We read in verse 28 of Luke chapter
17, likewise also as it was in the days of Lot. I've entitled this message, The
Days of Lot. Now the days of Lot were the
days preceding the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And that's
a literal event. where God actually caused fire
and brimstone to come down from heaven and wipe out that city
and all the regions round about it. It was a place that was known
for moral perversity and sin. It's just a horrible thing to
read about what took place in Genesis chapter 19. But you know
about everybody in any country where Quote, Christianity is
acknowledged. They've heard of Sodom and Gomorrah
and the destruction that took place as a result of the moral
perversity of that city. Now, years before this took place,
we have God's testimony of Sodom and Gomorrah. Would you turn
to Genesis chapter 13? Verse 12. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan,
and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent
toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked
and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." And notice that phrase, sinners
before the Lord. Sin's against God. All sin is
against God. And that's why it's so bad. God
is holy. God is righteous. All sin is
against him and no sin escapes his notice. He will punish all. Now you can just count on that. That's who God is. Shall not
the judge of the earth do right? And this is how God saw this
place. And how God sees something, that's
the way it is, isn't it? And he saw these men as sinners,
exceedingly wicked before himself. Now Sodom didn't know it, but
it owed its existence to Lot. You remember in Genesis 14, Lot
ended up settling in there and five different kings came and
carried everybody out of Sodom, including Lot and everybody.
Abraham comes back with 318 trained servants. I don't know how many
people there were, but they must have been something. Just 318 trained
servants, and they delivered all the people from Sodom. And
Abraham went after him because Lot, not because of the men of
Sodom, but because Lot was taken away. And so he was delivered. Now turn to Genesis chapter 14
for just a moment. Verse 17. Well, verse 14, and when Abram
heard that his brother was taken captive, Lot, he armed his trained
servants, born in his own house, 318, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against
them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued
them unto Hoba, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he
brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother,
Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. And the
king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the
slaughter of Chedorlamer, and of the kings that were with him
at the Valley of Sheba, which is in the Kingsdale. And Melchizedek,
king of Salem, we read about him in Hebrews 5 and Hebrews
7. And I don't have any doubt that this is a pre-incarnate
appearance of the Lord Jesus himself. The fact that he brought
in bread and wine to Abraham tells you that he prefigured
Christ. He didn't bring a sacrifice.
This is the Lord himself, Melchizedek. And Melchizedek, king of Salem,
brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the
Most High God. I love what Hebrew says about
him, without beginning or end, without mother or father, without
genealogy, having neither end of days or beginning of life,
made like unto the Son of God continually, King of Salem, King
of Righteousness, King of Peace. That's what the scripture says
about this man. Now, he blessed him. Abraham didn't bless Melchizedek. Melchizedek blessed him. And
I love the way the scripture points out without all contradiction,
the less is blessed of the greater. Melchizedek is the greater. He's
the Lord Jesus Christ. And blessed be Abram of the most
high God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the
most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.
And he gave him tithes of all. And the king of Sodom said unto
Abram, give me the persons and take the goods to thyself. And
Abram said to the king of Sodom, I lift up my hand unto the Lord,
the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth. and I won't
take from a thread, even to a shoe latchet. I won't take anything
that's thine, lest thou should say, I have made Abram rich.
Don't you love the way Abraham does this? He said, you can have
it all back. I don't want you to say, I made
Abraham rich. I don't want any of this stuff.
And he gave it all back. I admire that so much. Save only
that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of men
which went with me, Ahner, Eschol, and Mamre, let them take their
portion. The men of Sodom experienced
their temporal salvation through Lot. Now, what takes place is
14 years later, but Lot ends up living there and even becoming
a civic leader, because that's what is implied when he's sent
in the gate. He became some kind of civic
leader in Sodom. He had a political position of
some kind, was looked up to, I guess, in some measure. But
look in Genesis chapter 18, beginning in verse 16. And the men rose up from them
and looked toward Sodom, and Abram went with them to bring
them on the way. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham
that thing which I do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become
a great and a mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth
shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will
command his children in his household after him, and they shall keep
the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may
bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. Now that's
not talking about children like Aubrey being my child. or Eleanor
being your child. Because if that were the case,
we ought to be able to make sure our children are saved and obedient
and never do anything wrong. This is talking about Abraham's
spiritual children. This is talking about believers
who will obey the command of the gospel and they will believe.
So let's go on reading. Verse 20, and the Lord said,
because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because
their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they've
done altogether according to the cry of it, which is coming
to me. And if not, I'll know. And the men turned their faces
from thence and went toward Sodom. But Abraham stood before the
Lord. And Abraham drew near and said, Will thou also destroy
the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there'll be 50 righteous
within the city. Will that also destroy and not
spare the place for 50 righteous therein? That be it far from
thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the
wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked. That
be far from thee, shall not the judge of all the earth do right?
And the Lord said, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within
the city, then I'll spare all the place for their sakes. All
I gotta do is find 50 believers in this entire city, and I'll
spare them. And Abraham answered and said, Behold, now I've taken
upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes.
Peradventure, there shall be five of the fifty righteous,
like five of the fifty righteous. Wilt thou destroy all the city
for the like of five? And he said, If I find there
forty and five, I won't destroy it. And he spake unto him yet
again and said, Peradventure, there shall be forty found there.
He said, I'll not do it for forty's sake. And he said, And you know,
let not my Lord be angry, and I'll speak. Peradventure, there
be thirty found there. He said, I'll not do it for thirty.
And he said, behold, now I've taken on me to speak to the Lord.
Peradventure, there should be 20 found there. And he said,
I'll not destroy it for 20's sake. And he said, oh, let not
my Lord be angry, and I'll speak yet but once. Peradventure, 10
shall be found there. And he said, I'll not destroy
it for 10's sake. And the Lord went his way as
soon as he left, commuting with Abraham, and Abraham returned
unto his place. Now go back to Luke 17 for just
a moment and hold your finger there in Genesis 19, but go back
to Luke 17. Verse 28. Likewise also it was in the days
of Lot, they, the men of Sodom, did eat and they drank, sustaining
life. These are necessary things to
do. They bought and they sold. You know, your job, even if it's
a nonprofit job of some kind, still has something to do with
buying and selling. I mean, that's the way we make money. That's
the way we buy the food that we're going to eat and drink.
Everything's centered around buying and selling. This was
a part of their everyday life. Everything was going on. But
not only that, they planted and they built it. They were looking
toward the future, planning for the future, preparing food for
the future and building for the future, all these necessary building
projects. And they were, I mean, life was
going on. They woke up that day and started
working, started thinking about what was going to happen tomorrow.
They had no idea that there would be no tomorrow. You know, when
the Lord comes back, that's the way it'll be. Men will be eating
and drinking, they'll be going to their jobs, buying and selling,
doing important things, planting and building. Everything's going
to be just fine. And then all of a sudden the
Lord's going to come back just like that and it'll be over. The Lord tells us that. Now, there was a lot going on and
then this one event of destruction was going to occur, but it would
not occur until one singular event took place. Look in chapter
19, verse 22. Look what the angels say. Haste
thee, escape thither, speaking to Lot and his daughters and
wife, for I cannot, note that word, that's very important,
I cannot do anything till thou become out hither.
I cannot destroy this city as long as you're here. Now, why? Why? Because Lot was a righteous
man. God's judgment against sin can
never fall upon a righteous man. God is just. I love that statement
that Abraham made, shall not the judge of the earth do right. God's judgment can never fall
upon a righteous man. Now, the question that comes
to my mind is, how in the world is Lot righteous? Because if
you read the history of this man, in many respects, he's not
very impressive. And I'm not getting on him because
I don't see any difference between lotting me or lotting you. You
know, when he was lingering there in Sodom, how many times have
you and I lingered when we ought to be fleeing? I mean, I can't
look down my nose in any way at Lot, but yet the Bible says
he's a righteous man. Now, this is the same man who
seemed to be a very self-centered, selfish man. He chose the well-watered
plain. He removed himself from Abraham. He's the one who got into Lot,
Sodom, and got in trouble in the first place. It was his fault
he was there when he got carried off. You read the history of
this man, I mean, particularly there when God says, get out. And Lot lingered. He didn't want
to leave. He found something attractive
about being there. And he didn't want to be gone. And like I said, do you see where
you're any better than Lot? Or you're any different than
Lot? I really don't. I really don't. I look at Lot
and I don't think, boy, what a, he's terrible. No, he's me. He's you, Lot. Yet God says regarding
this man, through this angel, I cannot. He didn't simply say,
I will not. He said, I cannot destroy this
city until you're out of here because Lot was a righteous man. Look at God's testimony of him.
Turn to 2 Peter 2. I love Lot. Here's what God says about Lot.
Verse 5, He spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth
person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the
world of the ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an
example unto those that should after live ungodly, and delivered
just Lot. Justified Lot. Righteous Lot,
vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, for that righteous
man, dwelling among them and 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. Now
that's God's testimony of Lot. He calls him righteous, a righteous
soul, just Lot, godly. I can tell you how that can be.
The sin of Lot, and listen, this man was a sinful man like you
and I are. No different than us. The sin of Lot was transferred
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ bore
his sin and actually put it away so that it was no more. And just as truly as he bore
his sin, he takes his perfect glorious righteousness and it
becomes Lot's. Just as Lot's sin became Christ's
sin and that's why he died. He was forsaken by his father.
The obedience, the righteousness, the merits of the Lord Jesus
Christ literally become Lot's and he is a righteous man. Now this shows the power and
the reality of the gospel we believe. Lot, old Lot, is a righteous
man. That's God's testimony. And that's
God's testimony of every single believer. righteous, godly, a
righteous soul, a just man. Lot was a righteous man. He may
not have appeared very righteous to me or you, but he was. That's what God said. And the angel said, I can't destroy
this place until you are out of here. Now, let's look at the
beginning of this chapter, chapter 19. And there came two angels to
Sodom at even, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. And Lot, seeing
them, rose up to meet them. And he bowed himself with his
face toward the ground. And he said, Behold, now my lords
turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house and tarry all
night. 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. They were going to find out exactly
what was going on there. And he pressed upon them greatly.
And they turned in unto him. He talked them into coming into
their house, his house. And they entered into his house
and he made them a feast and did bake unleavened bread and
they did eat. But before they lay down, the
men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house
round, both old and young, all the people. From every quarter,
everybody heard about these men. What did they look like? I don't
know, but they were angels. But everybody in Sodom heard
about these men who had gone into Lot's house. And look what
they said, verse 5. And they called unto Lot, and
they said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee
this night? Bring them out unto us, that
we may know them. And you know what that means. It didn't mean they wanted to
get to meet him. It meant something a whole lot
worse than that. It was some kind of moral sexual perversion.
These men said, bring them out, that we might know them. Verse
six, and Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the
door after him. And he said, I pray you, brethren,
do not so wickedly. Behold, now I have two daughters,
which have not known man. Let me, I pray you, bring them
unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes. Only unto
these men do nothing, for therefore came they under the shadow of
my roof." Now, how in the world could you ever justify that?
He says, I'll bring you my daughters if you'll leave these men alone.
Look at the mess he got himself in from where he was at, where
he was so morally wrong in everything he was doing. Verse 9. And they said, stand back. And
they said again, this one fellow came to sojourn and he will need
to be a judge. All of a sudden he's judging
us and telling us what we're doing is wicked. Now we'll deal
worse with thee than with them. And they pressed sore upon the
man, even lot, and came near to break the door. But the men
put forth their hand and pulled Lot into the house to them and
shut the door. And they smote the men that were
at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great,
so that they wearied themselves finding the door. Imagine this
scene, all these hundreds of maybe thousands of people struck
blind. And the men said unto Lot, Hast
thou here any besides son-in-law or thy sons and thy daughters?
And whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this
place. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them
is waxing great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has
sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out and spake with
his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, Out,
get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city.
But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. Now I take
that that Lot had been so compromised that nobody could take anything
he said seriously. When he said this to his sons-in-law,
they thought, here he goes again. Can't pay attention to anything
he says. He seemed to them as one that mocked. Verse 15, and
when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying,
Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here,
lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while
he lingered. He looked around. He looked at
the people. He looked at the buildings. He
looked at the crops. He looked at all the things that
he'd done. And he thought, I don't want to leave this place. He
lingered. Maybe the Lord won't do this.
He lingered. He did not want to leave Sodom. He lingered. And while he lingered,
and once again, How many times have you and I
lingered when we should be fleeing? How many times? While he lingered, the men laid
hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon
the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto
him. Don't you want the Lord to do
that to you? To grab you by the hand and pull you out? The Lord
being merciful to him. Now, this is the first time mercy
is mentioned in the scripture. And if you want to know what
mercy is, here's what it is. Mercy isn't God offering near
you anything. He's not offering to do something
for us. Oh, God offers everybody mercy. No, he doesn't. Mercy
is not an offer. Mercy is God grabbing you by
the hand and pulling you out without asking your permission
to do it. That is sovereign mercy. Now, don't you want to have that
kind of mercy extended toward you? I sure do. I don't want
the Lord to leave me to myself. I don't want the Lord to allow
me to linger. If he sees me lingering, oh, I want him to grab me by
the hand and pull me out. I want him to grab me and bring
me into heaven. I want him to do it all. Now, this is mercy. Mercy isn't any offer. Well,
God is offering you mercy. If you do this, if you'll just
accept it, if you'll take it, if you'll do it, no. Mercy is
nothing like that. Mercy is God grabbing me by the
hand and pulling me out. God being merciful to me. Now, I wouldn't believe the gospel. I'd linger. I'd linger in the
world. I'd linger in false religion.
I'd linger. I know I would. I'd linger. I'd find reasons,
but oh, what mercy the Lord has demonstrated in grabbing me by
the hand and pulling me out. Isn't God's mercy glorious? Verse 17, And it came to pass,
when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape
for thy life. Look not behind thee, neither
stay thou in all the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest
thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, O not
so, my lord. Behold now, thy servant hath
found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy,
which thou hast shown unto me in saving my life. And I can't
escape to the mountain, lest some evil take upon me, and I
die." He's still all this fleshly, carnal scheming the whole time,
even after the Lord's done this for him. Behold now, this city
is near to flee into, and it's a little one. Oh, let me escape
thither. Is it not a little one, and my soul shall live? And he
said unto him, see, I've accepted thee concerning this thing also,
that I'll not overthrow the city for which thou hast spoken. Haste
thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything till thou become
thither. Therefore, the name of the city
was called Zoar. It couldn't be destroyed as long
as Lot was there. Now verse 23, the sun was risen
upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar, Then the Lord rained
upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord
out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities
and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and
that which grew upon the ground. And this is something that actually
took place. And if you go to that region, There's evidence
of fire and brimstone and a great destruction. I mean, it's geologically
there. Now, I don't, that's not what
makes me believe it. I believe because the Bible says that. And I even
hesitate to say, well, you can prove it. You don't need to prove
anything in scripture. So it's all true. But still in that region,
you can tell that this actually did take place filled with sulfur.
And it even has a particular smell about it where this took
place. Verse 26, but his wife looked
back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt. We're
going to be considering that the next time where the Lord
said, remember Lot's wife. She looked back. And Abraham
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 beheld, and lo, the smoke
of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace." Now, can
you imagine Abraham looking at that? He'd ask the Lord, will
you spare that place if there are ten righteous people there? Ten believers. There weren't
even ten. And he thought, God's just. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? He was scared. was thankful that he'd been delivered.
But there he's looking at it. Now verse 29. Now here we have
the gospel in a type. Verse 29. And it came to pass
when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered
Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst
of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities into which Lot dwelt. Now, why did God deliver Lot? Did he deliver Lot because Lot
was sorry for his sin? Did he deliver Lot because Lot
promised he would never do any of that stuff again? Did he deliver
Lot because Lot said, I repent and I believe? There's only one
reason why God delivered Lot. He remembered Abraham and delivered
Lot. God remembers Christ and he delivers me. Now, beloved,
that's the gospel. Ephesians chapter four, verse
32 says, be ye kind. tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God, what next? For Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. It didn't say God forgave you
because you were sorry or because you asked him to have mercy on
you or because you promised to straighten up your life. He forgave
you for this one singular reason. for Christ's sake. But what a
glorious reason that is. And Lot was delivered for one
reason, Abraham, which gives us this beautiful picture of
the gospel. I am delivered for one reason,
for Christ's sake. Now, the very justice, now listen
to this. Remember how the angel said to Lot, we can't destroy
this place until we get you out of that. The very justice of
God demands my salvation. The very holiness and righteousness
of God demands my salvation. See, the judge of the earth is
going to do right. I'm a righteous man. Just like Lot was. Lot really was righteous. God
made him so. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. The very justice and righteousness
of God demanded the deliverance of Lot. God's wrath could not
come down on that place as long as a righteous man was there.
So Lot had to be removed. before that could take place. I love that scripture in first
John chapter one, verse nine, where it says, if we confess
our sins, may God give me and you the grace
to do that. That doesn't mean confess them
all because you don't know what most of them are. And there's
not enough time in the day for you to do that. If you were to
confess every sin you ever committed, Couldn't be done. What this means
more than anything else is you take sides with God against yourself. And you agree with everything
He says. Whatever He says, yes Lord, I
agree. I agree. If we confess our sins,
the scripture says He is faithful and just. Now, I would say he's merciful
and gracious, but that's not what the Bible says. It says
he's faithful and just. You see, he's faithful to what
his son has done. And he's just. When he forgives
my sins, it's because justice demands my complete deliverance.
He's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. So the salvation of Lot demonstrates
the salvation of the sinner. He saved wholly for somebody
else's sake. He saved for Christ's sake. And
I find such joy in that. I'm plumb satisfied to be saved
that way, aren't you? I'm plumb satisfied to be saved
wholly for Christ's sake. And I know the only reason I'm
saved is for Christ's sake. And I like it that way. I prefer
it that way. That's the way I want it to be.
I want to be saved wholly for Christ's sake. And I want to
be just like Olot where God was merciful to him and took him
by the hand while he was lingering and pulled him out. Now here
we have the gospel demonstrated. That's God's grace. That's God's mercy. That's how
God saves a sinner. What would happen to you if God
left you to yourself? Do you know that all God has to do is
leave me or you alone? And there's no telling what would
happen. I'm sure of that. But he was
saved wholly for Christ's sake. Now, after Lot went out, look
back in Luke 17. Verse 28, likewise also as it
was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought,
they sold, they planted, they built it. But the same day, that
lot went out of Sodom. It rained fire and brimstone
from heaven and destroyed them all. The Lord is talking about
this as a literal event that took place that very same day. Even thus shall it be in the
day when the Son of Man is revealed. Oh my, what a blessed thing when
the Son of Man is revealed. uncovered. You're made to see
who He is. Matthew 11, 25, the Lord said,
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
you've hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. And then in Matthew 11, 27, He
said, No man knows the Father, For no man knows the Son, saith
the Father, neither knows any man the Father, saith the Son,
and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." What a blessed
thing it is to have Christ revealed, uncovered to where you can see
His glory, you can see His sufficiency, you can see He's all that is
needed. The Lord said in Matthew chapter
16 to His disciples, whom do men say that I am? And they said,
well, some say John the Baptist, some say Jeremiah, one of the
prophets. They put you in some high places. And he said, but
whom say ye that I am? And Peter answered, thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona.
Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to thee, but my Father,
which is in heaven. Now, what a blessed thing it
is to have him revealed. But you know, the day is coming
upon his return where everybody will see. Everybody will see. Everybody will know just who
he is. We considered this a few weeks ago. The second coming
of Christ. Now, when our Lord returns, I
love to think about this. John says, Behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. Therefore, the world knows us
not because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and in death not yet appear what we shall be, but
we know that when He shall appear, we'll be like Him. For we shall
see Him as He is. One view of Him will perfectly
conform every believer to His very image. You won't even remember
what it's like to be a sinner anymore. You'll be perfect. Now there's a great group who
are going to be so rejoicing at his return. And there's another
group that will be crying out, mountains and rocks fall on us
and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne
and the wrath of the lamb. Well, that's the wrath of the
lamb. Have you ever thought about that
phrase? The wrath of the lamb. We don't usually think of a lamb
as wrathful, but that's what the scripture says. Hide us from
the wrath of the lamb. Now, this will be a day and time
of judgment, the justification of the righteous and the condemnation
of the wicked. When we think of Sodom and Gomorrah, we think of moral perversity.
But I'd like to close with this scripture in Matthew chapter
11. Would you turn with me there? Verse 23. And thou, Capernaum, which are
exalted unto heaven. Now, Capernaum is the place where
Christ did many of his miracles, preached many messages, and these
people were privileged to hear the Son of God preach. And I
want us to think about how privileged we are right now to hear the
gospel preached. What a privilege. What a blessing. But look what he says to these
people. And thou, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven,
shalt be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which
have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until
this day. But I say unto you that it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment
than for thee. Now, you think of these men of
Sodom. Bring them out that we might
know them, the moral perversity of these men. And Christ says,
these men will have it better on judgment day than you. Better. Because you've heard
the gospel and not believed. That is a whole lot worse than
the stuff going on in Sodom. To hear the gospel of Christ
and to not believe. Oh, may the Lord deliver us from
that. I want to be somebody who hears the gospel and believes. Can I believe? You're commanded
to. You're commanded to believe the
gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Let's pray.