passage Brother Eric read for
us. The title of the message this
evening is False Prophets, Fallen Angels, and Lot. We'll see some
warnings in these first verses, that there's no escaping God's
judgment against our sin. And when we see those truths,
we'll see the utter impossibility of saving ourselves from our
sin, and then answer this question, who then can be saved? Let us
begin reading in verse 21 of chapter 1. For the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man. The holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. But they were false prophets
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you, who privileged shall bring in damnable heresies, even
denying the Lord that bought and bring upon themselves swift
destruction. Now, thankfully, God has always
had his servants preserved in this world. And often, we might
think that we're alone. But the Lord has always reserved
unto himself 7,000 that haven't bowed the knee to Baal. God's
never left himself without a witness. For his glory, he's not left
himself without a witness. And for the good of his people
on this earth, he's not left himself without a witness. But
there's also always been false prophets in the world. They're
flourishing in the world. Sinful man is religious. I mean, they're just so sinful,
but man is religious. So there'll always be false prophets. And they're false prophets because
they don't know God. And since they don't know him,
everything they say about him is false. You can't preach Christ
if you don't know him. They don't know him. So when
they preach, their message is false. But now here's the scary
truth. These false prophets aren't just
out there among the nameless masses out there in the world.
They're not just fellows that you see on your TV when you turn
it on. Peter says they're among you.
They're among you. They're in the church. They're
in God's church. And they're in the church because
that's where Satan's attacking. Satan doesn't need to attack
in these other places. He attacks in God's church because
this is where the truth is being preached. Now these men don't
come in with their, or in our day, women, don't come in with
their false message openly in the church. At least not at first. They bring in their message,
Peter says, privately. Now that word means more than
just bringing it in privately at first. It means, the word
means to introduce craftily. They use terms so that you don't
know exactly what they mean. And then little by little, gradually,
they move you away from the truth until they're preaching nothing
but damnable heresies. That's what Peter calls them,
damnable heresies. And their listeners don't even
realize it happened. They did it privily, gradually,
with treachery, trickery. They preach damnable heresies
by denying Christ. They deny even his, when it talks
here about denying Christ that bought them, even his provision
of worldly goods, they deny that. You know, it's what they got
on their own. They deny him in every way. And the people who
believe their message, this is why they're damnable heresies.
People who believe that message are going to be damned. That's
why they're damnable heresies. And you can tell they deny Christ
as soon as they give man something to do. They've denied Christ. And here's the reason that they
give man something to do. Because they're denying man's
fall in Adam. They deny that man's ruined by
the fall in Adam. They just deny man's debt and
sin, so they think man can do something to contribute to salvation,
so they give man something to do. The moment they do that,
they deny Christ. They deny Christ by denying that
salvation is entirely bought and wrought by Christ Himself.
They have to give man some credit in salvation. You know, they
tell you, well, you know, they give you glory by saying you
decided to accept Jesus. You know, you walked an aisle.
You did something. You know, you came to believe
the truth. You know, you give credence to
these true doctrines and, you know, God somehow sheds some
light upon your sinful flesh and you're saved. Now, that might
be Very slight, but it's giving man the glory. And they're going
to do something to give man credit, raise him up, and diminish the
person and work of Christ. And those things are damnable
heresies. People who believe those things,
that preaching, are going to be damned. And it's so frustrating
to us that we think these guys are flourishing. I mean, you
look at these guys on TV. I mean, they're wildly wealthy,
wildly. And it seems like they flourish
for a long time. I mean, just what is going on? But they'll be surprised how
swiftly God brings complete destruction upon them. They'll be surprised
that destruction is sure. God's word says it now. It's
sure God will never. tolerate any rival to his glory
and salvation. There can be no salvation for
anyone who believes that message. The message that denies Christ
because he's the only savior of sinners. There can be no salvation
for someone who denies Christ. Now, everybody here knows the
truth of that. But in our minds, don't we say?
We say that won't happen here. Now, that's not what happened
here. Well, don't be too sure. It happens to every local church
at some point. Just look at church history.
Every local church. This has happened to it at some
point. Peter says many will follow these false prophets and they'll
follow them to their own destruction. Look at verse 2. And many shall
follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of
truth shall be evil spoken of. Now the word pernicious Peter
used here means a way of misery and death. So many people are
going to follow this way of misery and death. That the way of truth
can be evil spoken of. People out in the world, they
think all religion is what they see in these guys. You know,
they're very visible. They've got huge congregations.
They're on TV. You can't go around the corner
without seeing them. Well, they think all religion is like them.
So they'll speak evil of true religion. They'll speak evil
of the gospel that's preached in God's church. But the way
of truth will also be evil spoken of by these false prophets. When
they deny that man is ruined by the fall, they speak evil
of Christ who is true. When they deny that sinners are
redeemed by the blood of Christ alone, now they deny Christ who
is the truth. When they deny that sinners have
life only because they have been regenerated by the God of the
Holy Spirit, they deny Christ who is the truth. Now, listen
to me. It's not that these false prophets
just have a different perspective than what we do on God's Word.
They do not have a different perspective. They speak evil
of Christ. It's not just they're saying
some good things about Christ. No, they speak evil of our Savior. Look in Acts chapter 24. They just turn everything around
backwards. What's good, they call bad. What's
righteous, they call unrighteous. What's truth, they call heresy. It happened to the Apostle Paul
in Acts 24, verse 14. But this I confess unto thee,
that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the
God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the law and the Paul says, I believe everything exactly
as it's written in God's Word. I believe what God's Word says.
And they call that heresy. Now, why do they do that? False
prophets, they deny plainly stated scriptures. And you point out
to them and they look at it and say, well, it doesn't mean that
to me. Well, now it means what it means. I mean, it's not open
to our interpretation. It means what it means. Why do
they deny that? because it won't suit their purposes.
It doesn't suit their doctrine to believe these plainly stated
scriptures. And verse 3 tells us why they
do it. It's because of covetousness. And through covetousness shall
they with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose judgment
now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth
not. Now, first of all, they're covetous
of worldly goods. The easiest way To get people
to give you money is religion. It's the easiest way to get people
to give you money. Because man by nature is religious. And if you tell them they can
buy their way into heaven, they say, that's a good deal. Now,
I'll spend a little money now for the promise of eternal happiness
and joy and eternal vacation. That's a good investment. It's
easy to get people to give you money under the cloak of religion.
Second, they're covetous of the praise of men. The easiest way
to get people to praise you is religion. Easiest way. You just
praise people, and they'll praise you. You just tell them all their
good deeds, you know, everything they did, and oh, they'll feel
good. And because of covetousness, that's why they're doing it.
They'll give you money. You just make people feel good
about themselves, and they'll praise you. So they're covetous
of worldly goods. They're covetous of the praise
of men. And here's the So serious, they're covetous of the praise
that belongs to God. Every son of Adam is. Every son
of Adam is covetous of the praise that belongs to God. So all a
false prophet has to do is give men the praise that belongs to
God and they'll like him. They'll like that, they'll agree
with it because that's their nature and they'll follow him
and make him rich. That's why he does it, it's because
of covetousness. And again, in the back of our
mind, every one of us is saying, now that's not what happened
here. We'll recognize this, that won't happen here. I'll tell
you again, don't be too sure. I mean, these guys are good.
They're masters of deception. They're playing to the human
nature that's in all of us. Peter says they use feigned words. And that term, feigned words,
actually means formed words. Like you form clay to fit into
a mold. Y'all remember what clay does.
A kid, you stamp it out. You mold it into what you wanted
it to be. They're using formed words to fit the situation. They form words to fit the mold
that you'll accept. And then they slowly change the
meaning. With feigned words. Until you've just gone completely
away from the truth. And they're not in the ministry
to preach the truth to you. They're in the ministry to make
merchandise of you. Their goal is to get what they
can out of you. You know, merchants, they profit
from their merchandise, don't they? By selling their merchandise.
And I tell you, the number one rule, if you're going to sell
something out in retail, your merchandise has got to be clean.
If it's not clean, people won't buy it. You understand? I used
to work in the convenience store industry, and it fascinated me.
We went to Mexico. We were on that toll road going
from Cancun to Merida, and there's convenience stores on the side
of the road. They don't have any front on the building. It's
just the whole building is open to the road. I'm thinking, how
in the world can they do that? That stuff's going to be filthy
in there. Well, we stopped for a cup of coffee, and I was just
rushing in. I wanted to see this. Well, the
store we stopped at, it had no front on it, but that place was
Spotless I mean you could just eat off anything and that's I
mean there's no nice speck of dirt in there You know why they
were paying two people constantly going around dusting everything
making it spotless So they their merchandise wouldn't be dirty
and people would buy it You got to keep your merchandise clean
or people won't buy it That's what these false prophets do
to people they make merchandise of you. They want you to feel
clean by what you do So they can make a profit off of you.
Then, if you're a merchant and you want to sell your merchandise,
what you've got to do is you've got to put it in the most visible
spot. I mean, you've just got to make it so people fall over
it and then they'll see it and buy it. That's what false profits
do to people. They make merchandise of them.
They get somebody to come in the door and in a couple weeks
they've got them in a very visible spot. So they'll stay. They're making merchandise of
you. Make somebody visible and they'll stay and you can make
a profit off of them. Now merchants take good care
of their merchandise. If they're going to be in business
long, they take good care of their merchandise. But they don't
take good care of that merchandise because they love the merchandise.
They don't care anything about that merchandise. What they love
is the profit that they can get, that they can generate from that
merchandise. They want to get rid of it as fast as they can
so they can make a profit. And if they don't make a profit,
what do they do? They mark it down and get rid
of it. Make room for something else to come in and say, oh,
we'll make them a profit. False prophets don't do what
they do because they love people at all. They don't have any love
for people. All they want is to get a profit. They don't love people. They
love money. They love what they get from
them because they're covetous. God's preachers want your benefit. want your benefit. They want
profit for you. Not themselves, they want profit
for you. God's preachers, above everything,
want you to know Christ. So no matter what, they continually
preach Christ to you. You know why? You can't get a
better prophet than knowing Christ. Could be you'll come to know
Him if somebody's preached Him to you. Could be. Now, that's
what God's preachers do. These false prophets They continue
in this covetousness. And God allows them to. For a
time, God allows them to flourish, but now their destruction is
sure. Peter says, their damnation slumbereth not. Everybody's going
to be surprised how quickly damnation comes upon them and their followers. So here's our first example of
sure and swift destruction. It's false prophets and their
followers. The second example of Sure and
swift destruction against sin is the angels who sin. Look at
verse 4. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast
them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness
to be reserved unto judgment. Now the angels were created upright
just like Adam was. They were created upright and
they lost their righteous standing just like Adam did. And you know
the story. A large group of them sinned.
They followed Lucifer and his rebellion against God. And every
last one of them that followed Lucifer was cast down from heaven.
And they'll ultimately be destroyed in judgment, just as sure as
people who are following these false prophets will be damned.
It's just as sure. So here's what we're learning.
Being religious won't protect you against judgment, against
your sin. Being created upright, having your own righteousness
that depends upon your own obedience. That won't protect you against
judgment, against sin. It didn't protect the angels.
Now, you and me, we're nothing compared to those angels. Talk
about power and knowledge. Just a few angels could come
destroy this whole world if God sent them to. I mean, what power
they have. And knowledge? I mean, you think
you know something? You think you've been around
a long time, been hearing the Word preached a long time? You
think you know something? You think of the knowledge these
angels have. They have the knowledge of the
things the Apostle Paul said, you can't even tell in human
language what I saw. They used to see that. We're
in the presence of God himself. They have knowledge of things
we can't even speak. Well, that power and that knowledge
didn't help them. What little bit of power and knowledge we
have is not going to help us either. Third, strength in numbers. won't protect anyone from judgment
against sin. Look at verse 5. And God spared
not the old world, but he saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher
of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the
ungodly. Now, in the days of Noah, God
destroyed the whole world with flood because of sin. It was all because of sin. Every living creature that was
not in the ark died. When that rain started falling,
every living creature who was not in the ark died. Now that's
a lot of people. Who knows how many people that
was? How many animals? But they all died without exception.
There's no strength in numbers. How many of them there was, they
could not stop. God's sure and swift Judgment
and destruction because of sin. A multitude of people with no
protection against God's judgment. Now, people in false religion,
they feel real good about the large numbers they have, don't
they? They publish it. They build football stadiums.
They make, I mean, what's that? Is it Joel Osteen? Well, he's
got 20,000 members. I mean, he's real proud of that.
What protection does that offer? None whatsoever. None whatsoever. There's no protection against
God's wrath in anything that comes from man. Well, here's
our third example of the sure destruction that will come from
God because of sin. It's Sodom and Gomorrah. Look
at verse 6. And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,
condemn them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those
that after should live ungodly. Now, the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah
was great. I mean, what a wicked, wicked
place. Yet, you know, that whole plain
prospered for many years. While all that was going on,
that plain prospered. God prospered them. And suddenly,
everybody and everything in that place was reduced to ashes. And
God did that as an example to us of His sure destruction, His
sure judgment against sin. Judgment and damnation, they're
both real and they're both certain. Now, let me ask those of us here.
Do you think living in a well-watered plain will protect you from God's
wrath against your sin? Do you think living in a well-watered
plain, living around believers, living around the preaching of
the water of life, will that protect you from the judgment
of God against your sin? Do you think being around the
preaching of the truth of Christ? You're not out there with those
false prophets. You're not out there in the world. You're here
on a Wednesday night. Imagine that. You're taking time
out of the middle of your week on a Wednesday night to come
hear the gospel. Think God will protect you against
God's wrath, against your sin? Not without Christ it won't.
Not without faith in Christ it won't. Now, judgment against
sin is sure. There's no protection in false
religion. Regardless of how good it looks
to men, there's no protection in being religious. There's no
protection in having our own righteousness. We will, without
a doubt, lose our own righteousness if it depends upon our obedience.
It's a fact. There's no protection in large
numbers. There's no protection in prosperity or living in a
well-watered plain. Now do you feel like those disciples
of Matthew 19 we read to open the scripture? Lord, who then
can be saved? Who can be saved? Now that's
a long introduction to make these three points. Number one, how
is anyone saved? Number two, who is saved? And number three, how saved are
they? And number one, how is anyone
saved? How can anyone be protected from
these false prophets? How can anyone be protected from
ourselves? How can we be protected from
depending upon our own righteousness, which is of the law, so we don't
fall like the angels did? Well, first, sinners are saved
because they're the elect of God. They've been singled out
by God to receive grace. In verse 5, we read about Noah.
You know Noah. He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. God's going to destroy the whole world because of sin.
He could have destroyed Noah, too. Noah deserved to be destroyed
just as much as everybody else that lived in his day. But God
chose to save Noah and seven other people. Noah didn't choose
God. God chose Noah. God spoke to
Noah and said, no, I'm going to destroy the world with a flood,
start building an ark. God chose Noah. And the only
way a sinner will ever be saved is if in eternity past, God chose
him. under salvation. Christ came
to this earth as a man. He came incarnate. He's born
of a virgin and he came for this purpose, to save his people from
their sins. He didn't come to save the whole
world. He didn't come to make salvation possible for sinners
of the whole world. He came to save his people, the
people that God gave him in the covenant of grace and eternity
past, and he saved them. He bought stock and barrel. He
saved his people from their sins. Sinners are saved because they're
elect of God. Second, sinners are saved by
grace. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah didn't
deserve to be saved. Noah didn't earn his salvation.
Noah didn't earn and deserve grace. What does scripture say?
Noah found grace. He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. Noah was found to be in possession
of grace because God gave it to him freely. And the only way
sinners like you and me will ever be saved is by the unsearchable
grace of God. We'll never be saved because
we deserve anything from God. We'll never be saved because
we earned anything from God. We'll never be saved for any
other reason but this. We found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. It's all because of God's grace. Salvation is always
by grace through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Third, sinners are saved by righteousness. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Noah wasn't out there when he
was building that ark preaching his own righteousness, because
he didn't have any. Well, then what was he preaching?
He was preaching the righteousness of God. And the only way sinners
like you and me will ever be saved is through righteousness,
through the righteousness of Christ. Now, it's not righteousness
of our own, because we lost all of our righteousness in Adam.
It's the righteousness of Christ. Look in Romans chapter 3. The
righteousness of Christ imputed to us, given to us. Romans 3 verse 23. For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past through the forbearance of God, to declare,
I say, at this time His righteousness that he might be just in the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." That's how sinners
are saved through righteousness. The righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Sinners are saved by God's election. They're saved by grace. They're
saved by righteousness. And sinners are saved, fourthly,
in Christ. In Christ. That ark that Noah
was in is a picture of Christ. That ark bore all the wrath of
God against the sins of Noah and the sins of those seven other
people with him in the ark. Not one drop of water fell upon
Noah. Not one. That water is God's
wrath. Not one drop of it fell on Noah.
Every bit of what Noah deserved fell upon that ark. Now, how
did Noah get in the ark? He's saved in the ark. How did
Noah get in the ark? God told Noah, get in. And Noah
went in by faith and God shut him in. God shut the door and
sealed Noah in that ark. Well, the only way a sinner is
going to be saved is by being found in Christ. Well, now how
do we get in Christ? God gives us commandment, come
to Christ. And God draws all of his elect
to Christ. And he gives us faith in Christ
and we obediently enter in. You know, people talk about Noah's
Ark. How did all those animals come and get on the Ark? God
called them. The Creator called them and they
came. How do sinners come to Christ? God calls them and they
come. God gives them faith and they,
you know why they're found in Christ? Because God's already
sealed them in Christ. That's how we're saved and every
drop of God's wrath against the sin of His elect fell upon Christ
our substitute. God didn't ignore our sin. He
took out His wrath, all the punishment of our sin, what it deserved,
upon Christ our substitute, and Christ bore it all. All that judgment, He put it
away. He drank every drop dry, and not one drop will fall upon
any of His people. Not one. Christ, the sinner's
substitute, died. So that we would live. That's
how sinners are saved. Well, second, who is saved? I love this. I absolutely love
this. Sinners. God saves sinners. Look at verse 7. God overthrew
Sodom and Gomorrah and he delivered just Lot. He delivered Lot. Who's Lot? I mean, you think
about who is Lot. We won't take the time to read
all these scriptures, but I'm telling you, Lot's a character.
I mean, you talk about a character study. You remember Lot. God told Abraham, Abraham, get
out of your father's house, go to land, and I'll show you. Lot
said, Abraham, I'm going with you. He's his nephew. He said,
I'll go with you. Well, they went together for a while. Abraham's
herdman and Lot's herdman got in a fight. So Lot separated
himself from Abraham. And he pitched his tent towards
Sodom. Towards Sodom. Now he didn't go to Sodom yet. He pitched his tent towards Sodom.
And in a little while, where did he find him? In Sodom. And not just living there, Lot
became a leader in that town. He was sitting in the gate when
those angels came to destroy the city. Lot was sitting at
the entry to the gate. He is a leader in this town. He started out pitching his tent
towards Sodom. And for long, he was a leader
there. And you know, look back at Genesis 19. I want you to
see a couple of these scriptures. The way Lot lived his life was
not a good witness to the faith at all. In Genesis 19, verse 14. This
is after the angels came and told Lot, we're going to destroy
the city. 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. But he seemed as one that
mocked unto his sons-in-law. Lot had lost all credibility
with his family because of the way he lived his life. And when
he started talking about faith, when he started talking about
believing God, this seemed out of character to them. They thought
he was mocking. The way he lived his life was
not a good witness of faith at all. And now Lot knows God's
going to destroy this city. It's time to leave. And what
did Lot do? He lingered. We read everything
going on there, vexed him, he hated it, it grated on his last
nerve. But when it came time to leave,
Lot lingered in Sodom. And you know why? Everything
in Sodom still appealed to his flesh. He didn't want to let
it go. And then after God destroyed
the city, Lot was spared. Lot was weak. God hadn't destroyed
the city yet, but he was delivered from out of the city, and he
was weak in faith. Those angels told him, you go
to this mountain, and when you get there, we'll destroy this
city. Lot said, oh, I can't make it there. God delivered him. He said, I can't do it. I can't
make it there. The angels said, we're not going
to destroy this plain until you get out of it. He said, I can't
make it there. Let me go to this little city. All right. They
let him go to that little city. Well, then he got scared. He
finally did go to the mountain that God told him to go in the
first place. And what did he do when he got there? He committed
incest with his daughters. And out of that union, the Moabites
and the Amorites were born. Nations that have troubled Israel
ever since. God saved that man? Yes, he did. Because God saves sinners. Now is Lot any better than those
angels that fell? No. They don't have any hope
of salvation. Why could Lot have hope of salvation? Why is Lot saved and those angels
are damned? Well, I'll give you three reasons.
The first one is sovereign mercy. If you're still in Genesis 19,
look at verse 16. And while he lingered, the men
laid 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."
Lot was spared because God was merciful. The angels were not
spared because God was not merciful to them. Now, this is the first
time mercy is used in the Bible. The first time. Can you read
that and understand mercy is not an offer? God's not offering
mercy. He isn't saying, Lot, if you
want to, come on. He grabbed a hold of him and pulled him
out and set him outside of the city. Mercy is sovereign mercy
that lays hold upon the object of mercy while that object of
mercy may still be unwilling and pulls us to salvation in
Christ. Sovereign mercy brings us to
Christ. Secondly, why was Lot spared
and angels were not spared? Covenant mercy. Look at verse
29 here in Genesis 19. And it came to pass when God
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. God didn't remember Lot, did
it? It says God remembered Abraham. God remembered the covenant that
he made with Abraham. And Lot was spared because of
covenant mercy. Why was Lot spared and angels
weren't spared? Because Christ didn't take on
him the nature of angels. He took on him the nature of
sinful man so he could save sinners like Lot. Now, Lot never did
one thing to deserve salvation, did he? Not one. But God saved
him in Christ and saved him because of Christ. Now, does that make
you thankful? I'm telling you, that makes me
thankful. Job said in Job 7 verse 17, What is man that thou shouldest
magnify him? What is man that thou shouldest
set thine heart upon him? What is man? Who am I that God
would set his heart upon me? There is no explaining it. David
says, What is man that thou art mindful of him? The Son of Man
thou visitest him. Who are we? that God's Son would
visit us in mercy and grace. That makes me so thankful. That's
who saves sinners. Well, third, how saved are they?
How saved are God's elect? How saved are those objects of
God's mercy? Well, I'm telling you, they're
perfectly saved. They're saved because Christ
came as their substitute. Now, God's justice demands this. Everyone for whom Christ died
must be spared. God's justice demands it. If
you're still in Genesis 19, look at verse 22. The angels here
speaking to Lot, and they said, I haste thee, escape thither,
for I cannot do anything till thou become thither. Therefore,
the name of the city was called Zoar. That was the city Lot wanted
to go to instead of going to the mountain. But the angel said,
I cannot do anything till you get out of here. I can't destroy
this place as long as you're in it because I cannot destroy
you. God's justice won't allow it.
Christ has already been punished in your sin. How saved was Lot? Peter calls him just Lot. Lot was justified. Now clearly, Lot wasn't justified
because he didn't do anything good. Lot was justified in Christ. Now here in Old Testament, you
read a lot about Lot messing up and his sin and his mistakes.
In the New Testament, there's no mention of Lot's sin. There's
no mention of Lot's failure because he doesn't have any. He justified. Justified is not just as if I'd
never sinned. Justified means I don't have
any sin. And Lot is just. had no sin because Christ took
it away. Then Peter calls Lot that righteous
man. He's got a righteous soul. He's
a righteous man. How can Lot be righteous? He
never did one thing right. Everything he did was wrong.
How can he be righteous? Well, now there's no excuse for
what Lot did. I'm not making any excuses for
what he did. None of us are saved. None of
us are made righteous by what we do or what we don't do. The
only way a sinner is made righteous is in the righteousness of Christ
imputed to us. If Christ is our righteousness,
we're righteous. When God saves a sinner, He makes
that sinner righteous. Todd Nyberg says He changes his
history. He makes him righteous. Not like
he's righteous. He makes him righteous Well,
how in the world does all that happen? Because verse 9 in our
text, the Lord knoweth. He knows how to deliver the godly
out of temptation. And he knows how to reserve the
unjust until the day of judgment to be punished. Thank God he
knows how. And brothers and sisters, he
has. Not only does he know how, he
has saved his people. from their sins. And we'll be
thankful. Let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, how we thank
You for Your grace. How we thank You for Your electing
grace. How we thank You for Your sovereign
mercy. How we thank You for Your covenant
mercy. As You would set Your affection
on sinful men and women such as we are and send Your be our
substitute, to die the death that we deserve, that we would
live the life that He has earned and deserved as our representative.
Father, we're thankful. And we beg of Thee that You would
keep Your Gospel here in this place, that You would continue
to cause Your Word to go forth in power to bless and comfort
and edify Your sheep to call the lost to faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ. How we pray that you'd protect
us from ourselves. We dislike a lot. We linger. We're weak in faith. How we pray
you'd protect us from ourselves by your sovereign mercy. That
you'd see us only in our Lord Jesus Christ. Don't ever see
us in anything we do, say, or think. See us in Christ. Accept us in Christ. Protect
us from the error and damnable heresies that are so prevalent
in the world today. These false prophets, Father,
protect us. Protect these little ones from
falling under their sway and save them by your grace. Father,
preserve and protect for your glory, for the glory of your
great name and for the good of your people, we pray. For it
is in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ we ask these
blessings. Amen.