Lot – Part 1 – A Lot Of Trouble For God – For Abraham – And For Himself – Genesis 11 – 13 Lot Begins His Failure Series

LOT – PART 1 – A LOT OF TROUBLE FOR GOD – FOR ABRAHAM – AND FOR HIMSELF – GENESIS 11 – 13 LOT BEGINS HIS FAILURE

One the more troubled characters in the Old Testament is Lot and he had a life that began with a good example in Abram and deteriorated from there on. We will look at this man’s life over a few messages. This is PART 1.

LET US GO TO THE BEGINNING – THE BACKGROUND

{{Genesis 11:31 “Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan and they went as far as Haran and settled there.”}}

It all began with Terah who decided to leave Ur in the Chaldees that was in the same region as the ziggurat of Genesis chapter 11 was. His ambition was to journey to Canaan but they got as far as Haran and there they settled. Terah took his own son Abram, and Lot, his grandson (son of his son, Haran), and Sarai, Abram’s wife also.

It was at this point that Lot’s relationship with Abram became firmer and the two of them were together for some time. Terah died in Haran aged 205. After that God took up Abram in order that the great workings of the will of God might be performed. No one man apart from the Lord was as influential in the outworking of God’s will and purposes, as Abram. This was the start of a whole new era, having left behind the disgrace of Babel and all Nimrod’s corruption.

This is the bible’s account from around 2000 B.C. – {{Genesis 12:1-3 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father’s house to the land which I will show you, Gen 12:2 and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great, and so you shall be a blessing. Gen 12:3 I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse. In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed,”}}

In obedience to the Lord’s command Abram ventured forth in the words of Paul – {{Hebrews 11:8-10 “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going. Heb 11:9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise, Heb 11:10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”}}

From that we appreciate the importance of faith for there is no greater working principle than faith, for that is the way God ordained it. The righteous shall live by faith and without faith it is impossible to please God. Abram went out of Haran by faith. Right at the time of Abram’s initial call, God gave him the promises that are irrefutable. They can not be distorted or replaced as a certain brand of theology has done, largely dismissing Israel and the Jews.

The land was his inheritance, later defined by boundaries and the great promise of that inheritance being for his descendants from the Euphrates River to the Nile. Of course that is not yet operational but in the Millennium it will be fully realised. Abraham was an alien in his own land, which did not become a reality for the Jews until after the exodus. What we don’t appreciate in the Old Testament is Abram’s personal sincere desire. That we learn in Hebrews for he looked for a city that was founded by God. That faith took him beyond the immediate dwelling of his own time.

All the saints of God must have a desire that takes them beyond their own time. The Old Testament believers looked for the establishment of the promises given to Abraham. They also looked for the coming King/Messiah who would come to rule in His kingdom. The New Testament believers look for the heavenly city that opens to each one at death or at the Rapture. We look forward to the coming of the Lord and love His appearing. Christians are heavenly people with all their future and treasure in heaven, whereas Israel is an earthly people with all their future in the land and that is where their treasure will be. That is future. Today in the Church age, there is no difference between Gentile and Jew for all enter in through faith.