with me to the book of Proverbs,
chapter 18. Proverbs 18. I'd like to look
at one verse of Scripture, verse 18. Proverbs 18. This is what
the Lord has to say. The lot causeth contentions to
cease, and parteth between the mighty. In this verse of scripture, two things are revealed about
the lot. Number one, it causeth contentions
to cease. Secondly, it parteth or separates
between the mighty. Lord willing, I'm going to try
to deal with that and tell you what the Lord has to say to us
today. What the lot did, because we
don't cast lots, but what the lot would do. in the Old Testament,
it would give or render the reason that all discord was put away
between two parties, the lot. It separates, makes a distinction
so that there's no doubt. That's what the lot did. Now,
if we were to consider today, or we were to do something, or
I'm going to give you a couple of examples of what we're all
familiar with. And it would be a relatively
good illustration of what the lot did. A decision was going
to have to be made. A lot was cast. Today, whenever
a football game starts, what happens is you've got your referees
and you've got your captains, co-captains from each team. They
come out to the middle of the field. And what's going to happen
is the referee is going to take a coin. He's going to show it
to you. This is heads. This is tails. All right? Somebody's going to
call it. going to flip a coin. And whatever
the call is, whatever that coin comes up, that's the way it's
going to be. There's not going to be any debate
out of the fans, out of the stands. Well, we're the home team. We
ought to be able to kick off first. We've got a better rating
than what they have. No, this is the lot. and that
coin is flipped and everybody has agreement. Whatever that
says, this one that won it, he can decide whether or not they
want to kick or to refrain until the second half and receive then. And whatever he does, then the
other one gets to say, okay, we'll take this side of the field,
the lot. And what it did was, it ended
all debate. We're not going to talk about
it. The coin was flipped. You got some straws. Alright,
one of them is shorter. Nobody can see it except one
hole that knows where it is. Alright, draw straws. Whoever
drew the, whatever it was, short straw, long straw, whatever it
was, that ended it. We all agreed Whatever it came
out, that's going to be the way it is. Now knowing that, listen
to this, the lot causeth contentions to cease, and parteth or separateth
between the mighty, the numerous is what that word means, and
it means opinions. The lot. In the case of the lot, The reason
in the Old Testament among God's people that it was binding was
because each party knew that that lot was governed by God
Almighty. That lot that was cast in the
Old Testament set forth God's will, God's providence for his
people. The people bowed. to the result of the lot. Whenever Israel went into the
promised land, there were 12 tribes, part of them stayed on
one side of the Jordan River, most of them on the other side.
Do you know how they decided who got what? The Lot, Numbers
2655, according to the Lot, shall the possession thereof be divided
between many and few. Almighty God set forth by Lot,
this is what you're going to get. This tribe, this is what
you're going to get. And there was no debate. The
Lot God Almighty left no doubt as to where those boundaries
were going to be for any of the tribes and all contentions and
all doubts and all debates and all arguments were eliminated.
The Lord decided. Guilt was decided by the lot. Whenever Jonah was told by God
Almighty to go to Nineveh, What did Jonah do? He got him a ticket
for a boat to Joppa and before he got there, God sent a storm
and all of the mariners They knew that this is not good here. We're going to draw lots. Jonah
1, 7, and they said, everyone to his fellow, come, let us cast
lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot
fell upon Jonah. God ordered that. You know the
story. Whenever Israel was told by God,
you go in, Fight the battles, don't touch anything, don't take
anything. And there was a man named Achan.
And Achan saw a wedge of gold and a Babylonian garment. And
he wanted it. He took it, hid it under his
tent. They went into a city called
Ai. And the scripture says that the
men of Ai defeated the nation of Israel. Came back Joshua, cast himself,
Lord, what's happened here? The lot was cast. It came on
down to tribe and family and individuals and it fell on Achan. And God Almighty exposed it.
You know what happened? They stoned Achan and his family. Everybody, sin was put out of
the camp by God's lot. So the lot was that which God's
will was set forth, and His choice was determined, the lot. Proverbs
16.33, The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord. That's what the lot symbolizes. Believers trust God Almighty
to direct our steps according to His will. Do you want to know
what God's will is? Watch and see what God does.
That's the lot. That is the lot. The casting
of lots was an outward manifestation that we don't know. what to do. And whatever is done, we wait
upon the Lord to do it. The lot, they trusted God, they
trusted the Lord. And those lots were cast. Turn
over to Leviticus chapter 16. This is probably one of the most
well-known. Leviticus 16, this was on the
day of atonement. This is that one day in the year
when the high priest could enter in to the Holy of Holies, not
without blood, and make atonement. One day out of the year in that
Holy of Holies, where that tabernacle was. I mean, where the altar,
where the mercy seat was. That one day, Leviticus 16, verse
7. Here's what they were going to
do. A tone was going to have to be made. They'd take two goats. He shall take the two goats and
present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation and Aaron shall cast lots upon the two
goats. One lot for the Lord, the other
lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall take the goat
upon which the Lord's lot fell and offer him for a sin offering.
But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall
be presented alive before the Lord to make an atonement with
him and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness." This is
what was going to happen. Two goats were brought before the
high priest. Lots were cast. One lot was going
to be on the goat for the Lord. That goat was going to die. The other lot was for the scapegoat. Both goats were needed as a picture
of a type of the atonement for the putting away of sin. One
of them showed that blood must be shed. Without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission. There is no remission. There
is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. And that
sin is going to be taken away. As far as the east is from the
west, behind, the back of God, cast into the sea. Where is that?
He said, I will regard it no more. God Almighty puts away
the sin of His people in justice and then it's cast away. All
that He's everlastingly loved, for all that the Lord Jesus Christ
died, their sin is going to be put away. Back in Leviticus,
not even the selection of which goat would perform the picture
of Christ's office, was left to man. Not even the selection
of the goats. Isaiah 28, 16, Behold, I lay
in Zion for a foundation of stone. Tried stone, precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. God Almighty jealous of even
the type of his precious son. So today, we though, we don't
cast lots, we don't have that ritual, that performance, we
don't do it, but the principle of casting the lot was set forth
in being God's will was determined. That's what the lot was for. The Lord decides, the Lord directs,
the Lord orders, and we trust that He orders and directs our
paths. Here's the principle of the lot,
Romans 8.28, and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. How many things? All things. This is the lot. We seek the Lord in prayer and
we trust His providence according to the purpose of Him who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. This is the
lot. In the Old Testament, when a
case or a given situation couldn't be determined between parties,
lots were cast. And the scripture that we're
dealing with this morning says this, the lot causeth contentions
to cease parteth between the mighty. made
opposing parties, is what he's saying, or unanswerable questions. If it was an opinion, this is
my opinion, that's your opinion. God Almighty cast the lot and
it ended it. Now let me tell you what we have
today as set forth according to scripture. I'm going to read
it. And this is, if you want to know, the determining factor. If you want to know what answers
all questions, if you want to know what God Almighty is going
to set forth as being that which is unanswerable, here it is. God's Word. God's Word. Psalm 119, 105. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet
and a light unto my path. Here's the bottom line, whatever
God has to say ends it. It's over. 2 Timothy 3.16, all scripture is
given by inspiration of God and it's profitable. Here's what
it is, it's effectual, it's profitable. For doctrine, if you want to
know that which God Almighty has to say concerning His Son,
salvation, providence, creation. What does God have to say in
His Word? What does God have to say? It's
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness. I looked up the word lot, just
to know a good definition of the word lot. Here it is, the
destiny. The destiny. I thought that. I understand that. The destiny.
God Almighty controlling all. God's Word. According to God's
providence. Blessed by God's Spirit. So for
the believer, the one taught of God, the one that knows, that
all things work together for good to them that love God, who
are the called according to His purpose. They can with absolute
confidence, scriptural confidence, this is what I can say, I can
rest my eternal soul. What matters today, right here,
this is the only thing that matters. I'm going to tell you something,
everything else is going to burn up. But let me tell you this, For
the sake of God's honor, God's glory, and my eternal good, what
does God have to say? And this is the only thing. that
I'm concerned about. With scriptural confidence, the
lot, God's word, God's determination, when they flipped that coin,
when they drew those straws, that determined it. When that
lot was cast, whatever, I read, maybe it was a stone, whatever
the lot was, it didn't say what it was, it just said the lot.
Whatever it was, whatever the determining lot was, The way it came out was the way
it was. I'm telling you right now, heaven
and earth is going to pass away, but my words shall not pass away. That's what the Lord said in
Matthew 24, 35. In closing, I want to make a comment,
one comment. I said at the beginning of this
message, I made this statement, in the case of the lot, The reason
that it's binding is that each party has agreed to its result. In the case of the lot, each
party has agreed to the result. Today, say the stands in a football
game, we're all in agreement. It ain't going to change. But
you know, when I said that the reason that the lot was binding,
was that each party agreed to the result. Somebody might say,
yeah, but all men don't agree with God's word. All men are
not in agreement. No, maybe not now. Maybe not
today. But I can tell you this, according
to God's word, every knee is going to bow. And every tongue
is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God. I'm going to tell you right now
in that day, every man, every woman is going to say, you Lord,
you're God. You Lord chose a people. Lord,
you've shown mercy to your people. And I'm getting exactly what
I deserve. I'm going to be in hell because I would not bow
to your Christ. I'm telling you, the lot, God's
word, God's word, God's word, the lot was the determining factor. The lot causes contentions to
cease. and parteth between the mighty,
the numerous opinions." You want to know where it's all going
in? It's going to end in the Day of Judgment, according to
God's Word. And God's Word is going to stand.
Lord, for Christ's sake and for the eternal good of my soul,
have mercy on me in the name of the Lord Jesus.