WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.719 Genesis. I don't have a page number, but it's the first book of the Bible, so it's probably about 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:16.160 page 10. Nine. That was a pretty good guess. So we are going to look at what, if you grew up in 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:22.300 Sunday school, is one of those stories you've heard about, but maybe have wondered, what in the world 00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:32.060 do I make of this? And hopefully by the end of the evening, you will have a slightly better 00:00:32.060 --> 00:00:38.060 understanding. I know for me, I started preparing this, not having quite an idea of where this would 00:00:38.060 --> 00:00:46.120 go, and it's been a rich time reading it together. So let's read the story, Genesis 13, the story of 00:00:46.119 --> 00:00:54.399 Abraham and Lot separating, and we will read and pray, and then we'll walk through this together. 00:00:56.739 --> 00:01:02.319 Genesis chapter 13, so Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, 00:01:02.319 --> 00:01:10.519 and Lot with him into the Negev. Now Abraham was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold, 00:01:10.519 --> 00:01:18.179 and he journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning 00:01:18.179 --> 00:01:26.899 between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called 00:01:26.899 --> 00:01:33.959 upon the name of the Lord. And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents so that 00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:39.659 the land could not support both of them dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that 00:01:39.659 --> 00:01:45.039 they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the 00:01:45.039 --> 00:01:51.979 herdsmen of Lot's livestock. At that time, the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the 00:01:51.979 --> 00:01:59.939 land. Then Abram said to Lot, let there be no strife between you and me, between your herdsmen and my 00:01:59.939 --> 00:02:08.019 herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take 00:02:08.020 --> 00:02:13.800 the left hand, then I will go to the right. And if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left. 00:02:14.340 --> 00:02:21.120 And Lot lifted his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:28.840 of the Lord, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:37.719 Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from 00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:44.120 each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley 00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:52.659 and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. 00:02:53.979 --> 00:03:00.599 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, lift up your eyes and look from the place where 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:07.299 you are, northwards and southwards and eastwards and westwards. For all the land that you see, 00:03:07.819 --> 00:03:15.759 I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, 00:03:16.079 --> 00:03:20.599 so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:27.840 Arise, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I will give it to you. 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:34.800 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron. 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:43.520 And there he built an altar to the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word, and thank you for 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:52.500 the way that in it you reveal yourself to us. You show us the way of the human heart, 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:59.680 both for good and for evil. And Lord, how you point us to your great work of salvation in the world. 00:04:00.439 --> 00:04:05.219 Help us tonight to see these things. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:04:08.020 --> 00:04:16.120 So, the writer of Genesis is a great storyteller. And if you've ever done literary analysis and looked 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:22.360 at stories, it's really fun to walk through a narrative and to just see how the story itself 00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:27.840 helps us see what the point of the passage is. Because stories usually have a beginning 00:04:27.840 --> 00:04:31.840 that kind of set up the situation, introduce you to the characters in the scene, 00:04:31.840 --> 00:04:39.399 and then there's some kind of crisis or some kind of problem that develops, that leads to this point, 00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:44.439 this high point of the story, where the question is, how is this going to turn out? 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:50.199 It's the place in the movie where you want to stop and focus in. It's a place where you, 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:55.660 where you, if you're watching in the theater, you may be inched to the edge of your seat to see what's 00:04:55.660 --> 00:05:02.379 going to happen next. And then what happens then is the resolution. And in that point, you then see 00:05:02.379 --> 00:05:08.860 often what the purpose is. And then you see the results flowing out of it. And very much our passage 00:05:08.860 --> 00:05:13.639 sets up along that line. So, we're going to walk through it along those lines, and we're going to see 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:20.560 how this passage tells us a little bit about the walk of faith. Abram in the, in the New Testament 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:27.560 is commended as a man of faith, as, as a man who was righteous because of his faith. And what we're 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:33.639 going to do is we're going to look at, at how this passage helps us see that in his life tonight. 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:39.680 And then we're going to think about some of the implications for ourselves along the way. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:44.920 So, that's what we're going to do. So, look with me in verses 1 through 4, because verses 1 through 4 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:50.019 is the setup, right? If you were here last week, you remembered, or if you've been here for the 00:05:50.019 --> 00:05:56.199 couple weeks, what you've heard already from chapter 12 is that God initiated with Abram and came to him 00:05:56.199 --> 00:06:01.360 and said, I want you to uproot from where you are over in Ur of the Chaldees, and I want you to take 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:06.600 everything you have and go somewhere else, and I'm going to lead you to a place. And he made great 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:12.240 promises. I'm going to make you the father of a great nation. And I, and you, in your, in that, 00:06:12.680 --> 00:06:17.920 in that great nation, I will bless you, and I will make you a blessing to the whole world. 00:06:18.860 --> 00:06:26.620 And so, Abram, by faith, picks up and follows God's leading. And he goes from Ur of the Chaldees, 00:06:26.700 --> 00:06:31.680 and then up to Haran, and then down into the promised land. And then, as we saw, he kept going, 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:38.660 and he ended up in Egypt because of a famine. And in Egypt, he failed miserably, having started out 00:06:38.660 --> 00:06:43.920 trusting God and uprooting his whole life to follow him. Then he went to Egypt, and instead of 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:51.639 continuing to trust God, he became afraid. Became afraid of what might happen to him because his wife 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:59.480 was beautiful. He lied. He put her in danger. He put her by implication. And the promise that God would 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:07.879 give him many offspring in danger. And God rescued him. God supernaturally intervened and let a pagan 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:15.780 king of Egypt, the Pharaoh, know what was really going on and exposed Abram's lie. And God rescued 00:07:15.780 --> 00:07:22.540 Abram from his own foolishness. And not only that, but in the midst of it, the Pharaoh then lavished on 00:07:22.540 --> 00:07:27.980 him all sorts of great gifts. And so, he comes out as a very rich man. And this is what we see as we 00:07:27.980 --> 00:07:33.939 begin the story. Abram went up from Egypt. So, now he's returning to the promised land that God had 00:07:33.939 --> 00:07:39.980 already pointed out to him. And he came with his wife and all that he had. And Lot, who was his 00:07:39.980 --> 00:07:46.520 nephew, had traveled with him on this whole journey. And now Lot was continuing with him. Okay? And they 00:07:46.520 --> 00:07:51.980 were coming up through what is now the Sinai Peninsula, up through there into the lower part of 00:07:51.980 --> 00:07:59.060 Israel. If you have, I think there's a map in your program. Is that right? So, you'll see Bethel is 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:07.480 marked there. And you'll see that, I think Hebron is on there. And you'll see the red, not the Red Sea. 00:08:07.580 --> 00:08:16.900 What is it? The Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is the big piece of water that's off of the, that's right next to 00:08:16.899 --> 00:08:23.199 Jerusalem. And the, and it basically is the promised land. Most of what we're looking at is going to be 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:29.899 on your map. It's going to be just to the, I got to do my map right for you guys. So, if you're looking 00:08:29.899 --> 00:08:36.220 at it, you want to look just to the left and just below the Dead Sea. This is the area that we're 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:43.039 mostly concentrating in tonight. And Abram comes back into this place where God had promised him that he 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:51.159 would be able to settle. And you have to imagine that Abram, who, as he becomes known for, through the rest 00:08:51.159 --> 00:08:57.459 of the Bible, is, is coming into this with great anticipation. God has given these grace promises. Not 00:08:57.459 --> 00:09:03.860 only that, but God has dealt graciously with them. Even in his failure, God has preserved him and is 00:09:03.860 --> 00:09:09.039 bringing him back into this land where all these promises are going to be kept. That sounds great. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:17.259 The anticipation of God's goodness must be a part of his story. And so, he enters into this land, 00:09:17.259 --> 00:09:25.599 and immediately there's a problem. Immediately, the promised land doesn't quite seem to fit, does it? 00:09:26.079 --> 00:09:33.079 Abram and Lot move into the land, and all of these things happen. The land was not enough. Why? Well, 00:09:33.139 --> 00:09:38.659 because there wasn't enough room. There wasn't enough room for the grazing. The herdsmen were fighting 00:09:38.659 --> 00:09:43.079 with one another. There wasn't enough. It's interesting. He says they couldn't live together, and it's not 00:09:43.079 --> 00:09:48.360 quite clear why. There wasn't enough place to encamp and to keep all of their silver and gold. 00:09:48.740 --> 00:09:55.480 It doesn't say that clearly, but clearly it says Lot and Abram, who had been traveling together up to 00:09:55.480 --> 00:10:03.899 this point in one band, could no longer do so. And not only that, but the writer throws in, oh, and by the 00:10:03.899 --> 00:10:09.600 way, the land was full of people who didn't, probably wouldn't be super excited about a group 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:15.559 of people with large herds moving into their pasture land and starting to graze their sheep 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:21.740 and their goats and their cattle or whatever it was that they had. So, the promised land suddenly 00:10:21.740 --> 00:10:30.120 doesn't seem quite so welcoming as maybe Abram had anticipated. And Abram probably wondered, 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:35.120 God, what are you doing here? You've just rescued me out of my own foolishness. You're bringing me 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:40.940 into the place of promise. And now it's hard, not easy. Now there's a problem that I don't know how to 00:10:40.940 --> 00:10:52.220 solve. Maybe you've been there. Maybe God's taken you through some paths. You've seen him work 00:10:52.220 --> 00:10:58.419 graciously in your life, but then you enter into a new situation, and you think, and you anticipate, 00:10:58.419 --> 00:11:05.559 God's going to bless you. But instead, it's been hard, harder than you imagined. And you wonder, 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:15.740 God, where are you? What could you be doing here? Don't you want me to prosper in your blessings? 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:25.899 What do you want me to do? And at this point in the story, this is the crisis question that this 00:11:25.899 --> 00:11:34.340 story points us to. How is Abram going to respond to this problem? How is Abram going to do it? 00:11:34.500 --> 00:11:40.299 Because he had just faced a situation in Egypt where he threw off his relationships, 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:46.419 he threw off his trust in God's promises, and he tried to solve it all by himself. 00:11:46.419 --> 00:11:52.639 And God brings him in, and then he gives him another situation and says, 00:11:53.159 --> 00:11:59.399 okay, what are you going to do? Will you take control, or will you trust me? 00:12:02.939 --> 00:12:09.479 Abram had all the power. He could have said, Lot, you can go to that really rocky desert area that 00:12:09.479 --> 00:12:13.899 looks like a terrible place to graze and farm. I'm going to give you that part, and I'm going to take 00:12:13.899 --> 00:12:19.959 this part over here. It's green. It's lush. It looks really great. He could have asserted his 00:12:19.959 --> 00:12:25.340 authority as the uncle. He could have asserted his authority as the receiver of God's promise. 00:12:25.620 --> 00:12:31.259 He could have used all of his powers to manage this situation on his own. 00:12:33.860 --> 00:12:39.480 Maybe you've wondered, is that how I get out of my situation too? 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:50.240 We so easily want to solve our problems on our own schemes and plans and trusting ultimately in 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:55.899 ourselves. Whether it's we're going to work so hard that we're going to overcome any possibility, 00:12:56.360 --> 00:13:01.139 any problem. It's going to be up to us. If we're tough enough, if we're smart enough, 00:13:01.139 --> 00:13:07.279 and if we work hard enough, we can do it. Sometimes the temptation is, 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:13.740 I know what it might look like to trust God, but I'm afraid that that's not going to be successful. 00:13:13.939 --> 00:13:18.860 And I think there's another way in offering for me. But I know it's a scheme. It's a little shady. 00:13:19.100 --> 00:13:23.799 It's living way in the gray areas of life. It might not be something I would normally do, 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:29.579 but I feel like I have to because that's the only way I can solve this problem. That's the only way 00:13:29.580 --> 00:13:33.680 I can respond to this situation that seems so hard. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:45.100 We easily fall into self-saving plans. Some of them may seem like just good hard work. Some of them 00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:52.139 may seem like we know we're crossing the line and doing something that's probably not quite right in 00:13:52.139 --> 00:14:03.779 order to get ahead to where we want. Abram faced this question. What is he going to do? 00:14:05.740 --> 00:14:13.299 Verses 8 and 9, we see Abram's response. We see Abram respond not by taking control, 00:14:13.620 --> 00:14:19.600 but ultimately by trusting God. I believe that's what it means. The text doesn't say that. All you 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:25.700 see is his actions. Look with me at verses 8 and 9. What does Abram say? Abram says, hey, we've come 00:14:25.700 --> 00:14:34.560 into this land. Lot, my nephew, look around. What do you think? You take your part, and I'll take the 00:14:34.560 --> 00:14:38.779 rest. You go to the left, I'll go to the right. You go to the right, I'll go to the left. 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:43.519 Abram trusts God. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:54.159 He gives up control in the situation. He gives it to another. He's living out his calling to be 00:14:54.159 --> 00:15:00.679 blessed by God, trusting that God will bless him and that he will be a blessing to Lot by giving him 00:15:00.679 --> 00:15:05.860 this choice and by surrendering control and trusting God in the midst of it. 00:15:05.860 --> 00:15:10.440 And it's fascinating to see. 00:15:14.980 --> 00:15:18.940 I don't know if you've thought about this, how it feels to do that, to trust God. 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:24.700 In those moments when you're so afraid of what's going to happen, when you're not sure how to work 00:15:24.700 --> 00:15:31.460 yourself through the situation you're in, because it feels at times like foolishness to give up control. 00:15:31.460 --> 00:15:39.560 It feels like you're putting yourself in a vulnerable position. 00:15:40.580 --> 00:15:46.519 What you most want, what you most hope to achieve, what you most desire, what you've set your heart on, 00:15:47.560 --> 00:15:55.120 you're, by giving up control and trusting, you're giving up the ability to know that that's going to 00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:57.580 come. At least it seems like it. 00:15:57.580 --> 00:16:04.780 And it only makes sense if God is real and if his promises are true. 00:16:09.060 --> 00:16:19.680 And the results, the writer of Genesis, is showing us how God blessed Abram as he made this decision. 00:16:20.040 --> 00:16:24.460 It's fascinating. Look at verses 10 through 13. We've got to read this because it's fascinating. 00:16:24.460 --> 00:16:29.080 Lot lifted up his eyes, right? It doesn't seem like there's anything wrong with that. He lifted up, 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:34.940 he looked with his eyes, and he said, where am I going to go? If I look over here, it looks like a lot 00:16:34.940 --> 00:16:46.639 of fairly dry Middle Eastern pasture land, which isn't great. It's not Iowa or Nebraska. Think Idaho or Utah. 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:57.299 Utah. That's what it looks like. Lot looks over here to his right, and he looks and he sees, 00:16:58.059 --> 00:17:02.539 again, this is where the river, the Jordan River flows out of the southern end of the Dead Sea. 00:17:03.059 --> 00:17:10.180 There's water there. Because there's water there, it's green. That seems to all make sense. 00:17:10.180 --> 00:17:17.420 But do you see how the writer of Genesis tells us how as much as looking by with his own human eyes, 00:17:17.539 --> 00:17:24.860 this makes sense? The writer of Genesis is saying, warning, danger, danger. This is not a good place 00:17:24.860 --> 00:17:30.080 to go. Look at what he does. Read this with me. He lifted up and he said, it's like the garden of the 00:17:30.080 --> 00:17:36.860 Lord. That sounds like a good thing. Secondly, like the land of Egypt. That sounds like a bad thing. 00:17:36.859 --> 00:17:41.959 God had taken them out of Egypt. They're not supposed to go back to Egypt. 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:48.740 And then he goes on and he says, in the direction of Zoar. Now, Zoar is probably not on the map. It's 00:17:48.740 --> 00:17:56.240 the region right at the bottom across the Jordan River on the eastern side of the Jordan River at 00:17:56.240 --> 00:18:05.139 the bottom of the Dead Sea. And it is where the cities Sodom and Gomorrah were. Now, Sodom and Gomorrah 00:18:05.140 --> 00:18:11.780 haven't even, like, hit the radar yet. No one knows in this time. Lot isn't looking at it saying, 00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:16.160 oh, Sodom and Gomorrah, whew, you don't want to go there. It's like going to Las Vegas or whatever. 00:18:16.660 --> 00:18:23.420 You know, he, it's, Lot doesn't necessarily know that. But the writer of Genesis is telling us 00:18:23.420 --> 00:18:31.060 that's what he's chosen. He's chosen what looks good in his own eyes, and yet it's filled 00:18:31.059 --> 00:18:39.079 with sin and wickedness. That's what he clarifies right at the end in verse 13. 00:18:39.700 --> 00:18:45.379 The men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:55.700 Lot, by looking with his eyes, chose what seemed to be better. 00:18:55.700 --> 00:19:03.940 But in doing so, he chose the place where he was planting the seeds for his own spiritual downfall 00:19:03.940 --> 00:19:10.519 and separation from the Lord. Now, we'll get there. What? Genesis 14. 00:19:12.080 --> 00:19:20.480 God, Abram has to rescue him. Keep going. A few more. Chapter 18. It's not going to end well for Lot. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:28.079 Lot. It's not going to end well for him in Sodom and Gomorrah. It's not going to be a place of 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:35.440 fruitfulness as he desires. We'll deal with that as we go along and read the story. You'll see the 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:42.279 outcome of the arc of what happens with Lot later. But here, the main character in the main story is 00:19:42.279 --> 00:19:50.460 Abram. And Lot is a foil against Abraham and his decision of faith. Because in contrast, 00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:58.180 what looks good with his own eyes, but ultimately is not good spiritually, look at me with verse 14. 00:19:59.180 --> 00:20:06.339 Does Abram lift up his eyes and see how good Canaan looks? No. Again, the storyteller is so 00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:15.039 brilliant here. The Lord said to Abram, lift up your eyes. It was the Lord who said, now look, 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:22.619 you who have trusted me, look, look north and south and east and west. This is the land of promise. 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:31.559 This is the place that I am giving to you. And you, as you live in this land, and he reaffirms the 00:20:31.559 --> 00:20:39.339 promise. The promise in chapter 12. I forgot to look this up. Which one is it? Is it stars or sand? 00:20:39.339 --> 00:20:46.319 In verse 12. In chapter 12. The promise. Who preached on it? Is it stars or sand? 00:20:47.699 --> 00:20:54.399 Stars in the sky or sand on the beach? I can't remember. I forgot to look it up. Sorry. So, 00:20:54.519 --> 00:21:00.759 right, there are three different, there are three different images that God uses in this cycle 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:06.879 to talk about how great the descendants of Abram are going to be. Right? I think it's stars. 00:21:07.980 --> 00:21:20.079 If I can remember. The promise to Abram. There we go. Chapter 15. Right? Or verse 15. So, 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:26.519 as many as the stars are in the sky, so your descendants will be. Right? And the idea is that's 00:21:26.519 --> 00:21:36.599 innumerable. It's uncountable. Here, in chapter 13, what we see is as much as the dust of the earth. 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:42.099 If you can count the dust of the earth, you can count how many offspring you will have. 00:21:44.519 --> 00:21:53.160 Abram is, or God is affirming to Abraham, you have trusted me. And as you trust me, you will bear, 00:21:53.160 --> 00:22:01.400 you will experience the fruit of the promises that I have given to you. And he reaffirms it with this 00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:08.240 other, with another image. Because you have trusted me and not taken control, I am giving you this land. 00:22:08.580 --> 00:22:15.880 Walk around. Use your eyes to see all the land that I'm giving you. Take hold of it. And know that 00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:23.880 this is going to be yours. This is where I'm going to bless you. And the remarkable thing about it 00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:32.240 is then in verse 18, it says, so Abram moved, right? Bethel is sort of a bit of a borderland. 00:22:32.860 --> 00:22:39.360 Lot moved this way. Abram moved this way up into the center of the promised land, the center of Canaan 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:48.599 near Hebron. And interestingly, do you see what he did at the end? He built an altar and he worshiped 00:22:48.599 --> 00:22:56.839 the Lord. Which, if you remember, is how God had introduced Abram back into the promised land way back 00:22:56.839 --> 00:23:05.219 in verse 4. When God came up to Bethel, the writer reminds us he came back up to the place where he had 00:23:05.220 --> 00:23:11.579 built an altar. And it was on that place that he called upon the Lord. Having come out of his failure 00:23:11.579 --> 00:23:20.039 in Egypt, back up into the promised land, he was ready to trust the Lord. He was ready to see 00:23:20.039 --> 00:23:28.960 what God would have for him. And to not trust in his own schemes, in his own plans, nor even trust in 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:34.720 his own eyes to see what would be good and right and to pursue it. But to trust in the promises of God. 00:23:35.220 --> 00:23:45.640 Now here's the thing for us today as we think about what this means. 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:59.000 We are not Abraham. And the promises that we are given are greater than those given to Abraham. 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:08.640 Abraham. Because Abraham, in the beginning of the Bible, was given promises that was preparing the 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:16.039 world for something greater than that. Just as God called Abraham to begin this great work of making 00:24:16.039 --> 00:24:24.000 a people for his own glory, of making his own people in the world, a people that he would bless and then 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:31.440 make a blessing to the whole world so they would know that he is a God who desires good for his people, 00:24:31.579 --> 00:24:38.599 who is raising out of the sinful brokenness and fallenness of the world, a people who will know 00:24:38.599 --> 00:24:44.779 him and trust in him and will know that he is a gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in loving 00:24:44.779 --> 00:24:54.420 kindness to multiple generations who will forgive our sins as we trust in him. The story of Abraham begins 00:24:54.420 --> 00:24:59.680 this whole story of the whole Old Testament that is preparing us for the central work 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:12.840 that God would do in history of sending Jesus Christ. And just as this story showed Abraham's invitation 00:25:12.840 --> 00:25:22.940 from God to trust him, so the whole Bible storyline speaks to us today calling us similarly 00:25:22.940 --> 00:25:32.960 to trust in God and in his promises that he gives us in Jesus Christ. What does that mean, briefly? 00:25:33.820 --> 00:25:39.140 We know that God created the world of people to know him, but we know that humanity has rebelled. 00:25:39.539 --> 00:25:48.299 And just like Abram in Egypt, we all as humanity chose to reject God's provision for us 00:25:48.299 --> 00:25:56.200 and instead to seek our own life apart from independent of God. This is the very core of sin 00:25:56.200 --> 00:26:02.619 to say, God, I do not trust you to believe that you can give me life. I'm going to go make my own life 00:26:02.619 --> 00:26:09.440 my own way. I'm going to choose my own strategies and trust in my own wisdom to do that. And this is at 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:15.960 the very core of sin. And this rebellion and this rejection against God leads us to spiritual death. 00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:24.360 But God loved his creation and is committed to making a people for his own glory. And so he sent his 00:26:24.360 --> 00:26:34.460 son, Jesus Christ, to rescue us from that. Jesus came as the descendant and the fulfillment of Abraham 00:26:34.460 --> 00:26:42.840 to rescue us from this death and to give us new life. He came and through his life he exhibited what it 00:26:42.839 --> 00:26:52.379 looked like to trust God fully. He trusted God all the way to the cross where he offered up his life for ours. 00:26:54.240 --> 00:27:00.279 The one who perfectly trusted God gave himself up for us who don't perfectly trust God 00:27:00.279 --> 00:27:04.199 and who so easily want to do it our own way. 00:27:04.200 --> 00:27:12.319 And he died and he rose again from the dead to defeat the power of sin and death and to offer us 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:19.299 a life that, as the writer in 1 Peter says, is imperishable, unfading, and kept in heaven. 00:27:20.700 --> 00:27:24.620 A new life that begins now but will stretch for eternity. 00:27:24.619 --> 00:27:32.639 That is not something that we have schemed or worked to make on our own, but something that is 00:27:32.639 --> 00:27:41.479 completely from God himself. This is what true Christianity is about. Not in making ourselves 00:27:41.479 --> 00:27:47.119 good enough so that God will give us the life that we want or deserve, but that instead 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:54.639 it's that we would fall on our faces before God and say, God, I can't do it. I can't do this. 00:27:54.639 --> 00:27:59.479 In my sin and in my fallenness, there's no way I could do this. 00:28:01.419 --> 00:28:08.899 And so I repent of all of those things. And I come to you empty-handed asking that by faith I might 00:28:08.899 --> 00:28:17.099 receive what you have done in Christ. So rather than going and trying to get the promises on our own, 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:23.159 we find ourselves in, by faith, receiving from God what we could never get on our own. 00:28:24.779 --> 00:28:29.779 This is at the very core of what Christianity is about. This is what the gospel means for us, 00:28:29.939 --> 00:28:37.619 is that we're people who, rather than seeking to save ourselves, we trust in God, that he has saved 00:28:37.619 --> 00:28:44.299 us in Jesus. And all we have to do is trust in him. And that does seem foolish sometimes. 00:28:44.299 --> 00:28:46.960 And it does seem vulnerable sometimes. 00:28:48.879 --> 00:28:56.379 But it enables us to trust God, not only for this most central and most important part of our life, 00:28:56.519 --> 00:29:03.259 which is our relationship with God, but out of that flows an ability to live this life of faith 00:29:03.259 --> 00:29:09.279 where we can trust God for all sorts of other things. We can trust God as we face the loneliness 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:17.799 of singleness and walking a road without someone else to come alongside of us. We can trust God 00:29:17.799 --> 00:29:25.099 when we're lacking work and not knowing where we can find new work, not knowing where the next paycheck 00:29:25.099 --> 00:29:28.680 comes from, not knowing where the next meal comes from. 00:29:28.680 --> 00:29:40.700 We can trust God when the spouse that we thought would lead us into the promised land ends up to be imperfect 00:29:40.700 --> 00:29:50.400 and sometimes difficult to live with. We can trust God in the middle of that. We can trust God 00:29:50.400 --> 00:30:01.040 when after a really hard day, rather than drowning our sorrows in a pint of ice cream or a six-hour binge on 00:30:01.040 --> 00:30:08.440 a video game or whatever little pleasure that you may try to drown your sorrows in, 00:30:08.980 --> 00:30:14.500 you can find a God who loves you and who will comfort you in the midst of that. 00:30:14.500 --> 00:30:25.400 This is what it means to walk a life of faith, is to trust that God will care for us and God will 00:30:25.400 --> 00:30:32.039 provide for us because the promises that we have in him may not make us rich in this world. They may 00:30:32.039 --> 00:30:38.799 not make us happy in the way that we want everything to just work out perfectly, but what it does do is 00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:44.839 give us a right relationship with God that is more important and deeper and more valuable than any of 00:30:44.839 --> 00:30:51.079 those things. And most importantly, because it is a part of eternity. As we read at the beginning, 00:30:51.579 --> 00:30:58.559 the Apostle Paul tells us to fix our eyes not on the seen things that are transient, but on the unseen, 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:02.819 eternal things of Christ and of his kingdom. 00:31:02.819 --> 00:31:12.519 And if God, who did not spare his son, but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us 00:31:12.519 --> 00:31:20.679 all things in him? As Paul says in Romans. This is a life of faith. And this is what this little story 00:31:20.679 --> 00:31:26.720 about Abram and Lot separating and going in two different directions, the beginning of Genesis, 00:31:27.480 --> 00:31:30.700 tell us about a life of faith. Let's pray. 00:31:32.819 --> 00:31:40.480 Lord, tonight, even as we've talked about these things, I pray that by your Spirit you would be 00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:51.460 reminding us, reminding us of your invitation and of your call to trust in you. Lord, I pray that if 00:31:51.460 --> 00:31:59.319 there are those here tonight who don't know you, Lord, that they would hear your voice calling them 00:31:59.319 --> 00:32:03.720 and that they would pursue knowing Christ and trusting in him. 00:32:05.259 --> 00:32:09.399 Lord, I pray for those of us who have trusted in Christ here tonight. 00:32:10.119 --> 00:32:16.559 I pray that we would learn to trust in you more in the everyday circumstances, 00:32:17.039 --> 00:32:20.819 to forsake our own schemes and our own plans, 00:32:21.059 --> 00:32:23.099 that trust in our own ability 00:32:23.099 --> 00:32:25.819 to produce the results that we want, 00:32:26.599 --> 00:32:28.519 and to rather trust you 00:32:28.519 --> 00:32:30.240 and to believe that you, 00:32:31.199 --> 00:32:32.740 who did not spare your son, 00:32:33.319 --> 00:32:35.019 will also give us all things. 00:32:36.299 --> 00:32:37.179 Thank you, Lord. 00:32:37.259 --> 00:32:38.559 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:32:39.179 --> 00:32:39.439 Amen.