Episode Transcript
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I hope that at some point some
of you had an opportunity to build a
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model, maybe a little car or
a plane Diorama. These can be fun,
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but not only are they fund but
they help us to remember something that
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we see very often in the Bible, even in history, that God uses
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small events as models of bigger things. They show us, they help us
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to understand what that that bigger thing
is, and today we're going to look
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at one of those in Genesis Chapter
Nineteen. We hear here, we see
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a model, an example of God's
judgment and his salvation, of his power
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to bring judgment against sin and his
power to save a from sin, except
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that the scene that were about to
read about happens not on a desk but
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in a whole city, and the
model, the example that is there,
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the thing that it points to,
is also much greater. It encompasses the
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world itself. It's a sad story
in many ways because it re minds us
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of the sin that we face in
this world, but there's also much light
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in the darkness, and I so
I hope you will see that as well.
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So let's turn to Genesis nineteen now, and here God's word. I'm
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also going to read after that some
verses from Hebrews Chapter Twelve. So Genesis
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Nineteen, versus one through twenty nine. The two angels came to Sodom in
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the evening and lot was sitting in
the gate of Sodom. When lot saw
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them, he arose to meet them
and bowed himself with his face to the
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earth and said, my Lord's please
turn aside to your servants House and spend
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the night and wash your feet.
Then you may rise up early and go
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on your way. They said no, we will spend the night in the
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town square, but he pressed them
strongly. So they turned aside and entered
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his house and he made them a
feast and baked on love and bread and
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they ate. But before they lay
down, the men of the city,
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the men of Sodom, both young
and old, all the people to the
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last man, surrounded the house and
they called to lot, where are the
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men who came to you tonight?
Bring them out to us that we may
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know them. Lot went out to
the men at the entrance, shut them
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after him and said, excuse me, I beg you my brothers, do
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not act so wickedly. Behold,
I have two daughters who have not yet
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known any man. Let me bring
them out to you and do to them
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as you please. Only do nothing
to these men, for they have come
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under the shelter of my roof.
And they said stand back, and they
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said this fellow came to sojourn and
he has become the judge. Now we
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will deal worse with you than with
them. Then they pressed hard against the
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man lot, and he drew and
drew near to break the door down.
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But the men reached out their hands
and brought lot into the house with them
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and shut the door. And they
struck with blindness the men who were at
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the entrance of the house, both
small and great, so that they wore
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themselves out groping for the door.
Then the men said to lot, have
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you anyone else here, sons in
law daughters or sons daughters, or anyone
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you have in the city? Bring
them out of the place, for we
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are about to destroy this place because
of the outcry against its people has become
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great before the Lord, and the
Lord has sent us to destroy it.
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So lot went out and said to
his sons in law who were to marry
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his daughters up, get out of
this place, for the Lord is about
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to destroy the city. But he
see to his sons in law to be
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jesting as morning dawn the angels.
The angels urged lot, saying up,
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take your wife and your two daughters
who are here, lest you be swept
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away in the punishment of the city. But he lingered. So the men
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seized him and his wife and his
daughters by the hand, the Lord Being
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Merciful to him, and they brought
him out and set him outside the city.
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And as they brought them out,
one said, escape from Your Life,
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Esp escape for your life, do
not look back or stop anywhere in
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the valley. Escape to the hills
lest you be swept away. And Lot
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said to them, oh no,
my Lord's behold, your servant has found
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favor in your sight and you have
shown me great kindness in saving my life,
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but I cannot escape to the hills
lest the disaster overtake me and I
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die. Behold, this city is
near enough to flee to, and it's
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a little one. Let me escape
there, is it not a little one?
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And my life will be saved.
He said to him. Behold,
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I grant you this favor, also
that I will not overthrow the city of
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which you have spoken. Escape there
quickly, for I can do nothing till
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you arrive there. Therefore, the
name of the city was called Zoar.
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The Sun had risen on the earth
when lot came to Zoar. Then the
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Lord reigned on Sodom and Gomorah.
Soulfur and fire from the Lord Out of
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Heaven and he overthrew those cities and
all the valley and all the inhabitants of
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the cities and what grew on the
ground. But lots wife behind him,
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looked back and she became a pillar
of salt. and Abraham went early in
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the morning to the place where he
had stood before the Lord and he looked
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down towards Sodom and Gomorah, toward
all the land of the valley, and
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he looked and behold, the smoke
of the land went up like the smoke
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of a furnace. So it was
that when God destroyed the cities of the
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valley, God remembered Abraham and sent
lot out of the midst of the out
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of the midst of the overthrow,
when he overthrew the cities in which lot
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had lived since the reading of God's
word in Genesis Nineteen. Let's turn to
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Hebrews twelve. Now Hebrews Twelve,
verse twenty two. I want to read
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this passage to you because it is
a reminder to us of the city to
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which we have fled, like lot
fled, we also have fled to a
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city to escape the judgment of God, and that city, that heavenly city,
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is described here. It is one
that we do not yet reside in,
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in with our bodies, but we
are nevertheless citizens of a place that
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the Lord has prepared for us.
And here is what the scriptures say.
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He was twelve, verse twenty two. But you have come to Mount Zion
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and to the city of the Living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
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innumerable angels and festal gathering and to
the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled
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in heaven, and to God,
the judge of all, and to the
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spirits of the righteous made perfect,
and to Jesus, the mediator of a
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new covenant, and to the sprinkled
blood that speaks a better, better word
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than the blood of Abel. See
that you do not refuse him who is
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speaking, for if they did not
escape when they refused him who warned them
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on earth, much less will we
escape if we reject him who warns from
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Heaven at that time his voice shook
the earth. He's speaking here about when
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the Lord gave the Law Mount Sinai. At that time his voice shook the
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earth, but now he has promised
yet once more, I will shake not
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only the Earth but also the heavens. This phrase yet once more, indicates
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the removal of things that are shaken, that is, things that have been
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made in order to the things that
cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore,
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let us be grateful for receiving a
kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus
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let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our
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God is a consuming fire. So
what are Sodom and go Morah models of?
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What are they examples of? Well, they are examples of the judgment
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of God. They are examples of
the judgment of God that will come when
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Jesus returns and, as Hebrews describes, the things that are now will be
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shaken, shaken and undone. There
is coming a time when this world will
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be judged like it it was judged
in this tiny place in Sodom and go
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Morah. It will be judged everywhere. The scriptures point to this in a
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number of places, and will consider
one from second peters. We come to
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the end of the sermon, but
for now what I'd like to do is
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look through this story with you and
consider that judgment that God pours down,
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this punishment, as he calls it, Um, for their sin. It's
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a judgment that came upon them,
it's a judgment that will come in the
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end of the world and it is
the judgment that fell upon Christ himself when
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he took the punishment for our sins. And from all this we are several
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things that we can learn, and
so we'll reflect on those together tonight.
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But let's walk the our way through
this story. First, when Genesis Nineteen
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begins, we see that things seem
off, something's not quite right. The
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angels come to Sodom in the evening
and lot is sitting in the gate of
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Sodom by himself. This is a
place, a common gathering area, a
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place where judgments are made and businesses
done, people meet. No one's there.
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It reminds me of the you know, perhaps the old western, where
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the guy comes into town and tumble
weed rolls past and you go saw us,
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is not going to be good.
That's what's going on here. Lot
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is gives them. More indication of
this when he manages their expectations, as
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people say today, and he rushes
them. He says, my lawyers,
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please turn aside to your servants house, spend the night, wash your feet,
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then you can rise up early and
be on your way. Nice to
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see you. Let me help you
get out. Why is lot in such
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a rush? They in fact say
no, no, we're going to we'll
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just stay here in the Public Square. What could be wrong with that?
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You can imagine perhaps lots heart starting
to race a little bit. And then
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we see his concern. This is
a bad place, an unsafe place.
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There's a little detail in the text
that perhaps you noticed. That the this
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is in verse thirteen. The angels
say we are about to destroy this place
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because the outcry against its people has
become great before the Lord. Sodom and
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go mora are so bad, not
just in the eyes of Abraham but in
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the eyes of their neighbors, against
people that don't serve God. They look
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at Sodom and go moron shake their
heads and say that is a place you
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do not want to go. This
place is evil. When we go to
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this place, harm comes to us. Outcry has come up before the Lord
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and he is going to destroy the
wicked. Well, we see exactly what's
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going on. Law invites them into
their house, he gives them something to
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eat, but before they lay down. This is in verse four. The
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men of the city, the men
of Sodom, young and old, all
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the people to the last man,
surround the House. This morning we considered
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that mob. There's another mob coming
for Jesus, with torches and lanterns and
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weapons. Similar thing here, a
mob of men, people surrounding this house.
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A scary situation, a terrifying situation, and it gets worse. They
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want to do unspeakable things to these
men too. Lots guests, but you
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might say at least they're inside lots
home. But we quickly discover that lots
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home is not much better than what's
outside is home. At first things seem
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good. He's willing to protect them. He goes outside the door, he
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shuts the door behind him. He
tries to plead with the crowd, but
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then we see he's willing to give
up his own daughters to appease this mob.
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Where are these poor souls supposed to
go for protection, for safety?
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He says, I can't it.
Don't do these things. These men are
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under my roof, under my protection. What about your daughters? Lots,
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home is not a very safe place
for them anyway. Wickedness all around.
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And then these wicked men respond to
lots pleadings with these xenophobic accusations. Foreigner,
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alienen you who came to dwell in
this place. You don't belong here.
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What does lots status as a resident
alien, as a traveler, as
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a sojourner, as a man with
a home, have anything to do with
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their vile actions? What does his
status have anything to do with the wickedness
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that they want to perpetrate upon him
as household, as guests? Nothing,
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of course. It's just all about
power. These men want power. They
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are grasping at anything that they can
use to excuse their wickedness, or perhaps
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not even excuse it, just simply
get what they want. When God made
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mankind, he make us to live
together in peace he may. We were
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supposed to be people that loved one
another as we love the Lord. But
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what we see here in this city
is violence and despicable actions and fighting and
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false accusations and and and everything that, pretty much anything you can imagine evil
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that when you'd go on in a
place. We see it happening right here,
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at this moment. Then comes the
rescue. Just as things are about
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to break totally out of control.
The men pull lot inside and shut the
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door, and then, by the
power of God, they strike the men
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near the door with blindness, it
says, both small and great, so
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that then they a war themselves out
groping for the door. I don't know
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if I'm just well hesitates you.
I don't know if I'm supposed to love
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this part of the story or not, but I do. This reminds me
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of those scenes and so many kids
movies where the bad guys are trying to
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get the little kid and then the
little kid gets the victory and the bad
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guys end up looking like fools.
It reminds me, actually, a little
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bit of one of the Psalms we
read. We're David says they built a
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pit for me and then they fell
into it themselves. There is a sort
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of joy injustice, we might say. Of course it's doesn't mean it's not
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sad and horrific as well, but
there is a holy joy in seeing God
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set things right, in seeing these
men doing everything they can to breach this
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entrance and God in a moment makes
them blind and now they're pathetically just scratching
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around for the door. It's both, on the one hand, hilarious and
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also deeply sad. That's something with
what justice often is. There's satisfaction and
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seeing things set right, but of
course tragedy that things ever went wrong in
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the first place. What comes after
this? Next these angels, Lots Guess.
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They inquire about his family. It's
another instance we see in the scriptures
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of the Lord Saving families. They
tell lot to be like a noah.
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Go gather in your people, if
there's anyone here in this city, gather
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them in so that we can get
them out. But as sons in law
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think he's joking. Sons in law
think he's joking and and they stay happily.
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Lot listens to the warning. He
listens to the warning and and in
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the morning he gets up and he
goes. But before we notice that pause
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and notice one thing, that lot
didn't just run out that night. He
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stayed until morning and it was the
angels who actually woke him up and said
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get up it, awake, get
your wife, get your daughters, get
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out of here, because the punishment
of the city is coming now you think
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at this point, having seen what
the angels have done to the men,
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having heard their warning, having lived
in this city for some time now,
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he would leave, probably should have
left a long time ago. What does
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it say? He did? He
lingers. Brothers and sisters, this is
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this is sin. Right, this
is what sin looks like. We hear
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the warnings, we see the warnings, everything's flashing of us. You're about
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to drive off the cliff and we
said, maybe just a few more feet.
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Right. It's it's sad, it's
funny, it's tragic, it's ironic.
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Sin, sin is it's bad.
It perverts our understanding of things,
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it makes us unable to see,
it makes us do stupid things like lingering
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here in the in the moments before
the judgment of God. But how many
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people do you know, and perhaps
you can point to yourself, have heard
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the warnings of God before? I
have heard the words of Jesus that one
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day he will come again to judge
the living in the dead. And how
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many people do you know even today
say a little bit further, a little
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bit longer, I want to do
what I want to do. I have
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time. How many of you have
said that yourselves? Does God really care?
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Can I take this sin? Maybe
not so seriously. When you hear
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yourself saying those things, when you
see and hear other people saying things,
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know that that itself is a kind
of blindness, a blindness and a hardness
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that sin creates. And so we
can praise God for what he does in
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our lives and what he does here
in lots life. The men, it
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says. The next is is a
verse. Sixteen after he lingered, the
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men seized him and his wife and
the two daughters by the hand, the
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Lord Being Merciful to him, and
they brought him out and set him outside
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the city. It almost seems if
lot, it almost seems as if lot
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is incapable of saving himself, doesn't
it? Plenty of opportunities to get out
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of the city, plenty of warnings
to get out, plenty of rescue moments
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and and and threats of Judgment.
He seems unable to do it. And
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so God does it for him.
He takes this family by the hand,
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through the servants, these these angels, and he walks them outside the city.
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There and yet even still, boy, seem a lot still kind of
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bargaining with God. Do I have
to really go all away to the hills.
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It's just a little city of God, Y'all. Well, see God
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exasperated. Go to the little city. You're outside of the judgment. God,
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it seems, is determined to protect
this man, despite his sinfulness,
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despite his blindness. God has set
his promise on him and he's going to
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save him. This is what God
does for us. He brings us out
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of judgment by the power of his
own strength. He brings us out so
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that we would not die having come
out from judgment, having died to Sim
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through the death of Christ. Should
we sin having been brought out of that,
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having been saved by God? Does
this give us a reason to take
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sin lightly? By no means.
It means we should take it all the
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more seriously, knowing what we've been
saved from, knowing the blindness we've been
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brought out of. These are some
of the lessons that we ought to take
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from this passage. Let's consider a
few others. One here that we see
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in Genesis nineteen is the will of
God. We see what God hates and
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what God loves. What God loves
is hospitality, people living together in peace,
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trust and union with in families,
attentiveness, to God's word, his
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promises. God loves repentance, Turning
Away from sin. What does God hate?
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Sexual perversion, craven desires inhospitality,
dissensions, strive, violence, cruelty,
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hard hearts. Knowing the will of
the Lord in these very clear ways
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helps us to know how to look
for good and where to look for good
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because, remember, our hearts are
exceptionally evil in their in their sinfulness.
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Satan loves to trick US, and
knowing the will of God better is a
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good thing, so that when we
see good in our world and in ourselves,
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we give thanks to God, we
rejoice, we metitize it. On
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these things we seek to increase them. But where we see evil we learn.
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We ought to learn to hate it, to turn aside from it,
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to protect it, not to linger
in it and say maybe it's not so
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bad. And then, of course, when evil overtakes us, when sin,
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when we fall into sin, we
ought to repent, we ought to
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turn away towards the salvation of the
Lord. A second lesson I think that
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we ought to learn here is that
when people turn away from God, this
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is what happens. When we turn
away from God, who is good and
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perfectly righteous, and holy. This
is what happens, and this is important
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to remember, because we sometimes think
that by going out on our own,
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away from God, that's where we
find freedom. By going away from God,
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by going away from his word,
by going away from his people,
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that's where we find freedom. But
let the story be a warning to you.
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This is what happens when people go
their own way. It's not freedom,
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it's not freedom, it is a
kind of slavery. Here in Sodom
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and go Mora, no one is
free. Lots not free, his daughters
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aren't free, the angels aren't free, not even the men outside, who
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are so clearly enslave to their own
lusts. This is what happens when men
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turned from holiness and refuse to repent. Things get bad, really bad.
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This also teaches us where sin leads. Sin Leads to more sin, it
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leads to violence, it leads to
shame and it leads to judgment. To
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the scriptures warn about this very clearly
in many places in this is one of
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them. God Judges Sin. He
doesn't wink at it, he doesn't ignore
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it, he doesn't think it's no
big deal. God Judges Sin. If
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you are living your life in sin, if you are living your life winking
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at sin, ignoring sin, thinking
it's no big deal. Know that God
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does not think that way and that
God is a righteous judge and that when
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people eat, when people and even
his own law cries out and says this
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is wicked, God will judge.
That's what he wants us to understand from
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this passage. God May permit sin
in order to bring judgment on people,
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in order to accomplish a greater good, but God never excuses it or calls
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it okay. Yes, God maybe
slow in some ways to judgment as we
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perceive things, but the Bible tells
us that this is not so that we
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can stay in our sin, but
so that we can have time to flee
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from him. You know what a
teacher calls it when you have an overdue
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assignment and they're giving you time before
you turn it in, a grace period.
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Right, a grace period, they're
giving you grace before judgment falls.
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And now the great now the grade
that will be or the the the assignment
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will be graded. We are living
before the return of Christ. In a
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grace period. We are living in
a time where God is extending to all
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of us, to you, to
me, to our neighbors, to our
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family members, the opportunity to flee
the wrath to come. He Sends People
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Out, a messengers, to preach
this word, to say there is wrath
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coming, wrath coming for a sin. Flee it, run away from it,
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turn away from it. But we
have to understand that, just as
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in Sodom and Gomorrah and other times
Noah and other examples we can point to,
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in the Lord's wisdom, these grace
periods come to an end, and
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that's not just true for this one, the whole city, but the whole
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world. God has promised a day
when, one day, his son will
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return, and when he does he
will punish the world in its sin with
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fire and with judgment without alect.
To turn with you to Second Peter Chapter
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Two and read a few verses from
here. It's important that we let these
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warnings impress upon our hearts and that
we know how to respond to them.
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Second Peter Chapter Two, let's begin
at Verse Four. The scriptures say,
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for if God did not spare angels
when they send but cast them into hell
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and committed them to chains of gloomy
darkness to be kept until the judgment,
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if he did not spare the ancient
world, but preserved Noah, a herald
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of righteousness, with seven others.
When he brought a flood upon the world
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of the God ungodly, if,
by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorah
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to ashes, he condemned them to
extinction, making them an example of what
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is going to happen to the ungodly, and if he rescued righteous lot,
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greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of
the wicked, for is that righteous man
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lived among them. Day After Day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over
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the lawless deeds that he saw and
heard, then the Lord knows how to
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rescue the godly from trials and to
keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day
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of judgment, and especially those who
indulge in the lust of defiling passion and
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Despise Authority. So you hear what
the scriptures are saying. This is really
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clear, isn't it? If God
did this and purposefully did it in as
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an example, do you think you
will escape the righteous judgment of God when
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he comes at the end of days? You will not. But the good
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news is that if he can rescue
Noah and if he can rescue lot,
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he can also rescue you. The
very, very important question, then,
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is how can I be saved?
HOW DO WE GET OUT OF DOORS?
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How do we get out of this
world that is condemned to fire and judgment?
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How do we escape the righteous judgment
of God that is due for sins,
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when every single one of us should
raise our hands and say I am
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a sinner? There's one way or
one way only, and that's by God
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doing the saving, because, as
we see, sinners don't know how to
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help themselves. It takes a work, the work, the gracious work of
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God, and that is exactly what
he has done. He did it with
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Nolan when he rescued them, he
did it with lot and he does it
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for all mankind when he sent his
only son to die on a cross,
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to take on our sins, the
punishment that came on the world at Noah,
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the punishment that comes on Sodom and
go more here. That's what Jesus
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endured, not just across, but
the righteous judgment of God reigning down on
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him, killing him, but not
for anything Jesus had done wrong, but
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so that God could offer himself himself
as a perfect sacrifice for our sins,
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to establish in Jesus Christ on New
Heavens and a new earth and a better
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city that we can all run to. So that moving, so that those
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scriptures say that when we look to
Jesus and turn to him and trust him
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and trust his word and his promises
of salvation, we will be saved.
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We will join him in his resurrection, we will join him in his heavenly
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city. Indeed, the Holy Spirit
himself will endwell our hearts and build us
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up like a living temple in which
God himself will dwell. Not a city
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that is falling apart, like it's
happening here in Sodom and Gomorah, but
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a holy, everlasting city that cannot
be shaken. That's how we're saved,
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by trusting in the word of the
Lord, not just the threats of punishment,
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but also the promises of salvation.
And he will surely do it,
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even if it takes seizing you up
out of your chair and putting you in
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another place. He will do it, and praise God that he does.
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And when he does, don't turn
back. Don't turn back. Instead,
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do what Hebrews tells us. This
is Hebrews twelve again, and I'll end
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with this. Listen to the great
promise here that God makes, even as
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he wraps it up in encouraging instructions
to us about how we ought to live
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our lives in this world. Hebrews
twelve versus one and too. Therefore,
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since we are surrounded by so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
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aside every weight and sin which clings
so closely, and let us run with
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endurance the race that is set before
us, looking to Jesus, the founder
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and perfector of our faith, the
beginning, in the end, the Alpha
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and no Omega. This is not
a race we want on our own.
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WHO, for the joy that was
set before him, endured the cross,
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despising the same shame, and is
seated at the right hand of the throne
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of God. That's who we have
to look forward to, not in Little
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Zo r, but the Great Heavenly
City, the new heavens and the new
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earths, eyon itself. Praise be
to God. Let's pray
