Let's read from Galatians chapter
3. Galatians chapter 3. Galatians 3. O foolish Galatians,
who have bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ have been evidently set forth, crucified
among you. This only would I learn of you.
Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith? Are ye so foolish, having begun
in the Spirit? Are ye now made perfect by the
flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet
in vain? He therefore that ministereth
to you the spirit and worketh miracles among you. Doeth he
it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Even
as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness,
now you therefore know you therefore that they which are of faith
the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before
the gospel. Unto Abraham say, In thee shall
all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is
every one that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall
live by faith, and the law is not of faith. but the man that
doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man's
covenant, Yet, if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth
thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. In this I say that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which
was 430 years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise
of none effect. For the inheritance be of the
law, for if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of
promise. but God gave it to Abraham by
promise. Wherefore then serveth the law.
It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to
whom the promise was made. And it was ordained by angels
in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator
of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises
of God? God forbid. For if there had
been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded
all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were
kept under the law, shut up unto the faith, which should afterwards
be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew
nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ
Jesus. And if ye be Christ, then are
ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Genesis 19. Genesis 19 There's 38 verses
that I'm going to try to get through tonight, and I'm not
going to read all of them in Genesis 19 I'm going to kind
of read them as I go Don't want to read 38 verses, but the story
is this You remember that they were going to go down to Sodom
the angels were the Lord went down to see whether their sin
was as great as the cry that came up to him and They went
down there, and Lot took them into their house, these two angels. And while they were in there,
a bunch of men came, tried to make him, give him those two
men, so that they could abuse those two men. Lot, being the
despicable creature that he is, weak as he was, he offered his
daughters instead. And so The angels grabbed him
back inside and smote all those people outside with blindness.
And they couldn't even find the door. And the next day, he told
them, he says, get everybody you know out of this place because
we're fixing to destroy it. And sure enough, the only ones
that came out of there was Lot and his two daughters. And the
angels had to get a hold of him, get a hold of him, and bring
him out of there because he was so unwilling to go himself. And
so that's what we're talking about. There are some people's
lives that God has recorded in his word to be lights, to be
beacons of what not to do and how not to live. You take Balaam. He started out right, but then
he kept going back and going back doing the same thing over
and over after God told him not to. And he did it for money.
And the scripture says he earned the wages of unrighteousness.
He was a man that was a hireling in it for money. And then there's
Saul, God's first king. He took it upon himself to offer
sacrifices, took upon himself to enter into the priesthood.
And God told him that you're done, you're finished, you're
through. And then there's Solomon. Solomon, our Lord even said that
Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like these that are
in the the lilies of the field. And everybody talks about Solomon.
He started out this wonderful king, this beautiful king, wealthiest
man on the face of the earth, wisdom. Oh, he had wisdom. But
he ended up worshiping all kinds of idols and false gods before
he died. Those are things the scripture
sets out here as beacons for us not to do. They started out
well, they started out well, but their lives ended up in disaster
and in failure. And here's a life like that.
This is life like that. Like Lot. Lot. He was the nephew
of Abraham. He is raised. His daddy died.
And Abraham raised that boy. Raised him. And he came out of
Mesopotamia with his uncle Abraham. And he continued with him in
Canaan and enjoyed fellowship with him until their possessions,
they had so many possessions that it necessitated for them
to separate. And so what he did, he looked
to the well-watered plains and he pitched his tent towards Sodom. He hadn't entered Sodom yet,
but he pitched his tent towards Sodom. And after a while he entered
into Sodom and he made his home there and he lived there and
he raised his family there. And then later he was captured
by the Kings. You remember the Kings come in
there and ransacked Sodom and took him and all the people,
his captives and ransacked it and God took the spoil. But Abraham
took 318 people, went and rescued his nephew Lot, rescued him. and he returned back into Sodom
in spite of all the warnings. And here's some of the most serious
and solemn warnings and instruction for every professing believer
in the story of Lot. Now look at the first three verses
and let's look at this. There came two angels to Sodom
in the evening, Genesis 19.1. And there came two angels to Sodom at evening, and Lot
sat in the gate of Sodom. And Lot, seeing them, rose up
to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground,
and said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your
servants' house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and
you shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said,
Nay, but we will abide in the street all night. First there
was an angelic visit. This is what happened to Lot. Two angels came down and he met
these two angels. And the scripture says there
that Lot sat in the gate. That's a position of prominence.
That's a position of power. That's a position where the elders
sat. Job sat in the gate. And these
men that were important men and powerful men, they sat in the
gate. and they judged men setting in
the gate and his these two angels come he arose and met him and
he bowed himself to him and he expended he expressed great hospitality
toward him he said oh listen turn into my house come into
my house and they said nope nope we'll abide in the street all
night and they were here to see the wickedness of this city look
back in verse 21 and and and and uh 20 and 21 of chapter 18. Look what it says here about
it. And the Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah
is great, and because their sin is grievous, I will go down now
and see whether they have done all together according to the
cry which has come unto me. If not, I will know. And the
men turned their faces toward Sodom and went toward Sodom. These two angels did. and this
shows let me tell you something right here this shows because
God said I'll go down and see I'll go down and see this shows
us that God searches out a matter I mean he really searches out
a matter he wastes a long long time before he pronounces judgment
or executes judgment But before he does anything, God actually
searches out the matter. And that's what God does. He
looks at the situation. Now, I'm not saying he's like
us, but the scriptures teaches us that God knows exactly what's
going on and he searches it out. And he went down here and he
searched out this situation. So when He destroyed this outfit,
they would be absolutely without excuse. God Himself looked at
them and saw them and could come to the conclusion that there's
no hope or no help for this people. He searched it out. And God,
He's going to search out men and they're going to find out
that they will be without excuse when it's all said and done. But they yielded a lot and went
into His house. Now look what happens here now.
And he pressed upon them greatly, in verse three, and they turned
unto him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and
did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But now look at
what an awful, awful depravity. I'm gonna read down through verse
11 now. Look what it said in verse four.
But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men
of Sodom, come past the house round about, both old and young,
you see it says the men, and all the people from every corner.
And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are these
the men which came into thee this night? Bring him out, that
we may know them. Now, what do they mean by know
them? That means that they wanted to abuse these They, men, wanted
these men. And Lot went out at the door
and shut it up unto them, and shut the door after him, and
said, I pray you, brethren, don't do so wickedly. Don't do this. Behold, now I've got two daughters,
which have not known man. Let me, I pray you, bring them
out unto you, and you do to them as good in your eyes, only, only
do not this thing. For therefore they came under
the shadow of my roof. And they said, stand back. And
they said again, This one fella came in to soldier, and we will
needs be a judge. Now, we will deal worse with
you than with them. And they pressed sore upon the
man, even a lot, and came near to break the door. But the men
put forth their hand, pulled a lot back into the house, and
shut the door. And they smote the men that were
at the door of that house with blindness, both small and great,
so that they wearied themselves to find the door. Now I tell
you what, this is, you talking about depravity. Very little
can be said about this awful sin or should be said. I mean,
here's these men trying to get to men. This was the sin of Sodom. This was the sin and it's always
been known for generations, the sin of Sodom. And there was two
other cities destroyed in history. When you look through history,
some of y'all may remember when you was in school and you studied
history. There's two other great cities
and one great civilization that was destroyed for this very sin.
there's Pompeii you know Pompeii God destroyed Pompeii because
men were so men and women were so after not one another but
men were after men and women were after men that God destroyed
Pompeii with a great earthquake and covered the whole city just
destroyed everybody. A great earthquake came and all
that come down and destroyed those people and they have dug
it up and found people laying just like they was found when
that earthquake, I mean that, not earthquake, but volcano came
down on them. A volcano came down on them and
when they discovered them, if they was, however how that thing
caught them, that was the position they was in when they found them.
If they're standing up, they're still standing up. If they was
laying in their bed, they're still in their bed. If they was
on their knees or in their kitchen, they were still in their kitchen.
That's the way God, that's the way it is. And as it was in the
days of Lot, so shall it be in the days of the summing of coming.
And then there's Herculaneum. God destroyed that for the same
reason. And the reason God brought the
Roman Empire to nothing was over this same thing. This same thing. And look how Lot, this is amazing
to me. Look how Lot is ready to sacrifice
his own daughters. Sacrifice his own daughters to
save his own life and to have peace. He says, if you'll just
leave me alone, leave me alone. Here, take my daughters. He was
ready to sacrifice his own daughters to the depravity. of these awful
men. And then look at the solemn,
solemn warning. Look at the solemn warning in
verse 12. The men said unto Lot, these
angels were men. If you ever see an angel, it
looks like a woman. It's not sent from God. And every
angel you find in the scripture, they got a male name. There's
only two names, Gabriel and Michael, and they were archangels. But
on the scriptures, angels are always presented as men. And
the men said unto Lot, hast thou any here besides? You got any
other kinfolk around here? Son-in-laws and your sons and
your daughters, whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them
out of this place right now. Oh my, do you have any kinsfolk? You better get them out of here.
And look what they said in verse 13. Bring them out of this place. For we will destroy this place. We're going to destroy it. Because
the cry of them is waxing great before the face of the Lord,
the Lord has sent us to destroy it. Now listen to this right
here. Lot believes these are men, believes
what they have to say. And he went and spake to his
sons-in-laws, and his daughters-in-laws, and his grandchildren. And Lot
went out and spake unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters,
and said, Up, up, get out of this place, for the Lord will
destroy this city. And that's what we did. That's
what old Bunyan said. He was in the city of destruction.
And he left the city of destruction and headed for that celestial
city. He said, oh, I'm in this city, God's gonna destroy this
place, I gotta get out of here. That's how the pilgrim's progress
started, him leaving the city of destruction. And oh, listen,
but I'll tell you what, they said, oh my, and here's what
they said, but he seemed as one that mocked unto his son-in-law. Why in the world did he seem
that way? Why did he seem like he is one
that mocked unto his son-in-law? because he had lived there just
like they had for so many years, going after the same things,
doing the same things, living the same way, living in the same
town, going to the same places, and he was one like them and
lived like them that they couldn't tell any difference. His testimony
had no power. And this is the fact, this is
the fact. When our life doesn't agree with what we say, then
that's the way we'll be, just like one that mocks. Huh? I tell
you what, I certainly don't want to be that way, do you? No, no,
no, I don't want to be that way. My goodness, I don't want to
be one of them fellas when your name's mentioned, people hang
their head. I don't want to be one of them fellas. I certainly
don't. God help me, I don't. But oh my Lord, he's went to
witness to his people. And we do, we witness to our
children. When I get an opportunity for
our children to sit around our table, Shirley's children, my
children, my grandchildren, when we're sitting around the table
and I get to pray over them and pray with a meal with them, I
always pray God opened their hearts to make them feel their
need of Christ. And I want them to hear that
I'm praying for them that way, because I do not believe their
hearts has been opened. And that's the time to do it,
you know, tell them. And that's what happened a lot
here. Come on, come on, let's get out
of here. Boy, you ain't got nothing to
say to me. I don't see any difference in
you and me. And if men can't see the difference,
we're in sad, sad shape. But look what the urgency now. And it says in the morning, verse
15, and oh, look at the urgent deliverance now. And when the
morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, hastened him. God of them said, O Lot, get
up, let's get out of here, saying, Arise, take your wife and your
two daughters which are here that are with you, lest thou
be consumed in the iniquity of the city, or be punished for
all the city. that's in this city. And oh my,
look what happens now. He said, now they got up in the
morning, got old Lot. They said, Lot, get it together.
We got to get out of here. Got to get you out of here. Up
and get out of this place. Get up and take your wife, both
of your daughters. You got two daughters left here.
We don't want you consumed. But look what it says here. And
while he lingered, he told his son-in-law, God's going to destroy
this place. Them angels told him we're going
to destroy this place. And they said, hasten, get out
of here. And he lingered, he lingered. Can you imagine that? God going
to destroy a place and he knows they're going to destroy it.
And he just hangs around. I don't want to leave. I don't,
you know, I don't, I hate to leave this place. I hate to get
away from here. I hate to leave my home. I hate to leave it.
You know what? I've spent years putting this
thing together here. And oh, I hate to go. I hate to leave.
He lingered. Oh, my soul. If the New Testament
hadn't called him a just man, we would never believe that he
is a just man. But it says here, while he lingered,
what happens? The men laid hold upon his hand
his hand and upon the hand of his wife and upon the hand of
his two daughters. Those men got Abram's, I mean
Lot, his wife and him in one hand and started out of the city
and the other had his two daughters and they were going out of the
city. They had to get them by the hand and drag them and lead
them and take them out of this city of destruction. Is that
what, listen, I'm ready to, nobody's going to drag me out by the hand
to get me out of this place. I'll tell you that. But look
what he goes on to say. Oh, the Lord was so merciful. Long-suffering of the Lord means
salvation. That's what he said. The long-suffering
of the Lord means salvation. It brings salvation. And oh,
my. And the Lord being merciful unto
him. Oh, my. The Lord being merciful
unto him. Oh, how merciful. Oh, how merciful
art thou, O Lord, to me. And look what it says now. And
they brought him forth and set him without the city. Oh my,
he had to linger. We count the long-suffering of
the Lord to be salvation. And God was so longing for them.
And then he said in 17, verse 17, it came to pass when they
brought them forth abroad, they said, listen to this now, escape
for thy life. Escape for thy life. We got people that come here
Listen to me preach on a regular basis, young and old alike, middle-aged,
and I've tried to preach to them all the time, escape for your
life, escape for your life. Riley had a little thing she
wrote, made by the coffee maker this morning, I Believe the Gospel,
and she had a little track in it that says, he that hath a
son hath life. I said, you know what that means,
right? She said, no. I said, he that hath the Son
of God hath life. He that trusts Christ, he hath
life because Christ is the only one who has life. And he's the
only one who can give us life. And that's what he said, escape
for your life. This is what it means to be saved. So as if by fire. So if by fire. Oh my, escape for your life.
And look what he says, escape to the life. And he said, don't
look behind you. Don't look back. This place that
you've lived in, we're going to destroy it. It ain't going
to live. It ain't going to last. And our life, as we know it,
it's not going to last. Don't look behind you. Neither
stay thou in the plain, but go up to the mountain, lest you
be consumed. Don't stay down here. Get up
on that mountainside. Get up on that mountainside.
Oh, well, look what Lot said. That's just too much. You're
asking too much. And Lot said unto them in verse,
oh, not so, my Lord. I kind of want to go up on that
mountain. That's too much to ask. Behold now, thy servant
hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy. and which I showed unto me in
saving my life, magnified your mercy that I showed unto me in
saving my life. You showed mercy unto me, you
saved my life. I would have lingered right there.
And oh my, and listen to what he said, I cannot escape to the
mountain, and listen to this, lest some evil take me and I
die. He just had his life saved. He
just was drug out of Sodom. And now he says, he's going to
die there for sure. And then he goes up here and
he said, I can't go up on the mountain. Something evil happened
to me. He's lived in all the most evil places it's ever been
on the planet. He said, I can't go up on the
mountain. He said, it was too hard. He said, oh, it's just
too hard. And all he said, I tell you,
I know where a place I can go now. I know a place I can go.
I said, this city, so there's this city near to flee unto and
it's a little bitty one. Oh, let me escape there. It's
just a little one. And my soul shall live. And he
said unto him, the angel said unto him, see, I've accepted
thee concerning this thing. Now listen to this, listen to
this. This shows that God's not going to destroy, because we're
the salt of the earth and the light of the world. God's not
gonna destroy this world until he, when we leave here, this
world's going up in flames, just like Sodom and Gomorrah. And
look what he says. He said, haste then, he said
in verse 22, go ahead and escape and go there. Now listen to this,
I cannot do anything till you get there. I can't do nothing
because you're a righteous man. I can't do nothing because God's
gonna save you. I can't do nothing until I get
you in a safe place. I can't get you nothing, I can't
do anything to you till I get you someplace where God's wrath
won't fall on you. And ain't that the way Christ
done us and God's done us? He put us in Christ and done
so much for us, brought us out of and brought us to himself and
took us and put us in this heavenly group in this heavenly number
and he put us in a place where God's wrath can never get on
us that's what he says you got we can't do anything until you're
out of here and oh listen oh the grace and the condescension
and patience and long-suffering of God I can't do anything until
you're safe can't do nothing till you're safe And then look
at the judgment, judgment just as sure, look at the judgment
here. In verse 23, the sun was risen up on the earth when Lot
entered into Zohar. They got up the early morning.
They left in the morning. The sun rose up the day before.
That's how long they had to deal with Lot to get him out of that
place and get him into another place. 24 hours from the time
the sun rose up until the sun rose up the next day before he
got out of there and got in a safe place. Boy, that's astonishing,
ain't it? That's astonishing. As soon as
they were in Jordan, look what happened. Just as soon as they
got there, Look in verse 24, as soon as they got in a safe
place, as soon as he was somewhere where God put him and the angels
put him, then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah, brimstone
and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those
cities and all the plain, and listen to this, and all the inhabitants
of the cities that grew upon the ground. Ah my, God's judgment's
awful. I've read where men says, you
know, that this fire and brimstone was a, was a, uh, it's like gases
and stuff is coming up out of the ground. But that's not what
the Bible said. God rained. And it says in Revelations
that God's again is going to rain fire and brimstone again
on some people before this thing is said and done. But oh my,
he had to be put in a safe place before judgment. And oh my, you
know that's why the Lord said, As it was in the days of Lot,
so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man. And if it were
possible, if it were possible, the very elect would be deceived
and be in this kind of condition right here. But it's not possible.
Thank God it's not possible. And then look at this powerful,
powerful, powerful intercession. And oh my, verse 27, And Abram
got up early in the morning, No, let me back up here. No,
that's where I'm at, yeah. But look what it says here. And Abram got up early in the
morning to the place where he stood before the Lord. And he
looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the
plain. And behold, and lo, the smoke of the country went up
as the smoke of a furnace. Abraham ceased praying when he
got down to ten. But God blessed his prayers more
abundant than he had even heard him, or more abundant. It came
to pass when God destroyed that place, that God, listen to this
now, it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain
that God remembered the Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst
of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which he went to
do it. Because God, because Abraham had interceded. God saved him. God saved him. And oh my, look
down here in verse 30. Look at the all unutterable shame
that came upon Lot when this was all said and done. And Lot
went up out of Zoar. Now he went to the mountains.
He said, I can't go up there. It's going to be too dangerous.
And Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain and his
two daughters with him for he feared to dwell in Zoar. And
he dwelt in a cave, and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the
younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth.
And as far as they knew, there wasn't. As far as they knew,
God destroyed everything. There's not a man in the earth.
to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth. Come,
let us make our father drink wine, and we'll lie with him
that we preserve seed of our father. So these girls got their
father drunk. These two girls did. This is
what happens when you dwell in sodomy. And they committed incest
with their father. Got him drunk, lay with him,
and one daughter got pregnant. That's Moab. Moab means an incestuous,
incestuous people. That's what Moab means. And then
the other girl went in and had a son named Ammon and the Ammonites
who was an enemy of God all the days of their life. God called
Moab a warspot. And Lot sunk to the lowest depths
of shame and drunkenness and impurity go hand in hand. Lot
sunk to the lowest depths of shame and passes away into the
darkness of history, which is his due. Can you imagine any
such thing happening? Oh, my soul watered. Now let
me give you just some lessons real quick from Sodom. Let me
give you some lessons. The awful extent of human depravity
when God leaves man to himself. You know what happens to a man
when God leaves him to himself? Look in Romans chapter one. This
is what happens to men. And it's happening right in front
of our eyes. It's happening right in front of our eyes. Lessons from Sodom. Oh, the awful
extent of human depravity when God leaves man to himself. How
far down will he go? How far down? Look what it says
here in Romans 121. Because that when they knew God,
they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were
they thankful. but began vain in their imaginations
and their foolish heart was dark. Oh, they said, we're wise. Oh,
we're such wise people. Oh, they became fools. They changed
the glory of the uncorruptible God. into an image made like
to corruptible man, made them crosses and made them people
to hang on crosses, made them statues to put in their yard
and made them all, and they made birds and they made four-footed
beast and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lust, their hearts lusted after
unclean things. to dishonor their own bodies
between themselves, dishonor the body God gave, who changed
the truth of God and turned it into a lie, and worshiped and
served the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forever,
amen. Now listen to this, for this
cause, God gave them up unto vile affections, for even their
women did change the natural use into that which is against
nature. And likewise, also the men, leaving
the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward
another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving
in themselves the payment for their error which was fit and
should be done. And the last thing it says here,
even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. Oh, we don't want to think about
God. We don't want to think about
eternity. We just want to think about what we want and what our
flesh wants and what our flesh desires. God loves us the way
we are. Homosexuals now are in the ministry. And this is something that's
praised now instead of being called a shame. It's something
that's acknowledged that everybody ought to believe this and everybody
ought to treat them like they're the best people on the earth.
But oh, God says this, they didn't like to retain God in their knowledge. God gave them over to a reprobate
mind. You know what that reprobate
mind means? It's a mind that does not have the ability to
make a right judgment. They cannot make a right judgment
about anything. to do those things which are
not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication,
wickedness, cubbishness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate,
deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful,
proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. Oh my, that's right in there
with all these other awful sins. without understanding, covenant
breakers, without natural affection, implacable, not able to do anything
with them, unmerciful. Oh my, that's what happens to
men. Oh my, when God gives up, when
God said God gave them up, when God gives up on a man, when God
gives up on a nation, when God gives up on a people, Katie bar
the door, Katie bar the door. And that when men has got so
bad and with their way so much that God says I give up on them
He said I've stretched forth my hands all day long unto a
disobedient and gain saying people oh My to to certain to the certainty
of God to two judgments fell on Sodom and the cities of the
plain God gave them up. That's the first thing he did
he gave him up. I give up on this generation and then He rained
fire and brimstone and destroyed them. God cannot, is not, and
will not be indifferent to sin, no matter who it's from. And
then the marvel. Here's a lesson from Solomon
Gamora. The marvel of God's mercy. The
marvel of God's mercy. It doesn't look like Lot is worth
saving. It doesn't look like he's worth
saving at all. But God saved him in spite of
himself. And that's what old Barnard used
to say, God in grace saves us in spite of ourselves. In spite
of ourselves. And then here's lessons from
Lot, and I'll be done. His dangers can be ours. And his first danger was lawful. I mean, the first danger was
lawful. I mean, he, you know, because he pitched his tent towards
Sodom, there was nothing wrong with that. Now let me give you
a few things to think about. It wasn't wrong to want a good
place for his flocks and his herds. It wasn't wrong for him
to do that. But the sin was in putting earthly ease and prosperity
first instead of the kingdom of God. Another thing is, it's
not wrong to have possessions. It's wrong to let possessions
have you. And that's what Lot did. He let
possessions have him. A ship in the water is the right
thing to do. But water in the ship is the
wrong thing. It's going to go down. And believers
living in this world, it's necessary that we live in this world. We've
got to live here. You've got to work in it. We've
got to shop in it. We bank in it. We do all these
things in this world. We live in this world. And we
go to places in this world and we do things in this world. And
we enjoy some of the things in this world. A believer in the
world is necessary, but oh my, but the world, being in a Christian,
being in a believer, is wrong and it'll always end up in disaster.
And here's another thing about life. A danger of compromise. A danger of compromise. The first
thing he did, he pitched his tent towards Sodom. Just got
close to it, pitched his tent over it. But then after a while,
after a while, as he got closer and closer to it, he ended up
moving in. He ended up moving in. Huh? He got to thinking about,
oh, I'll go down, I'll go down into, here's what he thought.
I know he thought this. And oh my, I said, I'll go down
there and start preaching to them old wicked people. I'll
go down there and witness to these wicked people. I'll go
down there and witness to them. I'll tell them about God. But
they were just empty words. There was a man one time, I'll
tell you this true story. There was a man one time, went
to 13th Street. He became a truck driver. He'd
go drive a big, big, big rig. And he said what he was going
to do, he'd take boxes of Henry's tape and other preachers' tape,
and he's going to, while he's driving around the United States
in that big old truck, he's going to go out and pass out all these
tapes and witness all these people. He left that day in that truck,
and they never saw him again for years. He's going to get
that big truck and he's going to go out here and distribute
all these tapes and witness to all these people. He got in that
truck and he never looked back and they never seen him for,
I think, I don't know how many years it was and they told when
he showed back up at church one day. And he come into church
in a running suit. Nobody knows what happened to
the tapes. I'm telling you the truth. I'm not making it up.
Oh boy, he got down there and he thought, boy, these people
down here, they're sharp. They know all about making money.
They know how to live in this place down here. And he got down
there and he made it in the world. But oh, at what a cost. He was
miserable, said he, vexed his soul. But let me close with this. I know it's a hot subject, but
I tell you what, the scriptures were written for our learning,
for our admonition. that we through patience and
comforts of the scriptures might have hope. But his weakness,
his weakness could very well be ours. I mean, don't think
for a minute. Take heed lest you, take heed
lest you, you know, take heed lest you fall. Don't take, you
know, take heed, you know, that you're gonna stand and take heed
lest you fall. Take heed. His weakness may be
ours. And here's the blessed thing
that God had for him. He was not really an independent
man. As long as he is with Abraham,
he was all right. As long as he is around a believing
man, a faithful man, a gracious man, a man who prayed, a man
who kept an altar, he was all right. But when he left Abraham,
the props fell out and he became what he was. And oh my, as long
lots of people in religion They're by association. As long as they're
around other believers, they're all right. But when they get
away from them, they don't not so good. And lots of people have
religion by association. As long as they're around Christian
people, they're all right. And Lot was so indecisive. Oh, God help us not to be this.
He had, you know, they said, hasten to get out of here. And
the scripture said, he lingered and he lingered and he lingered.
He was so indecisive. He had to be urged to leave,
and he lingered. He hesitated, and that's what
it means to be saved, so as by fire. He said, you know, over
in 1 Peter, it says, they were saved as by fire. That's what
it means. An old Jew said, it's plucked
them out of the fire. There's one that's plucked out
of the fire, and that's what happened to him. God plucked
him out of the fire. How do all of you have to be
plucked out of the fire? Do you? Oh, I don't. Oh, I don't. God
save us from being a lot in any way, shape, or form. Our Father, in the precious name
of Christ our Lord, thank you for your abundant mercy in preserving
us and keeping us. Lord, we read about these men
whose lives started so well and ended so bad. We say we want
to live to your glory and we want to honor you. And Lord,
let it just be empty words from us Let it be real. Let it be
true. Let it be made manifest. God,
we know that if it wasn't by your grace, the world would consume
us. Materialism would consume us.
Sin would just destroy us. So we ask you to preserve us,
work in us both to will and to do of your good pleasure. Lord,
put your fear in our hearts that we would never, by your grace,
turn away from you, that we would not let the world destroy us
or overcome us, that we wouldn't use the language that shouldn't
be used, that we wouldn't go places we shouldn't go, that
we should, our testimony, become a mockery to somebody. Save us
from such things, Lord. Save us from such things. Oh,
Lord, we throw ourselves on you, trusting you to keep us and preserve
us. Trouble me, trouble me, because I know what I'm capable of apart
from your grace. So keep us, keep us, keep us,
keep us. Preserve us for Christ's sake.
Amen. Amen.