In this sermon, the speaker focuses on Genesis 19:17 and its relevance to the destruction of the nations. The speaker mentions that there have been five messages on this verse, with two already covered at the Lazy Dog Ranch. The sermon includes a digression about the speaker's sleepless night and his thoughts on the book of Daniel. The speaker emphasizes the importance of not conforming to the world and highlights a practice of putting fake smiles on corpses at funerals. The sermon concludes with a discussion of Daniel 4:23 and its connection to the destruction of the Gentiles.

Y'all are going to have to wait to eat now. The only one not with us is Marguerite. Y'all just remember her. They've had kind of a tragedy today. But she says she's going to be coming back, and that would be really good. I hate for her to miss this opportunity for what we're going to be continuing to enjoy. Let's just pray for a second here, and then we'll get back to these messages Arlen has brought us. Father, thank you so much for this weekend and for every person who's here in this room today. Thank you for your grace to us. Thank you for mercy to hear your word, and to be here in an environment where this message of your kingdom is being spoken to us. Lord, bless us with a hearing heart, that we would receive this implanted word which is able to save our souls. We haven't come here today to have our ears tickled, Lord, but we're here to have our spirits quickened and enlivened in us, that the word would operate in us effectively, and you would speak to each one of us in a personal way. We thank you so much for this opportunity and for the cleansing of your precious blood. We give you the honor and the praise that you deserve, and ask that you would just be with Arlen as he comes to your word and make this a living word, and speak exactly what's on your heart to us, Lord. We love you and we want to take full opportunity for this time you're giving us to be in your word, which is a living word. Lord, bless this time and have your way. In your name we pray this. Amen. Now we get to hear Arlen for a couple more messages, and then we'll eat again this evening. We'll have a break in between. We've got a long afternoon, but it should be a really good time. No build-up introduction? It's all right. It's all right. I can back up and rewind that. We've got another sooner sitting right here. If anybody sees an NASB Bible, I could use it. Oh, there it is. All right, be turning in your Bibles to Genesis 19, 17. All five messages have to do with this verse. There are five parts to the verse. We've had two of them at the Lazy Dog Ranch. I was looking over to be sure I had it right. It's on Arlen's shirt over near Barksdale. This will be the third one. I'll be recapping some things we covered over there. Some of you were not there, and I would probably recap anyway, even if we had the same crowd. I like to repeat. After a while, people will get the message if you repeat it enough. Well, maybe I should rephrase that. They should get the message if you repeat it enough. Sometimes, or maybe many times, they don't. They just listen, and it goes in one ear, out the other, and on we go with that. Genesis 18, 19. We're right in the middle of an account. Or 1918, I'm sorry. 1917. I'll get it right in a little bit. 1917. We're right in the middle of an account dealing with Abraham and Lot, three men coming down and meeting Abraham out in the high country. One of the men was the Lord Himself. The other two angels that went on down into Sodom. We'll get into that in a little bit. But we're picking up right in the middle of this account when it's time to leave. 1917. And it came to pass when they had brought them forth abroad that He said, Escape for thy life, or escape for thy soul. You could translate it either way. Don't look back. Don't stay in the plain. Escape to the mountain. If you don't, you'll be consumed. Those are the five parts. I've somewhat ad-libbed a little bit, but I've said the same thing as the text. Let me just read it as the King James reads. Escape for thy life. Look not behind thee. Neither stay thou in all the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. That associated with the plain has to do with the present world system. That associated with the mountain has to do with the coming world system. Present and the present age, the coming age. Present time, coming time. The day of man, the day of the Lord. Present era, coming era. The present era, man's day. The coming era, the messianic era. The Lord's day. And the contrast between the two, seen here, between the plain and the mountain. There are two major times that the Lord called attention to. One was during Lot's day, but a time prior to that, during Noah's day. As it was in the days of Noah. As it was in the days of Lot. Now I'm calling attention to these verses out of Luke 17. For the simple reason that during Noah's day, we moved into the same era that we see during Lot's day. And that is a time at the end of this present dispensation, moving on into the tribulation and moving on into the messianic era itself. You didn't know all of that was back in Genesis, did you? Well, I know that all of you did. I'm just somewhat stating a fact in the form of a question that is so prevalent within Christendom today. They want to look for, say, the thousand years in Revelation 20. They say this is the only place that the thousand years are mentioned. Well, it's as Nathaniel West had to say in his book on the thousand years. If the thousand years are not in Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets, they have no right to be in John. Now when we talk about the thousand years, of course, we're talking about the coming messianic era. You began a study on dealing with the end time things, or dealing with the present dispensation, leading into the end time events, leading into the messianic era. You began a study of this in Genesis, not in the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is a capstone. It has a base. Everything in the book of Revelation has a base in the Old Testament. So again, let me go back to as it was in the days of Noah. They did eat, they drank, they planted, built, married wives, given in marriage, until the time came when things changed. I don't want an audible answer. Someone might give the wrong answer. Since we're talking about the days of Noah, how long was Noah in building the ark? Think about that a little bit. Almost every time people give the wrong answer to that question, they say, well, he was 120 years building the ark. Well, the 120 years in Genesis 6 is not connected with the building of the ark. Noah's sons were grown and married at the time God appeared to him and told him to build an ark. And you will find that they were very close to the same age, and they were in the vicinity of 100 at the time of the flood. Now, if they were grown and married at the time God appeared to Noah and informed him concerning the impending destruction, gave him instructions concerning the ark, and, well, Noah was 500 years old, begat, and he was 600 years old at the time of the flood. How can you get 120 years to say pigeonhole into that? You see, some of this thinking, you have to go back and take a look and see what Scripture has to say. And I'm calling that to your attention, because later on, I believe it's in this study, that I'm going to call your attention to something in Genesis 8 that almost everyone seems to be wrong on, and that is the ark settling on Mount Ararat. They're going over there looking for something that's not there and so forth. We'll get to that in a little bit. But as it was in the days of Noah, certain course of action followed during those days, and the course of action given in Luke 17 was just normal everyday activities like is happening out there today. Now, there was something special about the days of Noah and the days of Lot, where we had an intermarriage of, that is, during the days of Noah, an intermarriage of the sons of God. These would be angelic beings. They took wives from the female lineage of Adam. And the result of that intermarriage, which apparently had gone on for centuries, it didn't start during Noah's day. It seemed to have started not too long, well, during the days of Adam. Adam lived 930 years. The flood was, if you follow biblical chronology, 1656 years following the creation of Adam. It began, apparently, far back in the early years of man. By the time of Noah, almost the entire human race had been corrupted by this intermixture. This appeared to be Satan's way of destroying man whom God had brought forth to rule the earth in his stead. One attempt. Another way of looking at that. It would be an attempt to prevent Israel, which was yet to appear on the scene. It would appear through Shem. I'll be talking about Shem in a little bit. I believe it's also in this study. It would be a way to prevent the Messiah from appearing through Shem. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob's 12 sons appearing out of the tribe of Judah. The Savior. It would be a way of preventing redemption. It would be a way of all put together, destroy man or prevent his redemption. By all means, man must be stopped, else man will eventually, ultimately replace Satan. This is why Satan's attack is directed toward Christians today, toward the nation of Israel. He can't touch Messiah. Messiah is at the right hand of God. But he can touch those upon the earth. I'm really getting a little bit away from my study. But we're talking about things that would be of interest. But things continued as they were until the day that Noah entered into the ark. And all at once things changed. I mean, people have the idea that things are going on and on and on. And there'll be no change. This is the ideology behind dating things through different methods. That they're uniformitarianism. That there has never been a change. And they carry this back. But they fail to recognize that at the time of the flood, conditions were entirely different before that time. And I believe we'll probably talk about that a little bit as we work our way on through. In fact, I'm going to deal in this study quite a bit with the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Now, the days of Lot. You had a little bit different situation aside from the fact that normal everyday activity. They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. Until a certain thing happened. Two angels appeared. Lot seated at the gate of the city. And the two angels later, after men surrounded the house that Lot had. Let me say this first. Lot had urged these two angels to come into the safety of his house. They said, no, we'll abide in the street through the night. He urged them to come inside his house. He knew what had been happening on the street. He apparently knew that these were angels. These men who had come around the house. They were trying to break the door down. They wanted these two angels in a bad way. In order that they might, as scripture states, know them. Which is a way to state that they might have homosexual activity with these two angels. Now, as I pointed out last night, I believe it was. They had one another. Why would they want these two angels so badly? Well, you can only surmise. You read in the book of Jude that they had been going after strange, a different type of flesh. They had been having homosexual relationships with angels. And you can only surmise that there was something about that that far exceeded, say, a homosexual relationship with another man. And they so wanted to have relations with these angels that they were going to break the door down to get to them. Now, that's all I'm going to say about that. We don't want to get off into that type of activity and hear enough of that. You can see enough of that in the newspapers and so forth. You're not going to see it on this scale. But if you carry the ideology of what took place and brought about the flood. What took place and brought about the destruction of the cities of the plain. On into the end time. That is, as it was during the days of Noah. As it was during the days of Lot. Apparently, there's going to be a repetition of that on this earth in the end times. And it seems, in fact, Scripture in so many words states that the man of sin will be of this lineage. Those ruling with him will be of this lineage. Which means that it must already have taken place or be taking place. And it will reach its full fruition during the coming tribulation. But again, the days of Lot, just like the days of Noah. Life going on and on. And all at once these two angels appear and they announce inside Lot's house. You get out of this place. We're going to destroy it. And the impending destruction didn't take long. I mean, it was that very, the very day or the very next day. They were at, during the night. And they pulled Lot, his wife, his two virgin daughters out of that city. They took them out by force, set them on the outside. And the two angels destroyed that city. And it also states that the Lord destroyed that city because these angels were acting under fixed laws. And so acting, their actions became the Lord's actions. It's stated both ways. So, you can reconcile through that means why you have it stated as such. This is the way the Lord rules the universe. He rules it through angels. He governs an entire universe. And these angels acting under fixed laws, their actions become his actions because he's the one who fixed the laws. This is where Satan went wrong. He sought to exalt his throne and himself be as God. Today he is the God of this age. So what can you say about concerning what's about to happen relative to this world? We can only be living at one point. We can be living very near the time that these two angels appeared in Genesis 18 and 19. We can be living very near the time that Noah and his sons finished the ark. They were about to enter. We're just about at the point where he entered the ark. We're just about at the point where the angels pull them out. What happens after in either story? It's destruction. By a flood in the former, by fire in the latter. But the thing is the world system in both instances was destroyed. And then you have a new beginning following the destruction of the world system. You can see that in the account in Genesis 18 and 19. We'll get to that later when we get probably to the last message. You can see that very easy in the account of Noah and the flood. We'll get to that in this lesson. Now the days of Noah, I'm going to leave the days of Noah and Lot in just a moment, but I want to point this out. The days of Noah have to do specifically with Israel and the destruction of the nations. See it's Noah, it's Enoch taken out before, and then Noah goes through. Enoch points to or typifies Christians being taken out before the time of trouble. Then Noah points to or typifies Israel going through the time of trouble in a place of safety. All the rest destroyed. He and his sons out on the other side. Then a new beginning in chapter 9. Now the days of Lot are a little bit different. The emphasis are upon Christians. Not Israel so much as seen in the former, but upon Christians. And when you put these two types together, you have the complete story. And as the destruction has to do with the nations in the former, that is dealing with the days of Noah, destruction has to do with the nations in the latter, dealing with the days of Lot. In either case, the nations are destroyed. Now I want to digress a little bit. Not necessarily digress, but I had a little bit of a lumpy mattress last night. I slept only about half the night. It's all right. It resulted in a good cause. When I can't sleep, I start running things through my mind. And what I did last night when I couldn't sleep, the nearest thing I could run through my mind was the previous study that we had had and some thoughts out of the book of Daniel. So let's go back to something that I was thinking about last night. Turn to the book of Daniel chapter 4. Since we're talking about the destruction of the cities of the plain or the destruction of the world outside of the ark in Noah's day, I want to show you something from the book of Daniel. And we really dealt with this in the study last night, but I didn't deal with it in the respect that I want to show you now. In fact, I hadn't really thought that much about this, but it's there in black and white, and it's not something that we're just saying, well, you're seeing something here. No, no, I'm not seeing something. The book of Daniel, now bear in mind, the whole book of Daniel deals with the times of the Gentiles from the days of Nebuchadnezzar to the end of the times of the Gentiles some 2,600 years later, right out ahead of us during the days of Antichrist during the tribulation. It starts around 605 B.C., and you want a date on the end? Hey, you'd like me to give one, wouldn't you? We'll let that go. It's somewhere right out ahead. The church will be removed in Daniel's 70th week, and the times of the Gentiles at the end of Daniel's 70th week will terminate. And it will terminate exactly as seen during Noah's day and during Lot's day. It's going to terminate suddenly, swiftly, and the times of the Gentiles will be wiped out of existence, but the Gentiles won't be wiped out of existence. And that's what I want to show you here in the book of Daniel. Now, in Daniel 4, in verse 23, we're starting in the middle of a story. Maybe I want to start a little bit earlier. Let me look back just a minute. Let me read a couple of verses before that. Verse 17 will suffice. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, the demand by the word of the holy ones, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. Now, it has to do with a man in low degree, not a base person, so to speak, but a person of low degree as opposed to a person of high standing, so to speak. Now, Nebuchadnezzar failed to recognize that the Most High ruled in the kingdom of men. Going down to verse 23, And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, destroy it, yet leave the stump and roots thereof. The tree has to do with a national power in Scripture. He's talking about the kingdom of Babylon. In verse 24, this is the interpretation of the king. This is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my Lord the king. They shall drive thee from men, thy dwelling, He's talking about Nebuchadnezzar because he failed to recognize that the Most High ruled in the kingdom of men, which I believe we're about to read. They shall drive thee from men, thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen. They shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times, seven years, shall pass over thee till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. Now, let me stop right there. Who placed Nebuchadnezzar in power? The Lord did. The Lord states specifically that He placed her in power. Let me give you something a little bit far out. If we have a president who's a lady in New York State come into power, who is going to put that woman in power? God's going to put her in power. And that has to be recognized, and she has to be respected in that sense. Now, let me go a little bit beyond that. She would be the Lord's anointed because she occupies that position. Satan's the Lord's anointed today. I'm not comparing her with Satan. Some would. But you're not to speak evil of the Lord's anointed. So we're not to speak evil of Satan and so forth. But I'm just bringing that out as kind of a far-out illustration of how the powers that exist, they're placed there by the Lord. When the Lord sees fit to remove them, He will remove them. Now, pick up in verse 26. We're going to do quite a bit of reading. In fact, I'll probably read the whole rest of the chapter. I assume we're in no hurry. This may run a little bit over an hour. I hadn't planned on all of this, so don't worry. Nobody wants to get anywhere. In verse 26, And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree, Note, the roots and all are not going to be taken out. The stump's going to be left. The tree roots. Thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee. After that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. I'll tell you, going down to verse 30. Let me see if I'm... No, let's just read continuous. Let's not leave a part of the word out. Verse 27. Wherefore, O King, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee. Break off thy sins by righteousness, thine iniquity by showing mercy to the poor, if it might be a linking of thy tranquility. All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months, he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built? For the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, for the honor of my majesty. Boy, look at this man. No wonder he's about to take a tumble. Verse 31. While the word was in the king's mouth. Now note, he had ruled for years and years and years. He had been allowed to go over and take the Israelites captive. While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken. The kingdom is departed from thee. Exactly like in the days of Noah. Exactly like in the days of Lot. Exactly like it will occur out ahead. It's talking about Gentile world power. In the book of Daniel. Bringing this to an end. I want to talk a little about Gentile world power before I get away from it, to tell you why it even exists. In verse 32. They shall drive thee from men, thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times, seven years, are going to pass over you until you know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever He will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar. And he was driven from men, did eat grass as oxen, his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers, his nails like bird's claws. At the end of the days. Note that expression, at the end of the days. Just hold your place there and look at the last verse in Daniel. See what that's talking about. At the end of the days. Daniel 12, 13. But go thy way till the end be, for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot. When? At the end of the days. We're talking about at the end of man's day. We're talking about out in the Messianic era. At the end of the days. In verse 34, At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, mine understanding returned unto me. Here's a Gentile leader. He has been removed from power. The power of Gentile world power, in other words, has been broken. It's been done away with. He's been removed. It's been obliterated. That is, the Gentiles remain, but the power broken, driven out into the field. And after he is restored, note what he says. I blessed the Most High. I praised and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, His kingdom from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou? At the same time, my reason returned to me, the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned to me, my counselors, my Lord sought unto me, I was established in my kingdom, excellent majesty was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth and all His ways judgment, and those that walk in pride He is able to abase. What's this talking about? Alright, let me tell you something. Let me talk a little about Gentile world power. Why the Gentiles are in power and what's about to happen out ahead. The Israelites were called into existence to be placed in a land within a theocracy, rule over the nations, and the nations be blessed through them. God gave them a code of laws, rules, regulations. If they disobeyed, let's say if they obeyed first. If they obeyed, then He would do in accord with that as He called them into existence, in accord with His calling them into existence. Let's put it that way. I was kind of at a loss for words there for a moment. But, if they disobeyed, He would uproot them from the land and do just the opposite. In fact, they would be driven out among those whom they were to rule over and blessed. The opposite would occur. They would be uprooted from their land. Their land would be desolated. They would be driven out among the nations. And He drove them out among the nations for a reason. That is, after they disobeyed. I won't go into the whole story. Israel didn't obey. They disobeyed over centuries of time. And finally, their cup of iniquity became full. God allowed the Assyrians to come down and take the northern ten tribes. Nebuchadnezzar to come over and take the southern two tribes, 8th and 7th centuries. Take them into captivity. That's where they've been since that time. I know remnants have returned. A couple of instances in history. One in modern times, but neither form the restoration spoken of in Scripture for a number of reasons. The reason that God has them out among the Gentiles is to allow Gentile persecution to bring Israel to the place of repentance in order that He might restore them. They might obey. And He might bless the nations through them. It's during the tribulation that Israel is going to be brought to this place through the extremity of Gentile persecution. Cry out unto God. God will hear. Answer. He will send a Deliverer, namely the person whom Moses typified. He will send His Son back to the nation. A nation will be born in a day. He will regather the nation in belief, not in unbelief. He will gather the nation after repentance, not before repentance. That will tell you something about the remnants that are back there today. They are back in unbelief before repentance. It can have nothing to do with the restoration spoken of in Scripture and God removing them from their land, placing them out among the Gentiles. Thus, God is using the Gentile nations to effect His purpose. Once His purpose has been accomplished, He is going to destroy the Gentile nations. One reason He will destroy the Gentile nations, perhaps the main reason, will be because the outworking of Genesis 12.3 cannot be voided. The principles set forth in Genesis 12.3 will have to be worked out relative to, say, the nations in Israel. The nations mistreating Israel. Therefore, what does Genesis 12.3 say? I will bless them that bless thee, curse them that curse thee. Talking about Abraham and his lineage through Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's twelve sons. But once God destroys the nation, it's exactly as in Daniel 4. This is what I was looking at last night as I was lying there wondering why I wasn't going to sleep. I knew why I wasn't going to sleep. The bed made kind of a curve, but that's alright. Again, I came on to some interesting thoughts. The nations just exactly as seen in the book of Daniel will not be wiped out of existence, but Gentile world power will be destroyed. But after that, the nations will know exactly who Israel is. It's turned to a verse in Zechariah 8. I want to show you how the nations will look upon Israel in that day. And then you can understand why Nebuchadnezzar said what he said pointing to the Gentile nations out in the Messianic era after Israel has been restored. In Zechariah 8, read verse 13 first. And it shall come to pass that as you were a curse among the Gentiles, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong. Now go down to verse 20. Is there any question about what verse 13 is saying? God is talking about Israel, and He is going to one day deliver Israel. Go on down to verse 20. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, It shall come to pass that there shall come people and the inhabitants of many cities. And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Now this is during the Messianic era after Israel has been delivered. One shall say to another, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts. I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Washington, D.C., and to pray before the Lord. That is what it says, isn't it? Shall come to seek the Lord of hosts. There's only one city that the Bible recognizes in the respect of spiritual blessings. That's the city placed at the center of the earth. All directions are relative to this city. This is the city connected with Israel. They'll come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem to pray before the Lord. Now here's the verse I want you to see specifically. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, In those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all the languages of the nations. Now are we talking about ten men literally? Note that ten is the number of ordinal completion. We're talking about all the nations of the earth. These Gentile nations. Gentile world power has been destroyed. Now Gentile world power, exactly like Nebuchadnezzar at the end of Daniel 4, looks upon matters a totally different way. And here's the way Zachariah describes Gentile world power in that day. In other words, ten men, pointing to men out of all the nations of the earth, shall take hold, that is, take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. See, in that day, the Gentile nations will know why Israel was taken into captivity. They will know why God restored Israel. They will know that Israel has been restored in order that God might bless them through Israel. And in that day, things will be that is the attitude toward the Jew will be just the opposite of what it is today. The Jew is looked upon in the same sense as certain other races that people talk of in a low degree. They're somewhat all classed together. The Jew classed among them. In other words, there's racism. The Jew is looked upon in a low sense. Jews are prohibited from entering into certain areas, banned from certain groups today. The Gentiles, in many respects, don't want to have anything to do with them, on and on and on. But in that day, conditions will be just the opposite. The Gentile can't get to the Jew fast enough. They will know who the Jew is. They will know from which blessings flow. And that's what's seen in Daniel 4, by Nebuchadnezzar being driven out. And it's interesting that he was driven out for seven years to eat grass, because seven years yet remain. But again, seven is a complete number just as ten is a complete number. There may be no correlation between the two, but like I say, it's an interesting thing that you have seven there and seven right out ahead. The Gentiles, during the coming seven years, will experience, in a respect, things very similar to that which Nebuchadnezzar experienced. Being driven out, awaiting, they're being brought to the point where they recognize that the most high rules in the kingdom of man recognize the Jew, etc. Let me say this before we go on, something of a little bit light note. Leonard Ravenhill, who died a number of years ago, he was an evangelist that lived in East Texas. For some reason, and I don't even know the start of it, he and I began corresponding a little bit. Leonard Ravenhill was, at that time, oh, this was maybe 20, 25 years ago, it would be about 20 years ago. He was in his near 80 years old. He died not too many years after we were corresponding. And Leonard Ravenhill, in one letter, he would ask me kind of somewhat of a question, not really expecting an answer. Sometimes I would respond, sometimes I wouldn't, just kind of a light-hearted question. He was kind of a jokester in a way. I sent him a question one time, and I said, I asked this, and I didn't expect him to answer, but he did. And the question was, if God treated Christians today as He treated Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 4, and drove them out into the fields for failure to recognize that the most high ruled in the kingdom of men, how many of them you think would be driven out in the field? And his response was, quote, there wouldn't be enough grass in the world. That was it. That's all he said. Just like A. Edwin Wilson, just a one-liner. Wouldn't be enough grass in the world to feed them. Now we have salvation or destruction associated with our study. Salvation is seen on deliverance from the plain, destruction on staying in the plain. Now we have two instances we dealt with over in Barksdale. With a deliverance from the cities, a destruction from the cities, we're still dealing with that. But I call attention to that because I pointed out a lot being delivered along with his wife, his two virgin daughters. And one of the commands in Genesis 19, 17 is, don't look back. Now Lot's wife looked back. You see, and no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Now the command which follows that is, don't stay in the plain. That's what we're looking at today. Don't look back. Lot's wife forms a perfect example of what happens when a person looks back. They're delivered from the destruction, but that associated with the mountain. They have nothing to do with it. They're told to escape to the mountain. Lot forms an example of what we're dealing with today. He looked over and he saw a little city by the name of Zor. Lot, that is the Lord, had told him to escape to the mountain. Go out to the high country. But he looked over and saw this little city. It's one of the cities of the plain. Four other cities were destroyed. The Lord spared this city for Lot. Lot said, can I go over there? Now Lot's still in the plain. What was he commanded? He was commanded to get out of the plain, but he wanted to stay in the plain. Therefore, his wife forms one example of an individual overthrown. Lot forms another example of an individual overthrown relative to these five parts of the verse. The part we're looking at now, looking at during this study. Get out of the plain. Don't stay in the plain. But Lot stayed in the plain. The Lord allowed him to go to Zor. Now when Lot got to Zor, he started looking around and he was afraid to dwell in Zor. He saw all of this, the smoke going up from these other cities. And he was afraid to stay there. You would have to draw an inference. Apparently the same thing was happening in Zor that brought about the destruction of these other cities. And then Lot got out of there and headed for the mountain. But where do you find Lot out on the mountain? You don't find Lot standing before the Lord. You find Lot in a cave and you also find Lot in a place of shame, later having his two daughters bearing children by their father. Now if a person remains in the plain and gains the whole world, where is the prophet? That's out of Matthew 16. The world and all that is therein is going to pass away. The only prophet is connected with getting out. That is true prophet. Now there is prophet on both sides. Bear in mind that you can profit through gaining the best of what this world has to offer. But what is going to happen to that prophet out ahead? In 1 Corinthians 3, there are two types of fruit. Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and stubble. That is, fruit is described the form of fruit or an individual can bring forth profit, bring forth fruit relative to this present world. But what is it likened to in 1 Corinthians 3? It's not likened to gold, silver and precious stones. It would be likened to wood, hay or stubble. But a person looking out away from this world, looking out to the mountain, bearing fruit in an entirely different sphere. You see, not likened to wood, hay or stubble, but likened to gold, silver or precious stones. You have these contrasts, these two different places, two different spheres. There is no middle ground. You have this all through Scripture. A person can save his soul, he can lose his soul. It has nothing to do with his eternal life. Abraham, already out in the high country, every lot delivered from the cities, they're all removed. One loses his soul, the other saves his soul. But both saved individuals. Now let me change gears just a little bit and talk about something directly related. Turn to Romans 12. I want to read a verse there. I want to talk about the metamorphosis and the metaschema. Those are two Greek words. The metamorphosis has to do with an inward change. The metaschema has to do with an outward change. Now I can break down the word metaschema for you so you can perhaps understand it metamorphosis. I'm not going to try to break that down. Both start with the Greek word meta, which means with. The schema has to do, our English word schematic comes from it. It's with a schematic. You put these words together. And within context, it's talking about outlining, diagramming, schematizing, I guess that's a word, I'm not sure, but outlining, allowing your life to be conformed to this present world. It's an outward change. You see these people that put on the fake smile. I've never liked people that do that. In fact, you go back some, oh let's see, 1970, that takes you back 35 years. Some of you would be old enough and attended a funeral back in that era. And you could remember that even the funeral homes were putting smiles on the corpse, pulling their lips up and making the guy, can you imagine that? Here's a guy, here's a guy just stretched out there in a cough and he's dead. I mean there's nothing there but a body. The guy's gone. I mean his soul and spirit are gone. They're not there. It's just the body. Blood's been drained from the body. They pumped all of this fluid in there, this embalming fluid. And the guy is sitting there smiling. I mean that is weird. But they did that for a while. And I guess people may have complained, I wouldn't have wanted a family member done that way. I wouldn't want, I just didn't like it. I imagine they got away from it pretty quick. But that's a little different in a respect than some of these fake smiles you get these days. People putting on, this is what's called a metaskema, an outward choke. On the inside they're probably saying I want to kill that guy but I'm going to smile anyway. You know, there's one lady here, I won't call attention to who she is, but she does live up kind of on the other side of the river. It's what you see from her is what you get. You don't necessarily, you may not get a smile. She's not going to put on a fake smile. I know that. You might get a little bit of a smile. But now, you sit down and talk with her a little bit, and she'll smile. You see something a little bit different. You're seeing the inner coming out and that's the metamorphosis that I'm talking about. And in Romans, I said Romans. Yeah, it's Romans. Actually, let me get over there. I've been talking and haven't turned. Acts, Romans. Romans 12. Note the first two verses. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. That's verse 2 I want to get into. Verse 1 has to do with a living sacrifice. Your body is to be placed on the altar. It's not to be placed there and then taken from, placed there, taken from. It's to be placed there and left there. That's the idea behind a sacrifice. In other words, I believe it's in the Baptist circles. I know they do it probably in other circles. They talk about rededication of life. Well, there's no such thing, really. If you're talking about rededication, if you transfer that over to sacrifice, you're talking about taking the sacrifice back and placing the sacrifice back on. No, you dedicate. You place the sacrifice. And there's really no such thing in Scripture as removing that sacrifice or rededication, so to speak. You might just tumble that around and give it some thought. In verse 2, but be not conformed to this world. Now, this is a word from Metaskema. It's an outward show. Don't be conformed to this world, but be ye... Now, here's the word metamorphosis. The first is an outward change. The second is an inward change. Forget the outward change. Don't pattern your life after this world. But be ye transformed. Something the world knows nothing about. It's an inward change. And how is it done? By the renewing of your mind. Well, what's that talking about? We'll get to it in just a minute. Scripture doesn't leave you in the dark to self-interpret what is meant by that. I'll call your attention to a verse in Colossians 3. We'll look at it in just a minute. That you may prove that it is really learned by experience as this process takes place, what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now, go to Colossians 3. Let's see how the renewing of the mind occurs. Colossians 3.9 I'm reading verse 9 for a reason. The way this is worded in the Greek text, it should literally read, stop lying to one another. He's talking to Christians. Well, if a person lies, doesn't that show that he really has never been saved? Christians are not supposed to lie. Stop lying to one another. Seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man. Now, many of you, I think the New American Standard may capture this verb better than the King James. It should literally read, have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto a mature knowledge after the image of Him that created him. Now, the word being renewed here is the same word from Romans 12 having to do with the renewing of the mind. How is the mind renewed? It's being renewed here unto a mature knowledge after the image of Him that created him. It is renewed through the intake of this written word as the Spirit of God takes this word and over time works a metamorphosis, works an inward change in your life. It's not something that takes place overnight. It's not something that takes place over a week or month. It's something that takes place over years of time, slowly, gradually. Some will experience it faster than others. People are not alike. But it occurs as an individual takes in the word and allows the Spirit to take this word and over time bring about this inward change. And the inward change should result in some type of outward show. It may not. Now, here's an interesting thing. Many of the old Bible teachers, if you go back and look at them, A. Edmund Wilson was this way. A. W. Pink was this way. M. R. D. Hahn was this way. A lot of them I've run across were this way. They almost go out of their way to be a little bit mean to you to keep from putting on a metaschema, to keep from putting on an outward show. But if you sit down and talk with them, you begin to see this metamorphosis, this outworking. They don't want to put on an outward show. And that's good. I sometimes go out of my way and I'm a little rude with people. Sometimes, perhaps. I don't know. But I get to talking with them and we get it all ironed out. Perhaps I shouldn't be that way, but maybe I'm somewhat like them and I just don't want to put on a metaschema. I don't want to put on a show. We moved to Minnesota in 1962. I wanted to go to school up there. And our landlord, oh, she smiled. She spoke rosy. And I knew that woman was going to stab us in the back. And sure enough, she did. It's people like that that you have to watch. But if you take people that come at you, they're sincere, honest, they don't put on the front, you'll usually get the same thing from them. You'll get an honest hand in return, so to speak. But we're not necessarily talking about that. We're talking about the difference in, say, metaschema, patterning. I'll get that word in a minute. Patterning. You know, I got tied up like this down in Australia. I couldn't pronounce a word. It was a simple word. To pattern. Let me not try to even say it. To pattern your life after this present world system. It has to do with the metaschema. We're talking about that on one hand. And we're talking about allowing the Lord, through His Spirit, through His Word, to work an inward change on the other hand. Note the tabernacle, for example, in the wilderness. The outward show of the tabernacle, it was just a drab building. Covered with skins. Nobody would have thought anything about that. The Lord, when He was here the first time, just a normal looking Jew. Looked like any other Jew. But back to the tabernacle, a type of Christ, it was on the inside that the beauty was seen. The priests allowed to go inside. The wood overlaid with gold. And you either had wood overlaid with gold or solid gold items on the inside. The beauty was on the inside. And that's the way it is with the metamorphosis. And of course, the metaschema is connected with the natural. The metamorphosis is connected with the spiritual. The metaschema, that is the outward change, would be connected with Satan in this present world system. I believe it's 2 Corinthians 11. I can find it right quick if it's not. Take a look at that section. It is 2 Corinthians 11. In verses 13, 14, and 15. This will give you an idea of how the word metaschema, that is an outward change, is used in Scripture. In 2 Corinthians 11, 13, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. I'll stop and take a drink. Maybe I'll stop stumbling over some words. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. Now note, the word transformed in verses 13, 14, and 15. Do you suppose that might be an outward change? Or did you think it might be an inward change? Note, the inward change is wrought one way. It's wrought through the intake of the Word and the indwelling Spirit taking that Word and bringing about a change. This couldn't be the case here. It's the word metaschema that's used throughout. It's an outward change wrought through the power of the individual himself. The messengers of Satan appear this way. The messengers of Satan appear this way. And people, apart from spiritual perception, that is, that lacks spiritual perception, can be easily misled, deceived. You might say the inward change or the outward change has to do with the man of flesh, the inward change of the man of Spirit. Now the idea is, allow, as you take in this Word, study this Word, as you take in this Word, allow the Spirit to work the metamorphosis. Forget about the metaschema. Allow the Spirit to work the metamorphosis. In this respect, as you do this, don't stay in the plane. Fix your eyes on the mountain. And really, as you take in this Word, you'll begin to see more and more the direction in which the Lord leads all of His people. It's out of the plane and toward the mountain. It's the only alternate of true escape. Oh, there's all kinds of escapes in this world. But the Lord only has one relative to the plane, and that is escape to the mountain. The Lord can be found in the mountain alone, not in the plane. And I'll close with this sentence. A little short sentence. It's either or. No in-between ground. Our Father, we're thankful once again You've allowed us to look into Your Word. I would ask that You might take Your Word, use Your Word for the purpose intended. For it's in Christ's name, Amen.