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Ps Luke Williams
Sunday 7th May 2017

“Beginnings” Series (13)
The Book of Genesis
“Learning the lessons”
Message Notes
TEXT: Genesis 14&15


Pig the Pug Illustration:

· Last year we started a series through the book of Genesis called “Beginnings”
· Started brilliantly (I was going to say with a bang, but there was no big bang). God created the heavens and the earth with His Word.
· The pinnacle of this magnificent creation was mankind and He looked over what He had created and He said it was “Very good”.
· But that only lasted 2 chapters and in Chapter 3 we saw the fall of man where Adam and Eve decided they wanted to be independent of God.
· They wanted to be their own god, sin entered creation and for the remaining 11 chapters that we explored, we saw the constant spiralling downward of creation which included the flood and concluded at the tower of Babel where God confused the languages of the people and they were all divided.

2 weeks ago Ps.Dave relaunched the series and started with Genesis 12 which is a pivotal passage in the Old Testament and in Salvation History.
· Critically important because God outlays His vision to reverse the curse of sin and death, which commenced at the fall, and the thing I love is that He chooses to do it by plucking someone out of obscurity.
· God chooses an ordinary man called Abram and does extraordinary things through Him.

Start of Genesis 12 God makes some incredible promises.
“Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the people on earth will be blessed through you.

· The ultimate blessing would come years down the track through Christ and so in a roundabout way this is one of the first Gospel promises in Scripture.
· It will ultimately be Jesus who reverses the curse of sin by dying on our behalf and it is only Jesus who defeats death by overcoming it at His resurrection. In this way, all nations are blessed.
· In Revelation, it talks about every tribe and nation and tongue bowing before the throne of God.
· It all started through Abram.

Last week Rowan did a great job preaching his first sermon and he took us through chapter 13.
Start of our Pig the Pug moment.
Abram had obediently left His country, but He only partially left his people.
In other words, He took with him, his nephew Lot.
HUGE Step for Abram and I can imagine him sort of saying “Why don’t you come with me?” I will if you will..
· It’s not long before that partial obedience starts to cause issues.
· Lot’s people and Abrams people start to quarrel. Abram said let’s not quarrel. Let’s go our separate ways. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right and if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.
· Basically, Abram is giving Lot his choice of land.
· Lot looked around and saw that the plain of the Jordan towards Zoar was well watered, like the Garden of the Lord. So, Lot chose for himself that whole plain.
· In other words, he looked around and thought that land looks awesome and that land looks really average and he said I’ll take the good stuff for myself. pig the pug he thought mine, mine, mine, mine.
· Abram was willing to share. He graciously gave Lot the choice.

Genesis 14& 15: Three lessons I want to highlight from these 2 chapters.

1. Our decisions determine our future.

· Coin Example

In this story, Abram and Lot could represent 2 sides of a coin.
· On Abrams side of the coin we find a man who acts in a way that is gracious and generous (this is what God calls us to be as Christians) and on Lot’s side we have a man who acts in a way that is stingy and selfish.
· Lot was only living in the blessing of God because he was with Abram, the man who God had made the promises too.
· Even though everything he had come from God through Abram he still selfishly took the best for himself.
· Abram was generous, Lot was selfish. Abram gave Lot the choice and verse 11 of Genesis 13 says Lot chose for HIMSELF the best land.

It was those two different decisions that started to determine their futures.

· Abram settled in Canaan and continued to be blessed and Lot settled near Sodom and it’s not long before Lot comes crashing back to earth.
· Biblical narrative focuses on Abram but the truth is that there is a lot happening outside of him.
· All around Abram there is conflict going on.
· First few verses there are a whole lot of names of different Kings and locations. They are a mouthful!
· Today we started at verse 11 of chapter 14.
· Summarize what happened in the first 10 verses: there was conflict going on.
· Basically 4 kings vs 5 kings.
· One of the Kings was called Kedorloamer and for 12 years he had been the King in charge of all the others.
· But in the 13th year 5 of the other kings rebelled. Kedorloamer goes on conquering land but 2 years later the 5 kings who rebelled go head to head with him in battle.
· The end result is that Kedorloamer defeats them and carries them off as loot and part of that loot is that Lot is carried off.

Here’s the profound part that God showed me this week:
When Lot first chose the land for himself, it says this:

CHAPTER 13:11So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord. (In verse 12 Lot chooses to go and live near Sodom)

CHAPTER 14:12 They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living .

Q. How often do we think that we can live near sin without living in sin?
When it comes to sin we often think that we can venture near but won’t end up in.

Examples: Dabbling with sin



Q. Who knows if you keep going near, you’ll eventually end up in.
You keep playing near the edge of a cliff, you’ll eventually fall over the edge.

Decisions determine our future.

Lot chose to go near and he soon ended up in.
Q. I wonder what areas of our lives are teetering near the edge?
Resist the devil and he will flee.
Flee (run away in terror) from sexual immorality.

James 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

· Notice the progression. DOESN’T START WITH DEATH…
· Temptation says “come closer” but each person is tempted when they are “dragged away” by their own evil desire and enticed.
· Then temptation and desire come together, in an awful union, and they give birth to a little baby called sin.
· Sin (unattended too) grows up and eventually it gives birth to an ugly little baby called death.

Our decisions determine our future.
Where you are and what you are doing in 10 years’ time will be profoundly influenced by the decisions you are making now.
Q. If you were to flip the coin in your life today would it land on wise, gracious decision making, or would it land on selfish, foolish decision making?
Would it lead you towards a God honouring future, or would it lead you down another road?
· As a Church leadership team, we don’t make any major decisions when it comes to vision or direction without the opportunity for prayer, input and accountability of the entire team.
· The reason we do that is because we know that the decisions we make determine the future of Follow both positively and negatively and with a team comes collective discernment and wisdom and therefore a wiser, more Christ honouring outcome.
As individuals, this is why community is so powerful.
· Find wise people in this community and in your life who you can seek counsel from, who’s example you can follow and whose advice is godly because often they’ll help you not to go near, so that you won’t end up in.

Lesson no.1 = Decisions determine our future.

2. Grace and forgiveness brings people back
Abram was very gracious to Lot twice in this passage.
Firstly, he gives Lot the choice of the land. Lot like Pig the Pug chooses to selfishly stockpile the best for himself and he ends up taking a fall, and being captured by a foreign king.
Abram for the second time is faced with a choice.
Q. I wonder what you and I would do in this situation?
You have taken your spoilt nephew with you, he has been blessed because of God’s promise to you but now he has selfishly taken the best for himself and has got himself into trouble.

To be honest it would be hard to feel any sympathy for him.
Maybe you’ve found yourself in a situation like this?
I’m sure each of us have had times where we’ve been hurt, felt betrayed and disrespected.
Maybe you’ve thought “Why should I help them now?” They’ve bought this upon themselves. This relationship is all one way. I’ve given everything- they’ve given nothing. They don’t deserve my help. You had your chance, you blew it.
But Abram steps into the breech, and his grace and forgiveness brings Lot back.
Abram risked his life to save his nephew who didn’t deserve it.

14:14When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.

Notice that his forgiveness was proactive, it was backed with actions (not just words) and it was expressed towards someone who didn’tdeserve it.
Didn’t just bring Lot back physically from captivity, it bought him back relationally as well.
Forgiveness is not easy….BUT….it’s also not optional as a Christian.

FORGIVENESS EXAMPLE: Child killed by drunk driver and forgiven by Karl Sisson

One of the things I love about forgiveness is that it brings people back.
Trevor the sausage dog received Pig the Pug.
Karl Sisson received that drunk driver.
Abram received Lot.

Our forgiveness or lake thereof will either shut people out or bring people back.
Story of the Prodigal Son; the Father’s forgiveness bought the son back not with reluctance or restrictions but with acceptance and grace.

Question we should ask is what kind of community should we be? One that keeps people out, or one that brings people back?

Lesson number 2 = Grace and forgiveness brings people back

3. God is faithful

At the start of chapter 15 at this point, Abram has just won a great battle. God has done the miraculous, he has defeated the kings and he has rescued Lot, however he is still no closer to the promise. He hasn’t received the Promised Land and he still has no son.

Chapter 15 starts this way and God comes to remind Abram that He hasn’t forgotten the promise:

1After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield, your very great reward.”
2But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

NOW look at verse 6,7 & 8.
If this was an episode of this is your life, it could easily be the story of Luke Williams.
6Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
7He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
8But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

Abram believed. God reminded Him. Abram doubted.
Luke believed. God reminded him. Luke doubts.

This is the pattern of people throughout scripture and with the benefit of hindsight we look at them and graciously say “You idiots”
For every finger, we point at them there are three fingers pointing back at us.
Quick to criticize but this is our lives, isn’t it?
I have days of great faith. God, you are incredible. Nothing is impossible with you! I can move mountains, conquer armies, win victories because you are with me. You own the cattle on a thousand hills, your arm is not too short. If God is for me, then who can be against me?
THEN God reminds me of how faithful He has been. Lord you have been gracious and kind, you have come through in my life over and over again. You are Jehovah Jireh, my provider. You are the Lord, God Almighty. Just in all your ways, Faithful to all your promises.
But What if? But How? But When? But Why?
This is my life and if we’re honest this is probably your life as well.
We believe, God reminds, we doubt.

He reminds Abram with the words “I am the Lord”.
No greater words of faith than those over the issues of our lives as well.

What areas do you need to declare those words over in your life?

Don’t forget who He is but remind yourself today that HE IS THE LORD.
In the rest of this chapter God reaffirms the promises he has made regarding Abram’s leadership, his land and his descendants but he also reminds him in verse 1 that regardless of how nice those things are it is God Himself who will be his great reward.

In life, there are often prayers that go unanswered and it’s hard to know why.
There are times when we are desperate for things in life but the answer is no, or wait and those times can be painful.
If you are going through something like that there are people here every single week ready to pray with you and for you.

BUT the truth is whatever blessings we receive in life there is no greater reward or treasure than relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
It’s a reward that has blessing attached to it that is eternal.
If we go through life and there is pain and strife and struggle, even if it was for 100 years it would be worth it for relationship with God.

Our future in Him is one free of lack, free of pain, free of boredom and free of suffering. That reward is guaranteed through a relationship with Jesus.
It’s not deserved, it’s not earned, it’s not strived for.
When we trust in Him it can’t be taken, it can’t be lost and it can’t be stolen.

Why? Because He is the Lord and He is faithful.

Today my prayer is that we will learn from the lessons in Genesis 14&15.
That we will make wise decisions that will shape our future, that we will be gracious and forgiving and that we would remind ourselves that God is faithful.