Abraham compromises both his call and truth and then turns back to the Lord. The hard lesson and how he is changed and transformed.

Last time: God's Call to Abraham.
Promise: I will bless you and your descendants and through you and them I will bless all peoples of the world.

So began story of God's redemption of the world.
- Painful but glorious story - that would reach to the end of time.
- A very very human story, in which we would meet the presence of God throughout.

Though Abraham's descendants - like us - have their good and bad points - yet their history is different from all other histories of other peoples.
Many people of all religious or non-religious backgrounds have described it as a mystery.
Only by faith and the Bible can we understand it.

The story is a sign to the world that God's Word is true and therefore we can trust it for ourselves.

If God ever breaks his promise to Abraham and His descendants - then there is no hope for any of us - because not only they - but all peoples have sinned.

Therefore the devil will try to destroy them. If he can destroy them he will have destroyed God's purposes of blessing for all peoples.
- Several times:
- Pharoah tried to kill all male babies.
- Haman (in book of Esther)
- Gas chambers of Nazi Europe.
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Bible describes Abraham as a man of faith.
What did he believe?
(Remember he emerged from an idol worshipping environment.)
- Gen 17:1 One God Almighty.
- Gen 21:33 One God Everlasting.
- Gen 24:3 One God of all heaven and earth.
- Gen 15:4 Righteous judge of all men.
Does this describe Ab's faith? No!
Heb 11:8-10 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

God said to Ab: 'Come' and he came. 'Trust me' and 'walk with me'
Abraham left the security of home and put his life into hands of God.
That was the faith of Ab!
His faith was a humble acceptance of God's call even though he did not know where it would lead him.

Faith, for you and me, is to realise that our Eternal Security cannot rest upon materialism, but only on God our Creator, the Almighty Lord who is Creator, Redeemer, Judge and Lord of All.
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Next: Pain.
Gen 12:6-7: Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Alter means sacrifice.
Symbolises that God's way of redeeming the world is painful and costly.

Pain for Abraham.
'Leave his father and father's country.'
Abraham descendants would experience the pain of being: Wandering people, far from home for much of their history.

This pain bears witness to the pain of God Himself.
For Him it is painful to redeem the world.
Son of God left His Father and His Father's country for our sake.

He left heaven to earth - born in a stable in Bethlehem.
Adult life: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matt 8:20)
On the Cross He experienced real separation from His Father.
My God My God why ….

From the beginning Abraham is caught up into the heart of God.
Throughout his life he will experience things that point to his great descendent: Jesus of Nazareth through whom God's promise to Abraham would be accomplished.
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To you and me too, To belong to God means that in our life we will experience the things of Christ Himself, both the pain and the joy; the sorrow and the glory.

Now verse 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.

Abraham makes a definite commitment of his life at Bethel. (House of God.)
In earlier years call of God to Abraham came gradually over a period of time.
Abraham began to obey.

But also there was need for a definite time and place - Real commitment.
- Bethel.

Many of us - heard the call of God over many years and we have responded.
Gradual process.

But also we shoiuld make a definite commitment.
Lord I do belong to You - lead me on the way You want.
OUR BETHEL.

Many people are waiting for God to give them a conversion experience. No!
God is already committed to you.
You make a clear decision for Him.
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However Ab's faith is soon challenged.

Problem: No enough food in the land.
Abraham and his nephew Lot could not be supported together.
So Abraham decides to leave the land to which God had called him and go to Egypt.
In all the story there is no reference to the Lord.
Abraham is so full of self-confidence that he is careless about keeping in touch with God.
Strange story.
One failure leads to another
Sarah is beautiful.
Custom for a prominent man to bring his beautiful wife.
Abraham is afraid of jealousy and that he will be killed.
So first he tells a half truth.
He says: she is my sister.
He convers up real truth that she is his wife.
Next Sarah is taken from him.
Then: 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
So Abraham becomes rich from his deceit and cannot refuse his questionable earnings.
Next Egyptian king discovers the truth and sends Abraham away in shame and with a stinging rebuke.
And Abraham has no answer.
Abraham started with great vision but at the first touch of trouble, fear, attraction of riches, is a place he should not be, the whole enterprise is hazarded.

We may be surprised that such a great hope could be followed quickly by such squalid business.
Reason: He did not keep in touch with the Lord.
One half-truth leads to another. Compromise - compromise.

Is that true of you or me?
We experience great faith and hope and then just after a few years, we find we have slipped away. We are now depressed and discouraged.
Reason? We did not keep in touch with the Lord. We were too self-confident, too self-sufficient.
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So Abraham is expelled from Egypt in shame.

Now what does he do?
13:3-4 And he journeyed on from the Negeb 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.

He returns to Bethel the House of God.
Hard journey for him.
For some it is a hard journey back to Church.
Abraham returns to place of commitment.
Recommits his life to the Lord.
Perhaps some of us need to do that.
Remember your first faith and vision and in your mind and soul return there.

Immediately Abraham faces similar problems and a challenge.
Shortage of space to support flocks and herds of Abraham and Lot.
Result is quarrelling.
Same problem as before.
How does Abraham respond this time?
13:8-9 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. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.”
Humble generosity.
He lets Lot choose.
One sign of faith is to let another take precedence and not insist on one's own way.
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How did Lot choose?
13:10-13 And Lot 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. 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.
Lot chose simply by the sight of his eyes.
Materialist concerns only.

Sequence for Lot.
His selfish choice meant his life became more and more isolated and unloved.
How true of many lives today!
This time Abraham stayed in the way of the Lord.
It had been difficult for him but he was rewarded.
How?
His vision and hope were restored.
How?
His vision and hope restored after the mess in Egypt.
Vs 14 and 15. 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.

Relevance for us.
1. The Unique and awesome history of Abraham's descendants (even though they, like us, are far from perfect) is God's witness in history that his Word is true and can be trusted.
From this Word we too find faith, hope, meaning and purpose.

2. But perhaps once having had that vision we have allowed problems, fear, sin, and selfishness to spoil our vision.
One sin leads to another.

3. We should return to our Bethel - place of God.

4. We will still face problems - but now rather than dealing with them out of fear and selfishness we need to trust ourselves to God in humble generosity.

5. Then we will find a renewed Vision and Hope giving meaning to life.

Genesis 12:10 - 13:18

Abraham compromises both his call and truth and then turns back to the Lord.