Transcription
We bless your name, O Lord God Almighty. We thank you today that there is no condemnation for us who have been washed in the blood. Thank you, Lord, that we will never face the wrath of God. Thank you, Jesus Christ, that you bore it for us. You've already judged us righteous. Thank you, Jesus, for giving us everything that pertains to life and godliness.
I pray from my heart this day that you will cause us all to be able to hear and receive. I want to leave with more knowledge and a deeper spiritual understanding than I've ever had. I do not wish for this to be just another event. I pray that it will be a holy spasm that will cause me to grow. I ask you to give us ears and hearts and eyes, and I pray for a voice that people can hear. I ask it all in the name of Jesus, and everybody said, amen.
Thank you for being seated, and thank you for coming to God's house today. There is a great reward for people who make any sacrifices for Christ. I welcome all of those who are watching in the other buildings on the property, which would be our youth and Weatherby Hall, and of course, all of you that are watching online. I'd love to stand here and tell you some stories that we received this week of people halfway around the world who have heard the services here, do not even know who Jesus was, and God guided them to this website, and now a whole village is gathered in a room listening. But I can't tell you where. I can't tell you where because governments monitor the internet.
You know, let me ask you, how many of you think you know the shortest verse in the Bible? And that would be, you're right. Does anyone know the second shortest verse in the Bible? Okay, let me read it to you then. The second shortest verse in the Bible, Luke chapter 17, verse 32. Remember Lot's wife. Wow. Remember Lot's wife. Now, Jesus said that, and in the context, Jesus was talking to the apostles and the Jews who would, in the tribulation, face great persecution, and he was warning them not to give in, not to cave. Remember Lot's wife.
But the next verse says, "Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will save it." Two very important verses. Remember Lot's wife. If you try to save your life, you will lose it. If you lose your life for me, you will save it. Only two times did Jesus tell you to remember anybody. The first one was when he said, "Remember me. We eat this bread and drink this cup. Do this in remembrance of me." Remember me. And the next one, he tells us to remember Lot's wife. But we don't know her name. We don't know anything about her except that she was Lot's wife. And you really don't know any more than that until you find out who Lot is. Who is Lot?
Let me read a passage to you from II Peter before we go to the Book of Genesis. Second Peter chapter 2, beginning with verse 5. Let me start with four. "For if God did not spare angels," I preached on this last week, "when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter, and if he rescued righteous Lot," rescued righteous Lot, oppressed Lot, was oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men, for by what he saw and heard, that righteous man, that's twice he's called righteous, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds, by their sinful deeds. A righteous man in a wicked city, enduring it day after day, his righteous soul was tormented by their ungodliness.
Now, I want to take you to Genesis chapter 13. And I want to ask a question that I have had, Lord, have I asked this question many times. You know the story of Abraham and Lot. God called Abraham out of his country, away from his kindred, from everything, and told him to just go to a strange land that he would give him later. And the Bible makes it very clear that he took his nephew Lot with him. The Bible makes it very clear, Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. This is a wealthy man, very rich in livestock, silver, and gold. And because Lot was with his uncle Abraham, he enjoyed the riches, the silver, the gold, the servants he had. He had it all. There was nothing he lacked. And in fact, Lot's own herds began to grow so rapidly and were so large that his herdsmen began to fight with Abraham's herdsmen about watering places and grass and pasture. And Abraham said, "Hey, we don't do this. We're family. So, I tell you what, nephew Lot, you go any direction you choose, and I'll go the opposite way. You can have it. You go that way, I'll go that way because we're family and we don't fight over stuff like this. So, you make the choice. It's up to you." The Bible says, "So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward, and they separated from each other. Abraham settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley and moved his tents to Sodom."
Now, the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord. And here's my question. And since I was a young preacher, I've been trying to figure this one out. Lot, why did you choose Sodom? You're a righteous man. You're in a righteous family. Your uncle has been called out especially by God to be the father of a nation that will bless the whole world. Why did you choose Sodom? You don't lack for anything. There's not one thing in this life you need. You are as wealthy as you can possibly be. And now you are living at peace. Why did you choose Sodom? There are no righteous people in Sodom. There are no good people. If I can make it contemporary, there wasn't a single church in Sodom. You had it all. Why? Why does anybody who's rich in Christ choose anything other than Christ? When you have all you need in Jesus, what is it about the world that still fascinates you? You just can't get away from it. You're titillated by its money, its power, its popularity. What is it about us righteous people that we're always kind of looking towards Sodom?
Now, in my mind, and you know, I have a good imagination, I can hear Lot saying to himself, "I've lived out in this wilderness. I know I've got a lot of stuff, but I've really never been to the city, and I'm just kind of fascinated with what they call city life. There's an excitement. You can hear the noise at night. There are tambourines and screaming and all kinds of, uh, lightnings, candles, and stuff. You can see the people are dancing madly, and they seem to be happy. And another thing, one day when I have children, I want them to have opportunities I don't have. I don't want them to feel left out and pushed away. I don't want them to feel that their friends are excelling them. I don't want them to be embarrassed. I don't want them to have a second-rate education. I don't want them to be ignorant of society. So, that's exciting to me. My children will have better opportunities if they go to the city. If they see things, and if, if they can have things only the city can give that I tell you, you can't have when you're a tent-dwelling, sheep-herding nomad like Uncle Abraham. And I thank him and I appreciate him and I love him for helping me get blessed like this. But I think I'll just take all my blessings and just go see what's inside them. I just want to go. Uncle Abraham says he's looking for a city. I found one. Uncle Abraham says that he's looking for a city not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, but he's still looking. I found one, and I'm going to it."
And guess what? Righteous Lot went to Sodom, and he made it. He surely did. He made it. He took his money in there. He got to know the right people, and he actually got voted into office of some sort. He was a judge or a ruler because the scriptures say he would sit at the gates of the city, and that's where the powerful, well-known, famous people sat. Yeah, he made it. He had influence and power. Hey, and he got a wife. We still don't know what her name is, but he got a wife. And then, because he got a wife, she bore him two daughters, and those two daughters were about to get married to two local boys. So, here is Lot, while old-fashioned Abraham is still wandering out in the wilderness, cooking food by a campfire. I'm in the city now, and I can go to restaurants, and I've got a covering over my head, more than some sheepskins. I've got a wife here, I've got daughters, and I'm about to have two weddings. Everybody knows me. Oh, he made it.
But he paid a high price. Every day of his life, his affections were divided. He knew where he came from. He came from good stock, holy stock, that taught him the right way. Many were the times that he sat around that campfire with Uncle Abraham, only to hear Uncle Abraham rehearse the day that he heard the voice of God and said, "Abraham, get up and get out of here. I will show you a land that I will give you and your descendants, and I will bless you, and I will make you a blessing." And he heard Abraham talk about the miraculous ways that God blessed Uncle Abraham and delivered Uncle Abraham. And that's what made Lot's heart pound at times. But now he's in the city, and there's no godly person to talk to. There's no reminiscing of the voice of God, the touch of God, the call of God. And every day he knew that he was here, but he was always thinking of there. His heart longed for that assurance that there was a God in heaven, but he was tangled up in Sodom. And every day his conscience was smitten, and it gnawed at him because of what he was seeing and what he was tempted to do, and the compromises he was required to make to keep his clients and stay in good standing with the people of the city. And II Peter, you read it, said that his righteous soul was vexed, tormented day after day. What kind of life is that? That when you're tormented every day, when you're ill at ease, when you know you're at a place you ought not to be, but you can't get out because you chose to go, and you've put down your roots, and now you just can't jerk them up and leave.
I tell you, when the Bible says that his righteous soul was tormented, we are talking about a miserable man who knew better but made the wrong choice. Who thought that what he had was not enough, that a relationship with God had gotten stale, but there was a whole lot more to experience in this life. He thought he could live where God wasn't and still feel the peace that passes all understanding. Brothers and sisters, it just doesn't work that way. Righteous Lot was trapped. He was trapped by his investments, his financial investments, his financial commitments. He had made relationships with people. He'd probably gotten people jobs, was employing people, helping people, and those people now depended on him. So he felt guilty. "I can't just up and leave. People can't eat if I don't pay them. People can't work if I don't employ them." He was trapped. He was entangled. His family was now calling Sodom home. In a wicked place, this is where we grew up, this is who we are. They were used to the vileness and the sin, the degradation. Their souls weren't vexed by it like righteous Lot's soul was. They'd gotten used to Sodom. They'd lived there until they'd become hardened in their consciences, and they just kind of accepted, "This is the way it is."
You see, he, he tried to tell his children about Uncle Abraham and Almighty God, but they were too busy to listen. They were trying to get ahead in life. He had no influence on them anymore because Sodom had created the influence in their lives. So, not only was he trapped, and not only was he entangled, but he had compromised. He let down a little here so he could stay here. He, he let his conscience get a little tougher because this had to be done. You know, that happens in this whole world. When you get into politics, you're going to compromise somewhere to get in. You got to compromise. You got to make promises to stay in. You've got to compromise. You got to make promises. When you go into business and, and you take a big financial chance, you got to compromise because now somebody holds a debt over your head, and you owe people, you got to compromise. And here's what compromise does. It is shocking, but I am watching it happen in this country today. I am also watching it happen in the church today.
When he compromised in the very city that was as wicked as any city could possibly be, a city that God was about to destroy, Lot referred to those wicked people as brothers. "We are all in this together, brothers." In fact, let me go to Acts, I'm sorry, Genesis 19, and read to you what you know is coming. You see, two angels showed up one day because they were sent by God Almighty to determine the temperature, pardon the expression, the moral temperature of Sodom. They say, "We've heard that bad things are going on here, and we've come down to see if it's as bad as we've heard." And they walked into the city. And when they got to the gates, they saw Lot sitting there. And Lot knew they were angels. And they said, "We've come to destroy the city." And you know what happened then? He said, "Come to my house. I'll entertain you. I'll feed you." And when they got in the house, the men of the city, young and old, every one of them, surrounded the house and began to scream at Lot, "Bring those two men out to us. We saw them go in. Bring them out so we can have sex with them." And Lot said, "Brothers, don't do such a thing as this. Here is a righteous man who has backslidden and he's compromised. And instead of standing up and saying, 'Your sins are going to destroy you. You will not violate these holy angels of God.' He tried to make it all work, make it all better. 'Let's just get along. We're all in this together. We are the family of God. This is the brotherhood of man. The fatherhood of God is more important than all of this stuff. Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.'"
But the men of the city said, "Stand aside. This one came in as an alien," talking about Lot, "and already he's acting like a judge." He said, and they said, "We're going to treat you worse than we're going to treat him." You better hear me, young people. Hear me, people of this world that are your friends now and will put up with you until you have a conviction, will turn on you like a mad dog the first time you contradict what they believe or act like you're better than they are. They will chew you up and spit you out. They are not your friends. Sodom did not produce friends.
So let's go on. And when all of this was taking place, and Lot was this, "I just don't get this, Lord." And Lot was trying to reason with these perverts. "Brothers, don't do this," he said. "I got two girls in the house. They're about to be married. They're virgins. I'll give them to you. Just don't hurt these guys." I don't understand that. God's listening to me. I'm in a pulpit, Lord. I don't understand what this righteous man was thinking. But about that time, the door opened, and those angels grabbed Lot and jerked him in, slammed that door, and blinded everybody outside. They couldn't even find their way around. And then he began to understand, "Something bad is about to happen. We're about to destroy this place because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it."
Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were to marry his daughters and said, "Up, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city." But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be joking. "He's joking. This kind of thing cannot happen." When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Take your wife, still don't know her name, and your two daughters who were here, and you'll be swept away if you don't obey me." And this is Lot, why Lot, why? Verse 17. "But he hesitated." You got two angels who just snatched you away from a rowdy mob, and they've told you the place is going to be destroyed. Get out, and you hesitate. So the men seized his hand. They grabbed him and the hand of his wife, still don't know her name, and the hands of his two daughters, "for the compassion of the Lord was upon him, for the mercy of the Lord was upon him." Here is a backslidden person, called righteous three times, who chose to go live in a sin-sick society and was so ensnared by it until even when God spoke and said, "Get out," he was so connected that he hesitated. So the men seized his hand, and the hand of his wife, and his daughters, because God was having mercy on him. "Escape for your life. Do not look behind you. Do not stop in this valley. Hurry up out of here, for I cannot do anything until you are gone."
Righteous Lot, mixed up, backslidden, half-worldly, carnal, righteous Lot. Do you understand God's having mercy on your poor soul? Do you understand that you deserve to be burned up in the city? Do you understand that if it weren't for the goodness of the Lord in your life, you'd be condemned right along with the world? Righteous Lot, get up and get out of here. God is showing mercy to you, and he won't destroy the city until you get out. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and he overthrew those cities and all the valleys and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground. Folks, whether you know it or not, that used to be like a garden area over there, but if you've been, you know that it's nothing but dirt and rocks, and nothing can grow here. It is. But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Wow. Still don't know her name.
So, I'm just going to ask some very practical questions to believers in 2023 who are living in the middle of Sodom, in a very smack-dab middle of Sodom. For, for you who still find this contest between your heart for God and yet the world offers so much, "I want God. Ah, there's some other things I want to. I want my children to know God, but I want them to have all the opportunities that this world affords." "Well, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to make a difference." Have you? Did you make a difference? Have you made a difference, or did you compromise? Has this life that you chose, God didn't put you there, you chose it, has, have you battered anybody eternally? Because I, I hear this all the time. "I believe God has put me there to make a difference." Really? Have you? I hear it from athletes who are making $300 million a year. "I'm here to make a difference." Oh, are you? So, it's not about the money, it's not about the fame, it's not about that at all. You're there to make a difference. Well, this preacher does not believe that. I believe you can get to a place, your heart cries out for God, but this world is screaming louder than your heart, and you find yourself in a place that makes you feel uncomfortable, that vexes your soul, that grinds your guts out. You know better than to do that. You know better than to be that, but you can't get out. And so you say, "I'm here to make a difference."
Let me tell you something about old brother Lot. Um, he made it, but he didn't make a difference. He was not a godly example. He did not make an impact on his city, and he lost half his family. Have you made a lasting impact, or are you now just trying to keep things going? Has Sodom had a greater impact on you than God? Have you, or has your family adjusted to this world? Do your children call this world home? Do they see this as more important than the unseen spiritual truth? Or your children, much more familiar with worldly singers and worldly entertainment and worldly athletes and worldly politicians, and how much this person makes, and what you can make if you go there, and the latest fashion, and the newest car? Are they more familiar with that than they are the word of God? Then what happens? You were out there to make an impact, make a difference, and your family calls Sodom home.
Now, this is, this is how we come to know this nameless woman from Sodom that Jesus told us to remember. Yep. Still don't know her name. And yet Jesus from his mouth said, "Don't ever forget Lot's wife." Because she had every opportunity in the world. She might have been from that city, but she married a man who was from a holy family. She was there when a king came and fought against Sodom and captured Lot and all the people and took him away. She was there when Abraham, Uncle Abe, showed up with 318 special forces and delivered Lot and the women and all the possessions that they took. She saw that. She was in that. She heard her husband every day saying, "I can't take this much longer. This place is sick. These people are crazy. They are violating the conscience of God. This is nasty, wicked, weird, perverted. I can't take this, honey." "What do you mean? My father Abraham taught me about a God who says nothing is to be worshiped before him, and we are to live holy lives before him, and we are to walk by faith and not by sight. Honey, I just can't take this." Well, I don't understand what you're talking about, Lot. She was there when the two angels showed up. She was there when she saw two angels jerk her husband in the house and blind everybody. She was there when the angel grabbed her by the hand and said, "Get out of this place. God's about to rain fire down on Sodom."
So why am I supposed to remember her? Because she actually made it out. She actually escaped the fire, the destruction. But she looked back. Why am I to remember her? Because she lagged. She stayed behind her husband. He was rushing to get out. He was trying to be obedient, and she was just kind of jogging along, lagging behind. That's what the Bible says. She, she went from behind him and looked back. She looked back. Why? Because her heart was still inside them. See, I don't care where you go. Wherever your heart is, that's where you are. Do you understand why? Wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Whatever you value, that's where you put your time, your energy, and your money. Whatever you adore is what you think about every morning when you wake up. It's the order of your day. Wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And so she turned and looked back, and after God had shown her grace to get out of that mess, there was something about Sodom she still loved. And you know, I found a verse that goes right along with that yesterday out of Hebrews chapter 10, verse 29. "She did despite unto the Spirit of Grace." In other words, after God had been merciful, kind, and gracious, after he, oh Lord, was good enough to get her out of that condemned city, she didn't really want to leave, and she was saying, "I appreciate it," but she insulted the Spirit of Grace.
There it is. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever tries to save his soul will lose it. Whoever savers and enjoys this life, whoever tries to hang on to this life will lose life. But whoever says, "It ain't worth it. Nobody, nothing, no amount in this world is more important than this great God who has shown me grace, who has opened my eyes, who has delivered me from darkness and death and condemnation." Let me just say this, it seems a pretty hefty, strong, cutting message today. Again, I tell you what people say to me all the time, "That was a pretty strong message." Let me tell you something about God's word. It's all strong. Just depends on who's preaching it and how they preach it. It's all strong. And Jesus said, "If your whole goal is to try to get the most out of this life for you and yours, you've already lost life. But if your goal, if you say with Paul, 'I press toward the mark of the high call of God in Christ Jesus.' The things that are behind me are there. They're gone. But I'm not thinking about that. I see a city made without hands, eternal in the heavens. I may be a sojourner, I may be a nomad, but I'm happy in the Lord. I've been blessed. I don't need anything else. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
Stand with me, please. I, I guess I'll just go ahead and say it. The first step to going back is looking back. I make no apologies to you parents who want the best for your children. Well, I'm going to tell you something. The best ain't the best education or the highest paying job or their own town home before they're even 20, or the newest car so they won't look odd when they drive up into the parking lot of that private school. That ain't the best. The best is when they've seen you cry and pray and say, "I'd rather have Jesus." The best is when they know Mama and Daddy are just strangers out here in the wilderness, but they lack nothing. They may not have all the amenities of the city, but they have God. That's the best thing you can give your children. Young people listening to me right now, the best thing you will ever have is God. Listen to me. This world is lying. This world is putting up a false picture. It is a trap. It makes things look beautiful that are actually dangerous. Don't play with Sodom. Get your eyes off Sodom. You're gonna make a choice. Say, "I choose to stay down here with you, Uncle Abraham. I'd rather smell sheep and goats than the smell the filth and the rot of a city on the brink of destruction." How many Christians heard what I preached this morning? Brother, you can have this nasty place. I'm going somewhere soon. I plan to see Jesus. I just want to say it. I don't, I just want to say it. I don't want more money.
Somebody brought me a lottery ticket the other day, just being honest. Sat down to eat. Lots put two lottery tickets in front of me. I said, "What is this?" "You never know. Think what you can do for God if you win." And I said, "Nothing." Because the more money people make, they less, the less they give to God. You can use that all you want to. "If I get this, I'm going to really bless the church and bless God. Oh, I'm going to give to missions." You will not do it. It will trap you. What'd you do with those tickets? First of all, I went and showed them to Sandra, and she said, "What is that?" I said, "Lottery tickets, gambling. I'm a child of God. I'm a man of God." And I tore them up and put them in the trash can. You know why? My God has already supplied all my needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Don't be honest. Don't be uneasy. She's afraid I'm going to offend the person that did it. I love the person that did it, but I've already told the person that did it, "That's gambling, and I don't gamble. I don't do anything by chance. This is a sure foundation. This is a solid rock. I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep what I've committed unto him until that day." There's nothing chancy about it. I ain't making a gamble. I've received abundant and eternal life that cannot be taken away from me. Praise God forevermore. Praise God forevermore.
[Applause]
[Music]
9:57 David's playing it. I'll tell it again. I know I'm long-winded, but y'all sing a long time too. My mama used to stand in front of the kitchen window, washing dishes in the sink, with the wind arrays and tomatoes up on the ledge. We didn't have air conditioning, and I could hear her singing this song, "I'd Rather Have Jesus."
[Music]
I'm going to dismiss. The altar is open. If you'd like to make a little journey, stand down here and just stand before the Lord, you're welcome to do that. They're going to sing, but it's between you and God anyway. If I've offended anybody, good. And I know some of you want to take up for this and want to explain that, no need. My mind's made up. I preach what I believe with all my heart. You can't change me. You can't convince me. So don't waste your time. Just come up and say, "Love you, brother." Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, my Redeemer. Amen. Thank you.