I told you last week of Two young men, or the Gabe and
I were talking about two young men who preached the truth, or
at least true doctrine. But they did it in such a way
that it was, they preached hard and mean and angry. Almost, they sound almost like
they relished people going to hell. And God removed one of them and
will, I'm sure, remove the other soon. I want to preach with a heavy
heart like Paul did. Like Jeremiah did, with tears. You can't smile. You can't preach
with a smile on your face. when you're reading and dealing
with such solemn and serious and sobering and warnings such
as we just read, can you? That's a mockery. It's a mockery.
The way men preach today is a mockery. They thought, they accused Lot
of mocking when he preached of judgment. They accused him. I
say modern preachers are mocking people when they say, smile,
God loves you. That is just not the case. That's a mockery of God. It's
mocking people. We say, like these angels said,
flee for your life. That was their message. In a
nutshell. Run from this world. Run from
religion. It's as fast as you can. and
find you a house where there's a messenger of mercy. And you get in that house and
you shut the door. That's what Lot went and said
to his sons-in-law and his daughters that married him. This is a vital message. Verses
15 and 16, if I have a text, chapter 19, verses 15 and 16,
the morning arose, it says the sun rose upon the earth. It's
a sunny day, isn't it? Beautiful day, isn't it? Eternity, and it's the last thing
on most people's minds. It ought to be the first thing.
The sun arose. It's a beautiful day in Sodom.
It's a beautiful day in Sodom. And they said, Arise, take thy
wife and thy two daughters, which are here, whoever you have any
influence upon, whoever is in your house, whoever is nearby,
you tell them, lest they be consumed in the
iniquity of the city. And Lot lingered. Oh, there's
time. No, no, there's not either. And
they laid old upon his hand and upon the hand of his wife and
the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto
him. And that's what I hope and pray this morning, that the Lord
will be merciful unto us all, everyone in here, us and our
children, and lay hold of us by his word. The only thing,
it's not within my power to bring you out. It's not within the
preacher's power to convince you of the truth. It is in the
power of the Holy Spirit. That the Lord will be merciful
unto us and lay hold of us by his word and bring us forth without
the city, without the camp. Doesn't Hebrews 13 say that?
Let us go therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his
reproach. All of Sodom laughing and mocking
and scoffing a lot, and those few in that building. Weren't
they? Just like Noah. Those were the two examples our
Lord gave of His coming. Before His coming, He gave two
examples of the way the world would be before His coming. He
gave Noah, and He gave Lot. Sodom and Gomorrah was an exceedingly
sinful place. And you and I, we most tend to
think that it must have been really, really, really bad or
worse than any place ever was. No, not so. In Isaiah 1, the
Lord called Israel Sodom. Didn't He? Didn't He, haven't
you read it? He called Israel. It may have become just like
Sodom. Sodom and Gomorrah, it said in
chapter 13, chapter 18, that the sin of that city is exceedingly
sin. Isaiah 3, I was going to have
you turn, but not for the sake of time. Isaiah said this, He was pleading with the people,
but he said, the Lord said, the show of their countenances does
witness against them. They declare their sin as sodomy. They declare it. In other words,
there came a time where most were openly, outwardly coming
out, boldly, in the sight of God and all men, declaring their
sin as sodomy and not hiding it. Not going to hide this anymore.
Got nothing to hide. Now that's what God said about
Israel. And this was what was happening in Sodom. And does
that sound familiar? Does that not sound like the
world in which we live? Not just America, but the whole
world. Abraham went pleading with the
Lord for that decadent city. Didn't it? Lord, would you spare
that city? The city didn't deserve it. But
Abraham, a merciful man, would you spare that city of Sodom?
I know how wicked it is. Would you spare them if you found
50, 40, 30, 20, 10? Lord said, if I find 10, how many righteous
men were in the city? Unbelievable. One righteous man in Sodom. I
do want you to turn to 2 Peter chapter 2, and I want you to
hold it because we're going to conclude this message by reading
it again. But 2 Peter chapter 2, it begins
with false prophets and false teachers everywhere. It says,
many shall follow their pernicious way, by whom the way of truth
is evil spoken of. And they're all about money,
verse 3, all about money. And then he goes on to say, but
God spared the angels not. And verse 5, he spared not the
old world but saved Noah. And verse 6 and 7, he turned
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemning them with
an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after
should live ungodly. Those ungodly. But he delivered
just lot. And that means Lot was just. Lot was a just man, but I can't
help but think it means he delivered just Lot, one man. Not even his daughters. And he vexed Lot. Here's how
you know he was a just man. He was vexed with the filthy
conversation of the wicked. And that righteous man. It calls
him righteous then. Dwelling among them, seeing and
hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their
unlawful deeds. The Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godly out of temptation, to reserve the unjust to the
day of judgment to be punished. So he calls Lot just, righteous,
and godly, doesn't he? Well, how? How is anyone righteous
before the Lord? Not by works of righteousness
which we have done. Huh? That's what Titus says. Oh Lord. Not by works of righteousness
that we have done, but according to Thy mercy Thou hast saved
us. Lot found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Like Abraham. Like
Noah. Noah found grace. The Lord chose Lot. The Lord
found Lot. Lot didn't find the Lord. The
Lord found Lot. The Lord revealed Himself to
Lot. When? Well, he's with Abraham. Abraham was God's chosen. And
Lot walked with him for years. And he heard the Gospel from
Abraham. Abraham was a man that walked with God. And so he talked
with Lot day in and day out like Moses said to do to our children. Lot was a son to him. Abraham
didn't have any children for a while. And Lot was it. And
he told Lot the truth, the Gospel. Everywhere they went, he talked
to Lot. And Lot believed God. Like so many, the world had a
pool to it. He beheld the well-watered plains
of Sodom. When the Lord said, flee to the
mountain, what mountain do you think He's talking about? You
go back to Abraham. He shouldn't have left. Go back
to Bethel, the house of God. There's nothing for you in Sodom,
but he sought. But God said he was righteous. There may have been times he
appeared not to be righteous. There may have been times he
appeared to be somewhat like the sodomite. But now, hold on. He wasn't a sodomite. Do not
accuse Lot of any of that. Scripture says, such were some
of you, but you've been washed. And so was Lot. But he was in
Sodom. He shouldn't have been there,
but he was there. But he was righteous. God said
so. Why is a person righteous? When
God says so. When God makes him righteous.
Who shall lay anything in the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifies. Who is he to condemn him? Why
is Lot righteous? Because Christ died. You say,
Christ's not dead yet. Oh, yeah. He's a lamb slain before
the foundation of the earth. He died. He was already crucified
for Lot's sake. Until God declared him righteous.
God revealed the truth to him. Revealed Himself to him. God
revealed Himself to Lot. And Lot knew God. The true and
living God. He believed God. And that's why
he went around telling those that he loved. He warned them. How do you know Lot was righteous? How Lot was just? Because he
was vexed with the conversation of the wicked one. You know he was vexed with his
own sin, but he was certainly vexed with all that around him. All right, look at this. It says
in verse 1, there came two angels to Sodom that evening, and Lot
sat in the gate of Sodom. I believe, it seems clear to
me, that Lot was alone sitting in the gate. What was he doing?
I know what he was doing. He was praying to get out. He was in a place he couldn't
get out. He had so much stuff and so many people that he cared
about. But he was a stranger in a strange
land. He was a sojourner in a place
that now he wanted nothing more than to get out. And he sat in the gate, and I
believe he's praying. I believe he's alone with the
Lord. I believe he is. He's calling on the Lord. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Here's how
I know that Lot belonged to the Lord. Here's how I know that
Lot was righteous, that Lot was just, that Lot was a godly man. He's calling on the Lord. He
wants out of that decadent place. And he calls on the Lord, and
the Lord sent him two angels. That's how I know he belonged
to the Lord. The Lord sent two angels. To do what? Now I can smile. But what do they do first before
they bring him out? They warn him. They warn him. There's no message
from the Lord that doesn't have warning to it. There is no messenger
from the Lord who does not warn. God's people. Is there ever a
time when you and I cease to need warning? Huh? The older we get, we need it
then more than ever, don't we? We need to be reminded, because
things keep going on and on and on. We kind of need to be warned,
don't we? Wake! Arise! Get up! Please! The Lord sent two angels to Siloam.
Two angels sent. Lot sat in the gate wanting out.
So the Lord sent two angels to bring him out. And look at what
he did. Look at his reaction to these
two men. They were just men, people. They were angels. The Lord called them angels,
but they didn't have wings. They weren't dressed in white
robes. They were men. The men of Siloam didn't recognize
them. They just thought they were men.
They weren't. And I'm just a man. But look at how he responded
to these men sent to him. It says he arose to meet them,
and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. He showed
them such respect. Oh, my. He was so grateful to
see them, and he said, Behold, now my lords, sirs, turn in,
I pray you, into your servant's house and tarry all night, wash
your feet, and rise up early, and go on your ways." And they
said, no, we'll abide in the street all night. But He pressed
upon them. This was a pressing matter. Please, come into our
house. Come into my house. He so esteemed
these men sent by God, men of mercy to Him. He wanted them
in His house. He wanted to eat with them. He
wanted to talk with them. He wanted to hear what they had
to say. He esteemed them as a gift of
mercy and grace from God. And they came in. They came into
his house. What did they talk about? Rahab, you remember? Rahab the
harlot? The Lord sent two men. Two messengers of mercy. What
did they do? What was the first thing they said to Rahab? They
warned her. They warned her and her house.
Joshua's coming. That's what Rahab... That's the
whole story that the messengers... Joshua's coming, and he's going
to destroy this decadent place called Jericho. But get your
family, get your parents, get your loved ones, get those that
you care about, and bring them into the house. Because we won't
destroy those that are in the house under the scarlet line. Wherever we see the blood, we
won't destroy. They've got to be in the house.
If they're outside the house, their blood's on their own head.
Get them and bring them into the house. What do you reckon Rahab did?
I know what she did. It says she did. She went to
her parents. Dad, Mom, you've got to know Christ. You've got
to be under the blood. Son, daughter, nothing else matters. Come with me to hear the message
of salvation. Christ is coming. Do I seem as one that mocks?
This day is going to be over and tomorrow I'm going camping
with my granddaughter, Lord willing. If the Lord doesn't come back,
which I'm hoping He will, But is this a mockery? No, this is
the truth. This is what our Lord said. This is true. It's not a fairy tale. It's not
some cunningly devised fable. And those messengers were sent
to Rahab, and she received them, and she believed, and she feared
the Lord. And what she did was she housed
those two messengers in a lofty place. She put them in the highest
place in her house. and fed them. Boy, she went to
bed that night. That's not my story, but did
you teach that today? But Rahab, she couldn't sleep
that night. Why? Joshua's coming. And she got up and went upstairs
to those two spies and said, tell me again. Is it true? Is
he coming? Yes, he is. And he'd given us
this token, this scarlet line. We're coming back. Joshua said
to them, we're going to bring you out and we're going to destroy
this place. And whoever's in this house under
that scarlet line, we're bringing them out. It's true. And she
went back and went to sleep. And Lot had them into his house. It's no messenger from God who
comes telling the world without exception that God loves you.
Smile. God loves you. That's a liar. No prophet ever
stood in a public place and said to everyone, God loves you. Not.
You won't find it in the Bible. One time. No prophet, no apostle,
no apostle ever, ever, ever stood up and told everyone without
exception, a crowd of people, God loves you and Jesus died
for you. Not once. You won't find it in the Bible.
Anywhere. Why? Because it's just not so.
Jesus Christ never stood up. The Lord Jesus Christ never,
ever, ever stood up one time and said, God love you. Not once. Why not? Because it wasn't so. But our Lord Jesus Christ did
say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Didn't he? The prophet said, repent for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The apostles said, repent. John
the last of the prophets said, repent for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. And then everyone who repents,
we can save. Everyone that comes to Christ,
we can save. Smile. You know why? You're in Christ. You came to
Christ. He brought you. But we say, like these men, these
angels, God is angry with the wicked every day. The fear of
the Lord is beginning to win. But God is merciful. God sent
His Son to save. He didn't come into this world
to destroy men's lives, but He's coming again to do that. The next time He comes to you,
He's saying, Jesus, escape your life. Escape your
life. Men, women, children, young,
old. Come to Christ. Right now. Right now. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry.
He's coming again. He's going to take His righteous
people home with Him. Lot begged them to stay with
Him. You remember that story of the
disciples on the road to Emmaus? Sodomites weren't his companions. Matthew Henry said this, the
angels came into town and they were looking for a righteous
man to stay with. And that's where they stayed.
Lot was at the gate looking for a righteous man to keep. Matthew
Henry said this, he said, one good man found He was found by them, and wherever
we are, we should inquire where the saints are, and those that
fear God and associate with them, and some of entertained angels. Well, here's the story. Let me hurry. Does this puzzle you down in
verse 8, where You know the men, you know what they were doing
when they surrounded, says everybody surrounded the house and said,
we will bring these men out that we may know them. And Lot went out and prayed them
or begged them, beseeched them, didn't he? Do not so wickedly. And he said, I have two daughters.
If you have not known man, let me, I pray you, bring them out.
You do what you will to them, but don't, don't do anything
to these two men. Now, if you think it's hard,
and it is, I mean, I can't really condone him for that. He should
have just stayed in the house, perhaps. But there's a lesson here. as a real lesson in who really
loves the Lord and His truth and knows it preaches. That he would rather them take
his own daughters than take these preachers of the gospel from
him. That's it. He defended these
men He defended these men over his own flesh and blood. You
take them, but don't take these messengers of mercy from him.
Do you understand? Our Lord said this, if any man
come after me and hate not his father, his mother, his son,
and his daughters, if anyone does not defend me and my cause
and my truth before anyone and everyone, it is not my design.
He said, if you're ashamed of me and this adulterous generation,
when I come, I'll be ashamed of you. That's what he said. And Lot said, take anybody or
anything, but don't take these messengers of mercy from me.
It's my only hope. Can you say that? Our Lord said,
if any man does. I love my family. Oh, do I love
my family. And they say, stand back. Who do you think you are? You're
just a sojourner. See, Irene, he wasn't like that. He was inside him, but he wasn't
outside him. They knew it. They recognized
it from the beginning. When he came into that place,
they know this is something different about this fellow. He won't stay. He's just a stranger, a pilgrim,
a sojourner. You're going to be our judge,
though? Who are you to tell us what's right and what's wrong? As I said, stand back. But verse
10, look, the men, the angels, put forth their hand and pulled
Lot into the house. He went out of the house. Well,
what did the angels do? Pull him back in the house. Lord,
don't leave this house. Like Rahab. Don't leave the house. Like all the children of Israel
in Egypt. Don't get out of the house. Open the door and plead with
them, but don't leave the house. It's a house of mercy. House
of mercy. And shut the door. And Lord,
shut them in. Lord, shut them in with them.
And look at this, verse 11, they smoked the men that were at the
door with blindness, small and great. They wearied themselves
to find the door. Everybody else was blinded. Old, young, little, big, great,
small. Doctors and lawyers and dishwashers
and lawyers, all blinded. So blind to the judgment of God. So blind. to their own sins,
so blind to this one place of mercy, so blind to the truth.
They didn't recognize they were blind. It says they wearied themselves
to get at the door. They wearied themselves. They
were wearied themselves in sin and by sin. Read on. And the men said, Do you have
any besides? Son-in-law, and our son, and
our daughters. You see, Lot had at least four daughters. Two
of them were married. Two of them were not married.
Right? Where were his two married daughters? They were out inside
him, in the midst of him. All together, completely taken
up by silence. Anybody? And he said, you go find them. These angels said, you go find
them. And you tell them. Be urgent
about it. Tell them. And I'm going to destroy
this place. Come to the house. Son, daughter,
come to the house. Oh, dad, you think there's other
places that... And Lot went out and he spake
unto his sons-in-law that married his daughter. He said, get up
out of this place. The Lord will destroy this city.
And he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. Why is
that? Why did he seem as one that mocked? Because perhaps they thought,
Dad, you weren't this serious yesterday. Why weren't you talking
about this yesterday? What difference does that make?
I was wrong. Today's a day of salvation. It's
right now. I was wrong. I get caught up.
I got caught up in these things just like you, but I've just
been reminded. of the shortness of time. The
Lord being merciful to me has reminded me. I was in the house,
and they began to tell me of the vanity of this world and
how He was going to destroy this world, and there was only one
thing needful. And they reminded me of that,
and I suddenly remembered by mercy and grace. So I'm here
to tell you, come with me. Oh, Dad, go on. Everything is
going on like it always has. The morning arose. The sun rose
up, just like any other day. The angels hastened lots, hurried
lots. They arise, take your wife and
your two daughters that are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity
of the city. This is an urgent message, isn't
it? And while he lingered, while he lingered, would you
listen to me? A few more minutes. While he lingered. There are some under the sound
of my voice this morning that have been under my voice for
quite a long time. And they've heard, and they've
heard, and they've heard, and they've heard. And yet they have
not heard. They have not confessed Christ. They have not come to Jesus Christ.
And they're lingering in Sodom with the Sodomites. And I'm here
to tell you, you better come to Christ and you better do it
right now. Am I being mean? I would look into the face of
every human being in this room, if I could, and tell you you
better do it now. You better come to Christ right
now. Heard and heard and heard. Lingering. But I hope you're like Lot. I hope the Lord will lay hold
of your hand and the hold of your daughter's hands. Your daughter. There's some daughters in here
that don't know the Lord. And I'm here to tell you, you better
tell them to come to Christ. There's some parrots in here. So I urge you, mister. And I find myself lingering.
What are you thinking about the rest of this day? Well, we're
human, aren't we? We're flesh and blood, aren't
we? Well, the Lord lingereth not. The scripture says He lingereth
not. He is not slack concerning His
promises. Some men count slackness, but
will come in a moment. And his salvation lingereth not,
but we linger, don't we? Oh, I have time tomorrow when
I get over with, when I get this out. A lot lingered. But now the Lord
be in mercy. The Lord laid hold upon his hand. And that's why I'm praying, aren't
you, brother? I'm praying, Lord, lay hold of
my son, my daughter, lay hold of him. I can't do it. We can't
bring him to Christ. Wouldn't you, sister, wouldn't
you bring him to Christ if you could? But you can't, can you?
Well, the Lord can, and He does. He lays hold. He's still laying
hold of people. He's still laying hold of them.
That ought to be our daily prayer, shouldn't it? Not be one that
mocks, but be one sincere and say, Lord, lay hold of my daughter.
Lay hold of my daughter. She's inside of me. Lay hold
of her, Lord. Be merciful unto her like you're merciful unto
me. And bring her out. Well, the Lord did. He did. He laid hold of Lot. He laid
hold of his wife. He laid hold of his two daughters. Two of them. These men. And brought
them out. Look at this. Brought them forth
and set them where? Without the city. Without the camp. And it
came to pass that they were brought forth abroad and they said one
thing. Escape for your life. Don't look
back. Don't look back. Does that sound familiar? There's
a whole cloud of witnesses. A whole cloud of witnesses to
tell us what the Lord did to them. Had mercy upon them. Bringing
them out. This whole book is full of witnessing.
And it says that they all lived by faith, and they all died in
faith. Men and women like us. Abel,
and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Sarah, and all of these. Just like us. And it says they
were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. And they confessed.
They persuaded of the promise and embraced them. And if they'd
been mindful of that country they came out of, they would
have had the opportunity to have returned. But now they desire
a better country, a heavenly world. God is not ashamed to
be called their God. He prepared for them a city.
He'd bring them out. He laid hold of them. This should
be our constant prayer for us and our children. Lord, lay hold
of us. Hasten us. We may escape to those
escaped of the nations, but Lot. Lot said, Oh Lord, I can't live
in the mountains. I can't go to that one little,
I can't go to that mountain up there. How am I going to make
a living? You didn't make a living before
when you were with Abraham. He took care of you. You had
the one thing lethal. You had the truth. The Lord will
take care of you, go to the mountains. Oh, but there's more opportunity
down here. I'm going to destroy that place. And I think this is a picture
also of a psalm indeed, where you go and the Lord leads them
to a little city, as little as they are, and they find mercy
that you can bet There's going to be some truth there. There's
going to be some gospel there. Nothing going to be without it.
And then the sun arose. And it says, and the fire and
the brimstone fell. But Lot was safe. His wife flew back. And she buried him. Remember Lot's wife. And may
the Lord remember these words to us. Be not forgetful. Not forgetful here. Don't let
these things slip. And I would that you'd have these
things in remembrance all the way. As you go out in the south,
and tell your children, and tell your sons-in-laws, and your daughters-in-laws,
and your parents. Tell them all. Get in the house. Under the blood. Come to Christ. Time is short. I'm not mocking
here. This is so. Okay, let's sing a closing hymn,
Brother Tom.