Gracious Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, we pray now that as we look into the scripture, that
it would completely captivate our attention and our hearts.
We would be amazed at you. We would see your nature and
your character, see your justice and your grace, and see ourselves
in the light of all that you are, and see that we are utterly
dependent upon you, utterly in need of your saving grace, in
need of the Lord Jesus Christ, and help us, dear Lord, Help
us not to leave this place without believing, without believing
our Savior with all of our heart and confessing with our mouth
that He is truly Lord of all and trusting Him and looking
for His salvation and patiently waiting by this faith you've
given to us in life or this hope that we confidently expect to
receive because it doesn't depend upon us but on our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. And so we pray, Lord, be with
us now by your Spirit, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Genesis chapter
19, I'm going to read with you from verse 10 here in the scripture. As I mentioned, I've entitled
this message, Lot and Me. It says in verse 10, and we're
just going to go through this carefully here if we can. But
the men put forth their hand, the men spoken of here are the
two angels that came to Sodom and Gomorrah sent by the Lord
to do two things. If you miss everything else here,
don't miss this. What were the angels sent to
do? They were sent to bring God's judgment on the wicked and they
were sent to save the righteous. But there was only one righteous
man. Verse 10, But the men put forth their hand, and pulled
Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. He was outside
trying to reason with these unreasonable men. And they had to reach out
and pull him in to keep him from their cruel perversity. And verse
11, And they smote these two men, 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 the men
said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Now, if you remember,
Lot at one point had a large flock. He had so many, in fact,
that his herdmen argued with, in strife, with Abraham's herdmen.
So at one point, Lot had a large household. And so the angels
say to him, Do you have any here? You have any here besides son-in-law
and thy sons and thy daughters and whatsoever, whoever you have,
in other words, whatsoever thou hast in the city. You're not
talking about your piano and your motorcycle. He's talking
about whoever you have 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." And Lot went out and spake unto
his sons-in-law, he had more than one, which married his daughters. These were men of Sodom who had
married his daughters. He said to them, 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. What was it that they thought
he was talking about? Everything that he said, remember
he brought God's message to them. He brought God's message and
he spoke to them in urgency and earnestness. And his sons-in-law
said, you must be joking. You're trying to get us out of
bed and get us out of the city so that you can laugh at us. That's a sad thing, isn't it?
What a sad thing. The angels warned Lot to get
his sons and daughters out and all that belonged to him because
the Lord had sent them to destroy this place. And so Lot went to
them that very night and he warned them to get out. Lot was able
to go out of his house, even though the men were trying to
attack him, because the angels had blinded the men. They were
unable to find the door, but when Lot told his sons-in-law
and daughters to get out and leave this place at once tonight,
because the Lord is about to destroy the city, they neither
thought or acted as if he was serious, but playing a practical
joke on them. They didn't believe him. They
did not heed his strong warning and his pleadings with them.
His words carried no weight. Even when he wanted them to believe,
they wouldn't believe him. When Lot spoke for God to explain
God's warnings to his daughters and sons-in-law, they took it
as a joke. That's a sad thing, isn't it?
They saw his life and they would not hear his words. The sins
of Sodom did not offend these men. They were not bothered by
it. They didn't think about what
it meant to their families. They didn't worry about their
wives. They were not afraid of the judgment God had told Lot
to warn them of. And they showed no interest in
leaving Sodom. And so we read on. It says, In
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 this city. This was the morning right after
Lot had gone out to his sons-in-law and daughters. It wasn't even light yet. The
sun wasn't up. It was still dark. That's how
early the angels spoke to him in the morning. We know it wasn't
light yet because it wasn't until the sun had risen on the earth
that God destroyed these cities. So while it was still morning
in the dark... Still very early, the angels told him, you need
to get out of this city. Take your wife, take your daughters
that are still here in your house and get out, lest you are consumed
with the iniquity, in the iniquity of this city. That was the urgency. And notice what Lot did. And
while he lingered, he lingered. Maybe he thought he couldn't
bear to see his sons-in-law and daughters still left. Maybe he was thinking about their
plight because he knew the Lord was going to destroy this city.
Maybe he was just too stupefied by the prospect of the total
destruction of this city where he lived and all that he knew
that lived in that city that he had brought with him into
that city. Perhaps he thought, as your life
passes before you just before death, of all the decisions that
he had made in the past. and all the anxiety of his own
heart that he had seen and experienced in that city when he saw their
wickedness and he himself continued to live there and his daughters
and his sons-in-law, his sons-in-law, and all those that he knew that
were in that city. Maybe all that was going through his mind.
And maybe he was trying to think of what he could say in order
to put off this judgment. He lingered. It's a short sentence,
isn't it? It's a short sentence about this
man, about his behavior. He lingered. It seems to me most
shocking to think that Lot lingered. We know what Lot was like, don't
we? Remember when there was a choice
between which land to go to? And Abraham gave Lot the first
choice? And Lot didn't even refuse. He said, okay, I'll take that
land. And he looked for the best for himself. He was covetous.
And then later, after God destroyed the city, his daughters got him
drunk. So he was also a man prone to being drunk. And then, of
course, the incest with his daughter. So there was so much about this
man that we could find fault with. And yet, this is the thing
that seems to stand out the most. Is that he lingered. He lingered
here, right in the face of destruction. and the awful condition. In the
confusion of his mind, he couldn't think clearly because he had
so made himself part of that life in that city. And so he
lingered. He knew the fearful judgment
was coming upon all within the city. He knew that God is a God
of righteousness and justice and truth, and yet he lingered.
He knew and believed that judgment was both real and imminent. He
tried to persuade his household and his sons and daughters, and
yet he lingered. Well, the angel saw Lot standing
there. What should he have done? Go
through the reasoning process? Think about all these things
and put it together and figure out what to do? Make another
course of action? There wasn't time. There was
no time left. God is going to destroy the city.
You need to get out. Get your wife and your two daughters.
Leave this place right now. There was no time to linger.
It's simply doing what God said to do. Isn't it that? Just believing
the word of God and doing it. And yet he lingered. So for whatever
reason that he lingered, we'll never know exactly what it was.
Notice how the Lord was very merciful to him. It says here,
while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon
the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters.
So one angel must have taken one hand on his wife, one hand
on Lot, the other angel took the other hand, one hand on one
daughter, and another hand on another daughter, and drug them
out, effectively. Out of the city. So that they
wouldn't be destroyed. He had to move them out. He had
to take them out. Now that is what Don Fortner
calls the blessed violence of grace. When Lot hesitated, the angels
hastened. God had told Lot to hurry, but
he lingered. When Lot hesitated, grace hastened
him out. What a wonderful thing that is.
If God had not been merciful to Lot by snatching him out of
the city, his lingering would have been his final ruin, wouldn't
it? And the same is true of every
believer. We only escape Satan's clutches. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
translates us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of his dear son. God himself does that. Remember
the chapter 5 in Mark that we studied a couple weeks ago? The
man who was overcome by a legion of devils. There was no possibility
he could destroy, he could deliver himself, even control himself.
And no man could do it. Christ had to come and cast out
the devil. The Lord Jesus has power to do
that. Thank God that He does. He translates
us from the kingdom of Satan into His own kingdom. Now this act of God by the angels
was an act of great grace to Lot, wasn't he? He had troubled
his soul day to day. when he saw the wickedness of
this city. Look at 2 Peter 2. I want you to see what Peter
says about Lot. If this wasn't written in scripture,
we would all conclude Lot to be lost. Wouldn't we? There was no outward evidence
that I can see that this man showed any signs of grace. But
here we have the truth of it. It says in 2 Peter 2, And I'll read from verse 4, because
this is showing how God's judgment on the wicked is not going to
be held off forever. He says in verse 4, if God spared
not the angels that sinned, this is before man fell. I don't know exactly when it
was, but we know God didn't spare the angels that sinned. He provided
no Savior for them. This was final. eternal judgment
of God on the angels because they sinned. But He cast them
down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be
reserved unto judgment. Verse 5, 2 Peter 2, 5. And spared
not the old world, that would be the world in Noah's day, but
saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, Don't these
things make a hair on the back of your neck stand up? It's like
you're standing at a precipice. I remember reading, Spurgeon
said this one time, you're standing at a precipice and you saw the
fiend of your soul just cast somebody else over and there
you are looking down. That's what God is saying here.
The angels sinned and there was no hope for recovery. All the
world in Noah's day was destroyed in the flood. And verse 6, "...and
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. You see how God is saying Sodom
and Gomorrah? It's a big neon sign over the
world. History is going to record it.
God's Word is going to record it. It's a warning to those who
live ungodly. And turning the cities, in verse
7, and he delivered just lot. In other words, not just as the
only person, but righteous lot. He delivered righteous lot. Vexed
with the filthy conversation of the wicked for that righteous
man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. That's what was
going on in this man's heart. Throughout his life in this city,
day by day, he would see it. In the morning, in the day, in
the evening, he lived in this city. It was more comfortable
there than it was out on the field. He originally started
out with a large number of animals, flocks and herds. I don't know
what happened to them. Maybe he sold them all. So he could
buy a nice house in the city. But wherever it was, he didn't
like living out in the open, having to take care of these
animals. He would prefer to make himself
comfortable here in Sodom. So he had this torture of soul. His soul was tortured. That's
what the word means. It's like John Gill said, it's
like taking someone and putting them on a rack and torturing
them. His soul was tortured day by day. And sometimes we grow
numb to the wickedness of this world, don't we? But not Lot.
Lot was still tortured by this in his soul. And this caused
him great agony of soul. And he had led his family and
servants to Sodom a long time ago. And now there was not one
in all of his family or all of his servants that were saved.
His life had been fruitless. Absolutely fruitless. Why? Do
you remember what happened? What happened to Lot? Well, he
started well, didn't he? He started really well. I remember in the beginning,
he left that land of Ur the Chaldees with his uncle Abraham. That land of idolatry, he left
that with Abraham. And Abraham, it says in Genesis
20, I think it's around verse 7 or so. It says that Abraham
was a prophet. And so when God spoke, when Abraham
was speaking, he was speaking God's word and Lot was there
to hear it. So Lot left idolatry and he traveled
with the man who spoke God's word from God. And that's the
way he lived. And he wandered also like Abraham
as a stranger in the land of Canaan. With all of his flocks
and herds. And they had a lot. But that
plenty that he was given actually turned out to be a problem. Because it ended up being the
cause of him needing to go find a bigger place. Bigger barns,
more things. And so he took that stuff. And
when Abraham offered him the best place, he took it. I'm going
to go that way. He was more concerned about preserving
what he had and finding comfort in this world than he was to
be where the Word of God was. Where Abraham was. To worship
God with Abraham at the altar. And to live on the promises God
gave him through Abraham. That's the lot. That's his life.
It's a sad thing, isn't it? He started out well, but he made
that choice. I'm going to do this. He set
his priority on comfort, on present things. He walked, he looked
at Sodom and he says, he saw that it was well watered. He
lived by sight, not by faith. That was a bad thing, wasn't
it? To live in this world. Based on what I can see and have
and lay hold on is not to walk by faith. And that's the way
Lot lived. And so he gets down to Sodom.
And at first he just pitched his tent towards Sodom. He wasn't
in the city. But eventually when the angels
came, there he was. He was in the gate of the city.
When they walked up, there he was. He sold everything, perhaps
in order to establish himself in the city. And they probably
thought he was a great man because he had a lot of wealth. But all
the servants, where did they go? And his family, his daughters,
what happened to them? It's like he goes there and everything
just sort of melts into the fabric of this wicked city. So that
he's the only righteous man left. That is a very, very sad thing.
It's a tragedy, isn't it? Man, I think about this man and
it bothers me because I see my own stupidity in making these
kinds of foolish choices in my life. And then, when the angels
come, The angels come and he goes to his sons-in-law and his
daughters. They don't even hear him. He
has no influence on them. He lost all influence. He didn't
have a crowd of people. He didn't have a little congregation
there in Sodom. There was nobody. I can't imagine
how he even lived. It was only by the grace of God,
wasn't it? Here we see a man who had the truth. And he made it a lower priority
than the world. And that's a bothersome thing. Doesn't it grieve your soul to
even think about that? How we ourselves do that? One
of the things that this teaches us... In this verse here, that
the angels laid hold on their hands and took them out. One
of the things it teaches us, clearly and brightly, is that
our salvation must be by grace. It must be by grace. Because
if it were left up to our will, Lot would have stayed there.
If it were left up to our obedience, Lot would have been destroyed.
If it were left up to us, we would be destroyed with the wicked
in this city. And although we had But God spared
Lot, that's mercy. It says in verse 16 again, While
he lingered, the men took hold on his hand, and upon the hand
of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord
being merciful to them, and they brought him forth and set him
without the city, were going out, were going now, and they
dragged him out. It doesn't say they dragged him,
but they essentially did, didn't they? The angels delivered righteous
lot. That's an amazing thing. How
gracious is that of God to do this and then to say he was righteous?
Doesn't scripture say there's none righteous? By our own obedience,
Romans 3.10, there is none righteous. No, not one. Abraham, by his
own obedience, was not righteous before God. Yes, he followed
the Lord. Yes, he did command his household
and his children to follow in the way of the Lord. But by those
things, he wasn't righteous before God. His only righteousness before
God was what God imputed to him, the obedience of the Lord Jesus
Christ. If there's none righteous, there is one righteousness, it's
God's, and God gave it and established it in the Lord Jesus. That's
the only way that Lot could be righteous, and the only way that
Abraham could be righteous before God. And then in 1 Peter chapter
4, it says this, that the righteous are scarcely saved. Take a look
at that. 1 Peter chapter 4. We're not supposed to read about
devils and God's judgment in order just to scare ourselves.
We're supposed to see in this our only salvation is in Christ. And then go to Him, like the
song says, sweet hour of prayer, and take our petitions there. Lord, deliver me. Deliver me
from the devil of which I have no power, my own flesh, this
world, and all that's in it. Lord, deliver me. 1 Peter 4,
verse 18. He says, if the righteous scarcely
be saved. That's an amazing thing. If the
righteous scarcely be saved. How are we only scarcely saved?
Does that mean we're not saved all the way? Not completely saved? Not certainly saved? That somehow
our salvation is uncertain? No, it just means that in our
lives we experience all the corruptions of our nature, the tribulations
of our life, persecutions, all kinds of temptations, and all
the discouragements that come from our own unbelief and the
unbelief of those around us. And he says it's scarcely saved.
And Jesus said in Matthew 24 that unless those days are shortened,
even the elect They wouldn't be saved. No flesh shall be saved.
But for the elect's sake, those days are shortened. So we see
that the righteous are scarcely saved. Well then, Peter says,
where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Those outside
of Christ. Where shall they appear if the
righteous are scarcely saved? How can a man live? I don't know
how anyone can live in this world. I've only lived a short life.
And I can see the downturn. And it's serious. And it's steep.
There's a complete preoccupation in this world with things in
the world. With men arguing about matters
of this world, having no interest in the honor of God, no interest
in their relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, just going
on about their life. If they're righteous or scarcely
saved, because God has to continually bring us to Christ by His mercy
through His Word and correct us Point us in the direction
saying, you are saved by grace, therefore, what should you do
because of that? Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both
to will and to do of His good pleasure. And so we see this
in verse 17, Genesis chapter 19 verse 17. It says, And it
came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, when the angels
brought Lot and his wife and his two daughters, This is what
the angels said to them. Escape for your life, look not
behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain, all the areas
around Sodom and Gomorrah. Don't stay there. Get out. Escape for your life and don't
look behind you. Don't stay in the plain. Don't
try to stay as close as you can, but escape to the mountain. Lest
thou be consumed. That's an urgent word, isn't
it? Get out. You're going to lose
your life if you don't escape. I wonder about that. Does it
ever occur to you that eternity is in front of you? And that
you're saved by grace and all of your sin and the devil and
this world and everything is keeping you from eternity but
for the grace of God. And God gives you a sight of
Christ and He says, live upon Him. Make your priority at all
times in this world one thing. The glory of God and His salvation
in Christ. Make it your priority for yourself,
for your children, for your friends, for everybody around you. In
meekness, going about your life, that you might somehow... Declare the truth of God and
God by His mercy would call others out. That's the way we live.
Worshipping God for Him to do that He has done what He has
in our salvation. For Him to do what only He can
do to deliver us. And living in this walk of faith
with trembling. Knowing that God is at work in
us. And so we live by the faith of the Son of God. We trust the
living God who is able to keep us from falling, don't we? Look
at Jude chapter 1. I want you to see how Jude brings
all of these two things together. This warning of the angels, escape
for your life, get out. What are you doing lingering?
You need to get out right now. Judgment is coming. He says in
Jude chapter 1, there's only one chapter here. He says in verse 17, But beloved,
remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles
of our Lord Jesus, spoken before of, that means by, the apostles
of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should
be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly
lusts. These be they who separate themselves. Sensual, having not the Spirit,
but you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy
faith, praying in the Holy Ghost." This is what our life is about,
isn't it? Living by faith, going to God in this sweet hour of
prayer. Because in our lives we feel,
we feel it, we sense it because of this God-given stress of the
new nature. We sense the desperate need of
our souls and of our children and all around us. And so he
says, live by faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves
in the love of God, looking, see how God's love has been displayed
in Christ, and keep yourself in that love, let it never leave
you, so that you would worship God in your heart. He says this, Keep yourselves in the love of
God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life. And on some, have compassion,
making a difference. And others, save with fear, pulling
them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by
the flesh. Now unto him who is able to keep
you from falling." All these things. The trembling soul looks
at all of its own weakness and helplessness before its own enemies. at the precipice of eternity."
And then he brings in this word, now unto Him. He directs our
attention to Christ on His throne, unto Him who is able to keep
you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior. Be glory and majesty, dominion
and power, both now and forevermore. So they laid hold on him and
told him, escape for your life. We're not to look behind. He
says, don't look behind you. That's an amazing thing, isn't
it? Don't look behind. There's many things we can learn
about this, but this one always has struck me. Because remember
what Jesus said, remember Lot's wife. She looked behind, didn't
she? That's a horrible mistake. Think
about what Lot must have thought as they're walking up the hill
to the mountain. Because, actually, he went to
Zoar. But as they're walking towards Zoar, she turned around
just to see the city that was now being burnt up in the destruction. And when she did, she became
a pillar of salt. Why not look behind? The angels
told him not to. That's the first reason. Don't
look back. But I think in looking back,
isn't it a look of regret? Isn't it a look of regret for
having to leave this place? And to look with longing and
desire to what God overthrew because of their wickedness.
And to look back on that and say, I wish I could be back there.
Isn't that what the children of Israel did? They wanted to
be back in Egypt. To look back is to regret ever
being saved from the wickedness that God hated and for which
He destroyed that city. Isn't that what it means? Look
at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. It talks
about looking back there. He says in Hebrews 10 verse 38. Well, if you read from verse...
26, you'll see this sin. If we sin
willfully after we receive the knowledge of the truth, there's
no more sacrifice for sin. And you begin to tremble. And
you wonder, well I've sinned and it's been willful sin. Is
it about me speaking here? But then it gets down to verse
35. He says, cast not away therefore
your confidence. your confidence. Someone gave
me at work, wanted me to help them with a project one time
where we could earn some money outside of work. And they gave
me a plaque, cast not away therefore your confidence. And I wasn't
so familiar with the chapter at that time. And I began to
wonder, what does that mean? I knew what they meant by it.
They went to the Bible bookstore and bought a plaque that had
a piece of a verse and tried to apply it to a business thing.
And it's funny how people do. Let's use the Bible when we really
want to enforce the thought here, but it means don't cast away
your faith in Christ. God has given you confidence
that your hope, and your life, and eternity, and your love,
and your joy, and your peace, and your rest, and your standing
before God are all in what Christ has done. And you see the love
of God in Christ. You see His saving grace. Don't
cast away that confidence. Lay hold on eternal life. Don't
cast it away. He says, for you have need of
patience. Verse 36. Patience means waiting. Waiting patiently in faith for
God to do what only God can do. He says, you have need of patience
that after you have done the will of God you might receive
the promise. For yet a little while and he that shall come
will come and will not tarry. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's coming. There will be judgment and there
will be salvation when he comes. Now, verse 38, the just shall
live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. That's what it means. It
means to turn away from the faith that's in Christ to something
else. To find satisfaction in the pleasures
of this world. To pursue them. To make that
the way I spend my energies. God has given me one life. He's
given me all of this life. And in that gift of God, I am
to return to Him what belongs to Him. Worship for my salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, my soul shall have no
pleasure in that one who turns back from Christ. Remember when
Jesus told the disciples in John chapter 6, will you also go away?
All of them were leaving because he had preached that they had
to eat and drink his flesh and blood to live. And he said, are
you also going to go away? Peter said, no, where else would
we go? You have the words of eternal life. And so he says,
the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who
draw back unto perdition. We are not. We are of them that
believe to the saving of the soul. But we work out this salvation
with fear and trembling, because we know God gave us this faith.
We say, we profess that God gave us this faith, and so we ought
to live by this faith we profess. Shouldn't we? In verse 18 of Genesis 19 it
says, And Lot said to them, Not so, my lord. When they told him,
escape to the mountains, Lot says, oh, not so, my lord. Sometimes I would be standing
there with my brothers, and my dad would be talking to us in
very stern tones, and one of them would say something, and
I knew that that was the wrong thing to say. And I was like,
oh. That's what I thought when I
read this. Oh, not so, my lord. What are you talking about? Lot.
He's the epitome of us, isn't he? Lot, what are you talking
about? Not so, my lord. That's a contradiction
of terms. Not so, my lord. How can you
say that in the same sentence? And so he goes on, and in a sense
he's praying here. It says, Behold now, thy servant
hath found grace in thy sight. Man, that's true. Haven't we? And thou hast magnified thy mercy.
Man, he has, hasn't he? Which thou hast showed unto me
in saving my life. And then he comes up with this
flimsy thing. God had said, you go to the mountain.
And what does Lot say? No, no. Thinking maybe over here
would be better. It's just a little thing to ask
right now. Behold, now this city is near
to flee to. Maybe he was old. I don't know
how old he was. Abraham at this time was probably like, what,
100? So Lot was his nephew. Maybe
he was 80. Who knows? Behold, now, this city is near
to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh, let me escape thither. Is it not a little one? And my
soul shall live. It's comical if it weren't so
scary, huh? I don't know. I think that's
almost like, you know what lot went to that city? God destroyed
Sodom and Gomorrah. And you know where lot went after
that? Right up the mountain. I think I would have probably
done that too if God... I don't know. The thing is here
is Lot wanted to do what he wanted to do still. He wanted to stretch
as far as he could over there instead of doing what God has
said to do. The mountain is going to be a place of trouble. I can't
handle trouble. It's going to be a place of work
and fear and all these things. That's what faith is all about,
isn't it? It's living in the midst of trouble. It's living
in the midst of affliction. And it's living on God's promises
and His word. It's not living by sight. It's
going out there and doing what's necessary in order to show that
I live for eternity on what Christ has said. That's what faith is. And it's going to cost me something.
And trouble is the least of it too. I'll have to actually give
up things. And so it says in verse 21, And
the angel said, speaking God's will when he said it, See, I
have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will
not overthrow this city for the which thou hast spoken. Well,
he didn't actually pray for the city. He was thinking of himself,
but God knew that if he went to the city, God couldn't destroy
that city too. So he said, well, I won't destroy
that city. That was mercy on God's part
for an entire city that this man was sort of praying for in
a roundabout way. So he says this to him in verse
22, haste thee, haste, hurry up Lot, escape thither, for I
cannot do anything till thou become thither. That's what the
angel said. It's God has decreed to save
Lot no matter what. I think that's amazing. That's
amazing to me. I think about that in yourself. The God of grace. Look at your
life. How did you get here? Why do you believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ? Is it not that God from eternity chose you to
salvation, and Christ the Lord gave himself to die for you,
and sent his spirit to raise you to life, and gave you faith
so that your only hope is Christ and him crucified, and now he
is your joy and life? Isn't that it? And you can say
here, You can say here that God can't do anything because by
His will He has set it in place that He won't do anything to
this world, to destroy this world until He saves His people out
of it. Look at 2 Peter chapter 3 one more time. You see, God's
will to save Lot was so strong that He moved things around. He didn't decide against what
He had already decided, but it made it seem like He spared Zoar
when He intended originally to destroy it. Because to show us
that He had done this for Lot's sake. 2 Peter 3. He says in verse 9, "...the Lord
is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any of us should
perish, but that all should come to repentance." That's the reason
God is longsuffering with this world to save His people. Look
at 2 Timothy chapter 2. He says this in verse 10. This
is what Paul said. Therefore I endure all things
for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The Apostle Paul
was raised up and lived his life knowing that all that he did
was for the elect's sake. And John the Baptist said, this
is my desire, to hear the voice of the bridegroom and to see
the bride coming to him and join to him and seeing his beauty
and being attached to him. That's why I live. And that is
my highest joy. that he might increase, and God's
people might see him. In their eyes he would increase,
and I would decrease. All things for the elect's sake.
God determined to save Lot, and Lot needed to know that, and
so he tells him this. flee to Zoar. Salvation by grace. Angels are ministering spirits
sent forth to minister for them who are heirs of salvation. But
God also gives angels power to destroy the wicked. Jesus said
that judgment will come. When judgment comes on the earth,
when the Lord Jesus comes, he's going to send his angels and
they're going to gather together his elect. But He's first going
to take the tears and He's going to bind them and then they're
going to be prepared for burning. That's what the angels are going
to do. That's God's power. He's given that judgment. Don't
you see the weakness of this man's faith? Isn't it painful
to you? Isn't it painful to you to see
the weakness of your own faith? And don't you hear God's cry,
escape for your life, don't look back, don't think even now that
you're settled in heaven. Don't think that you've received
yet what you've been apprehended to receive. Paul says in Philippians
chapter 3, he says, in fact let's just turn there so we can read
it just like it says it. Philippians chapter 3. This is
what Paul said. The Apostle Paul, no less. He says this in verse, I'll read
it from verse 8 of Philippians 3. Yea, doubtless I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him
not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that
which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which
is of God by faith that I may know him And the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable
to his death. And then he goes on, he says,
If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead,
not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect,
but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. I want to apprehend. I want to
lay hold on what God has laid hold on me. To lay hold for. And that's bad English, but you
understand what I'm trying to say. And so he says this. This is what I do. I forget those
things which are behind. And I reach forth. I look on
my past life. I don't even look at it. I just
look forward. He says, I look forward. I forget
those things which are behind and I stretch forth unto those
things which are before. I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." That's
a man who is pressing for the kingdom of God, isn't it? Flee,
escape for your life, don't look back. And don't argue with the
Lord. So the Lord destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah. There's so much to learn here,
isn't there? We could spend a long time on this. But I just want
you to remember those three things. God is going to destroy the wicked. God is going to save the righteous.
We're saved by grace alone. If we have anything to credit
our salvation to, it will be because God had mercy upon us
and delivered us. In His mercy and grace for His
purpose. And what should we do? Shouldn't
you ought to, with me, fall on our faces in our lives and worship
God for this? And shouldn't we also work out
our own salvation with fear and trembling? Asking God to work
in us what we cannot do ourselves to the praise of the glory of
His grace. I pray that you and I would find
in our hearts going to Christ to be a sweet hour of prayer,
and we would also join in the hymns in thanking Him that He
saved us, the Rock of Ages, the Rock of Ages, that He is our
fount of every blessing. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we pray you'd save
us for your namesake. We cannot do one thing, it seems,
without sinning. And we find such a proclivity
in our lives to go after everything wrong. And we pray, Lord, you
take these warnings from your scripture and this encouragement.
Get out, you're saved by grace, look to Christ, and don't look
back. And help us, Lord, to give ourselves
in this life the short years we have, the short time we have,
and what little. We can't do anything but what
you do through us by grace. So, Lord, we pray we would work
out this salvation. Work in us, dear Lord, this salvation
in order that we might work it out. And give us this faith.
Live on the Lord Jesus to draw from him our life and all things. Help us to take the light in
him and love him with all of our heart. In Jesus' name we
pray, amen.