Good Men Who Opposed God

Well, it has been a good day, and I have enjoyed today, and I hope you have as well, and tonight we would like to open to Genesis 18, Genesis chapter 18, and we’re going to be talking about, this evening, good men who opposed God.

Now, I suppose you might think that’s a little contradictory, but nevertheless, we’re going to see how there were in the Bible some good men, and yet these good men that the Bible says were great leaders and men of faith and fantastic examples for others They were guilty at one time or another in their life of opposing God. Our first example comes from Abraham in Genesis 18 and verses 23 through 33.

And you may remember here in this chapter that God comes to Abraham and He tells him that He’s going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And of course, Abraham’s nephew, Lot, was living amongst these cities and these areas, and Abraham didn’t like the sound of the idea of destroying those cities.

And so, as Abraham and God start talking about this, Abraham enters into a dialogue with God, and God’s will is to destroy the cities, but Abraham is like, whoa, wait a minute, would you destroy the righteous along with the wicked? Far be it from you to do that.

And, of course, God had no intention of destroying the righteous along with the wicked, but Abraham does not know that is going to happen. And so he starts this bargaining process. He says, what if there were 50 righteous within the sea? Would you destroy it? And God says, well, no, I wouldn’t do that.

And he continues on and he says, well, what if there’s only a few less? And God says, well, no, I wouldn’t destroy that. Verse 28, for 45, five less than 50. Well, what about 40? He’s going down some more.

And how about 30, verse 30 says, and continuing down to 20 and then finally 10 in verse 32. And each time God says that He wouldn’t destroy it for that number of people who were in the city. Well, Abraham wanted God to be just. He didn’t want God to be unjust. And of course, God is not unjust.

In Isaiah 45 and verse 21, we read, Declare ye and bring it forth. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has showed this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. And so God is a just God, but Abraham didn’t want God to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for his nephew’s sake.

And so God heard Abraham’s pleas, even though the course was set. And as much as Abraham protested, it was futile, because there was not even ten righteous people in the city, and God’s purposes were intended to be done. Of course, the Bible tells us that Lot was a righteous man, 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 7.

And God had no intention of destroying Lot along with the rest of them, and so He sent His two angels to Lot, and they came to Lot’s house, and there was trouble there because of the men of Lot wanting to do immoral things, but then finally they grabbed ahold of Lot and his family and hauled him out of the city and told them that they needed to get out because God was going to destroy it.

And Lot and his wife and his two daughters escaped, but of course you know the story that Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. But God’s purposes were done and the cities were destroyed, despite the fact that Abraham, a good man, was opposed to the action, at least as far as he considered there to be righteous people in the city.

A good man who was opposed to God. Moses was another one. A good man who was opposed to God. Consider, turn over to Exodus chapter 3 and look there for a moment as you think about Moses. And you may recall that Moses was a man who was keen on saving his people out of captivity.

So he tried to do that as a young man, and it didn’t work out too well for him, and he ended up having to flee into the wilderness. But then after a period of time, God came to Moses and he said, Moses, it’s time. It’s time for you to lead the children of Israel out of Egyptian captivity. And at that point, Moses didn’t think he could do it. And he He offered numerous excuses, and this is in Exodus chapter 3. In verse 11, Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?

Look at verse 13. He says, Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is His name? What shall I say to them? Chapter 4, verse 1. Moses says, they won’t believe me. Suppose they won’t believe me or listen to my voice. And then finally, in chapter 4, verse 10, after God has answered all of His excuses, Moses says, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.

And by that time, God was a little put out with Moses, I guess you could say, because He answered, Who made your tongue, Moses? I always thought that was an interesting response. But God answered Moses’ objections. The first one, He said, He said, Moses, you won’t be alone. I’ll be with you. Exodus 3 and verse 12. When he asked what his name was, the Lord gave him a good answer. He said, tell them that I am has sent you. Exodus 3 and verse 14. God’s name. I am that I am. When he objected and said, they won’t believe me, God says, well, I’ll help you out. Throw your staff on the ground and see what happens.

And Moses was able to do signs and miracles to convince them that he was telling the truth. Finally, God told Moses that not only did he make his tongue, but he said, You know what? Aaron, your brother, he’s a good speaker. I’ll go ahead and you can go ahead and ask him to help you.

And He can give you the ability to speak if you can’t. Exodus 4, verses 12 and 14 and following. Of course, God knew all these things about Moses, but His purpose was going to be done despite Moses’ objection. And ultimately, Moses obeyed the voice of the Lord and did as God commanded.

A good man, yet opposed to God. Let’s look at another one. Luke chapter 1 and verses 5 and following. This is the case of a good man named Zacharias. Zacharias was the father of John the Baptizer. And you may recall that Zacharias was in the temple. He was one of the priests, and he was serving in the temple, and it came around for him to offer the incense, which, if you recall, the incense was burned right in front of the most holy place.

And I promise you, every single priest that served in that capacity knew the story of Nadab and Abihu and what happened to them when they offered the strange fire to the Lord. And so, Zacharias was offering the incense. And God’s plan was for Zacharias and Elizabeth to have John, so that John could prepare the way for Jesus.

And God revealed this to Zacharias through the angel Gabriel here in Luke chapter 1. But Zacharias didn’t believe the message. Look at verse 20 of Luke chapter 1, or verse 19. And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.

And evidently, Zacharias, when he said, How shall I know this? For I’m an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years, It indicated that he really didn’t believe what was being said. But verse 20, Gabriel says, “…but behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time.”

So he didn’t believe the message, even though God proved the truthfulness of the message was something that God intended to prove, and Zacharias was made so that he couldn’t speak, and he came out, and he took a long time, evidently, because people were wondering what was going on in there.

And so he came out, and he couldn’t speak. He had to make signs. He had to write things down. But then Elizabeth conceived. And when John was born into the world, the family asked Zacharias what his name would be, and he wrote down, John, because that’s what the angel told him.

And his tongue was loosed and then he prophesied, the text says. Well, God knew Zacharias’ doubts. God worked to convince Zacharias of the truth of his word. And he overcame Zacharias’ doubts. And ultimately, Zacharias glorified God and raised John to be God’s prophet, a good man who, in his disbelief, Seemingly opposed God, but God’s will would not be thwarted. It would not be stopped. Consider a fourth case. Acts chapter 9, and a man by the name of Saul of Tarsus. What was God’s plan? God’s plan was for the church to grow, but of course Saul was opposed to that plan.

He was so much opposed to the plan that he persecuted the church, yet he thought that he was doing God’s work in so doing. Jesus even prophesied that such would happen in John chapter 16 and verse 2, saying that some are going to persecute you thinking that they’re doing God’s will.

Paul himself said in Acts chapter 23 and verse 1 that until that day, at least, he had done all things in a good conscience, including, I presume, the persecuting of the church. He did that believing that he was doing what God wanted him to do.

Saul said that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 5. And he opposed God’s plan to grow the church. But God ultimately proved to Saul that Saul was not doing his will. And on the road to Damascus, there in Acts chapter 9, Jesus appears in a bright light to Saul and he says, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Saul’s reply was, Who are you, Lord? And then Jesus said, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.

In that point, Saul’s heart must have sank, realizing that he was not doing the right thing. Saul was told to go into the city, and there it would be told him what he needed to do. And of course, we know the rest of the story, that there he was met and the gospel was preached to him and he repented of his sins and was baptized.

Well, God knew Saul’s heart, and God was able to take Saul and make him a great preacher of the gospel, so much so that he became the apostle to the Gentiles, Romans chapter 11 and verse 13, a good man who opposed God.

What do we learn from all of these situations of good men who opposed God? You know, I’m thankful that the Bible contains stories of good men who opposed God because that’s encouraging to me. I hope it’s encouraging to you, too.

God was willing to work with these men to bring them around to His point of view. And God continues to work with His people today, even though at times within our lives we may oppose God for one reason or another.

It’s easy for us to rationalize our own behavior and make excuses like Moses did. It’s easy to say, oh, God’s not being just like Abraham did. It’s easy to not believe the incredulity of the message, even though God’s message is tried and true, like Zacharias did.

It’s easy even to oppose God like Saul did, thinking you’re doing the right thing when you’re really not. And yet God knows the heart. And when we make excuses, He finds ways to help us to understand that they’re just excuses.

When we oppose Him, He finds a way to bring us around to His point of view. And even though these characters in the Bible, and we could talk about many more, not just these four who were good and yet opposed God.

Noah, David, Peter, Thomas, and the list could go on and on. At some point in their life, they oppose God. But God’s will is sovereign. It doesn’t get subjected to human desires. Instead, His will overcomes those human desires as God works with us to accept Him.

And a good person, while he recognizes his own desires at certain points in his life, and he recognizes that he’s made mistakes, We’ll continue to strive to do what God wants Him to do in the future. The Apostle Paul wrote these words in Philippians 3, verses 13 through 14. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do.

Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It may very well be the case that within our life we have failures. It may very well be the case that we end up opposing God in our lives at certain points.

And yet, if our heart is right, we’re going to humble ourselves before Him and make the necessary changes that we need to make to do His will and to be pleasing to Him. What do we do about those things in the past? Leave them in the past. Keep pressing on toward the high calling. Recognizing that Jesus Christ is the standard and that we must We don’t measure up to that standard each and every day because God’s will is not going to change. Yes, we need more faith within our life, but our lack of faith doesn’t change what God has said.

How many thousands, perhaps even millions of people didn’t believe Noah? Can a million people be wrong? They sure can. Their lack of faith in the preaching that Noah brought in his day and time did not change the fact that the flood eventually came.

God’s purposes are then always fulfilled, regardless of the opposition. And Paul was grateful for that. He said in 1 Timothy 1, 12 and 13, I thank Him that enabled me, even Jesus Christ our Lord, for He counted me faithful, appointing me to His service. Though I was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, howbeit I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

Another great lesson is this, that man is not wiser than God, although sometimes he thinks he is. In 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 25, we read, The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

We ought never to be in the position of thinking that somehow, someway, we just know a little bit more than God knows, or we’re a little wiser than God, or we’re a little stronger than God. That’s never going to happen.

God’s foolishness is greater than the greatest wisdom of any man in this world. And we need to be submitting to His will. Another lesson is that God knows how to save the righteous and punish the wicked, despite our worries.

Maybe we have trouble with certain people within our lives. We can trust that God will do what is right, regardless of what may happen. 2 Peter 2, verse 9 says, The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.

What does that mean? God knows who is trying to do what is right and who is not trying to do what is right. And He will judge appropriately. God knows the hearts of those with whom He is working as He did David’s heart.

In 1 Samuel 16, verse 17, where Samuel declared, Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. And finally, we can take comfort in knowing that whatever may happen, that God is going to work out His will for the best.

In Romans 8 and verse 28, “…to them that love God, all things work together for good.” And I’m so thankful for that. Even my opposition to God, even your opposition to God at times, God can use those things to bring about His will.

Are we opposed to God? I don’t know that anyone would just outright say that here tonight, that they’re opposed to God. But sometimes, you know, in our lives, we fail and we fall and we sin and we make choices that are in opposition to God.

Well, let’s remember these great lessons from men, good men, who were opposed to God. God worked with them to bring about their repentance so that His will could be done in their lives. Do we want God’s will to be done in our life? Maybe this evening you need to start doing the Lord’s will. Today that will is found in the new covenant of Jesus Christ. And Jesus lets us know what we need to do to start on God’s side, to start going forward with Him, to hear His word and believe it, repent of our sins, confess Him as Lord and be baptized for the forgiveness of our sins.

And that starts things off. And then from there going forward, we recognize there are many bumps along the way. But God will work with us and for us to accomplish His will. I’m so thankful that God didn’t put within the Bible the stories of all of those who served Him in such a way so that they were always perfect and always sinless and always flawless.

Of course, there was only one man who ever was perfect and sinless and flawless, and that was Jesus Christ. But all the other men that God worked with, that served Him, had flaws and problems. And God was able to overcome those things to help them along. And He can help us along too. Do you need His help tonight? If you do, you can come forward right now while together we stand and sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!