GOD SAID,

“GET OUT” Genesis 12,13

There are four classes of people:

1. Those who know for sure they are saved and bound for Heaven.

2. Those who are not sure they are saved and not sure they are going to Heaven.

3. Those who are lost but think they are saved and going to Heaven.

4. Those who know without a doubt they are lost and going to Hell.

 While reading this message, determine which class you belong to and if it is not number 1 repent today and let Jesus have your heart.

 In verse one God demands Abraham to separate from family, friends, and country and follow Him.  There can never be a complete following of God until we separate from this world and yield to God our whole heart.

 In verses two and three, God made Abraham a promise of six things:

1. He would make of him a great nation.

2. He would make his name great.

3. He would make him a blessing.

4. He would bless them that blessed Abraham.

5. He would curse them that cursed Abraham.

6. He would bless all families of the earth.

In verse four, Abraham departed but did not completely separate.  He took Lot, his nephew, with him.  By doing so, as we will see, he took a lot of trouble with him.

 In verse five, we see Abraham took his family and his possessions and headed in the right direction.  He went to the land of Canaan.  All of God’s people need to dwell in the land of Canaan, spiritually.

 In verse seven, Abraham built an altar unto the Lord, and the Lord appeared unto him.  All of God’s people need an altar unto the Lord to get in His presence.

 In verse eight, we see Abraham with a mountain top experience.  He then built another altar.  He would never gotten to the mountain top with the Lord had he not separated himself (obeyed the voice of the Lord), followed the Lord into the land of Canaan, and built an altar to have fellowship with the Lord.  Too many today are trying to have a mountain top experience when they have not separated themselves from the Lord and will not follow the Lord where He leads.  And upon top of all that, they will not communicate with the Lord in prayer. 

 In verses ten through twenty, things begin to change.  Something happens.  Abraham takes his eyes off the Lord.  He begins to look at things around him.  Many do that today.  Multitudes are living short of what God wants for them because they have taken their eyes off the Lord.  Circumstances around us will draw us and if we are not careful, these things will turn our direction from the Lord and His blessings on our life.

1. First, he saw a famine in verse ten.  This had to do with his physical and financial world and ended up getting into his spiritual life as well.  With a famine in the land, he could not feed his animals nor his family.  Instead of looking to the God who had made him a promise in verse two, he began to look to other means.

2. Second, he went down to Egypt to sojourn (dwell) there in verse ten.  Egypt in the Bible, is a type of the world.  It stands to reason when we take our eyes off the Lord, we will look to the world or the flesh to help us.  Remember, the world knows not God.  The ways of the world are not the ways of God.  The world believes you can educate, rehabilitate, investigate, intoxicate, medicate, and retaliate.  The world has never solved the Child of God’s problems, it has only complicated them.

3. Third, he developed a fear for his own life in verse twelve.  He recognized that his wife Sarai was a beautiful woman and that she would be desired in Egypt.  It is wrong for a born again child of God to have his family in the world among bad influence.

4. Fourth, he conspired to lie in verse thirteen.  He told his wife to say she was his sister instead of his wife.  Now you see what happens when a Child of God is in the world.  He takes on the life of the world.  No wonder, God said to come out from among them and be ye separate.

5. Fifth, he brought a plague upon Pharaoh in verse seventeen.  His disobedience to God and his worldly lifestyle in Egypt caused Pharaoh and his house to be plagued.  Many will say what I do is my business and it does not hurt anyone.  That is not true, your lifestyle will have a bearing on those around you.  You will affect and infect those on your job, your friends, and worst of all your own family including your children.  No wonder the home is in such trouble, God does no longer have control of our lives, the world does.

6. Sixth, he is told to GET OUT the second time in verses nineteen and twenty.  Only this time it is Pharaoh instead of God.  Now the world doesn’t want him.  He is a misfit.  When a Child of God goes to Egypt he is not happy.  God told Abraham in verse two, he would make him a blessing.  He is everything but a blessing in these present verses.  So it is, we can’t be happy or be a blessing until we separate, follow the Lord, pray and fellowship with the Lord.

 Now we come to chapter thirteen and verse one.  Notice two directions Abraham traveled in:

1. First, he went up.  When you come out of Egypt you are always headed up.  Egypt (a type of the world) is down and will take you down.

2. Second, he went out of Egypt.  Egypt is now behind him and he is pressing forward back on track again.  I believe Abraham left Egypt and got Egypt out of his system.  Let me point out another problem I have seen over the years.  Sometimes church people will come out of Egypt physically but their heart is still there.  If that is the case with you I would check to see if what I professed was real or not.

 In chapter thirteen verse four we see Abraham goes back to the altar.  When we walk away from following God we have to go back where we left Him.  The altar is the best and only place a wayward Child of God can get help.  Abraham had tried the world and it had failed him.  It always will. 

 In verses five through eleven we find another problem that arises in Abrahams life.  A problem with his nephew, Lot.  This problem would never have developed if Abraham had left Lot back in the land of his kindred.  God demands complete, notice I said complete surrender.

 In verse seven there is a strife between the workers of Lot and the workers of Abraham.  How many times have you and I seen problems of this nature appear in the Church.  There develops a strife between the membership and it always will cause a nasty situation.  God tells us to live peaceably with all men as much as we can.  We should do just that. 

 Satan is the instigator of strife among God’s people.  If he can divide the church, he has a foot in the door to cause havoc with the influence of the Church.

 In verse eight, we see an attempt to reconcile.  Many times that has to be done in our churches.  There needs to be some reconciliation between those who have problems and cannot get along.  If the devil gets his foot in the door he will chew up and destroy the fellowship among God’s people.  It is important to maintain a high level of fellowship among the saints of God.  We need each other in the work of the Lord.

In verse nine, we see there was no reconciliation but a split.  Time and time again we see that in our day in the church.  Many are the churches that have been started across this land over a split because the members could not work our their differences.  It is usually some little silly thing that causes it all. 

 In verses twelve through eighteen, we find Abraham where he needs to be.  Dwelling in the land of Canaan.  We see God confirms His promise of the land being given to Abraham in these verses.  The interesting part I want to point out is found in verse fourteen.  And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him…….Notice Abraham was not truly where he needed to be until he was completely separated from his kindred, following the Lord and seeking His face in fellowship and leadership.  This is where we as God’s people need to be.