In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the story of Abram and the three men who visit him. Abram shows great hospitality and offers them food and rest. The preacher emphasizes the importance of not being attached to the comforts and conveniences of the world, as exemplified by the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The preacher highlights the soul-deadening aspects of the world and the need for God in our lives. The sermon also mentions the wickedness of the men of Sodom who demand to know the visitors in a perverted manner.

Chapter 18 and 19. We'll look at a couple of passages in 18 and go through the book of 19, chapter 19. Genesis 18 and 19, they go together. You know, what happens in Genesis 18 happens in the day. And what happens in Genesis 19 happens at night. And basically, Genesis 18, I'll just start reading the first three verses. There came, verse 18, verse 1 through 3, The Lord appeared unto him, that's Abram, in the plains of Mamre, and he sat at the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground. Abram sitting at his tent door, and three men come down the road. He runs down to meet them and falls on the ground. He says, My Lord, if now I've found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, and I'll fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort your hearts. After that you shall pass on, for therefore are you come to your servant. And they said, So do as you have said. And Abram hastened unto the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal. Knead it, and make cakes on the hearth. Then Abram ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf, tender and good, and gave it unto a young man. And he hasted to dress it. And he took butter and milk, and the calf which he dressed, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. So he rushes to give them hospitality, washes their feet, slaughters a beast, makes them meat, gives them bread, serves them. Then to make a long story short, it turns out that one of those three figures is God himself, is Jesus. Jesus met Abram a long time before Jesus came to this world. In fact, Jesus himself said, Abram, rejoice and see my day. Jesus came to Abram with two angels. And a lot of things happened in the daylight there. Abram had hospitality on him, and Jesus told Abram about his son to come, that his son would be born within a year. But then when it was time to go though, it says in verse 16, the men rose up from there and looked towards Sodom. And Abram went with them to bring them on the way. And the Lord said, shall I hide from Abram that thing which I do, seeing that Abram shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth should be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after them, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abram that which he has spoken of him. It's amazing. The Lord says, I can't hide what I'm about ready to do from Abram. He's my friend. He's the one chosen to bring in, the one who would bless everyone in the world. Abram is God's friend. The Bible says Abram was a friend of God. That's covenant language. Abram is God's friend. God can't hide anything from him. He'll show him everything. Jesus said to us, I'll show you everything. If you abide in me, I will show you things to come. So he can't hide it, so he has to reveal what he's going to do. Verse 20, the Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, because their sin is very grievous, I'll go down now and see whether they've done all together according to the cry of it which has come unto me. And if not, I'll know. He says, I've heard these charges against Sodom and Gomorrah. I'm coming down to check it out myself. God doesn't need to check anything out. He knows everything. So why does he talk this way? Remember what he said about Abram. I know he'll do justice and judgment. See, through Abram, it's going to come kings, rulers. King David came through Abram. The greatest king of all, Jesus came through Abram. So he's going to teach him how to do justice, how to do things right. There's a cry. There's an accusation. There's a charge that's been filed with the Lord, judge of the universe. And he's going to make an investigation. He comes down to go to Sodom. I will go down now and see whether they've done all together according to the cry of it which has come unto me. And if not, I'll know. The men turned their faces from there and went towards Sodom. But Abram stood yet before the Lord. The two men that were with Jesus went on towards Sodom. But Abram and Jesus stood there talking face to face. And this is the last thing that happens in the daylight is that Abram knows someone that lives in Sodom, his nephew. And so he begins to plead for mercy on Sodom. And it's kind of a transaction. He says, Lord, if there's 50 righteous in Sodom, you wouldn't take, you wouldn't destroy it then, would you? Lord said, if there's 50, I won't. And he comes back. How about 40? How about 30? Gets down to 10 and then he quits. He's interceding for mercy on the wicked city. And it says in verse 32, Oh, let not the Lord be angry. I'll speak at this once for adventure. 10 will be found there. What if 10 are there that are righteous? And he said, I won't destroy it for 10's sake. And the Lord went his ways as soon as he had left communing with Abram. And Abram returned unto his place. That's what happened in the daytime. And then Genesis 19 tells about the night. And there came two angels to Sodom at even. And Lot sat at 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 Lord, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house and tarry all night and wash your feet. And you'll rise up early and go on your ways. And they said, no, we'll abide in the street all night. We can stay out here in the street. And he pressed upon them greatly. And they turn in unto him and entered into his house. And he made them a feast and did bake unleavened bread. And they did eat. See, Genesis 18 goes with 19. They both have hospitality. They both see the strangers. They both rush out there. Abram and Lot have something in common. They're both Christians. They're Christians. Let me say something about Lot's Christianity. Lot was a Christian, but he was deeply polluted. He was terribly polluted. It's a sad thing. And, you know, we've already gone through a lot of Genesis. But basically, in Genesis 13, remember, Lot splits off from Abram because he saw that the pasture lands by Sodom were better. So for business reasons, of course, he moves towards Sodom. It says he pitched his tent towards Sodom. But then when the kings took over Sodom, by that time, Lot was living in Sodom because they took him captive with all of Sodom. And then by the time you get to Genesis 19, Lot's in the gate of Sodom, which means he's in the city leadership. Okay. You go from being torn to in to deeply involved. This is a warning for all of us, okay? Lot is a Christian. And Lot is a type of Christians in the last days. Jesus said the last days will be just like this. As in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, so shall the day of the coming of the Son of Man be. And what you got there is a Christian, a righteous man, in a sea of evil, surrounded by evil. He's made deep, deep compromises and bad choices, and he's entangled in it. But he runs out to greet these angels. He doesn't know they're angels, of course, but he probably senses something. And he shows them hospitality. He says, come stay with me. And they say, no, we can stay out in the street. We don't want to be a bother to anyone. And he knew you couldn't sit, you couldn't stay out in the street in Sodom. Sodom is like the cities of America now. You couldn't stay out in the street. You'd be in danger. You wouldn't let someone just sleep outside. There's so much crime and perversion that he knew. And he said, listen, no, no, no, no, you can't stay in the street. You stay with me. And they said, and they allowed him, and he made them a feast, verse three. And notice what it says about the feast that he baked them unleavened bread. Now, if you remember, the first people to ever hear the book of Genesis read to was the children of Israel immediately after the exodus out of Egypt. So when they saw this, when they heard this about Lot made them a feast at night and they did bake unleavened bread, what do you think they thought of? The Passover, the exodus. See, it's always an exodus. Always God's people are called to come out of the damned world, the doomed world. It's always Sodom or Egypt or something like that. The world is under judgment and God is always calling us to flee out of it. They make them a feast of unleavened bread. Okay, now we come to the next scene. It's kind of like a play. You know, it's the scenes, only this is real. This really happened. Verse four, but before they laid down the men of the city, even the men of Sodom compassed the house around both old and young, all the people from every quarter. Now notice that verse four is very significant. Everyone from all quarters of the city engulfed on this house and they call unto Lot and they say unto him, where are the men which came into thee this night? Bring them out unto us that we may know them. And that know there is a very perverted, it's perverted sexuality that they're demanding. And Lot went out at the door unto them and shut the door after him and said, I pray you, brethren, don't do so wickedly. I pray you don't do so wickedly. Behold, now I have two daughters which have not known men. Let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you and do you unto them as is good in your eyes. Only unto these men do nothing, for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. Now this shows you, some people, Bible commentators say, well this is how hospitality is in the Middle East. Don't go that far. No, that's not true. This is an unhuman thing to say and do. Hey, don't bother my guests. I'll give you my daughters. What is this actually teaching us? Even though Lot was a righteous man, by going toward and finally ending up in Sodom, he himself, in his values, was being extremely corrupted. He's willing to throw his own children to the men of Sodom. This is much more commonly done these days than you think. Maybe not in such a brutal fashion, but are not the men of Sodom writing most of the text for the movies? And are not the men of Sodom setting the styles? And are not the men of Sodom entertaining the people with the music? And yet Christian parents, Lot, just throw their kids out too. Well, I don't care what. Go ahead and watch anything you want. Oh, go ahead and listen to anything you want. Go ahead. The men of Sodom are now running the school systems. Believe me, this is a real warning here. Lot says, you get out my daughters. And they say, stand back. And they say it again, this one fellow came into sojourn, and he will need to be a judge. Now we'll deal worse with thee than with them. And they pressed sore on the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. Notice what they say too. There's a lot in this little passage that has very many shades of what's happening today. Number one, the hypersensitivity. Notice what they say, you judging us? You're going to judge us? You're our guest, and now you're going to sit in judgment? And their sensitivity is very heightened. You know, Abraham could tell something about those three people coming down the road, and he ran out to meet them and fell on his face. Abraham was a saint, and he had a sensitivity toward that. And Lot, even though he's backslidden and very corrupted, he's still a righteous man. And he runs out and falls on his face, and he's urging these people into his home, and he's very sensitive. There's something different about these people. I don't think he knew they were angels, but he knew something holy about them. Well, in the same way that righteous people have this sensitivity, the wicked have a sensitivity. They knew something about these people too. They sensed something about them that was very contrary to their sin. Maybe they knew that these people bore an unfavorable judgment, but they violently would reject whatever these people had to say before they could even say it. It's like as soon as these angels came in, they knew it, and they pressed in around the house. The presence of God was intolerable in Sodom. Criticism would be intolerable in Sodom. But I want you to know something else too about this, is that when it says, verse 4, that everyone in the whole city was there, high, low, rich, poor, it means that the sin was so pervasive that there's literally like a consensus, a common will to sin. It's because these people are holy that they wanted to defile them. And then I want you to know, I pointed out Lot's callousness about his own daughters. See, that's what living in Sodom will do, is distort your values and make you callous. I don't think Abraham would ever dream of throwing his own daughters out to a mob of perverts and degenerates like that, but Lot did. So it says in verse 10, the men put forth their hand, you have this mixture of violence and perversion. The men of the city are trying to break down the door to get at these people, but the men, and the men there is the men with Lot, the two visitors, the men put forth their hand and pulled Lot into the house to them and shut to 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, now get this, they wearied themselves trying to find the door. And this too, there's something here. They've been judged, they've been smitten, they are blinded because of these holy angels. But what are they doing? Even blinded, they're trying to find the door to get at these people. I used to think back in the late 1980s that with AIDS, which by the way, the original name for AIDS was a gay men's syndrome, did you know that? It was openly acknowledged it was a homosexual disease. I thought that once that came, maybe homosexuality would decrease, though it's increased. Even judged partially, even smitten by God, these people still tried to find the door. They smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door. We've gotten to the point in this wicked generation that we live in now, where nothing would stop people from following after sin, not even the consequences, nothing. And the men said to Lot, have you any here besides son-in-law and thy sons and thy daughters and whatever you have in the city, bring them out of this place. They said, hurry up and get a hold of your sons-in-laws, your sons, your daughters, whoever else, get them out of here. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it. Get your family out. And Lot went out and spake unto his sons-in-laws, which married his daughters, and said, up, get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. See, in Sodom, everything sacred or holy or real is a joke. So, therefore, when it actually does have to, when people have to be warned, they can't even receive it, they can't take it seriously. The sons-in-laws are laughing at Lot when he's pleading with them, come out of the city, get out, get escaped, make your way out of here, it's going to be judged. They go, wow, that's great, great, that's tremendous. They wouldn't listen to Lot. They wouldn't listen to Lot. And notice it doesn't say that he went to his sons. He didn't even bother. See, what Sodom does, and living in Sodom does, especially if you let its thoughts get into you, if you think like Sodom and live like Sodom and let Sodom desensitize you to everything real, everything holy and sacred, what it ends up doing is breaking you up from families, from love, from marriage, from commitment, from loyalty. Lot didn't even warn his sons because there's no use, there was nothing there, there's no relationship there. He tried to warn his sons-in- laws and they laughed. He did manage to get his wife and daughter, but look, it says that when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot saying, rise, take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city, hurry. But look at verse 16 says, while he lingered, he lingered. It got to the point where the angels literally took him by the hand. While he lingered, the men laid hold on his hand and on the hand of his wife and on the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto them, him, and they brought him forth and set him without the city. They literally took him by the hand and drug him out of the city. He lingered. It came to pass when they brought them forth abroad that he said, escape for your life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain, escape to the mountain lest thou be consumed, run for your life, he said. And Lot said unto them, oh, not so, my lord. Wow. Behold now thy sermon and 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 mountains, lest some evil take me and I die. He's afraid to go to the mountains. Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it's a little one. Oh, let me escape there. Is it not a little one? And my soul will live. God was not just going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he was going to destroy four cities. And Lot lived in Sodom and Lot says, oh, wait, wait, wait, please let me just stay in this little city. It's just a little one, just a little city. It's inconceivable, isn't it? We know the story so well, you'd think, oh man, get out of here, run, flee, escape. But he lingers, he lingers, he doesn't really want to leave. He can't talk his dear ones out of leaving. His wife doesn't really want to leave, as you find out. This is more than a story. This is a spiritual message in this. Jesus said, as in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the day of the coming of the Son of Man. How do we apply this spiritually? Well, I got to ask the question, how can I avoid being Lot, or worse yet, Lot's wife? What happened? What's wrong with Lot? Well, when you live in Sodom, you lose your spiritual sensitivity. When you live in Sodom, you lose the sense of urgency. When you live in Sodom, everything's such a joke, it's so funny. Everything sacred is brought down so that his sons-in-law laugh in his face when they needed to hear the warning the most. They laugh in his face. He doesn't really want to leave. And when the angel drags him by the hand out of the city, even then he said, can I just stay in this little city? It's just a little one. Zohar was one of the perverted cities, just a little city. And the angel mercifully concedes, all right, I'll let you stay in Zohar. He loved those cities and didn't want to leave their comforts and conveniences. The thing is, is that part of the message of Lot is that, you know, love not the world nor the things that are in the world. This world is under God's judgment. And part of being in the world and letting the world get into you is that there is a soul deadening aspect to the world. There is something about the world that deadens the sense of urgency, the sense of the need of God, the sense of seriousness about the things of God. There's something about this world. Look at this room. It's hardly anyone here. This is an example of the soul deadening aspects of the world. We need God. We desperately need God. In fact, we need God more now than ever. Did you know that they tried to pass a law defining marriage as a man and woman in the Iowa State House? And it was stopped before it was even brought up for vote. It was tabled. They can't even define a marriage as between a man and a woman. Sodom is here. Iowa is Sodom. The USA is Sodom. The whole world has become Sodom. That's why I believe that Genesis is the book of the Bible, most like the book of Revelation, okay? Because everything that happens in Genesis at the beginning comes around at the end. It happens again. Sodom happens again. Lot happens again. Lot's wife happens again. And so we've got to understand that we've got an exodus to undertake. We can't love this world. Lot used to live in a tent with Abram. They used to sit around at an altar out in the desert. They didn't have all the comforts, and they didn't have a permanent home. They just had a tent. But the altars, they would sit around and worship God out there. Now Lot is a far different thing. He gives his daughters to the men of Sodom. He's rescued from a battle where he lost everything. The king of Babylon came and took all of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot is captive. God delivered him through Abram. And guess what? Lot doesn't go back with Abram. He goes back to Sodom. I know a lot of Lots that God delivered them, and they went right back. It came to pass, okay, it says, the angel says, all right, verse 21, see, I've accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I'll not overthrow this city for the which you have spoken. So Zohar survives the rest of those cities. This is a strange thing, okay, because no one could have known this at the time except God himself. This is at the southern tip of the Dead Sea. The rest of those cities are now salt mines at the southern tip of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea, geographically, is the lowest place on this earth. Did you know that? The deepest place on land is where Sodom and Gomorrah were. And I guess if you go there, I mean, there's all kinds of strange geological phenomenon. For example, a huge, huge, just out of nowhere, just a hill of salt that's 600 feet tall. I mean, that's just weird. That's strange. But this city was spared because Lot wanted to stay there, didn't want to go in the mountains. But look what the angel says, haste you, escape there, for I can't do anything till you come there. Therefore, the name of the city is called Zohar, which means a little, just a little. Is that the way people are with sin? Just a little, just a little. All right, I'll leave the big thing, but just let me hold on to the little. The sun was risen on the earth when Lot entered into Zohar. Then the Lord reigned upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. Okay, fire and brimstone's real. I don't know what it was. It could have been a volcanic fissure in the earth that just spewed this stuff out and buried those cities in fire and brimstone. That's real. I mean, you can imagine a rain of rocks and burning rocks and sulfur. Terrifying. He overthrew those cities. The word for overthrow is a cataclysm in the Greek, septuagint, cataclysm, a cataclysm. And all the plain and all the inhabitants of the city, that which grew upon the ground. In other words, salt, nothing grows there. In fact, the Dead Sea, for all we know, might've been alive before that. You understand the Dead Sea is dead. There is no animal life. There is no vegetable life around it. It is dead. It's the lowest place in the earth. All these rivers drain into it. It's rich in minerals. It's rich in salt. It's rich in sulfur. They say there's an unbelievable wealth at the bottom of that Dead Sea, but it's dead. Nothing lives there. He overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt. 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 beheld, and lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. Abram gets up to where he'd been praying to the day before and he sees this big black column coming up. Wow. Came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abram and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt. Okay, Lot is lingering. Lot is so attached. Lot is so into Sodom that he doesn't really want to leave. And even when he sees what he saw, Sodomites blinded, they're almost gang-raped, drug by the hand out of the city by angels. Even then he's lingered and the angels actually drag him out of the city. Now we find out it's because of Abram and his prayers. That's why the Lord got him out of there and wouldn't do anything until he left. Lot went up out of Zohar, dwelled in the mountain and his two daughters with him. For he feared to dwell in Zohar and he dwelled in the cave, he and his two daughters. Okay, I want to just stay in the city. I don't want to go to the mountains. It's too wild. He ends up in this little city. But even the little city, the people are too scary for him now. Okay, maybe something's happened. He can see the evil. So he ends up in a cave. He started off in a tent. He moved into a house and he ends up living in a cave with his two daughters, not his wife. His wife didn't go with him. His wife was left behind. Now this is sort of the firstborn said unto the younger, our father's old and there's not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the matter of all the earth. They probably thought it was the end of the world. Come, let's make our father drink wine and we'll lie with him that we may preserve seed for our father. And they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father and he perceived not when she lay down nor when she arose. It came to pass in the morrow that the firstborn said to the younger, behold, I lay yesterday with my father. Let us make him drink wine this night also and go thou in and he with him that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also. The younger rose and lay with him and he perceived not when she lay down nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. Incest. The firstborn bear a son and called his name Moab, the same as the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bear a son and called his name Benami, the same as the father of the children of Ammon unto this day. Ammon and Moab. Sordid. Outrageous. But there's a lesson in it. Let's talk about the lessons of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah before we close. Number one, the first lesson is Sodom and Gomorrah, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is the ultimate demonstration of the holy wrath of God, what it is and what it's all about. Look at 2 Peter chapter 2. The fire of brimstone is the metaphor for eternal fire. Okay. Now, notice to this day, when someone says something like fire and brimstone, the worldly chuckle. No. Oh yeah. Or you think of like someone trying to warn a city. You got the cartoons where the guy has a sandwich board, repent, you know. Yeah, it's funny. Same spirit that was in Sodom is today. That you're outrageous, that you're nuts, that you're crazy if you warn of the judgment of God. So this is Lot's son-in-law. Did I say turn to 2 Peter or Jude? 2 Peter. Okay, 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 6. He draws some of the lessons from Lot in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. God turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes. He condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly. And he delivered just 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 knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. Okay, go to the book of Jude. Jude, the second to the last book of the Bible. The first lesson that you could gain from this story is this is the demonstration of the holy and righteous wrath of God. You can see the mercy. Just remember the story starts with someone praying for him. The mercy in it. You can see a lot of mercy in it. Lot doesn't deserve to come out of there. Lot lingers. Lot still has a lot of attachment to that place. Lot put himself in that situation. But it's mercy, the mercy of God. Abraham prayed that God wouldn't let it happen without, he even worked with Lot with his concession on Zohar. Listen, we don't deserve to come out of here. But we've got someone even greater than Abraham up on a mountain somewhere praying for us. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? But Jude says, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. In other words, what he's saying is what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah is a warning of what's going to happen forever to people that go to the eternal fire. There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. Second thing, specifically, is that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is a huge testimony that God hates, utterly hates homosexuality and all sexual sin. Look at the book of 1 Corinthians 6. You've got to be careful. The Sodomites now have a theology that they're working out to try to justify their sin. The pressure comes on so strong in the last day. Remember, in the last days of Lot, the pressure was there. They were banging on the door, demanding. In our society, they start off acting like victims, but by the end they demand. If you say one bad thing, man, you're dead, you're through, they will get you. They are furious people. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9, Don't you know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. Can't go to heaven, if you like But here's the good news. Such were some of you, but you are washed, you are justified, you are sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. Now, listen, the word sodomy to this day, that's the true name of it. They're not gay, they're Sodomites. That's the biblical name for it. Another lesson that we can learn from that is that you got to take a look at how Lot ended up in that situation. And I think I pointed that out in his teaching. He starts off with Abram, but then he gets greedy because he starts to prosper. See, some people can handle poverty better than prosperity. Just get a little bit, it can cause you to forget God. That is not a light warning in the Bible. Over and over and over again, God says, don't forget me when I bless you, when I prosper you. The reason he has to repeat it is because it's real. You get a little comfort, you get a little padding, you get a little distance between you and your problems, a little bit of money, a little help. People have a tendency to forget God. Lot says, oh, this is a good business decision. I've got my flocks to think of and it's the responsible thing to move closer to Sodom. Well then, somehow or other, he's in Sodom. And then he has a chance to leave Sodom because Abram delivers him in a spectacular deliverance. But he doesn't. He gets the wrong message from that. And he stays in Sodom. And then he talks himself into being part of the leadership of Sodom. He's in the gates of the city. Lot was a Christian, but he was a polluted Christian, a very compromised Christian. One of the things that helped him though, this is another lesson, one of the things that helped him is what Peter said, he vexed his soul night and day. In other words, Lot never could make his peace with the sin that he saw. Lot was grieved by it. Lot was troubled by it. Now, would you turn with me to the book of Ezekiel? I'm just going to give you a few more scriptures and then I'm going to close. But Ezekiel chapter 9, Lot was grieved by Sodom. And he didn't partake of the sin itself. He lived among it. He learned how to hold his nose and exist around it. But he never could make his peace with it. Ezekiel chapter 9, verse 1, he cried also in my ears with a loud voice saying, cause those that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lies toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hands. These are angels, by the way. And one man among them was clothed with linen with the writer's ink horn by his side. You got seven angels, one that's got a little notebook and a pen, and the others have weapons of slaughter. They went in and stood beside the brass altar, and the glory of the Lord of Israel was gone up from the chair of whereupon he was to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's ink horn by his hand. And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in my hearing, Go ye after him through the city and smite, and let not your eyes spare, neither have pity. Slay utterly old and young, maids of little children and women, but don't come near on any man that has the mark, and begin at my sanctuary. That's where the Bible says judgment begins in the house of God. Who's he looking for? He's going to judge another Sodom, Jerusalem. He calls Jerusalem, Sodom, many places. Did you know Jerusalem recently had a gay rights march right down the middle of the holy city? The book of Revelation calls Jerusalem Sodom and Egypt. Sodom is a state of mind. Sodom is a spirituality. Sodom is where the whole world is. But Lot was grieved. He never could make his peace with it. But here's another lesson from Lot. Someone says, Well, at least he made it to heaven. Yes, but what about his family? It's not just him. It's everyone around him that he affects. Listen, we don't live to ourselves. What about the rest? What about our kids? What about our children? What about other people's children? The way we live has power. It has impact. You look at what happened with Lot's sons. They're at the bottom of the Dead Sea. They're in hell now. You look what happened with Lot's wife. Okay, don't look back, Jesus said. Jesus said, Remember Lot's wife, when he was teaching on the end times. Remember Lot's wife. What's the big lesson of Lot's wife? She looked back. Well, is it the physical act of looking back that's condemned? No, it's what it represents. Oh, man, I know Sodom is bad. I know they have bad parts. I know there's bad aspects, but there's such wonderful restaurants and good plays and wonderful styles and all the latest fashions. I mean, there's so much about Sodom that I love. Don't look back. Here's a question for you to answer yourself. Do you want to go to heaven? Do you want to go to heaven? Do you want to leave this world? Have you seen that there's nothing in this world for us and that this is, in fact, a world under judgment and God's attitude toward this world is utterly uncompromising. It's not going to be a better place. We're not going to make the world a better place. This world is doomed. The message is the angels. Hurry. Get your stuff and get out of here. Run. Jesus said, if you're on the house stop, don't even go in to get your cloak. Get out. There's this sense of urgency that's in the story of Sodom and that comes at the end of the days, at the end of the world. Lot's wife. Lot's sad descent. And the last thing I want to keep in your mind is the mercy of God. Oh, you know, speaking of Lot's children though, okay, you get this sordid story at the end about incest and bearing children and then those children become major nations in the Middle East. Moab and Ammon. In fact, the capital of Jordan, the nation of Jordan, the capital of Jordan is Ammon, named for Ammon. Lot's incestuous son, okay. What is the meaning of this story? Oh, it's simple. You can take the kids out of Sodom but not necessarily take Sodom out of the kids. That takes the work of God, okay. They get to the cave. Remember, Lot's reluctant. I know reluctant Christians, half-hearted Christians, lukewarm Christians. They get to the cave. He really wished he would be in the city. He wished he wouldn't have to leave. They get to the cave. His daughters seduce him. Sodom got into them. They thought like Sodom. Lot was grieved about Sodom. They weren't. They were the next generation and they thought that the styles and the open-mindedness, they thought that was awesome. So even though they're not in Sodom anymore, Sodom's in them. Ammon and Moab become thorns in the side to Israel until the end of time, okay. The Moabite women are the ones that seduced them one time into fornication and brought the judgment of God down on them. Ammon and Moab to this day surround Israel and they're thorns in their side. They hate them. They are the ones that carry on the culture of Sodom after Sodom's gone. Ammon and Moab. But in the end, you know, the story is told to show us God's mercy. It's, you know, Lot didn't, I read the story, he didn't deserve to go out of there. He wanted to stay. He lingered. But he did. He got out. They took him by the hand and drug him out because Abraham was up on the hill praying for him. And God specifically said it's because he remembered Abraham that he brought Lot out. Listen, in closing, we got someone even greater than Abraham praying for us. We got Jesus Christ, the greatest Abraham. He pleads for us. He sees what we're in. He sees this world that we're in. He understands that it's become Sodom. We are surprised by it. I'm always grieved and surprised by it. He's not surprised. He knew it'd be like this. He warned us at the end. In the last days, it'll be like the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. He pleads for us. I want to close with that thought. He's up on that mountain pleading for us. He ever lives to make intercession for us. If you are in trouble, if you are tempted, if you are overwhelmed, if you have partaken of the fruits of Sodom, remember what he said. No homosexual, no drunkard, no fornicator, you know, no effeminate man, none of them can inherit the kingdom. But he said, such were some of you. But you are washed. You are justified. You are sanctified in the name of Christ and of our God. Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for the washing. We thank you for the forgiveness. We thank you for the continual cleansing. I pray that you give us all the sense of urgency, oh Lord God. I pray that you give us all this idea of exodusing out of this world, Lord. I pray that you give us this longing for heaven. I pray that you detach us from Sodom and from all of its false and sinful values. I pray that our children will not be like Lot's children, oh Lord God, but that they themselves will know you personally and truly love you and walk with you. I ask for this in Jesus' name.