Hello there, and welcome to another broadcast. We call it Plain and Simple. We're looking in Genesis chapter 17. We'll continue our study there. If it's possible, have your Bible ready. You'll get more out of it. Well, here in chapter 17, we find that God comes to Abraham. It says in verse 1, And Abraham was ninety years old and nine. And the Lord appeared unto Abraham and said unto him, I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. What an interesting verse we have here. I am the Almighty God. Walk before me. Be thou perfect. What we have here is a picture, first of all, of salvation. One must be saved. And you either are saved or you're not. You either know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior or you do not. So the salvation, there is the beginning of this whole trip for Abraham. The second aspect of his life is sanctification, which simply means to be set apart for God. Now, here in this chapter, we see that God said unto him, I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. Now, this is a decision, either going to do it or not. It's a case of giving God his rightful place in our lives. So he says, walk before me. We read of Noah in Genesis chapter 7 and verse number 1 that the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation in a godless society like Noah lived in, it is possible to walk before him in a manner that would be pleasing to God. So what is a walk? In Genesis 6 and verse number 9 we read again that Noah was a just man, perfect in his generation, and Noah walked with God. Now in chapter 17 here, in the real sense of the term, Abraham and Sarah are about to become the first ones in the Jewish It's a very personal thing here. He says in verse 2, I will make my covenant between me and thee. It's very personal. All the way down through this chapter, we see what it is for him to be in a personal relationship with Jesus. You remember in John 21, Jesus had said to Peter about his personal relationship with him for the rest of his life, and referring to John, Peter said, and what shall this man do? And Jesus said, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Now, it's the same principle here in this chapter. It says, God said, I will make my covenant between me and thee. And in verse 4 he says, as for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations." Verse 6, I will make thee exceedingly fruitful. I will make nations of thee. I will establish my covenant between me and thee. Unto thee, he says in verse 7. Verse 8, I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger. He said in verse 9, and God said unto Abraham, thou shalt keep my covenant before Therefore, thou and thy seed after thee in their generation. And then in verse 10 he says, This is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you. It's a very personal thing. And your walk with God should be a very personal relationship between you and the Lord. My walk with the Lord should be a very personal relationship between myself and him. And so the Lord says to Abraham in verse 5, Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham. And then in verse number 15, God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sara shall her name be. And so God changes Abraham's name. He said in verse number 19, Sara thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac. and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him. In verse number 20 he says as for Ishmael he said I will bless him as well but my covenant will I establish with Isaac which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year and he left off talking with him And God went up from Abraham. Well, in Genesis chapter 19, in verse number 1, we have begins this very sordid story of what went on in Sodom and Gomorrah. It says, And there came two angels to Sodom at even, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom, and Lot, seeing them, rose up to meet them. And he bowed himself with his face toward the ground, and he said, Behold, now my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servants' house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and be on your ways.' And they said, Nay, but we will abide in the street all night." So we have these two angels. Now you know in the Bible angels are always masculine, and they're coming to Sodom to announce this judgment that God is going to rain fire and brimstone on that city. Well, a lot, the Bible tells us, and Peter says he vexed his righteous soul. He was a believer, but he lost his family. Why? Because he didn't take his responsibilities. As a pastor, I have seen so much. I've seen too much of this, where dad did not take his responsibilities seriously and lost his children. Well, in verse number two, he said, I want you to come in. He's going to offer some custom hospitality here. That's just what they did back there. He said, come on in. And then he said, you can go your way early. He doesn't want them around. He's trying to act like he's glad they're there, but he's not glad they're there. And they said, no, we're going to abide in the street all night. Well, at Seddonversary he pressed upon them greatly, and they turned in unto him. Not safe to abide in the streets of that wicked city. They turned in unto him, and entered into his house, and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter. And they called unto Lot and said unto him, Where are the men which came into thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them." Now you know what that's talking about. The Bible says that Adam knew his wife and she conceived. These wicked, wicked sinners want to rape these angels. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly." Now can you imagine that? Lot, this believer, has sunk to such a level as he has lived among these Sodomites, he refers to them as brethren. I say, he said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Then listen to what he says, Behold, now I have two daughters which have not known man. Let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes. Only unto these men do nothing, for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. It doesn't get much more sick than that. And they said, Stand back. And they said again, this one fellow came in to sojourn and he needs to be a judge. Now we will deal worse with thee than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the man, that is the angels inside, put forth their hand and pulled Lot into the house to them and shut the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door. These wicked men, they're blind, they're still fighting to get in there. Well, verse 12 says, And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou any here besides son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city? Bring them out of this place, for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. Well, a lot went out, it says in verse 14, and spake unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed one as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. Sure, he did. He had no testimony, and they're not going to listen to them, and before morning they're going to be burned to death with the rest of them. Well, it says, And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters, which are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of this city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto him, and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that 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. And Lot said unto them, O not so, not so, not very bright, Lot. He says, Behold now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shown unto me in saving my life. And I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die. Behold, now this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one. O let me escape Is it not a little one? And my soul shall live. Well, we read in 21, and he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city. for which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything till thou become thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zor. 23 tells us the sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zor. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the plains, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt." Well, in Luke chapter 17, the Lord was talking about what it would be like when he came back, and he said, as it was in verse 26, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be 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. They just, going through life's routine, even got out. Then in verse 28, it says, likewise, also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. And he said, when it gets like that again, when it gets like it was in the days of Noah, where only eight people got on the ark after 120 years of preaching, when it gets where there's only a handful of people who really want to do what I tell them to do, when it gets like the days of Lot, when the Sodomites are taking control as they are today, then the Lord said, I will be back. I will be back. Then he says simply, remember Lot's wife. What an interesting statement. Remember Lot's wife, he said. What can we remember about her? Well, we can remember this. She ignored some very special privileges in her life. She was married into the family of Abraham. She was married to Abraham's nephew. The Bible tells us that he was a believer, a very distant wayward one, but he was a believer. Abraham had a lot of faith. Abraham was a friend of God. And she chose to ignore anything that he had to say, his faith, the fact that he had a relationship with God. She made her choices. She refused to believe. She didn't believe Abraham. She didn't believe the angels, and as a result, we find she is turned into a pillar of salt. Now, there's a lot of speculation about that, and the Bible doesn't say much about it. It just says she was turned into a pillar of salt, probably remaining in the human figure, but then again, that is only speculation. The important part of this is to remember the fact that she had a tremendous privilege and she turned it down. We're living in an age when people have privileges today to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, to live the way He says to live, and like Lot's wife, they just don't want anything to do with it. They linger for the things that the world has to offer. And so as a result, we see the judgment upon her, we see the judgment upon those Sodomites, and then as we get into the next chapter, it simply says that Abraham journeyed on. And we'll look at that in our next broadcast. Be sure and tune in. We'll try to make it plain, and we'll try to make it simple. you