Choices and Consequences

[0:00] Lot went up from Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters, and the firstborn said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come into us after the manner of all the earth.

[0:25] Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father. So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father.

[0:44] He did not know when she lay down or when she arose. The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, Behold, I lay last night with my father.

[1:00] Let us make him drunk with wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.

[1:12] So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

[1:24] Thus, both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab.

[1:39] He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ami. And he is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

[1:56] Thank you very much, Faye. I'm sure you'd all agree with me that this is a sad and sobering account before us.

[2:08] Last week, we saw how Lot thought nothing of his daughters and was willing to give them to a violent homosexual mob.

[2:18] And now in this passage before us, we're seeing how his daughters thought nothing of him and intentionally made him drunk so that they could have sex with him and bear children by him.

[2:34] And what we see is that although Sodom and Gomorrah had been destroyed, Sodom and Gomorrah was alive and well in Lot and his daughters.

[2:52] But the sad reality is that these circumstances in which Lot found himself at the end of his life were the consequences of decisions, choices that he made at the beginning of his life.

[3:10] This morning, I want us to consider Lot's choices and the consequences that he reaped as a result. But as usual, before I do that, let's take a moment to pray.

[3:22] Father, we bow our hearts this morning and we ask, Lord, that you would make true in our hearts the song we just sang, that we want to know you. Lord, you help us to know you in this sad and sobering account that you inspired Moses to write and that you have preserved over the ages.

[3:50] Lord, we help us to know you in working in darkness and in sin and depravity.

[4:04] And Lord, we pray that you would also, through this sad and sobering account, speak to our own hearts about the realities of choices and the consequences of those choices.

[4:22] Father, you know each of us. You know our circumstances. You know what we need to hear and how we need to hear it. So would you superintend the preaching of your word this morning?

[4:35] I pray that you'd use me truly as an instrument in your hand to bring your word to your people. And Lord, use the preaching of your word this morning for the good of our souls and for the glory of your great name.

[4:48] As in Christ's name we pray. Amen. For this passage before us this morning is the final account that we have of Lot in the book of Genesis.

[5:02] And I want us to consider it under three simple points, two of which are quite obvious. And they are, number one, Lot's choices. Number two, Lot's consequences.

[5:16] But the third point is not so obvious. Actually, the third point is quite surprising. And so I won't mention the third point yet because I believe that once we would have heard the first two points of the sermon, it would better prepare us for the third point of the sermon.

[5:38] We would benefit from and appreciate the third point of the sermon. So let's consider first Lot's choices.

[5:50] What choices did Lot make that brought him to these dark circumstances that he faced at the end of his life?

[6:00] Well, to identify those choices, we have to circle back to Genesis chapter 13. I'll ask if you would turn there in your Bible.

[6:13] And the context of Genesis 13 is that there was a dispute between Lot and his uncle Abraham. They were both very prosperous men.

[6:29] And the dispute broke out between the herdsmen of Lot and the herdsmen of his uncle Abraham. They had herds and flocks and possessions and the land couldn't contain them.

[6:43] And so Abraham took the initiative and he said to Lot, he said, okay, here's what we'll do. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right. He gave Lot first preference of all the land.

[6:56] Let's look at that conversation starting in verse 8. Genesis 13, starting in verse 8. Then Abraham said to Lot, let there be no strife between you and me and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen.

[7:15] For we are kinsmen. It's not the whole land before you. Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.

[7:29] And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar.

[7:47] This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley and Lot journeyed east.

[7:59] Thus they separated from each other. Lot settled in the land of, sorry, Abraham settled in the land of Canaan while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.

[8:15] Now the men of Sodom were wicked and great sinners against the Lord. So this is the foundational choice that Lot made.

[8:29] Guided by selfishness, guided by materialism, Lot chose the well-watered land of the Jordan Valley. That was going to be his home.

[8:43] It was the ideal place to care for the herds and the flocks that he had acquired. And we're told in verse 11 that Lot chose for himself.

[8:57] Those are not idle words. Those are words to tell us that Lot made a self-referential decision for himself.

[9:11] He had no regard for his older uncle who brought him along when he was basically an orphan and he took the best land for himself.

[9:24] No concern for Abraham. And no reference to God. His only concern was that he saw fertile land and productive land and he wanted it for himself.

[9:40] Now it's reasonable to conclude that the reputation of Sodom was known. Sodom is described as a great, that the wickedness of the men of Sodom was great.

[9:55] They were great sinners. And just as a side point, I think we should notice here that there are degrees of sin in sinners. The men of Sodom are described as being wicked and great sinners against the Lord.

[10:13] And clearly, if that is true, it's reasonable to conclude that the reputation of Sodom, its sexual immorality, its homosexuality was well known in the region, in the Jordan Valley and even where they were in Canaan.

[10:33] And Lot decided to make his home there because he was guided by materialism. He was guided by what he thought was best for him and his possessions, chief among which were his flocks and his herds.

[10:50] We're told in verse 12 that Lot settled among the cities of the valley and he moved his tent as far as Sodom. So Lot actually moved a couple of times.

[11:03] And eventually, he moved as far as Sodom. And then we notice in verse 13 this description again of the men in Sodom that they were wicked and great sinners against the Lord.

[11:17] And again, this was a reality when Lot moved there. And, you know, even if someone were to say, well, I don't think he knew. Well, he found out when he got there.

[11:29] And so it would still beg the question, why would he stay there? Or someone might say, well, it changed over time. It wasn't that bad when he got there. The question still remains, why did he stay in such a place that was so wicked?

[11:47] What we see is Lot stayed in Sodom. And he not only stayed in Sodom, he progressively assimilated himself into Sodom.

[11:58] And remember, we looked at the progression last week. Remember how he moved? He was first dwelling in a tent as far as Sodom. Then later we see him.

[12:10] He is in a house. He is in Sodom. And next we see him sitting in the gates of Sodom, where the leaders actually sat.

[12:21] Remember how he went out and he identified the man as his brothers. Lot had assimilated himself in Sodom. We're not told for sure, but the evidence seems to suggest that Lot's wife was from Sodom.

[12:37] And we're able to see that his two daughters, they were to get married to two men from Sodom.

[12:50] And this is a very important point to bear in mind because you'll see, when we work our way through Genesis, when we come to Genesis 24, you will see how Abraham goes to great lengths to ensure that his son Isaac did not take a wife from among the Canaanites.

[13:06] He made his servants swear that he would not do that. And here we see Lot thinking nothing of it, giving his two daughters in marriage to two men from the land in a wicked land.

[13:22] And it's very clear again that Lot and Abraham, they would have grown up with the same set of values, but Lot came into Sodom and he began to embrace the values and the culture of Sodom.

[13:38] So Lot and his family, his wife and his two daughters, they were comfortable residents of Sodom by choice. They were not held hostage there, they were there by choice.

[13:52] And let's turn it back to Genesis 19. Another choice that Lot made, even after he experienced the disaster that came upon him and his family when everything in Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, rather than turn to his uncle and return to the land of Canaan, Lot decides to stay in the city of Zohar.

[14:25] And remember, we looked at that last week, how the city of Zohar was a part of the cities that were designated to be destroyed. Lot was told to go into the hills.

[14:37] He said, no, no, no, I don't want to go in the hills. Let me stay right here. And so the angel said, okay, we'll spare this city, this small little city, because of you. That's the reason there was speared destruction.

[14:53] But Lot doesn't go back to his uncle. And I think we all know Abraham was a gracious man. Abraham risked his life to save Lot. Abraham was interceding for Lot.

[15:04] Abraham would have received Lot. But Lot made a choice. In that destitute condition, having lost everything, that he would stay in Zohar.

[15:17] Look at verse 30 again. It says, now Lot went up out of Zohar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zohar.

[15:28] So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. Now this is the same man who was told to go to the hills the first time. He said, no, no, no, I'm afraid to go to the hills.

[15:39] Let me stay in Zohar. He goes in Zohar, and then now he says, no, no, no, I'm afraid to stay in Zohar. And he now goes to the hills where he was sent in the first place. We're not told exactly why Lot was afraid to stay in Zohar.

[15:55] Some theologians have speculated that it was because Zohar was wicked. And Lot, under the fear of what already happened to him in Sodom and Gomorrah, decided to flee from Zohar.

[16:08] We don't know. We don't know why he was afraid to live there. But what is clear is that he made a choice. Lot made a choice to move from Zohar and to live in a cave with his two daughters, rather than to return to his generous uncle Abraham for support and help.

[16:32] Now, I think it's reasonable that that must have crossed his mind. I mean, you've lost every single thing. You just have the clothes on your back and these two daughters to care for.

[16:44] It had to have crossed Lot's mind about the possibility of going to his uncle Abraham. Well, I shouldn't say had to. I think it's reasonable that it did.

[16:58] And if it did, maybe he didn't go back because he was ashamed. Maybe he didn't go back because he was proud and he was just going to rough it and he was going to make his way since he made up his bed that way.

[17:12] We don't know. We don't know why Lot decided that he would stay in this destitute condition, living in a cave.

[17:23] But that's yet another choice that Lot made. He settles with his daughters in this cave, this dark, damp cave.

[17:37] That brings me to my second point, Lot's consequences. It is quite stunning when you bear in mind the journey of Lot, that Lot finds himself in this situation in verse 30.

[17:55] Lot went from sitting in the gate of Sodom, this fertile, well-watered land with flocks and herds that were so numerous that he had to separate from his uncle.

[18:07] And you could imagine how the flocks and herds multiplied in Sodom. He had servants. He was living in a house. He left Abraham and had a tent.

[18:21] And he was living in a house. And now he finds himself living in a cave. Living in a cave with just the basic clothes on his back.

[18:36] And this is an indescribable reversal of circumstances. But it's a part of the consequences that his choice brought to him.

[18:50] And when we think of Lot's consequences, I think one word would summarize it very well, and the word is loss. L-O-S-S. Lot's choices brought tremendous loss in his life.

[19:07] First and foremost, Lot lost his family. He lost his family as a consequence of choosing to live in Sodom. His wife was judged with Sodom and Gomorrah because even after the Lord had brought her out of Sodom and Gomorrah, Sodom and Gomorrah was still in her heart, and she looked back, perhaps thinking about all the possessions she left back there.

[19:34] And she became a pillar of salt. And then his daughters were so corrupted by the values of Sodom that they concocted such a wicked scheme to get their father drunk, intentionally get him drunk, not totally wasted, but drunk enough to be able to have sex with them.

[19:55] And although we're told in this passage that Lot, he didn't know, and he obviously didn't know, but Lot wasn't absolutely, totally wasted.

[20:06] If he was totally wasted, nothing would have happened. I'll let that say again. If he was totally wasted, he'd have been totally wasted.

[20:17] Lot was just drunk enough. They got him drunk enough. And Lot slept with his daughter, and his daughters impregnated them, and they had children by him.

[20:34] When we see this wicked scheme that was concocted by Lot's daughters, we're able to see how the immoral values of Sodom were ingrained in them.

[20:47] Biblical historians tell us that in that day, in the region, and this would have been true in Sodom as well, Sodom had so perverted the customs and the norms of what was right that it would be apparent that incest was not out of the question for them that Lot's daughters would consider this.

[21:09] But incest was prohibited and not practiced and supported in the general culture prevailing in that region at that time.

[21:23] But Lot's daughters demonstrated how much the values of Sodom had been ingrained in them, that they would scheme to engage in incest with their father.

[21:35] What is clear is that the daughters knew that Lot would not have approved of it. Otherwise, they would not have had to get him drunk. They got him drunk because they knew this was wrong.

[21:47] And they knew that Lot would not, as a sober man, do this. And that even points further to them understanding that this was wrong.

[21:59] And so they used alcohol to get Lot to do what he would not do if he was sober. And I think if there's one thing we'd give Lot credit for, as compromised as his life was, it's very clear that this is something he would not do and his daughters had to get him drunk enough to do it.

[22:23] And when we think of Lot's daughters, we see the depth of their depravity. We see the depth of their wickedness in that they thought nothing of doing this to their father.

[22:35] And in the spirit of Sodom, what they do is they memorialize what they did. Most people would try to hide it. And they would say, well, whose child is that?

[22:48] Whose child is that? And they could give some story, but they don't do that. They gave their sons names that served as evidence that their sons belonged to their father.

[23:03] The first daughter named her son Moab. It means from father. And the second daughter named her son Benami, which means of my people, the son of my people.

[23:20] And Moab is the father of the Moabites and Benami is the father of the Ammonites. Lot's daughters lacked the same sense of shame that those in Sodom lacked.

[23:39] They're not ashamed of their sin. They memorialized it. They placated it by the names that they gave to their sons. And as I was thinking about this, this is what we're seeing in the world today.

[23:54] We're seeing this prevailing, pervasive attitude of lacking shame for some of the most unnatural and vile kinds of sin.

[24:10] People who are violating natural biology, people who are trying to reverse thousands of years of custom in areas like marriage.

[24:24] And they have no shame about it. And those who stand against it are vilified and called all manner of names with phobic attached to it.

[24:38] No shame. And it's the same spirit that prevailed in Sodom and Gomorrah.

[24:51] But Lot's choices brought these consequences upon his family. His daughters, he didn't honor his daughters as his daughters and his daughters did not honor him as their father.

[25:13] Lot not only lost his family, but Lot lost his possessions. Everything Lot owned was destroyed in Sodom by the fire and sulfur that the Lord rained down on it.

[25:29] And isn't it ironic that Lot moved to Sodom for prosperity. And what he experienced in the end was total loss. He moved to Sodom to preserve the wealth that he had and to gain more.

[25:43] And he lost even what he had. And he came only out with the clothes on his back. He ran in a wealthy man, flocks, herds, servants.

[25:55] Came out. A poor man in abject poverty living in a cave. He went from a tent to a house.

[26:07] And then now he's living in a cave. Lot's house was spacious enough for himself, his wife, his two daughters, and the two guests who came in to Sodom.

[26:25] That's the kind of house he was living in. All lost. And now he's in a dark, damn cave with his two daughters. He's lost it all.

[26:38] And brothers and sisters, what a picture that is of what is all too common for us in the choices that we make. We make these choices for ourselves, no reference to God, seeking to get ahead, and all we experience is loss.

[27:00] We not only don't gain what we went after, we lose the little that we had. These are lost choices because he had no regard for the Lord.

[27:15] These are his consequences, sorry, because he had no regard for the Lord in the choices that he made. Our choices have consequences. Proverbs 3, 5-7, we read, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths.

[27:44] Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

[27:57] You know, we're memorizing scripture and I remember as a young boy, I would have been maybe 11, 12. This was one of the scriptures that we memorized at Faith Temple.

[28:12] We got prizes to memorize it and I remember this scripture by the grace of God has kept me so many times in my life. Well, just come back to mine, trust in the Lord with all your heart, don't lean to your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct you apart.

[28:31] Don't be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. I commit this to us this morning, especially to the young people this morning.

[28:44] I commit this to you. Do not live life making choices based on what your eyes see. Do not live life making choices looking at yourself and what you want and choosing for yourself and not taking the time to pray, not taking the time to reach out to godly men and women and say, what do you think about this?

[29:11] There are serious consequences, brothers and sisters. And the issue is not about whether God forgives us or not. That's a separate issue. But we live with those consequences. And I think many of us have lived long enough to have experienced the painful consequences of choices we made without referencing God that did not work out and like Lot left us worse off than we were before.

[29:45] And so this is a sober reminder that our choices that are not guided by the Lord will bring painful consequences. This passage in Genesis 19 again is the last mention of Lot's name in the book of Genesis.

[30:09] It's a sad commentary. Lot finished badly. He finished poorly. His choices brought him these consequences.

[30:22] But although this is the last mention of Lot in Genesis, it's not the last mention of Lot in the rest of Scripture. when we consider the rest of the mentions of Lot in the rest of Scripture, we come face to face with God's grace.

[30:47] And that's my third and final point. We see Lot's choices, we see his consequences, and now we're going to see God's grace. Despite the bad choices that Lot made, despite the sad consequences those choices brought, the Lord was gracious to Lot.

[31:10] The Lord was gracious to Lot first by rescuing him out of Sodom, but God did more than that for Lot. The first way we see the Lord being gracious to Lot is the way that he deals with these two sons of Lot who were conceived in incest.

[31:26] Christ. And we find this in Deuteronomy chapter 2. The book of Deuteronomy was written to the children of Israel when they were getting ready to go into the land and the Lord was repeating again the law for them.

[31:45] It was a refresher course of what God required of them when they got into the land. And this is what the Lord was saying to Moses, tell this to the children of Israel. And in Deuteronomy chapter 2 as the Lord is instructing them about going into the land, this is what he says to Moses to tell the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 2 verse 9.

[32:11] And the Lord said to me, do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle for I will not give you any of their land for possession.

[32:24] because I have given art to the people of Lot for a possession. Then in Deuteronomy 2 verse 19, and when you approach, this is what the Lord tells Moses to tell the children of Israel, and when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession because I have given it to the sons of Lot.

[32:53] for a possession. Israel was supposed to go into the land, this is the land of Canaan, this is the land where the Lord told Abraham, when your descendants have been enslaved for 400 years in another land, I will bring them back to this place, and they will occupy this land.

[33:12] And so they had to come back, and they were going to fight for the land of the Lord, said these two, you leave them alone. We see God's grace in this.

[33:24] We see God's grace in this to Lot and to his sons. Lot had no inheritance to give to his sons. He lost it all. And the Lord gave them the most important material possession that any people can have, which is land.

[33:45] This is God's grace to Lot and his sons by not holding the circumstances of their birth against them. And I think we should all be instructed by this.

[34:07] It matters not, brothers and sisters, what the circumstances of birth might be. the circumstances of Lot's sons were they were born as a result of incest.

[34:24] And we see God's gracious dealings with them. Didn't reject them, didn't allow them to just go possessionless and to be nomads at the mercy of other landowners.

[34:36] He gave them land and he protected it. This week, you may have seen in the newspapers or in the news otherwise. This is a very sad story of an 11-year-old girl who was impregnated by her mother's boyfriend.

[34:56] And the mother decided to administer abortion drugs to this child and killed the baby. And the police, in the process of charging the boyfriend with unlawful sexual intercourse and charging the mother with the crime of the abortion.

[35:20] And true to form, the press called an executive of the Bahamas Christian Council and asked, what do you think about that? Do you support abortion in the case of rape?

[35:34] the executive? And the executive rightly said, no, we don't support it because all life is sacred. And many people chimed in and they said all kinds of other things.

[35:49] But brothers and sisters, he answered right. And we see from this particular passage, the Lord's care for, first of all, these two boys who were born in an incestuous relationship and in terms of caring for their descendants by giving them land, we see God's care all the same for these children who were born in these very difficult circumstances.

[36:20] And I think we need to remember, as we consider this this morning, that it matters not what the circumstances of a child's birth might be, whether in marriage or out of marriage, whether by incest or rape, they are all precious gifts from God.

[36:40] And it matters not what their physical or their mental disabilities might be, they are still gifts from God and they are to be treated as such from the moment of conception in the womb to the moment of their dying breath.

[36:55] Brothers and sisters, we don't have the right to try to play God based on the circumstances of conception. And yes, this is difficult, but the far more difficult decision to make is to take the life of a child that God in his wise providence has brought into the world.

[37:21] these two references of Lot in Deuteronomy and the grace that God showed to his descendants are not the, they are the last references of Lot in Scripture, they are the last references to Lot in the Old Testament, but there are other references that I want us to consider in the New Testament.

[37:51] Before I do that, I want to ask you a question. Don't answer out loud, just answer it in your mind. When Lot comes to mind, what word immediately comes in your mind to describe Lot?

[38:10] Don't answer it out loud, just think about that for a moment. What word comes to your mind when I say Lot, in light of all that we have read about, when I say Lot, what comes to your mind?

[38:24] One word I would be surprised if it comes to anyone's mind or if it came to anyone's mind is the word righteous. Did righteous come to anyone's mind when you thought of Lot?

[38:42] And yet, the last word about Lot in scripture describes him as righteous.

[38:59] In spite of all that we read about Lot, the last word in scripture about Lot describes him as righteous. And I'm going to ask if you would turn to 2 Peter chapter 2.

[39:13] I want to look at verses 4 to 10. 2 Peter chapter 2 verses 4 to 10. 1 Peter writes, for God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell, and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.

[39:52] dead. If he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly, and if he rescued righteous lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked, for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despising and despise authority, bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones.

[41:15] three times under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter describes lot as righteous.

[41:29] Now, we don't have to be a great theologian to know that there must be some other explanation for this description of lot as righteous, because I think everything we know about what righteousness is, it was not in Lot's life.

[41:48] There's no evidence in the book of Genesis that Lot was righteous. But yet, not just once, but three times under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we're told Lot was a righteous man.

[42:10] And what is clear is what God is doing here is God is revealing the heart of Lot. And what we're seeing is Lot was obviously a compromised, conflicted believer, one who believed in God.

[42:27] In spite of all that was seen about Lot, his heart was towards God. And the way Peter describes it is Peter says he was greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked.

[42:42] That when he lived in Sodom, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and that he heard. But again, we don't get this from Genesis.

[42:55] And really, the reason that Lot can be described as being righteous is because of Jesus Christ.

[43:06] And you may think, well, Lot was way before Jesus Christ. But see, what the Bible says is the Bible says that Jesus was the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world, before God did anything.

[43:21] Jesus was slain. And if the God who cannot lie, the God who cannot change his mind, ordained that he was going to send his son to live and to die for sin and for sinners, that's as good as done.

[43:37] And the righteousness credited to Lot is the same righteousness credited to us. The only thing is, Lot was kind of like, he was getting it really on credit until Jesus would, in fact, lay his life down, take on sin, and enable God to give his righteousness, impute his righteousness to others.

[43:59] And that's the basis that Lot is called a righteous man. But I think we see something of the tenderness of the Lord in the life of a compromised man.

[44:15] Notice what it says again in verse 9. It says, the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials. That's what God did to Lot.

[44:29] As conflicted as he was, as compromised as he was, God rescued him from his trials. God kept him in the midst of the midst. The reason Lot endured is because God was preserving him. God was keeping him.

[44:40] God was with Lot in the midst of all that he went through. I want to conclude though with a further bit of the evidence God's grace.

[45:05] God's grace in Lot's life. That we see from the advantage of the New Testament. And we can easily overlook this, but it's found in Matthew chapter 1.

[45:16] I'm asking you to turn there. Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1 is the genealogy of Jesus.

[45:33] I notice in verse 1 that Jesus is referred to as both the son of David and the son of Abraham. And what that simply means is that Jesus is the recipient and the fulfillment of all the promises that God gave to Abraham and to David.

[45:55] All the salvation promises that God gave to Abraham and he gave to David, they were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the true son of Abraham.

[46:08] He's the true Isaac. and Jesus Christ is the true son of David. He is the true Solomon.

[46:22] And all the salvation blessings of God given to Abraham, given to David, came to us through Jesus Christ. This is a genealogy of fathers, of the men in the line of Jesus Christ, bringing him straight down to being born of a virgin, the Virgin Mary.

[46:48] But you'll notice, and I encourage you to maybe look at it another time, but there are, in this genealogy, there are references to five women.

[47:02] And it says, in these cases, that the wife of so-and-so. or by so-and-so, a woman. And it's only done in five cases.

[47:14] All the other cases, the wives and mothers are not mentioned. And it's instructive that in four of these cases, the women are not poster women.

[47:32] They're not poster women. Let me go ahead and read verses one to six. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

[47:44] Abraham is the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar.

[47:56] She was a deceiver who deceived a father-in-law into having sex with and bore these two boys by him. And Perez, the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nashon, and Nashon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab.

[48:23] Rahab was a prostitute. And Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth. And Obed, the father of Jesse, and Jesse, the father of David the king.

[48:42] Ruth was a Moabite. Ruth would have traced her lineage back to Lot's son, born incestuously Moab.

[49:02] And it's a fascinating story to read. I encourage you, if you've never read the book of Ruth, or maybe you read it some time ago, and you have forgotten about it, read it again. It's four chapters long, you can read it maybe in 20, 30 minutes.

[49:16] It's fascinating to see how Ruth came to be in this lineage. There was a man by the name of Elimelech, and during a time of famine in Bethlehem, he left and he went to Moab to live there because there was food in Moab.

[49:45] And while in Moab, his three sons, his two sons, sorry, married Moabite women, and eventually Elimelech and his two sons died.

[50:00] And after they died, long story short, his wife Naomi decides to go back to Bethlehem. Ruth decides that she will go with her.

[50:12] And Ruth goes back into Bethlehem. You read it and you see a set of God-ordained circumstances that bring all these things about.

[50:23] So Ruth now, a Moabite, and that's what she's referred to in the book of Ruth, Ruth the Moabite. She goes into Bethlehem and the Lord moves on the heart of this very wealthy godly man by the name of Boaz and he marries her.

[50:40] And they produce a child by the name of Obed. And Obed was the father of Jesse. And Jesse was the father of David.

[50:55] And Jesus Christ is the son of David. God did this. This was in happenstance. The sovereign Lord of the universe orchestrated these circumstances and caused this woman who was identified with incest to be in the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[51:21] imagine the shame and the stigma that the Moabites carried because of that. And the Lord takes this woman who has this stigma and shame on her life and he engrafts her into the line of Jesus Christ.

[51:43] As if to say I'm not ashamed of you. this is an happenstance brothers.

[51:54] This is an intentional act of our sovereign Lord that he would bring such a woman with such a reputation from her ancestry and engraft her in to the line of Jesus Christ.

[52:11] this is great mercy and grace shown to the descendants of Lot. And brothers and sisters it is a reminder to us of God's kindness to all of us.

[52:32] Whatever our many sins might be however hideous they might be he is a God who is able to draw near to us and say I am not ashamed of you.

[52:49] It doesn't matter what your circumstances of birth are. It doesn't matter who you are or what you have done. The God of the universe is not ashamed to bring you to himself and to identify with you and more than that to adopt you as his son or his daughter.

[53:14] reminds us it doesn't matter who we are what we have done we're not beyond the reach of the love and the grace of God.

[53:27] the lineage of the people of God is not pristine and green and clean no it's laced with sinners laced with sinners like you and me because of a gracious God because of a God who is holy but a God who is also merciful and gracious and this is God's kindness to Lot in spite of all that he represented that we could see in the book of Genesis.

[54:11] Perhaps this morning there are some of us who have come to Christ we've made bad choices like Lot and we have gotten sad consequences like him who have suffered for it but we can be grateful this morning that despite all of that the Lord has not rejected us the same way he didn't reject Lot the same way he held on to Lot and he delivered Lot in the end and he didn't leave Lot's position up to speculation he says Lot was a righteous man and not righteous by conduct but righteous by grace righteous by mercy that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ that God doesn't just dishonestly say you're righteous no he honestly can say that because Jesus Christ paid the price took the sins of sinners so that when God says to those sinners you are forgiven it is legitimate it is honest it is just because the price has been paid he's done that for

[55:24] Lot and I pray that if we thinking about choices we've made and consequences we're suffering let's rejoice that God is gracious God is merciful and God knows how to deliver the godly out of their trials he knows how to preserve his people to the very end and we have this assurance that no matter what we face no matter what we go through that if we truly belong to the Lord he will preserve us to the end when I think of how gracious our God is how graciously he dealt with the Lord how graciously he deals with us I'm reminded of a quote I read a few months ago by Dr.

[56:21] Burke Parsons in one of the opening articles of Table Talk it's a very simple line but a very powerful line he said this he said there is more grace in God than there is sin in us by far as wicked as Lot was as wicked as Sodom was as sinful as we are the grace in God is light years more than the sin in us and when God forgives us he doesn't have to like scrape to find forgiveness for us he's not like a broke person who is at the last send to give no he is a filthy rich God with grace and mercy and as bad as our sins are as great as our sins are we cannot begin to even scratch the surface of exhausting his mercy and his grace and this is something worth meditating upon and if we meditate upon it right the thought will never enter in our hearts well okay

[57:37] I can go and sin and do whatever I want to do no if we meditate on this aright we'll fall on knees before a gracious God and worship this is an amazing truth a lot's life is an amazing example of a gracious and merciful God to the worst of sins if you're here this morning in person or you are listening online this is the God that I offer to you this morning the God who sent his son to do for us what we could never do to live a perfect life that he requires and then to pay the price for our sins that he requires so that he is able to forgive us and reconcile us to himself and he is able to adopt us as his sons and daughters and so if you have not put your trust in

[58:59] Jesus Christ I said you come to Jesus come with all your sin come with all your consequences and all your brokenness bring it to him and you will find a savior who is merciful who is compassionate and who is quick to pardon all of your sins and find a savior who is not ashamed of you a savior who will draw you near to himself and say you are my son and you are my daughter and I pray that you will do that if you do not know Jesus Christ as Savior Lord and you turn to him today for the pardon of your sins let's pray Father thank you for your great mercy thank you for your preservation of your people even when they fall into gross sin and thank you Lord that you not only forgive but you bring us near to yourself and you're not ashamed to call us your sons and daughters

[60:21] God may we today rejoice in the grace of God and may we live as dead as to mercy every day of our lives pray this in Jesus name Amen