We're going to be in Genesis
this morning, Genesis chapter 19. This is the chapter that
deals with the history of Sodom's destruction and of Lot's deliverance
from that same destruction. Now Abraham had drawn near to
the Lord when the Lord said to him that Sodom was going to be
destroyed, when he spoke of Sodom's destruction. And that really
is a picture of what brethren do. The children of God, when
they hear of destruction, when they're warned of destruction,
they draw near to the Lord. We draw near to Him. We hug up
on our Lord, our God, and our Savior. And so when he came near,
he asked the Lord, wilt thou also destroy the righteous with
the wicked? And the answer that our Lord
gave to him was no. No, I will not destroy the righteous
with the wicked. Now while this is a somber message,
a somber portion of scripture, there's a message of hope here
for the people of God. There is a message of hope for
the people of God, albeit it's an earnest one. It's an earnest
message. You see, apart from Christ, apart
from the salvation of our God, which is the Lord Jesus Christ,
there is no salvation. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. If we're to stand before God,
faultless before His throne, it's by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Without Him, you cannot be saved. Now the wicked heard the word
of warning. It was spoken to them. They were
told, your deeds are wicked. What you men are doing is wicked.
But they would not be turned from their wicked works. Then
we also see here, we read of Lot's sons-in-law, and they heard
the word. They were warned to flee from
the destruction that the Lord was bringing upon Sodom. But neither would they believe
the word, and they remained where they were. They did not flee.
And we won't get to this part today, but we're told that Lot
himself lingered. He lingered. He was just puttering
around there in the city that was about to be destroyed until
the angels, the two men, took him and his wife and his two
daughters by the hand and brought them out of the city because
they could not destroy it until they were out. Now these verses
show us what struck me is just how very near the judgment of
God is. upon the unrighteous, upon the
wicked of this world, and yet they don't believe it. To them
it just seems like a mockery. They scoff at it. They say things
like, what are you talking about? This world has always gone on
in this manner. Things have always been this
way. Short as little ebbs and flows, but it's always the same
thing. Day after day, nothing changes and nothing's going to
change. And so they content themselves
with lies and they will not hear the word. Now these verses stand
as a testimonial to the judge that they shall indeed be judged
for their wicked works. They are going to be judged if
they do not repent, if they are not turned from their wicked
ways and trusting their wicked works. We are told in 2 Peter
2. The God turning the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow,
making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly. And the wicked They will not
hear it, and they will not deliver themselves. They cannot. Stephen
testified of these same when he said to them of the Jews,
the self-righteous Jews, he said, ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and in ears. You're uncircumcised in heart
and in ears. Ye do always resist the Holy
Ghost. As your fathers did, so do ye.
And that's exactly what man does, left to himself, left in his
own strength and power and his wisdom and his goodness and his
wisdom. His heart is uncircumcised, his
ear is uncircumcised, and he thinks that he's delivered. He
thinks he's done what he needs to do and that God is pleased
with him, and yet he's under the very cloud of destruction
that destroys the wicked. for you whose ears are circumcised,
and you whose heart is circumcised by the Holy Ghost. These words
do serve as a warning and an exhortation. As a warning and
an exhortation, they're made profitable to you. God has made
these words profitable to you, His people, who hear His Word,
who hear the Word of the Lord, and who flee to Christ, who run
to Christ, Peter saying of us, which in time past were not a
people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Lot obtained mercy. And you that are fled to Christ,
you've obtained mercy, because God did that. You didn't do that
for yourselves. God worked that repentance in
you, turning you from dead works that cannot save to the true
and living God, to believe Him. Now, I've titled this The Final
Hours of Sodom. I think I'll keep that when it
goes live, The Final Hours of Sodom. Now, there's a clear distinction
here that we see building and unfolding in this chapter here. And it ultimately leads to Lot's
deliverance. It leads to the deliverance of
Lot, while at the same time reserving the wicked unto destruction.
It does both those things. Let me read a few verses for
you from 2 Peter 2. I'll begin in verse 9. It says,
the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations,
and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. God knows how to do that. And
while it's hard for us to see clearly this about Lot when we
read these Old Testament scriptures, it's hard for us to see that
this is a man of God. He's a man of God. And we look
at the Old Testament, and there's people out there that don't think
Lot was saved. They're forgetting, though, the account that we're
given in the New Testament, what the Apostle Peter says about
him. Peter goes on in 2 Peter 2, verses
7 and 8, saying that God delivered just Lot, not only Lot, but righteous
Lot, righteous Lot. It's the same word as we'll see
in the next verse. Lot vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked, not just their words, but their deeds, their
actions, their persons. For that righteous man dwelling
among them and seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from
day to day with their unlawful deeds. You think about this man,
Lot. He was Abraham's nephew. That wasn't his salvation. But
what the Lord did is He walked with Abraham. He dwelled with
Abraham. When Abraham worshipped the Lord,
He worshipped the Lord. When Abraham came before the
Lord with sacrifices, he came before the Lord with sacrifices.
And he heard that word, and the Lord made that word profitable
to Lot. Profitable to Lot. And we see
that the Lord our God wrought effectually in the heart of Lot. He wrought effectually in him.
And so the reason I say this is that we see We have not only
Peter's testimony in the New Testament, but we see the same
fruit that we saw in Abraham witnessed in Lot. Look with me
at Genesis 19 verses 1 through 3. And there came two angels to
Sodom at Eve. These were the two angels that
came from Abraham's place. 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
servants' house, and tarry, or stay, 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. Now if you've
been with us when we entered into Genesis 18, how did that
chapter open? When the Lord appeared outside
the tent of Abraham. Abraham looks up and he sees
them, three men, three men, one of them being El Shaddai, Almighty
God, and he sees them standing there and he runs out to greet
them. and begs them, turn in, come on in here, wash your feet,
rest yourselves under the tree. And then he goes and he runs
to a young boy, maybe Ishmael, I don't know, and he has him
prepare a kid and he runs over to Sarah and he tells her to
get some red bacon and other sides and fixings, get that all
ready, because we're having a feast. We're having a feast. We're going
to feed these men who have come to us this day. And so in Genesis
19 here, one chapter later, it's a little more condensed, but
the same fruit, the Lord works that same fruit in the heart
of Lot. Why? Because Lot was with Abraham. His God was, Abraham's God was
his God. What Abraham did, he observed
and looked and he was careful to do the same. because God made
his word effectual in Lot's heart. So that same hospitality of Abraham
is witnessed there in Lot. And this is something that our
Lord does for all his vessels of mercy. He makes his word effectual
in the hearts of his people. Those whom he's marked for salvation
He takes his word and his work and it's wrought in the hearts
of his people. He prepares us to hear that word.
He prepares his people to be delivered by this word of our
salvation, by his power, his glory, his spirit, his word and
work in the hearts of his people. Paul speaks of this, I mean there's
many scriptures we could go to, but Ephesians 1 verse 8 and 9
says, wherein God hath abounded toward us. us, brethren, in all
wisdom and prudence." Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus. He's not writing to the Chamber
of Commerce at Ephesus. He's not writing to the government
and the administration in Ephesus. He's not writing to the temple
of Diana and the leaders there in Ephesus. He's not writing
to the laborers and the unions in Ephesus. He's writing to the
church. in Ephesus. And he's saying, God hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery. He's spoken to us plainly, brethren.
He's made us to hear His mystery and to understand what He's done
for us in the Lord Jesus Christ, according to His good pleasure,
which He hath purposed in Himself. He didn't look at you. He didn't
look at me, at what we would or wouldn't do. He looked to
His Son. and said, for his sake, I'll
have mercy and be gracious to them, and I'll deliver them out
of their darkness, and I'll deliver them out of their death, and
I'll give them light and life and the beautiful face of my
son. My son, and they'll rejoice in him. They'll rejoice in him. They'll be glad in him. And so
Lot could be included in that us. He is. Lot is included in
that us. What about the people of Sodom?
though. It wasn't made profitable to
them. They don't understand the mystery. They didn't hear the
word and they didn't believe that word. And so lots in that
us there. What our Lord is showing us is
that he does do that. He saves his people from death
and darkness and ruin. He saves His people, He does
not fail, and He makes us to hear the voice of His Son, to
hear the voice of the Spirit. But the Spirit saith unto the
churches, and we're brought out, we're led out by His grace and
power. Listen to Colossians 1, 13 and
14, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. He's writing to the church at
Colossae, those that had an interest by his grace and power. some
from every walk here and there. But he brought them in as he
was pleased to bring them in and to make them hear it. And
so Lot was delivered from darkness, that darkness which was resting
way upon the hearts and minds of the Sodomites there. He delivered
Lot from that. He didn't partake in their wicked
practices. And you see that. They weren't
in the city gate. Lot was there all alone. They
weren't in that city gate. They were out beginning their
night of riotous living. They were doing their thing.
And there's Lot watching, watching. watching at the city gate. So
that's the first thing that we take notice of. Our God calls
his people by his grace out of darkness. He separates them from
the wicked of this world and reveals Christ to them. He doesn't
take us out of the world, but he works his grace in us. He
works his grace and power in us. Listen to 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 14 and 15. Where unto he called you? Brethren, he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand. He
encourages us. Stand fast and hold the traditions
which ye have been taught, whether by word, whether by word or our
epistle. Lot, yes. Lot stood. He heard. He held fast. People
of Sodom, they didn't hear. They had no clue what was going
on. So the question is to us here, whose body are we part
of? Are we in that body with Lot, or are we in that body with
Sodom and Gomorrah? By His grace, we're in that body
of Christ, in the body of Christ with Lot there. Now, these things
that I've emphasized here may seem like petty details or insignificant
to many, but to you that hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches, you have an interest. You hear what the Lord says to
his people. And so we see in our text here
is that this great perversion, this filth and wickedness of
sin had spread throughout all the city there upon the minds
of these people there in Sodom. It was a corruption that had
poisoned them so that they were dead. They were dead in trespasses
and sins. Look at verse 4. But before they
lay down the angels with Lot, the men of the city, even the
men of Sodom, compassed, they surrounded the house, both old
and young, all the people from every quarter. And so the Lord
gives us a broad description here. And what he's telling us
is all kinds of people from that city were present here. You had
some from this family. You probably had some from the
magistrates, some from the government that was there, and the administration
there in that city. You had workers doing various
things, and laborers, and bakers, and other people of other sorts.
The whole city. They were all partakers in this
filth and this sin. All kinds of people were included
in their sodomy. But what he's saying there is
from the highest office to the lowest. It didn't matter. None
were excluded. If you want to be partakers of this filth, come
on in. They were happy to receive anyone
that would come, both old and young, all the people from every
quarter. And so they called to Lot to
turn the men over that were staying at his house. And Lot knew what
they were up to. Lot was familiar with their practices.
He didn't partake of them, but he knew what they were up to.
And so he steps outside the door, and he closes the door behind
him. And he says, I pray you, brethren, He's trying to appeal
them. I pray you, brethren, do not
so wickedly. Boom, it just comes down wickedly. He's saying, what you're doing,
brethren, you're spoiling this city. You're causing great trouble,
a shaking in this city. You're causing great trouble.
Your deeds are wicked, brethren. Don't do this. Don't do these
things, what you're doing here and calling upon these men. Now,
Lot doesn't do a great job here. His message begins to get twisted.
He starts offering up his daughters to them to take their minds off
of what they're doing and seeking these men to turn them away.
And the picture here is, don't get caught up in the nonsense
that's coming out of Lot's mouth. What it's showing us here is
that his message was compromised. He was compromising his message
to these men and telling them that what they're doing is wicked.
And he's incorporating fleshly, carnal things into that word
to try to appeal to them, to soften them, to get them to come
on board and come around and be turned from what they were
doing. It was a compromised message.
Did it work? Not at all. Not at all. They were not turned from what
they were seeking to do. They weren't turned with the
carnal, fleshly compromises that Lot was speaking of. Look at
verse 9. And they said, stand back. Get
out of the way. And they said again, this one.
Look at this guy. This one fellow came into sojourn
to us. He called them brethren. They're
saying, you're not our brother. You're not one with us. You're
not one with us. He came into sojourn, and he
will needs be a judge. He's now going to judge us. He's
going to tell us that our works are wicked and filthy. 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. One thing
this says to us is, don't change your message. You're compromising. and saying this message and watering
it down and making it easy on the ear of the people visiting.
Don't change it. Don't compromise because it's
to no effect. It's to no effect. It isn't going
to do anybody any good because the Lord doesn't save his people
with lies. He doesn't save his people with
a compromising message. He saves his people with the
gospel of Jesus Christ which is the truth. It's the truth. He saves His people by Christ
and so we declare who Christ is, what He has done, who we
are, that we are sinners who need a Savior. We need His salvation. Don't compromise the message
because it's not going to work. It's not going to save His people.
He's not going to give light to you spilling darkness out
of your mouth. He's going to save His people.
by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just proclaim it. You don't got
to twist their arm. You don't got to use colorful
or fancy language. The plainness of speech was made
effectual in the hearts of the people. Paul said, I was with
you in weakness, but I didn't know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and him crucified. And in demonstration of the power
of God, he took it and made it effectual to your hearts. He
made it effectual to you. We preach and we trust that the
Lord takes that word because he tells us, under the preaching
of the gospel word, that's how he makes it effectual to his
people. This is the word, Peter said, which by the gospel is
preached unto you. Now the Lord prevented these
men. What we see next now, as we go
on, the Lord himself is the one that prevented these citizens
in Sodom from hearing this word any longer. They heard what Lot
said. They heard their deeds were wicked.
They did hear that and they didn't believe it. And so the Lord takes
away the truth from them so that they will hear it no more. No more. Nothing more was to
be said. They were intent on their wickedness
and so God shuts them up to that wickedness. pulls his word out
of there. Look at verse 10. But the men,
this is the angels inside, put forth their hand and pulled Lot
into the house to them and shut to the door. Closed it. Boom. That's it. They're cut
off. Everyone without is cut off.
And what we see here is that there does come a point at which
the Lord takes that gospel away. And the people can't hear it.
They can't hear. They will not hear it. They refuse
to hear it. They're hardened in their wicked
works. The Pharaoh, we're told that
he hardened his heart to what he heard. And then the Lord tells
us, and the Lord hardened his heart. He hardened his heart.
He wouldn't hear it. The Lord hardened his heart and
sealed him up in it. Sealed him up in it. And so these
men were angry with Lot because he shamed them. He called them
out on what they were doing and said, your works are filthy,
they're wicked, they're evil, it's disgusting what you're doing.
And then they judged him of being their judge, all because he told
them the truth. And so the Lord took the truth
from their hearing. They could hear it no more. Romans
128, Paul wrote, and even as they did not like to retain God
in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind
to do those things which are not convenient. They're not naturally
fit. And what this flesh does is it
goes out of its way. to sin. Men and women will go
out of their way to do that which is not even convenient just so
they can do the things that they want to do in the flesh according
to the lust of the flesh. They're not meet or fit. And
when Paul wrote that, that was true back then, it was true in
Paul's day, it's true in our day. It's true in our day. And so the gospel word goeth
forth. We declare, and I'm thankful
that the Lord has given us His word, His gospel, His good news
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We declare that Christ came into
the world to save sinners, not to condemn us, but to give us
life in Himself. And He sends that word forth
declaring what Christ has done, how He graciously laid down His
life. He took the form of a servant
to do that very thing that we can't do. We should have been
the ones being beaten, and spit upon, and put to death under
the wrath of God. That should have been us, but
Christ took the place of His people, bearing their sin to
bear their wrath, and God was satisfied, the Father was satisfied,
so that we by Christ's blood redemption has delivered us from
the justice of God, the hands of His justice, and gave us life
in Himself. God is pleased, well pleased
with Christ, and He is well pleased with all who come to Him in Christ. That's a good message. None of
us is exalting ourselves and saying we're better than anyone
else. We're all sinners. We're all sinners. And Christ
is the Savior, whom the Father hath sent. Look to Him, flee
to Him, run to Him, because We need His salvation. None of us
is getting by on our half good works or half bad works. No,
we're all sinners, worthy of eternal damnation, separation
from God. But Christ gives life. That's
the testimony of our God, that He's delivered His people from
the wrath to come in Christ. In Christ. What we see is that
our God is the one that makes the difference in his people.
We're all worthy of this death, but he makes the difference in
his people. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. We're corrupt and ruined in Adam. Paul wrote to the Ephesians in
Ephesians chapter two, saying that, to the church, saying,
he's quickened you. He gave you life that we're dead
in trespasses and sins. And then he went on to describe
what we are by nature, every one of us, in Ephesians two,
verse two, when he said, in time past, ye walked according to
the course of this world. According to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. We weren't all sodomites thankfully,
but we're all sinners walking according to the course of the
world according to what delighted our flesh and and that sin is
yet present. We still feel its presence in
our members, in our flesh. We still feel its presence and
see its workings in us. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved. So that we see I don't have anything
to boast in save Jesus Christ and him crucified. He's my salvation. I'm not here telling you that
boasting of my works, but of his work. that he is gracious
and able to save to the uttermost all that come to him, seeking
grace and mercy." Because we're sinners. Now you'll notice that
just like I said God is one that makes a difference. You'll notice
in the text that's exactly what we see. It was the angels that
put forth their hand and pulled that into the house to them and
shut the door. Lot didn't save himself. Lot
didn't deliver himself. Lot didn't run out of there. He was about to be devoured by
sin and put to death. That's a picture of what our
sin would do to us. But God reached forth and pulled
us out. He dragged us out of that death
and ruin. We were swallowed up, about to
be taken, be impressed upon by our sin. And God delivered us. He took us right out of there
by his grace. And so we see that with Lot. And Paul writes to the Galatians,
he says, don't be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he reap. People think they can just dabble
and play around in the sin sandbox. But Paul says, don't be deceived.
Don't be deceived. If you sow to that, you're going
to reap to that. And you might be God's child,
but he's going to let you see that that's wicked and it's ruinous. And just like Lot was almost
swallowed up before he was delivered, he may do that for us. And we
don't want that. It smarts. That's a nice way
to say it. The Lord knows how to teach his
people, how to deliver his people, how to deliver us from the wrath
to come and to bring us safe into his arm. And He said, for
he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.
But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life
everlasting. And what He's saying to us, to
you that believe, is that's where your attention and your focus
ought to be. That's where it ought to be.
And not looking at the world and partaking of the world. Look
to Christ. That's why He gave Him to you.
Flee to Him. Therefore, Let me emphasize how
blessed we are that we hear the gospel of God's grace, that we
hear his word and the faith that he's given you to look to Christ. That's his blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, which he's given to you graciously. We didn't earn it. It's given
to us by His grace. And so keep hearing it. Don't
despise it. Don't set it aside lightly with
indifference the way we see Lot did. Because that is what Lot
did. He was very careless with his hearing. He was very careless
with it. Lot, when you look at Lot, you
see he was a weak man. He was very weak in the faith. He was a just man. He was a righteous
man, just as we see here But he was weak, and you hear it
in his words. He had a compromising message
when he spoke to the people. But God saved him, and he cut
off the rest. God did deliver him, but we see
how weak and ineffectual he was. And then we see that God took
that message away from the city of Sodom there. He took it away.
And this is pictured for us throughout the scriptures. When you read
of spiritual Babylon, our Lord tells us there's a day in which
that word won't even be heard in it any longer. In Revelation
18, 23, it says, and the light of a candle, that is the true
church, will never be seen in you again. It won't be seen in
that spiritual Babylon. The light of a candle shall shine
no more at all in thee, and the voice of the bridegroom and of
the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee. The gospel is
taken away. Silence they don't hear that
good news that good word anymore For thy merchants were the great
men of the earth for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived God
shut the door and they were left standing on the outside. Now verse 11 says, it goes on
even worse, it says, and they smote the men that were at the
door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that
they wearied themselves to find the door. And that's a picture,
when the Lord takes his word away, when he takes the church
away and he takes the gospel away, people begin to remember
things maybe that they've heard, and they start searching and
looking and groping about in darkness, but they can't find
it. They can't find it, and they can't come to a knowledge of
the salvation of the Lord. They don't look to Christ. They
don't look to Christ. And Paul said, if our gospel
be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, that are lost. So therefore,
brethren, we hear the word and are encouraged, make good use
of your time. A good use of your time. Don't set that word aside
like Lot there. Come hear the gospel to be fed
and strengthened with Christ. It's for your good. He's given
Christ for your good, for your strengthening, for your encouragement,
for your peace and your comfort. He gives Christ. And then next
we see that you don't even have to be a partaker of the most
heinous and grossest of sins to be blind. There's a lot of
people in the earth right now who think that because they don't
do the practices and things of other people, that everything's
OK with them, and they can condemn and judge others. But we see
here with Lot's sons-in-laws, when the angels asked, do you
have any other family here? And Lot says, oh, yeah, I do. And
so he runs out, and he spake in verse 14 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. They thought he's just playing
a trick on us. He's trying to get us to run out, and then he's
going to laugh at us and tell us how silly we were for believing
him. But he's shown them there that he's being serious. He's
being serious. Now, I don't have any reason
to believe that the sons-in-law were part of that crowd that
was surrounding his house earlier. Maybe as far as we judge people,
they were decent people, pretty good people. But it was at the
point where they weren't hearing the word. It wasn't profitable
to them in what they heard. And so their souls weren't delivered
from that wrath. Paul wrote this way according
as it's written. God hath given them the spirit
of slumber, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should
not hear unto this day. And so here's the point. This
is what struck me when I was reading this. This thing is that
here's these clouds gathering together of darkness, pregnant
with wrath and destruction that's to come. And these people take
no notice of it. They're hearing the word, telling
them what you're doing is wicked. Don't do it. God's going to destroy
this place, and they would not hear it. They wouldn't hear it.
And so, like Sodom, the cry goes up, right? That's why they went
there, because the Lord said, I've heard a cry, and I'm going
to see if it's true. And it wasn't a cry for mercy,
it was a cry demanding justice, demanding wrath and judgment
upon them. You know, I won't get into the
details, but Just last week, there was a case where there
was sodomy just openly in the nation's capital there in one
of the Senate buildings, just openly being filmed and put out
on social media. Disgusting, just demanding, crying
out for judgment. That's what it made me think
of is, man, we're bad. This is in bad, bad shape. And
what Lott said is you're spoiling it. You're bringing wrath and
judgment upon the city, the nation for what you're doing here. And so the cup of man's wrath
is full. It's full and it demands justice.
But is there any that hears the cry in the soul that says flee? Flee from this wrath. Flee to
the high tower, to the strong tower, which is Christ. Run to him. Believe on Him. Seek Him. Lord, have mercy on
me, a sinner. Save me, Lord. Help me. He receives all who come to Him,
all who cry to Him and ask Him for grace and mercy. He is a
kind and gracious Savior, willing to save to the uttermost all
that ask Him and seek Him and believe upon Him. That's what
He gives to us. He turns, and he says, for the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Our Lord tells us the reason
why the world doesn't hear it is because they've waxed full. They're gross with fat in their
ears and in their hearts so that they can't hear it. When you've
eaten heartily, a good heavy meal, you don't want anything
else. You don't even want dessert once you're full. And that's
what the people are. They're full of fatness and grossness
and cannot hear or take anything in lest they should be converted
and be healed. They won't do it. But, he says,
blessed are your eyes for they see. And blessed are your ears
for they hear those things and you believe. And we're reminded
here when we look at this is how Lot took those blessings,
And then he pitched his tent towards Sodom with it. And what
trouble it caused him by going towards Sodom more and more and
more. He wasn't even in a tent, right?
This says that he had a door, which says to me he was in a
fixed house at that time. A fixed house. He had left his
tent behind. But the people of Sodom, they
were only hours away from total destruction when the wrath of
God would come and they wouldn't hear it. And that's what it says.
The wrath is just right there. Right there. At any moment the
Lord could rain down wrath justly upon the people. Our Lord says, and He warns us,
He says, as 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 a 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. But 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. And so what impresses me is what
a great blessing we have. to hear that gospel. You that
still hear it, and receive it, and believe it, what a blessing
it is that God should do that for us. Because the wicked, there's
warnings, there's sirens blaring, the cry is going up, demanding
justice, and they're not paying any heed or attention to it. But you do, because he's worked
his grace and mercy. He's given you his spirit in
you, which has delivered you by the redemption of Christ.
And so our Lord says to you that hear and receive in this day,
he says, watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord
doth come. Lot was sitting there in the
city gate watching. Abraham was sitting in the door
of the tent watching. Till then we wait for his son
from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered
us from the wrath to come. Thanks be to God. for his unspeakable
gift, the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray he bless that. Prayer
to your heart's breath.