Tragedy in the Twin Cities, Part 2

We're talking about the tragedy in the Twin Cities, Sodom and Gomorrah. But the tragedy in that city is not that the wrath of God came down upon that city and destroyed everybody in there except for Lot and his family. The greatest tragedy is this man's unwillingness to listen to God, to follow God, to serve God so that he might impact his city and his family. That's the tragedy. We need to grasp that so we don't repeat that same tragedy in our city and in our family. We began looking last week at the mission of the messengers.

As these two angels came to Lot's home and they told him that he needed to get out of the city. They came with a mission. They spoke with great authority because they had a message from Almighty God. They spoke very clearly because Lot needed to understand that it was time for him to move because judgment was coming. It was right around the corner. And so the mission of the messengers, number one, was to destroy a city.

That's where we left off last week. And number two, it was to deliver a family. The Bible says in verse number 15, take your wife and your two daughters who are here lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.

The mission was one of urgency. Leave now, Lot. You see, Lot had led them into the city of Sodom. Now Lot's responsibility was to lead them out of the city. Get up now, Lot. Leave now.

God was giving Lot the opportunity to lead his family properly once again. Giving him the opportunity to show them the way out. And he had to heed that responsibility. And a lot of times I think that in spite of our sin, God has called us as men in our families to lead our family. If we have led them into sin, we need to lead them out of sin. And Lot was given that responsibility once again. Lead them out. Lead them to the proper place, Lot. And it reminds me once again of God's desire to lead the godly out of destruction.

Let me remind you of what Peter said in 2 Peter chapter 2 verse number 7. If he rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men, for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation. God knows how to rescue the godly from temptation. He knows how to deliver a family. And his means by which he would deliver this family would be through the man who led them into sin in the city of Sodom to lead them out of that city.

And then the mission of the messengers was not only to destroy a city and deliver a family but to determine a destiny. Look back up at verse number 12 with me for a moment. I find this very interesting. It says, Then the men said to Lot, Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place. Now I don't believe that these angels knew of Abraham's prayer in Genesis 18. That God was only going to deliver those who were righteous.

If there were ten righteous in the city, God would spare the city and God would deliver his righteous people. I don't think the angels understood that because they didn't hear the prayer of Abraham in Genesis 18. They had already made their journey towards Sodom at the time that the Lord God had his conversation with Abraham in Genesis 18. But whoever is in the city, Lot, anybody you've had an impact on, anybody whose life you have touched, is there anybody else in this city that needs to hear of the impending judgment that's going to come?

You need to go to those people. Who else do you have in this city, Lot? Go gather them immediately. Go gather them together. This is God's merciful call to people to the very end. God is going to call man up to the very end because he wants man to turn to him. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to eternal life. So up to the very end, up to the time in which his wrath is poured out, he calls men to come to himself. And you'd think that Lot would have had an impact on at least somebody else in the city.

But he didn't. He didn't. I love what it says in John 20 when the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to his disciples and says to them, As the Father has sent me, so send I you. What a tremendous commission. And then he says a little later on in chapter 20, these words, let me read it to you.

John chapter 20, verse number 23. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they have been retained. What a magnificent statement. He tells the disciples that when you go out, As the Father has sent me, so send I you. When you go out to people and tell them about who I am and what I have done and the power and miracle of the resurrection. You can actually tell somebody whether or not their sins are forgiven based on how they respond to the message you give them.

Can you imagine that? Do you know that God has given you the authority to say, you have been released from your sins. Or no, you are still in your sins and you will die in your sins unless you repent and turn from your sin. Do you know that God has given us the authority to tell someone whether or not they have truly been forgiven of their sins or they are still in their sins based on how they respond to the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord and who He is. You can actually tell someone that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised you from the dead, thou shall be saved.

But if you don't, you will die in your sins. We can help a man determine his destiny based on what he does with the resurrected Christ. That's a power. That's authority. But God has given us that authority according to His Word and we have to be able to go out and compel people to respond to the message that God has given to us as His people to represent Him accurately to a lost world. We move from the mission of the messengers to the lingering of lot. The lingering of lot. This is a fabulous story on how not to respond to the Word of God.

But you know what? You're going to find yourself in this story more than you like. You are. Oh you might not be as evil as lot was by offering your daughters to the men of the city in order to protect the men that came to your house as bad as that was and were quick to condemn lot for his lingering. But there are many of us today who have been given commands by God and are unwilling to obey them because we want to linger just a little bit longer in our sin. And you'll find yourself in this story more than you'd like to find yourself here.

But it will help reveal to us what God wants us to do when He speaks. The lingering of lot is seen in four specific areas. Number one, the directive.

We'll pick up the narrative in verse number 15. And when morning dawned the angels urged lot saying, Up take your wife and your two daughters who are here lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city. Now that little phrase when morning dawned is very significant. Because you see it was the day before specifically the evening before that he went to his son's in law and spoke to them about impending judgment and they laughed at him. They thought that he was jesting. What did lot do? Lot went home and went to bed.

Maybe if he would have modeled a sense of urgency about following God's directives, maybe the son's in law would have followed suit. Maybe if he would have been urgent at following God's directive, maybe his wife would not have looked back at the city because it would have been night time and she would have seen nothing anyway. Maybe. But whenever you delay in following God's directives, there will always be a consequence. I wonder if you've lingered today at following the commands of God. What has God told you to do through his word?

How has God spoken to you today? It's so important to follow his word. The second thing I want you to see is his delay.

Look what it says. Verse number 16. But he what? Hesitated. Lot, get up. You've got to go. Judgment is impending. Today is the day. You've got to leave the city. What would you do? Would you be out of there? What did Lot do? He hesitated. Can you imagine that? He hesitated. How could a man do that? How could a righteous man, a just man, hesitate when he was just told, you're going to be swept away in punishment. You've got to leave. The worldly mind can understand that. The carnal mind can understand that.

The spiritually minded don't understand that. Lot was a carnal man. He was a worldly man. He feared rejection. That's the number one reason he delayed.

He feared rejection. Christ would say over in Luke chapter 14, those infamous words, when there was a great multitude of people following him, he had done so many miracles and had performed so many healings upon people's lives that a great multitude of people were following him. And he turned and said to them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Folks, that is not the great evangelistic message to win people to Christ.

But it is the evangelistic message. I appreciate you coming and wanting to follow me, but just to let you know that if you're coming after me and you don't hate your mother and hate your father and hate your brother and hate your sister and hate your aunt and hate your uncle, you can't be my disciple. Yeah, even your own life. You can't be one of mine. You've got to be so committed to me that at any time when a decision needs to happen, you won't look first to your family.

You won't look first to your friends. You won't look first to the most closest relationship you have on this earth.

You will look first and foremost to me for your decision-making process. If you're not willing to do that, then you are not willing or not worthy to be one of my disciples because that's what my disciples do. They look to me first.

They want to follow me first. And they will obey me first before they obey anybody else. But the reason the carnal mind delays is because number one, rejection that they will face, and number two, the relationships that they're engaged in.

They mean more to that individual than their relationship with Jesus Christ. So we find ourselves in Genesis 19 more than we'd like to find ourselves, lingering as Lot lingered because of rejection, because of riches, excuse me, relationships, and thirdly, because of riches.

Riches. I mean, he had to leave his home. His home. His nice car. His friends. His money. He came there because of the wealth. He came there because of the affluence. He was a rich man. We saw it in Genesis 13. We saw it in Genesis 14. And now in Genesis 19. He's got to give all that up. He's not so quick to give up that which he spent his whole life trying to attain. Why did he delay? Why did he hesitate? Ridicule. Riches. Rejection. Relationships. The carnal mind fears all that. All of that. They don't want to be ridiculed.

At all. They don't want to lose their riches. They don't want to lose their relationships. They don't want to feel rejected. But the heart set on spiritual things. Boy, they want to follow God no matter what he says. Because God's Word is true. You move from the directive, to the delay, to thirdly, the deliverance.

It says in the rest of verse number 16, So the men seized his hand, and the hand of his wife, and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the Lord was upon him. And they brought him out, and put him outside the city. God had to intervene forcefully. God had to move him because he wasn't going to move. The angels came and said, and that's time to go. And he stopped. His mind began to think about the relationships that he had there. His leadership position in the city. How great it was.

How prominent he was. The riches that he had obtained from that position. And then the ridicule and rejection, of having never followed the Lord before, now he's going to follow the Lord all of a sudden. And the angels grabbed him by the hand, and forcibly removed him from that place of destruction. Because the compassion of the Lord was upon him. Boy, that's so good, isn't it? God's compassion moved him out of that city. God is a compassionate God. God is a merciful God. And God will not see his godly ones destroyed.

And so compassion was upon him. And then, look what it says. And it came about, verse number 17, when they had brought them outside, that one said, escape for your life. Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley. Escape to the mountains, lest you be swept away. Now, what part of that is difficult to understand? As I read that, that is pretty clear to me. If I said that to my five-year-old, she would understand. Escape for your life. You got to run. Don't look behind you. Why?

Because if you look behind you, it's going to slow you down. And there's going to be destruction in that whole valley. There were five cities there. And four of them would be destroyed. Because of the immense force of fire and brimstone upon one city, the surrounding ones would be destroyed. Escape to the mountains. That's your place of safety. There's your place of protection. That's very easy for the simple mind to grasp. There was a deliverance. A supernatural deliverance. Because Lot wasn't about to leave.

Unless God moved him. The lingering of Lot is seen in the directive that was given to him. In his delay. And in the supernatural deliverance of his life from that city. And fourthly, in the dissension that arose between him and his angels. Look what it says. But Lot said to them, Oh no, my lords. If it wasn't so sad, it would be funny. Oh no, I can't do that. What do you mean you can't do that? Which part of escape don't you understand? Which part of destruction don't you comprehend? Oh no, my lords.

I can't do that. Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown by saving my life. Gag, gag, gag. Oh, you have been so kind to me. So wonderful. Oh, I am so grateful to you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And then he says, But I cannot escape to the mountains, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. What is that? What does that mean? I can't go there. Because if I do, the disaster could overtake me. But that's not what God said.

He says, You go to the mountain, and you will be protected. That will be your place of safety. Oh no, my lords. I can't do that. I can't do that. Or I'll be swept away. What is he doing? He's telling God, The assignment you've given me is too tough. I can't do it. I can't go to the mountains. That's too difficult for me. That's too much of a sacrifice for me. I can't go to the mountains, Lord. And then he says, He says, Lest disaster overtake me and I die. He doubts God. He doesn't believe what God said.

God had just told him, You go to the mountains, you'll live. If he says, I can't go there, I'll die. You know, there are a lot of times God asks us to do something. We say, I can't do that. Oh Lord, I just can't do that. No Lord, I won't do that. Remember Psalm 14, The fool has said in his heart, No God. No God. I'm not going to do that. And we make it sound really good. Oh, it's just so hard for me. That's just not my personality. I can't do that. I'm not made like you're made. I can't do it like you do it.

I can't do it like Jesus did it. He was God in the flesh. He can't expect me to do everything He did. It's just too difficult. I can't handle it. What you're saying, God, is no, I'm not going to do what you told me to do. I'm not going to do it. Because I don't believe what you say. I don't believe it. I will be destroyed. But when God gives us a directive, He says it for our benefit. That we might be preserved. That we might live as He wants us to live. But the carnal mind, as Lot's was, doesn't believe what God says.

And even after they took him by the hand, and dragged him out of the city, and said, now man, you go. You go. Oh no, my Lord. I can't go to the mountains instead. He says what? Now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please let me escape there.

Is it not small? That my life may be saved. And he said to him, Behold, I grant you this request also. Not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. Hurry. Escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore, the name of the town was called Zohar. See, what was really in the back of his mind was, I can't go to the wilderness. I've got to go to the city life, man. It's not nearly as corrupt as Sodom was, or Gomorrah was. Just let me go to this little city, and I'll be saved.

And the angel granted him his request. Listen very carefully. Another tragedy in the Twin Cities, are you ready for this? Is getting what you ask for. And Lot went up from Zohar and stayed in the mountains. And his two daughters with him, for he was afraid to stay in Zohar. Listen very carefully. I want to close right here. One of the greatest tragedies of the carnal life is to get what you ask for. See, how can that be? How can that be? The greatest disease a man can ever have is not leukemia, any kind of cancer.

It's not even AIDS. The wasting disease a man can have is when his soul is malnourished. His soul is lean, because he does not heed the counsel of God. Let me read to you another verse.

That's Psalm 81, verse number 8. Listen to what the Lord said. Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you, O Israel, if you would listen to me. Let there be no strange God among you, nor shall you worship any foreign God. I the Lord am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people did not listen to my voice, and Israel did not obey me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices, O that my people would listen to me.

I gave them over. I let them do what they wanted to do. That's what they wanted, so I gave it to them. He says, If Israel would listen to me, they would walk in my ways. I would quickly subdue their enemies. I would turn my hand against their adversaries. Those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to Him, and their time of punishment would be forever. But I would feed you with the finest of wheat, with the honey from the rock. I would satisfy you if you would listen.

The tragedy to insist in getting our own way only to find out that we forfeited God's best. That's a tragedy that took place in the Twin Cities. Don't be like Lot. Listen and obey. Let's pray.