King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Chapters: Genesis 18-21
Message: Saved By Grace, Live By Grace
Hello My Friend,
I was just thanking God this morning for His protecting me more that I even realize and for keeping me from more danger than I care to know that I would have gotten in if He were not keeping an eye on me. You know, we are very capable of falling out of God’s will and even into sin at the drop of a hat, but as I always say, Jesus may let us dangle on the edge, but He never lets go of us. And if reading through these chapters today does no prove that, then I do not know what will, unless we have truly believed in vain, we belong to Jesus, and there is only so much He will allow us to go through, [Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.- 1 Corinthians 10:11-13]
I am a little sad this morning so, reading through the chapters for today did not help any. There are two stories in the Bible that sadden me every time I read them, and Lot is one of them. As we continue in the reading of Genesis, the angels that had spent some time with Abraham arrive in Sodom, and it was not the welcome they expected, or rather really did not want.
[And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. – Genesis 19:1-5]
[and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways.] Lot, immediately knew that these men were strangers and encouraged them to come with him. He also knew that there would be trouble if these men either stayed in the street that night or were still around come daylight. Did you realize that when you belong to Christ, people immediately know that you are not one of them? My goodness, I have not even known the people that I am working with a week and they were already asking me to be the one to speak for the class. They may not know that it is Jesus that they see, but they do know that we are strangers, and sometimes that gives them all the more incentive to try and abuse us. And this is exactly what Lot was thinking when he saw those men. It was so bad that when these men came to the door looking for the two men that Lot even offered his own daughters.
[Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. – Genesis 19:8-10]
[now will we deal worse with thee,] Lot was just wrong in suggesting that these men have their way with his own daughters, but they were not at all pleased that he refused to hand over the men. And that was all these angels needed to see, they were disgusted and quite angry at what they had witnessed. You know, angels are God’s messengers, and while God certainly knows who is who, that does not mean that He does not send them here to warn us of what is going to happen, and give others an opportunity to repent before He sends judgment upon them. The angels tell Lot that God Himself is going to destroy this city, and it was time to tell everyone he loved and cared for to get out before that happens.
[And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. – Genesis 19:12-16]
[But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.] They laughed at him, thought he was crazy, just like when Noah warned the people to get on the ark. This entire chapter is a reflection of what is going on today, I still cannot believe that Lot was willing to let those men defile his daughters. Lot, who, by the way, was of the righteous, loved the world more, and it always took precedence over God. Lot did not want to leave all that he had, in fact, he lingered, but he had no choice, he had to get out of there. The angels actually grabbed him by the hand, and they formed a chain, his wife and the two daughters that lived with them.
[And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. – Genesis 19:17,20-22]
[for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither.] Do you see how God waited until Lot was out of Sodom and Gomorrah before He destroyed it? This is exactly why God has not destroyed every city yet. It is also why a saved person that is not very faithful to God can still be saved come judgment. We are not nor ever have been saved according to our works, it has always been under the mercy and grace of God through our faith in Him, [For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9]
When evil overtakes a city the entire city cries out as countless people are murdered, diseased, addicted, and overtaken by its evil. There is no hope for them because they do not see or even know who God is. If they do not know the LORD, ther there will be no hope for them, and they will be destroyed. And just like that, God rained fire down from heaven, and the cities were destroyed, what was even worse was that Lot saw his own wife turn into a pillar of salt because she had no faith, [Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. – Genesis 19:24-28]
[the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.] What a sad sight that must have been for Abraham to see, and I imagine he had hoped that Lot was not among them, but he also knew that God would keep His promise. God allowed Lot to live in the city of Zoar or he would have, but he ran into the mountains anyway out of fear, and that only made things worse. If we are going to trust God to save our soul from hell through our faith in Christ, then we need trust Him with the rest of our lives here as well. Yes, we are saved by grace, but that does not mean that we can live as we please and not face any consequences. God will judge us, and well before we get to heaven, [For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:10]
Believe it or not, the world is not oblivious to God’s judgments, they may not admit it, but they know that all the violence, wars, this pandemic, and fighting going on has to do with all the evil going on in the world. They also know something else, God protects His people, even if they are not completely faithful to Him. They are envious and quite scared when they see God’s people because deep down they know that God will do anything to protect His own, but their own lives are in danger unless they repent. Word got out quickly that God had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, in fact, Abraham left the city and decided to set up camp on Gerar, when he made same mistake he made when they went to Egypt, he told them that Sarah was his sister.
[And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife. But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. – Genesis 20:1-5]
[wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?] God never limits His protection, favor, or love to just what was to become the children of Israel through Abraham, He gave it to all who feared Him. Regardless, of how many see God as ruthless and merciless (thanks to all these stupid films and religions trying to portray Him as such), He truly is merciful, and gives all a chance to escape His judgments. God even goes on to tell Abimelech why He told him about Sarah, He was keeping him from committing a sin even before there was even a thought.
[And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. – Genesis 20:6-8,14-15]
[for I also withheld thee from sinning against me:] Do you see how God keeps His faithful from sin? This may bring us to question that if He withheld us from sinning against Him, how we are able to fall into sin. Well, from my experience I have come to the conclusion that what God allows is used for both, His and our advantage. For one, we do learn what grace and repentance truly is outside of our salvation, two, our fear of God becomes restored, and three, it gives us a way to bring others to Him as we can now understand their side of what is going on. While I would not wish what I had gone through on anyone, I can now witness to someone who is going through it now, [For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.- 2 Corinthians 1:5-6]
Quite often, it is that fear that God uses to get people to see that not only is He serious about His judgments, He is also in control of everything, and really is merciful. One thing God wants to make clear to the saved is that we are not to live among the unsaved. Yes, there are many saved living with, and even married to those whom are unsaved, but this will always cause problems, and a lot of suffering. However, there is nothing that we have done that God will not use to His advantage. Now, after all this came to pass, Sarah finally conceived, and had her son, and named him Isaac.
[And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. – Genesis 21:1-6]
[so that all that hear will laugh with me.] Isaac’s name means laughter, this was not the mocking kind of laughter, rather, how we get when we realize something so crazy and impossible has just happened, after all, she was ninety years old. We need to admit, that we too have laughed when we realize that the thing that seemed impossible to us was possible with God. And you will be sure that those who do come to know you get under those same protections that you are under. After Sarah had Isaac, he knew it was time to move on, Abimelech decided that it may be wise to get on Abraham’s side to prevent anything else from happening.
[And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest: Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear. And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God. – Genesis 21:22-24,27,32-33]
[and called there on the name of the LORD,] Do you see how Abraham reconfirmed his faith? It is good for us to do this throughout our walk here. Life can certainly lessen our fear of God when He blesses us or affliction comes. While we can never lose our salvation, we would all benefit from rededicating our lives to Christ. And do you know what keeps God from destroying every wicked town right now? He remembers His Son. He will not destroy any city as long as one saved soul is among them. When you stop to think about that, we really need to praise God for all His mercies and do whatever we can to not only stay faithful to Him, but make sure everyone we know and whomever God places on our heart knows about Christ.
[Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. – Titus 3:5-9]
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for Your mercy and grace, for saving a sinner like me the second I believed that Your Son is my salvation, and thank You for the life You have given me. To think about how my life would have been if I looked back is horrifying, but thankfully You intervened and carried me to safety when I received Your Son. Lord, I know I fail You every day, but I am saved to the uttermost, and for that I am grateful and will live the rest of my life here the best I can with You guiding me until You bring me home. Thank You, Jesus! I pray this in Your name, Jesus, Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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