched his tent. I'm not doing that again, he thinks. Bad consequence. Lot looks at Sodom. do you think it looked like a ghetto oh no no there's no graffiti in sodom by the way the lawns were mowed the city was prosperous what an opportunity for advancement lot thing i know what i could do with this passage because i've heard it preached i know i could really preach as if living in this world is sinful and that we should all just separate out from it and all the women should wear long dresses and put buns up. And all the men you should put on overalls, and we should go into our own little communities. That's not the way to preach this text. The same problem can exist in Linden, Washington, and the same problem can exist in Escondido. His heart was set on what John says. Do not love the world or the things in the world, for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, in the pride of life it's not from the father but it's of the world and all that's passing away do you see the contrast that the lord is is showing you here are two righteous men abram just tried it he went pitched his tent in egypt it was a disaster god pulled him out god grabbed his wife save them what goes lot's wife doesn't quite make it and i'm moved because both were saved. And God showed the same kind of deliverance for both. But the choices in this life that were not made by faith set themselves up for a lot of pain and hardship. Wanting for his family the best life now. Wanting for his family the Sodom dream. Wanting for his family the American dream. Irregardless of what was known that verse 13 says these people were incredibly wicked before the lord lot goes and he pitches his tent and he pitches his tent outside of sodom and by the time we come to chapter 14 i'm sure you've heard this he's dwelling in sodom and by the time we come to chapter 19 he's sitting in the gate of sodom meaning that he is a ruler in sodom down down down down down what was it like for him did he achieve the dream the lord says in second peter to us. Lot was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked. For that righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds. I find him what the New Testament describes as somebody who barely escaped, barely got out his daughters some of his daughters married the men of sodom they didn't make it his wife was so tied to it she turns around and she becomes a pillar of salt so much so that jesus would say remember lot's wife i want you to think about what happened to lot's wife whoever seeks to save his life whoever seeks to pursue the american dream in other words whoever seeks to save it and live for this will lose it. And whoever loses his life will preserve it. The pastor tells a similar story about a discussion that took place concerning a couple in his church. And the concern was that the family had put the world before Christ. And the family came to church, but their hearts weren't in it. Their interest was in sophistication and money. And just everything went to the maintenance of the lifestyle. Understandably, the pastor says, Their daughters rejected Christianity. The concern was then raised. Isn't it sad what happened to those girls? The pastor responded back. What do you expect when you pitch your tent in Sodom? Now why is the Lord putting this here? I know it's convicting and I know all of us are convicted by this because I'm deeply convicted by this. He wants to encourage you to see the righteous life He has for you. it's not that. And what he is graciously doing in pursuing us, and even when we try it, he's coming. He's going to pull you out. And so after Abram now has learned this, and he's beginning to live by faith, what do we see the Lord do in verse 14? And I really think this is an amazing section of just sheer grace and gospel. And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward, and westward, for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever, and I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth then your descendants also could be numbered arise walk through the land its length and width for i give it to you did you notice the play on words there the comparison lot lifted up his eyes what does the lord tell abram to do you lift up your eyes now and look by faith look at what i'm giving you north south east and west your descendants will be as the sand of the seashore. Now that's all in contrast to the major problem in front of them that the Canaanites have now added. The Perizzites are living in. They're growing. And the Lord says, go ahead, Abram, walk through the land. I want you to do a survey. Just like you're surveying California before it was founded, I want you to survey and put your stake everywhere. Survey it. It's all yours. Do you know the Lord says the same thing to you this morning? Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him. I've got it all for you. I'm building you a city. And I want you to survey the earth, because one day the new Jerusalem is going to come down from God out of heaven, and all of this earth is going to be made new. You get it all. It's all yours. And I can't imagine what that's going to be like. And there will be no more sin. There will be no more Canaanites who represent everything that's evil in this world. And boy, do we see that right now? Do we see that in the news? Look at the evil. Look at all of the wickedness. It's going to be gone forever. Live trusting me in this, says the Lord. It's coming. I've got it for you. And then the Lord in chapter 15 is going to come to Abram and say, Abram, I am your exceeding and great reward, your shield and your reward. In other words, you've got everything because I'm giving you me. And when you come to the New Testament and you read that Abraham looked for the day of Christ and he saw it and was glad, he knew that the Father had promised that he would give Abram his son. And you know, when Jesus stood up and said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. I'll satisfy you, says the Lord. I'll give you the desire of your heart. Come to me. There are going to be many tests along the way, and I close with this, many hardships. At times, you're not going to understand why or where you're going and why the Lord has brought you there and why you're facing this and why you're facing that. There's going to be lots of that along the way. And the tests at times are going to be immense and they're going to be painful and they're going to be difficult with us and our children. But notice the two paths that the Lord put before you today and notice how He's encouraging you to trust Him. He's leading you to a better place. Trust Him. Your Savior came to live the righteous life to tell you that He was tempted and tried in every single way as you are without sin, did it perfectly, and He's so compassionate, He is able to help you in the midst of all of the tests. Talk to Him. That's what prayer is. Call upon Him. This king went forth from riches into poverty, denied his own interests, did nothing in selfish ambition but in lowliness of mind, esteemed others better than himself to rescue you. And today He wants you to know that in all of your weakness, He's not going to leave you. so why don't you save yourself as i said last time a lot of agony and come today and don't build your life on the love of this world see what he's saying to you live by faith i've got something way better the forgiveness of your sins and everlasting life is my promise to you Jesus said, I've gone to prepare a place for you. And all of those who love his righteous appearing, he has promised he's going to take you to be with him. I don't know why anyone would want this life. He's got something better. Delight yourself in Christ and he will answer you today in mercy. Let's pray to him. Oh Lord, our God, we are thankful for your kindness. Overwhelmed by your grace. that you pursue and that you are bringing us to a place of faith. Look at the progress today that you showed us. We are thankful that you encouraged us in this way and that you also warned us not to go the other way. And I pray, Lord, for every last one here that we would all be granted the gift of faith and that that faith would grow strong in every circumstance of life. believing Your Word and trusting You no matter how we are tried and afflicted. Today we call on the name of the Lord in hope and assurance of the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness shall dwell. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.