Well, good evening to all of
you. Let's go to the book of Genesis,
and we'll be reading from, and I'll be speaking out of chapter
19 of Genesis. Genesis chapter 19. Last week, we read down through
verse 19, 11 of chapter 19, and so I'll begin
reading tonight at the next verse, John, or Revelation, Genesis,
I'll get it right. Genesis chapter 19 in verse 12. Lot has received the two messengers
that God has sent. The men of the city sought to
rape them, and Lot took the men into his dwelling, and then offered
his two virgin daughters to the men. Lot then was, he was pulled back
inside by the two angelic messengers who immediately smote the men
who were outside the door with blindness. That brings us to
verse 12. And the men said to Lot, that
is these two angelic ministers, they said to Lot,
hast thou here any besides, any son-in-law, thy sons, and thy
daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them
out of this place, for we will destroy this place. And here's
the reason, because the crown of them is waxen great, before
the face of the Lord, and the Lord had sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out and spake unto
his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and really they
were espoused. which was a legal matter, which
of course, to break it off would require divorce. Think of Joseph
and Mary in the book of Matthew chapter one. And that was the
case because these, we've already read, we read last week that
these daughters of Lot had never known a man. And the reason was
because they were just legally, legally, they were engaged. And so they actually hadn't been
married yet. But it was kind of like the first
legal step in marriage. So I'll read verse 14 again or
start reading it. And Lot went out and spake unto
his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, up,
get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city."
Sad statement here, but he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. And when the morning arose, then
the angels hastened lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy
two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed in the
iniquity of this city. And while he lingered, the man
laid a hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and
upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto
him. And they brought him forth and
set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they
had brought them forth abroad, that he said, escape for thy
life. Look not behind thee, neither
stay thou in all the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest
thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, oh, not
so, my lord. Behold now, thy servant hath
found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy,
which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life. I cannot escape
to the mountain, lest some evil take me and I die. Behold now,
this city is near to flee unto. And it is a little one, oh, let
me escape hither. Is it not a little one, and my
soul shall live? And he said unto him, see, I
have accepted thee concerning this thing also, and I will not
overthrow this city for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee,
escape thither, for I cannot do anything till thou become
thither. Therefore the name of the city
was called Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth
when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom
and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
And he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the
inhabitants of the cities and that which grew upon the ground.
But his wife, in defiance of the command of the angels, his
wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar
of salt. And Abraham got up early in the
morning to the place where he stood before the Lord, and he
looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the
plain. And behold, and lo, the smoke
of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And it came
to pass, when God had destroyed the cities of the plain, that
God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow,
when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt. And Lot went
up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters
with him. For he feared to dwell in Zoar,
and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn
said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man
in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the
earth. She said to her sister, come,
let us make our father drink wine. And we will lie with him
that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their
father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and
lay with their father. And he perceived not when she
lay down or when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow
that the firstborn said unto the younger, behold, I lay yesterday
night with my father. Let us make him drink wine this
night also. And go thou in and lie with him
that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their
father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and
lay with him. and he perceived not when she
lay down nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters
of Lot with child by their father and the firstborn pair of son
and called his name Moab, the same as the father of the Moabites
unto this day. And the younger, she also bare
a son, and called his name Ben-Ammon, the same as the father of the
children of Ammon unto this day." Well, let's ask God's blessings
upon the service, then we'll get into this message. Our Father, we bow before you
this evening, recognizing the greatness of
our God and how gracious you are to receive
us through the Lord Jesus Christ. We come to you through him who
is our righteousness. And Lord, we approach you through
his merits. We have no goodness in ourselves,
Lord. You know that, and you've taught
us to know that. There's nothing within us or
without us, nothing that we are and nothing that we can do to
deserve you to listen to us, or to receive our petitions in
thanksgiving and worship. Lord, we appeal to you on the
basis of your only begotten son and his work of salvation and
redemption upon the cross of Calvary. He is our righteousness. He is our wisdom. He is our sanctification. He is our holiness. And He is
our redemption. Lord, you have made Him to be
to us all we need. And so we come to you pleading
only our Lord Jesus and His faithfulness. and his glorious person. Thank
you for gathering us together this evening. Lord, our brother
has reminded us of folks who are sick and ailing. Dear, dear brethren and sisters
in Christ, people we love, and people who are, though they're
outside of our congregation, loved by these folks. We ask you, Lord, to meet the
needs of all of them according to your will. We're so thankful
that we can come before you and make all of our requests known
to you. Lord, we would have had nothing
We want to speak openly and freely with you. You know us. You know what's in our thoughts.
You know our desires. And deep within us, Lord, though
it is imperfect, yet deep within us, we desire to worship you
and honor you in all that we do in life. And we exalt our
Lord Jesus. And Lord, as we gather, we seek
to find him in the word of God. We seek to be refreshed this
evening. And Lord, make us good students
of this book. And there's some real valuable
lessons we can learn from our spiritual brother, Lot. I pray that we'll be attentive
and that our minds will be uncluttered, that we might receive the word
of God as it goes forth and as you have given it to us. Bless
all of our church family and all of the ministries of our
church. We're thankful for the privilege
we have of setting forth the gospel of grace by way of the
internet. We ask that you would bless as
we have many friends who are watching and receiving this word
tonight. And we ask that he would go forth
with power and effectual authority to all of us. Thank you again
for your love. We do love you, Lord, but we
love you because you first loved us. We do call upon you, but
we call upon you because you called on us first. All that
we are and all that we hope to be, Lord, we owe to you. So to
our God goes all the glory, both now and forever, through the
name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. I want to speak to you
for a little bit this evening on the subject, God was merciful
to Lot. And I do take that statement
from verse number 16 in Genesis chapter 19. While he lingered,
sadly, he was dragging his feet. While he lingered, the men laid
a hold upon him. They took the hand of his wife,
and upon the hands of his two daughters, And here's the statement,
the Lord being merciful unto him, unto him. You remember Abraham had said
earlier at the end of the previous chapter, he said, Lord, will
you destroy the righteous with the wicked? You won't do that,
will you? And he said, Lord, if there are 50 righteous people
in Sodom, would you spare the city? God said, I will. Abraham
said, what if there's 45 righteous people? Would you spare the city? I will. What about 40? What about
30? What about 10? What about 20? What about 10? God said, if there's
in the city of Sodom, 10 righteous people, I'll spare the city. One man was righteous. You think
of that. I don't know how many thousands
of people inhabited Sodom and Gomorrah and all the cities of
the plain, but out of all of them together, whatever the population
was, I don't know, one man by himself was righteous
before God. One man received mercy. God was merciful to that one
man a lot. The Lord said, I will have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy. I like that first part and the
second part as well. I will have mercy. That's good
news to us. I will have mercy, God says.
Well, maybe he'll show mercy to me then. He said, I will have
mercy. We read the psalm, it says, the
Lord's a plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon him.
He's got lots of mercy. I will show mercy, God said. Why not show mercy to you then
and to me? But he says, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. And there's the sovereignty of
it. He doesn't have to show mercy
to us, but he is going to show mercy to somebody. Somebody said
once, and I'm sure it's been said many times, God didn't have
to show mercy to anybody. I do disagree with that. Because God is merciful, that's
in his character. He's going to show mercy. He
loves somebody. because God is love. He's going
to be gracious to somebody because God is gracious. That's his character. That's who he is. But he's not
going to be gracious to everybody. He's not going to be merciful
to everybody. He is choosy when it comes to
who he shows mercy to and who he favors. And He shows mercy
to whoever He wants to show mercy. And there's no basis for that
mercy being shown to any of us because of something within us
or because of something that God foresees that we will become
down the road. That's not the way it is. God
shows mercy because He will show mercy to whoever He wants to. For all men and women are undeserving
of the grace and the salvation of the Lord. God was merciful to Lot. He was chosen unto salvation
and sovereign mercy. He was delivered from all of
his indebtedness to God by the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus. And he was himself called by
sovereign mercy, effectual mercy. The messengers grabbed hold of
Lot and dragged him to safety. The messengers said, escape for
your life. And Lot lingered. He lingered. So they laid hold upon Lot. You're going out of this city.
And they drag him out of that city. That's effectual grace. It is effectual grace that drags
us, if I may use that word, drags us to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is grace, grace that's powerful. As you hear religion today speak
about the grace of God, it's little more than a wish. But
grace is omnipotent. Grace works. Grace can't be resisted. Grace accomplishes what it sets
out to do. And God in His effectual grace,
He laid hold of Lot. And He pulled him out of that
city. to accomplish his purpose of salvation. You remember the
Lord Jesus said in John chapter 6, no man, no man can come to
me except the Father which has sent me, draw him. And I'll raise
him up again at the last day. And the word draw is drag, to
pull. It is used when Peter drew his
sword out of its sheath. The sword wasn't active. The
sword was passive. It's Simon Peter that pulled
it out. It's like when the disciples
cast their net out and they got the fishes, all these fishes
swam in the net and then they pulled it, they dragged it into
the boat. The net and the fishes didn't
come into the boat on their own. They're passive. It was the disciples
working, pulling them in. And that's the way it is with
the salvation of God. The center in salvation in that
part of salvation is absolutely passive. The center is then brought
to repentance toward God in faith in the Lord Jesus. But this is
omnipotent effectual grace that pulls us in. Just like the Lord
was merciful unto brother Lot. Let's learn some things about
Lot. You know, we were actually introduced
to him back in Genesis chapter 11. He's Abraham's nephew. And as you read from Genesis
chapter 11 up to the end of chapter 19, There's nothing really about
this man to impress you with what an outstanding man he was. Oh, the honesty of the word of
God. It does portray him as he was. You remember, strife broke out
between Abraham's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen. A division occurred,
but there wasn't any strife between Abraham and Lot. You remember
that now. There wasn't any strife, there
wasn't any argument between Abraham and Lot, but it became evident
that something had to be done. And so Lot foolishly departed
from Abraham, and he chose the well-wanted plains of Jordan,
which included Sodom and Gomorrah. It was such a lovely place that
it was known as the Garden of the Lord. It's what the scripture
calls it. It appealed to the eye. It appealed
to Lot's flesh. I think of the lust of the eye. But it was a tragic mistake to
separate from Abraham, his uncle, his brother in the Lord, his
mentor, his teacher, his example, an example of the man of faith.
You read in Hebrews chapter 11 of the heroes, we call them,
of faith. There's one name that isn't found
there among the many that are left out. Lot's name is not there. But Abraham sure is, as was the
name of Sarah. He made a bad choice. Sometime after that separation,
four kings made war with five kings, and the king of Sodom,
he was conquered, taken, he was run off, and these four kings,
under Chedaleomer, he captured people, captured women, children,
men, took the goods of the city, but he also took a lot. And that's
the only thing that got Abraham's attention. He didn't care about
all the rest of them. But you see, Lot was not only
his nephew, he's his brother in the Lord. And Abraham, of
course, he takes 318 men, well-trained in the things of war, and he
rescued Lot and rescued all the rest of it. As you read these
chapters about Lot, he doesn't seem to have many redeeming qualities. At first he pitched his tent
in Sodom, and then he moved into the city. When the two angels
are sent by the Lord, the Lord stayed with Abraham to reveal
secrets unto him. These two angels, when they entered
into Sodom, they found Lot sitting at the gate. Nobody's exactly
sure why he was sitting at the gate. Some have suggested that
maybe he was an administrator or he had some ranking position
in the city. I think that's doubtful because
the men of the city said, who made you a judge over us? So
I think that's probably, that theory is wrong. I think it was
rather, and perhaps this is one of the few redeeming qualities
we see in the Genesis narrative, I think he was there to warn
people who came into the city about the ungodliness they were
about to encounter. Because when these two men, two
angelic messengers who looked like men, they just took the
form of men, when they came in, a lot got up. And he greeted
them warmly. And they said, well, we'll just,
he said, come into my house. They said, no, we'll stay out
here in the street. He said, you don't want to do that. No,
I'm not going to allow that. You come into my house. The Sodomites were a reprobate
people. They were hardened by the perverse
practice of grievous, vile, ungodliness. In Sodom, homosexuality had become
a normal, dominant way of life. Men with men, women with women,
doing those things that are unnatural. Romans 1 says, leaving the natural
use of the body. And homosexuality was then and
is still today an abomination to God. And God hates it. God hates it. He hates it as much today as
he hated it then. And I'll tell you, any society,
any society, that has no difficulty with the practice of homosexuality
is under the judgment of God. And I don't care what the leaders
of our country say. They may all say, hey, this is
good, this is fine, this is right. It's wrong, it's ungodly, it's
vile, it's wretched. And what God did to Sodom and
Gomorrah, he's gonna do to this country and this world one day.
He's gonna set her on fire. Now, that's where a lot lived,
in a place of homosexuality. He lived in a city marked for
destruction. He did welcome the two angelic
visitors, and that is a redeeming quality. Things are looking a
little bit better. And then he offered his two virgin
daughters to the men of the city if they'd just leave these two
visitors alone. And when a lot was led out of
the city, when the messenger said, take your wife and your
two daughters and get out, God's going to destroy his place. He
was hesitant to leave. Roots are so deep. I don't know
what went through his mind. Don't know. But as he lingered, they took
hold of him. Said, you're getting out of here.
You're leaving. So Lot escaped. When they were out of the city,
his wife, who was a Sodomite herself, that is, she was from
Sodom. She looked back. God turned her
into a pillar of salt. And our Lord Jesus made a brief
statement about that. And he said, remember Lot's wife, for it appeared that she was out of harm's way. And I think that Mrs. Lott probably made a profession
because she and Lott had managed to keep their daughters walking
in a way of morality and purity because they were still virgins. But her heart Her heart wasn't
set upon the things of God. She didn't care for Abraham's
God. She didn't care for Lot's God. Her heart was in Sodom. Where your treasure is, that's
where your heart's at. And she turned around and looked
back, and God smote her, just like that. And she became a monument
to the judgment of God, to those whose hearts are set upon the
filth of this world. So Lot and his daughters escaped, and then the daughters got him
drunk. They had a little plan. Said, there's no men left. Sodom and Gomorrah, those cities
are burning. And I read to you what they did. Now, if all the information we
had about Lot was Genesis 11 through Genesis chapter 19, if
that's the only record we had, we would draw this conclusion.
He wasn't much of a Christian, if we'd set it that way. That
guy, he was horrible. He was horrible. But the Spirit
of God gives us the whole story in 2 Peter 2. Now look at 2 Peter
2. And this has got to be remembered. You see, the Genesis record,
and of course the Holy Spirit gave Moses the words to write. The Genesis narrative, the Genesis
record, doesn't tell the whole story of Lot. That's left for
Peter to write, of course, under the inspiration of the Spirit
of God. 2 Peter 2, verse 6. and turning the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making
them an example unto those that after should live ungodly, and
delivered just lot. Now the word just doesn't mean
only. It means righteous. and delivered just or justified
lot. Vexed with the filthy conversation
or manner of living of the wicked, and then Peter gives this parentheses,
for that righteous man, if you didn't understand him the first
time when he said just lot, He says, let me say it another way,
for that righteous man, that's what the Spirit of God called
him, that righteous man dwelling among them and in seeing and
hearing vexed his righteous people. So from day to day with their
unlawful deeds, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out
of temptations and to reserve the unjust under the day of judgment. His righteous soul was vexed.
Vexed is a very, very powerful word. It means tormented. His soul
was tormented. Every day, he didn't get calloused
to it. See, that's what the world, especially
Hollywood, why would anybody listen to what anybody in Hollywood
has to say? Why is their voices heard? Because they're multimillionaires,
I guess. But people people whose souls
are righteous. Our souls are vexed with the
ungodliness of the day. Then I'll go back to Hollywood. Here's what they want. I'll tell
you. They want to keep homosexuality,
same-sex marriages, and all the rest of the garbage that they
keep on coughing up, they want to keep it before the public
so the public will become callous to it and used to it. Well, it's just a different manner
of life. They're okay. No, they're not
okay. Don't get callous to it. Don't
get used to it. Lot did not get used to it. The word vexed means he was tormented. His soul was crushed. He was
a miserable man. And every day he lived in his
misery. And here's the sad thing about
Lot. He was miserable for the rest
of his life. Misery. His righteous soul, oh, it pained
him. It grieved him. It broke his
heart. He never got used to the ungodliness
all around him. His righteous soul, it was just
torn to pieces over the ungodliness of all that was around him. You
see, he was a righteous man. He was a righteous man. How was
he made righteous? How was he justified? Well, he
had to be made righteous. Nobody's righteous by nature.
We're sinful by nature. We're righteous by grace. We're
righteous by imputation. Just as Adam's sin was imputed
or charged or reckoned to the account of all of Adam's race,
the obedience of our Lord Jesus unto death is imputed to all
of God's elect, and we're counted righteous for His sake. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for he hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be,
what's the word, made, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He didn't make himself righteous.
And Abraham didn't make him righteous. God made him righteous through
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. He was as righteous before God. Get this, notwithstanding all
that I said from chapter 11 through chapter 19 of Genesis, he was
as righteous before God as Abraham was. He was as accepted by God as
Abraham was, as Noah was. because his acceptance before
God was based upon the faithfulness and the blood, bloody sacrifice
and righteousness of another, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the only way anybody's going to be made righteous. And Lot, when he went to glory,
he's right there beside Abel and Noah, and Enoch, and Abraham,
and all the other righteous people who are there. And he gives all
the praise to the Lord. He's no further away. You say,
well, surely he don't have a front row seat. I mean, after what
we've read about him in Genesis chapter 11 through chapter 19,
surely he's way back in the background. No, he's an heir of God. He's an heir of grace. He's one
of the Lord's children. He's right there next to the
throne of the Savior, just like all of God's people are. Now here's something else I want
to tell you about. He's a righteous man. Here's the second thing
let me say to you. Our actions do have consequences. Be careful what choices you make. Lot left the fellowship of Abraham. He remained friends with Abraham
and one of Abraham's spiritual brethren. But he sunk his roots too deep
in Sodom. Oh, that God would give us grace
to make wise choices in life, because the choices we make not
only have an effect upon us, but effect upon those around
us. You say, well, if I were a lot,
I'd never been there in the first place. Be careful. You weren't walking in lot shoes.
It's easy for us to sit back and look at what people do and
then become judges. And let's be honest. I'll be
honest with you. Had I lived back then, and I saw a lot leave Abraham, and
I kind of got reports about a lot being in Sodom, I'm sure I'd
say, I don't know how in the world he lived that place. What's
wrong with him? Move! Get out! It's easy for me to say that. And I'll tell you something we
better be careful of. Judging by what these eyes see. Man looketh on the outward appearance,
and as we look on the outward appearance of Lot, I don't see
too much. But God looks on the heart, and
God says, he's a righteous man. He's a justified man. And I can tell you, all of us,
we're too quick to judge. We are too quick to judge. But
our judgment is often very flawed. You can't see the heart. In fact,
Jeremiah says, the heart's deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? He said, well,
all I can do is judge by what I see. Who made you a judge? That's what the people of Sodom
asked. Who made you a judge? Oh, I've heard it all. People
say, I'm not judging, I'm just a fruit inspector. I've heard
that too. I'm a fruit inspector. Till you have eyes that can penetrate
into a man's soul. Maybe it'd be best if you and
me, all of us together, just keep our mouths shut. I guarantee you we'd have set
in judgment on a lot. When David did what he did, we'd
have set in judgment on David. And I don't excuse these men.
Don't misunderstand me. But we would probably have written
these men off and said, they don't know God. Man knows God
can't do that. Man who's saved can't go live
in the middle of Sodom. A child of God's not gonna do
that. Listen to me, a child of God will do anything that anybody
else has ever done unless God keeps a tight leash on him. That's
the truth. That's the truth. We don't have
any idea how bad off we are. When Lot went to warn his sons-in-law,
he seemed as one that mocked." That's sad, isn't it? He seemed
as one that mocked. And then, consider this. Lot
was a righteous man for whose sake a wicked people were spared
judgment as long as he was there. That place deserved to be burned
up. Make no question about that. But you know what? God kept sending
the sunshine on Sodom and Gomorrah. You know why? Lot was there.
One righteous man. God kept sending the rain to
keep those fields of Jordan nice and well-watered, the garden
of the Lord. The reason the Lord sent His
rain upon the unjust is because there was one just man there.
So they benefited from the presence of Lot. And the only thing that
kept them going was his presence. But when he was out, all hell's
gonna break loose, literally. It did. And I'll tell you, this world
has no idea the reason they're preserved,
the reason these, all these sodomites, all these homosexuals, all these
free willers, All these ungodly people, the only reason that
they receive the sunshine and the rain and good things in life
is because God's elect are here. That is the only reason. It's
not for their sakes, it's for our sakes. And the reason you
get rain on your, the reason they get rain on their gardens
is because yours is right beside theirs. They get the rain, because
you get the rain, because you're one of the elect of God. That's
the truth. And I'll give you something else,
two more things, just stick with me. Go back to chapter 19 of Genesis. And I'm sure you picked up on
this when I read it, but look at verse 29. Lot was spared for Abraham's
sake because of that covenant God made with Abraham. Now don't
miss this. Verse 20, and it came to pass
when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered. He doesn't say remembered Lot,
though he did. But he remembered Abraham, and
he sent Lot out, out of the midst of the overthrow. Lot goes free
because of the association with Abraham. God made a covenant
with Abraham, and Abraham, there's a picture of our Lord Jesus.
And the reason we gonna be spared, the reason we are spared, It's
for another one's sake. It's for Christ's sake. That's
why we're spared. And then here, let me give you
this last thing. Lot was a righteous man whose
life, now get this, notwithstanding his own poor choices, God governed
all things in Lot's life to fulfill his purpose for Lot, and he worked
all things out for the good of Lot and for the good of all of
God's elect. Lot's, that incestuous relationship
the two daughters had with Lot is horrible. It's horrible. A lot didn't realize it. Scripture
says he got drunk. He didn't know what he was doing. The younger daughter gave birth
to Moab. He's the father of the Moabites.
That was the older daughter. And then the younger daughter,
she got pregnant. She called his name Ben-Ammai. He's the father of the Ammonites.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter 2. I've just got to pursue this
here. And you'll see there's a blessing
here for you, I think. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 2.
They're on their way to the land of Canaan. Look at verse 9. Moses said, and the Lord said
to me, You there? Deuteronomy chapter two, verse
nine. And the Lord said to me, distress
not the Moabites, neither contend with them in
battle. Don't give them a hard time.
Don't go to war with them. For I will not give thee of their
land for possession. You're not gonna get their land.
Because I've given R, under the children of Lot, for possession. Leave the Moabites alone. And time goes on, as it always
does. And in Bethlehem there lived
Elimelech and Naomi. And you know that story. time
of famine, they leave Bethlehem, go into the land of Moab. And there, their two sons marry
two women, Ruth and Orpah. Then Elimelech died, the two
sons died, so you got three widows. And Naomi says to Ruth and Orpah,
I'm old, I'm going home. I'm broke. Y'all just go on back. Y'all go back to your families."
And Orpah did, but Ruth said, no. Where you go, I'll go. Where you lie, I'll lie. Your
God be my God. And where you die, I'll die.
She goes with Naomi back to Bethlehem. And you know the story of Boaz,
the kinsman redeemer. who bought back everything that
Elimelech and, of course, Naomi had lost. And Boaz married Ruth. And they had a son, Obed. And then Obed had a son, Jesse. And then Jesse had a son, David. who's in the lineage of our Lord
Jesus. Now go to one reference, Ruth
or the book of Matthew chapter one. Matthew chapter one. And as you go there, I'll tell
you this, the ways of God are absolutely mysterious. No wonder
in Romans 11, it reads the ways of God are passed by now. because notwithstanding the mistakes,
the errors, the sins of Lot, all of that in a way that's way
yonder above our understanding, it was all according to the purpose
of God. Look here in Matthew chapter
one. Look at verse five. Salmon begat Boaz or Boaz of
Rakeb. And Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. And Obed begat Jesse. And Jesse
begat David the king. And David the king begat Solomon. And you keep on going down till
finally begat the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something. If Lot hadn't gone into Sodom, if he hadn't married who he married,
if he hadn't had two daughters, if he hadn't stayed there, and
if the two daughters didn't commit incest with their father, there'd
be no Moab. There'd be no Ruth, and the lineage
of our Lord's tree just topples down. But ifs don't happen in
the purpose of God. It couldn't go that way. It had
to go this way. Doesn't that confound you? Doesn't this leave you worshiping
this great God who governs all things by his sovereign will? And at the same time, we're responsible
for our actions. We just bow down and worship.
Lord, this is way beyond my understanding, but I believe you. And I'll tell
you, when your life is finished, You're gonna make you will have
made a lots of blunders and no question about that and I know
it's that way with me And all of my actions have had
consequences and in the end Everything will have fulfilled God's eternal
purpose. Oh God how great thou art Thank you for the record of Brother
Lott. Helps me. It helps me. Because though I mess up, I cannot
mess up the purpose of God. Impossible. If you think you
can, you're too big for your britches. You're not gonna overthrow what
God is determined to do. Well, let's pray. Lord, oh, we
bow before you. We're just left and we're left
speechless before such a great and glorious God, all things
fulfilling your will. Lord, we bow before you and we
delight ourselves in the Lord. indeed help us to walk right,
to live right, to understand and realize that our lives have
consequences. People are watching us. We want
to be good examples. But after all is said and done,
we're imperfect people. And yet, overall, is the eternal
purpose of our God who used ungodly men to take
our Lord Jesus to the cross of Calvary. And there, men who hated
God nailed him to the tree. And the saints of God, their
hearts were broken. Oh, what shall we do now? But
wait, this fulfilled the purpose of God, redemption salvation,
reconciliation, things that men had never counted on, they came
to pass because of your eternal purpose. Thank you, Father, for
all things. Bless us and guide us on our
way, and may we give diligent consideration to the things that
have been spoken here tonight. We ask these things for Christ's
sake, amen.