Proverbs 18 18 the lot cause
of contentions to cease and parted between the mighty The lot cause of contentions
to cease So we'll speak on the subject
of the power of the lot and People in our experience, all of us
I imagine, you know that people will submit to the rolling of
the dice or the flip of a coin in order to decide matters that
can't be agreed upon any other way. But very few understand
in this world that God is the one that decides the outcome Such things proverbs 1633 the
lot is cast into the lap But the whole disposing thereof is
of the Lord People don't look at it that way naturally that
they're obsessed with lady luck and I'll do all kinds of threat
strange things to in order to change their luck and but specifically
in the matter of deciding contentions, we're drawn to consider in our
text the power of the lot. Contentions cease, the mighty
walk away, resigned to having the matter decided, not by their
power, but by the lot. And that of course represents
all. so-called games of chance. Chance, fate, luck, fortune. People call it different things
and most people consider their whole lives to be a product of
the luck of the draw. It just wasn't in the cards.
That's if they fail. That's If they suffer loss, well,
it just wasn't in the cards. If, on the other hand, somebody
is wildly successful, their philosophy changes. You know what they say
then, don't you? You make your own luck. The one releases them from any
responsibility, well, it just wasn't in the cards. Well, maybe
you were an idiot and it didn't work out good because you're
an idiot. No, it just wasn't in the car, it wasn't in the
stars. It releases them from any responsibility, but the other
one gives them a platform on which to boast of their own abilities.
Oh, there's no such thing, you make your own luck. The successful
tend to have that philosophy. When the Lord has used the lot
in scripture, it's been because God would render a verdict Without
the involvement in any way of man's will You don't see it much
in scripture But in the choosing of the sacrificial goat and the
scapegoat in Leviticus chapter 16 the Lord's Will and his Instruction
his command was to cast lots upon them And this is teaching clearly
that in the matter of atonement, the scapegoat had to do with
atonement. The sacrificial goat had to do
with sacrifice for sin. The scapegoat is Christ and or
the sacrificial goat is Christ, and the scapegoat also is Christ. The priest would lean all of
his weight upon the head of the scapegoat, and the sins of the
people were transferred to the scapegoat, and then he was taken
by means of a fit man into the wilderness, never to be seen
again. Our sins are gone. Taken away by Christ, never to
be seen again. And in those matters, matters
of atonement and the putting away of sin, man's will is to
be excluded. It's utterly excluded. It is
of grace that it might be by faith. Where's boasting? It's
excluded. Man didn't have anything to say
in the matter of salvation. It was between God and his son. Man's will has no place in that
and so the lot Was cast that's a clear picture the whole disposing
of that lot is of the Lord of the Lord Now on the other hand
when God did not authorize the use of the lot In the choosing
of the twelfth apostle After Judas hanged himself and died
There were only 11 apostles and there was to be a 12th chosen. And so the disciples got together
and decided to cast lots. Maybe they did that knowing that
in the scripture the Lord had used that, but the Lord commanded
that then. He didn't tell them to do that.
And so they cast lots and the lot fell on Matthias. in Acts 126, and the name of
Matthias is never mentioned again. Ignored by God. An indirect rebuke to that trusting
of them to chance, because that's what it was about, to them. God
didn't say do that. So let's just leave it up, you
know, to chance. In direct rebuke to that, God
picked out the last person that they would have, the least likely
candidate on God's earth at that time, Saul of Tarsus, and made
him the 12th apostle. Now there's no such thing as
chance, though men call it that. There's a law in gambling that
says the dice have no memory. Have you ever heard that? The
dice have no memory, and I'm not a gambler. It sounds like
I am if I know stuff like that, but I'm not a gambler. I can
lose plenty without gambling. I just lose automatically without
even... But the dice don't have any memory.
In other words, If the dice are rolled 50 times, and all 50 times
they come up an odd number, two and one, five and two, an odd
number, 50 times in a row, well, everybody's gonna bet on even
next, right? Because they're thinking, well,
the law of averages says that it's gonna be even next time.
Not true. The dice don't have any memory
of those other 50 rolls. It's just as likely it's gonna
come up odd for the 51st time as it is that it will come up
even. They have no memory and they call that the law of the
dice having no memory, but the reality is that nobody knows
what God's gonna do. That's who decides it. It's not
a law of averages, it's the will of God. that all of the consequences
that result from the dice coming up odd the 51st time are by the
will and ordination of God. So the lot is an instrument of
God, just like everything else. It symbolizes God deciding a
matter. And that is to be used by men,
though, only when God says so. Only when God explicitly instructs
that that should be the case. Everything else is just gamble. But our text teaches us this,
the lot being a symbol of God deciding of matters apart from
man's will, Clearly that's the case man throws
the dice to say well lady luck. You know what's what's what are
my chances? But the scripture says the Lord
the whole disposing thereof Is of the Lord And so it's a symbol of God deciding
Matters apart from man's will having anything to do with it
what comes to your mind as the supreme example of that is In
the saving of sinners, supremely, God decides without man's will
having to do with it at all. That's what this whole world
is for. This whole world is just a piece
of ground upon which God rolls the dice. But it's not a question
of chance. It's a question of God's will,
God's deciding, the outcome determined by God himself. God's electing grace toward sinners,
choosing, God chose. The scapegoat he chose the sacrificial
goat by that means and so it's a symbol of that It's God making
a difference between his people and the world it's the way he
put it In the book of Exodus, and what is the outcome of God
doing that? When God decides the matter in
the supreme example of that People say, well, God can choose
this and that, but he doesn't violate man's free will in the
matter. Of course he does, and the lot
symbolizes that. He takes it out of the hands
of man. By that means, and decides the
case himself. And what's the outcome of him
doing that in the matter of the salvation of sinners in the supreme
example of this deciding, the ultimate result of God deciding
to save a sinner is what? The putting away of contention.
Contention cease when God decides. Contention between God and the
sinner ceases because of God's deciding of the matter apart
from the sinner's will. It's not up to you. Because it's
not there's peace peace with God The word disposing in the
verse that we just read a moment ago from Proverbs Means the act
of deciding a case Very simple the disposing God decides if
it's snake eyes or 5 2 or whatever 7 11 God decides. The whole disposing
of the matter, the act of deciding the case, is of the Lord. All right, now look with me at
John chapter five and verse 21. John 5, 21. For as the Father raiseth up
the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
he will. That's talking about spiritual
life. Quicken means to give life. And as the Father, God in heaven,
the absolute maker and disposer of all things, He raises up the
dead. He gives life to whom he will. And so also, he's given authority
to the son to quicken whom he will for. These two verses are
connected. They're not separate thoughts.
So look what he says in verse 22. For the father judgeth no
man, Not without the son, he doesn't.
The father's involved in that. He's not saying the father sits
on the sidelines. But here's what the father did
do. He hath committed all judgment unto the son. Well, what is that
verse? It's connected clearly by the
word for. What does it have to do with
giving life to some and not giving life to others? Well, the word
judgeth means to decide the case. Christ, having decided my case,
without my will, has caused all contention between myself and
him to cease. He came at the time of love and
said, live. He decided that. He decided I
would live. And that I would die to sin and
live under him. and that there would be no more
condemnation unto me in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless his holy name. Let's pray.