Good evening. We're going to continue into Genesis 19 with our series, Treasuring Christ. And this is going to, in all likelihood, be a more heavy message. But as I was preparing this, it reminded me how much more brilliantly Jesus shines in the backdrop of darkness. So let's pray for the Lord's help as we begin today. Father in heaven, we just praise you, Lord. We praise you, Lord. You are righteous. Thinking of Psalm 9, praising God for his righteousness, though the wicked be cast into hell. Lord, though it be a grievous thing to us, Lord, our sentiments, that such a place could exist, that such an eternal punishment could exist, and that a holy God would send people there, though it be grievous to our sentiments, our natural sentiments, Lord, we can praise You, Lord, that You are righteous. You will do no wrong, Lord. You love righteousness. We pray, Father, tonight, Lord, you would speak to our hearts from this text. Point us to Christ. Again, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Well, tonight's sermon is entitled Jesus, our mountain, Jesus, our mountain. And I'm going to I'm not going to read the entire chapter, Genesis 19. I'm going to recommend that you do that. But for the sake of time, I'm going to be highlighting certain portions of this passage. And our effort, as usual, is to look to the glory of Jesus Christ. So let's read from verse one here. And there came two angels to Sodom at evening, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Now I wanna stop right there for a minute. It's very interesting. these two angels that came into Sodom. Now, we know from the text that these angels came in the appearance of men, and we know that they had just departed from meeting with Abraham in the previous chapter. They just met with Abraham. And there was a third visitor as well. And that was the pre-incarnate Christ. It was God himself. We call this a theophany. Of course, we know from the New Testament, from Jesus's own words, that no man had seen God, but this was a theophany, this was a manifestation of God, similar to when God appeared and spoke face to face with Moses at the Tent of Meeting. But these two angels are sent by God into the city of Sodom. The city was exceedingly wicked. The oppression and the violence and the wickedness cried out to heaven. They cried out. They provoked God to judge it, to do justice, and to bring destruction upon this city. And so here come these two angels to Sodom in the evening to kind of investigate, as it were, this wicked city. And so there's two angels here. I want you to notice the significance of this number two, two angels, because two is the number of witness. You remember in the New Testament when Jesus sends out the disciples, he sends them out. And how many? He sends them out two by two. Two is the number of witness. And yes, in this case, it may have been actual angels. Now, the Bible does tell us in the book of Hebrews that some have entertained angels unawares. That may be a reference to Abraham, but probably a reference to many people throughout history who have entertained angels unaware. But it might also be just a normal person who God sends. In fact, something that the letters in the book of Revelation, the letters which are written addressed to the messengers of the churches, the same word for messengers is angels. And so they think that that could be referring to the pastors, calling them, using the same word for angels for the pastors, because indeed they are messengers to the churches. They speak as God's mouthpiece to the church through his word. So God can send angels. He can send actual angels or he can send someone who is essentially like an angel to you, they're sent from God to you to warn you. And this could be just a witness, a regular Christian witness who God sends into your life at a certain time, and he sends this individual or individuals to warn you, to warn you that you are in a place of extreme danger. It says, these two angels came in at evening, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Notice where Lot is. He's in a very dangerous place, representing the Christian, and no doubt, representing the compromised Christian in the case of Lot. You remember, now we see him in the gate. Back in chapter 13, verses 10 through 11, we remember that Lot had pitched his tent towards Sodom. Oh, it looked like a fair place. It was a fruitful place. It was a place of natural abundance, but it was a wicked place. And so do many judge by outward appearance, looking on the things of this world with desire, as Eve looked on the forbidden fruit with desire, looking on it with desire and going after it, pursuing it. They want to get a little bit closer to this earthly pleasure. And so he pitched his tent towards Sodom, but he couldn't help himself. Soon we find him in chapter 14, 12 dwelling in Sodom. And for that, he suffered greatly. Yet after suffering greatly, going into captivity and his life being spared by the skin of his teeth, as Abram came and rescued him, we find him back in the city again. Here in chapter 19, he's sitting in the gate. He's back in Sodom again, back in the place of danger. You know, this city, Sodom, is a picture or a figure of the world, of this passing world. We know that. If you go over to Jude. Second to last book of the Bible, Jude. And we want to read, I'll read all the way from verse 3 to verse 7. And then you'll see Sodom mentioned there in verse 7, starting at verse 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men, crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ." Let me stop right there and say this. If anyone is teaching a grace and they're praising the grace of Jesus and singing Amazing Grace, And yet there's no necessity in their doctrine for transformation. They are taking the grace of God and they're turning it into lasciviousness, into wantonness. They are literally taking the beautiful, wonderful gift of the grace of God. They are tarnishing it. They are ruining it, misrepresenting it. If you believe in grace, if you praise God on Sunday for grace, then you better be transforming because grace teaches us, the Bible says, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously in this present world. Grace empowers us to live a new life. But these deceivers, they creep in unawares, creeping things, they creep into the church unawares, subversive teachings. 2 Peter 2 talks about how they promise them liberty. They talk about freedom in Christ, and yet they're bringing you into bondage because there's no transformation of the Holy Spirit. They have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. The Bible tells us to turn away from these people. They are deceivers. They're denying the only Lord, the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. It says there in Jude 1, 4. And Jude says, I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, under the judgment of the great day. Oh, we're going to talk about that judgment of the great day. It's coming. It's coming soon. That great day. God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness. Act 17. He commands all men everywhere. He commands all men everywhere to repent. Jesus said, repent and believe the gospel. It says, "...even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." You see, here it says that Sodom and Gomorrah, what they suffered in Genesis 19, And that's where the wrath of God was poured out on Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness. Yes, the sin was homosexuality. We know that very clearly, although there's been attempts to try to reinterpret the passage to make it more politically correct. But no, it was homosexuality. It was an abomination according to Leviticus chapter 18 through 20, which holiness code for sexual morality is still in effect. It was upheld by Jesus in Matthew 19 under the heading of the term pornea in the Greek, which covers all sexual immorality, including the abomination of homosexuality. Romans 1 26 describes it as vile lusts. Men desiring to be with men, women desiring to be with women, vile, abominable, perverse, lust, filthiness. And for these sins, these abominations, Those cities were utterly destroyed by fire and brimstone that fell from heaven. Fire and brimstone destroyed those cities. And that area, even today around the Dead Sea, is just a wasteland as a memorial. And it says that they suffered for, they are set forth for an example. That means a pattern, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. You see, there was a temporal fire there, as we often see from the Old Testament, there's the physical and the temporal, and we see a pattern shift to the New Testament where the emphasis is on the spiritual. And here we see, yes, physical, literal fire and brimstone being poured out. in a temporal way upon sinners on the earth, but there's going to be a greater antitype or fulfillment of that pattern. And that is the lake of fire. Now, I'm not saying that the lake of fire is spiritual and it's not literal. Absolutely not. If you look at Matthew chapter 13 and the parable of the tears among the wheat, you will see Jesus gives in Matthew 13, both the parable and the interpretation. And when God gives a parable, when Jesus gives a parable, he will first give you the figures. And then in the interpretation, he'll give you the literal meaning. Well, in the figure of that parable, there is the tares and the wheat, and the tares are thrown in the fire. You might say, oh, it's just a figure. Well, then you go to the interpretation, and guess what? The fire is still fire. So God makes it very clear in His Word that this is a place of eternal fire. Isaiah 33 has that fearful warning for hypocrites. They will say, who among us shall dwell among the everlasting burnings? The everlasting burnings? Everlasting? We get just a glimpse of it in Luke chapter 16 when the rich man dies and he just desires one drop of water to cool his tongue from the flame. He says, I'm tormented in this flame. Everlasting burnings. And this example of Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed by the wrath of God by fire and brimstone, it's a pattern, it's an example, it's a picture of this present world that is doomed to destruction. This whole world is one great city of destruction. If you look back, I can prove this again from Luke 17. Turn over to Luke, Gospel of Luke, chapter 17. And if you look down at verse 24, Jesus says, for as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in His day. But first must ye suffer many things and be rejected of this generation. And here it is, verse 26. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, also, as it was in the days of Lot, and here we go, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built it. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. And so, those words, even thus shall it be, show us again, as Jude warned us, this was a pattern. Sodom is a picture of this world. We're living in Sodom, in a sense. Now, we're not to be of Sodom, which Lot is a picture of, having the world in his heart, but we are in Sodom in one sense. And we are to flee out of Sodom, not as if we could actually leave this world, we can't go to another planet, but we are to leave Sodom in the sense that we are to get up out of it in our affections, to be dead to it, to be crucified to the world and the world unto us. to live as strangers and pilgrims in this world, to see it as a passing thing, to have our eyes on a world to come, a world in which dwelleth righteousness. This world is the city of destruction. It's doomed to destruction. If you look at 1 John 2, 1 John 2, and verse 15, love not the world, Neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." You know that lust, that lust of the world, it's of the world. You want to know if you're of the world? Are you given to lust? The Bible talks about Christians as being those who have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. You know that lust will send you straight to hell. You know that lust will send you spiraling right into the wrath of the Almighty God. It's very clear in the Bible. Jesus warned, if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. He warned, it's better for you to enter into life with one eye than with both eyes to be cast into hellfire. This world is doomed to destruction. Those who are of the world are doomed to destruction. And we have a picture here in our text of one who had too much of the world in him and was therefore of the world. Shouldn't have been because he's a saint. He's someone who was supposed to have come out of that condition of being of the world. And yet here he is in the gate of Sodom. And these two witnesses are coming and say, get out of here. This place is going to be destroyed. Get out of here. There's an urgency. And we read later on in the passage how Lot just kind of limps along, doesn't take their warning very seriously. And it's only by the sheer grace of God that he is spared. Remember how the Bible talks about the righteous are scarcely saved. So this world is a type or this world is the city of destruction, it's doomed, it's passing away, and all the lusts in it, they're all going to be poured out into hell. The Bible says in Psalm 9, 17, the wicked shall be cast into hell and all the nations that forget God. 1 Corinthians 7, 31 says the fashion of this world passeth away. One of the clearest passages about the impending doom of this world is over in 2 Peter 3. We turn over there, 2 Peter 3, and I'll start down at verse 3, read through 14. We read there, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last day scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." The day of judgment. You hear those words? reserved unto fire, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heaven shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up. Seeing that these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." What a passage. Clearly showing this world is doomed to destruction, just as the city of Sodom was. And just as God sent two angels, two witnesses to warn Lot to get out of that place before the destruction would come, so God sends his witnesses. So God sends his witnesses to warn us when we are in a dangerous place, when we've got a little too much of the world in our hearts, when the lusts of the flesh are being given place. When those sinful desires are being indulged, when those sinful imaginations are being pondered, God sends his witnesses to us to warn us. You know that sinners are doomed. The Bible very clearly warns this again and again. All through the pages of Scripture, the Bible warns us that sinners are doomed. 2 Thessalonians 1.7-10 says this, And to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe. You see, Jesus, he came as a lamb. He came as a sacrificial lamb. He went silently to the slaughter. He suffered a death under the wrath of God for our sins. He died. He came into the world not to destroy us, but to save us. God sent not his son to condemn the world. but that the world through Him might be saved. But He's coming back again. And this time He's coming as Judge. The world will be judged. The wickedness of this world will be judged in perfect, exacting righteousness. And the wages of sin is death, is eternal death, is eternal, fiery death in hell, in the lake of fire, forever. There will be weeping. There will be memories. of that last chance that you had to repent and turn away from that wickedness and trust in Christ. There will be weeping. I doubt there will be tears. I doubt there will be any water in hell, but there will be weeping. There will be weeping. And there will be wailing, there will be wailing at the horror, the utter horror of an unending torment ahead of you that you must endure, that you cannot find any relief from forever and ever. You can never find any relief. There is no mercy mixed with that judgment. Sure, in this life, there's mercy mixed with judgment. But not then. Not then. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. It's a fearful thing. That fire is kindled. That fire is kindled. The wrath of God is now kindled. God is holding back this storm of wrath. But there's going to come a time when sinners shall be turned into hell. They'll go to their own place. And Jesus said of Judas, it would have been better for that man if he had never been born. Sinners are doomed. Sinners are doomed to destruction. Psalm 21 has a fearful set of verses in it. Psalm 21, verse eight through nine. Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies. You see, God knows his enemies. He loves them. He died for them, but he knows them. And he knows those who shake their fist, who reject his gospel, who live in abominations and rebellion. Thy hand shall find out all thine enemies. Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee, Thou shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger. The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devour them. Sinners are doomed. Sinners are doomed. You know, some scorn the preaching where they call all the fire and brimstone preaching, those old fire and brimstone preachers. And they speak as if they, oh, it was a thing of yesteryear. So glad that's over now. So glad the preachers aren't preaching about fire and brimstone anymore. Just trying to scare people into church and all. You know, the Holy Spirit, God, the Holy Spirit inspired Genesis chapter 19. where these cities of the plain were devastated, where they were burned up in fire and brimstone. You know the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit inspired Amos. Remember the book of Amos, the prophet Amos? The Holy Spirit inspired Amos to call down fire on all kinds of different places because of their wickedness. You remember that? Let's go over there. to the book of Amos, little book of Amos. One of the minor prophets. And if you turn over just chapter one of Amos, you look down here to verse four. I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad. Look down at verse 7, I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof. Verse 10, I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof. Verse 12, I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Basra. 14, but I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabba, and it shall devour the palaces thereof. Chapter 2, verse 2, but I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kiriath. And it goes on, verse five, I will send a fire upon Judah, shall devour palaces of Jerusalem. God has his servants warning, warning sinners of fire, warning them of the wrath of God that is kindled against their wickedness. And there is such a little space between sinners who walk in their lusts and the breaking out of God's wrath. It is such a small space. It is just one heartbeat away. Being swallowed up in eternity. People scorn fire and brimstone preaching. You ever read Psalm 11? Psalm 11. David, man after God's own heart. What did he write in Psalm 11, verse five? The Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked in him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Verse six, upon the wicked, he, God, shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone. and a horrible tempest. This shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness." It says God's going to rain fire and brimstone on sinners. This is the portion of their cup. And if that's true, who wouldn't warn sinners that this is the cup that they are going to drink, that pretty soon they are going to be drinking this cup out of the hand of the Almighty, the very cup of the unmixed wine of the wrath and indignation of the Almighty. Sinners are doomed. John the Baptist was warning sinners to flee from the wrath to come. Remember that in Matthew 3, 7, also in Luke? Christians over in Hebrews are referred to as those who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us. It is a real fleeing. It is a real running. Fleeing from the wrath of God. It's a legitimate motive. People say, oh, you're just trying to scare people into hell. I wonder about Christians who say that. We shouldn't try to scare people into hell. It assumes that you don't believe there is a hell. If you really believe there's a hell, and people are going to be burned up in eternity, how are you not going to warn them? The very premise of that complaint, the very presupposition of that complaint, denies the reality of hell. Because if it's real, it's obvious that we should warn them. It's obvious that we should warn them so that, yes, they will fear and run to Christ. Should we not be afraid? Should we not fear God who can cast body and soul into hell? Should we not take His threats seriously? Christians are those who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. As the type goes, we have fled into the ark of salvation from the wrath of God. But where have we fled? Where have we fled? Where did the witnesses direct Lot? Go back to Genesis 19. Genesis 19. In verse 17. came to pass when they had brought them forth abroad, and He said, Escape for thy life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed." Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. Escape to the mountain. You know, all through the Bible, cover to cover, we read about the mountain of the Lord, the mountain of God. Remember Genesis 22? Abraham is tested just a few chapters from now. We'll be there soon. He's told in verse two, take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou love us and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. Then, of course, Abraham rises up early to obey the Lord, goes up to that mountain. As they're climbing, Isaac notices something very interesting. He notices that Abraham doesn't have any sacrifice to offer. Remember that in verses 7 and 8? Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, my father. And he said, here am I, my son. And he said, behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And so they went, both of them, together. And of course, you know how it goes. Abraham takes his son, he builds the altar, they set the wood on the fire, he puts Isaac, his own beloved son, whom he had waited for, the son of promise, he waited for for all those years, he puts him on the altar, he raises his knife, and a voice from heaven stops him. And God provides in that mountain, he provides a sacrifice, prefiguring how God has provided the greater sacrifice, the one greater burnt offering to which all those burnt offerings pointed to make atonement, the only atonement, because the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin, the atonement that is through Jesus Christ, Jesus. John the Baptist, John 1 29 says, Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. How did He take it away? As the sacrificial Lamb, as our Passover Lamb. He was sacrificed for us. He died for our sins on the cross. He took our guilt as the sin bearer. He suffered the sufferings of death for us on the cross. He took our unrighteousness and our filthiness on the cross, and He suffered under the wrath of the Almighty, saying, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? In three hours of darkness, He suffered under that wrath. He drank that cup for us. Incomprehensible wrath of God was poured out on Jesus for us in that moment. And at the end of that time, he said, it is finished, signifying that that cup had been drinking down. It drunk it down to the dregs. It swallowed up the wrath of God. In the mountain of the Lord shall be provided. Remember what Abraham said to his son? God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. That's right, because Jesus is God's sacrifice. He's God's sacrifice. None of our sacrifices are accepted. So God provided one, his own son, to die for us on the cross. God provided. You remember down there in Genesis, back in 22, Genesis 22, look down at verse 14. Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said to this day in the mount, or in the mountain of the Lord, it shall be seen. Amen. The mountain of the Lord is a picture, it's very interesting, of salvation. That's why you see Lot is told to flee to the mountain lest he is consumed. The mountain is the place where Isaac, the type of Christ, is in a figure, sacrificed. Because we know that Isaac returning out of that place was a prefigurement of the resurrection. We may be talking about that soon. But in any case, this place, Mount Moriah, is the very place, of course, this is no coincidence, where Solomon will build the temple. If you go over to 2 Chronicles 3, same place, 2 Chronicles 3. And I'm really only going to read one verse, 2 Chronicles 3.1. Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David, his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite. And of course, that's another story going back to David and the plagues that had come upon the city as a result of David's sin with Bathsheba, and God stayed the plague. David, the sacrifice he made to stay the plague was made in that very same place. Incredible picture, all pointing to Christ. But this is the place where Solomon would build the temple, the place of sacrifice, the place that pictures Christ and his redemptive work. It's a figure. In the mountain of the Lord it shall be provided. It's a figure. If you go over to Isaiah, and you go over to 14, Isaiah 14, And look down at verse 32, very interesting. Says, just this phrase here, what shall one then answer the messengers of the nation that the Lord hath founded Zion and the poor of his people shall trust in it. It's interesting that God founded Zion and Zion throughout the scriptures, even in Psalms many times has talked about the place where God dwells. and from which he answers people's prayers, the place where he is enthroned above the earth. And it's not talking about an earthly place, it's talking about what we learn, as we already understand, we've been talking about this, that when Moses was told to make the tabernacle, he was to make it patterned after heavenly things. And the temple, all of that's patterned after heavenly things. And we get the heavenly things picture over in Hebrews 12. The mountain of salvation is talked about over there in Hebrews 12. And so when we read in Isaiah 14, the Lord found Zion and the poor of his people shall trust in it. It's not talking about trusting in a literal mountain. It's talking about trusting in God's salvation. What God has accomplished. It's like a mountain, it's a place of safety. It's a place of safety and it's a place, it's impervious. He saves us to the uttermost. If you go over to Hebrews 12, 22, I'm going to look at that real quick. Hebrews 12, 22. And here we read, but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly, not the earthly, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, to the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. So you've come to the mountain where Jesus is. You've come to the mountain of salvation where Jesus is, Mount Zion, and it's the heavenly Mount Zion. It's the heavenly Jerusalem. It's not the earthly one. And Jesus himself had indicated this back in John 4. You go back to John 4. Remember that conversation Jesus had with the woman at the well? John chapter 4. And look down at verse 21 of chapter 4. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You're not going to worship there anymore. Ye worship ye know not what. It's not going to depend on a physical location anymore, because as we've been learning with the types, these were figures. Shadows, according to Hebrews 8, 5, and 10, 1, shadows of heavenly realities. And there is a heavenly Jerusalem. There is a heavenly Mount Zion. It is the mountain of the Lord. It is the place where the salvation of God has been provided. And Jesus Christ himself is the embodiment of that mountain of salvation. Jesus is our mountain. He's the mountain to which we flee. He's the mountain in which we trust. He is the embodiment of all of God's salvation. Our safety is in Him. Even in the Old Testament, you really see this picture. If you go over to Isaiah 25, and the mountain of the Lord is a big theme in Isaiah, and I won't be able to go into all these different passages, but Isaiah 25, verse 6. And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all the people a feast of fat things, A feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. If you get a chance, go back and read Psalm 16 and 17. Look for similar language and compare those Psalms. It says, and he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all the people and the veil that is spread over all nations. That is sin. He's gonna destroy sin. He's going to destroy it in this mountain. Interestingly, Jesus was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem. But it's in this mountain that God is going to destroy that. He will swallow up death in victory. We know that's talking about the gospel. He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord will wipe away tears from off all faces, and rebuke of His people shall He take away from off the earth, for the Lord has spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him. He will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for Him. And then what's the next line? We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest. Amen. Amen. And so we have the witnesses coming to us even through this text tonight as they came to Lot the compromiser who had the world in his heart. And they come to us tonight, and they say, flee for refuge, flee to the mountain, lest thou be consumed, lest thou be consumed in this city of destruction by the wrath of God. My friends, are we those who believe the scriptures? Are we those who take God seriously? If there's any lust in our hearts, we have to know it will destroy us. We have to take the warnings of God seriously. We have to flee to Christ. That's the only safety. That's the only safety. Father, we thank You, Lord, for this time. We thank You for Your Word to warn us, Lord, in love. We thank You for our mountain. We thank You for the mountain of the Lord. You've provided salvation in Jesus Christ. We run to Him, our refuge. Praise You, Lord God. Pray for anyone, Lord God, who's still in Sodom. or who's still in the plane, they're kind of halfway in the world, halfway to Christ, but not willing to go all the way. They still have that worldliness. Jesus said, remember Lot's wife, who turned, she looked back and turned to a pillar of salt. I pray, Father, you would deal with hearts, Lord, to turn fully to Christ, to cast off the works of darkness and to run, to flee from the wrath of God and take hold on Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.