Abraham’s Brother Part 1 The Departure - 6/10/26 - Meadows Baptist Church - Pastor Charlie Branch

Welcome to the podcast of Meadows

Baptist Church of Walnut Cove, North

Carolina. We're so glad you joined us

today. If you enjoy today's message, be

sure to subscribe, follow, and share

with your friends. Now, let's join

Pastor Charlie Branch with a word from

God.

Genesis chapter 13. You find your place

Genesis 13 · chapter mention

tonight.

Continuing our study of the life of

Abraham.

And if my memory serves me correctly, I

think tonight is the fifth message. I

think the life of Abraham. And uh

looking at this this story, we're kind

of going to take a little bit of a side

note, I guess you would say, uh tonight,

a detour. Maybe not really. It's still

in his life, but we're going to talk

about another individual. And uh through

this series, my plan is that uh when we

get to um this gentleman we're going to

talk about tonight, we're going to have

parts one, two, and three about him. And

so we're going to talk about him uh

through the life of Abraham because he's

just there. You can't miss him. And so

some of you know who I'm talking about,

but we're going to read about him here

in just a minute. And we'll deal with

this. I was going to try to deal with

the whole chapter tonight, but just time

would not allow me to do so. So let's

look Genesis 13 verse number one.

And uh my wife said uh the house is not

for whosoever will. So um I'm sorry. If

you want to come, just ask. Amen. and

then I'll check with her. Okay. So,

amen.

>> Amen. Genesis chapter 13

Genesis 13 · chapter mention

verse number one. And it's not

whensoever will either. Just like

salvation, you can't get if you show up

at 1:00 in the morning, you might meet

somebody you didn't want to meet. And

you say, "What do you mean?" Well, it'll

be something in my hand. Amen. And uh

Brother Smith and Brother Wesson. Amen.

But uh Genesis 13 verse number one and

uh I hope my daddy don't watch this.

You'll get on to me anyway. Genesis

13:E1. The Bible says, "And Abram went

up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all

that he had, and Lot with him into the

south. And Abram was very rich in cattle

and silver and in gold. And he went on

his journeys from the south, even to

Bethl, from the unto the place where his

tent had been at the beginning, between

Bethl and Hi, unto the place of the

altar which he had made uh there at the

first. And there Abram called on the

name of the Lord. 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. There was a

strife between the herdman of

Abram<unk>'s cattle and the herdman of

Lot's cattle. And the Canaanite and the

Perizzite dwelt then in the land. 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. Is not the

whole land before thee? Separate

thyself, I pray thee, for me. If thou

wilt take the left hand, then I will 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 unto Zor. Then Lot

chose him all the plain of Jordan, and

Lot journeyed east, and they separated

themselves the one from the other. Abram

dwelt in the land of Canaan and Lot

dwelt in the cities of the plain and uh

pitched his tent toward Sodom. Father, I

ask you humbly uh Lord, once again

tonight that you would help us, God. We

need you. Speak through us, Lord. Hide

our ignorance, Lord of the youth

tonight. Would you hide that and Lord,

would you give us ability to speak Lord

with wisdom from the word of God? Fill

us with our spirit and get all glory

unto yourself. We'll thank you. We'll

love you for what you do, but Lord, most

of all for who you are. We give you

praise and we ask it in Jesus' name for

his sake. Amen. Genesis 13. Tonight I

want to speak tonight on Lot uh Abram's

brother. Keeping with the be of our

alliteration. This will be part number

one. And we'll heading this the

departure of his brother. And you say,

well, Lot wasn't his brother. Well, the

Bible says it calls him his brother. If

you notice uh in verse number verse

number 14, if you need Bible to back it

up of Genesis 14, listen to what the

Bible said. And when Abram heard that

his brother was taken captive, he armed

his trained servants born in his own

house. 318

and pursued them unto Dan. So this is

his nephew. This is the son of Haram

that's mentioned here in the text, but

nonetheless is labeled his brother in

the text. And so we're going to title

this Abram's brother, part one, the

departure. And so when I notice chapter

13, what immediately uh I guess really

jumps off the page to me is the first

phrase in verse number one where the

Bible says, "And Abram went up." You

notice that's a stark contrast from

chapter number 12 where the Bible says

in verse number 10, "Then there was a

famine in the land and Abram went down

into Egypt." So his journey was he's

back on track again. He's headed back in

the right direction. And the famine and

the flesh and all the other filthiness

that took place while he was in Egypt

caused him to get out of there. And God

in his providence delivered Abram from

Egypt. And I want you to notice a few

things by way of introduction. So we see

first of all he is vacating Egypt there

according to verse number one. Then he

makes another visit in verse three and

four. The Bible says that he went on his

journeys from the south even to Bethl

unto the place where his tent had been

at the beginning between Bethl and Ai.

And if you remember our study from that

week, that tent where he placed his tent

between Bethl and Ai, it was a place of

identification. There's a good

illustration for us here that Abram had

to come back and realize who he was. You

know, if you ever get to a place where

you're controlled by the flesh, you need

to get back to that place of

identification, realizing who you are

and get control on the right sector of

this thing. I notice not only in this

visit that he goes back to his tent, but

he does go back to the truth as well in

verse four. The Bible says in verse

four, unto the place of the altar which

he had made there at the first, and

there Abram called on the name of the

Lord. And so there he goes again back to

a place where he can pray. Now we know

that while he's in Egypt, we have no

record of Abram calling on God. But when

he makes it back into the promised land

there to Bethl where he had built the

altar and where he' pitched his tent

there, he calls upon the Lord. And so

Abram is restored in this text. But you

see, there's another problem in Abram's

life. And I want to point him out to you

tonight. His his name is mentioned in

verse number five. The Bible said, "And

Lot also, which went with Abram, had

flocks and herds and tents, 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." So, Abram is back

in the land where he's supposed to be.

But there's still something else that

God wants to get out of his life. And

you'll notice on next week when we look

at verses 12- 18 of this text that when

Lot departs, business picks up. in

Abram's life. And you say, "Preacher,

what is it so much that has to why does

it have to do with Lot hindering Abram

in the text?" Well, one writer put it

this way, and I'm not dogmatic on this,

but it very well could be true that it

may have been Lot's influence that

caused Abram to go down into Egypt. You

say, "Why is that?" Well, remember that

famine that came in the land? The Bible

says that famine came and they had great

flocks and herds and all of that. And

you know what? Lot had flocks and herds

just like Abram did. And so something

influenced him to go down into Egypt.

Now, you can take that for what it's

worth tonight, but certainly the rest of

Lot's life illustrates to us a man who

is controlled by his flesh. And so, he

is hindering Abram. And of course, the

command of God in Genesis 12 when he

said, "Get thee out of thy country and

from thy kindred and from thy father's

house." So that would denote his the

entirety of his family that he was to

leave them behind. But I notice in this

text there is an event that comes and

instead of Abram choosing to make Lot

depart, God by his providence brings up

an event in the text that is going to

cause Lot to depart from Abel. And I

want to say this uh tonight on the

preface of this that departure tonight

many times is um by men's own choosing.

But sometimes God has to bring up events

in people's lives to bring about

departure for it to take place. Now you

say, "What do you mean by that?" Well,

you can think about relationships,

situations, families, friendships, work

situations, and let's just be real.

There's some places you don't need to

stay.

>> Amen. There's some jobs you don't need

to keep. Amen. There's some people that

would call you their friend, but you're

never you've never been a friend to them

because really they're not a friend to

you. Amen. And I notice in this text

that Lot is much that way. Now, what

leads into that? Well, we pointed out he

has vacated Egypt. He has visited back

to the altar. But then the vastness of

these men is mentioned in verses 2:es

five and six. He is said to be rich in

verse number two. In verse number five,

Lot is said to be also wealthy with

flocks and herds and tents. In verse

number six, the Bible says the land was

not able to bear them that they might

dwell together because their substance

was so great. So what they had gathered,

what they had brought in, how God had

blessed Abram and Lot was along with

him. And no doubt he was blessed because

Abram was blessed. And so as their

substance got greater and their servants

became more in number, uh the the place

where they were living there at Bethl

was not big enough. It was not large

enough to feed all of the cattle and all

of the sheep and all of the animals that

Abram had. And you notice that out of

that there comes out of the vastness

there comes a variance. In verse number

seven, the Bible says there was a strife

between the herdman of Abram's cattle

and the herdman of Lot's cattle. So when

you think about history, when you look

at it, I really I mean we don't know a

whole lot about this day. We do know

more about the New Testament day, but

more than likely they didn't have fences

built at this time. And so probably

Lot's cattle and Abram's cattle were

always getting mixed up. And if you've

ever had cattle and you had a lot of

them get mixed up with other people's,

it gets to be very annoying. I'll say

that from experience. Okay, we had we've

got about the family farms probably got

about 200 up there and there's times

when other people's fences and most time

it was our fence because it was so sorry

it wouldn't hold nothing. Amen. But they

would get out and go to other people's

pastures and he gets to be very

frustrated. And so this is a real

problem much more so in the fact that

they probably didn't have fences because

there were herdmen that were hired there

to keep these animals. And so the

herdman there are at variance one

against another. And then I noticed this

in verse 7, something you'll miss if

you're not careful. The Bible says in

verse 7, the last phrase, "And the

Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then

in the land." So the the the servants,

the herdmen are at variance one with

another. They're frustrated. Uh it's

getting too large to handle and they're

in this tight confined place. But then

there's also the matter of their

vulnerability. You say, "What do you

mean?" Well, the Canaanite, the Bible

says the Canaanite and the Perizzite

dwelt then in the land. So, the enemy

was present with them. It was around

them at that point in time. And so, you

say, "What does that mean?" Well, you

think about this. You've got this large

amount of animals, this large amount of

people. There's already strife in this

little farm. Amen. That's here together.

They're trying to keep everything

separated. They're frustrated. They're

fighting. But then you've got the enemy

on the outside that sees all this

expanse. And let me say this. Do you

know when you're the most vulnerable is

when you're in a fight.

>> Amen. When you are when your family,

listen to me. When your family is the

most vulnerable to attacks of the enemy.

Is when you're frustrated.

>> When your marriage when your when your

children when they are the most

vulnerable is when you are at variance

for whatever reason. And then it may

just be a little scuffle. But how many

of you know the devil prides himself and

taking little scuffles, little things,

and making big problems. Amen. Because

it's the little foxes that spoil the

vine. Amen. And so the vulnerability is

mentioned in verse number seven. And

that basically leads us into the message

tonight. This brings about the decision

of Abram in the text. And I want to give

you three things tonight out of this

text concerning Abram and Lot and their

relationship. Yep. The Bible said in

verse 8, "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." Now,

there's a lot I could say about Abram

tonight, but his righteousness is again

put on display here in the text by his

desire uh to make amends. And I'll call

this point tonight the consoling of Lot

or the consoling of Abraham or Abram. In

the text, the Bible says he speaks up

and says, "Let there be no strife." That

that strife, that contention. And notice

where he says. He said, "Let there be no

strife. I pray thee," what's he say

first? "Between me and thee." They're

the leadership. They're the ones that

are in charge of these things. And their

delegates are the ones who are fighting

one with another. Now, how many of you

know that when when things happen in

businesses or really in families is a

better picture of this? If you've got

two children that are uh you know, maybe

having a little scuffle on the

playground or at a ball game or

something like that, and then uh two

mamas or two daddies, daddy of this

child and the daddy of that child, or

sometimes the mama of this child and the

daddy of that child, or sometimes the

whole team of this side and one parent

on this side. Amen. You know what I'm

saying? that scuffle gets to be bigger

than just two kids fighting with one

another.

>> And so Abram goes to Lot and says, "All

right, look. We don't need to there

don't need to be any division here." Let

me say this tonight. Departure is done

best when it's done softly.

>> I can give you three things tonight

about this. Departure is done best when

it's done softly, when it's done

silently, and when it's done swiftly.

Right? If you want a three-point

outline, that's the way you should. If

you are having to depart a business, you

ought not go out there with signs and

sirens ablazing. Amen. Making a big

stink and a big fuss over everything.

Amen. You ought to be polite about that.

And if the problem is on your part, you

ought to do everything you can to make

it right. But I know not every time that

you deal with departure, it's not always

you're not always able to do that. And

so, but the best thing you can do,

regardless of what others may say

against you, is you ought to try to

resolve it. But if you cannot resolve

it, you need to remove yourself from it.

Amen.

>> Notice this. He says there's the

consoling. Look what he says. He

consoles him concerning his followers.

Let there be no strife, I pray, between

me and thee, and between my hermen and

thy herdman. So, he tells them, "All

right, your followers are men. We don't

we don't need them to be fighting all

the time. We need to deal with that. Let

there be no strife. I know that the

pressure is high and things are hard.

Let me say this. That's the reason why

lot a lot of times we struggle in the

church because let's just be real. The

pressure is high right now.

>> It's hot. And if you don't know that,

it's cuz you're not real involved in.

>> Amen. Let me tell you this. You get

involved in the fight, you're going to

find out there's something to fight for.

Amen. You start out in this thing, you

got to realize, friend, the casualties

will be high if you're not careful. And

what I notice here, Abram knows that. He

says, "Let there be no strife in amongst

the followers." But then he points out

the family. Look what he says in verse

number eight. Between my herdman and thy

herdman, for we be brethren. We're

family. Hey church, we're family

tonight. We're saved by the grace of

God. There don't have to be any strife.

Amen. I tell you this tonight, my my

greatest failures I I personally believe

in my life, my number one greatest

failures because I believe this one guy

said it this way, every failure in

Christian life is traced back to a

prayer failure. But I think the greatest

failures that I have struggled with is

is dealing with relationships.

You say, "What do you mean by that?"

Well, every relationship is different

because every person's different. And as

a preacher, as a pastor, you have the

responsibility of managing lots of

relationships.

The men who get the jobs at the big

corporation with uh, you know, the big

money and the big package and all of

that, most of the time they get it not

based really upon their ability to do

the job, but it's based upon their

ability in the PR realm of things, how

good they are with people. Because the

higher the up, the ladder you go, the

better you got to be with people. Amen.

You got to make sure that you've got all

your eyes dotted and all your tees

crossing. It ain't so much about the

labor part, but it is about the loyalty,

about the trust. And you know this if

you been in business or worked in any

type of business any amount of time. I'm

not that old, but I've seen it from a

young age growing up on the farm and

then growing up in a grade and

construction outfit, seeing men come

through. When there's a matter of

distrust, what does it do? It begins to

break the tower of authority down. when

distrust and disloyalty takes place. And

here's the thing about it. Naturally, we

in our flesh are disloyal

>> and we're untrustworthy.

>> Amen. And so, you know what my failure

is? Many times I'll say things and do

things that in my flesh I know that I

wasn't supposed to do, but I'm trying in

my mind to fix a problem when really I

can't fix it myself.

>> See, Abram has made the right decision

here. He says, "Look, there be no

strife." He's not so much concerned

about the problem as he is concerned

about the people.

>> If you ever get to a place, and

especially in the church, if you ever

get to a place where you're more

concerned about the problem than you are

about the people, you've forgotten what

the ministry is involved in.

>> Amen.

>> And here's the thing about it. I know

that there's casualties. I know that

every I know every bit of that. I get

get that. We can't compromise the truth.

But I'll tell you this, there's a tear

in my eye every time you watch one

depart

>> wrongfully.

>> Amen.

>> It It hurts. It's supposed to because

you know what? I care more about the

people than I do about the problem.

Amen. It's not Listen to me. It's not

their departure that bothers me. It's

not, you know, well, they're stabbing me

in the back. No, it's I'm I'm wondering,

you know, I'm their I'm their

undersheperd. What are they going to get

when they leave?

>> That's right. Where are they going to

get what I'm trying to give them here

when they're out there?

>> Say, "Preacher, well, there's other

churches." I know that just as well. But

you know what? It's a whole lot harder

when you get out to start back.

>> It takes a long time to find a place to

be.

>> Amen. And I'd hate I'd hate to wander

out there. I That's what That's what

keeps me awake at night. But

nonetheless, I I see this this

vulnerability. And Abram, he deals with

that. The consoling of of his followers

of his family. Notice this. You see the

divide that's pointed out here. There's

a clear de difference between Lot and

between Abram. Now, I know Abram is the

patriarch. He's the one with the

authority in the text. He's the one that

that should be speaking up in the text.

But you don't see Lot making any

statements through here. And I'm going

to get to that just a minute. But notice

what Abram says in a continued

statement. He goes from consoling him,

dealing with their stri, but then he

show expresses to him the contingency.

And you say, "What do you mean?" Well,

notice that first phrase in verse number

nine. What's your Bible say, church? Is

not the whole land before thee?

Now, let me ask you something. Who who

had this land been entrusted to?

Abram. So, you know what Abram has done?

He's basically written a blank check and

said, "Lot, here it is. You go wherever

you want to go. Get what you need. The

whole land's before you." gives him the

option, gives him the opportunity. And

what is what is the condition? Well, you

see in the contingency here, this

possibility that arises there is the

necessity of partition. Look what he

says. It's not the whole land before

thee. Separate thyself, I pray thee,

from me. So, here in the text, he tells

Lot, "All right, it's time for you to

go." And let me say this, all right?

And I I I don't know, this is weird for

me to say this, but I I saw it from the

side of growing up, but there's a time

when your children, you have to tell

them to get out of the house.

>> There's a time when young men, they get

up in their 20s and they won't provide

for themsel.

>> Baby birds sometimes got to fall out the

nest to learn how to fly.

Look, I'm not being hard-hearted, but

when we've got men and bother boys, what

they are, they stay at home 20, 30 years

old, and they play video games all night

and sleep all day.

>> They got to get out. This ain't directly

in the text, but it's applicationally in

the text. Amen.

>> He said, "Get out." He said, "You got to

separate yourself." Why? Because it was

creating division. Let me say this. When

you get a when you get a a young boy

that becomes a man and he's still at

home, you know what's going to happen?

Inevitably, that wife is going to be as

he grows up that that boy, a man that

thinks he's a man staying at home thinks

he's going to have some authority the

older he gets. Then that wife, there's

going to be a struggle there. All right,

you get what I'm saying?

>> There going to be some problem there

with headship. We've had a lot of that

in this country, especially the last

generation. My parents, that generation,

they dealt with that greatly because

there was great pro prosperity in and

the fathers, my grandfathers, and then

the generation after that that come

along after that, my dad's generation, a

lot of them sit at home spoiled and

they're the ones that's filling up

prisons and drug rehabs and all kinds of

places in this day and time.

>> Because of the prosperity, you know,

that's right.

>> Amen. And so now we're coming back

around again. And my generation seeing,

well, the way daddy did it ain't

working. The way mama did it ain't

working. We going to have to learn how

to work.

God puts lot out here in the text. And

this is by the Lord. We'll we'll point

that out on next week. But there's a

separation here. Notice not only the

partition, but then there's the

preference. Look what the Bible said in

verse 9. Separate thyself, I pray thee,

from me. If thou wilt take the right

hand or left hand, then I will go to the

right. Or if thou depart to the right

hand, then I will go to the left. Abram

is giving him the option. And and and

rightly so, Abram is blessing Lot in his

departure here in the text. But you see,

Abram here, this reveals something about

Abram. And and I like what FB Meyer said

about this. He said, "The man who is

sure of God can afford to hold very

lightly the things of this world. God

himself is his inaliable heritage. And

in having God, he has all.

You say, "What do you mean?" Well, Abram

was called to inherit all the land of

Canaan. But you see, it wasn't the land

of Canaan that mattered to Abram. That's

why he could look at Lot and say, "Any

of it you want, because I'm just going

to go where God tells me to."

Because you know what? the land. It

matters so much to him as the Lord of

that land did.

>> And you notice here in the text, out of

the contingency, notice the choice of

Lot. A lot more I could say about that,

but I want to get done with this

tonight. The Bible says in verse number

10, "And Lot lifted up his eyes." This

is the first problem. We see the face of

Lot that's expressed in his choice. You

see, Lot

is a man illustrated in the word of God

as a man who's always controlled by what

he could see.

And you notice out of his face in verse

number 10, you see his focus. Look what

the Bible says. And Lot lifted up his

eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan

that it was well watered everywhere.

Now, what is the industry that Lot and

Abram are involved in? It's animal,

isn't it? It's cattle. It's sheep. It's

it's it's keeping flocks. They were they

were herdsmen. And so Lot sees he looks

out. He he lifts up at eyes and his

focus. He sees that plane. Now, what do

we know about bottomland?

All of y'all know about the bottomland

on the Dan River. It's a very precious

item right now. Okay. Nonetheless, not

getting off into that. But what I'm

saying is bottomland is very valuable.

Why? Because it'll grow things in a in a

drought. People that's got bottomland

right now's got crops.

>> People that's got bottomland right now

has got got grass for their cattle to

eat in. What are you saying? Well,

that's what this is. This was a a land

where water was plenteous and the Bible

said in verse 10, it was well watered

everywhere. So, his focus is you you

say, "Well, he's just looking for

something to benefit his cattle." Well,

this this goes back to what his problem

is. He's focused on his prosperity.

He's focused on what is going to be the

best for Lot.

>> Let me say this. If you're always

focused on what's best for you,

inevitably you're going to leave behind

others

>> in your wake suffering. You say,

"Preacher, where did Lot get this idea?"

Well, it could be from his from his

uncle Abraham.

Chapter 12, verse number 12. Therefore,

it shall come to pass when the Egyptians

shall see thee that they shall say,

"This is his wife, and they will kill

me, but they will save thee alive. Say,

I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it

may be well with me for thy sake, and my

soul shall live because of thee. Abram

was protecting himself, but Lot in this

text, he's not protecting himself. He's

protecting his pocketbook.

>> Amen. You can tell what a man's God is

by how he spends his money.

>> Amen. You can tell where his focus is.

And you notice out of his focus in verse

number 10, he's looking toward that

plane. His focus is industry. You see

the familiarity. Look what the Bible

says. Even uh before the Lord destroyed

Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden

of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, let

me give you this. First of all, there's

a fantasy that's seen here. You say,

"What do you mean?" Well, notice that

phrase again. It was well watered

everywhere before the Lord destroyed

Sodom and Gomorrah. What's that next

phrase? Even as the garden of the Lord

This land was like a dream.

Now, doesn't that sound familiar?

What has what have men given their

lives, their wives, and their homes,

their families away for in this country

for the last hundred years? Chasing

what?

You see, what this represents is is

something that Lot had never seen with

his eyes. You see, that garden had been

long disappeared. But when he saw that

plane, you know what he imagined in his

mind? That garden.

You ever heard somebody look at a piece

of property and say, "Man, this looks

like heaven."

It's an imagination.

It's a fantasy. Lot seeing this and

thinking, "Man, he's get written me a

blank check. I can do whatever I want."

Look what he says. Then there's not only

the fantasy I to give you this, but

there's the familiarity in verse 10.

Even as the garden of the Lord, like the

land of what?

>> Egypt. HOW DID HE KNOW WHAT Egypt looked

like?

He just been took there.

Now, Abram was smart enough to know that

Egypt was not all the world had to

offer.

But Lot felt otherwise.

You see, the blessing that Lot received

when he was with Abram, when he was at

Haran, you think about this. Lot lost

his daddy there. They journey into the

land of Canaan. Yeah, Abram builds an

altar. There's a lot of spiritual

awakening there. But in Haran, there is

a a substance that is built. There's

servants. There's all of this stuff. And

so God and and when Abram fails to

follow the Lord, he journeys off into

Egypt and Lot goes with him. And whether

or not Lot wanted, we don't know. But

but all we do know is Lot did go there

and Lot did see it. And when he saw that

plane of Jordan, it was familiar. You

better got to be careful taking your

children to the world.

>> Careful places you go.

Cuz what you allow them to behold

through their eye gate. Certain things

they'll never be able to forget.

>> Eye gate, eargate, however,

certain things that create an image in

the mind and it mars them. And you

notice that out of his focus, this

fantasy that he has conjured up in his

mind, it looks like the garden of the

Lord, like what Eden would look like.

And it was familiar. It look like

something he had seen before. And the

Bible says in verse number 11 that this

choice is final.

Look what the Bible say in verse 11.

Then Lot chose him all the plain of

Jordan. Now, what do we know about Lot's

story? We're going to get to it later on

in the series about Abraham. But the

next time Lot goes out of the plane of

Jordan, he's walking out by himself.

His wife dies on the trip out and his

two daughters are all that's left.

This choice is final

because it was beautiful. Let me say

this. Just because something looks

beautiful,

just because it's a dream, it's too good

to be true.

>> Yeah.

does not mean it's from God. YOU SAY,

"PREACHER, HOW DID Lot was just choosing

what was BEST FOR HIM?" WELL, LET ME

THINK. LET ME ASK you something. Did Lot

have to leave?

Why did Lot not say, "Abram, I've got to

stay with you."

And this is hypothetical tonight, but

think about all that Lot left. Lot

number one, left Abraham.

What's Abram? He's the patriarch. He's

the father of the faith. He's the one

that God called out of the Caldes, out

of a wicked nation, a godless people,

and set his name on Abram. WHY DID LOT

NOT REALIZE, HEY, I need to stay with

him?

But if that's not enough, Lot didn't

only leave Abram. I hope you're writing

this down. Lot didn't only leave Abram,

but he left the altar.

>> You see, when Lot left Abram, there's

never another mention of an altar in

Lot's life. He leaves behind, you see,

he leaves behind rel righteousness with

Abram. He leaves behind the patriarch.

He leaves behind the altar. He leaves

behind religion. He leaves behind an

opportunity to talk to God.

Leaves it behind.

Notice this. He left not only Abraham

and the altar, but he left the approval

of God. You say, "What do you mean?"

Well, when Lot journeyed out, you know

what he did? He was journeying to a

place where he was no longer under God's

protection. And you know what happens?

Chapter 14 rolls around. Abram's going

and bailing him out.

You turn there and look at it. Chapter

14, he gets in a mess. Those cities,

they're wicked without God. The Bible

literally says that, describes it that

way. Lot pinches his tent towards it.

And out of that, the Bible says in

chapter 14 that they go to war. Lot

loses all of his inheritance when he

gets there. Loses everything. Abram has

to go rescue it. You say, "Preacher,

what's the emphasis of that?" Well, his

focus on this fantasy, it just really

didn't live too long, did he? Let me say

this. He He might have been there long

enough to multiply his hurt a little

bit, but it wasn't just very short down

the road and he lost everything.

Just because something looks

pretty on the forefront, there's a whole

lot behind that that you can't see.

There's a whole lot of things. You see,

you see, Lot had little sympathy. You

say, "What do you mean? Lot had little

sympathy with the pilgrim spirit." You

see, the reason why Abram could look at

Lot and say, "You choose wherever."

Because Abram wasn't going to stay

anywhere.

Why? Because he was a pilgrim.

Canaan land was not his home. Amen. That

was where God told him, "I'm going to

give it to you." Amen. But this is what

the story of Abram we learn is that

Abram was not looking for the land. He

was looking for the Lord. He was looking

for, Paul said it this way, a city that

hath foundations whose builder and

makers got somewhere that was eternal.

Amen. Somewhere that's not earthly.

And and out of this, we see the Bible

said in verse 12, Abram dwelt in the

land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the

cities of the plain and pitched his tent

toward Sodom.

You say, "Preacher, what what do you

mean when when you say it was final?"

Well, Abram took Lot out of Canaan land

once, but you know what? When he was

with Abram, he came back. But when Lot

went out himself,

he never came back.

Where you take your children, you might

be able to bring them back, but when

they go for themsel,

>> are you hearing me?

>> When they go for themsel,

they may not ever come back.

When I read this text, I'm reminded of

this this fact. I wrote this in my

margin. When we think about Lot, it's

impossible to overlook the negative

effect that Lot had on Abram. It's

impossible. And this is what burdens me.

I was thinking about this just today.

You know, my dad's in the ministry,

pastors a church, and for years, for

years, he's influenced my life, still

does, and and always will for that

matter. But now I've reached the age in

ministry where

maybe I'm not affecting him directly,

but the decisions I make and things I

say and do do affect him more than they

did when I was little. I have an

influence on my father more so than I

did 10 years ago. Now, I'm not saying

that I'm an in, you know, I'm, you know,

any

authority to him by any means. But what

I'm saying is is when children grow up,

they influence not only those who come

after them, but those who are before

them. You see, I have a responsibility

to encourage them to continue.

And if I fail that, you think about

this. Abram cried a whole lot of tears

over Lot.

>> He prayed a whole lot of prayers for

Lot. And it's my responsibility as one

who's on the backside because it's the

very same thing God has said. He's given

us that blank check and said, "Wherever

you want to go." Lot could have stayed.

Let me say this. Lot could have went

somewhere where he could have built an

altar.

>> Lot didn't have to just forsake God. Lot

didn't have to just quit on God. Lot

didn't have to just walk out. He could

have followed God. He could have went a

hill over.

>> They just couldn't stay in Bethl. That's

what it was. They couldn't stay there

together. And you know what? Abram don't

even stay there. You notice that in the

text, verse number 12, Abram dwelt in

the land of Canaan. Verse number 17, I'm

getting ahead of myself here, but that's

all right. Look what the Bible says. God

tells him, "Arise, walk through the land

in the length of it and in the breadth

of it, for I will give it unto thee."

Verse 18, then Abram removed his tent.

You see, Lot went and dwelt in the city

because he wanted something permanent.

But you know what Abram did? He lived

his life in a tent

because he wasn't concerned about

building a city. You know, I'm afraid of

I'm afraid that if we're not careful,

Meta's Baptist Church, I might preach

here. And I hope that I hope the Lord I

was telling my wife this other day, and

I don't mind telling the wind. Now, turn

that turn that thing off, brother. This

is good enough. I don't mind telling the

>> Thank you for joining our service today.

We'd love it if you join us in person.

the next time you are able at Meadows

Baptist Church. Our physical address is

2988

Stewart Road in Walnut Cove, North

Carolina. Our service times are Sunday

school at 10:00 a.m., Sunday morning

worship at 11:00 a.m., Sunday evening

worship at 6:00 p.m. and Wednesday

evening Bible study at 7:00 p.m. For

more information, visit us at

meadowsbaptisturch.com.

Thanks again for tuning in.