All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter 19. Genesis
19. This morning I'm convinced that
the Lord has given me a message to bring to this congregation. It's a message that we all need
to hear. This is a message of life and
death. It's a message being His Word,
and I know this. According to His Word, it's not
going to return unto Him void. I know that His Word is going
to accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. I'd like to deal with verses
12 to 14. Now, the Lord has sent two angels
into the city of Sodom. They've been charged to do two
things. They've been charged, number
one, to destroy the city because of the wickedness that was found
within the city. And secondly, they're there to
rescue a vessel of God's mercy. along with some of his family.
And both of these acts are going to be accomplished according
to the will and the purpose and the faithfulness of the Lord. Now, to get a right perspective
of what we're talking about this morning, the city of Sodom is
a picture of this world. I just told the folks that were
here Wednesday night Just realize this, Sodom was a picture of
this world. It was a picture of this world's
corruption, the cause of the fall of man in the garden. It's a picture of the world that's
been given over to vile, carnal affections, given over to that
which spiritually dishonors God. that which gives the Lord no
honor, glory, praise, but rather loves man. You want to know what
Sodom pictures? It pictures that which honors
man, flatters man. This world that loves the lies
of false religion, That's spiritual Sodom. That which makes merchandise
of men's souls. Now, in this picture, this scripture
right here, these angels have rescued Lot. They've rescued
him from an angry mob that wants to abuse God's messengers. He told Lot, he cried and surrounded
his house after those two angels got there. And they said in verse 4, before they laid
down, the men of Sidi, even the men of Sodom, encompassed the
house round. Both old and young, all the people
from every quarter, they called unto Lot and they said unto him,
Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring
them out unto us, that we may know them. Lot went out, shut the door behind
him. He said in verse 7, I pray you
brethren, do not sow wickedly. Again, remember what this picture
is. Sodom is a picture of this world
and its vile, evil affections for man. Not God, man. And here, they said, you send
these guys out that we can know them. That's wickedness. The Lord goes out. He said, I
have two daughters. Here's a glorious picture, that
which is pure. They've not known man. They're
pure. Pure. He said, I have two daughters.
It's a picture of this glorious proclamation of the gospel presenting
before men the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners. Lot says, I have two daughters.
Would you have them bring me out? No, we don't want that.
Whenever God Almighty has set forth the glory of God, the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, man by nature has no desire for Him. There's no beauty in Him that
we should behold Him. No, no, no. We'll take that which
is disrespectful to God. That's what man by nature wants.
That's Sodom. Well, these angels rescued. They
pulled Lot in and they rescued him, they shut the door, and
they smoked those men of Sodom with blindness. Couldn't they? They wearied themselves trying
to find the door. But the mercy of God set forth. Let's listen to this, verse 12
and 13. And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides
son-in-law, thy sons, thy daughters? 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 has sent us to destroy it." Now, consider
The mercy of God that we just read, right here. Here's the
mercy of God. Those angels told Lot what God
was going to do. Told him. Listen to Psalm 28,
verse 1. David, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, Unto thee will I cry, O Lord, O Jehovah, my
rock. Be not silent to me, lest if
thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the
pit. Listen to me. I've entitled this
message, This is no joke. This is no joke. I got it from
this next verse we're going to look at. For what mercy that
God would send His Word to a man named Lot. Those angels spoke to Lot and
told him what God was going to do. Now Lot being born into this
world, he was a man just like all men born in this world. He was a man that had a heart
that was wrathful against God by nature, but God was pleased
to rescue Lot. God was pleased to draw him out
of the bondage of sin. This man was referred to in the
Scriptures as just. justified Lot. He was justified
before God and he was a man that after the Lord saved him, he
still struggled, he's like all of them. He stumbled and he doubted
and sin that dwelled in his flesh. Look, how did he get inside of
him? Oh, there was a squabble over
some cows, and some grass, and the herdman, and there was strife
and division. And Abraham, oh, what graciousness. Everything was promised of God.
Who did God promise it to? Abraham. Lot was the recipient. He was a recipient of God's mercy
to Abraham. And here was Lot and that squabble
and everything. Abraham told him, he said, you
take what you want. I'll take the other. Lot set his face towards
Sodom. And now he's in that city vexed
every day. Vexed. I wonder what those cows
were worth. to him now. I wonder what that
grass meant now. And oh, here he is, just, you
know, vexed and vexed. And God sends two angels and
tells him this is what we're going to do. He told him. There was a man regenerated by
the grace of God. a man that was justified by the
blood, righteousness of Christ. And these two angels said, hast
thou any besides, besides you, is there any besides you, son-in-law,
sons, daughters, whatever? You know, I noticed they didn't
ask, are there any righteous in this city besides you? They
didn't say that. Why? Because only the Lord knows
who they are. Rather they said, is there any
family, any of yours in this city, bring them out. Why? Because God is gonna deal
in wrath with this place. So here's what Lot did, verse
14. And Lot went 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." Now, let me just kind of set this scenario
here and tell you what actually is going on. The scripture says back in verse
4, but before they lay down, okay, you know what? It was night. This is the middle of the night.
Before they laid down, they come in, Lot had fed them, washed
their feet. Before they laid down, that's
when all these guys started surrounding this place. It's night. Now, this whole incident is geared
around the middle of the night. And after the angels rescued
him and blinded him, and he talked a lot, they said, here's what
you said. You know, if there's any that
thou hast besides your son-in-law, your son, your daughter, whoever,
you go tell them. And verse 14, and Lot went. What
time of the night was it? I don't know. I don't know what
time it was, but I can tell you this. Lot believed God. He believed God, he worshipped
God, and he was convinced. that what God had said, His counsel
was going to stand. And the angels related, this
is what we're going to do. If you've got any in this city,
you go tell them. And go tell them right now. Right
now. That's what he did. They told
him, the Lord sent us to destroy it, and a lot went out. Found
his son-in-laws, started talking to them. Now, you know, somebody
said, well you know what, that just doesn't seem to me to be
a convenient season. When is it a convenient season?
What, the middle of the day, the morning or something? Man
by nature is man by nature. It don't matter what time it
is. Lot went right then. He was urgently compelled to
go to those that he loved. Were they the Lord's? I don't
know. What did the Lord tell his disciples? You go into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Preach to
them. You don't know who they are.
I don't know who you are. I don't know. I don't know. I
don't know. But I can tell you this. He left and went and did
exactly what those angels told him to do. If he was ever going to be serious,
get serious right now. Let's get serious about this
thing. Because now is the time. When are they going to destroy
it? They didn't say. But he's coming, he knew that.
So he told them. He went out, and here's what
he said. Up! Get up! Get you out of this place. The
Lord will destroy the city. But he seemed as one that mocked. Now that's an amazing word right
there. Mocked. It's a word that means
to jest. To jest. He got on there. Yeah. Get up. Get up. Get up right now. And we're getting
out of this place because God is going to destroy that city. He's going to destroy this city. This is a joke, right? You're
kidding me, right? Are you talking about now? Get
up now? The middle of the night, right
now? Yes. But he was one that seemed to
them to be joking. This is a joke. You've got to
be kidding me. This is a prosperous city, lot. What kind of a city was it? Well,
Luke 17 tells us exactly what they were doing. Luke 17 verse
26 to 29, it says, and as it was in the days of Noah, so shall
it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they
drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until
the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and
destroyed them all. Likewise, also as it was in the
days of Lot, They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold,
they planted, they builded. And the same day that Lot went
out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and
destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the
day when the Son of Man is revealed. Now listen, let me tell you something. This is serious. Now we've been going, this church
has been here a long time, this earth has been here a long time,
but listen, I'm going to tell you something. This is no joke. I'm going to be truthful with
you. Lot was truthful with his family. He was faithful to do that which
He was commanded to do. You go and you tell your family.
And what happened is, by and large, his family mocked him.
They mocked him. He was one that seemed to them
to be jesting. You can't be serious about now. You can't be serious about this.
They treated God's Word with disrespect. He came, he told
me, he said, listen, this is what these angels told me. These
angels told me they're going to... Can you imagine how silly
this sounds to the natural man? God has sent a message in this
book and it's serious. And my responsibility, what responsibility
do I have right now to be serious with you? Ezekiel chapter 3.
I've read this, and I've read this, and I've read this, and
there's so much that I don't understand about what I'm about
to read. Ezekiel chapter 3, verse 17, 19. Son of man, I've made
thee a watchman under the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the
word at my mouth and give them warning from me. Now, here's
what I know. God's called me to preach. He called me to preach. And what
did he tell Ezekiel to do? Same thing he's telling every
preacher of the gospel to do. He said, you give them warning.
You give them warning from me. Now listen, listen, everybody
listen to what I'm saying right now. This ain't no joke. This
is not a joke. We're not just showing up for
church. Well, it's Sunday, you know, we got to go to church.
Let me tell you what's going on right now. And what's going
over overseas, that ain't nothing. That's nothing. That's nothing.
What I'm about to tell you right now is serious. Now listen to
what I'm saying. You kids, listen to me. I'm telling
you. I'm telling you from God's word. He said, you give them warning
from me. When I say to the wicked, thou
shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest
to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, the same
wicked man shall die in his iniquity. But his blood will I require
at thine hand." Now, I just tell you right now, there's some things
I don't understand about that. But I don't want the responsibility
of being negligent to warn people. Yet if thou warn the wicked,
and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall
die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. Now
listen to me. I've got a responsibility this
morning. I told you that Sodom is a picture of this world. And
it's wickedness, rebellion against God. And God sent two angels
to go get a man named Lot. And they told him what they were
going to do. And you know what, Lord willing, we'll look at it.
And they did it. It happened. It really did. And
they told him, they said, you go tell everybody, those that
are yours, you go tell your son-in-law, your daughters, you go tell them.
Get out of here. Get out of here. Now there's
five short, but to the point, brief things that I want to say.
Five points. I'm not going to elaborate on
them, but I'm going to just tell you five things that I've considered
about this world, about ourselves, about God. And I'm honest with
you. Somebody said, well, you're just
trying to scare me. No, I'm not trying to scare anybody. But
I want to be honest with us. I want to be honest with us all.
Here's what I'm going to tell you something. You give them
warning. Now listen to what I'm saying.
God is going to destroy this world. Now listen to me. God is going to destroy this
world. And it's going to be in a day
that we're not expecting. 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3, verses 10-12. The day of the Lord. What does
that mean? It means in that day that the
Lord's coming back. The day of the Lord's judgment
is going to come as a thief in the night. in the 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, seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought
ye be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
shall be on fire, shall be dissolved, the elements shall melt with
fervent heat? Now listen, this is not a joke. They listened to what Lot said,
they looked at him as a man that would mock it. Everything that we see is going
to be destroyed, burned up. God told Noah, I'm going to destroy
this earth, build an ark. And Noah moved with fear. He
moved with respect. 120 years, Noah preached. He was a preacher
of righteousness. And when God said it's enough,
it's done, he put Noah in there, shut the door. And buddy, everybody
outside of that ark perished. Open up the door, Noah. Hey,
Noah, they died. Now listen to me, this ain't
no joke. God's gonna destroy this earth. God told these two
angels, you tell Lot, we're gonna destroy this city. about a chapter
later, this city was destroyed. Now listen to me. God said, I'm
going to destroy this world. He's already done it twice. Said
he would, and he did. You think he's not going to do
it this third time? Secondly, listen to me, everybody
in this room unless the Lord returns, and if He returns, okay,
He will return. There'll be some left. But if
God doesn't return, everybody in this room's gonna die. You're
going to die. In the last 30 days, I've either
preached or I've attended three funerals. In the last 30 days,
I've preached two of them and attended another one for those
that I'm convinced knew God. And it was a joy, a joy to be
able to behold the mercy of God to keep His own until the end. It was a joy. I think to myself,
according to the Word of God, to be absent from this body for
those that know Him that died in the faith, absent with this
body, present with the Lord. Convinced of it. Gene, Margaret,
Joe Crabtree, Three people in 30 days. Listen, this is no joke. You're going to die. You're going
to die. And dying is no joke. Thirdly, if you die without Christ,
without believing that He alone saved you by grace through faith
in Him. Saved you apart from any works
that you've done. You die without Christ, listen
to me, you will be put in hell. God's going to put you in hell.
Every person that leaves this world that lives without Christ
as a substitute, as their mediator between them and God. They're
not in a better place. They are not in a better place.
Well, my mother died and she didn't believe the gospel. My
dad died, my uncle died. He didn't believe this, but he
was a good man. They're not in a better place.
They're not in a better place. Well, where are you saying they
are? If they died without Christ, they're in hell. They're in hell. Well, that's just a little bit
too hard. It doesn't change anything. They're still in hell. This is
no joke. I'm not kidding. It's not a joke. Dying without Christ is no joke. John 3, verse 36. John 3, verse 36. Now listen
to this. God's Word. The Scripture says,
He that believeth on the Son. What does that mean? He that
believeth on the Son. It means he that believeth on
the Son and doesn't believe in his own will, in his own way,
in his own power, in his own choice, in his own free decision. He that believeth on the Son,
apart from me, hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him. That's not a joke. That's the
truth. Fourthly, we're all going to
stand before God in the day of judgment. We're going to stand
there. We're all sitting right here.
It's wonderful to be able to see one another. And you're sitting
here. I'm standing here. And you say, well, this is, you
know, and we're all sitting here, we're all going to stand before
God. Matthew 25, verse 31, 32. The scripture declares, when
the son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels
with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And
before him should be gathered all nations, And he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And everything is going to be
exposed. Everything is going to be opened up. The Scripture
says in Revelation chapter 20, Revelation 20 verse 11 to 15, Now listen, this is what's going
to happen. This is what those angels told
them. They said, go tell your family. Go tell them, get out
of here. We're going to destroy the city. We're going to destroy
it. Get out. Revelation 20, verse 11 to 15. And I saw a great white throne,
and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven
fled away, and there was found no place for them. That, as I
told you before, no place to hide. I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God. And the books were opened. And
another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books according to their works. Those that died without
Christ, the dead. No life, dead. Now listen, listen
to me. Without knowing Christ, You're dead. You're dead. And
you leave this world spiritually dead. Everything that we've ever
thought, said, did, whatever, all of it is recorded. You say,
well, I don't see how it can be. That's irrelevant. What do you mean you don't understand?
God said the books are going to be open. What is going to be happening
is God is going to judge all those without Christ according
to their works. The sea gave up the dead which
was in it, the death and hell delivered up those that were
in them and they were judged. Every man according to his works. Now listen, if there is one infraction,
One, if there's one infraction in our lives that we're going
to have to answer to God for. If there's one infraction before
His face and His eyes, God's going to put me in hell if there's
one. Now, if you happen to have one,
just one, I'm telling you, God's going to judge you. But the Scripture
says, Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was
cast into the lake of fire. But for those found written in
the book, the book of life, the book of Christ, to those the
scriptures declare that God's going to say unto them, enter
in, enter in. To that which was prepared for
you from before the foundation of the world. We're all going
to stand before God, and we're either going to answer for ourselves
and have no hope, or Christ shall have already answered for us.
In all that he is, in his holiness, righteousness, imputed to us,
God will accept us for his sake. Now I'm telling you, that's it.
And lastly, the message that we preach, The
message of the gospel, of God's free and sovereign grace. Now
this is no joke. I know that, again, I realize
that there's assemblies all over the place, and I'm telling you,
I realize that people are sincere, and I know they say they love
everybody, but listen to me. There's only two messages being
preached. There's either the message of
God's free grace in Christ. It's a message that gives man
no honor, no glory, no praise. It's the message that makes man
to be totally the recipient of God's grace. It's the message
that gives man no works to do in order to be saved. because
not by works of righteousness that we've done. Or there's the
other message, and it's under whatever title you want to put
it. You can call it whatever denomination you want. Either
it's a message that says you've got to walk down an aisle, you've
got to pray through, you've got to be baptized, you've got to
speak in tongues, you've got to be a member of this particular
church, you've got to be able to trace your lineage all the
way back to the apostles. You call it what you want to
call it. But it's a message of works that man has to accomplish. Now I'm going to tell you something,
there's only two messages. It's either grace, the grace of God,
or it's the works of man in order to be saved. And I'm telling
you right now, the gospel of God's free grace, apart from
any works on man's part, that message right here, the message
that's being preached right here, that message is the power of
God and salvation. I'm telling you, and the scripture
declares that we're to be warned. I want to warn you. I want to
warn you right now. First John 4, Beloved, believe
not every spirit, every preacher. I'll just simplify it for you.
But try the spirits. Try the spirits. whether they
are of God, because many false prophets are gone into the world.
And how do I know the difference? Okay, here's the way. If your
salvation is predicated upon anything that you must do first
in order to be saved, it's a lie. It's a lie. It's a lie. You mean every one
of them? I mean every one of them. If
it's something that you must do to be saved, I'm going to
warn you. I'm going to warn you right now.
It's a lie. Failing to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ as He is set forth in this gospel is damnation. It's not, this
is not a joke. Go to the church of your choice.
You better hope God delivers you from that if He hadn't given
you a heart to sit under the truth. Listen to this, I'm closing
right here. 1 Timothy 4.16, take heed unto
yourself and unto the doctrine. The truth of Christ. Continue
in them, for in so doing, thou shalt both save thyself and them
that hear thee. This is not a joke. They came,
a lot came to Him and He said, listen, God's going to destroy
this place. Get out of here. Get out of here. I'm telling you right now. I have set forth the truth to
you. I've set forth the truth. God
has commanded me, you tell them. You tell them. I want to be truthful
with you. Why will you die? Why will you
die? And I know that unless the Lord
gives a new heart, you know, I know that what you hear I do
the same thing, but for the grace of God, it's like a joke. You're joking, right? I'm telling
you, this is not a joke. I pray God have mercy. I pray
God bless His Word to the heart of needy sinners. God have mercy
on me. I pray God have mercy on you.
Amen.