Abram and Lot
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
Let us bring before you the "as" and "so" of the Lord's Return. The days of Lot are likened unto the days of the Coming of the Son of Man.
Our Lord did not hesitate to reach back into the historical, distant past, and then look forward to the prophetical, distant future, and say, "as" and "so."
He knew the details of the days of Lot, for He was there. He knew the details of the day of His Coming, for He lives in one eternal "now," and He is there. That which is "misty" to man is "clear sky" to Him.
In the days of Lot the wickedness of man had come to the full, and the judgments of God, with miraculous power, fell upon man to his utter undoing.
In the days of the Coming of the Son of Man, the world will be ripe in its iniquity and sin; and the judgments of God will again fall in miraculous power.
The judgments of God in those days will be followed in close parallel in the day of Christ's Return to the Mount of Olives. The comparisons of those days of Lot, with the times of the ending of this age, are too many for the space of our study.
With bowed head, we marvel at the majesty of the Lord's vision, as He spoke this "as" and "so." His words went across the whole opinion of man. He dared to say what unregenerate man had never dared or cared to say. The world wants smooth words, and flattering words, words of optimism, and of the "upward trend." Christ spoke words to the contrary.
The world wants us to prophesy "success," Christ prophesied "failure." The Lord even brought the success of the ministrations of the Spirit, and of the Church, in this day of grace, into seeming disrepute. He was, however, in fact, not speaking of the Spirit's failure, nor of the Church's collapse, He was only showing that man, even under such benign privileges, would prove himself altogether corrupted.
The wonder of wonders is that the nineteen hundred years that have passed since our Lord reached back to the days of Lot, and said, "As," and then looked down to the days of His Coming again, and said "so," have proved that the Lord's words were true. The "so" of our day is even now fast running into the mold of the "as" of that early historic day. It is now as it was then. Our conclusion is that we are drawing very near to the days of the Coming of the Son of Man.
Just this one word more. Let no man become discouraged or shaken in his faith by means of the present apostasy, and the prevailing world-wickedness of men. The present day, with all of its sin and sorrow, should only settle, strengthen, and establish faith, for Christ's own prophecy has become history; His "as" has become "so," even as He said.
I. ABRAM WAS VERY RICH (Genesis 13:2)
There are some who imagine that being rich is impossible for real saints. How then about Abram? It is the love of money which is the root of all evil. They who will be rich pierce themselves through with many sorrows.
1. The bane of wealth. The bane of wealth is to love money, and to set one's affection upon it. He who loves his money will make money for money's sake. He will hoard his riches, gloat upon his wealth, and, in every way prove himself miserly. No matter what the need of others may be, he will hoard all he has, and close his ears to every cry of the poor. He will lay his treasures up for himself.
2. The blessing of riches. In the first place, Abram did not obtain his riches through worldly means. It was God who increased his store. When the king of Sodom wanted to enrich Abram, the Patriarch said, "I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich."
Again, Abram never counted himself more than a mere tent dweller. He had much of this world's riches, yet he never set his heart on such things. He lived looking for a City whose Builder and Maker is God. At any moment Abram was ready to let go all that he possessed that he might enter into that richer inheritance above.
One other thing, we are sure that Abram used his goods to help others. His spirit of fairness to his nephew Lot is so plainly seen in today's study, as he gave Lot the first choice of the land, that we believe this same spirit marked his whole career.
II. LOT ALSO WAS RICH (Genesis 13:5)
Why did Christ say, "As in the days of Lot," and not "as in the days of Abraham?" The Lord was giving a picture of world-end conditions. He said that those conditions would be like the days of Lot. Not like Lot, alone, but like the days of Lot.
1. Lot's day was a day of eating and drinking, buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage. This, some one may say, is the case of all days. True; however, there was something in these very things that distinguishes them. All may eat and drink, all may buy and sell, all may marry and give in marriage, but the ideals that govern these necessary marks of daily living are distinct in different people. Some there are who do good and needed things in a wrong way. They abuse their rightful privileges.
It is all right to eat and drink, it is all wrong to be intemperate, and given to surfeiting. It is all right to marry and to give in marriage, but it is all wrong to be given over to licentiousness and lewdness, and to marry out of the will of the Lord.
It is all right to buy and sell, but it is all wrong to be given over to the love of money, and to heap up treasures for the satisfying of the lustings of the flesh.
Abram did all of these things but he did none of them as Lot did them. Abram sent Eliezar a long way, back to Haran to get a wife for Isaac. Abram was rich, he did not enrich himself on the king of Sodom or the Sodomites.
Lot married his daughters into the fast life of Sodom, and he sought to dwell in Sodom in order to enrich himself with Sodom's money.
The "days of Lot" were days of sinful shame and lusting. Into that method of living and thinking Lot soon became engulfed. His family also became engulfed with him, and so deeply so, that two of his daughters and their husbands were lost in the overthrow of Sodom, while his wife turned back and became a pillar of salt.
III. THEY COULD NOT DWELL TOGETHER (Genesis 13:6)
Abram was rich in cattle. Lot also, who went with him, had flocks and herds and tents. The time came when there was strife between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen. Then, they were forced to separate.
Abram said unto Lot, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee * * for we be brethren," In all of this there is a tremendous lesson for us. If two groups cannot agree, and they yet be brethren, let them separate in peace. Striving among saints is very grievous to the Lord, and its fruit is contention, bitterness, and evil words.
In our day we have seen groups of saints who had no vital differences about them, separating from one another simply because they could not agree on some method of operation. If they had merely separated in peace it would not have been so bad, however, they who had been in sweet fellowship immediately after their separation began to malign one another. Why do saints not follow the beautiful spirit which marked Abram's separation from Lot? They separated to avoid strife and not to engender it. Together they could not walk in peace, apart, they could and did maintain a true fraternity.
IV. ABRAM'S CORDIALITY TOWARD LOT (Genesis 13:9)
When the time of separation came, Abram said unto Lot, "Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left."
Whatever else may be said this action on the part of Abram was magnanimous. Abram showed nothing at all by way of avarice or of self-seeking. He simply gave his nephew Lot a full sweep of everything, Abram was the senior and he was also the superior. It was Lot who had gone with Abram, not Abram with Lot. Abram could rightfully have taken the first choice; he could even have commanded Lot to have gone to the left, or to the right. He rather gave Lot the place of precedence, and of choice.
Abram was sincerely more concerned with the things of Lot than with his own things. Should not our greatest joy be to prove a blessing to others? Should we forever be thinking of self, living for self, and laying up treasures for self? God forbid.
Jesus Christ went about doing good. When He left Heaven, He left in behalf of others. When He lived, He lived for others. When He died, He died for others. Most remarkable of all, the "others" for whom He lived, to whom He came, and for whom He died, were "enemies." For a good man some would dare to die, but Christ commended His love, in that, while we were yet sinners, He died for us.
The Apostle Paul followed in the footsteps of his Lord. He, also, went about in the interest of others. He yielded up all that the world might have given him, that he might give his best to men.
V. LOT'S SELF-SEEKING (Genesis 13:10-11)
With a free hand before him, Lot, in the spirit of self-consideration and self-advantage, lifted up his eyes. He did not say unto his uncle Abram, "Take thou the choicest of the land." He chose the best for himself. This was all in direct contrast to the spirit that dominated Abram.
The true character of Lot now began to exert itself. He beheld that the plain of the Jordan was well-watered everywhere, so he chose all the plain, and journeyed East. He journeyed into a land that seemed to him to be the garden of the Lord. As he parted that day from Abram, and took up his march he went as he believed into a land of fatness. He felt that prosperity and power were his. No doubt, Lot thought that with the wonderful pastures for his cattle and with Sodom and Gomorrah as the market for their sale, he would soon eclipse his uncle in. riches.
In all of this Lot went contrary to the spirit of his Heavenly Master. God has said, "Seekest thou great things for thyself, seek them not." Again, God has said, "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."
He who lives for self-glory or riches will surely come to poverty. He who seeketh his own will sooner or later succumb under the power of selfishness.
Lot did not seek Divine guidance. He was his own guide. He thought that he could see a long way off, but he was in fact shortsighted. Had Lot gone to God, God would no doubt have told him that while the land he chose seemed a goodly land, yet, it would lead him to poverty instead of plenty, and to sorrow instead of song.
It is not in a man to direct his own steps. The difficulty with us is that we are shortsighted and cannot see afar off. We know not what a day may bring forth. We know not what obstacles lie before us. Let us ask God to make our choices.
VI. PITCHING TOWARD SODOM (Genesis 13:12)
How significant are the words, "Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom"! The goal of Lot's ambition was Sodom. The cities of the plain were only steppingstones toward his ideal.
As Lot moved his way toward Sodom, he was steadily pressing toward an ideal which to him seemed the greatest good in life.
He and his wife, no doubt, talked over the wonderful hour when they could reach Sodom, a city which stood for the climax of world dominion and power. Their dream was not only to dwell in Sodom, but to wield the power of plenty and position among its people. Lot sought human greatness and human authority.
It was not a matter of one day, but of weeks and months before Lot attained his ideal. We would ask every young person to ponder the path which they are now treading, and to lift their eyes toward the city of their dreams. Remember, they that will be rich pierce themselves through with many sorrows. Remember, that those who love the world and the things which are in it cannot truly love the Father.
How the words ring out, "But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." Perhaps, as Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom, he was thinking not so much of the villainy of the Sodomites as of his own wealth and attainments.
When wealth, however, is secured at the cost of spiritual life and contact, it will prove a curse instead of a blessing. When, becoming rich is dependent upon becoming mixed and mingled with the wicked and with sinners, riches had better be foregone.
There is something more valuable than money. There is something more profitable than success that something is the favor of the Lord with peace and joy of heart.
VII. ABRAM'S RICH REWARD (Genesis 13:14)
It was just after Lot had separated himself from Abram and had started on his way toward Sodom; it was just after Abram had told Lot that the whole land lay before him, and that he, Lot, could take his choice it was then that the Lord appeared unto Abram.
To Abram the Lord said, "Lift up now 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."
Surely it is better to let God direct one's life. The Lord has said, "The liberal soul shall be made fat," and God certainly enriched Abram.
When the Lord said to Abram, "All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it," He included the very land which Abram had just given to Lot.
The sorrow in Lot's choice was that Lot was to attain to a height of glory and honor and power, with riches, only to fall. He got, only to lose. He builded for a fire. He laid up store where moth and rust corrupt.
"With Abram it was different. That which God gave to Abram was by Divine decree secured unto Abram's sons, yea, God gave the land unto Abram and his seed forever. The wily Turk and the roaming Arab are usurpers today in the land of Palestine. They may hold certain deeds to certain properties in and around Jerusalem, but in the archives of Heaven, the deeds are made out granting that land unto Abram and to his seed forever.
As we stand thirty-five hundred years down the stream of time, since God told Abram that the land was his forever, what do we see? We see the Children of Israel, Abram's seed, once more turning their faces toward the promised land. They are about to inherit every foot of ground that God ever gave to Abram.
How much better, therefore, was Abram's choice than Lot's! Lot chose soil and "land and lost it. Abram chose God and as a result he got soil as an everlasting possession.
AN ILLUSTRATION
Abram's riches in grace were made ripe in trials and testings.
Mr. Spurgeon said:
"' Fruit that hath but little sun can never be ripe.' We have had practical proof of this, for during the year 1879, there being a scant measure of sunshine, the fruit was never properly ripened, and was therefore destitute of flavor and sweetness. Whatever might be its outward appearance, the berry was insipid and altogether unlike what the sun would have made it had he smiled upon the swelling fruit.
Thus, without communion with God, no soul can develop its graces, neither can those graces become what they should be. No measure of care or effort can make up for the light of the Father's face; neither can attendance upon means of grace nor the use of religious exercises supply the lack. Fellowship with God we must have, or the essential honey of love will be deficient, the bloom of joy will be wanting, the aroma of zeal and earnestness will be missed. We may have the virtues by name, and we may exhibit some feeble, insipid imitation of them, but the secret savor and mystic richness of grace will not be in us unless we abide in the full light of Divine love.
Lord, evermore be as the sun unto our souls, that we may be as fruit fully ripe, attaining to all the perfection and maturity of which our nature is capable.