Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro*

We are looking at the life of Abraham.

Our theme has been this idea of what to do when our lives are stuck on pause.

How do we live in the gap between what God has promised and the reality of our circumstances?

We saw this is a picture of Abraham’s life.

He had God’s promises of land, seed and blessing.

However, God does not give him the how or the when.

Faith was more about loving and knowing the One who was leading than getting the promises.

It is always about the Promise-Giver more than the promises.

He first had to embrace the call of God for his life (Gen.

12:1-3).

By the way, embracing the call of God is not a one-time embrace.

The call of God will come 12 times to Abraham.

And each time God shares a little bit more about it.

It is multi-faceted.

And each time Abraham has to surrender.

And each time he does, God didn’t always give him answers, but more of Himself.

That is the life of faith.

Then as Steve led us last week, Abraham was tested with the promise.

He failed.

When the going got tough, the tough went running.

He gave up the land, jeopardized the seed by selling off his wife to Pharaoh and instead of being a blessing to the nations, he brought a curse on the nation of Egypt (Gen.

12:10-13:4).

But aren’t you glad that /God holds on to us more than we hold on to Him and His promises?/

God intervenes and saves Abraham from Abraham.

The consequences are there, but Abraham learns that he must trust God when trials come.

Genesis, remember, is a sermon to Israel, as they too are about to take hold of the land and will be tested in their faith.

Today Abraham will be tested again.

Will he live by faith or live by sight?

When our life is stuck on pause, this will be the ultimate question.

Will we live by faith or by sight?

Will we live by promises or explanations?

Will we live to obey God even when we make positive advances toward God in obedience, but that results in negative consequences?

Let’s start with this thought: 

*I.

**Living by faith means believing that failure is not final (Gen.

13:1-4)*

Look at Gen. 13:1.

Steve talked about this silent return back to the land.

Notice Lot is with him.

Lot, too, should have learned the lesson.

Abraham was already wealthy and now more wealthy due to his disobedience.

Lot is similarly wealthy, perhaps from his dad’s inheritance, but more so from tagging along with Uncle Abraham.

This might sound like a good thing happened to these guys, but Abraham’s next test will come in this area of prosperity and his relationship with Lot will be severed.

But notice that Abraham goes back to where he last left off his worship.

This is repentance.

It is never how bad or how often you fall in your faith, but /how fast you return/.

It is not the severity of your fall, but the quickness of your return to God.

A good sign of how you know you are growing in grace is how fast you return to the Lord.

How quick is your repentance?

Living by faith is about how well you handle your failures.

Do you focus on your badness or His goodness?

Do you beat yourself up, trying to earn your way back?

Or do you rest on the grace of God, which is greater than all your sin?

We always talk about a God of second chances and new beginnings.

But I wonder if that puts in our mind that what we need is simply to stop sinning and start acting right, as if it is all about behavior modification and a promise to do better.

That is dangerous.

Perhaps it would be more biblical to say, as Scotty Smith says, “God gives us not second chances, but /He gives us Jesus/.

His name is Redeemer, no redo.”[1]

The Gospel gives us something better than a second chance.

It gives us a new life.

We get a fresh opportunity to trust in Jesus and to love Him.

It is not that I promise to do better, but admitting that left to my own devices, I do not have the resources to do life and that I am daily need of God’s grace.

It is a return to believe Him more first, before acting right.

The world (not the Bible by the way) says, “God helps those who help themselves.”

But the Bible tells us that God helps those who are helpless and place their helpless heart on the Ultimate Helper.

Sometimes when we are stuck on pause, we will put our hands on the wheel and crash, but we must always go back to the altar, the place of surrender, the place of our departure, forsake sin, worship and come to the place where we find God always waiting for us!

Secondly:

*II.

Living by faith means putting our priorities in order (Gen.

13:5-13)*

Notice Moses keeps letting us know that Lot was with Abraham (Gen.

11:31, 12:4; 13:1, 5).

Lot has seen Abraham through Abraham’s ups and downs.

He was with him when he failed in Egypt, when he built the altars in worship and came back to the altar in repentance.

You would think that Lot would have learned that scheming for yourself gets you into trouble and that choosing God’s way is always best.

But Lot doesn’t learn.

This teaches us something.

/Going through trials does not guarantee that you will grow from them/.

Look at Heb. 12:11: “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness t/o those who have been trained by it./

There is still a posture of your heart that must be teachable in a trial.

Abraham seems to have this deep repentance from his sojourn in Egypt.

Granted he will fail again later in Gen. 20, but his humility in this chapter definitely shows that God had been working on his soul.

Yet Abraham and Lot are totally different.

/Abraham owned his wealth, but wealth owned Lot/.

Both Abraham and Lot are “living large,” so large that there is no room for the both of them to stay together.

One author notes that, “As nomadic tribesmen they had to travel about looking continually for pasture for their sheep and cattle.

Since the land was already inherited, there wasn’t a lot of pasture to choose from.

Consequently, each man’s herdsmen sought water and the best pasture for the animals of their master.”[2]

By the way, the Canaanites were those who lived in the town, the urban people, but the Perizzites were those who lived in the country, the suburban people.

But this leaves little room for Abraham and Lot together.

Who did the land belong to?

Abraham.

Lot should have said to his uncle, “God said you should have this land.

This land is yours.

I came with you because you believed that.

And besides, you are my uncle and I am the nephew.

You are older and I am younger.

You guys been having a rough marriage with the whole Egypt thing and aunt Sarah is under a lot of stress, so you stay here!”

Nope.

We see nothing of the sort.

Look at Gen. 13:8.

We see Abraham’s heart: “For we are kinsmen.”

Wenham says, “The wording seems to imply, “Men should not quarrel, let alone brothers.”[3]

Abraham could have very well said, “Now, look here, Lot, this land belongs to me.