Sermon
#1245[1]
Title: Lessons from the Life of
Text: 2 Peter 2:7-9
Subject: The Vexations of the Righteous
Date: Sunday Morning -
Tape # T-4
Introduction:
God’s
saints are often vilified as wicked men. The ungodly of this world, those who
do not know our God, do not know us, and do not no the gospel of Christ try to
appease their own consciences by trying to convince themselves and others that
God’s saints are really wicked, hypocritical people. That kind of slander, hard
as it is to bear, is to be expected from wicked men. But sometimes saints are
vilified by other saints as terribly as by wicked people. Horrible as that is
to think about, it does happen. May God forgive us the evil of participating in
such wickedness against his chosen! May he teach us and give us grace to bridle
our tongues!
Of
all the men in history who have been unjustly maligned by those who ought to
highly esteem them, one man stands out in a most extra-ordinary way. I can
think of no one, other than or Lord Jesus Christ, who has been so unjustly, yet
universally, misrepresented as Abraham’s nephew, God’s servant, and our
brother, whom he Holy Spirit distinctly calls “just Lot.”
I must confess that I have,
through ignorance, been guilty of misrepresenting him myself. Today, I want us
to see what God the Holy Spirit tells us about this rather remarkable man. I
want us to learn the lessons that the Bible’s record of his life is intended to
teach us. Let’s begin by reading Peter’s account of
2 Peter 2:7-9 God "delivered just Lot, vexed with the
filthy conversation of the wicked: (8) (For
that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) (9) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the
godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to
be punished."
Proposition: Here the Holy Spirit
identifies
If
you are taking notes, the title of my message is Lessons from the Life of Lot. You are all familiar with he story of
Abraham and
Genesis 13:10-13 "And Lot lifted up his
eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah, even as the garden of the
LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. (11) Then
Some
fourteen years or more later, when the kings of the plain were taken captive,
along with the inhabitants and possessions of
2 Peter 2:7-9 "And delivered just Lot, vexed with the
filthy conversation of the wicked: (8) (For
that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) (9) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the
godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to
be punished"
What
lessons are we to learn from this man? Why has the Spirit of God caused the
life of
I.
This is not something we have to guess about
or surmise for ourselves. Our text plainly calls him “that righteous man.”
Obviously he was not a naturally righteous man. He was a man who was made
righteous by the grace of God. But he truly was a righteous man. He was
righteous in exactly the same way, in the same sense, and to the same degree as
Abraham was or any of us are.
A. He was justified and righteous before God by the imputation of Christ’s
righteousness to him (Rom.
There is no other way for a
sinner to get righteousness before God.
B. He was made righteous in regeneration, having the righteousness of
Christ imparted to him in the new creation of grace (2 Cor.
As a child of God, being
taught of God by “the grace of God that bringeth salvation,”
God’s saints are by no means perfect in this world. Not
one of them makes any pretense to sinlessness.
Believers know the evil of their own hearts and lives. But in the tenor of
their lives, all believers live in righteousness. Grace makes men gracious.
Those who walk in the Spirit, those who live by faith in Christ, do not perform
the lusts of the flesh. In the habit of their lives they live as godly men and
women in a crooked and perverse generation.
Galatians
Galatians
5:22-24 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (24) And they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."
Bro. Lot was just such a man. Peter calls
him, no God the Holy Spirit calls him a just man, a righteous man, and a godly
man. He was a sinner with shamefully sinful weaknesses, inconsistencies, and
failures. But
II.
The
Sodomites among whom
III.
Faith
in Christ, righteousness, and godliness do not exempt believers from trouble
and sorrow. “In the world you shall have tribulation.” Frequently, our trials,
troubles tribulations, and sorrows as believers come as a direct result of our
own sinful behavior. My friend, Bro. Harry Graham used say,
“Sometimes, the way God chastens his children and corrects their sin is to make
them experience and live with the consequences of their disobedience.”
Certainly, that was the case with
Be
warned, my brothers and sisters. Everything we do, every choice we make, be it
good or bad, has its consequences upon us and those we influence.
IV.
When
the kings of the plain and the Sodomites were carried away into captivity, they
were delivered from their captors because
If only they had known who
Even
so, today, God spares the world and holds back his utter wrath from the ungodly
for the sake of his elect.
2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
2 Peter 3:15 "And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to
the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;"
God’s
longsuffering is not an indication that he will not judge the wicked, though
many foolish imagine that that is the case. God tolerates the ungodly and
spares them for a season only because of his determined mercy upon his elect.
V. LOT WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN WHOSE LIFE WAS ABSOLUTELY RULED BY HIS GOD
FOR HIS EVERLASTING, SPIRITUAL GOOD, THE GOOD OF ALL GOD’S ELECT, AND THE GLORY
OF GOD IN THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF HIS SOVEREIGN, ETERNAL PURPOSE OF GRACE IN
CHRIST.
I cannot spend much time here, or I will not
get done with my message. But I cannot fail to show you this marvelous display
of God’s sovereign providence, by which he rules the world and overrules even
the evil actions of men, even the sins of is own people for their spiritual,
eternal good and the glory of his name. If
ever there was a man whose life was a commentary upon Psalm 76:10, it is Bro.
Lot.
Psalms 76:10 "Surely the wrath of man shall praise
thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain."
I told you at the beginning of my message
that
Deuteronomy
2:8-9 "And when we passed by from our brethren
the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through
the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongaber, we turned and passed by the way of the
wilderness of Moab. (9) And the LORD
said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle:
for I will not give thee of their land for
a possession; because I have given Ar unto the
children of
Considering the origin of that
nation, the wickedness of it, and the destiny of it, why do you suppose God
protected it?
Turn to Matthew chapter one, and I will show you.
Matthew 1:1 "The book of the generation of Jesus
Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."
Matthew 1:5-6 "And Salmon begat Booz
of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat
Jesse; (6) And Jesse begat David the
king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;"
Matthew
That
very thing which is the most abhorrent of all
VI.
The
exact word here translated “vexed” is only used one other time in the entire
Bible. In Acts
·
Oppressed!
·
Tormented!
·
Distressed!
·
Sick!
·
Miserable!
·
Pained!
·
Exhausted!
·
Worn Down with Toil!
I
don’t know about you, but that pretty well describes the shape I am in in our generation. What about you - Are you a vexed soul in
this reprobate age? I am fairly certain that those things which vex me today
are the very things that vexed
A.
He
knew what Paul later wrote in Romans chapter one, that the root cause of the
filthy, unnatural, beastly behavior we call homosexuality is idolatrous,
man-centered religion.
B. Bro. Lot was vexed by the utter immorality of the society in which he
lived.
He
was weary, worn-out, pained, sick, and exhausted with the evil around him.
Seeing them and hearing them constantly, everywhere he went, everywhere he
turned, simply ate away at his soul! I think I know exactly what he felt.
C. I have no doubt that Bro. Lot was vexed by the impending wrath of God
upon his family, his neighbors, and the world in which he lived.
Lot
was a man, a righteous man. As such, he was a caring, sensitive, compassionate
man. As a man, our Savior had compassion upon the city of Jerusalem and the
nation of Israel. As a man, he looked upon that rich young ruler as he walked
away to hell, and loved him. Like his Redeemer, Lot was vexed by the wrath of
God that would soon fall upon the inhabitants of Sodom.
D. I am sure he was also vexed by the indifference of professed believers.
I have
no idea how many there were. I suspect that his daughters, sons-in-law, and
some of his neighbors at least professed to believe God. I know that his wife
did. But no one, not one person in Sodom was aroused by the message he had
received from the Lord. They were all indifferent! He seemed as one who mocked,
as one who made a big deal about nothing!
E. And I am certain that Bro. Lot was vexed, perhaps above everything
else, with the sin, callousness, and indifference of his own heart.
I
know I am! Nothing so pains me as I pain myself. Nothing so distresses me as I
distress myself. Nothing vexes me like me!
Romans 7:18 "For I know that in me (that is, in my
flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find
not."
Romans 7:24 "O wretched man that I am! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?"
Let
me tell to one more thing, and I will send you home, I trust, with these seven Lessons from the Life of Lot burning in
your heart and driving you to Christ.
VII. LOT WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN DELIVERED FROM SIN, AND SORROW, AND
WRATH BY THE GRACE OF GOD.
The Lord brought him out of Sodom and at last
brought him up to glory. And, blessed be his name, soon, we too shall be
delivered!
Application:
1.
Take heart, my friends. - “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly
out of temptation!”
2.
But I warn you who foolishly imagine that God will overlook your sin -
The Lord also knows how “to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be
punished.”
Scripture Reading
Sunday Morning
- November 3, 1996
Psalms 1
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the
counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of
sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. (2) But his delight is in
the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. (3) And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf
also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. (4) The ungodly are not so: but are like
the chaff which the wind driveth away. (5) Therefore the ungodly shall not
stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. (6) For the LORD knoweth the way of the
righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."
[1] Also preached at Laird St. Baptist Church - New Caney, TX
10-8-96
See #1518 preached at Middlefork Baptist Church (Friday PM – 11/15/02)