Genesis chapter 19. We are going to look at verses 12 through 26 this morning. We continue to look at the story of Lot and the destruction in particular of Sodom and Gomorrah. If you haven't brought a Bible with you this morning, there are pew Bibles in the pew racks in front of you and along the chairs in the back of the sanctuary. Our passage this morning is found on page 13. The book of Genesis, last week we studied together the first 12 verses of Genesis chapter 19. We reflected on the nature of the sin of Sodom. We even saw the influence of Sodom itself on a righteous person, a righteous man, like Lot, a righteous family, like Lot's family. We're actually going to come back to that theme next week. as we conclude this chapter, but we saw the great sin of Sodom. We saw the decadence of Sodom. We saw that scripture describes the sin of Sodom in a number of different ways. It is a city that is full of injustice. It is a city that is full of unconcern for the needy. But it is also a sin we saw last week that has a sexual perversion that is not just an attempted homosexual rape here in chapter 19, but simply the pervasiveness of homosexual sin itself in this city of Sodom. As we looked not just at chapter 19, 1 to 11, but at other passages of scripture as well. Today, we're going to look at what follows, and that is the judgment that God brings on Sodom and Gomorrah. God had earlier told Abraham that he would not destroy the city if even 10 righteous were found there, and evidently 10 have not been found. And so God is now going to bring judgment and destruction to Sodom and to the surrounding cities. So let's look at God's word as we look at this, again, a difficult passage of scripture, but in it is revealed to us the glory of God, not just in his righteousness, but also the glory of God is revealed in his judgment. Genesis chapter 19, beginning in verse 12, hear the word of God. Then the men said to Lot, have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place for we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against his people has become great before the Lord and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law who were to marry his daughters up, get out of this place for the Lord is about to destroy the city. but he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot saying, up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city. But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him. And they brought him out and set him outside the city. And as they brought them out, one said, escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away. And Lot said to them, oh, no, my lords. Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life, but I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there. Is it not a little one? And my life will be saved. He said to him, behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there." Therefore, the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. and he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife behind him looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Thus far, God's holy, inspired, inerrant, an eternal word, may he write its truth on our hearts this morning. Let's go to God in prayer. Our father, we thank you that you are a gracious and loving God. But you are a holy God. Your word tells us that your eyes are too pure to look on sin. And you are a God of judgment. Our Father, we pray that you would help us to see you in your all of your glorious majesty this morning, both in your grace and mercy. But also in your judgment on sinners. We pray, O God, that you would teach us, enable us by your word to walk faithfully in your ways. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. One of the most distasteful parts of the Bible for many unbelievers is this notion of the judgment of God. People today do not have a hard time thinking about God as being a God of love. And in fact, that's exactly what God is called in Scripture. John says in 1 John 4, God is love. But that's not the totality of the biblical story. And when we talk about the judgment of God, that's where people often today tune out evangelical Christians. We don't want to think about, we don't want to discuss this doctrine of God's judgment. We have already seen it several times in a variety of ways in the book of Genesis. In fact, God's initial instructions to Adam and Eve, in addition to be fruitful and multiply, were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for he said, in the day you eat of it, you will die. At that time, when Adam and Eve sinned and ate of the fruit of the tree, actually, they did not die physically, though death entered into the world, mortality entered into the world, but they did die spiritually. They were cut off from fellowship with God and they were expelled from the garden and from the ability to walk in the presence of God. That was a form of temporal judgment that has affected all humanity since sin and death had entered the world with Adam and Eve. We've seen God's judgment in the story of Cain and Abel. God, in many ways, was merciful to Cain. He put a mark on him that no one would harm him. And yet he sent him out to be a wanderer on the earth because of what he did to his brother. We've seen it, of course, in the flood where God destroyed the earth except for Noah and his family. We've seen it in the Tower of Babel when a group tries to reach the heavens and exalt themselves over God and God scatters them over the face of the earth. We read it this morning in Isaiah chapter 3 and the passage that Sean read for us. You can't read the prophets and escape the theme of judgment. It's all through. Well, you may be here this morning and you may say to me, as many have said, well, that's the God of the Old Testament. But the God of the New Testament, the God of the New Testament is different. That God, many say, is a God of love. It's not a God of judgment. If you're here this morning and you think that that is true, I'd encourage you to read the New Testament. Because, read the Gospels. Jesus speaks more about hell than He does about heaven. Most people have a certain respect, at least respect for Jesus. And Jesus' teaching has more about hell itself than about heaven. And we see the theme of judgment throughout the New Testament as well. We see it profoundly at the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation. But turn with me to the New Testament gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 3. We're going to look a little bit about at the teaching of John the Baptist. We're going to actually come back to John the Baptist tonight in the gospel of John and Sean's sermon tonight. But here we see John the Baptist comes on the scene. He comes to prepare the way for Jesus himself. And in Luke chapter 3, beginning in verse 7, we read these words. He, that is John the Baptist, said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers. It's typically not the way preachers are told to begin their sermons in seminaries today. You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Bear fruits in keeping with repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, the fire of judgment. Skip down to verse 15. As the people were in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, I baptize you with water. But he who is mightier than I is coming the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to one tie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand. to clear his threshing floor and to gather the weed into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire," John says about Jesus. There's both salvation and there's judgment in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then look at verse 18. So with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people. You might be tempted to say, ha, good news. burning the chaff with unquenchable fire. How is that good news? Here's the good news. The good news is wrath is coming. But there's a way of escape. Wrath is coming, judgment is coming, but there's a way of escape, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as we come back to Genesis chapter 19, Sodom, Though it experienced the judgment of God also looks forward to judgment. It reminds us that God is a God of judgment and at the end of this age, at the end of this world, God is going to come to bring salvation to his own people, but he is also going to come in judgment. And Sodom, in some ways, looks forward to that. Right now, as we're in the book of Genesis, the last straw has come. The final sinful decadence of this city has been revealed, and God, through his two angels here in Genesis chapter 19, are going to bring destruction. And I want us to reflect this morning on the judgment of God, but more than that, the call that we saw in John the Baptist and that really we see in the angels here to flee from that judgment to come. What does that look like? Not only that we are to flee, but how we are to flee. Now, before we get into that, though, There are four negative examples for how we are to flee from the judgment to come. The first we see in verse 14, Lot's sons-in-law, who really thought Lot was just joking. Judgment. Destruction. You're kidding. You were always a joker. Is that the way people treat the call of judgment today? The teaching of judgment today? Right. Right. That's not going to happen. You must be joking. You must be mad. You Christians are kind of wacky after all. That's not going to happen. The second wrong way to flee is lingering. Do you see that? Verses 15 and 16. The angels come and they say, up, take your wife, take your two daughters, get out of here. But he lingered, Lot lingered. Some people linger. The call of judgment comes and and they linger, they don't go, they don't respond to coming judgment. A third wrong way to flee is Lot's way in verses 17 to 19. Isn't it amazing in the midst of this urgent situation, the angels calling him to flee, Lot says, and go to the hills. Lot says, no, wait a minute, let's kind of reconsider this. How about this little place over here? Let me go there, not to the hills. We flee, but on our terms. On our terms. A wrong way to go. And the fourth way to flee is, of course, famously in Lot's wife, we flee, but we look back longingly. We look back longingly on, quote, the good life we had. So with those four negative examples and in this context, let's look at three ways God does call us to flee here in Genesis chapter 19, to flee from the wrath to come here in Genesis chapter 19 and elsewhere in scripture. And the first way is to flee with urgency. To flee with urgency. There is nothing casual about the way these angels come to lot on the day of destruction. Get up. Go now. Take your daughters. Take your wife. Get out of here. Because now, this day, we are going to destroy this place. Don't be caught up in it. There's a sense of urgency. And so there's a sense of urgency today. For those who hear the gospel, the good news of salvation in Christ, but it includes the bad news of God's judgment that is to come. There's a sense of urgency. You don't know when your life will end. Some people think, well, that sounds good. That sounds good. I want to be right with the Lord. I want to escape the wrath of God. But, you know, I just am not quite ready. I want to be able to do this in my life. I want to be able to do that in my life, contrary to the word of God, and I'll get right with God later. But right now, I don't want that path. Who knows when life will end? Who knows if and when God will withdraw his call? Psalm 32.6 says, let all offer prayer to you, to God, when you may be found. Or Isaiah 55, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. The gospel message may be coming to you now, but there may come a time when it no longer means anything to you. The Lord withdraws the call from you. Who knows when that will happen? God is gracious, God is patient, but scripture tells us that his patience will end. It will come to an end. We see it oftentimes in scripture. We see it clearly in one New Testament passage in particular. Turn to the New Testament. Second Peter, chapter three. Second Peter, chapter three. This is toward the end of your Bibles. I don't have sorry, you don't have page numbers in the pew Bibles. On this. Toward the end, go to Revelation and back a few books to Peter, Jude, John, Peter going backwards. Second, Peter, Chapter three. Talking about the day of the Lord that's coming, the day when Christ will return in power and glory, both for salvation and judgment, and some have mocked. Here are the mockers, here are the sons-in-law at the beginning of 2 Peter chapter 3. What is this talk of his coming? Everything's going on as normal and Christ said and you are saying, you Christians are saying, Christ's gonna come back? No, it's not gonna happen. Here are the mockers, the mockers, like the sons-in-law. And Peter writes this, chapter 3 verse 8, do not overlook this one fact, beloved, That with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient with you. Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief and then The heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. The Lord is patient, but the day of judgment will come, Peter says. He will not always strive. He will not always contend. God will bring judgment on earth. Paul writes in 2 Second Corinthians chapter six, he says, in a favorable time, I listened to you in a day of salvation. I have helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. If you are hearing the gospel today, the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ today and in Christ alone, God's word says to you now is the day. Now is the time of salvation. Turn, repent, and flee to Christ. There's urgency here in the call of the gospel. As we come back to Genesis 19, we actually see in the midst of this God's great mercy in verse 16, as Lot lingers, which is also astounding, What do the angels do? They grab hold of Him and His family, and they drag Him out. And what does the text say? That seems harsh, almost violent. The text tells us the Lord being merciful to Him. By God's mercy, He grabs us. He grabs a lot here. We see His grace and His mercy to His people in the midst of His judgment. God so is gracious, gracious to sinners. Gracious to sinners who hear the call of the gospel, who recognize their own sin, who know that they cannot meet God's perfect standard, and who turn to him in repentance and faith. He's gracious. But judgment is coming. Today is the day. First of all, we're called to flee with urgency. Secondly, we're called to flee unencumbered. Flee unencumbered. There's an old saying, actually there are a lot of variations of this old saying. I don't really know what the initial version of it was, but it goes something like this. You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy. Or whatever. You can take Lot out of Sodom evidently, but you can't take Sodom out of Lot, is what this text reveals to us. And verses 17 and following, the angels bring Lot and his family out and they tell Lot, escape for your life, don't look back, don't stop anywhere, escape to the hills lest you be swept away. And Lot says, ah, let's wait a minute, let's just talk about this. And Lot says, look, there's a city right over there. He says, it's a little one. Why does he say that? It's fairly clear in verse 21 that that was one of the cities that was also going to be destroyed. You remember last week we looked at Jude chapter 7 and talked about Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities. They were all wicked, all perverse, all of them were going to be wiped out. And Lot said, no, that's just a little one. Maybe you can tolerate that one and I can flee there. Why? He cannot leave the well-watered valley. He cannot leave the place of prosperity. The hills, who can survive up there? And the mountain people, maybe, but I'm not a mountain person. Here is the place where I've been fruitful. Here is the place where I've become prominent. Here is the place where I've become wealthy beyond my imagination. Let me stay down here. You can take a lot out of Sodom, but you can't take Sodom out of Lot. He has to stay. And really, on top of that, what He's asking is that that zoar, which means little, not be destroyed. And this request is granted. By the way, watch what you ask for. Watch what you pray for. Next week, as the narrative goes on, we're going to actually see that Lot with his daughter's fleas are in fear. And they finally do wind up in the hills, or the angels told them to go to begin with. Watch what we ask for. Watch what you pray for. Derek Kidner puts it this way, Lot must have his little Sodom again. if life is to be supportable. For him to survive, I've gotta have my little Sodom. Are there things that we can't survive without? The house, the car, the possessions, If I'm gonna go, I've gotta at least take that, that thing, whatever that is. What do we need to survive? How about our sins? You hear people all the time, oh, it's only a little sin, right? It's only a little city, it's only a little sin. Certainly, God can kind of turn His eyes, turn and look away on that as I hold on to that. I'm not really hurting anybody anyhow and it seems to be good for me. What does Jesus tell us to do to repent? To turn. to do a 180, to be walking in one direction, to turn around and walk in the other direction. We're no longer walking in the way of sin. We're no longer seeking after the things of pleasure of this world. But we are walking after the Lord Jesus Christ. We are called to take up something. But it's not our bag of clothes or our bag of goodies. It's a cross, a cross. That's all that Jesus tells you to take up. Because it means we are going to our death the way Jesus did. Laying down our life to live for him, holy and fully unencumbered Jesus is later gonna say when judgment comes, we're gonna come back to this passage in a little bit, don't run back in the house and grab something and leave. Get out when the time comes. Leave unencumbered. Alexander McLaren, the great Scottish commentator, says this, if my hands are laden with pebbles, I cannot clasp the diamonds that are offered to me. Unless you fling out the sandbags, the balloon will cleave to the earth. And unless we turn the world out of our hearts, it is no use to say, calm Lord Jesus, there is no room for him anyway. What do you cling to? What are you holding on to in this world? Some people think of heaven as a place where they're going to get back a lot of things that they lose, loved ones and those kinds of things. Certainly, that's a good thing. There's nothing wrong with desiring to see loved ones again. For some people, it's The streets of gold, the mansion in the sky, whatever it might be. But, you know, the only thing, the only reason why Christians want to go to heaven is because God is there. God is there. Paul said, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Why? Because death means more of Christ. Can you make that statement? For me to live is Christ. Put off what holds us down. Put off what keeps us from sanctification. Put off what keeps us from faithful walking with the Lord. Flee to the Savior unencumbered with only his cross on your back. The third thing we see in our text this morning and elsewhere in scripture is that we are to flee with a united heart. Flee with a united heart. The psalmist says in Psalm 86, verse 11, unite my heart to fear your name. First time I read that, the first time it actually struck me what the psalmist was saying, I was floored. The psalmist is praying, unite my heart. What a great prayer. Why? Because our hearts are divided. They're divided between God and the things of God and this world and sin and the things of this world. They're divided, not fully devoted to God. We see it here in Lot, let me go, let me go to that little city. What is Lot essentially saying to God? Not your will but mine be done. I want that. And of course we've got this famous example of Lot's wife fleeing. She looks longingly back at the city and God's judgment comes on her. Lot pretty much loses everything. And it's going to become in some ways worse in what follows next week. We're going to talk about Lot's legacy and Abraham's legacy. I'm going to somehow tie that into the Reformation on Reformation Sunday, next Sunday morning. But it's an ugly picture because he can't let go of the things of this world. His life is devastated. with consequences for future Israelites. We'll see that next week. I pray that God will help us not to look back, to love him with an undivided heart, a united heart, flee with a united heart, turn back to the gospel of Luke. This time, chapter 17. Luke chapter 17. We're going to pick up in the middle of a discourse of Jesus talking about the coming of the kingdom, the coming of judgment. Look with me, beginning at verse 26. Luke 17, verse 26, Jesus says this just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying. And being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark in the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot. They were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all, so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let no one who is in the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away. And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. Remember Lot's wife. Remember Lot's wife, Jesus says. Whoever seeks to preserve his life, what Jesus means here is not simply your physical life, but the things of this world that have become for us life itself. If you seek to preserve that, you will lose it. But whoever loses his life, With eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ, following Him, committed to Him, walking only in His ways, Jesus says He will save it. Is your heart divided this morning? Are you clinging to the things of this world? If you are, you're in danger. You are in danger. You're in spiritual danger. You're in eternal danger. As a minister of the gospel and the authority of the word of God, I can say that this morning, that's what God says. You are in danger. Maybe you've got a foot in both worlds, you're teetering on the edge. You want the things, you want the pleasures of this life. You want to walk in those little sins, you can't give them up. Although little sins are often big sins, aren't they? And if they're not big sins, they lead to big sins. And we're gonna see that next week too. But you've got a foot in both worlds. You're teetering on the edge. You may be saved, but you will not know the blessing of God. A lot evidently from the testimony elsewhere of scripture was saved. He was a righteous man. But he did not know the blessing of God. He knew only pain and only destruction. And yet, even if you are saved, you risk falling into judgment. Let's look at one final New Testament passage. Turn back to Peter. This time to 1 Peter, not 2 Peter. 1 Peter 4. 1 Peter 4, look with me at verses 17 and 18. The context here is the suffering of Christians. I take us here this morning because not only are Christians around the world suffering for their stand for Christ, it's coming here. It's here in some ways already. It's coming to a greater extent right here in our land. And Peter, in the midst of talking about the suffering that they are undergoing, writes this, chapter 4, 1 Peter 4, beginning in verse 17, for it is time for judgment to begin where? At the household of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, What will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Judgment begins with the household of God, he says. If you go back to 1 Peter 1, verses 6 and 7, it appears what he's talking about is judgment coming, hardship coming for our purification. In 1 Peter 1.6, Peter writes, in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That our faith may be refined and strengthened through the trials, Peter says here. And judgment comes. Hardship comes when we walk in sin, when we walk in the things of this world. And it's time for that judgment to begin with us so that we might be purified. Many profess Christ, but they're not all out for Christ. Many profess Christ, But their lives are not lived for the glory of God, in obedience to the Word of God, in pure love and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to follow Him, but I want to do this. I'll walk in your ways when it suits me, but these other ways, not your will but my will, be done. I look around, I don't know your spiritual states this morning. I can be confident of any of you. So I don't know. So I don't know your spiritual state this morning. Maybe you're a professing Christian, but you want your sin too. You want the world too. Pray that God will bring the hardship that will purify you. That's why I'm going to pray for you. You're welcome. Maybe you're here this morning and when you really think about it seriously and you search your heart, you like the idea of salvation in Christ, but you don't like the idea so much of following Christ. And when you really get serious about your own faith, you find that there is none there. That's your state this morning. Turn. Flee from the wrath to come. God is gracious for those who truly repent of their sin and trust in him. God does not hold your sin over your head anymore. He says, in Christ, your sin will be washed away. You need to run to him. You need to flee. My prayer is that you'll do it today. Let's pray. Our God, we do praise You. We praise You in all of Your glorious majesty for Your love, for Your grace, for Your mercies, for Your purity, for Your holiness, for Your holy and just wrath on sin. Our God, we ask that as we reflect on Your greatness, you would purify our hearts. And with all that is within us, may we not only praise you with our mouths, may we walk in your ways to the glory of your name. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.