Genesis 13-15
Peace be with you, listening
friends. We greet you in the name of God, the Lord of peace, who wants everyone
to understand and submit to the way of righteousness that He has established,
and have true peace with Him forever. We are happy to be able to return today
to present your program The Way of Righteousness.
In the last lesson, we began to look into what God's
Word says about the prophet Abraham. We learned that, at first, Abraham was not
called Abraham, but Abram. We saw that Abram was
born in the country of Chaldea, which today is called Iraq. The people of that
land were idol worshipers. However, the Scriptures say that, one day, the Lord
God appeared to Abram and told him to leave his father's house and move to a
country which He would show him.
Do you remember why God called Abram to move
to another country? It was because God planned to make of Abram a
new nation from
which the prophets of God would arise, and ultimately, the Savior of the world
Himself. Thus, we discovered that when God called Abram, He was moving forward
with His plan to bring the Redeemer
into the world. That is why God said to Abram, "You
will be a blessing…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Gen. 12:2,3)
Thus, we read how Abram obeyed God and left his city,
not knowing where God would lead him. When Abram left his father's house, he
was seventy-five years old. Abram took with him Sarai, his wife, and Lot, the
son of his older brother, and all his accumulated wealth and his servants, and
headed in the direction of Canaan. Canaan is the land which today is known as
Palestine or Israel.
When Abram arrived in the land of Canaan, the Lord
appeared to him again and said, "To your offspring I will
give this land." (Gen. 12:7) Thus we saw how God, who promised to make
Abram the father of a new nation, also promised to give him a new land for his
offspring to dwell in. Incredible! Abram and his wife were elderly and did not
have any children. How then could they have descendants who would fill the
land? We will soon see God's answer to this.
Now, let us continue in the story of Abram. We are
studying in the Torah, in the book of Genesis, chapter thirteen. In this
chapter we will see what happened between Abram and
his nephew Lot.
The Scriptures say:
(Gen. 13) 2Abram
had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. 3…He
went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel
and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4and where he had first
built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord. 5Now
Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6But
the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their
possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7And
quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot… 8So
Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or
between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. 9Is not
the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left,
I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left."
10Lot
looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the
garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the
Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11So Lot chose for himself
the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted
company: 12Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived
among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13Now
the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.
Thus we see how Lot chose the more verdant fields, and
left his uncle Abram with the drier ones. However the portion which Lot chose
was in the region of Sodom-a city which was filled with great wickedness!
Lot chose his own will, while Abram chose God's
will.
Two studies from now, Lord willing, we will see what happened to Lot who
followed his own desires. In the end, Lot lost everything: his riches, his
wife, his family, his happiness, and his testimony! As for Abram, who left
everything in the hands of God, he was greatly blessed by God.
How can we profit from the story of Lot and Abram?
Perhaps by asking ourselves a simple question. Which of the two am I most like? Lot or Abram? Am I seeking after the
things of the world,
like Lot? Or the things of Eternity, like Abram? Like the
two of them, each of us must choose between our own will and God's will. The
one who is wise will choose God's will. The Scriptures say: "What
good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36) "Do
not love the world or anything in the world…[Because] the world and its desires
pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." (1 John 2:15,17) What is
it that you want more than anything else? The things of the earth which are
passing away or things of God which last forever?
Now, let's continue with the story of Abram. The
Scriptures say:
(Gen. 14) 14The
Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from
where you are and look north and south, east and west. 15All
the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16I
will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could
count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17Go,
walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to
you." 18So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the
great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the Lord.
(Gen. 15) 1After
this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid,
Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." 2But
Abram said, "O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain
childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3And
Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household
will be my heir." 4Then the word of the Lord came to him:
"This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will
be your heir." 5He took him outside and said, "Look
up at the heavens and count the stars, if indeed you can count them." Then
he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6Abram
believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Incredible! Abram and his wife were elderly and had no
child. Yet God continued to make promises to Abram concerning a great people
that would issue from him. How could this be? How could Abram become the father
of a great nation? There is only one answer: The Lord God is the God who can do
all things! God is great! Nothing is impossible for Him! What God promises God
performs.
What about Abram? Did he believe the Lord, who had
promised an "impossible" thing? Listen to what the Scripture says: "Abram
believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness!" What a wonderful thing!
God had promised Abram something which, humanly speaking, could not happen. Yet
how did Abram respond? He believed what God had promised
him! And what did God do? God judged Abram as one who is
righteous, because of his faith!
This truth ought to thrill the hearts of those who
want to be counted as righteous before God. Why did God judge Abram as one who
is righteous? Was Abram a righteous person in himself? No! In our next lesson
we will see how Abram had a sinner's nature, like every descendant of Adam. Why
then did God count Abram as righteous? God counted
Abram as one who is righteous, because Abram believed what God said!
What does it mean to
believe God? As you may know, the Scriptures of the
Prophets were written in the Hebrew language. In Hebrew, the word for "believe" is "AMAN" from which we get
our word Amen. When you say
"Amen" you are simply saying, "Yes! It is true!" or
"Yes, I agree!" This is what it means to believe. When God made a
promise to Abram, Abram's heart response was: "Amen! Yes! It is true! I
believe your words!" Based on that simple
"Amen" to the word of God, God counted Abram as righteous.
How about you? Do you want God to count {consider} you
as one who is righteous, as He counted Abram righteous? Then you must believe
God as Abram believed God. You must believe what God says,
even if it is not easy. You must accept the true Word of God, even
if your relatives or your friends do not believe it. God wants to clothe you in
His righteousness and give you the right to live in His holy presence forever,
but you must believe His Word! The Holy Scriptures
say:
"…without faith it
is impossible to please God!" (Heb. 11:6) and that "it
is by grace that you are saved, through faith-and this not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can
boast." (Eph.
2:8,9)
"What then shall we
say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact,
Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about-but not before
God. What does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited
to him as righteousness.'" (Rom. 4:1-3)
Abram believed what God said. That is the reason that
God imparted to him His perfect righteousness. And the most wonderful thing in
all of this is that the words "Abram believed the Lord,
and he credited it to him as righteousness" are not just for Abram.
We too can have a share in these words. God will impart
to us His perfect righteousness-if we believe the Good News of God concerning the Redeemer
who later came into the world through the lineage of Abraham.
How about you? Do you really
believe God? We
are not asking if you believe that God exists, or if you believe that God
is one.
The Scriptures speak of that kind of "faith," saying: "You
believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and
shudder!" (Jam.
2:19) Satan himself knows that there is only one God. Believing that there is
one God, will not cause God to forgive
your sins and count you as one who is righteous! What God wants is for you to believe
His Word and receive it. God wants to speak to you through the Writings of
the Prophets. He wants you to know and to believe the news of salvation which
shows how you can be made forever righteous before God, the Holy One!
Dear friend, has God clothed you with His
righteousness?
Or are you merely wearing the clothes of religion? Are you listening to the
trustworthy Word of God? Or to the passing
words of men? Do you know what the Holy Scriptures
declare concerning the righteous way of salvation which God has established?
Have you believed it?
As for Abram, he believed the word of God, although it
meant bidding farewell to his relatives and his father's religion. And that is
precisely why he was called the friend of God. That is what the
Scriptures say: "Abraham believed
God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was
called God's friend." (Jam. 2:23) How about you? Are you a
friend of God?
This is where we must stop today. We thank you for
listening and invite you to join us next time as we look at the story of Abram
and Ishmael….
God bless you as you think about this great verse from
His Book:
"Abraham believed
God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's
friend." (Jam. 2:23)
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