Genesis (Part 24)(BST 11-23-08)

Genesis (Part 24)
Bible Study Time 11-23-08
(From James Roberts 2-2-97)

Last week in our Journey Through the Scripture, we considered Lot, a man whom God describes as being righteous. And yet, Lot had gone into Sodom and had become great in Sodom. But when God was ready to destroy Sodom, He delivered Lot out of Sodom because Lot had been made righteous in the sight of God.

Lot was rich when he went into Sodom, but as far as we know, when he came out, he lost everything. Just before the judgment came, God dragged Lot out of Sodom and then He rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plains.

Lot stands as a picture of Christians who have been made right with God, and yet they become entangled with the affairs of life, with the affairs of this world. They become earthly minded. God will be faithful to deliver them out of the future judgment because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but in the day of judgment, instead of them being burned up, it will be their works that will be burned up. They will be saved, but they will be saved as Lot was, through the fire. Instead of works that would bring honor and glory to the Lord, they will have done works that will be burned up.

Today, I want us to see the one who stands in contrast to Lot, and that is Lot’s uncle, Abraham. Abraham was a man of faith and was called the friend of God. Even though Abraham failed God many times, he always returned to the altar. He would always go back to the place of worship and fellowship with God. This is a picture of the believer who sins but is willing to return to God where he can walk in fellowship with God, and where he can be used by the Lord to accomplish God’s purposes.

Abraham was a friend of God because he was a man of the altar, he was a man of worship, he was a man of fellowship with God. God could speak to Abraham and reveal things to Abraham. In Genesis, Chapter 17, we find that Abraham received a visit from the Lord, and during that visit the Lord established a covenant with Abraham. Now, notice as we begin reading in Genesis, Chapter 17, with verse 4:

Genesis 17:4-5 NKJV
4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

No longer “exalted father,” but “the father of a multitude,” because as God said, I have made you a father of many nations. Now, please notice the tense of this. God did not say, I will make you a father of many nation, but he said, I have made you a father of many nations. As far as God was concerned, this promise was an accomplished fact. He said, I have made you a father of many nations.

God can call things that are not as though they are already in existence, and that’s what He did with Abraham. Even though Abraham’s only son was Ishmael, the son of a bondwoman, yet God could say, I have made you the father of many nations.

Now, let’s look at the covenant that established God’s promise to Abraham. God said:

Genesis 17:6-8 NKJV
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

Notice that there is no condition here. There was no condition set forth that Abraham had to live up to. God did not say, I will do this, if you will do this. No, God in accordance with His grace, simply made these promises to Abraham. He established this unconditional covenant with Abraham. He said, I will, I will, I will, I will. This was a covenant of grace.

It was not until after this covenant was established that God gave to Abraham the ritual of circumcision as a token of the covenant. The Jewish people who came from Abraham are called the circumcision because circumcision was established for the people of Israel under the Law. That is why they are called “the circumcision.”

It’s very important to keep in mind that God gave this promise to Abraham even while Abraham was still uncircumcised. This turned out to be a very important fact when, after the death of Christ, the New Covenant was offered to the nation of Israel. This was important because the New Covenant was to be based on faith even as God’s covenant with Abraham was based on faith. The New Covenant was to be unconditional, and it was to be based on faith.

Since God’s covenant with Abraham was made before Abraham was circumcised, this opened the door for Gentiles to be saved by faith apart from circumcision and the other rituals of the Law. In the New Covenant, Abraham’s seed through Isaac, the people of Israel, will have a preeminent position. According to the book of Isaiah and all through the Old Testament, it is clear that part of God’s promise to Abraham was that the nation of Israel would someday become a nation of priests. They were to become a holy nation unto God, but they were to have authority over the Gentile nations as they ministered to them.

So, you see, according to the New Covenant, the nations of the earth were to be brought into the New Covenant kingdom and blessed with Israel. This is pictured in the covenant that God made with Abraham in that it was given to Abraham before he was circumcised.

This opening for the Gentiles to enter into the kingdom is not seen in the Law covenant that God made with Israel at Mt. Sinai. The Law covenant was a conditional covenant which was destined to pass away due to the weakness of those who tried to keep it.

As an aside here, I would like to say that the New Covenant, which is often spoken of in the New Testament, is in essence the same covenant that God made with Abraham back in Genesis, Chapter 17, and it is not a covenant that you and I participate in today. The New Covenant was promised all through the Old Testament, beginning with Abraham.

The New Covenant was confirmed in the book of Jeremiah, Chapter 31, where in verse 31. In that passage, we see that the New Covenant will not be like the covenant that God made with the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai. It will be different because it will be based in the power of the Holy Spirit, which the Lord Jesus said would come a result of His willingness to shed the blood of the New Covenant.

The New Covenant will also be different from the Law in that it will bring in the Gentiles to be blessed with Israel in the kingdom even though, as Jeremiah 31 plainly declares, the New Covenant will be a covenant between God and the nation of Israel. It is the covenant which will someday establish Israel’s spiritual and political authority over all the earth.

You and I today are not partakers in the blessings of the New Covenant. We are members of the Church which is the Body of Christ. According to the book of Ephesians, this program of the Church which is the Body of Christ is an unforetold dispensation because the truth concerning the church was never made known to the prophets of the Old Testament or to the gospel writers or to the apostles during the time period covered by the book of Acts.

The truth concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ was revealed after the Acts period by the Apostle Paul, and one of the distinctive aspects of the Church which is the Body of Christ is that it’s members, whether Jew or Gentile, stand on an equal footing before God. In this church, the Jews have no special authority over the Gentiles.

This stands in contrast to the New Covenant which is based on God’s promise to Abraham. According to the New Covenant, the nation of Israel will have a position of preeminence when the promises of the New Covenant are fulfilled. At that time Israel will be a holy nation, and they will be the ministers of God to the nations of the world.

But please notice that all those who will someday inherit the blessings of the New Covenant will do so on the basis of God’s grace, whether Jew of Gentile. They will all have Abraham as their father because whether they are a Jew or a Gentile, they will enter into their relationship with God on the basis of God’s grace through faith in God’s word. In this regard, the New Covenant is identical to the program for the Church which is the Body of Christ.

God had promised to Abraham a son, through whom the covenant was to be established, but Abraham laughed at the promise that his wife, Sarah, was going to have a son. And Abraham said to God, Oh that Ishmael might live before you. But God said, No. He said, Abraham, you are going to have a son through Sarah because I will make my covenant with the son of the free woman. You shall call his name Isaac, and I’m going to make My covenant with him.

In the book of Romans, Chapter 4, we see something that is precious to us today regarding the faith of Abraham. In Genesis, Chapters 17 and 18, we see that Abraham and Sarah laughed at the promise of God initially, because they considered their own bodies. Because of their advanced age, they concluded that they would be unable to have a son. But then, God said, it’s not going to be by natural means, not through the son of the bondwoman, but Sarah is going to have a son. Romans 4 reports that it was at this point that Abraham:

Romans 4:18-19 NKJV
18 . . . contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be."
19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb.

In Genesis, Chapters 17 and 18, Abraham did initially consider his own body, but when God told him that his son would come through Sarah, that’s when Abraham latched on what God said. Then Abraham said in his own heart:

I believe that. If God says I’m going to have a son, even though I’m a hundred years old, I believe that. Even though naturally speaking that can’t happen. Sarah’s 90 years old and, naturally speaking, she can’t have a son, but God’s not bound by the natural. What God tells me that He is going to do, He has the power to do.

In Romans 4, Paul said that Abraham was not weak in faith. He did not consider his own body as being dead. He did not waver at that promise of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and notice this, Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

Man by nature, generally speaking, when he first hears the gospel of the grace of God, he considers it to be something that is impossible. How could God save a person today on the basis of the death of a person who died 2000 years ago?

Well, here’s what God says. God so loved you and me that He gave His Son to die on the cross. While we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ loved us enough to die on the cross and to taste in full the penalty for the sins of the world, from Adam to the last person who will ever live. He paid it all on that cross, and when He was put in the grave, on the third day, He arose again, triumphant over death, hell and the grave.

I trust today that if you are like Abraham, inwardly laughing at the good news of Jesus Christ, refusing to believe the gospel, that you will listen today to what God has said, it is only by my Son and through His death that a man can be saved. Won’t you be like Abraham and become strong in your faith, not wavering at the promise of God. I trust that you will latch on to the word of God and say, what God has said, He is able also to perform.

Well, I see our time is gone, and we’re going to have to leave you today. But next week, the Lord willing, we’ll take up on our Journey Through the Scripture once again.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 23)(BST 11-16-08)

Genesis (Part 23)
Bible Study Time 11-16-08
(From James Roberts 1-26-97)

Last week in our Journey Through the Scripture, we considered Lot, Abraham’s nephew. And we saw that Lot had made some very bad choices. He had gone to live in the city of Sodom where he became increasingly involved in the affairs of Sodom. He had even become a leader and had possibly become one of their judges.

God was ready to destroy Sodom because of Sodom’s wickedness, and we find in the book of II Peter that it was God’s plan to save Lot out of Sodom before the judgment came. In Peter’s account, Peter actually refers to Lot as a just, or a righteous man. Now, that is interesting.

Even though Lot was in Sodom, he did not lose his position before God as a just, or righteous person. In this we see that Lot’s position before God was based on his faith. Because of Lot’s faith in God, he was protected from the judgment of God because he was under the grace of God.

So Lot’s position before God was not based on Lot’s good works; it was based on God’s grace. In the Bible, the word grace simply means that you get something that you don’t deserve. When you read about Lot in Sodom, oh my, you can certainly see how he did not deserve to hold onto his position of favor with God. He did not deserve to be considered by God to be a righteous or a just person, but God by His grace made it possible because Lot had faith in the word of God.

Undoubtedly, Abraham had shared with Lot some of the things that God had revealed to him, and Lot had believed the word of God. Lot believed and so God counted it to Lot for righteousness.

Now, let’s consider Abraham and Lot. Abraham had a position before God that resulted in Abraham being viewed as a just man or a righteous man. And that position was His, not because he was living a life that was pleasing to God but because he had believed the revelation of God, and God had extended his grace to Abraham. Abraham was saved by God’s grace through faith.

Abraham’s position before God was not based on Abraham’s good works, and Lot’s position before God was not based on Lot’s evil works. They both entered into a position of favor with God which was based on their faith.

And please let me say this to you, God tells you and me today that our position before God is established in the same way. If we believe in Christ, we are positioned in Christ, and our position in Christ is not based on how good we have been or on how bad we have been. Our position is based on God’s grace. God’s grace means that you get something that you don’t deserve.

So our position in Christ is given to us by God’s grace. God just gives it to us because of His great love for us and because He sees the faith that we have in God’s word. We are saved by grace through faith in what God has said in His word.

Now, Abraham put His faith in God when God told him to leave Ur of the Chaldeans. We exercise saving faith when we believe that God came from heaven’s glory as a man and then went to the cross, as the sinless God of glory in human form, to bear our sins in His own body on the tree.

While Jesus Christ was hanging there on the cross, He died and paid the penalty for all of your sins and all of mycame from heaven't Lo sins so that those sins could never be held against us. Christ paid in full the penalty for those sins. And when we believe that He died for our sins, that He was buried and that He rose again the third day, God counts that faith for righteousness.

It is on this basis of faith that Abraham and Lot and you and I are made right before God. Our acceptance in the sight of God is not because of who we are or because of what we have done, but it’s because of God’s grace and it’s on the basis of our faith in Christ.

We have seen the standing of Abraham and Lot before God, but now let’s look at their state. Abraham was a man who believed God and walked in fellowship with God, and God was able to use Abraham in many ways here on the earth. God gave Abraham promises, and he confirmed those promises to Abraham and to his seed after him.

Lot, on the other hand, was a person who was out of fellowship with God. He lived in Sodom, and he was entangled in the affairs of Sodom. While his position with God was similar to Abraham’s position, his state was very different.

Now, if you read Genesis, Chapter 19, you see a very sad situation. God was ready to destroy Sodom and so He sent two angels in the form of men and to rescue Lot, but let’s see what happened in verse 10:

Genesis 19:10-13 NKJV
10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
11 And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.
12 Then the men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city — take them out of this place!
13 For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it."

You see, the men of Sodom had no position before God as righteous people, but Lot was going to be delivered from the coming judgment because he was a righteous person, even though his soul was vexed with the evil deeds of the people of Sodom. Now notice, the angels said:

Genesis 19:13-14 NKJV
13 . . . the LORD has sent us to destroy it."
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said,"Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!" But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.

You see, Lot had lost his testimony before even his sons-in-law. Now, verse 15:

Genesis 19:15-16 NKJV
15 When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying,"Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city."
16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

You see, Lot was still reluctant to leave Sodom, even in the face of judgment. The angels actually just dragged him out of the city along with his wife and his two daughters. Now, notice in verse 17:

Genesis 19:17 NKJVudgment, and the angels actually just dragged them out of the city, Lot, his wife and his two daughte
17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that (the angel) said,"Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed."

That’s where Lot could have gone in the first place when Abraham gave him a choice as to where he would go. Now Lot is told by the angel to escape to the mountains, but notice what Lot said:

Genesis 19:18-19 NKJV
18 . . . "Please, no, my lords!
19 Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die.

Abraham was living safely in the mountains, and God was using him. Lot was in living in Sodom where he was in great danger because Sodom was going to be destroyed and everything that Lot had achieved and that he had acquired was going to be destroyed. And yet, Lot was afraid to go to the mountains. He was afraid that he would be in too much danger there. And notice in verse 20:

Genesis 19:20-23 NKJV
20 See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live."
21 And he said to him, "See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken.
22 Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
23 The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar.

Lot had to be dragged out of Sodom, and he was also reluctant to leave the cities of the plains of Jordan. That had been his downfall as far as his spiritual state and his fellowship with God were concerned. Lot was reluctant to leave, and so he asked if he could go to Zoar because it was a little city.

Many times Christians who are out of fellowship with God think that it’s alright to be just a little bit involved in the world. They see all of the really bad things that other people are doing over in Sodom, and they think, I’m not doing all those really bad things; I’ll just stay over here in Zoar where I can be just a little bit worldly.

But please notice that when God delivered Lot, God had to destroy everything that Lot had except his two daughters. Even Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. She was delivered out of Sodom, but she lost her life as she was leaving Sodom because she disobeyed the Lord and looked back at Sodom.

In the book of I Corinthians, we see one of the lessons that we can learn from Lot, and I want you to get this. In the book of I Corinthians, Chapter 3 and verse 9, we read:

1 Corinthians 3:9-15 NKJV
9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building.
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.
11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13 each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is.
14 If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

What a beautiful picture Lot gives us of the person who builds wood, hay and stubble, things that will be burned up in the day of judgment. When we walk according to the flesh, we are building those things that will be burned up just like the things that Lot was building in the city of Sodom.

If we want to have a reward on the day of judgment, our spiritual state before God must be such that we are walking in fellowship with God. Only then will we be building with gold, silver and precious stones. Lot was saved as through the fire. He was dragged out of the fiery judgment. He was saved, but all that he had was burned up.

Oh, it may be that you are listening this morning, and you are living a life that is based on selfish ambition, just doing what you want to do. God tells us that when we walk according to the flesh like Lot, we will lose all that we have built, yet we will be saved as through the fire with nothing to present to the Lord on that day when we see Him face to face.

I trust that you know the Lord as your Savior, and then that you are walking in accordance with His will so that you will be like Abraham rather than Lot.

Well, I see our time is already gone. The Lord willing we’ll be back again with you next week as we continue our Journey Through the Scripture. Until that time, we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 22)(BST 11-9-08)

Genesis (Part 22)
Bible Study Time 11-9-08
(From James Roberts 1-19-97)

Last week in our Journey Through the Scripture, we considered Lot, the nephew of Abraham. We saw something of the disastrous choices that Lot made. He began to pitch his tent toward Sodom, and we last saw Lot sitting in the gates of Sodom. It would appear that Lot had risen to a place of prominence in Sodom as he had some kind of leadership position there. He undoubtedly had some strong connections with the men of Sodom because his daughters had married men from that city.

So when the angel of the Lord came and told Lot about the destruction that was going to come upon Sodom, Lot was very reluctant to leave. However, Lot did go to his sons-in-law to warn them about the coming judgment. He was no doubt hoping to get them to leave Sodom, but they laughed at him and mocked him. They had seen Lot’s behavior, and they thought that Lot seemed just like one of them. They had no reason to believe that God would give Lot any kind of a special explanation regarding any judgment that was about to come.

As we apply this to our own experience, we see that many times believers who live an inconsistent life are not taken seriously by unbelievers, even when they try to tell those unbelievers about the Lord Jesus Christ and about God’s great love for them.

Now there is another aspect of Lot’s life that many people fail to understand. This is found in II Peter, Chapter 2, and I’d like for you to look at this passage with me this morning if you have the opportunity to do so. In this passage we find God speaking of the coming judgment. There is going to be future judgment that is going to come upon the earth. It will be a judgment like the judgment of the days of Noah. In the days of Noah, God destroyed the earth with a flood, but in the coming judgment, God is going to destroy the heavens and the earth with great fire.

However, in the book of II Peter we find a third judgment mentioned, and that’s the judgment that took place in the days of Lot. According to II Peter, God delivered two men out from under His hand of judgment. Notice in verse 4 of II Peter, Chapter 2:

2 Peter 2:4-5 NKJV
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

Before God brought the flood upon the world of the ungodly, He had this man, Noah, preaching righteousness to the people. For 120 years, Noah preached to the people about the coming judgment. Then finally, when the judgment was about to come, God put Noah in the ark and rescued him out of that judgment.

Now, you might say, well, I understand why God would rescue Noah. After all, Noah was a man who was faithful to preach the word. We don’t find Noah taking part in all of the ungodliness of the world. Noah was a just man, he had found grace in the eyes of the Lord, he was active in the Lord’s work as he proclaimed righteousness to a wicked world, so therefore, we sort of understand why God would want to deliver Noah. But notice verse 5:

2 Peter 2:6 NKJV
6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, (God) condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;

Here we find another judgment that came after the flood on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. God just turned those cities into ashes with a fiery judgment as an example to those who are ungodly. Now notice in verse 7:

2 Peter 2:7-9 NKJV
7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked
8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) —
9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,

So here we find a very interesting description of Lot. Keep in mind that this is in the New Testament which was written centuries after the events recorded in the book of Genesis. This was God’s viewpoint of Lot. And what did God see? God saw Lot as a righteous person.

As we would look at it, we might not think that Lot was a righteous person. Lot’s sons-in-law probably did not think of Lot as a righteous person because they saw only Lot’s outward conduct. They saw Lot being tormented day by day by the filthy conversation of the ungodly people there in Sodom and Gomorrah, and yet Lot, himself, was entangled in all of the affairs of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Lot was a wealthy man, but he was a tormented man because he could find no rest while he was there in Sodom. He was tormented by the filthiness that was all around him. But I want you to notice that God saw Lot as a righteous man. Even though we would not look at him as such, even though Lot’s sons-in-law would not have looked at him as such, God saw Lot as a righteous man.

Now, how is it that a person is made right with God? How is it that a person can become just in the sight of God? Actually that question was asked by a man named Job centuries ago. Job asked:

How can a man be just with God? I’m not God so that I can reach up and lay hold on God. God is not a man so that He can reach down and lay hold on me so that we can come together in a court of law. There is no day’s man betwixt us; there is no mediator between us.

But since the days of Job, there is one who came into this world, who was both God and man. He was Emmanuel, God With Us. The Lord Jesus Christ was not a hybrid. He was not half God and half man. He was totally God, and He was totally man. He was fully divine and fully human.

When Christ died on the cross, He died for all of humanity, paying in full the penalty for all of our sins so that we might become righteous in the sight of God. He gave His life so that all of man’s sins could be dealt with and be taken out of the way, so that men could be found in the righteous one, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So the Lord Jesus Christ died, was buried and then He rose again, and He is sitting today at God’s right hand. He is fully God and fully man, and He is the mediator between God and man. And now, man can be just before God, not because of his own righteousness but because of faith.

I believe that there has never been a person who has been made right in the sight of God except by faith. Abraham was justified by faith. Abraham received a revelation from God. God revealed Himself to Abraham as the God of glory, and God gave Abraham a command to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and go to a place that God would show him. Abraham believed God, and God counted Abraham’s faith for righteousness. God counted Abraham as righteous, not because of Abraham’s goodness, but because Abraham had faith in what God had said.

Undoubtedly, Abraham had shared this good news with his family, namely his father and probably his nephew, Lot. Undoubtedly, Lot had believed the good news that Abraham had shared with him about the God of glory, and Lot had believed what God had told Abraham. And so, God saw the faith of Lot and accounted that faith to Lot for righteousness.

Now it’s very interesting to see that God tells us in His word in many ways that a person cannot be justified before God by their own good works. In Acts, Chapter 13, the Apostle Paul went to Antioch of Presidia in the province of Galatia, and he first of all went to the synagogue of the Jews who had been under the Law of Moses. As he spoke to them about the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, he told these Jews that by this man, Jesus Christ, believers are justified from all things of which they could never be justified by the Law of Moses.

Paul later wrote to the Christians of Galatia and told them that those who are trying to be justified by keeping the Law have to continue in all things that were required by the Law. Those who want to be justified by law keeping have to walk in the Law; there is no room for any deviation from that which is required by the Law.

Later on, James explained that if a man breaks the Law in one point, he is guilty of breaking the whole Law, and he stands condemned before God. When a man goes before God to plead his case on the basis of law keeping, God will not look to see if that man has kept the Law 51% or 75% of the time. God will look to see if that man has kept the Law 100% of the time, and that man will be required to keep not only the letter of the Law but the spirit of the Law as well, 100% of the time.

Only one person has ever kept that Law in this manner and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Bible says that those who try to be justified before God by law keeping are under the curse of the Law because they are sinners and the Law itself condemns them. They have to stand before God as guilty.

But when a person comes before God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, pleading the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, saying, Lord, I believe what you have told me about the Lord Jesus, that He loved me and died for me, that he bore in full the penalty for my sins and that I can now trust Him to give me eternal life as a free gift. God counts that faith for righteousness just as He counted Abraham’s faith for righteousness, and in that same way, God also counted Lot’s faith as righteousness.

Today, I want to ask you this question as we close the broadcast. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior?

The Bible tells us that we cannot be justified by our own good works because if we could do enough good works to save ourselves, God would owe us a place in heaven. But those who go to heaven will not be there as a result of any debt that God owes them. All those who go to heaven will be those who have received eternal life as a free gift from God. It is not a matter of how much you have done that is good or bad, but it’s a matter of whether you have trusted Christ as your personal Savior.

Lot had become a just person because he had faith in Christ. He did not lose his position of acceptance before God as a just man just because he wondered off to live in Sodom and Gomorrah.

Next week, we are going to look at the consequences of Lot’s failure to make the right choices, but the thing that I want you to see today is that Lot was saved, like you must be saved and like I must be saved, and that’s by faith in what God has said. We are saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, I see our time is gone. The Lord willing, we will be back with you again next week when we will continue our Journey Through the Scripture. Until that time, we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 21)(BST 11-2-08)

Genesis (Part 21)
Bible Study Time 11-2-08
(From James Roberts 1-12-97)

Last week in our Journey Through the Scripture, we saw that a quarrel developed between the herdsmen of Abraham and his nephew, Lot. Abraham felt uneasy about this quarreling and wanted to prevent a scandal in the eyes of the other tribes and families of the region, so he went to Lot and suggested that they go their separate ways. Abraham said, if you go to the left, I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left. Abraham left the choice with Lot. Genesis, Chapter 13, says that as Abraham presented his proposal:

Genesis 13:10 NKJV
10 . . . Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere . . . like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar.

From Lot’s viewpoint, the plains of Jordan looked like the garden of God, but they were also said to be like that Egypt.

Now, to Lot, Egypt must have seemed very attractive, but in the Bible, Egypt is a picture of the world. When the Bible talks about people who are going to Egypt, it always presents them as going down into Egypt, not only geographically but also spiritually. It never speaks of people going up into Egypt. Why? Because there’s no spiritual growth in Egypt, there is no spiritual growth in the world. In the world, one can only expect a degeneration of one’s spiritual life and testimony.

Lot lifted up his eyes, and he saw. He based his choice on the things that he saw with his fleshly eyes and his natural mind. He saw the beautiful, well watered plains of Jordan. He thought that if he went in that direction, his cattle would never go hungry. And, we see that Lot chose for himself. Notice this in verse 11:

Genesis 13:11 NKJV
11 Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.

Abraham was willing to leave the matter in God’s hands as he gave the choice to Lot. Years before, God has told Abraham to leave the land in which he was living, and Abraham acted simply on the basis of the word of God, so that even then, he left the choice with God as to where he would go. He was willing to trust the Lord to lead him into the place where God wanted him to be.

Lot, on the other hand, chose for himself, and it may be that today you are listening to this program this morning, and you have chosen for yourself what you are going to do with your life. You have said in your heart that your life is your own and you can do with it as you wish.

Some time ago, my wife and I were given a plaque by a dear friend of ours and this little plaque says, the Lord always gives the best to those who leave the choice with Him. Abraham received the best because he left the choice with God, and God led Abraham into the very place that He wanted Abraham to be.

We are going to see in this lesson today, and in the next, the destructiveness of Lot’s choice as he walked by sight and not by faith. The Bible tells us in the book of II Corinthians that we are not like those who walk by sight, but rather, we walk by faith.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. When we walk by sight, we are walking like everyone else in the world. But Christians have two resources that make it possible for them to walk in a different way from all other men. We do not have to walk according to the natural perspective.

First, Christians have the word of God so that, as we read God’s word, we grow in our faith. We see God’s viewpoint and by faith we accept His viewpoint. Second, Christians also have the Holy Spirit who is able to take the word of God and apply it to our hearts so that we can begin to understand the will and the purpose of God for our lives.

As we look into God’s word, and study God’s word, and rightly divide God’s word, and hide God’s word in our hearts, the Holy Spirit uses the word to give us God’s divine perspective. In this way, we do not end up choosing for ourselves a life that leads to destruction.

It is very interesting that at this point Lot chose not only to live in the well watered plains of Jordon, but Lot went to dwell in the cities of the plains of Jordan. This represents another step downward in Lot’s spiritual life. It wasn’t long before Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom, itself. Step by step, Lot was spiraling downward in his spiritual life.

You see, before we go all the way down into Sodom and start indulging in the things of Sodom, we have to pitch our tent toward Sodom. First, we set our minds on the things of this world, and then we become entrapped in the things of this world with all of its destructiveness.

At first, we don’t see the things of Sodom as destructive. Satan cleverly disguises the things of the world so that they do not appear to be destructive. Satan wants to lure people into this destruction. Lot saw the well watered plains of Jordan as paradise restored, but in reality they were just like the destructive things of Egypt.

Now, in the very next chapter in the book of Genesis, we find that Lot was actually living in Sodom when a federation of five kinds came up against Sodom. These five kings captured the king of Sodom and many of the citizens of Sodom, including Lot and his family. As soon as Abraham heard about this, he gathered up some of his young men and went out to rescue Lot. In the strength and power of the Lord, Abraham rescued Lot, but do you know what Lot did? Lot went right back to Sodom.

Undoubtedly, Lot had things in Sodom that he loved so much that he could not bear to part with them. But it is not until we get to Genesis, Chapter 19, that we see the terrible destructiveness of Lot’s choice. Lot went down into the well watered plains of the Jordan. Then he went to dwell in the cities of that area. Then Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom, and it wasn’t long before he was living in Sodom itself. He then got so wrapped up in the things of Sodom that he could no longer bear to leave.

In Genesis, Chapter 18, God tells Abraham that He is going to destroy Sodom. Abraham pleads with God to save Sodom and Gomorrah, and he bargains with the Lord. It may be that Abraham bargained with the Lord so aggressively in order to save Lot and Lot’s family.

In Genesis, Chapter 19, we read that when God did decide to destroy Sodom, He sent two messengers to warn Lot of the coming judgment. These messengers told Lot to get out of Sodom to avoid the destruction. But in spite of this divine warning from God, Lot was hesitant to leave Sodom .

In the first verse of Chapter 19, we find Lot sitting in the gates of the city of Sodom. This indicates that Lot had a place of leadership in Sodom. Lot had not only pitched his tent toward Sodom, but he had moved into Sodom and had become a leader in Sodom. We also find that Lot’s daughters had married men from Sodom so that Lot was more and more entangled in the affairs of Sodom.

May I say this to you. When you become a Christian, you have the option; you have the choice as to how you are going to live your life. If you decide to walk by sight and do the things that you want to do, then you will wind up like Lot in Sodom. On the other hand, if you decide to let the Lord lead you and guide you and direct you, then the Holy Spirit dwelling within you will take the word of God as you read and study and feast upon it, so that the word of God comes to live within you. Then, you will be able to see life from the divine perspective.

Every Christian has this choice, but I want you to notice that if you decide to live for yourself, you don’t just automatically find yourself immediately occupying a place of leadership in Sodom. There will be a progression that leads downward in your life just like there were many steps in Lot’s downward path to Sodom.

There are many Christians today who have left the place of blessing and fellowship with God because at some point they decided to pitch their tent toward Sodom. Then as they inched their way toward Sodom, they became enmeshed in the activities of Sodom, and finally the things of Sodom got such a hold on them that they would now have a hard time breaking away from the things of Sodom.

Now it’s interesting to note that when the angels came to warn Lot of the judgment that was about to fall upon Sodom, Lot told his sons-in-law about the warning, and the Bible says that Lot’s sons-in-law laughed at him and mocked him. You see, when Christians live their lives recklessly enmeshed in the things of the world and then they try to bear a testimony for the Lord, the world simply laughs.

Finally, the angels warned Lot to quickly leave the city because the judgment of God was near, but they told Lot that they could not destroy the city until he left. Well, why was that? In the book of II Peter, we are told that the Lord knows how to rescue the righteous when they find themselves in the midst of an ungodly world. Peter first points to Noah, and then he mentions “righteous Lot.”

Obviously, Lot knew the Lord. He had become righteous in God’s sight even though he still had the world in his heart. So Lot was what we might call a worldly Christian, but in spite of Lot’s worldly condition, it was God’s plan to save Lot from the destruction that was about to fall upon Sodom. Even though Lot was dwelling there in Sodom, he was not considered by God to be a part of the evil of that city. God saw Lot as separate and apart from the wickedness of the city of Sodom because Lot had come to know and believe in the Lord.

Next week, we are going to see the consequences that Lot had to face as a result of his attraction to and his association with the city of Sodom. I trust that if you know the Lord as your Savior today that you will look at Lot’s life and take note of the utter destructiveness of making the wrong choices in life.

Well, I see our time is gone. The Lord willing, we will take up here again next week. Until that time, we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/