All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to Genesis 19. Genesis 19. Two angels have told Lot that you go and you tell everybody
in your family. Verse 12, the man said unto him,
Hast thou here any besides son-in-law, thy sons, thy daughters, whatsoever
thou hast, whatsoever people in this city are of you? Bring them out of this place. The cry is waxing great before
the face of the Lord for the wickedness of Sodom. And God's
going to destroy it. But when the Son's in law, hear
the plea of Lot. They were told, you need to leave. We need to leave now. We've got
to get out of here now. It's night. The angels were just
getting ready to lay down. Before they laid down, scripture
says in verse 4, before they laid down, the men of the city,
even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round about, both old
and young, all the people from every quarter. It was night.
And the angel told them, said, you go tell your family. We've
got to get out of here. We've got to go. going to have
to leave this place. And the scripture says that he
seemed as one that mocked. The cry to let everything go,
leave it all, was like a joke to them. You're kidding, right?
Are you talking about everything we work for? Are you talking
about it all? Are you talking about leaving
now? He was one that mocked him. He's
jesting. That's what the word means. And
let me ask you something. As I was going over these notes
for tonight, I got to thinking, have we not experienced that
even in our families? I'll tell some, you've done the
same thing. You'll tell those in your family,
say, listen, as I said last week, this is not a joke. This, it's all going to be over.
And we're going to stand before God. And it's like we, you know,
we're fooling them. We're joking with them. It's
just a fairy tale. It's just not real. The danger of those who hear
the gospel being faithfully preached and counted as jesting. Eternity. Can you imagine? I
can't even... I can't even... Eternity separated
from God and the cry unto those that oppose themselves. The scripture says that the natural
man treats this with such disrespect. I know this from experience.
I did this. I remember before the Lord revealed
Himself to me. This wasn't a big deal. Okay,
well, go to church, yeah, okay. We go when we go, but I mean,
you know, there's other things besides. Men and women start every day,
they go about their lives just as though that they're going
to live forever. And just things and mess and
stuff is always more important. It's always something else. Tomorrow, It's going to be like
today was, yesterday was, but there is coming a day in which
the day of the Lord, the scripture says, is going to come as a thief
in the night, a day before a man or a woman can blink their eye,
a twinkling of an eye, just a glimmer, just a little bat of the eye. They're going to be standing
before God in judgment. God sent, through these angels,
sent Lot, you go tell your family. He gave them a fateful warning
and they just blew it off. Well, verse 15. 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." Now this is very revealing,
these words right here. When the morning arose, to understand really what they
were saying concerning the morning. If you've ever been, especially
I could see it if you're at the beach and you're looking out
over the ocean. You know, you miss it on the
trees and stuff like that. But if you're on the ocean and
it just looks like if you look out there and it's early, early,
early morning. But you can just, I mean it's
just like, just a little bit of a I think I can see just a
glimmer, just a little bit of the sun. It's just enough to
where you can just tell the difference between the water and the horizon. That's what he's talking about
right here. Just a little hint of light when the morning arose. That's what it is. The day, the
glimmer of the day was appearing. The angels hastened Lot. That means they pressed him and
hurried him, saying, arise. Stand up. Take thy wife, thy
two daughters, which are here. Now, here we go. You take the
two that are right here, the two that you said to the men
of the city, I've got two daughters of never-known men. Take those
two, the two that are here. The ones that are found. Lest
thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. Urgency was of the
essence. That's what's going on, verse
15. Now, the scripture bears out when God destroyed Sodom. On this day, right here. I'll
tell you when it is. Lord willing, we'll look at it
next time. But verse 23. The sun was risen upon the earth
when Lot entered into Zoar. The sun was risen. Now, they
made the statement in verse 15. It was just, I mean, just a hint.
If you just, yeah, I think I can see a little bit of light just
coming up. That's when he told them. And verse 23 says, when
the sun was risen, Now I'll just share an experience with you.
I was at the beach one time, got up real early in the morning
and I decided I was going to just watch, well I was going
to paint it. I was going to paint the sun
rising. And I thought the only way I can paint this is I just
took my paper and I folded it in half and then folded it again
in half and opened it up and I got an X and I got four little
places. And the first one, when it was
just a glimmer, I just painted that very quickly. And it came
up a little bit more. I just barely saw it, just a
little bit, you know. And I painted that one real quickly.
And then it was up about halfway. And I painted that scene right
there. And then there was the sun. It had actually come up
over. And I painted that one real quickly. About 20 minutes
is what it took me. About 20 minutes, four little
paintings of the sun rising. That's about how far the distance,
the time from verse 15 to about 23, about 20 minutes took place. It was enough for the sun to
rise. That's what it's when, verse 23, the sun was risen upon
the earth. That means that the sun was above
the horizon. That's the understanding. When
Lot entered into Zoar, and then verse 24 says, then the Lord
rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord
out of heaven and overthrew those cities and all the plain and
all the inhabitants of the cities which grew upon the ground. So
here's, listen, we've got minutes, minutes that we're dealing with
here. And these angels are telling
him, listen, you got to go and you got to go now. You got to
go. So here, while we're beholding
the urging, which was, they were pressing, pressing Lot and his
wife and his daughters. And then something astounding
happened. Verse 16, and while he lingered, while he lingered. Now these
angels know what's going on. And they're telling him, they
know that God's going to destroy this place. And they realize
the urgency of the moment, not the hour, the moment. And while he lingered, that is
while he questioned, hesitated, and was found reluctant. Now, we're not told Lot's exact
thoughts concerning this lingering. We just said, it just says him,
while he lingered. But for sure, he lingered. He lingered. But as we behold
his lingering, let me ask you, do we not all admit the struggles
that we also possess? I mean, we're all too familiar
with this body of sin which remains within us, that body which wars
against our new man, and questions, and flounders, and wavers, and
doubts. Someone said, I just can't understand. He had minutes, minutes, minutes. And he's lingering. Well, let
me ask you this. What do we have? In a time when you think not. How do you know? How do we know?
I can be sitting right here. We might have twenty minutes. We might have a thousand years. I don't know. But do we not do
the same thing? We're doing the same thing. Paul
the Apostle related his struggles with the flesh admitting that
he knew that in him, that is in his flesh, there dwelt no
good thing. We all question, we all hesitate,
we all linger, but there was something that I thought about
on this while he lingered that just struck me this morning.
I was getting up here again going over my notes. Glenda asked me
one time, I told you this, how long does it take you to prepare
a message? Brother Henry said 40 years is
how long it takes to prepare a message. But for me, usually
I'm finishing up while you're coming in. I'm kind of going
over. So I'm thinking on the message this morning early. And
I got to thinking about this and why he lingered. I can only imagine the struggle
within Lott These angels are telling him, you got to go, you
got to go now. You take your wife and the two
daughters that are here. The two daughters that are here. He had two daughters because
he talked to his sons-in-law. He had two daughters that were
still there. Can you imagine going through the struggle considering
I got two girls, I got two girls, I got two of my children that
are still here. And he hesitated, he lingered,
he lingered. Talking about Glenda, she told
me one time, she said, if this house ever catches on fire, she
said, you know what the first thing I'm gonna grab? The pictures
of my children, that's the first thing I'll get, pictures of my
kids. The rest of it, you know. He
was thinking about his kids. I mean, there's an old man in
all of us, we're all fine readers, but it just hit me. He had pled
with his son's-in-law, and they just treated it as jesting, and
his girls were there. While he lingered, while he hesitated,
The Lord, who never leaves nor forsakes his own, moved those
angels to do exactly what they did. The scripture says, while
he lingered, those angels hastened lot, said, take them. And verse
16, they laid hold upon his hand and upon the hand of his wife,
upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto
him. And they brought him forth and set him without the city. has mercy and compassion on whomsoever
he will. He hesitated, he lingered, but
God pulled him out, pulled him out. He who has saved us and
called us is the same one who is saving us right now. According to his everlasting
purpose and will, to deliver us and shall deliver us into
the end. Now listen to this. You know,
we talk about salvation as being something that happened, you
know, and now scripture says, you know, that salvation's eternal. Who has saved us and called us. The Lord saved us. There was
a time, a point in time when we were made aware of his salvation
by faith. He told us about it. And we think
of that time, that, you know, of salvation, we think of regeneration,
when God called us out of darkness. He saved us in a time, told us
about it. But listen, let me tell you something.
He is saving us right now. He is saving us. Salvation is
eternal. We relate to it in time. But He saved us and is saving
us and shall save us. Listen to this scripture, 2 Corinthians
1.10. Who delivered us from so great
a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that He will yet deliver
us. Salvation is of the Lord. It's eternal. I give unto them
eternal life. And He is saving us right now. The faith with which we believed
Him yesterday, we need new faith today, we'll need faith tomorrow.
God saves us and so He took them. He took them, He saved them right
now. This man that lingered, Lot was
a just man. That's what 2 Peter 2.7 says.
He delivered just Lot. That doesn't mean only Lot. It
means justified Lot. One for whom Christ has eternally
stood. One for whom Christ died. And
though he lingered, the Lord who is merciful, compassionate,
did not forsake him. The angels brought him out, and
how thankful we are to be for him who is able, that's what
we just sang, he's able to deliver us. Able to keep us from falling. He's able to keep us from falling.
If the Lord had left a lot to himself, what do you think he'd
have done? I tell you, those 20 minutes would have gone by
pretty fast. Able to keep us from falling and to present us
faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.
Verse 17, 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. Now, we read that 17th verse,
and that language of that scripture reveals a marvelous truth. that it was just, I read over
that a few times and then I read over that and I read over that
and I saw something that just stopped me. I'm going to read
it again. And it came to pass when they
had brought them forth abroad that he said, it appears up until this point from
the time that the angels had come into Lot's house, that the
angels alone had been speaking and dealing with Lot. Verse 12
says, the men said unto Lot, the angels. Verse 13, for we
will destroy this place. Verse 15, when the morning arose,
then the angels hastened, Lot saying, arise, take thy wife
and thy two daughters. But in verse 17, it says, it
came to pass when they, that's the angels, brought them forth,
he said, he said. Now, who is this he? I'm not even going to speculate
on this. I'm going to prove it. I'm going to prove this. He said,
and this he is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And that truth
right there is only known by Lot's words in verse 18 where
he said, Oh, not so, my Lord. Adonai. The proper name of God
only. That name right there. He said,
Here the Lord was revealed to be with Lot. He's there, he's
in Sodom. And Lot heard the voice of the
Lord Jesus, the master say, 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. Words of mercy, mercy,
mercy. To whom did the Lord speak in
Sodom? Like I told you, I said they
estimate that there were probably half a million people in those
cities. Half a million. Who was God going
to show mercy to? One man. And his family was the
recipients of that. One. Scripture says, escape for
thy life. Words of mercy and a promise
of deliverance for this object of his mercy. And then verse
18 says, and Lot said unto them, O not so, my lord. Lot said unto them. Now, I want
to say this. I'm not doubting that maybe the
angels could have still been standing. I'm not doubting that.
I mean, some say they went on into the light. Scripture doesn't
say that. I'm not saying that they couldn't have been standing
still in the presence of the Lord with Lot standing there
and possibly heard the words of Lot when he said, and Lot
said unto them. But the language doesn't seem
to bear out that Lot was speaking to the angels. The language of
it says that he's speaking to the Lord. And Lot said unto them,
them, he was speaking to one person. The Lord, again, adonai,
I say that because that is the word that deals with only God. And the Lord said unto them,
O not so, my Lord. He wasn't speaking to all three,
the two angels and the Lord Himself. He's talking to the Lord. Lot
was speaking to Him, who is the express image of the Godhead. And it would appear that the
Spirit of God moved Lot to address the Lord. according to the glory
of God's covenant mercy and compassion unto a people of His choosing.
He's talking to him as the covenant God. Father, Son, Spirit. He who is the image of the Godhead
bodily. Lot knew, he knew who he was
talking to. So again, while Lot speaks, he
seems to speak and talking to the Lord, but he still is questioning. In unbecoming, it appears as
though in the command of the Lord, when you'd read it, it
would say, oh, not so, my Lord. You know, do we not again behold
that doubting, hesitating spirit about us? Will we ever get away
from that? Not in this world. Not in this
life. We think that we'd eventually
learn. I'm not, I'm never going to do
that again. Let's don't kid ourselves. Let's don't say these kind of
things because I'm telling you That old man is still with us
and will be with us until we die and we will go to our graves
struggling against it. That old man is never improved. Surely I could learn a little
bit. Flesh is flesh. That which is
born of the flesh. And it's going to always remain
flesh. That's all it ever is. But even in Lot's questioning,
And I looked at the wording of that, and I looked to see, it
was, oh, not so, my Lord. Some would say, he said, is there
any other way, Lord? But, oh, the Lord told him, he
said, go to the mountain. Is there any other way? Oh, not
so, Lord. But here again, do we not behold
the mercy and compassion of God toward the objects of his love? The Lord told Lot. to flee to the mountain. Now,
there's a picture, a beautiful picture. You flee to Christ.
Flee to the rock. And Lot seeks permission to go
to a little city. Listen to these. I'll read 18
to 22. And Lot said unto them, O not
so, my lord. Behold now, thy servant hath
found grace in thy sight. Again, who do you think he's
talking to? You think he's talking to these angels? Listen to what
he's saying. Behold now thy servant hath found
grace in thy sight. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Thy servant hath found grace
in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed
unto me in saving my life. And I cannot escape to the mountain,
lest some evil take me, and I die. Behold, now this city is near
to flee unto." I read where Zor was probably a couple of miles,
give or take, from Sodom. It's about enough. He could make
it in a few minutes. It's gotta go. Now this city
is near to flee into and it is 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 which thou hast spoken. Haste thee,
escape hither, for I cannot do anything till thou become thither.
Therefore the name of the city was called Zor. Lord, there's this little city. If I go to the mountains, evil
may overtake me. But this little city, I began
to think on Lott's thinking. I don't want to speculate, but
I was just wondering. You know, it's just a little
one. It's just a little one. Now this big one right here that
I've been in, Saul was vexed every day with the wickedness
of that city. It vexed him. to see what was
going on in that place. But now this one over here, it's
just a little one. It's just a little one. My soul
can live here. My soul can. You know, maybe
I can come to this place and I can live. My soul shall live,
verse 20 he said. But listen, sin is sin, no matter. Sin is sin no matter. Look at
verse 30. I don't want to get ahead of
myself, but I want to make a point here. Look at verse 30. And Lot,
he had already gone to Zor. He was in Zor. But here's what
happened. And Lot went up out of Zor and
dwelt in the mountain and his two daughters with him, for he
feared to dwell in Zor. And he dwelt in a cave, he and
his two daughters. You know what happened? where
he thought, I could live here. I could be here. I mean, this
won't be bad. It's just a little bit. It's just a little bit place. It's not like this big old city
here that I'm in, Sodom. That's just so wicked. I go over
to this little place, and I'm telling you, there's no peace,
there's no comfort apart from the mountain, apart from Christ,
resting in Christ, trusting in Christ. You know, can I go and
then the Lord told him. He said, behold now this city,
verse 20, is near and I, it's a little one, let me escape.
And verse 20, and he said unto him, see I've accepted thee concerning
this thing also, which I will not overthrow this city for the
which thou hast spoken. You know there's times when the
Lord to teach us, to teach us. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. He teaches, he's gonna teach
us something. I don't know, and again, I don't
want to speak out of place here, but you know the Lord knows how
to humble his own, how to teach his own. The Lord may give us
something that we think we want, just to show us. No, that's not
what you needed. He may allow us to do something
that we think, this is what I want. If I had this, I'd be good. Oh, if I had this, all my troubles
would be over. I'd be fine. I'm fine. OK. OK. I'll let you have that. I'll
let you go. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Where did God tell him to go?
Go to the mountain. Can I go to this little city
over here? It's just a little one that my soul can live. I can live there. I can be satisfied
there. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not impute iniquity. Psalm 32. The Lord did not cut
him off. This was the one that God loved,
the one for whom Christ's blood was beheld and shed from the
foundation of the world and would be shed in time. This was one
for whom Christ would die. This was a just man, justified
before God. One God loved and chose to put
in his Son, Christ would die, the Spirit of God did regenerate
him. When I see the blood, I'm going
to pass over you. You know the only reason God
just didn't wipe him out right then? Because he was in Christ. Lot was no different than any
of us. He stumbled just like we all do. He was a man of faith. He was a man of faith. He believed
God. He was a just man. He was just. How did we know that he was just?
God said he was just. What's the evidence of being
just? Faith. Justified by faith. Not your faith justifies you,
but it's the evidence of being justified before God. So here
was a just man that stumbled and hesitated and lingered But
where faith is found, and God said he was just, so I know faith
was there. I know it was there. God said
it was there. He was a just man. Where faith is found, though
it be as a grain of mustard seed, the Lord beholds it. And according
to his eternal will and purpose, according to God's will and purpose,
he allowed him to go to Zohar. He's gonna learn, but the Lord
taught him. The Lord told him in verse 22,
haste thee, escape thither. I cannot do anything till thou
be come thither. Now in closing, I want us to
remember something. God's cannot, that's what he
said. Haste, verse 22, haste thee thither
for I cannot, I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. I
cannot. God's cannot is not the cannot
of men. The cannot of men means ability. I mean, we don't have the ability
to do it. There's no ability. But with
God, there's no inability. There's no inability with God.
With God, all things are possible. Nothing, is there anything too
hard for the Lord? With man, it's impossible. With
God, all things are possible. So when God says, cannot, with
God, all things, it doesn't mean of His being not able to do it. He's Almighty God. He does as
He will. The army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. When God declares that He cannot,
it's always according to His holy character, His will, His
counsel, and His purpose to show mercy to His people. When God
says, I cannot, anything that God cannot do, Titus 1, 1 and
2, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according
to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth
which is after godliness in hope of eternal life which God that
cannot lie promised before the world began.
Is there anything God cannot do? Scripture says he cannot
lie. James 1.13, let no man say when
he's tempted, I'm tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted
with sin, with evil, neither tempteth he any man. 2 Timothy
chapter two, 2 Timothy chapter two and verse 13. If we believe not, Yet he abideth
faithful. He cannot deny himself. So when
God told Lot, you haste, you leave. I cannot destroy. He's
given his word. He's given his word. Eternal
life to his people for the glory of his son. When he says I cannot
destroy this place, oh God can do whatever he wants to do. but
he's not gonna forsake his word. He has magnified his word, magnified
his word. Zor was not overthrown for the
sake of Lot. And this world remains today,
still here, for one reason, one reason, because God's got a people
here. God's got a people that he's
not going to destroy. He's not going to judge them.
Listen to this. If you want to know why the sun
came up today and if it comes up in the morning, I'll tell
you why. It's not because this world is able to sustain itself
in a great economy and all this kind of stuff. No. It's because
God has purposed. I'm not going to destroy this
world with my people in it. He's not going to do it. Now
listen to this, 2 Peter. We've read this many times. I'll
read this and I'll close. 2 Peter 3, verse 7 to 10. But the heavens and the earth,
which now are, by the same word, are kept in store. What does
that mean? They're still here. It's still
here. This earth is still here. reserved under the fire against
the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved,
be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is
not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any of God's
elect, of the uswards, should perish, but that all the uswards
should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up." God would not destroy Sodom until Lot and
those that God purposed to be out of that city were gone. You've
got to get out of here. God's going to destroy it. You
move. Lot, ask him, can I go to Zohar? It's just a little one. The Lord
said, I'll preserve that city for you. Almighty God is going to save
his own. He's going to deliver. Brethren,
today, today is the day of salvation. We don't have tomorrow. Tomorrow
never comes. Cast yourself upon the mercy
of God. Call upon Him while He's near. If the Spirit of God gives
you a heart to do that, you'll do it. I pray He does. Amen.