To you, church, if you were here in Bible study, I promise you Brandon and I did not swap notes. It is a joy to know that like-mindedness exists in such a close, close way, and you'll see that in this sermon. He has no idea what I'm about to say, and I had no idea what he was gonna say, but the themes are very, very connected. Well, if you would turn in your Bibles to Jude, Again, find Revelation and hang a left. It's a little book tucked away at the end of the New Testament. And we'll be handling the first half of verse 23. I can't seem to preach a whole verse in this book. I don't know why. But I wanna pray first and we'll read from verses 17 through verse 23 and then we'll get started. So let's pray together. Father, we have come through many dangerous toils and snares. You have rescued us. And we praise you for your grace in saving us from the fire of sin. We ask you now, oh Lord, to meet with us by your word this morning. Be with the preacher, he is in weakness and fear and trembling. and be with the congregation here, your people, gathered out of the world, gathered under your banner of love. Would you please speak? And Lord, we trust your word will do its work. It will not return void. Help us now in Christ's name, amen. Verse 17. But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, in the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. It is these who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, Building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God. Waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. And to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. In the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Crusades did many things. One of the things it sought to do was to eliminate by force of the sword religious movements that disagreed with it. One such crusade is recorded as the Massacre of Béziers, that's French, on the 22nd of July, 1209. Initiated by the Kingdom of France at the behest of Pope Innocent III, this particular crusade sought to squash the growing Cathar movement, a religious sect challenging the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. The French town of Béziers was home to roughly 20,000 baptized Catholics and just over 300 baptized Cathars, and it was at the heart of Cathar territory. According to one historian, the city was, quote, entirely infected with the poison of heresy and its people were brimful of every kind of sin. There was, according to another, a great compromise and toleration and sheltering of heretics in the territory. In his recounting of the siege of Béziers, described in his letter to Pope Innocent III, Arnaud Almaric, the papal legate, in the place, and he was a military commander also of this crusade, he states this. While discussions were still going on with the barons about the release of those in the city who were deemed to be Catholics, the servants and other persons of low rank and unarmed attacked the city without waiting for orders from their leaders. To our amazement, crying, to arms, to arms, within the space of two or three hours, they crossed the ditches and the walls of Béziers were taken. Our men spared none. irrespective of rank, sex, or age, and put to the sword almost 20,000 people. After this great slaughter, the whole city was despoiled and burnt. A few years later, the crusade was further related by another historian, and the calloused words of Almerick were recorded. When they discovered, this historian says, from the admissions of some of them, that there were Catholics mingled with the heretics, they said to the abbot, Almerick, sir, what shall we do, for we cannot distinguish between the faithful and the heretics? The abbot, like the others, was afraid that many, in fear of death, would pretend to be Catholics, and after their departure, would return to the heresy, and he is said to have replied these words. Kill them all, for the Lord knows who are his. And so countless numbers in the town were slain. The Crusades were a rampage without restraint. The church was a great scene of bloodshed. The city walls were totally destroyed. and they weren't rebuilt for some 80 years after this. Now this slogan may wear well with U.S. Special Forces, kill them all and let the Lord sort them out, but it doesn't wear well in the church and never should it wear well in the church. As we consider our text in Jude, We're brought to consider a place, unlike our last consideration of mercy, we're brought to consider a place where we are to take a very strong and very clear stance, uncompromising stance for the truth. But this stance, as straightforward and as blunt as it must be, cannot bear the marks of a calloused heart. We run the high risk of having a lot of heat and very little light. So we're gonna handle this text in two points. And if you have an outline, you can see that there. First, a call for theological triage in an evangelistic spirit. Same point I made last time, I'm just gonna elaborate on that a little bit more. And then secondly, a call to save others from the fire. So first point, a call for theological triage in an evangelistic spirit. So as we consider verses 22 and 23, it's worth mentioning again that there are two things we have to keep in mind at the outset of our consideration of these verses. First is not all doctrines are the same. Not all doctrines weigh the same. And secondly, not all sins are the same. Now, some of you may have grown up thinking that. You may have heard that taught, but that's untrue. Not all sin is the same. Some are worse than others. And not all doctrines weigh the same. All doctrines are equally true, but not all are equally important all the time. We saw this modeled by our pastor last sermon. Did you catch that? He's not going to spend 10 weeks on head coverings. Why should he? It doesn't weigh that much in light of the Lord's Supper. Some of you in here have left churches and have come here because you've rightly recognized the weight of the doctrines of grace, of the Reformation, the solas, and they weigh a great deal to us. Not only that, but Reformed worship itself has come to be rightly recognized in our minds as we weigh that in our lives as Christians. If there's any doubt about doctrines not weighing the same, Jude's text is at least one place that proves this fact. There are many more examples, both old and new, but here is one place where we can say doctrines don't all weigh the same because they don't get the same treatment. But secondly, not all sins are the same. And this bears repeating, especially as we approach verse 23, and I think the crux of what this sin actually is in Jude's letter. Verse 23 is a clear call to rebuke sin sharply, uncompromisingly, but there's a particular sin in view, and therefore it's handled in a different way. So Jude proves to us even in his own text that not all sins are the same by his various treatment of the various sins. The sin of doubt is one type of sin, and how was it treated in verse 22? Mercy. Then there's the wallowing in, we could say in verse 23, or the wearing of a false doctrine, which Jude calls garments stained by the flesh, which is yet another type of sin and is treated another way. If you want a little more explanation on those, if those ideas are new to you, check out the Bible study from April of this year. I've handled that in a lot more detail. So, just at the outset, not all sins weigh the same, and not all doctrines are equally as weighty or important. This kind of brings me to one kind of quick observation here. Mature theological triage, that is the weighing out of doctrines, the weighing or ranking of doctrines, helps us to avoid really two major faults. Fundamentalism and liberalism. We covered this in our Bible study months ago, but it helps us steer clear of those two major ditches in our life. Fundamentalism tends to see every doctrine as equally essential. It elevates secondary things to the top. It'll take a doctrine like head coverings and make it the thing you ought to split over a church. You ought to walk out because they don't believe this about head coverings. One theologian says, fundamentalism turns every error into heresy and makes necessary those things which are indifferent so as more easily to prove that we differ on the fundamentals. If we can split hairs over everything, and I call everything a fundamental, well then we can split, we can divide over everything, beloved. Calvin, John Calvin, you know this, he was a man at the tip of the spear in the Reformation. He points this out. This is during the Reformation. He says churches will not survive apart from a willingness to tolerate errors on lesser matters. There's a man at the tip of the spear of the Reformation who says churches will not survive unless they're willing to tolerate errors on lesser matters. one of his publications, he says, a difference in opinion over these non-essential matters should in no wise be the basis of schism or division among Christians. Either we must leave no church remaining, Or we must condone delusion in those matters which can go unknown without harm to the sum of religion and without the loss of salvation. What someone believes about head coverings ultimately is not going to keep them in or out of the kingdom of God. Wait. Reformation with toleration? Is that even possible? Calvin says it is, and he did it. There's true maturity there in that man. Fundamentalists have been and are very, very poor at this. Liberalism, on the other hand, this is the other ditch we have to avoid, tends to minimalize all doctrine. It rejects the ultimate authority of Scripture. It interprets Christian truth from the standpoint of my own experience and how it makes me feel. It finds itself very comfortable with speculation. If fundamentalism were a problem, and it is, then the remedy's not liberalism. In other words, you can't overcorrect and overreact and swing the pendulum the other way and minimize doctrine because that itself is an error. So this tendency has been prevalent since really the Enlightenment. many hundreds of years ago, and it's a special mark of our current Christian culture. We minimalize doctrine to the point that doctrine does not matter, and it's a bankrupt theology. So both fundamentalism and liberalism, these two polar positions, they're both immature. They're both immature. They don't triage correctly. One treats a theological gunshot wound like a splinter, and the other treats a theological splinter like a gunshot wound. They don't triage correctly. And if we don't get this right, we're going to fall into either ditch. Well, that's the first point, just as a reminder of things we've covered throughout this letter. But that brings me to the second point in the sermon, which is concerning verse 23, a call to save others from the fire. As we just mentioned, Jude is saying not all sins are the same. Jude calls for the church to treat those who have bought into the doctrines of false teachers and possibly started promoting themselves differently than those who are doubting or wavering. It's a clear recognition in the Bible that not all sins weigh the same. If we're called to have mercy on those who doubt, we find that Jude says something very different concerning cases that have progressed further down the road. We have to recognize that. And so he says in verse 23, save others by snatching them out of the fire. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. So that Jude has a different sin with a different remedy in mind is confirmed by really two plain words in that text, save and others. It's pretty plain English, right? Some doubt, as he says in verse 22, that's the sin of one kind, have mercy on them. Others in the fire require a different remedy. Our call is a rescue mission here. It's a plain distinction that is so important for our consideration. We have to get this right. So what is the nature of this sin? Verse 22, have mercy on those who doubt. Verse 23, save others by snatching them out of the fire. What's the nature of this sin? Jude says that there are those who are, quote, in the fire. And if you remember earlier in the letter, the apostate false teachers, these seducers as I like to call them, were described as those who quote, pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. That's verse four. Their lifestyle was one of sexual immorality. throwing off the lordship of Christ, all the while confirming the unconditional love of God. There's a famous pastor in Atlanta who had a conference a couple of years ago called Unconditional, where he tried to blend these ideas together, that we could live in that lifestyle and remain unconditionally loved by God. If you remember Jude over and over in the most considerable portion of the letter, verses four through 19, he gave example after example in the Old Testament of those who broke rank, who blasphemed church leaders, and led sexually immoral and even unnatural lifestyles. He said these people do the same. These false teachers today who are plaguing the church do the exact same thing. He says they are ones who, quote, defile the flesh, verse eight, who follow, quote, their own ungodly passions, verse 18. It's clear from the context of Jude, these men rejected the law of God, but in rejecting that law, it gave them license to do one thing, to lead immoral lifestyles. the chief sin by which the believer was tempted to lighten up about. It's no big deal, okay? Everybody's doing it. Lighten up. The one that was exemplified by the apostates was sexual immorality. These men were no fools. These apostates were no fools. They understood how grace functioned. and they abused it by indulging in the flesh. Some in the church in Jude's day had heard their message. They'd seen the apostate's lifestyle, and they began to waver concerning their hope and submission to Christ. They began to question the call to holiness. Did it really matter? Grace is grace, right? It was a temptation that they hesitated to consider. It came out in their conversations among the brothers. They were believers, but they were doubting. The believers were speaking of here, and I do believe Judah's speaking of a believer, is shown to be a step further past doubt. He's moved past speculation, and he's begun to linger with false teaching, and maybe even dipping his toe into their practices. We find this believer, as Jude describes it, sitting in the fire, and it's a downward spiral. We see this downward spiral in a place like Psalm 1. It's a pattern in our lives. First, there's walking in the counsel of the ungodly. than standing in the way of sinners and then sitting in the scoffer's seat. The imagery is the man who moves from walking in the doubt of his mind about the truth to standing with the lifestyle of sinners. I'll stand with you as an advocate, as an ally. He begins to keep close company with them. This Christian in our text has moved from a doubter conflicted about the straightforward counsel of the law of God, to someone standing not against, but with the lifestyle of the false teachers. This was not a simple error or even a blatant rejection of a secondary doctrine. This was standing with sinners against the first rank doctrine of holiness. which the scripture says, without which no one will see the Lord. This believer had shifted. This brother or sister is now more settled in opposing sound doctrine concerning holiness and the Lordship of Christ. And if left to themselves, if left to themselves, they will move from standing with this lifestyle to indulging in it. And I think that's what we see in the latter part of verse 23, and we'll get there next time. So why is this sin described as fire? That's what it says. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. This sin is described as fire. Why is it described as such? This sin is described as fire because I think it has a very deep, powerful attraction to it. It has the power to attract us. Fire is mesmerizing. That's why kids throw things into it. They just stand there and look at it and go, can I burn all the trash in the house, Dad? Just stand there in awe of it. Fire is very mesmerizing. It's flame, it flickers, it dances, it's unpredictable, it captures our imagination. And the false teacher's doctrine concerning this matter is described this way. It's like a fire that has deep and mesmerizing power to attract. I can have the forgiveness of God and live like this? Because of grace? The best of both worlds. That's not the case. It promises knowledge, enlightenment, pleasure, and it only leads down a dark path of death. sexual immorality has a deep and powerful attraction to it. The sin is also described as fire because it is indifferent to what it destroys. This sin is indifferent to what it destroys. Fire destroys common things in life as well as the costly things. It makes no difference. It burns down cottages, it burns down castles. It is as ruthless to a beggar's goods as to a rich man's wealth. It is utterly indifferent to what it will destroy. One pastor writes this, but there is no fire so disastrous and dreadful as the burning down of a man. I've seen the poor wretch weep and groan under the periodical consciousness of the awful destiny before him. I've watched the progress of the fire and seen self-control give way, and self-respect give way, and regard for the good opinion of others give way, and the love of wife and children give way, and hope, the longest and strongest rafter in the structure give way, and the whole man collapses, a heap of ghastly, smoldering ruins. a disgrace to his family, and a curse to the community where he lived. This fire never says enough. Once it's done with one man, it moves on to the next. It is indifferent to what it destroys in your life. Sexual immorality is indifferent to what it destroys. This sin is described as fire because it sears all feeling. The longer you sit in a fire, the less you feel. If you've ever been burned by fire, you know there's that place on your flesh. It's just, you can't feel that anymore. It's just dead. That nerve's dead. It numbs the touch. Sometimes that place never regains feeling. And Paul strangely describes a person trapped in this sin. In Ephesians 4, he describes them as sensuously calloused. Sensuously calloused. It's almost an oxymoron of terms. How can someone be sensual, very sensitive to the touch of things, and calloused all at the same time? It's a very strange description, and I think it's a very apt description about the subject. Sensuality has a very strange effect on your soul and its sensitivity to the truth. The Bible says it makes you calloused. It makes you calloused. It heightens and feeds the senses of your flesh and it numbs and starves the senses of your soul. Like fire, sexual immorality can deeply sear your feeling of the Lord and your sensitivity to all other sins. It can make you numb to everything else. The sin is described as fire because it turns everything into its own essence. It sears all feeling, but it also turns everything into its own essence. It's indifferent to what it destroys, and it turns everything into its own essence. Wood is turned into fire. Stone is turned into fire. There's nothing in nature that fire cannot turn into fire. And so it is with this sin. It makes everything like itself. It turns the blessings of God into curses, the promises of God into lies. Its lips drip with honey. Its speech is smoother than oil. But you know the verse, its end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Its end is death, and it kills everyone in its grip. Sexual immorality turns everything into its own destructive essence. This sin is also described as fire because it's a present danger. One says this sin makes for a hell in this life and the life to come. It makes for a hell in this life and the life to come. Proverbs 5 has a very fitting description of this. It says, at the end of life, It makes you groan when your flesh and your body are consumed. And you say, how I hated discipline and my heart despised reproof. I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. But the verse ends in a very interesting way. The text says, I am at the brink of utter ruin. in the assembled congregation. That's not a pagan sitting outside the four walls of this place. That's a man sitting in church. Can a man hold fire to his chest and not be burned? This sin is not a future danger, beloved. It is a present one. It's as close as fire to your chest. The sin is also described as fire because it's extremely hard to control. Once it's set ablaze, it takes drastic measures to put the fire out. You can't predict where it will go, how long it will burn, and that's its deception. It always keeps you longer than you want to stay, and it always takes you farther than you ever wanted to go. Do you see that? Sexual immorality is extremely hard to control and predict how far down into darkness it will take you. Just a little further, just a little further, just a little more time. This sin is described as fire because it's uniquely self-destructive. This is an amazing fact about this particular sin, and all of the sins mentioned in the Bible, we talked about weighing them or ranking them. I want you to consider the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 18. Paul says, flee sexual immorality. Flee. Don't reason with it. Don't tamper with it. Don't think you can outsmart it or hold it at bay. Flee. Run for your life. But listen to what he says. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body. But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Your body is not only the instrument by which that sin is committed, but it's the object against which it's committed. You may lie and you remain strong. You may steal and have a vibrant life. Your hand can murder. Your tongue can speak evil. Your body can be drunk. But this sin stains and wastes away both soul and body in a uniquely self-destructive way. That's what Paul's saying. David said this. He said, when I kept silent about my sin, what did he say? My bones wasted away. Psalm 32.3. I take that to be both metaphorical and literal. His sin was killing him. inside and out, body and soul. It doubly kills us, and it will eat you alive from the inside out. It's uniquely self-destructive. And this sin is described as fire because it's deeply tied to the fire of final judgment. I know this is very hard to hear, but it's necessary to hear. Over and over again, the Bible presents the idea of divine judgment by fire as a very familiar image. And it presents sexual immorality as worthy of this fire. The doctrine of the false teachers, and as we saw in Bible study this morning, this was a huge problem in the Roman Catholic Church. The doctrine of the false teachers matched their destiny. It was a destiny of fire. Anyone lingering there with them is in danger of the same thing. That destiny is the flame of everlasting punishment by a holy God. You see how this sin is treated totally different than doubt? You see how we have to speak in such a grave way about this? Well, what's the remedy? What's the remedy? Doubt is dealt with in one way, and someone sitting in fire is dealt with in another way. What is the remedy? Jude says, verse 23, save them by snatching them out of the fire. That word means to grab or to seize suddenly as to remove or gain control. It's a word used in John's gospel describing how a wolf snatches a sheep away from a hired hand. in John 10, 12. Jesus also uses this same word when he describes the believer's security in John 10, 28. I give them eternal life, he says. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. In our text, the opposite of tender, patient mercy for those doubting is in view. It's the opposite of that. It's a word denoting force. It's a forceful rebuke, an arresting word that grips the conscience of the person. One theologian states, the suggestion is that the authority of the truth be used. Not persuasion, not debate, but admonition. exhibiting the power of the truth. Let the arrow of conviction have its own barb and let it fly. Let it fly. Now, if you remember the rescue of Lot in Genesis 19, you will remember that God warned Lot of the coming destruction of Sodom. Up, he says, Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city. And the account records a puzzling, stark and puzzling reaction on Lot's part. The text says he lingered. He lingered. What was the reaction of the men, of the Lord? So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him. Even in this rebuke, even in this harsher treatment on sin, there's mercy. And they brought him out and set him outside the city. And as they brought them out, one said, escape for your life. Don't look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills lest you be swept away. This is the idea behind our text. Seizing, snatching someone out of the fire, a brother lingering in the fire of this sin. It's to snatch someone from the fire. It's not to linger in the fire with them. It's not to become an ally with them, to affirm their life, or to stand there with them in the fire, to promote them, to speak at your church conferences of all places, but by a great force and quickly grab a fellow Christian and pull them out of the fire. How long can you keep your hand in a fire and it not burn? It has to be nearly immediate and with great force. That's the idea. But this word is also an imperative. save others by snatching them out of the fire. That means it's a command. To put it in church context, it's a duty of love. It's a covenant commitment we make to one another. This is the dark side of the house of our commitments, in a way. This is where we have to deal with one another when things get really messy. But it's a covenant commitment we make to one another. Am I my brother's keeper? should never ever come across the lips of a Christian. That's the attitude of the evil one. Jude calls upon the church to act swiftly and forcefully to rescue those within its ranks who have come under the sway of apostate teachers. Now this remedy tests our resolve. It tests our resolve against such a prevalent and accepted sin in not only our culture at large, but even in the church. It tests our agreeableness to the culture. Many of us want to skate through life and just be liked. We can have our little doctrine and our little Bible study as long as we don't step on toes, it'll be okay. We want to be agreeable and liked by everyone. It tests our love for God. And for the truth, where there is the present danger of fire, we cannot hesitate to snatch those whom we desire to save, and we must pay no mind to the culture, to the church's culture or otherwise. Those things only seek to numb our senses to this issue. That's the remedy, that's the remedy. But what's the end result? What's the end result? This is a dangerous rescue mission. What is the end result? What's the goal? The scripture says to save. It's to save them. This word is commonly used to refer to salvation in the ultimate sense, but it does not mean that in this place. You may not understand this right now, but I say it a lot of times to those who have been in Bible study with me over the years. Words have uses, not meanings. Okay? One word can be used in a context in a different way. Words have uses, not meanings. So here, that word does not mean the ultimate sense of salvation. It's a call to rescue or draw back into the fold those who have been drawn into that sin. Our text has none other than a Christian in view. You know Matthew 18. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. This should be our personal attitude and our corporate attitude toward those trapped in this sin. It's only when all attempts and appeals and admonitions have been exhausted that the church recognizes that someone is outside the camp. But the word save also says much about our motive. It says much about our motive when confronting the sin of sexual immorality. For some of us in this room, letting the truth fly regardless of the result, is natural. We could rebuke anybody, anytime, anywhere. It's the word of God. Just accept it. As long as we're on the truth side, it doesn't matter what we destroy. We're tough like leather. Tenderness is not our strong suit. But even in this situation, our motives must be checked. The Scripture puts a check on our internal motives. What's the motive behind telling that brother or sister exactly where they stand if they keep going the way they're going? What's the motive? For you to be right and on the Lord's side and have no compassion for them whatsoever? The Scripture says our motive is to save them. That word is meant to draw them back into the fold, not going scorched earth on them simply because we want to be right and show them how wrong they are. If we're sensible enough to the danger of their souls, it'll make our word sharp. It ought to make our word sharp. but it will also keep our hearts tender. If they can't see tears in your eyes, beloved, they have to hear it in your voice. I say this because there is probably no sin today that gets treated in such an imbalanced way as sexual immorality. One group of folks just utterly denies it or tries to affirm it, and the other one makes their entire ministry about it. That's all they talk about, blasting those who are in that sin. We're all over the place as a society about it. We're all over the place as a church about it. Some are cruel and others are very casual. Yeah, bigger and better things to do. We're just all over the place. James 5, 19 and 20, I think sums it up nicely. My brothers, if anyone among you, I put that little blank on your outline so you'd write that word in, among you. wonders from the truth. And someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. When we turn a true believer back to the Lord from his wondering, we have saved him from the result of God's judgment and we cover, not coddle or expose a multitude of sins. This is mercy. There is this idea that the Christians and the church are working very hard to not let sin bleed out into the world. It's the furthest thing from Jude's mind that we make examples publicly exposing or shaming anyone for such a sin. We snatch them from the fire forcefully and quickly, but we do so to cover a multitude of sins, not expose it and move on. Do you get that? Well, a few closing observations. Real Christians can really linger. That's the first observation. Real Christians can really linger. Maybe some of you are saying, no true Christian could ever be caught affirming this sort of thing. No true Christian could ever linger around sin like this. Don't they see the danger? Didn't they hear the preacher? I mean, the Bible's clear. Well, beloved, real Christians can really linger. I want to give you a case study very quickly of Lot. maybe one day a sermon on it. Maybe you've read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot's case has left you saying, this man cannot possibly be a believer. There's just no way. The city is eaten up with sin, and the man's just sitting there. Consider these things about Lot. As to his character, the apostle Peter calls Lot a righteous man, 2 Peter 2, 7 and 8. He's one who Scripture seems to affirm was a new creature, was a sojourner with us to the heavenly city. A man with grace and a hope of salvation in his heart. As to his circumstances, he knew the condition of the place. He heard the cry against the place. He believed there was danger. He told his own family to flee. And he saw the angels standing there and he heard their testimony. And as to his behavior, it is truly perplexing. I see myself in this. His entire testimony is boiled down to two words. He lingered. He lingered there. Lot had a false idea of love. He wanted to please everyone and be agreeable rather than in love confronting that thing that ate the city alive from the inside out. If you wanna read an excellent sermon on this passage, search up J.C. Ryle's sermon on this, Remember Lot. Ryle says something here. He says, there are a great many of the Lord's people just like Lot. These are those who dread sacrifices, he says, and shrink from self-denial. They spend their lives in trying to make the gate more wide and the cross more light, but they never succeed. These are they who are always trying to keep in with the world. They are ingenious in discovering reasons for not separating decidedly and in framing plausible excuses for attending questionable amusements and keeping up questionable friendships. You get the idea of someone just being overly apologetic for something so blatantly wrong in their life. One day you're told of their attending a Bible reading. The next day perhaps you hear of them going to a ball. Now I guess a ball in his time was something that was just taboo. They're constantly laboring to persuade themselves that to mix a little with worldly people on their own ground does good. Yet their case is very, very clear. They do no good and they only get harm. In a word, they linger. They linger. And what was the result of Lot's lingering? His life carried no weight. His life carried no weight. I wish I could spend a lot of time on this. Not a single person in Sodom was said to be righteous. The entire place burned down. When he warned his immediate family because of his lingering heart, guess what they said to him? You're like one, like you're mocking over here. Can you be serious, Lot? Really? You've lived here and not said a word about this people's lifestyle, and now you want to tell me to flee? Your life has zero weight, Lot. His wife was turned into a pillar of salt. Her heart looked back on what she considered to be a favorable living. His children are memorialized in a song as those who stood against God's people, Psalm 83.8. Lot ends up being an extremely perplexing case because he lingered, and his lingering cost him. It cost his family, and it cost his city. Whether we're lingering in the sin of sexual immorality or lingering concerning our confrontation of it, the results are the same. It is a life that has no weight. In dealing with snatching our fellow Christians out of the fire, we have to realize that real Christians can really linger. Secondly, observation, great spiritual dangers call for great remedies and great urgency. Great spiritual dangers call for great remedies and a great urgency. Spurgeon says this, those who are in error are not all equally guilty. Seems like he's triaging there, right? Some are deceivers and others are dupes. We must restore all we can, but their error must be severely dealt with. Charity to error is cruelty to souls. One theologian says, these are in the suburbs of hell while on earth. And what's our remedy? While someone's house is burning down, do we say, I really wish you would reconsider where you're sitting right now. It does seem comfortable to you, but your house is on fire. We don't do that. We say up, get out of there, fire. We have to awaken them to the imminent danger of judgment. Have we lost this urgency? Is this sin so prevalent in our culture that it's just numbed us to our stance against it? Great spiritual dangers call for great remedies and great urgency. If we don't triage rightly, we will never recognize these things. Well, the last observation, number three, God is wiser than us. Does the remedy work? Could I ever be that up front? Does the remedy work? Yes it does. Hallelujah, yes it does. Lot was rescued forcefully. David was rescued forcefully by the rebuke of Nathan the prophet. But what about you? Let's bring it home to us. Are you that man or that woman? What does your soul say about these things? Do you find some agreement with those in the fire? Are you in that fire yourself? Are you the man on the brink of giving your honor to others, your years to the merciless, as the scripture says? Will the end of your life be groaning when your flesh and your body are consumed and you say, how I hated discipline and my heart despised reproof. Are you that one? Then wake up. Wake up. Run for your life. Your house is on fire. Judgment awaits those who linger here. Run to Christ. Do it now. Do it now in your heart. Repent of the secrets. Repent of covering it up. Flee to Christ. Up, as the angel said, get out of the place. Do whatever it takes. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out. Throw it away. It is better that you lose one of your members than the whole body be thrown into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off, beloved. Throw it away. It's better that you lose one of your members than your whole body go to hell. Be zealous and repent. He will receive you. He will receive you. He will wash you. He will cover your sin. He will free you from the presence and the power of sin. He will accept you again. If someone you know is lingering in the darkness of this sin, do not coddle them. You are not loving. You are not loving their soul by coddling this sin. It's not love. Speak the truth to them. Let your resolve be clear. You don't have to stand with them in it to be considered loving. You must be sharp because it has to cut through the fire they are sitting in. This is the remedy, beloved. Let us not be wiser than God. Charity to this error is a true cruelty to their soul. God help us. Amen. Let's pray. O Lord, would you please give us hearts that are balanced in this way, to not be cruel and mean with our words, but straightforward and true. If they can't see it in our eyes, help them to hear it in our voices to rescue those who are caught in this sin, whether naturally or unnaturally. Please give us grace, Lord, for this fight. Help us to save others. by snatching them from the fire. In Christ's name I ask, amen.