I'm grateful to be able to be back tonight and to be in your presence. To me, God's people, through a lot of hard times, is like a haven of rest. This whole world out there, Church will cheer you up and spit you out in a heartbeat. But I'm glad that we have a haven of rest. I'm glad that there's a song that we sing back at home. It's how I love it is I've got a better place to go. I love life. I love spending time with my family, my grandbabies, and the Lord's people. but we're just pilgrims and we're just passing through. And one day, one day I will. David said, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. He had full confidence. He said in another place, he said, my heart is fixed. Oh God, my heart is fixed. I have a lot of things that drag me down, but I'm glad to know that my heart is fixed. And I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. Tonight, if you're here and you're lost, being lost and what we're trying to preach to you, the church is trying to tell you about is Sounds a little contradictory to a little young minds maybe sometimes, but the Bible says that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. When you've become lost and you feel that void in your heart and you feel that contrition, you feel that guilty feeling, there's nothing good about it, it don't feel like. But you see, that is the goodness of God. That is the Spirit of the Lord that witnesses have been trying to tell you about that lets you know your condition, that you're separated from a holy God and He wants you back. He wants you back. I believe it was Solomon over 3,000 years ago, said that the preacher sought for acceptable words. 3,000 years later, we're still seeking for the acceptable words. It doesn't matter to me who has the right word or the right testimony, but I just pray that you would answer the call when the Spirit of God deals with your heart. Answer that call. We have a formality. We give an altar call. Your altar call is when the Spirit of the Lord is dealing with you right there and then. You come to Jesus. I don't care if I'm preaching or they're saying, you come to Jesus right when He's dealing with you. There's such an urgency of being saved. This whole world is getting bad. and i say i'm more of an urgency than i did yesterday if you have your bibles and would like to follow along with us uh... we'll be in the nineteenth chapter of the book of genesis I'm going to have to, I pray the Lord will help me to slow down a little. I want to try to keep this simple. I like for debate to where the youngest one in here can get it. Cause you need to get it. And I'm going to, this is going to be a little awkward for me, but I've been prayerful over this and I'd like to, if you're lost or if you're confused and you know who you are, I'd like for you to give me your attention for a little while and I'm going to try to be very brief. I know we have the Macon Christian Academy School back up at home and we've got 97 children that go to that. It's the best thing that ever happened to Macon County in my lifetime. And we get to go up there and preach to those kids all the time. And when Brother Wayne, Darren, very first got it started, I've helped in a lot of revivals up there, he said, now, Brother Barry, he said, these kids, their attention span is short. And I said, well, Brother Wayne, I'm used to that. I've been preaching to Baptist churches for years. I know all about that. But in all seriousness, sometimes, direct to the point, and uh... give the altar call in a sense of speaking. I do want your attention and I'm going to have to do this just a little bit different I guess, but what I want to do, I'd like to look at this as, I'd like to introduce you to a little family here in the Bible and I'd like for you to sort of get acquainted with them and it is the family of Lot And we hear, I hear a lot of times people talk about how that Lot, he had went down there to pitch his tent towards Sodom, and he went down there to Sodom and Gomorrah, which was a very, very wicked city. Two cities, but it was a very wicked place. And when he got there, God sent these two angels. And these two angels were nothing but messengers. They were messengers from God to come and to warn Lot to get out of there because God was fixing to destroy this place. And I hear a lot of people say how that Lot and his whole household fled from the wrath of God. And I'd like to look at that. For just a little while and so I'm gonna I'm gonna read through this and then we'll come back to our points Maybe but we're gonna go ahead and start In 19 and in one It says and there came two angels to Sodom at Eden and Lot said in the gate of Sodom and Lot seeing them rose up and 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 go on your ways. And they said, Nay, but we will abide in the streets all night. But yet, this time about Lot, he said, he pressed upon them greatly, and they turned unto him, and entered into his house. And he made them a feast, and he baked unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before that they had laid down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, come past the house round about, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, These were evil, these were wicked people that had saw these two messengers come into the house of Lot, and they wanted them for wicked reasons, and they wanted to do them much harm. So all these people gathered around Lot's house, you might say, when they saw these messengers come into Lot's house, and they all cried out and they said unto Lot, And where are the men, or in other words these messengers, which came in unto thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them.' Lot went out of the door unto them, and shut the door after him, and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I even have two daughters, which have not known man. Let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do unto them as is good in your eyes. Only these men, these messengers of God that he's talking about, do nothing. For therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. but they said stand back and they said again this one fellow came into sojourn and he will need 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 breaking the door down but when the men, when the angels had put forth their hands and they pulled Lot into the house and to them and they shut the door And these wicked people then, it said, they smoked the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they worried themselves to even find the door. And the messengers, the men, Said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides your 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 waxed greatly before the face of the Lord, and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, 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 as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law." They wouldn't listen. God sent a messenger unto this family, and then Lot, he proceeded to take the message on out to his sons-in-laws, but they said it was as though they had mocked him. They just didn't believe it. And that's what's wrong with the world today. They don't believe. But God will be just, and God executes judgment. If the Lord says, Thou shalt not, you can bank on it. There is consequence. He doesn't make threats. But it said, When the morning arose, then the angels hasten lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the man 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 that when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for your life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain. Escape into the mountains, lest thou be consumed. And that's written down through the 17th verse. And I want to point out one verse on over about the 30th verse. At the end of this, after all of this, the warning had went out and God did execute judgment. God did what he said he was going to do. He did destroy it. And you see after he destroyed it in verse 30, it says, and Lot went up out of Zorah and dwelt in the mountains and his two daughters with him. So in the final, after all of this was said and done, we see that truly God did, as we said, execute judgment. Whenever God had told Noah to build the ark because he was going to bring a flood, the people didn't believe. They would not believe. Noah preached for years and years and years, but no one would believe and no one would get on the ark except for the eight. And sure enough, when God shut the door, then it was too late. And all at once it began to rain and they had never even seen rain. And just the same as that, God has told us that one day this earth is going to be destroyed by fire and even the very elements it said is going to melt. This is going to happen. It's going to happen. And just as it was here when Lot had went to his sons-in-law and his other daughters and tried to get them to come out, they wouldn't yield. They mocked him. They just didn't have confidence in him. They didn't believe no such a thing. But my friend, it happened. It happened. And beyond that, I'll say this. Every one of us, there's an appointment. Every one of us have an appointment with death. I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you, but we're all going to die. And after this, the judgment. So the thing is, you cannot escape the death of this flesh, but there is a second death that lands you in a lake of fire that you can escape. But you must be born again in order to escape that. You must believe. And I question sometimes one of the writers, Isaiah, was it who had believed our report. And I pray tonight that you would believe the report. But what I want to get back to, I want you to notice that it was Lot and two daughters that ended up escaping this wrath of God upon this city. And so what I want us to do, I want us to go back and I want us to examine these scriptures a little bit. And what I want us to do, I want you to go back to, we'll start back at verse 8. He said, Behold now, this is Lot doing the speaking, I have two daughters which have not known man. What this is having reference to, Lot says, I have got two young daughters that are still at home. In today's language, we would just think of them as maybe teenagers that are still at home. He said, I have two daughters that have not known man, and they were right there with him, because if you notice, he said, let me, I pray you bring them out. So those two daughters was right there with Lot in the house, okay? So sort of hold on, here we have Lot, and we have two daughters. Now, if you go down to verse fourteen, it says, "...and Lot went out and spake unto his sons-in-law," plural. Is that not what it says? "...he went out and spake to his sons-in-laws, which had married his daughters." This tells us, if you think about it, that Lot had to have had at least two more daughters because he's got two daughters that are still at home, doesn't he? And now that he's got at least two son-in-laws, so we're just going to say two. But he said plural, son-in-laws. So in order to have the two son-in-laws that had married daughters, that means Lot then had at least four daughters, didn't he? four daughters. Now, if you back up to verse twelve, he says, And the messengers, the men, the messengers said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides your son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters? Now we've got at least two sons in the picture, don't we? Is that not right? So, a lot of times people just read through this and think that it was Lot and his two daughters and his wife. But when you really look at it, I believe the Scripture bears out a minimum of four daughters and two sons minimum and two sons-in-laws. And we find at the end of it, after it had rained the fire and brimstone and God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, now listen, Abraham before this asked God a question concerning the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because God told Abraham what he was going to do and Abraham was praying for a lot, he was praying for Sodom and Gomorrah. And he asked God, he said, will you destroy the righteous with the wicked? and of course, he won't. I believe there's going to be a general resurrection one day after a while, and when that happens, the righteous is going to be taken out of here, and the unrighteous, the lost, is going to be left here for destruction. If you're lost, you're already spiritually separated. You may be with your family that are saved fleshly, but spiritually, you're already separated. And that is an eternal separation if you fail to get right with God. And it doesn't matter who you are. I want you to think about the fact that this was a man that had a family. Instead of just taking out the Bible, just think of it today. This was a man by the name of Lot. This man had six children. He had two sons-in-laws. He had a wife that no doubt he loved vigorously. And now then, God has told him what he was going to do. And see, I want you to look at this. Go with me back over here to verse 15. And when the morning arose, the angel hastened lot. That means he rushed him. saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, who lingered? Lot. While he lingered, the men laid hold upon him, this is the messengers, 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. Listen, this man Lot, he believed God. He was the nephew of Abraham, and he loved the Lord. Yes, he had went into a city, and you look around today, this vexes our soul to live in such a place where there's so much wickedness. But I'm glad that where sin does abound, grace does much more abound. In spite of it all, we can still have peace with God. I've said it a lot of times, it's sort of like those big hurricanes that come in down there at the south, and they'll have a destruction of maybe 200 miles broad. But there's one little bitty spot that's in the center of that hurricane, and they call that the eye of the storm. And in the midst of that eye of the storm, that one little bitty spot, there is calmness. calmness. That calmness runs parallel with being in the will of God. In our lives there is all kinds of tragedies. I don't even challenge people to turn on the news anymore. I stay away from it, to an extent anyway. But the storms are brewing. Satan is having in himself a field day with what's supposed to even be a godly nation. And in spite of it all, I've still got a haven of rest. I have still got a sanctuary that I can enter into and I can still have peace with God. Lot was a man that loved his family. And yet, now then, God has told him that he's going to do this. And here he is, and he knows that he needs to flee. But why is it that the angel had to hasten him? Why did the angel have to rush him? And yet, even in that, the Bible says that Lot lingered. He lingered. Why did he linger? because he still got four children in that city that's fixing to be destroyed. That's why he lingered. That's why the angel had to hasten him. He knew that this was gonna happen because he believed God. He knew it was gonna rain fire and brimstone, and he tried his best to get his children out of there, and only two out of the six would heed to it. If you're lost, you better answer the call, because it's coming. It's coming. There is a storm that is ruined, and it's going to happen. Think of this. If you turned the weather on, and they said there was a tornado right up here in Whiteland, Tornado touchdown, there's a warning. The warning goes out, there's a tornado and it's headed this way. What would a mom and daddy be doing? They would be hastening. They wouldn't be hesitating. They would be gathering their children and they would be getting in a storm cellar, getting to a place of safety. The only reason that Lot did not flee and the only reason that he lingered is because he loved the rest of his family and he could not bear the thought of losing his family in that destruction. So he lingered. That's why the church today You hear so many times old saints come up and they pray, God give us a little more time. That's why the church today is still lingering. That's why parents today, listen kids, there is nothing that mom and dad wouldn't do to help you to get saved or to protect you in any way from any kind of danger. Mom and dad might not even help protect you from a tornado that's coming. I can actually get you into a storm cellar and it passes right over you and you'll be okay. But this destruction that we're talking about, this wrath of God, it's coming and you are the only one that can do anything about it. You. Over in the book of Proverbs, God said, for when I called, you refused. In the book of Isaiah, he said, I called and you would not. He said, I stretched forth my hand, but you would not. It's up to you. I promise you, if you're here and you've got a spouse, your spouse will do anything for you. But it's up to you. If you're here and you're a child, there ain't nothing mom and dad wouldn't do for you. But this is one thing they can't do for you. You are the one that's going to have to answer that call. When God called out unto Adam, He called one-on-one, Adam, where art thou? God was looking Adam right in the face when He asked him that. God wasn't puzzled, where's Adam? He was looking for the honesty of his heart. And if Adam had to come clean right then, Adam would have got saved right then. But he didn't. And then God had to set him out of the garden. The call to repentance is a personal thing. It's a call that you've got to answer to flee, to escape the wrath of God, which is to come. And if you fail to do that, The Bible says you will call only then, but then it will be too late. Because when the door of mercy is shut, it's over. When you draw your last breath, it's over. There's no other opportunity. There is no exception. You see, with Lot's family, and Lot, I believe, was a good man. But you know what? Him being a good man, that did not bring his children out. His children had to believe or not believe. Four of them chose not to believe. You can't make it into heaven. Your daddy might be the best preacher in Indiana. You cannot get in on his coattail. You can't do it. And I know that we as a church, I know we can do better. I ain't trying to be a hard head. We can do better. But listen, if you're lost, that excuse will not work. You won't be able to get one foot almost in heaven and say, well, God, this church just really wasn't where they needed to be. God ain't going to say, well, no, they won't come on in. No. He's going to say, depart. I never knew you. You don't need to hear those words. I remember when I was a little boy, and I think I was in the fifth grade, fifth or sixth grade, we used to have 4-H camp. Do y'all still have 4-H camp? Anybody do that? I guess maybe I'm still old school, nobody does that. When I was a little boy, we used to have 4-H camp. I mean, from the time I got back home, I looked forward to the next year. It was a highlight for me as a little boy. Because when we'd go to 4-H camp, we'd go down to Crossville, Tennessee. And when we get there, we got to shoot targets with rifles. We got to shoot these clay pigeons, you know, with guns. We got to do canoeing, shoot bow and arrow, just everything a little boy loved to do. And I just, I eat that up. Me and all my friends would go together, just have the biggest old time. We'd camp out, you know, for three or four days. At school, they'd give us a form and we had to take this form and we had to take it home to mom and daddy. And mom and daddy had to sign that form, fill it out, and register us that we're going to 4-H camp and pay the tuition and all that. And then I was supposed to take it back to the school and give it to the teachers and turn it in. Because see, it had to be orchestrated. And the thing was, those papers had to be turned in, the tuition had to be paid, it had to be done in advance because they had to put this thing together. And there was no exceptions. Well, guess what? I lost my form or I forgot to give it to mom and daddy. And that year, when it come on up, probably about a week before it was time to go, everybody started getting their little packages and everything, and all at once, I ain't got mine. Here I am, left out. And so I remember this because it hurt me, it bothered me. So when I found out, and my teacher told me that, said, well, You are not going to be able to go. You didn't turn in your papers. Well, of course, I went home and I told Mama then. Well, Mama, she thought, well, I can go up there and get this straightened out. So Mama went up there, and we're going to pay my tuition, sign the papers. And they told her, they said, we're sorry, but it's too late. Everything's done fixed. And this was the rules. And they couldn't, you know, everything was fixed. There was no exception. And when that happened, as a little boy, I mean, it broke my heart. I wasn't going to get to go to 4-H camp. And that may sound ridiculous to you, but as a little boy, that meant a lot to me. I was going to miss out on that. And you know what I done? I got mad because they wouldn't let me go. I did. I remembered. I thought, this ain't fair. All my little buddies is going and I'm not going to get to go. It even aggravated my mama that she couldn't do a little bit more. But you know whose fault it was? Me. It was my fault. It was my fault. There was rules and no exception. I didn't get to go. Didn't get to go. That was just something just sort of ridiculous. But tonight what we're talking about is real. And what we're talking about tonight is not a round trip. It's a one-way. It's a one-way trip. And if you miss that trip, there is an eternal separation. I want you to think of this. I want you to think about here Lot is. Here's the city of Sodom and Gomorrah off over here. And God is fixing to destroy it with fire and brimstone straight out of the sky. Here stands Lot over here to his left side. Here's his two daughters off over here. still in the middle of all those people, those wicked people, in the middle of Sodom and Gomorrah, there's his other four children and his two sons-in-law. Where would you want to be? Where are you tonight? Are you standing on the right side? Or are you still over there? Lot, if you really read it closely, Lot Linger to such a degree and the Bible says it was by the mercies of God God had those those messengers those angels to literally grab him Grab his children and literally drag them out of the city of destruction You say he was redeemed. He was not going to be destroyed with the wicked No matter how much he loved his children. He was going to get out because he was redeemed and He had, if you think of it this way, He had been saved. He was preserved. He could not be destroyed with the wicked. The angel literally drug Him out of the city, and then God sent the fire, and He sent the brimstone, and lo and behold, they were destroyed, including His four daughters. His two daughters and two sons. They were destroyed. See, there was no exception. Even though they were lost children, there was no exception. Tonight, there will be no exception. The plan of salvation is so plain, it might be hard to get there laying down the flesh, but Jesus Himself says, lest you repent. There's your golden rule. Lest you repent, you shall all likewise perish. You've got to repent to God's satisfaction. to escape eternal damnation. And God wants that for you more than you want it yourself. But you've got to want it more than you want anything. I promise you there ain't nothing this church wouldn't do for you. There's nothing mom and dad wouldn't do for you. If you're a spouse, there's nothing your spouse wouldn't do for you. But this is one thing we can't do. Only you can repent to God's satisfaction. And when you do, He'll save you from destruction. And He'll give you life, and He'll give it to you even more abundantly. You've got a choice in the matter. Over in the book of Deuteronomy, it says, I set before thee this day blessings and curse, life or death. He said, therefore, choose life that thou mayest live. You've got a choice tonight. People say, well, it's not mental. You've got to make a mental decision to seek God or not seek God. The seeking is from the heart, but you cardinally have got to make up your mind and a determination that I'm going to be saved. And it requires a determination. Not a giving up. Not a giving up, but a total and a full submission to the Lord, a full surrender to God. And you've got to make up your mind, I am going to seek the Lord with all of my heart until He is satisfied with my prayer. We want you to be saved. I know this has been short and I know this probably didn't come out very well. I've never had to sort of throw down, do it like this. But it ain't the method that's important, it's the message that's what's important. And I want to tell you one more thing tonight. In the book of Hebrews, I think it's the second chapter, it said that, and you heard witnesses last night testifying about being saved. And you've heard messages no doubt how many times. Well, the Hebrew writer says you ought to take more of an earnest heed to the things that you have heard, lest at any time you should let them slip. And then he goes on down and says, for how shall you escape If you neglect so great a salvation, you won't escape. If you neglect salvation through Jesus coming under the blood, you won't escape. But now you can escape. The door of mercy is wide open. It's wide open. He can pull you through. I know it's been short. I just hope and pray that somehow you got just a little bit out of this. But if you're lost, We give an altar call, but like I said, God is the one that truly gives that altar call. And if you'll come to Him with a broken heart and a contrasting... See what He's looking for? And don't misunderstand me on this. You cannot be saved just to escape the punishment. You can't be saved just because you don't want to go to hell. Now hell is going to be the eternal consequences, and you better fear hell. But the thing God is looking for is that you understand that I, that you, are guilty that Jesus, the Son of God, was crucified upon the cross. You put Him there. It is your sin. It is just as much as you drove the spikes in His hand, or just as much as you hollered out, crucify Him, you're guilty. You're guilty. And when you truly see and understand that you are the reason that Jesus went to the cross, and you ask God to forgive you for that, that's what it's all about. I can even call it an apology. People don't like that word. You apologize to God for putting Jesus upon the cross. And then He'll save you from hell. There is truly a hell that's just as real as all the splendors of heaven. But let me tell you something, you better understand that you're guilty if you're lost and ask God to forgive you. While we're standing, while we're saying, if you're lost, please, escape the eternal damnation of hell. It's real. It is real. And it's going to happen. It's going to happen. While we're standing, while we're saying, if you're lost, I urge you to seek the Lord. Seek Him until you know that He hears you and forgives you. While we're saying,