Abraham's life demonstrates the necessity of complete obedience to God's call, even when it requires leaving behind familiar comforts and relationships. The sermon traces God's initial call to Abram in Genesis 11, highlighting his partial obedience by taking his father with him, which delayed further communication from God. It emphasizes that true faith involves total surrender and obedience, as seen in Abram's eventual departure to an unknown land, his willingness to leave idols and family ties, and his reliance on God's promises over material wealth. The message concludes by urging believers to prioritize God's will above all else, even family or personal security, and to live as pilgrims with their eyes fixed on heavenly promises rather than worldly possessions.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 2.26 → restored 4.22
The Book of Genesis is twelve chapters. I pass out outlines as you're coming in. Most of you probably have them. I'll be furnishing an outline like this every night, this evening through Friday, Lord willing. And I'll leave the extras on the back bench back there, so if you want extra ones or If you miss one and you want to pick one up later on, then that's fine. They'll be available back on the back bench. I used to not do this in a series of meetings until I started doing the tabernacle series that I did in Atlantic just recently, which you might recall.
The reason I did it with the tabernacle series is because there were so many references that were being used and so many definitions and things that I was afraid that for everyone to keep up, they would have to spend all their time writing and they might miss something that was being said. So I wanted to give a little boost. And then I found that so many have said that they like to have those little outlines in hand so that they can listen a little more and then they can jot down other extra things while we go. I felt like, well, I'll start furnishing outlines more often. So this is how the birth of these outlines came about. So if you appreciate them, good if you don't use them.
Just listen. We're going to be looking at lessons from the life and faith of Abraham. There's going to be five lessons. These lessons are taken out of a series of lessons, thirty-one and all, on the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis is the book of beginnings. That's what the word means. Genesis is beginnings or seeds of things. Because it is the book of beginnings, probably all of the doctrines in Scripture begin in the book of Genesis. We're going to be looking at some of these in the life of Abraham. But every principle that we find in Scripture, you can find it beginning back here in Genesis.
The fall of man, sin entering into the world. The wages of sin is death. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. We see the shedding of blood, sacrificial death, justification by faith, sanctification. These things right down the line appear in the book of Genesis. So it is good for us to get a grasp of this book, the book of Genesis, in order for us to understand something of the rest of the book. Invariably someone will say, well, is that verse in context? I say, are you interpreting this in context? Say in context, yes, we start from Genesis and go right through to the end.
That's the context. When we want to prove something in context, we need to have a chain of references that take us from the Old Testament, clear through the book of Revelation. You'll also discover that the Word of God is kind of like a big circle. You begin in the book of Genesis, for example, and you have the tree of life. In the book of Revelation, you will have the tree of life. In the book of Genesis, you have a river that flows out and branches into four rivers. In the book of Revelation, we have a river. In the book of Genesis, we have the Garden of God, this perfect state, and the book of Revelation will end up in a perfect state where God is the light and man is in perfect communion with him.
Many things then find their beginning in the book of Genesis, and then we find their conclusion as we revolve clear around in the book of the Revelation. So we're going to be looking at just five of these lessons, concentrating on this one man, Abraham. or as we see in chapter twelve, his name is here Abram. Our lesson tonight is going to be the call of Abraham. You'll notice under the subparagraph A we have the call of God. That is the call of God was issued to Abraham. Abraham then responded to that call and in responding to it he obeyed God.
God issued a command. He responded to it, obeyed, and then that will result in his separation. So we are going to be looking at the call and then the consequent separation of Abraham. And then down the line, we're going to see how this applies to our lives as Christians today. Genesis chapter twelve, verse one. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, now notice the past tense. Now the Lord had said, we'll see how this fits in. In a moment, it said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee.
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great. And thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curses thee. And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Teran. Now notice verse ten. There was famine in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land. It came to pass when he had come nearer to enter into Egypt that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold, now I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon.
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. Verse sixteen, he treated Abram well, that is Pharaoh, for her sake. very eye-sake, and he had sheep, and oxen he asses, and men's servants, maid's servants, and she asses, and camels. Chapter thirteen, verse one. Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had and lot with him, and he gave.
And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and gold. Notice that he was very rich while in Egypt. While he was down in Egypt, he had great material wealth. And he went on his journeys from Nigev even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Hayes, 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 Lord also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents." Following verses we see that there is strife between Lot and between Abram.
In verse nine we read, and Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we are brethren. Take note of those words. Let there not be any strife between us. For we are brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee from me. If I will take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if I will depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. Verse eleven, 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, Lot dwelt 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 Lot was separated from him, Lift up thine eyes and look from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. At the beginning of our reading here in chapter one or chapter twelve, verse one, we have the call. God is commanding Abram to get out of his country away from his kindred to leave all else behind.
But Abram had already been issued this call, not in chapter twelve, but previously in chapter eleven. Stephen tells us about this in Acts chapter seven, and I'll just read very briefly from that text. Stephen, you'll remember as he addresses the Sanhedrin, is recounting the history of the Jewish people. And in chapter seven, verse one, or verse two, he said, Men and brethren and fathers, hearken, the God of glory, appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, where he dwelt in Heron, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I will show thee.
Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Heron, and from there, when his father was dead, he did not leave until after the death of his father. When his father was dead, he removed him into this land in which ye now dwell. He gave him no inheritance in it, no not so much as set his foot on, yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession to his seed after him when he was yet had no child. Now you'll notice that as Stephen recounts the history here, some people say that Acts seven is a contradiction to what happens in the book of Genesis. That's not true. Acts chapter seven is actually telling us a little more, shedding a little more light on what took place in the book of Genesis.
So Stephen, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and even as these words were penned, it was by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is telling us a little bit more about what took place in Genesis. In Genesis chapter eleven, Abraham, or Abram here, has been told to depart from his country. his kindred and his father's house. Abram only obeyed partially this command. He did lead the land of the Chaldeans. That is why, as you can see on the outline, in B it says there is a demand for complete obedience.
At the beginning, Abram was not willing to obey God completely, fully. He still had family ties. That is the reason why God does not speak to Abram between chapter eleven and chapter twelve. God had told Abram, I want you to leave your country, your kindred, and your father's house. He said, I even want you to leave your father. Abram left the land of the Chaldeans. He left the country, but he only went as far as Heron, and then he took his father with him. He still had family ties that was causing him to fall into this sin of incomplete obedience to the word of God.
As long as there was this family tie between Abram and his father, God did not speak to him. There was no utterance from God until after the death of Abram, and then God spoke to him again. Renewed His command, the commission, go. I want you to get out, get away completely from your country, your kindred, from your father's house. We can see how in our lives when God issues a command, when Jesus Christ becomes Lord, He expects from us an absolute or a complete obedience, not just partial. We cannot say, Lord, I will go wherever you send me, just so it is in Africa.
Now, I know that to be true, because I get it myself. I speak from personal experience. I used to say, Lord, I'll go anywhere you send me, just not Africa. I can remember one time one of the Logans was in Omaha when I was a young man, and they were showing slides of Africa. And as you know, the Logans are very clever people. They showed all these beautiful slides of Africa, sunset, sunrise, nice streams, you know, beautiful flowers. The pictures of the wild animals was just bright, beautiful.
And then when they started showing the snakes, it still wasn't so bad. When they showed the little poisonous snakes running around in people's shoes, but before you got up in the morning you had to shake out the shoes and dump the snakes on the floor. Still that wasn't too bad because you'd seen all the beauty of Africa first, but then they got to the leper colony. Now up to that point I was almost ready to say, Lord I'll even go to Africa. But when they got to the leper colony and started showing the pictures of the lepers, I said, uh-uh. Lord, I'll go anywhere but Africa. You know what? The Lord had no intention of sending me anywhere, period.
Not until I was willing to say, all right, Lord, he's an African. Our Lord, for him to be Lord, for Jesus Christ to be Lord, means that we have to be given to him totally. There was a time when my wife and I, we were making more money than we ever thought possible. I was a salesman for Dolly Madison Cake Company. I was just mentioning last night that that's the first time I ever ate a Dolly Madison cake. We had had one from yesterday, and it was the first time I'd ever ate one. I always handled them and sold them, and I thought you sold them. You didn't need them. It was the first time I... And it didn't taste too bad.
It tasted pretty good, actually. But we were making all kinds of money, and then that's when the Lord came and said, Greg, I want you to quit your job and go preach. I said, Lord, what? Now, do you want me to go preach? And of course, the first thing my wife says, and she's very familiar with workers among those who need as we do, how often are you going to be away from home? And for how long are you going to be away? So immediately there were certain concerns. Immediately began to think, Lord, how do you support these people? I know it's done. I've known some of these brethren for many, many years.
I've known Leonard Lindstad since he bounced me on his knee as a baby when I was a baby. So I know it's done, but we want to know, well, Lord, how does that work? Lord, how long do I have to be away from my family? And then finally, the Lord came and gave us great peace about this. The Lord finally showed us that obeying Him is just stepping out by faith and saying, I don't know how it's going to work. I don't know what's going to happen, but the Lord says, go, let's do it. Now, I'm not trying to set up myself as an example of some high spirituality or some great man of faith because I'm not. Most of you here probably have more faith than I do. But I'm just using myself as an example because if I used you, you would be offended.
But what I'm getting at here is the Lord is going to send us. The Lord is going to use us in tremendous ways when we are ready to obey Him completely. Let down all the guard. Say, Lord, no matter what happened, no matter what the sacrifice, we're ready to go. Surrender the whole thing. Have you ever noticed how that when our Lord called four fishermen to be His disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, that first he took them out into the deep, told them to cast their nets down on the other side of the boat, which they did. They pulled them up, and there was a whole net full of fish. Why did he do that? They had something to give up.
Before, when their nets were empty, the Lord could have said, come and I'll make you fishers of men. They could have said, might as well. We're not very good fishers of fish. But now he sent them out into the deep, filled up their nets, and he says, now come follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men. Now you can see those old Jews with all that net full of fish. See, fish is going at so many cents a pound. Oh, you know, Lord, couldn't we sell these fish and start a bank account? You know, nonprofit organization for the preaching of the gospel and sticking in there. Couldn't we do something? No. Let them go. Follow me. Our Lord is looking for a complete obedience. Our Lord was looking in the life of Abraham.
a man who is willing now to step out strictly by faith. In moving out by faith, Abram will move away from everything that was part of his life before, away from idols. Joshua, twenty-four, two. In that account, Joshua is rehearsing the history of Israel. Once again, he will say, Abraham left the country and the kinship in his father's house, and he left those people, himself included, who are worshiping idols. They were idol worshipers. They were worshiping other gods. He left that. He had to leave that which was close to his heart. When someone worships an idol and worships other gods, these little figures, these things were close to these people's hearts.
This was very important to them. But now the one true God was speaking and saying, you have to leave that behind. Remember yesterday that I mentioned in the course of the ministry then that there are many things that can become idols in our lives. Many possessions, money, power, influence, position, our business, even our families. These things can get in between us and the Lord. And the Lord is saying to us, get out, get away from it. We have to be able to turn our back upon everything. They got away from the idols that they worship. They had to leave everything else behind. He had to leave all family ties. Just notice the words in Matthew chapter eight.
Our Lord is calling one there to follow him. We read a very strange answer, at least in my thinking. Matthew chapter eight, verse twenty-one. Another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father. The Lord is saying, Follow me. He says, Wait a minute, I have to bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me, let the dead bury the dead. What is more important? He says, Follow me. Let those who are already dead. Those who are away from God, let them bury the dead. I've always had a strange feeling about funerals anyway, and people invariably say, well, why don't we go to this funeral?
I said, why? The person that's gone, they don't know you're there. If it's a Christian, they could care less. Of course, it is a good time to preach the gospel, and many times we take advantage of this. Our Lord is saying, your father is dead, follow me. That is what is most important. Our Lord emphasizes this very thing in chapter ten then of Matthew and verse thirty-four. Think not that I have come to send peace on the earth. I am come not to send peace with a sword, for I am come to set a man at variance against his father, the daughter against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's foe shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
He that love us son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that take us not as cross and follow us after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it. He that loses his life for my sake shall find it. Our Lord is saying that even this intimate relationships that we have here on this earth with others, mother and father, son, daughter, another account, another gospel tells us that even husband and wife, we cannot set these things first. My wife and I, when we used to discuss how often I was going to be away from home, we kept reading over these verses and we finally saw that we were setting up our marriage before the will of God.
That's an idol. That was wrong. It was wrong for us. The Lord was saying, I want you to put me first and then I'll take care of the other. And he had. He had more than met our needs. The brother shared and said yesterday, the Lord is good beyond measure, beyond any... possible imagining we could have had. The Lord has been good to us. And not only that, the Lord has given us a relationship, has given us a love for one another and our family that is far greater than what we've known even before. When I get home, we have a nice welcome home. It's always nice to be away and come home.
My kids come out and running to see me. But my children understand. They go to school and they say, my dad's away and he's preaching the gospel. He's out teaching the Lord's people. They tell their school teachers, this isn't a Christian school, secular. They go on, they tell them. My dad's a preacher and he's out preaching the words. And so it's good for them. It's been good for our family because we thought it's important to put the Lord first. Even family time must be forsaken. If we do that, the Lord will honor us. The Lord has said in Samuel, first Samuel, then that honor me, I will honor. Abram had to get to this point where he was willing to obey the Lord completely.
Notice now that Abram is on his way to an unknown destination. In Hebrews chapter eleven, we have a New Testament passage that immediately correlates back with our Old Testament passage. Hebrews chapter eleven, as you know, is the chapter of faith. When we're talking about faith, we are talking about believing in that something that we cannot otherwise physically attain to. Got that? Believing in something that we cannot otherwise physically attain to. That means we cannot physically experience this something that we are believing in.
Now I know how a lot of people define faith. They say sitting in that chair is faith. Not really. Because I can see that that's a sturdy chair. That's a physical experience. I see it. If I still had any doubts, I could take this chair and go like this and find out that's a sturdy chair. Or I could pick it up and examine it. Say, that's a sturdy chair. And then sit in it. Faith is if there was no chair there, and then I sat out. And didn't hit the floor. See, that's faith. Faith is where you cannot physically attain to something by using your five senses. God told Abraham, I want you to go.
Now, what's the first thing that you and I probably would have said? Well, I know what I would have said. I don't know about you. Probably you'd say the same thing. Where am I going? Not only that, how am I going to get there? And not only that, who's going to take care of me while I'm going there? There was none of that. When Abram exercised faith, we read in verse eight of Hebrews eleven, by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he would soon, which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out not knowing where he went.
Lord, I'll go anywhere. All right, I want you to just start walking. Now, wait a minute, Lord. Where are we going? But that's what he told Abraham. Did Abraham take off? Leave your country, your kindred, and your father's house. What do we read? Faith obeyed. Faith doesn't ask, where am I going? How am I going to get there? Who's going to take care of me in the meantime? Faith just does it. Faith believes God. faith understands that God created this universe by speaking a word. The same faith that understands that, then, in the book of Hebrews here in chapter eleven, it only follows that that same faith then would be willing to go, even though not knowing the destination.
By faith he sojourned in the land of promises in a foreign country, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same Promise. He went to an unknown destination. He understood that the promise of God was far greater than what he had in the city of Heron. He looked for a city which had foundations whose builder and maker is God. He looked beyond Heron to a place that God said there is going to be a place. There is going to be a city whose builder and maker is God. Abraham in his lifetime never saw that city. One day he will. Personally, I believe it's the same holy city that comes out of heaven in the book of the Revelation.
Some feel it's the actual city of Jerusalem that's built later on. But I feel it's the heavenly city that Abraham will see. But by faith, Abraham went to an unknown destination, not asking God where he's going, just believing that God knows what he's doing, and he said to go, so he's going to go. Faith meant that he was going to cling to the promise of God. Now the city of Heron, this is no just little village. This was a very active and a very prosperous city at that time. Archaeologists have since uncovered some things there and they've discovered, for example, that they had a library in that city. There was actually literature. It was a center of learning and of trade and of commerce.
This was no idle thing that Abraham was doing. Abraham was leaving an established city. was leaving his family, his loved ones, everything that he was familiar with, all his familiar surroundings, and going to an unknown destination, simply because God said so. And Abraham believed God, and believing God, he understood that going to an unknown destination, because God had said so, was better than staying where he was at in disobedience to the command of God. What kind of faith do we exercise in our life? Can we see how that just obeying the Word of God, stepping in line with what the Lord has communicated to us as His will for our lives, can we see how that that is far better to just simply obey Him, to obey the Lord?
Have we seen how in our lives it is far better just to obey Him than anything else? Or how often do we plot and calculate and scheme and plan and So often I see different ones, they say, well, let's take a step of faith. We're going to do this work by faith. Very well. Okay. Now you're ready to give it all? Yes, we're going to put everything in the pot. We're going to do this strictly by faith. Well, on second thought, just in case this doesn't work, let's have a little reserve back here. Let's have a little cushion. I mean, I'm willing to try this by faith, but Let's just leave something back here just in case it doesn't work out.
It'd be like when I quit my job, I could say, why don't you give me a, why don't I try it for a week of vacation? If it doesn't work out, then I can go back to my job. Wouldn't that be faith? No. Faith is total surrender to the Lord. Faith doesn't stop and think, well, if this thing doesn't work out, I better provide a little cushion. I better set up something back here. Some older brethren and their well-meaning and I love them in the Lord, but they used to tell me, they said, Greg, what's your hurry? Why don't you wait until you're older and then you retire and then you have this retirement income and then you go out and preach and you still have an income?
I said, yep, that's really going out by faith. Then they say, well, what's your hurry anyway? I said, how about the rapture of the church? No faith means we leave it all. say, Lord, here it is. It's all yours. Faith means that you, brethren, that have been farming the same farm for years and years, that if the Lord came to you and said, sell it, you'd do it just like that. Now, it's one thing to sit and say, now, I really am convinced that I would do that, would you? Real faith says, not only says, well, Lord, this is all yours, but real faith says, that if He should say, it's gone, what's in?
What if you go home tonight and you see your farm and your barns and everything are all burning to the ground? How would you see it? Real faith says, you gave it to me, Lord, you just took it away. Real faith says, Lord, it's yours. You want to burn it up? There it goes. Real faith is total abandonment. believing that the promises of God are far greater than anything here on this earth. Abram was promised that if he stepped out by faith, the Lord told him, I will make of thee a great nation. What is better, one family, to be a family in Heron or to be a great nation in the promised land?
I will bless thee. What is better? To have your family around you, to appreciate them in your old age, or to have the blessing of God, I will make thy name great. What is better? A small name in Heron, or a name that is going to be remembered throughout all the countless ages of eternity. The name Abraham appears throughout the whole word of God. Justification by faith. In Romans, it talks about Abraham. Then when we talk about... Faith produces works, what do we read about? Abraham in the book of James. I will make thy name great, and then the greatest of all, in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
The one who is going to crush that serpent's head was going to come from the seed from the family of Abraham. And so Abraham departed. He obeyed God. What do we see about Abraham? You'll notice here that he has an altar. and a tent in verse eight. He removed there into a mountain on the eastern right of Bethel, pitched his tent, having Bethel in the west, they are in the east, and there he built an altar under the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. Abraham is seen as a tent person, one who is traveling, one who is on the move. He did not stop and build a house on his way. He is a pilgrim people, and he is a worshiping people.
He built an altar. We see both of these in First Peter chapter two and verse five. Made reference to that yesterday where we read that we are to offer up spiritual sacrifices unto God. In First Peter two we read that we are a holy priesthood and a royal priesthood. Priest and king. And our function is to be a worshiping people. We're to have an altar. And we'll be dwelling on this quite a few times during these lessons. He is a pilgrim people, a stranger and a sojourner. He's only passing through. He has no attachment to this land, but he is a foreigner that is on his way. We also notice that in verse six it says the Canaanite was in the land.
The only thing that Abram was concerned about was verse seven, the Lord appeared to him. He did not see the Canaanite. In contrast to his ancestors later on, who will see the Canaanites, they say, uh-oh, there's giants in the land, and they will dare not enter in. Abraham did not see the Canaanites, he saw the Lord. A worshiping people, a pilgrim people, had their eyes fixed upon Jesus. But we see Jesus, who is made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, takes death. for every man. We see Jesus. We have our eyes upon Him.
This will make us a worshiping people. It will make us a pilgrim people. It will make us to understand that we have no place here on this earth. But then we read a verse. In verse ten we read, Abram went down. You'll notice that the word here is down into Egypt. Also the book of Genesis, you'll notice that whenever it speaks of Egypt, It always speaks of going down into Egypt. That's not because of the position of Canaan and Egypt on a map either. It's because it shows the spiritual degradation in which the Lord's people have lapsed into.
Even Abram, a man of faith, will have a lapse in faith. In James chapter four and verse four, We read the admonition there, ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with this world is enmity with God. There was famine in the land. What did Abram do? Did he continue to believe God? Did he continue trusting? Oh, no. He went down into Egypt. So often when we see famine in our lives, so often when we see trouble, that's when we crumble. When everything is more peaceful, going well and everything is at peace, it's good or easy to be a good Christian, isn't it?
Not hard, Dan. Not hard to speak well of the Lord Dan, but all of a sudden the world breaks up. I was talking to a brother not too long ago and he says, I feel like my world is crumbling. He says, you want to run, don't you? He says, yeah, I sure do. He says, where are you going to run? What are you going to do? saying, Lord, that is with us in peace and prosperity will be with us in times of trial, in times of famine. He went down into Egypt, and there he is going to suffer a terrible thing. There is going to be slander against his testimony. He is going to lie, and he is going to do something against his wife.
He endangered his wife by a compromise and by a lie. The lie was, she is my sister. He's going to do the same thing later on in Genesis chapter twenty. And in Genesis chapter twenty, he's going to explain it and say, well, actually, she is my sister. Forget how it goes. They have the same mother, but not the same father. No, same father, but not the same mother. That's something like that. They says, see, she is my sister. But she's his wife. Something that is not the whole truth is still a lie. He lied and he compromised with his wife, allowing her then to be taken into Pharaoh's house because he was afraid for his skin.
Notice two things. First of all, notice that in Egypt, he was prospered with material wealth. He grew and prospered in verse sixteen. In verse two of chapter thirteen we read, when he came out of Egypt, he was a very wealthy man. Today we have many Christians who mark God's favor by the increase in material fame. It's a well-known fact in Denver that denominational groups show how God is blessing them by additions being placed on their buildings. And if you don't believe it, all you got to do is drive around Denver.
You'll see it. Not only are they adding on, but they're building bigger churches. One clergyman went and counted the seats of a church that was known to be the biggest one in Denver. He was about to build a new one. The new church has one more seat than the one who is recognized as the biggest church in Denver. And then whenever someone has the courage to go up and rebuke them and saying, you people are becoming materialistic, the dollar is becoming a stumbling block to the unsaved. Don't you have any conscience about that? You know what they say? Well, the Lord's blessing us.
He's blessing you. Sure, can't you see? We're growing. We now have the biggest church in all of Denver. Another clergyman in another part of the country got to the point where he ran across the stage, jumped on his grand piano and said, this is my piano. He then ran across the stage, he jumped on his big organ and said, this is my organ. And then he went and he pounded on his big pulpit and said, this is my pulpit. It is my church. If we're rebuking for it, you know what he said? The Lord's blessing. Can't you see we're big? We've got all kinds of money. We're rich, increased with goods, and have need of nothing.
Abram was rich, increased with goods in Egypt. But there was something Abram did not have in Egypt. There was no altar in Egypt. It was not until he left Egypt and returned to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been pitched at the beginning. It wasn't until he left Egypt and went back to his altar that God spoke to Abram once again. What would we rather have? Would we rather have the big buildings? Rather have the bulging bank account.
So many Christians today, they don't pray about anything. They just simply write a check. Which would we rather have? All the wealth of Egypt or an altar? And the Lord speaking to us. This is what we can see in our own experience. It's a very easy trap to fall into and many do it. I talked to a successful businessman one time and I was questioning him about certain business practices because I deal, I speak to different businessmen around town and I asked him about Christian businessmen and I found out that this one was just a little shady and I was just kind of questioning about it.
I wasn't very harsh. You all know me well enough that I wouldn't get harsh. I was just questioning him and he was saying, but the Lord is blessed. The Lord has blessed us with all this wealth. I simply shrugged and said, funny thing, both Abraham and Isaac went down in Egypt and had great wealth. It wasn't until they got out of Egypt that they had an altar. Beloved, let us be more concerned that we have an altar. Let us be concerned about the Lord speaking to us. Prayer, it has been said, is more of us listening to what God has to say than us speaking to him. Let's make sure that the Lord is still speaking to our hearts because we have an oath.
Secondly, I want her to take note of the fact of the way in which Abram gave such little regard to his wife. Tell him you're my sister, so they won't kill me. And then she's taken off and put into Pharaoh's harem. Now, this was very much a compromising position. You'll notice here on the outline in paragraph E, We have subparagraph two, subparagraph little a, and then subparagraph one, not to be in the church. I want to just very quickly remind us this evening of a principle in Scripture concerning a man in his wife. This kind of activity is not to take place in the church.
A man is to have far greater regard for his wife than what Abram did. for his wife down in Egypt. Now we don't know how what Abram thought of his wife exactly. I would assume that he loved her very much. But in this particular case, he sure fell down on his nose. But I just want to point out here, Ephesians chapter five, verse twenty five, husbands love your wives, even if Christ also loved the church. Let me read that again, brethren. Husbands love your wives, even if Christ also loved the church. I don't know about you, brethren, but it is my prayer every day that the Lord would help me to love my wife as Christ loved the church.
And I want you also to keep something else in mind. Will Christ ever divorce his church? Could a man who divorces his wife be loving her at the same time as Christ loved the church? Could he? I would have to say no. Would a husband ever do anything to endanger his wife, to compromise his wife in any way? Would a husband ever act like a great Lord and Master and cracking the whip over his wife? Is that how the Lord treats us in the church?
No. Our Lord treats us in a very forgiving way. He treats us with tremendous mercy and grace. he cares for us dearly and oh how we like it when he when we can just feel how he would take us unto himself in those very precious moments in the Word of God and in prayer when we just feel like the Lord has thrown his arms around us and brought us close to himself oh how we rejoice at that husband love your wife that way if we had no other verse of Scripture in the entire Bible as to how husbands ought to act towards your wives concerning the permanency of Christian marriage.
If we had no other scripture but that, it would be enough. Husbands, love your wives. And yet I speak to couples today where a husband will say, my wife cheated on me. Isn't that terrible? Yes, that's terrible. Well, shouldn't I be able to divorce her? I just go right here and I say, Husbands, love your wives. But my wife is unruly. She's an old man. Doesn't keep the house clean. The dishes are dirty. She runs around in curlers all day. Doesn't that give me some right to get mad at her? Husbands, love your wives. How, as Christ loved the church.
If this was the only verse in the whole Bible on marriage, and it's not a whole lot more, but if this was the only one, it would be enough. Husband, love your wife. Let's not have any incidents like we see in the Old Testament with Abraham. Abraham lied. Abraham put his wife in a compromising position. That is not in God's order. God's order began in Genesis chapter three. Well, God has made one man, one woman, and there to be together forever. There is God's order. that is not good for man to live alone.
I'm going to make someone to help him. Oh, it's Genesis chapter two, I'm sorry. I'm going to make someone to help him. And he gave him a woman, a woman that came out of his side from a deep sleep. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Husbands ought to be willing to die for their wives, no matter how unlovable they may be at some times. Remember, brethren, you're not just all that exciting to live with either at times. No matter how unlovable they might be at times, he says, Love your wives. As Christ loved the church and gave himself forth, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. The current trend that we've been reading about a lot of wife beating, there should be no such thing in the church. I would be greatly surprised if there was any case like that here, but there are cases of Christian men beating their wives. You know what God says? Husband, love your wife as your own body. You don't go around kicking your own body around. We don't abuse our own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord of the Church.
My wife likes this verse, because whenever she asks me for something and I say, no, she says, listen, you're supposed to nourish and cherish me, and this is part of the nourishing. He says, you're well nourished, don't worry about it. No, husbands love your wives, care for her dearly, cherish her, nourish her, physical things, in spiritual things. For we are all members of his body, of his flesh, of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. You do not separate one flesh. Not done. You don't go around cutting off your arm. Not done.
God intended for that man and that woman to be one and to stay that way. He says, now you're not two, you're one. So husband, See to it that you treat your wife as you would your own body because, in fact, she is. She is one flesh with us. It is really a grand thing. It's a tremendous thing. A man sinks with his head. A woman sinks with her heart. Put the two together and you got a complete person. One that sinks with her head and their heart both. And I know this by my own experience. I always look at things as two plus two equals four and nothing else matters. My wife always comes along and says, now you ought to be a little more sympathetic.
That's where my health, that is neat for me, comes along and says, now, wait a minute, just calm down there. Javi, let's look at this a little differently. It's a grand thing, the way God has put the man and the woman together. So let us cherish this relationship. Let us be careful that whenever we see any Christian... or even the ungodly whenever we see a man abusing his wife in any way physically emotionally spiritually in any way let us remind them what God said husband love your wives you're not to turn them aside Abram in his lapse of faith his lapse of faith laps totally he went down into Egypt he was afraid for his own sin And then he took part of his body and put her in a compromising position.
It is a terrible thing. But we see Abram as the man of faith went up out of Egypt in chapter thirteen verse one. He had gone down into Egypt. Now he is going to come up out of Egypt. He is coming to the higher plane. He is coming to the plane of restoration. He is coming back to his altar. On the plane of restoration, we're going to see another separation. You can see from the outline that I call Lot the also-ran. In verse five of chapter thirteen we read, and Lot also who went with Abram. So I call him the also-ran.
He kind of went on Abram's coattail. He was kind of following along. We never see where Lot was called a God. We never see where Lot actually obeyed God in the same way that Abraham did. But Lot also went with Abram. Now we're going to find out what Lot is really made of. Now in the Word of God, we read later on that Lot is called a just man, a righteous man. But God has declared him righteous. We must follow in line there too. In our text, you remember that I... took note of the words at the end of verse eight, for we are brethren.
There is Abraham and Lot. Lot is actually his nephew, but Abram speaks to him and says, we are brethren. Let there be no striving between us. Now, strife among brethren will stem from carnality, not necessarily on the part of both people involved. There'll be one carnal and one spiritual. But what happens when you have one carnal and one spiritual? Well, one of two things is going to happen. Either the carnal is going to become spiritual or else the carnal is going to want to leave. So there is going to be a separation among brethren. Abram is saying, let there not be a strife, but Lot, you go your way and I'll go my way.
Abram proved his spirituality at this point by giving Lot, the lesser man, the choice. The choice should have went to Abram. He was the older man. He was the spiritual leader of the household now. He was Lord in this situation over this family. That's what they called him. Sarah, his wife, called him Lord. So he is the man who's in charge. He should have had the choice. But being the more gracious, he turned to Lot and said, you pick. And he thus gave Lot an opportunity to show where his heart is. Second Timothy chapter four in verse ten we read, of Demas who pursued Paul having loved this present evil world.
He loved the world. Think of it. You know, how many times I've kind of wondered within myself how exciting it would be to travel with the Apostle Paul. Have you ever thought that? Wouldn't that be tremendous? Walk down the road with the Apostle Paul, you know, himself? And here was a man who actually did it and left him because he loved this present evil world. Lot proved what was in his heart. He chose the plane that was before him, and he pitched his tent toward Sodom. Later on in our lesson, we're going to read how he pitched his tent here toward Sodom. Later we're going to see him right in the city itself, and then later on we'll see him sitting in the gate of the city, meaning he's one of the city officials.
It all started when Lot looked towards the plane. He chose the plane, and that is where his heart was. His heart was there on the plane, but Abram had his heart on the things of God. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And what does it say? And all these things shall be added unto you. Remember what we read here in chapter thirteen at the end? Verse fourteen, the Lord said unto Abram, After Lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes. Look from the place where there are northward, southward, eastward, and westward. Seek ye first the kingdom of God.
Lot said, all take the plane. God came to Abram and says, I'm going to give you the whole thing. Lot had a plane. Lot pitched his tent toward a city, Sodom. The Lord came to Abram and says, I'm going to give you it all. You get it all. And all these things. will be added unto you. This is the promise of God to Abram. You'll notice in the last section of the outline I have here a personal lesson for us concerning our sanctification. My time is gone. I'll just go through quickly. Sanctification is a word that is used in connection with our salvation in Second Thessalonians, two thirteen and first Peter one, two.
Abraham was given a call from God to depart from His country, His kindred, and His Father's God. You and I, as Christians, as saints, have a heavenly calling. In Hebrews chapter three and verse one, we read, wherefore... Well, I'm going to go back and read it. In Hebrews chapter three, verse one, wherefore holy brethren, the word holy, saint, sanctify, all come from the the same Greek root word, hagius, which means to be separate. Wherefore separated brethren, sanctified brethren, as we see in II Thessalonians, II, I Peter I, II.
You who are separated, wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. We have a heavenly calling. As you'll see in the outline, the heavenly calling, A heavenly people in Ephesians one, three, two, five, and six. A heavenly citizenship in Philippians three, twenty. A heavenly inheritance, Colossians one, twelve and thirteen. A heavenly destination, John fourteen, one to three. First Corinthians fifteen, fifty to fifty-seven. First Thessalonians four, sixteen to seventeen. Wherefore we ought to live accordingly. Not down in Egypt.
but at the altar. We are to separate ourselves from the things of this world, mortify the flesh, reckon the old man is dead so that the Holy Spirit may dwell up within us. Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. Do not yoke up with unbelievers in any way, shape or form. And if there is strife among the brethren, then we must teach them, love them, encourage them. But if they must go to this present evil world, if they are like Demas, who love this present world, if they are like Lot, who chose the plane, our position is at the altar of God, to seek first the kingdom of God, to seek always the high things.
We are a heavenly people with a heavenly calling. Let us be sure, beloved, that we are behaving ourselves accordingly. Now we're going to see in the life of Abraham that he failed at this at times, but still the Word of God is going to declare this man a great man of faith. There is no reason why you and I today can't also be real people of faith, men and women of faith. We have an advantage that Abraham didn't have. We have the indwelling Holy Spirit. We have the completed Word of God. We have Abraham's example of how much more should we be living the lives of a heavenly people, a people of faith.
Let's close in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank thee for thy word from beginning to end. It is rich in blessing and we're so thankful Fathers, that thou has given to us these precious truths, things that the patriarchs, the prophets, could not take advantage of, that thou has given to us. Father, we thank you for it. And I'll help us to live lives that show the blessings that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord, in heavenly places. Father, help us to live like a heavenly people, pilgrims on this earth, of people that is worshiping, bowing down to thee and bowing down to the will and to the works that thou has for our lives.