This is a fitting message for
what we're seeing today. It's wise to think about what's
going on in the world and consider it in reference to the Word of God.
These fires that are continuing to burn in California, destroying
everything in their path. We should think about the Word
of God, which tells us of the imminent or soon destruction
of this world throughout the Scripture. Sodom is mentioned
54 times or more in the Scripture, old and new. Seventeen books
of the Bible. Seventeen books of the Bible,
Sodom is mentioned. preached and declared by all
the prophets till John. John, as you know, was a prophet,
and he said, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to
come? Didn't. You know these scriptures. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the preacher,
verse 4. He said, as in the days of Lot,
so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. All the apostles. Let me just
read a couple of verses in the New Testament. Paul wrote this. Paul, Peter, James, all of them. For you who are troubled, this
world troubles you, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall
be revealed from heaven with His mighty angel in flaming fire. taking vengeance on them that
know not God, and obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall be punished with everlasting destruction. That's what it said. Simon Peter said this, The day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, when the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall
melt with a fervent fire. Seeing that all these things
shall be dissolved, What manner of persons we ought to be in
our holy conversation with God and us looking for that day.
Looking forward to that day. Genesis 18. I'll go back here. And Paul the Apostle, you know,
the messages lately. You've been here. Nearly everyone
in here has been for the last three or four messages and talked
about the pity of God and the mercy of God. Haven't we? The
Lord, as a father, pities his children. We've been talking
about these things are written that you may know you have eternal
life. Messages of comfort. Comfort you, comfort you, my
people. But Paul wrote this. Paul said there's no end, therefore,
to the goodness and the severity of the Lord. Didn't he? He said,
knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Unlike false
religion and most preachers today who say nothing about the holiness
and the righteousness and the justice of God and the anger
of God, the wrath of God. They say nothing about those
things, but rather all they talk about is the love of God. And
they talk about that wrongly. They tell everyone everywhere,
God loves you, that God loves everyone. That's just not so.
You're going to see with me what God says about it. The living
and true God, the God of the Bible, is first and foremost
holy, righteous. This is what Abraham
said in chapter 18. He was pleading for the mercy
of God upon Sodom and his nephew Lot, whom he loved. But he said,
the judge of the earth is going to do right. He's going to do
right. And he's holy, he's righteous,
he's just. Malachi ends with this. Where's
the God of judgment? It's the same. It's the same
God. In the Old Testament, the same
God now, He said, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are what? Not consumed. Our God is a what? Consuming fire. You're so blessed
to know these Scriptures. The fear of the Lord is at the end of it. In Genesis 18, look
at verse 20. The Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah
is great because their sin is grievous, I'm going down and
see whether they've done all together. He knew he was speaking
in a language that we understand. I'm going to visit them for their
iniquity. I'm going down there. He knew what he was going to
do. No one under God or all his works from the beginning of the
world. And he sent two angels to destroy this place. This has
gone on a long time, Sodom and Gomorrah. Look at Psalm 5. Turn in your Bibles, everybody.
Psalm 5. The Psalms right in the middle
of the Bible. This is what God says about Himself, about mankind. Psalm 5. God is holy and righteous,
just, first. He is not love at the expense
of His justice. He is not mercy at the expense
of His righteousness. Look at Psalm 5, verse 4. Thou
art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall
evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in
thy sight. Now, hatest are workers of iniquity. Religion says God loves the sinner
and hates his sin. That's not what this Bible says.
Look at Psalm 7, verse 11. Psalm 7. Look at this. Verse 11. God judges the righteous. God is angry. with the wicked
every day. Who is that? That's every single son of Adam
born on this earth. He's born that way. Chapter 11,
Psalm 11. Look at Psalm 11. Look at verse
4. The Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven.
His eyes behold, His eyelids try. The children of men. The
Lord triumphed the righteous. With the wicked in him that loveth
violence, his soul hated. Upon the wicked he shall reign
snares, fire, and brimstone." A horrible template. Verse 7,
"...for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness." See that? That's
what Scripture said. What does the Lord see when He
looks down from heaven at mankind? Look at chapter 14, right across
the page. Psalm 14, verse 2, "...the Lord
Verse 1, the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. They're
corrupt. They've done a bundle of work. None that doeth good.
The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, see
if there are any that understand. Understand what? Who God is.
And seek God. He said they all together become
filthy. None that doeth good. None that want. As he said in the days of Noah,
So he says now, I will destroy man. That's what God said. As he said in the days of Lot,
in his last days, I will destroy man. That's what he said. But God is rich in mercy. I don't want to present God as
being so austere and so angry and so full of wrath that He
delights in damning people. Oh, no, no, no. That's not what
the Scripture says. He takes no pleasure in the death of the
wicked. And all through the Scriptures it says, Seek me while you may
be found. Call upon me while I am there. Whosoever calleth
on the name of the Lord will be saved. But here's the sad fact, and
it's just a fact. Men won't call unless the Lord
calls them. I don't want to present God as
being so holy and righteous and just that He just delights to
destroy sinners. Oh, no, no. He delights in showing
mercy. You take the pleasure in them that fear Him and delight
to show mercy. I don't want to be calloused
and hard And, you know, California is no more evil than
Rocky Mount, Virginia. The whole world in the Scriptures
is called Sodom. That's what he called Israel. Sodom. You read it for yourself
in Isaiah, didn't you? This little town is full of Sodomites,
just like California. And it says in Isaiah 1, it talks
about mankind, from the sole of his feet to the top of his
head, the way he walks, the way he thinks, everything about him,
his heart, is only evil continually. There's no soundness in him.
He's corrupt, evil. That's what God says about man. And then it goes on in Isaiah
1 to say, except the Lord had left us a remnant, we would have
been like Sodom and Gomorrah. And such were some of you. But God. A lot. A lot. Rich in mercy. Loved. God shouldn't love anybody. There's nobody worth loving.
Man by nature. Adam and Eve. We don't want you.
Nobody's born wanting God. Nobody's born calling on God.
He won't come. Christ said, you will not come
unto Me. The Son of God came down here.
Man said, kill Him. All of them. And all those years
we went without giving God a thought, we said the same thing. I don't
care if He lived or died. That was me. But God. I owe my salvation,
everything. The fact that I'm here this morning
Believing these things and trying to tell you these things is completely
100% the mercy of God, the work of God. I had nothing to do with
it. I didn't make a choice. I didn't make a decision. I didn't
one day let go and let God and accept Jesus. That's not in the
Bible. But God came like light and laid
hold of me. God rich in mercy loves some,
not all, but He loves many as the stars of the sky and the
sands of the sea. We don't know who they are. He
knows. He knows. He chose them. He chose them.
He calls them by His grace like Lot. They're vessels of mercy whom God purposed to save in
Christ because of His covenant with Christ. We are, I am, a brand plucked
from the burning. That's Amos. A brand plucked from the burning
just like Lot. All around me are perishing.
He plucked me by His mercy and grace out of the fire. Came with
a message to escape, a way to escape. Oh my. Elect, there you go again,
that's right. If the Lord hadn't left us a
remnant, we would have been just like Simon. We'd be buried. Genesis
19. How do you know that you belong
to the Lord? How do you know that you're one
of God's elect? That's who the Lord is going
to say. How do you know you belong to Him? How do you know that
He's chosen you? How do you know that He gave
you to Christ in a covenant before the world began for Christ to
come down here and save you, to shed His precious blood and
pray for you? Pay for all of your sins and
give you His righteousness. But you had nothing to do with
any of this. It was completely the work of
God. How do you know you belong to Him? How do you know? I'll
tell you how you know. He sends His angel with His mercy,
His gospel of God's mercy and grace in Christ. He sends His
angel to tell you, to warn you, to move you like Noah with fear
so that you'll come out. Chapter 19, there came two angels
to Sodom at evening. Two angels. They were men. Angels aren't people. Listen to me now. There's some
people that worship angels. We don't worship angels. Angels
are men. You know, it says that we're
going to be like the angels some day. Angels were just men. All through
the Scriptures. They don't have wings and fancies. They were men. Messengers. That's what angel means. A messenger
sent by God with a message to people on earth. And there were
many appearances of angels on earth. And they all had the same message.
But everybody that saw them, they saw just men. Are you with
me? These were just men. The people
of Sodom said, bring those men out here. They didn't have wings
on their back. They were men. But they were
angels. They were messengers sent by
God to bring Lot and his family out of this city of destruction.
They were just men. But that's who God uses. That's
who God sent. How are they going to hear without
a preacher? And how are they going to preach except they be
sent? I don't look like an angel, do I? Oh, no. I don't think of
myself as an angel, that is, some special person. But I've
got the same message that these two men have. I've been sent
to you in this little city to tell you a message, the same
one that they were sent to tell us. That's how you know. When
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, he said, I know your elect, beloved
of God, your election, because God It sent the Gospel. Our Gospel came unto you, not
in word only, but in power. It laid hold of you. This Gospel has laid hold of
the hearts, the hands, the feet, the minds of God's elect people,
and He brings them out. And Lot saw them as angels sent
by God. It says he rose up to meet them,
and he bowed himself with his face to the ground. We are to
esteem gospel preachers highly for their work's sake. We are.
I did not esteem my pastor as I should early on, but the older
I got, the more highly I esteemed him. An angel, a vessel of mercy
sent with God's light esteemed them too highly. He bowed down
like John did on Patmos, bowed down in worship. We don't worship
men, but we're to esteem them highly. This is a sad day we
live in when preachers are the lowest, the lowest occupation
on earth are preachers. I don't blame people for not
going to, you know, there's less people attending churches, less
and less and less. I don't blame them. These fellows
are full of greed and corruption and out for money and their names
are everywhere. Let a man come in his own name,
Christ said, and you'll receive him and you'll make him rich.
Let a man come for the glory of God only and you won't find
his name anywhere. And everybody hates him. And they won't come hear him.
That was John. That was Isaiah. That was Jeremiah.
There's all of them. They said, kill this fellow. He's an angel sent from God.
But Lot esteemed him. God prepared him. My preacher
used to call this grace before grace. The Lord is preparing
Lot to hear this message. You've got to hear the Gospel.
You've got to hear the Gospel from a messenger of God, an angel
of God's mercy. Yes, you do. You're not saved
sitting up on a mountain cross-legged. You're not saved by an experience. You're saved by the Gospels,
the power of God and His salvation. That's what this book says. Well,
the Lord is preparing old Lot to hear this message. How? He's making him miserable. He
has made Lot miserable. Look at it. Verse 1, it says,
He's sitting in the gate. It's the evening. The day's about
over. He's sitting in the gate. What's He doing? Brother Matthew
Henry and Brother John Gill and I agree. He wants out. This is what Peter said, that
righteous man. God already considered him just
and righteous, belonging to Him. Why? He's one of His. He's His
elect. He's going to send the Gospel.
It says he vexed his righteous soul with everything going on
around him. He wanted out. And he sat in the gate outside
the camp. Are you with me? He's not sitting in the tents
of the wicked. He's not in there. He was. He
went there. And he was sitting in those tents
and enjoying Sodom to the fullest, to the emptiest. But now, but
God has brought him outside the city, he's sitting in the gate
waiting. I believe he's calling, Lord,
come get me. Is that you? You know, straight is the gate and
narrow is the way that leadeth unto eternal life, and a few
that find it like sitting in the gate. You are too. We're so blessed. We're not in
a broadway religion. You know, there are very few
people that think God had anything to do with those fires in California.
And there are even fewer men that will say that. But I'm here
to tell you from God's Word, God did that. God does everything. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven, Romans 118. All ungodliness and unrighteousness.
God does everything. There's no such thing as natural
disasters. There's no such thing as disasters
that just happen naturally. God does that. Scripture says,
He hath His way in the whirlwind. Flood. Who sent the flood upon
the earth on Noah's day? God did that. Who sent drought? Withhold the rain. God did that. Every drop of rain, God does
that. that men might fear Him, and
that men might thank Him, and men that might worship Him and
seek Him. But they don't do it. They don't
believe there's a God. They believe Mother Earth is angry with us. No. God is. That's what this book says. That's
what this book says about God. The living and the true God comes
to His people and reveals to them who He really is. And they all fear Him. And they
all worship Him. And they all rejoice in the Lord
Jesus Christ, their substitute. They put no confidence in the
flesh because what is flesh? Flesh. This is an urgent message. The
whole world needs to hear it. But they're not hearing it. You're
hearing it. You're sitting in the gate. Not by accident. Do you want out? Do you want
out of this world or do you want the world out of you? Do you?
Listen to me now. I want your heartfelt answer. God looks on the heart. Lot's
wife didn't want out. She appeared to be out. She appeared
to... She didn't. Her heart was inside. And Paul said this. He said,
the things that I thought were gain to me in this world is loss.
I consider all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have lost all things."
He said, this is what I'm doing. I'm forgetting those things.
And I'm pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God. I want out, Paul said. I want
in. I want to be found in Christ
in that great day. In that ark, Noah moved with
fear and told his house, boys, come on out and come on in that
ark. Lot didn't choose God. God chose
Lot. You know that? Look at chapter
13, Genesis 13. Every eye, if you have a Bible,
look at this. Lot didn't choose God. God chose
Lot. And you don't choose God either.
I didn't choose God. God chooses His people. Salvation
is of the Lord 100%. 100%. Genesis chapter 13. Here's what
Lot chose. Are you with me? In Genesis 13,
in verse 3, Abraham, he was with Abram. He was living with Abraham,
his uncle. In Bethel. What does Bethel mean?
The house of God. Verse 4. The place of the altar
where God is being worshipped with God's people. And that's
where Lot was. A young man. That's where he
was. That he wanted out of there. He wanted out in the world. So
look at verse 10. Lot lifted up his eyes, beheld
all the plain of Jordan. Look, big city. Sodom and Gomorrah. Ooh, that's where I want to go.
I want out of this little mountain town, out of these little people,
I want to go out in the world and make my way in the world.
What's going to happen to Lot? So Lot chose, verse 11, all the
plain of Jordan. Abram dwelled in the land of
Canaan. Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain. He pitched his
tent toward Sodom. The men of Sodom were wicked
sinners exceedingly before the Lord. That's who he chose. That's where he wanted to go.
And so did I. So did I. I grew up in a small
town, relatively, under a man, my father, not my uncle. My father
was a preacher of the gospel. You know him. But I wanted out. And I said, look, ooh, that's
where I want to go, out in the world. I want to leave this place,
these little peoples, this old-fashioned gospel. I want out. And I did. I chose where I would go. And
the people that I would associate with my friends, my associates,
my companion were exceedingly evil. And that's who I chose
over God. It's two choice, we make choices.
Yes, we do. You want to hear a good message?
Well, you're hearing it right now. But brother, brother Bruce
Crabtree preached the message on choices on this. We do make
choices. The choice of your salvation
is not up to you. But we do make choices. Most
of the time they're bad ones. Two exceedingly important choices. Where you live, listen to the
young people, exceedingly it's a matter of life or death. Where
you live and who you live with. Where you live, if you choose
to go where there is no gospel, there is no promise of salvation
for you. There is no safety. The Lord wasn't going to destroy
that little city. But He is going to destroy Sodom. Why? There
is no gospel there. If you go where the gospel is
not, you are in danger. Your soul is in danger. Your
life is in danger. If you choose the companions
and people of this world over God's people in the worship of
God, you may perish with them. That's
a fact. Lot lost everybody in his family
because he made that choice. Didn't he? Didn't he? And he would have perished too,
but God. Are you with me now? Don't join yourselves, people
of this world. You may go down with them. They'll pull away
your heart from you. Yes, they will. They're of the world, speaking
of the world. That's all they speak about. Don't go down with
them, people. Don't do it. Lot, in this story, you read
it with me, chapter 19. Oh, they came in. He begged them
to come into his house. He begged these men to come into
his house. Are you glad to be here? Are you so thankful for
the Gospel? Is your one desire, your heart's
desire, that God will come in and make His abode with you?
That His Gospel will set up reign and rule in your heart and your
life? Is that your one desire from God? That you may dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of your life? Behold
the beauty of the Lord and quiet His temple. Is that your desire?
If it is, you belong to God just like Lot. Please come in. Our Lord said to His disciples,
this is how I'm going to reveal Myself to you and not the world.
My Father and I are going to come into your house and make
our abode with you. We're going to live with you.
You're going to live with us. We're going to talk to you. We're
going to walk with you. We're going to teach you. We're
going to keep you by our mercy and grace from being destroyed
with this world. And that's His Gospel. And you
say, how could Lot give up his daughters? Did you read that
with me? You say, that's horrible. How
could he do that? Do you know that every single
professing believer is going to make a choice between God
and his family? That's a fact. Our Lord said
if anyone loves father and mother and son or daughter or husband
or wife his own life more than me, you cannot be my disciple. And lots saying, don't take these
gospel preachers from me. Take my family. Don't take the
gospel from me. Because Christ is my life. Now, we're going to lose everything
and everyone that is dear to us on this earth. Everybody's
going to lose everything and everyone. Seeing that all these
things shall be dissolved. What matters? Who matters? If those children,
this is why it's so vital if you want to keep those children
forever, that they know the Lord. Or you're going to lose them
forever. It's one thing they find. Is this an urgent message
or what? Our Lord said that. He said,
I've come to bring fire on earth. I've come to bring division.
I've come to set people at variance. A father and a mother, a mother
and her daughter. A husband and a wife. Plead with them. Go like a lot
out there and tell them, yes, it's not too late. Never too
late. Though you see him as one that
mocked, though he hadn't been saying it before, today's the
day of salvation. It's that urgent. Tell them.
Talk to them. Do you talk to your children
about the gospel? There's nothing else worth talking about. Do
you hear me? On the way to church, what are
you talking about? When you go home after you've heard this
message, what are you talking to your children about? When you go to
the Mexican restaurant when this is all over, what are you going
to talk about? Seriously. Today is a day of
salvation. Our Lord said, I'm at the door.
When you see all these things, He's at the door. One thing to
eat for. Plead with them. Come out. Come out. Never too late. Look down at verse 12. They say, you have anybody? You
better go tell them. Tell them. And Lot went out and
he spake to them, verse 14, to get out of this place. The Lord will destroy this city.
Now brethren, even though, you know, your life, your past life,
and we're all guilty, And we have children, if you
have children and you feel guilty because you were such a sinner,
that you're just like them at their age, you think, you know,
who am I to tell them because I was, you know, I lived, you
know. I had a child. Some do have children
out of wedlock and they live evil lives and all that. So they're
ashamed of their past lives. So they're afraid to tell their
children. They won't tell them that God's angry with this. God deals with this. This is
wrong. They're afraid because they feel
so guilty. Forget the past. You don't have
a past. If you're a believer, you don't
have a past. Forget that. God's forgotten
that past. And today is the day. Go out
right now. Right today, brother. Right today
on the way home. It's vital. It's vital for your
children that you tell them about the Lord. Yes, it is. We're not accountable for our
past. Thank God. But today is the day of salvation.
Right now. That's what I'm doing. The older
I get, the more I preach, I think. And I've got one message on the
side. What am I going to preach? Salvation is of the Lord. Now,
listen to me. I'm laughing now because this
is wonderful. Salvation is of the Lord. If
you or I or anybody in here comes out of this Sodom, this world,
if God, if any of us escape the wrath to come, it's going to
be by the mercy and grace of God. One hundred percent. And
He does it with what I'm doing right now, preaching the gospel.
That the world calls foolishness. I don't believe that. Well, okay
then. But it's so. That's how Lot came out. These
men. God sent these men to lay on
Him. He ain't coming out. Look at
verse 15. Rise, take your wife, your daughters,
take them to hear the gospel. Take them out of this place.
And while he lingered, verse 16, he lingered. Does anybody,
you older people, yeah, Ed, Jeanette, Nancy, you old people, John and
Earlene, Dan, Margaret, she's older than me. You older people, does this world
have any pull on you right now? No? You're lying. Yes, it does
too. It has a strong attraction. Not
as strong as it used to be, thank God, but it does. You're lying
if you say that there's not people and things and family and this
and that and the other that you don't want to part with. That's a fact. I thought about
this. If my house was on fire, what
would you do if your house caught on fire? What would you run in
there and save? John and I were sitting having
lunch at the country barn. And we were talking about that.
If our house was on fire, what would you go in and rescue? I thought, well, my cats, number
one. And I can't think of anything
else in that house that I absolutely can't live without. How about you? We linger. Things or people or
these things cause us to linger. Then how are we not going to be consumed? We come back. The
Lord brings us back in the gate to the city where He is. And we hear this gospel. And
He lays hold of us by the gospel and says, You're coming out. We have here no continuing city.
This is not your city. Sister, this is not your city. You're coming out. You've got
a place. You just wait. You just wait
and see what things God has prepared for them that love Him. Joy unspeakable,
full of glory. You're giving up ashes for gold and silver and precious
steel. That's a fact. That's a fact. Don't look back. Plucked by power. Verse 16 says, The Lord laid
hold of him, his wife, his two daughters. Oh, this is what I
pray. Sister, I pray that the Lord
will lay hold of you. We're not there yet, are we?
Paul said, I'm not arrived yet. He said, so this is the one thing
I do. He said, I want to apprehend that for which I'm apprehended.
I want to lay it like Jacob. Don't let go until he blesses
you. And I pray my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Rocky Mount, for Central Grace Church, is
the Lord will lay hold of you and your children and bring you
out of this place and bring you to Christ and bring you all the
way to glory. If you get there, He's going
to do it. That's my prayer for you and your children every day.
Is that your prayer for your children? Is that your prayer for me? I'm
the one, I'm the angel in this city. I'm the one you need to
be telling people to come here. Facebook grieves me something
terrible. That should be a means for you
to get the gospel out. That you should be promoting,
not yourself, but your preacher and the gospel that comes from
this place. There's an angel. There's a message of mercy in
this town. And as far as I know, there's
one little place. You need to be telling people,
you come hear this. Come hear this. Lot said to his
sons and daughters, come home with me. The Lord's put two angels
in my house. You need to come hear them. That's
right. Not promoting me, but I've got
the gospel here. Do you believe this? Do you believe
this is life or death? Do you believe the life of your
children, your relatives, and everybody around you depends
on them hearing this gospel? Do you believe that? If you do,
then you will tell them. You will promote this gospel
from this place. That's a fact. And it grieves
me, and surely it much more grieves God that people claim to be believers,
and all they do is promote themselves. We're supposed to hate ourselves.
We want people to see Jesus Christ, not us. Is what I'm saying so? This is so relevant? These are the last days. And it says, the Lord laid hold
of him, merciful to him and his wife and his two daughters, and
brought him without the city. And they said, don't look back.
Do not look back. Look straight on. I've told you
this story so many times that Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress. That
pilgrim who was warned. The book begins this way, Bunyan's
Pilgrim Progress. A man who had a book in his hand
and a burden on his back. And he's miserable. He's living
in the city of destruction. And God put a burden on his back
because of the book in his hand, and he wants out. And he's looking
to yon wicked gate. He walks through that gate. He
sees the celestial city, heavenly city. He sees where he wants
to go and who he wants to be with. He wants out. And he's
crying, woe is me. And his whole family is pulling
and begging and pleading with him. Don't go. There's nothing
to that. You know, 2 Peter 3 says the
whole world mocks. Where is the promise of His coming?
All things continue. See, God's long-suffering. Thank
goodness this gospel's still being preached. There's some
in here that don't know Jesus Christ. But this gospel is the means
that they may know Him. So the door's still open. Hopefully,
prayerfully, He'll bring them in, bring them out, and bring
them in to Christ. But that man with that book,
he says he cried out, And while the people were hollering at
him, his wife, his family, his neighbors, there ain't nothing
to that. Forget that, brother. There's no truth in that. God's
not going to destroy this place. God didn't send fire. He put
his fingers in his ear. And he started crying, life,
life, eternal life. I'm not listening to anybody
but God from here on out. And you know what happened? He went through that wicked gate,
and nobody went with him. His wife stayed behind. He went
through that wicked gate, and he got to a cross, a man hanging
on that cross, and that burden fell off. And he went on his way out there. Where's the Gospel in all this?
Well, it starts with a sovereign and holy and righteous God. who
will by no means clear the guilty, reserving mercy for thousands. Vessels of mercy, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God. Whom he did foreknow, he did
predestinate. Whom he predestinated, called. Whom he called, he justified. He justified, he glorified. Bring
them all into glory. A holy and a just and a righteous
God who will punish sin. He's angry with the wicked every
day. But God, who's rich in mercy, sent His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, according to a covenant, according to a covenant, a purpose
God made with Christ before the world began. Listen to me now.
This is the gospel now. And God gave all these lingering
lots, all these sinners that chose Pleasure over God. He gave them to Jesus Christ
to save them. To come down to this earth and
save them. They had nothing to do with it. He didn't ask them
if He could save them. He comes and tells them, I've
come to save you. He didn't ask them. He tells
them, I'm here to save you. To bring you out. And He lays
hold of them by this Gospel. Shows them what they are. Gives
them repentance. Gives them faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Brings them out by the Gospel.
Tells them the reason. Look at verse 29. Came to pass
when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered
Abraham and sent Lot out. Why did Lot come out? Because
God made a covenant with Abraham. And Abram prayed for him. Remember?
The Lord said, I can't find ten righteous people in that whole
city. Didn't it? He said, I'm going to destroy
it all. But there was one. There was one. Lot. Was he righteous
in himself? Was he holy in himself? Oh, no,
no, no. But God chose him in the covenants. He said, Abraham, I'm going to
bless everybody in you because of you. Now Abraham represents
Christ. God made a covenant with Christ.
to save all those people that he gave to Christ. And he's going
to bring them all out. And they're going to know it.
Lot knew. The Lord told him, I brought you out because of
Abraham. You didn't deserve to come out here. You didn't want
out. But I brought you out. Aren't you glad? Look what Lot
did right after he got out. He's still a sinner. What's your
salvation? Why do you say? Why did God have
mercy on you? Does it have anything to do with
you? Nothing. It's all a covenant
that God made with Jesus Christ. I told John, I said, I'm going
to go over to Daniel chapter 3 where it talks about fire,
a furnace. Three men bound up and cast into
that furnace. How did they get out? How did
they escape that furnace? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
How did they get out of that furnace? They're bound up. They're
cast into that fire. They're found guilty by the ruler,
accuser. They're in that furnace. How
are they going to get out? There was somebody in there with
them. Jesus Christ. And the Lord had
them brought out, but Jesus Christ stayed in. That's the gospel. Substitution. Christ came, went to Calvary's
tree, went through hell, the fiery wrath of God on Calvary's
tree, so you and I won't. That's the only reason you come
out. You believe that? Urgent message, isn't it? Isn't
it? What are you going to talk about
on the way home? You know, I used to preach five
messages a week, told many of them this morning. Took a long
time to prepare all five of them, counting the radio messages.
I spend as much time now on two messages as I do all those five.
I'm still sitting in that. I threw away 30 pages of notes
on this message. It's that urgent. It really is. It hadn't gotten less urgent,
it's gotten more and more urgent. More and more vital. How shall we
escape if we neglect so great salvation? Don't let these things
slip. Don't let the world, the fowl
of the air, steal this away. Don't do it, people. Talk about
this thing. Hasten his coming. He's coming.
And God's people are going to be so glad. Alright, let's stand
and sing a closing hymn. Number 235.