THROUGH THE BIBLE: Genesis 1..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Good morning, everyone. Welcome once again to church.

What a great privilege that the Lord gives us every Sunday to come together as the people of God, by his grace, in faith, in Jesus Christ, we come to worship him. And this morning we are going to be doing our corporate reading as we always do. This morning we're going to be reading together Genesis chapter 13, and we are going to be reading, going through the chapter, and also addressing the main points that we find here in Genesis chapter 13. So if you have your Bibles, please open them up to Genesis chapter 13. I'm going to be reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible, and this is the Word of God.

So Abram went up from Egypt. He and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him into the Negev. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold, and he journeyed on from the Negev, as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord who went with Abram also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, and there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. At that time, the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.

Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no strife between you and me and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. It is not the whole land before you. Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, I will go to the left. lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered, everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar.

This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. Verse 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

The Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are northward and southward and eastward and westward. for all the land that you see, I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you." So Abram moved his tent and came, unsettled by the oaks of memory.

which are at Hebron, or Hebron. And there he built an altar to the Lord. Amen. This is the word of God, beloved. Chapter 13 is, of course, the continuation of that which we studied in Chapter 12.

And let me submit to you that Chapter 12, if we want to understand what we have here in Chapter 13, we have to understand the promise that was given to Abram in Chapter 12. And this is going to be foundational for our studies through Genesis and the way that we understand covenants. In the beginning of Chapter 12, the Lord said to Abram, leave the land that you live in and your family or your people and then go to the land that I will show you. I will bless you and I will make you a great nation. So leave this land go to this land that i'm going to show you and in this land i'm going to make you a great nation and whoever blesses you i will bless and whoever curses you i will curse so move from here and go to this other place that i will show you and go there this was the commandment this was the lord said to abram and then he when he started that trip he was approaching to this place to this land that was given to him and as he arrived there something happened there was a famine there was lack in the land.

There was no food. There was lack of resources. So then Abram decided to go to Egypt. That's what we studied last week. He goes to Egypt and in Egypt he lies about Sarai being his sister and all of the things that happened.

And then Pharaoh says, go and depart from me. Now that promise that was given to Abram in the first verses of chapter 12 is foundational for our understanding of chapter 13. Because this chapter is divided in three different parts. Verse 1 to verse 4, verse 5 to 13, and then 14 to verse 18. The first section of this chapter tells us the reaction of Abram when he departed from Egypt, that he goes back into the path of leaving the earth or leaving the land, Bera, towards the promised land that was given by God.

So he departed from that path and went to Egypt, and now he's coming back into that path towards the land. That's the first section. But then the second section is that when they come back to that path, going to the land that was given to them, They found out that now we have too many things between Lot and Abram that we cannot be together. So it's the separation of Abram and Lot. And then the third part of this chapter is that God speaks to Abraham or Abram here again.

So we have coming back to the path towards the land, and then we have the separation of Abram and Lot, and then we have God speaking again to Abram in the end of the chapter. And all of these three points, and all of these three sections of this chapter are founded in the promise that was given to Abram in chapter 12. Leave this place, go to that land, because I will make you a great nation, and whoever blesses you I will bless, and whoever curses you I will curse. Now, the first section we can see, beloved, that once Abraham and Lot departed or left Egypt, they come back to that path going towards the land that was given to them. And the Bible says that Abraham was very rich, that he had so many things.

The word that we have in English to say that he was rich is very. But in Hebrew, this implies that he had lots of things, everything that he needed. Yet, think about this. When he was going from the land that he lived in towards the land that was promised, there was a famine in the land and then he went to Egypt. The thing is that for the concept of prosperity in the mind of the people in this age, the land and the offspring were the two items that would define prosperity for you.

So not that much the things that you had in and of yourself, but rather the land where you live and the offspring. Because the commandment that was given to men in the garden was, you will be fruitful and multiply your offspring and you will have dominion over the earth. So the land where they lived and the offspring that they had were the items that would define how prosperous a person was. That's why Abraham decides to go to Egypt in lack when he saw there was a famine or there was lack of resources. Now he's going back towards the land, and now the Bible says that he had a lot of things.

And because of the things that he had, he comes to the second section of this chapter, and he realizes that it's not only him that has a lot of things, but also a lot. This important section here in this chapter is going to tell us a lot about the substance and the message of this chapter, beloved. Pay attention to this. Both of them had lots of things, many animals and they were prosperous in the things that they had. Yet the land was not sufficient for the two of them to be together.

But Abraham is going to do something very important here. He was the older one. He was the one who had taken a lot in this trip. So he had the right, Abraham had the right to say, I'm going to take this land and then you go that way. But Abraham comes and says, You have the land in front of you.

If, choose, if you go to the left, if you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left. Abram was submitted to Lot. Why was he doing that? This is teaching us something very important.

The promise that was given to Abram in chapter 12 was now clearly understood by Abram as the foundation for his success walking towards the land. So he was submitting entirely to Lot saying, you choose wherever you go because God is going to take me to the land that he has promised me. Now, in his mind, in Abram, remember that he had seen in Egypt the abundance of Egypt compared to the famine or the lack that he had in his land. That's why he went to Egypt. And now the Bible says something very important here.

Lot lifts up his head and then he sees the land and then he says the Jordan Valley. And the Jordan Valley says here the word of God that was watered, that was very rich. And here in verse 10, it says, and Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere. And then it says, like the garden of the Lord. And then it says, like the land of Egypt.

So it is not only Lot who was the one who lifted up his eyes to see the land. Of course, Abraham was also seeing the land. And he saw that this land, the Jordan Valley, was so rich, like the garden of the Lord. It was so rich, like Egypt, the place that he had just gone with his family to protect himself from the famine. Yet he says, you choose.

And then, of course, Lot lifted up his head and he says, I'm going to go to the Jordan Valley. Now, if we're putting this in human terms, Abram had the right to go and choose this land, which was the Jordan Valley, that was very rich, that was like the garden of the Lord, that was like Egypt. He had gone to Egypt, actually, just to get all of those resources. Now, there was a land there that he could have gone, that he could have chosen, but then he says, you go there. Now, this is very important, beloved, because the promise that was given to him in Genesis chapter 12 was now the foundation for everything that Abraham, and then Abraham will do from chapter 13 to chapter 15 in the establishment of his covenant, and then the giving of the sign of the covenant in chapter 17.

Abram had understood that it was not about him trying to find the land where he will have all the resources to accomplish that which God gave him, but it was entirely about God taking him through this whole journey towards the land that he had promised him. He had already attempted in his own effort to go to Egypt in order to find abundance. And he knew that that was a mistake. Now he says, and he rests upon the sovereignty of God. And he says, you choose Lot, choose whatever land you want.

And now we see here in the Bible that Lot, actually, when he saw the Jordan Valley, that it was so rich and there were so many things like the garden of the Lord or like Egypt, of course he decided to go there. Later, in the book of Numbers, we will know that this land, it was a part, it was not the land that God had promised and given to Abraham. It was beyond the boundaries of the land. This Jordan Valley was beyond the boundaries of the land that was given to Abraham. So Abraham was obeying by faith God.

He was submitting to the circumstances and saying, Go where you have to go, that I will go where I have to go. Now this is why the third section of the chapter becomes what is called the confirmation of the promise. This is the second time now that the Lord will speak to Abraham. That promise that was given in Genesis 12, the beginning, now is confirmed in the end of this chapter. In the end of this chapter, he says to Abraham, now that Lot has departed, Lot has taken the better land in the eyes of men.

He has taken that Jordan Valley that is so prosperous and so rich. He has taken that. Now that you are with me, let me tell you something. I will confirm. the promise that I gave you in Genesis 12.

Not with these words, I'm just paraphrasing. And then I will take you to that land. You see all of this land? I will give it to you. All of this will be yours and I will make a great nation from you.

And there is a comparison here between Lot and between Abram because Abram extended his tent towards Sodom or Gomorrah, which is wicked, and some commentators will say that this is an illustration of the world, but then Abram extended or moved his tent towards Hebron, which is the land of the inheritance of God, keep by the promise. Now, this is very important and foundational, because this promise that was given in Genesis 12 is not only the foundation for us to understand Genesis 13, but beloved, then in Galatians chapter 3, The Apostle Paul says something very important. He's speaking of this moment here, that Abraham received the gospel. This is Galatians 3 verse 8. That scripture foreseeing that God will justify the nations, the Gentiles, by faith, he preached the gospel to Abraham, saying, in you I will make a great nation.

I will give you a great nation. So that the promise will not be through the law, but it will be through faith. It says that this promise that was given to him in Genesis 12 was the gospel. Now it is the gospel that God gave to Abraham, this is what Galatians 3 says, plus the faith that Abraham had, what we see here in Genesis chapter 3, what kept him going towards the inheritance of the land that was promised and given to him. Last week when we came together and we spoke about Peter, Peter says that we are kept and that we are preserved towards that eternal inheritance by God's power through our faith.

Abraham had faith in the promise that was given to him in Genesis 12, and then he said, Lot, you choose whatever is best for you. I will continue going with the promise of my God. Now, something very important. That in Genesis 12, God said to him, You have this book in your hands. Abraham had only the promise that was given to him with the mouth, or from the mouth of God.

He did not have a book where he can come and confirm the promises that were given or said to him. He only heard that once. It is the Word of God, that which empowers his gospel, so our faith is empowered, and his Word is sufficient for us to believe, to trust in his promise, and to keep walking towards the land that it is preserved and is kept for us. Abraham is starting doing that just based on that promise. And the Lord is so good that the Lord is going to take that promise that was given to him in Genesis 12, confirmed in chapter 13, and he is going to make it a covenant in chapter 15 with the shedding of blood.

He's going to establish it as a covenant. And not only that, but then in chapter 17, he's going to give him a sign of that covenant. And understanding the difference between a promise, a covenant, and the sign of a covenant is so foundational for our interpretation of the Bible, that this will help us as we progress in our studies to understand why we are a Reformed Baptist Church. Because how we understand these covenants define entirely how we understand the Bible. May the Lord bless us.

Amen. Let's put it together.