Don't you love it is finished? Would you turn to Genesis chapter
13? And I'm going to read this passage
of scripture. Beginning in verse 5, and I'd
like to say this by way of introduction before I read this passage of
scripture. If you had asked me what man in the Old Testament
believers identify with most, I would say Lot. Lot. Let's see why. Beginning in verse five, and
Lot also. Kind of a afterthought, Lot also,
there's Abraham, Lot also. And Lot also, which went with
Abram had flocks and herds and tents and the lamb was not able
to bear them that they might dwell together for their substance
was great so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between
the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite
dwelled then in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, let
there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee. and between
my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we be brethren. Is not the whole
land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee,
from me. If thou wilt take the left hand,
then I'll go to the right. Or if thou depart to the right
hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and
beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere
before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden
of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest into Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain
of Jordan, that well-watered plain. And Lot journeyed east
And every time I know of when somebody took a journey east,
it was not good. Lot journeyed east. And they separated themselves,
the one from the other. And Abram dwelled in the land
of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and
pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked
and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. And the Lord said unto Abram,
after the lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes and
look from the place where thou art, northward, southward, eastward,
and westward, for all the land which thou seest To thee will
I give it and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the
dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of
the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk
through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it,
for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent,
and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron,
and did what he so often did, he built an altar unto the Lord. I've entitled this message, Abraham
and Lot. Abraham and Lot. Now we read that passage of scripture
where the Holy Spirit's testimony concerning this man Lot was that
he was a justified man. He was a righteous man. He had
a righteous soul. That's talking about the soul
given in the new birth. He was born from above. He was a godly man. And that's
God's testimony of him. I'd like for the Lord to have
that testimony concerning me, wouldn't you? This is God's testimony
of this man. This man was an elect sinner. This man was a redeemed sinner. This man was a regenerated sinner. This man Lot was a saved sinner. He's in heaven right now as part
of that great heavenly choir. That's wonderful to think about,
isn't it? And this man Lot gave evidence
in his life that he was a saved man. You know what that evidence
was? He didn't look back. His wife
did. He did not look back. Now, every one of us have thought
when we think of Lot fleeing from Sodom and the Lord said,
don't look back and you'd be tempted to look back and see
the explosion and the fire coming down and the destruction of that
place. And no doubt, Lott thought about
that. But the point is, Lott did not
look back to his works. That's the point behind that.
Lott did not look back to his experience. Lott did not look
back to anything that had anything to do with him. He looked ahead
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now his wife, she looked back,
turned into a pillar of salt. She demonstrated by that she
had no grace in her heart. She had no faith toward the Lord
Jesus Christ, but Lot did. And I think of that passage of
scripture in Revelation 14, 13, blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord. Yea, from henceforth saith the Spirit, Their works
do follow them. They'll have rest from their
labors and their works do follow them. Well, Lot's works follow
them. And there will be evidence, there will be evidence that somebody
really did believe what they said they did with every one
of God's elect without exception. Lot is an example of that. Brother
Lot, I love Lot. Is there anybody here that would,
say, well, Lot, I can't relate with him. Well, I can't relate
with you. Let's keep that in mind as we read this passage
of scripture and look at what is said. Now it begins with Lot
also. Now, if you read this passage
of scripture and you read about Lot and Abraham, it's obvious
that Abraham was more mature in grace than Lot. Anybody got
any problem with that? He was more mature. He had grown
more in grace. Perhaps that time in Egypt, the
Lord had blessed that to him and the Lord used it with him.
In this passage of scripture, now Abraham has looked pretty
bad in other passages. We've considered last week when
he brought Sarah down into Egypt and what took place there. He
looked like a very weak, unbelieving, sinful man. That's how he looked. But here he looks like he has
more grace than Lot does as far as the way it appears and the
way he conducts himself. And Lot also, which went with
Abraham, had flocks, and herds, and tents. You see, both of these
men had become rich in Egypt. Pharaoh gave them gold, and silver,
and menservants, and maidservants, and flocks, and camels, and so
on. They became rich through this
trip down to Egypt, and the Lord brought them out. Verse six,
and the land, was not able to bear them, that they might dwell
together, for their substance was great, so that they could
not dwell together. Now, about everybody I've read
has said they should have been able to work this out, perhaps, but you're not gonna
get that from the scripture. The scripture says the land was
not able to bear them. The land was not able to bear
them. So let's go on reading, verse
seven. And there was a strife between
the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle,
and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. Now it's been said that they
probably should have been able to work this strife out. Perhaps. I wouldn't disagree with that.
But you don't get that from this scripture. They weren't able. The land would not support them. And then we read of a strife
that took place between Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's
cattle. And there's another interesting
note. I read about everywhere said Lot's herdsmen were the
one who started this. You get that in the Bible? Actually,
Abraham's herdsmen are the ones mentioned first. So if you're
going to give a guess as to who started it, I would say probably
Abram's herdsmen started it. But there was a strife, a turmoil. The land was not able to bear
them both. So this strife and turmoil. And the scripture says the Canaanite
and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. Now, once again,
I read where the unbelievers observed the poor conduct of
the believers and saw how they were acting when they shouldn't
have been acting that way. Well, you know, once again, you're
reading something into that. I don't necessarily see that.
I know the Canaanite means merchant. And I know the Perizzite means
Unwalled city. And that can mean a whole lot.
Merchant, buying things, unwalled, unprotected. But whatever it
means, I'm not sure, but I kind of doubt that it's talking about
them watching the strife and saying, thought they were Christians.
They're no different than us. That's what people have said
about that. I've got my doubts. But at any
rate, verse eight, and Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no
strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdman
and thy herdman, for we be brethren. There is never a justified reason
for strife between brethren. Never. At no time. And Abraham understood
that. He said, let there no be strife
between us, for we be brethren. Now, is there strife between
brethren? Well, as long as there's something
called the flesh, there will be strife. You can just write
that down. There will be strife. Somebody
gets their feelings hurt. Somebody feels like their thoughts
are not appreciated properly. Somebody disagrees with something. There was strife at this time. And I love what the wise man
said in the book of Proverbs, by pride only cometh contention. That is all there is when there
is strife. By pride only cometh contention. Does anybody disagree with that?
That's what God's word says. By pride only cometh contention.
What about the contention between the apostles? What was it over?
Which of them should be the greatest? And that was happening right
up at the last supper. They were having that argument.
In the church of Corinth, there was what Paul called envy, strife,
and division. This is a gospel church. Paul warned the Galatians, if
you bite and devour one another, take heed, lest you consume one
another, lest you eat one another up. I think of that contention
between Paul and Barnabas. The contention was so sharp that
they parted us under. It happened, didn't it? It's
called the flesh. Let me show you some scriptures.
Turn with me, hold your finger there in Genesis 13, and I'm
gonna read several passages of scripture. 1 Corinthians 6. I hope this will set in with
all of us. Verse six. 1 Corinthians chapter
6, but brother goeth to law with brother and that before the unbelievers,
they were bringing each other to court and suing one another. Paul says, now, therefore, there
is utterly a fault among you because you go to law one with
another. And look what he says. Why do
you not rather take the wrong? Why do you not rather suffer
yourselves to be defrauded? Why don't you just go ahead and
let that happen rather than something of this magnitude? Look in Ephesians
chapter four. Verse one, I therefore the prisoner
of the Lord. I love the way Paul calls himself
that he was writing from a prison cell when he was writing this. And he says, I, therefore, the
prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you are called. And here's what that worthy walk
is with all lowliness and meekness. With long-suffering, forbearing
one another in love, endeavoring, giving every effort to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Look in the same chapter,
verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor
and evil speaking be put away from you. with all malice, and
be ye kind one to another, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ's sake." Well, what a powerful statement. For Christ's sake,
hath forgiven you. Look in Philippians chapter two, verse three. Let nothing be done
through strife or vain glory. Philippians chapter two, verse
three. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in
lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you. which was also in Christ Jesus. One other scripture, Colossians
chapter three, verse 12. Put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved. And that describes every believer,
holy, holy, beloved of God. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Now, strife between brethren
happens and it is wrong. Amen. It is wrong. That brother that I'm having
strife with, does he believe Christ is all? Does he look to
the merits of Christ only? He's my brother. Now, look what
he says next. Back to our text. Genesis 13. And Abram said to Lot, Let there
be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen
and thy herdmen, for we're brethren. Is not the whole land before
thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take
the left hand, then I'll go to the right. Or if thou depart
to the right hand, then I'll go to the left. Now, when people
are struggling to get along, what's the best thing to do?
Separate. Separate. Now does that mean
leave the church? I can't be around somebody like
that, no. It means separate yourself from that situation. I love what
Walter Groover said. Walter Groover said, when you
come up on a cow patty, everybody knows what a cow patty is, don't
you? I don't know. He said, don't poke a stick in
it and let the smell come out, let it crust. Let it crust, crust
over, nobody will smell it. Don't be sticking that stick
in it. No, let it crust. And this is the Holy Spirit's,
what he tells us to do, separate, separate. That doesn't mean don't
forgive. That doesn't mean don't love.
That doesn't mean stop praying for one another, but separate
from a strife filled time. Separate, things will work out.
And that doesn't mean leave the church. I can't get along with
that people, I'm leaving there. Now listen to me, the only reason
to leave the church is the gospel is not preached. It's the only
reason. But I can't get along with that
person. That's no reason to leave. The only reason to leave the
church, only reason, is because the gospel of Jesus Christ is
not preached. Any other reason would be a wrong
reason. And this is wise counsel. Is not the whole land before
thee? Separate thyself. And look at the grace Abraham
shows. He's the one who initiates this, not Lot. Is not the whole land before
thee? Separate thyself. I pray thee for me. If thou will
take the left hand, then I'll go to the right. Or if thou depart
to the right hand, then I'll go to the left. Now, Abraham
in the previous chapter took things in his own hands, didn't
he? He told Sarah, here's what you
need to do. Lie, and that'll get us out of this. He didn't
believe God at all. But now he says, I'll just see what you
do and I'll do the opposite. If you wanna go to the right,
I'll go to the left. You wanna go to the left, I'll
go to the right. And Lot lifted up his eyes and
beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere
before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Even as the garden
of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest into Zohar. Now he saw that which appeals
to the flesh. Nobody else like that. Don't anybody get too hard on
Lot. You know anybody else like that? That makes this appeal
to the flesh. That's what he saw. Now, once
again, Lot, brother Lot, Lot was a saved man. But here he
looks to what would benefit him the most in a fleshly way. Verse 11, then Lot chose him,
all the plain of Jordan. And Lot journeyed east and they
separated themselves, the one from the other. And Abram dwelled
in the land of Canaan and Lot dwelled in the cities of the
plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom. And he's going to end
up living in Sodom, isn't he? As a matter of fact, Abraham
in the next chapter delivers him from that, from this direction
he took. But the men of Sodom were wicked
and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. And I got to thinking about that
verse of scripture. Is that just talking about the
folks from Sodom? Wouldn't that describe every
man? Every man, yes, the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly
before the Lord, but so is all men. So are all men by nature. Genesis 6, 5 says, God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So that would describe every
man. And Lot made this choice. this choice that benefited his
flesh. And it was a wretched choice. And don't anybody get up too
upset with Lot because if you don't make that choice, it's
because God prevented you from it. And that's just the truth. And Lot acted the way you and
I have acted over and over and over again. But you know what? The Lord overruled it all. Lot
got himself in trouble and Lot was sorry. I mean, you can bet
he was sorry when God rained fire down on Sodom and Gomorrah. And Lot lingered in it even then.
You can bet Lot was sorry when he got carried off by the king
and Abraham had to come and rescue him. Lot got himself into a lot
of trouble, but let me say this, you say to the righteous, it'll
be well with them no matter what. I don't care how they fall, how
they mess things up, it's gonna be well with them. And the Lord
is gonna overrule every bit of it to their good and his glory. Doesn't the Bible say that all
things, all things work together for good Well, what about Lot
going down in Sodom? All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. Verse 14. And the Lord said unto Abram
after the lot was separated from him. And before I go on, aren't
you thankful for Lot? Look what the New Testament says
about this man. As a matter of fact, if it wasn't
for the New Testament report and testimony concerning
Lot, most people would say Lot wasn't saved. Lot didn't know
God. And how hypocritical for a man
to make a statement like that. Well, Lot couldn't have been
saved. Well, you couldn't be saved either if that's the case. Or I couldn't
be saved either. That's pure hypocrisy for men to make that
judgment like that. And look at the testimony God
gives him. He's a righteous man. He's a just man. He's got a righteous
soul. He's a godly man. That's God's
testimony. Now, did Lot do some bad things? Yes, he did. So have
I. So have you. But now look at
what God says with regard to Abram. But the point I wanted
to make, aren't you thankful for Lot? Because you learned
the gospel just in this man. What does God say about this
man? He's a righteous man. This lets us know of the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. It's the personal righteousness
of every believer. I'm so thankful for this testimony
concerning him. Now let's go and read with Abraham
though. And the Lord said unto Abram
after the lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes and
look from the place where art thou art, northward, southward,
eastward, and westward. for all the land which thou seest,
to thee will I give it. Not offer it, to thee will I
give it. Now I got to thinking of those
four directions, northward, southward, eastward, westward. I thought
of what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1.30, he has made unto us four
things. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. You look over all four of those
things, perfect wisdom. Christ is the wisdom of God.
He's my wisdom before God, and I'm wise enough in him that God
can have fellowship with me, the living God, and embrace me.
He's my righteousness so much so that God can embrace me as
righteous. He's my sanctification so much
so that God embraces me as holy. He is my redemption. He is my full and complete deliverance. God says, I'm giving you every
bit of this. He doesn't say I'm offering it
to you. And let me say as clearly as I can, salvation is not an
offer. God doesn't offer anything, God gives. The wages of sin is
death, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. All this will I give you. I love
what the Lord said to that woman at the well, if you knew the
gift of God. If you knew the free gift of
God. And who was it saith to thee,
give me to drink? You would have asked. And he
would have given thee living waters. He that spared not his
own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not
with him freely. Don't miss that word freely. Give us all things. Now you earned a paycheck. When
you're paid, you don't bow and scrape and say, oh, thank you
for that. You earned it. You earned it. You worked hard
for that. You earned it. You receive a gift. Big difference, isn't it? You
earn a paycheck. You receive a free gift. Now, what part of salvation is
not a free gift? No part. No part. All this will I give
you. And I tell you who appreciates
this, that salvation is a free gift and it's not an offer. It's
not something made available. If you'll just take it, you're
given another chance. It's a free gift. I'll tell you
who appreciated that. Somebody who's poor and needy. someone who doesn't have anything
at any time to bring to the table and someone who has great needs. Now, God says to Abraham, everything
you see northward, southward, eastward, westward, I'm going
to give it to you and to your seed forever. Now, this is speaking of all
the elect, the seed of Abraham. That's Abraham's seed, all the
elect, the Lord Jesus Christ, everybody in him, and all of
his seed, every believer, God gives this to freely. Now, the first key word there
is I will give, and here's the next key word, I will make, verse
16. I will make thy seed as the dust
of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth,
then shall thy seed also be numbered. Salvation is what God gives and
salvation is what God makes. You know what that means? It
means He does it all. He gives you His salvation and
whatever you are, He makes you to be. That new nature you have,
He made it. He made you a new creature in
Christ Jesus. That faith you have, it came from Him. Anything you have by way of salvation
is what He made. Every aspect of salvation. For
He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Made, made. Give and make. God says, I'll
do both of those things. I will give. And I will make. And this nation he's talking
about, people talk about, well, this is natural Israel and talking
about all the needs. Israel's Israel. It's a nation
like any other nation. The true Israel is the elect. The true Jew is every believer. He is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly. Neither is that circumcision outward in the flesh, but he's
a Jew, which is one inwardly, whose circumcision is that of
the heart and of the spirit, not of the letter, whose praise
is not of men, but of God." This is talking about all the promise
to God's elect because of what Christ has done for them. Verse
17, arise, walk through the land, this land he's given. in the
length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it to
you." Now, take a walk through this land. Think of the length of this land. It's eternal. It never had a
beginning. This is how long it is. It's that line that's infinitely
long. It never had a beginning. It'll never have an end. Take
a look at the breadth of this land. Oh, the breadth of salvation,
the wideness of salvation for the chief of sinners. A people redeemed out of every
kindred, tongue, tribe, and nation. Think of the breadth of this
salvation. It's being chosen of God. It's
being redeemed. All your sin put away. It's being
justified before God to where you stand before God, perfectly
righteous. It's being given a new nature,
a holy nature. It's being regenerated. It's being a child by birth and
by adoption. it's being called by the Living
God, it's having that eternal inheritance, being a joint heir
with Christ, it's being glorified, it's all these things, and we
can't even, it goes beyond being able to describe the entire breadth,
but you look at the length of it, you look at the breadth of
it, it's all yours i give it to you and there that word is
again i give it to you the reason we have it is he gave it now
i was speaking to a preacher and he was talking about god's
offer of salvation i said wait a minute god does not offer salvation
god gives salvation he says oh no i said well how do you explain
that well he said well yes it's a gift but you got to receive
it And if you don't receive it, you don't have it. But that doesn't
change the nature of it. It's still a gift, even though
you don't receive it. It's still a gift. I said, if you didn't
receive it, he never gave it. It's that simple. If you never
receive it, he never gave it. There's no gift out there kind
of in limbo waiting for somebody to receive. God gives freely,
sovereignly, powerfully gives his salvation. Now, what did
Abraham do? Verse 18, then Abraham removed
his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is
in Hebron, and he built an altar there. Now, I love the way this
ends up. God talks about all he's going
to give Abraham. And what's Abraham do? He built an altar. What's
an altar for? Sacrifice. Abraham knew that
the only reason he was getting any of this and all of this is
because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You know that too, don't
you? You know everything God gives
you, he gives you because of the glorious sacrifice of his
son. And that's the only thing that
really gives you insurance you're going to have it. I'm gonna give
this to you, now you live up to it. No, we're always brought
once again to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He built
an altar for sacrifice. The one reason for all this blessing
for Abraham is the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
lamb having been slain from the foundation of the world. But
you know, the same is true for a lot. Just as much for Abraham,
same is true for a lot. All he had, by way of grace,
by way of God's acceptance. And he had it. He was righteous.
He was godly. He had a righteous soul. He was
just before God. He had all that for this one
reason, what took place on the altar. And I love thinking of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He, the priest. Now, me and you
need a priest. Why? Let me give you two reasons.
God's holy. Me and you are sinful. And we
can't approach God without a priest. He is the priest that brings
men to God. But what does a priest have to
do? He has to have a sacrifice that God will accept. Christ
Jesus not only is the priest, he's the sacrifice. Now, there's something else you
need. You need an altar to present that sacrifice on. In Old Testament
worship, there was always a priest, there was always a sacrifice,
and there was always an altar. And he himself is the altar upon
which his own sacrifice is presented. His body is the altar that provided
that sacrifice. And now he comes into heaven
itself with his own blood. presenting it to the Father. And that was Abraham's only hope. He said that. Oh, all these blessings
I'm given freely. It's because of the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not because I was a better man
than a lot. Not because I deferred to him
and let him make the choice. And I just took the leftovers.
Not because I had a more spiritual view of things than lot and lot. No, everything I have is for
this one reason. And this is every believer's
testimony. Everything I have is for this one reason. what
took place on the altar, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord give us the same
faith as Abraham. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
sacrifice of thy son. How we thank you for the power
of his blood. How we thank you that salvation
is what you give and what you make. And Lord, we confess that
all glory goes to thy dear son. Lord, give us grace to walk in
this world lowly, meek, humble, Forbearing one another, forgiving
one another, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace. Bless this message for Christ's
sake, in His name we pray, amen.