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they turn in your Bibles to Genesis 
chapter 19. Genesis chapter 19, as we finish 
out the chapter, we notice this morning verses 1 to 11 and how 
those verses pertain specifically to the biblical view of homosexuality. Well, it is not right to neglect 
the remainder of this chapter as it's full of practical application 
and instruction for the Christian. You can learn a whole lot about 
these final days of Sodom, or this final day of Sodom, and 
the instruction given to Lot, and the various circumstances 
connected with that. And I'll just pick up reading 
in chapter 19 at verse 12. Then the men said to Lot, Have 
you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, 
and whomever you have in the city, take them out of this place, 
for we will destroy this place. because the outcry against them 
has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has 
sent us to destroy it. So Lot went out and spoke to 
his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, Get 
up, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. 
But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking. When the morning 
dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take 
your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed 
in the punishment of the city. And while he lingered, the men 
took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two 
daughters, the Lord being merciful to him. And they brought him 
out and set him outside the city. So it came to pass when they 
had brought him outside that he said, Escape for your life. Do not look behind you, nor stay 
anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest 
you be destroyed. Then Lot said to them, Please, 
no, my lords. Indeed now your servant has found 
favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which 
you have shown me by saving my life. But I cannot escape to 
the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. See now, 
this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Please 
let me escape there. Is it not a little one? and my 
soul shall live. And he said to him, See, I have 
favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow 
this city for which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, 
for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore the 
name of the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen upon the earth 
when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained brimstone 
and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens. 
So he overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants 
of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked 
back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham 
went early in the morning to the place where he had stood 
before the Lord. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and 
toward all the land of the plain. And he saw, and behold, the smoke 
of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. And it 
came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that 
God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, 
when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, we pray 
for the Spirit to guide us now. We pray that you would help us 
to learn the lessons we are supposed to from this passage of Holy 
Scripture. Our God, we pray that you would 
just bless our time together, bless our worship. May we truly 
glorify you, our great God, never forgetting the reason we assemble 
on the Lord's Day Sabbath. And Father, we just pray as well 
that you would give us a genuine zeal for holiness and for righteousness, 
a genuine desire to walk spiritually and to truly live in a manner 
that is consistent with the Holy Scripture. We ask for your grace 
now and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we remember this 
morning the investigation of Sodom's wickedness, verses 20 
to 33, and then the confirmation of Sodom's wickedness in chapter 
19, verses 4 to 11. We saw the extent of the wickedness. that it was everybody in the 
city. And we see as well the specific 
wickedness was homosexuality. The men of the city wanted to 
take these two visitors, these two angels, and they wanted to 
know them carnally. Now this evening I want to consider 
four observations from the remaining portion of the passage. First, 
the deliverance of Lot. Secondly, the demonstration of 
God's wrath. Thirdly, the meditation upon 
Sodom's wickedness, and fourthly, the repetition of Sodom's wickedness. There is another account in the 
Old Testament that is very similar to this. Unfortunately, Israel 
did not learn this lesson. For several centuries later, 
the men of Gibeah fell into a like practice, and we'll see that 
in just a few moments. But first of all, the deliverance 
of lot, and there are several things to consider here. Notice 
that he would give up his daughters to stem the tide of wickedness 
against his visitors. This was not a very charitable 
thing to do. not a very godly or kind thing 
to do. Certainly it was driven by a 
righteous motivation to protect his visitors, but to sacrifice 
his daughters to an angry mob simply does not exhibit a consistent 
and godly life practice. And then we notice in verse 14, 
when he goes to speak to his married daughter's husbands, 
he obviously had two daughters that were unmarried, the ones 
he was willing to give to the men of Sodom, but then he had 
other daughters that were married. And so when he goes to his family, 
he tells them that we must leave the city, and he appeared to 
them to be joking. This doesn't speak well of a 
consistent and a godly life. I realize Peter speaks favorably 
of it. He is in Christ. He is a legitimate 
believer. He will be, or he is in heaven, 
and we will see him. But he, like all of us, had his 
issues, had his remaining corruption. And so these two glaring errors 
in this account leads us to consider two clues in the text that highlight 
why it is this way. The first was, verse 1 tells 
us, he was sitting in the gate of Sodom. He was sitting in the 
gate of Sodom and basically the gateway was the public square 
of the city where the elders sat. Public meetings were held 
and legal disputes were adjudicated. That Lot was here suggests that 
he was a respected member of the community. Remember, Sodom 
is an exceedingly wicked town, but nevertheless Lot is in the 
gates. Lot is in a position of esteem 
and prestige. And then notice as well, in verse 
2, it says that he was, or he invited the angels, please turn 
into your servant's house and spend the night. Remember, initially, 
Genesis 13 tells us that he pitched his tent near Sodom. Now he's a homeowner in Sodom. The tent near the city wasn't 
enough. He has taken up residence within 
the city. He purchased property, he has 
a house, and he is dwelling there. Walt, he says, Lot has exchanged 
his tent, formerly pitched near the city, for a house in Sodom. So as we survey this, and as 
we get especially to some of the other interesting portions, 
we need to remember his life was not marked by consistent 
godliness. We need to learn from this. We 
need to make sure that we are seeking, by the grace of God, 
to be faithful, to be upright. not to be so enamored with the 
Sodoms of this world that we'll pitch our tent near it and then 
buy property and live within the city walls themselves. Notice in verses 15 to 17, there 
is an exhortation to flee. It was an announcement of destruction 
because the outcry against them had grown great before the face 
of the Lord and He purposed to destroy the city. I mean, it's 
very clear and very obvious what is going on. As well, it was 
to be an escaping for one's life. This was a life and death time. This was not the time to play 
games or to enter into something with a bit of a, sort of a levity 
or a lightheartedness. They were not to look behind 
them, nor stay anywhere near the plain. They would be destroyed 
if they failed to comply. That's the exhortation to flee 
from the city. And that brings us to consider 
the lingering of Lot. Notice what it says in verse 
16. And while he lingered, As a general 
rule, my brothers and sister, when God says, I am going to 
destroy your city, get out. You don't linger. You don't waste 
time. You don't think about it. You 
don't ponder. You don't consider what you're 
losing. You simply act in obedience to the Lord God most high. And 
while he lingers, Lingering Lot stands as a testimony in the 
pages of scripture to each and every one of us not to linger 
in like manner. Why did Lot linger? It's an incredible statement 
because he knew the wickedness of the city and he knew the certain 
destruction of the Lord that was coming upon the city. Hopefully 
as you're reading this, you're saying, Lot, you shouldn't do 
this. Lot, do you realize what's happening? See, brethren, when you read 
your Bibles, you're to think like that. You're to get into 
it. You're to read it as if it really means something. You're 
to stop for a moment and say, wait a minute, Lot, what are 
you doing? Pastor Crawford was telling me that he just preached 
in Baltimore, or he went to Baltimore looking at a possible move there 
for church planting. He visited a church plant in 
Philadelphia, and he said to me, oh, you'd love it there. 
It's all black. One of those places when you preach, they're 
right there with you. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Say it, brother. Tell me, Lord, have mercy. And 
when you preach in a black audience, that's the way it is. There ought 
to be something of that when you read your Bible. Wait a minute. 
Why are you lingering? What's the matter with you lot? 
Go! When God sends angels and tells 
you to leave, you leave. Why would he linger? Well, three. Suggestions, two of these, or 
one of these, the first comes from J.C. Ryle. He has an excellent 
treatment of this section in his book, Holiness, and it's 
on Enlight Linger. The first, this is what Ryle 
says, is that it stemmed from his wrong choice earlier in life. It stemmed from his wrong choice 
earlier in life. Children, young people, kids. The decisions you make now will 
affect you in the years to come. You remember back in Genesis 
chapter 13 when Lot was with his uncle Abraham. We read in 
Genesis chapter 13 at verse 8, Abram said to Lot, Please let 
there be no strife between you and me and between my herdsmen 
and your herdsmen, for we are brethren. Is not the whole land 
before you? Please separate from me. If you 
take the left, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to 
the right, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted his 
eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered 
everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the 
garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward 
Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself all 
the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. and they separated 
from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, 
and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent 
even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly 
wicked and sinful against the Lord." Right there, a light bulb 
should go off over our heads. We should all say, that is going 
to come back to bite him. That is a problem. When you pitch 
your tent near a very wicked place, there will be effects 
in the long run. In Genesis chapter 14, Genesis 
14 at verse 12, they also took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who 
dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. Lot lingered probably 
because of this earlier choice. And Ryle develops this, and I 
believe beautifully. He says, make a wrong choice 
in life, an unscriptural choice, and settle yourself down unnecessarily 
in the midst of worldly people, and I know no surer way to damage 
your own spirituality and to go backward about your eternal 
concerns. This is the way to make the pulse 
of your soul beat feebly and languidly. This is the way to 
make the edge of your feeling about sin become blunt and dull. This is the way to dim the eyes 
of your spiritual discernment till you can scarcely distinguish 
good from evil and stumble as you walk. So the choices that 
you make early on, the choices that you make today, will have 
ramifications in the future. And while he lingered, probably 
considering how good it was there, why would he want to leave his 
home? Why would he want to desert that property? Why would he want 
to go when the Lord had been so good to him, even in the midst 
of this wicked city? Royal goes on to make the pertinent 
application with reference to choices we make, with reference 
to residence. Where will we live? Will we live 
in a place where there are no good churches? Will we live in 
a place that is punctuated by sin, depravity, and evil? You 
know, certainly we have to live somewhere where there is sin, 
depravity, and evil. We'd have to leave the earth 
and go charter a place on the moon to try and escape all the 
wickedness. And lo and behold, even then, 
it would still be wicked because we're there. But there are certainly 
places more calculated to drag our souls down than others. And we ought not to take this 
lightly. We ought to consider, is the 
place I'm choosing to live, does it have a good church? What about 
the decision with reference to our life's calling, our profession? Those things we choose to do 
in order to make money and seek to glorify the Lord in that area. If it's going to be something 
that compromises my spirituality, something that compromises my 
Christian commitment, something that deadens my soul, well, I 
ought to avoid it. That doesn't mean I have to be 
a missionary or a pastor. That's not what it means at all. 
But there are some things that wage war against the soul of 
a man. And of course, a pertinent application 
with reference to the choices that we make in our youth has 
to be our choice of a spouse. We are told in the Bible that 
we're not to be unequally yoked. We are told in the Bible as Christians 
we're to seek out other Christians. We are told in the scriptures 
that we are not to marry a son or a daughter of Belial. We are 
to be consistent in this. We are not to let our emotions 
or our hearts overrule our heads. We are not to begin to think 
subjectively when the Bible calls us to think objectively. We are 
not to put our desires for happiness above the biblical requirement 
to find a godly man or a godly woman who will aid us and assist 
us in serving the Lord our God. It is far too easy to be governed 
by emotion rather than by principle. It is far too easy to lower the 
standard. You know, you've got this idea 
that he or she must be, you know, like a pin-up model. He must 
be a wonderful Calvinistic theologian. He must be all these things that 
you're attracted to. And as time goes on, the bar 
gradually gets lowered. Well, he said church one time, 
so that might qualify him. No, no, think biblically. And 
I realize for young people, you say, oh, you don't know what 
it's like. Well, we may not know what it's like in that particular 
thing, but we certainly know what it's like to read the scripture, 
to see other experience, and to see other things in our own 
lives that have been challenging because of bad decisions. A second reason why he may have 
lingered, the Bible doesn't tell us he lingered for these reasons, 
but just meditation, thinking through it. A second reason may 
be because it was a result of living amidst wickedness on a 
daily basis. Sometimes that happens. We get 
desensitized. Now the Bible tells us very well 
that in 2 Peter that he was vexed day in and day out. He was oppressed, 
he was greatly troubled, and for that we rejoice and we give 
thanks. But put yourself in a life circumstance. It's hard to be holy in the best 
circumstances. It's hard to be holy when everything 
is going your way. but plopped down right in the 
midst of a depraved city, a city described by God as exceedingly 
wicked. Now, God has seen it all, hasn't 
he? For God to say this is an exceedingly 
wicked city, God knows what he's talking about. God is accurate 
in his judgments. God knows. He's seen cities come. and he's seen them go. Very often 
when we are surrounded by these things, it deadens our spiritual 
vitality. It deadens our spiritual life. It blunts us. It causes us to 
be dull. It causes us to be lethargic. It causes us to be apathetic. 
We may see the wickedness out there and say, well, what good 
is it? What difference can I make? We need to guard against that. 
A third reason why he might have lingered is because he liked 
what he had. It's easy for us to say, oh, 
just go, man. OK, right now, just go. All of us. Just let's go. Just 
drive to the backside of Mount Sham, and then we're going to 
drive up to the parking lot, and then we're going to hike 
two hours to the top of the mountain. That's the only safe place from 
destruction. You're probably thinking, did 
I turn the oven off? What about our puppies? What 
about the cat? What about the neighbors? What 
about our stuff? What about our comfort? What 
are we going to eat tonight? Where will we sleep? What will 
become of our children? All these things perhaps raced 
through his mind and it caused him to linger again. We need 
to remember that when the Lord God Most High sends two angels 
to tell you to leave, you need to believe Him over your desire 
for happiness and comfort. So, Lot lingered. Notice, with 
reference to the deliverance of Lot, his request in verses 
17 to 20. This is an amazing statement. 
Verse 17, the announcement is made. We'll see that in a bit 
more detail in just a moment. But notice in verse 18, Then 
Lot said to them, Please know, my lords. Indeed, now your servant 
has found favor in your sight and you have increased your mercy, 
which you have shown me by saving my life. But I cannot escape 
to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. You hear 
what he's saying? I'm used to living in the city. 
I can't go live on Mount Sham. I don't have a rifle. I don't 
know how to shoot animals. I don't know how to live without 
electricity. If I go to the mountains, God, 
that is as much destruction for me as if I remain in the city. He's making a deal with the angels 
at this point. Do you know what the most amazing 
thing is? Is that God condescends. God actually says, okay, you 
can have Zoar. Isn't that our God? Isn't that, 
in the language of Ralph Davis, vintage Yahweh? A man lingers, 
he basically has to be grabbed ahold of, yanked out of his house, 
and as they're running he says, oh wait, one more thing. If I 
go to the mountains, something evil might happen to me. Can't 
I have this city? It's just a little city. Look 
at it. It's not anything big. It's not 
significant. It's not the Taj Mahal, God. The Lord gives it to me. That's the God whom we serve. 
Isn't it amazing? I love that statement. Verse 
21, he said, See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, 
in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have 
spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until 
you arrive there. Therefore, the name of the city 
was called Zoar. God actually condescends to blast 
Lot in this request. That is truly a testimony to 
the mercy of our God. In the midst of pouring hell 
upon Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord God shows this kind of mercy 
to His servant Lot. He doesn't slap him. He doesn't 
say, why did you linger? He doesn't upbraid him. He doesn't, 
you know, rebuke him. He simply says, I have favored 
you concerning this thing also. Truly an amazing God. Well, that's the deliverance 
of Lot. Notice, secondly, the demonstration 
of God's wrath. Verses 23 to 26. It was a devastation 
of the entire region. Verse 23, the sun had risen upon 
the earth when Lot entered Zoar. It was a day like any other day. The sun rose, people got out 
of bed, people went on their way, they did their jobs, they 
cooked, they did whatever men do in a common day. It looked like any other day. Verses 24 and 25 need very little 
explanation. The Lord rained brimstone and 
fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, notice, from the Lord out of the heavens. 
It is conspicuous. The Lord rained it, don't forget, 
it came from the Lord. God is bringing judgment to bear 
upon Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain, with the 
exception now of Zoar, because Lot has requested to live there, 
and God is merciful and kind to his servants. The Lord rained 
brimstone and fire on Sodom. Verse 25, So He overthrew those 
cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and 
what grew on the ground. So God not only killed everybody 
and everything, but He killed the crops that grew on the ground. It was an utter devastation. And then we notice in verse 26, 
Lot's wife. Not only did he make a poor choice 
in where he would live, he obviously made a poor choice in the woman 
he would marry. But his wife looked back behind 
him and she became a pillar of salt. How much of a wretched 
effect did his wife have on his lingering? How much of a wretched 
effect did she have on him with reference to moving from being 
near in a tent to buying a house in Sodom? Oh, honey, if we buy 
a house, we can make money. Oh, honey, if we buy a house, 
we can be comfortable. Perhaps Lot said, yeah, but it's 
wicked there. He was very mindful of evil and 
wickedness. Oh, but honey, she looked back. she looked behind, and she was 
turned into a pillar of salt. And while I realize that many 
today think that this couldn't possibly have happened, I subscribe 
to the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, who used this, again, 
as historically accurate narrative, and He Himself issued a warning 
that we are to remember Lot's wife. In that day, he who is 
on the housetop and his goods are in the house, let him not 
come down to take them away. And likewise, the one who is 
in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife." An 
interesting or a curious statement of our Lord, if it was just a 
myth or just a fable. Jesus is cautioning His disciples 
to remember this woman as an example of one who may be able 
to take them out of the city, but she can't take the city out 
of them. Whoever seeks to save his life 
will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I 
tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed, one 
will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding 
together, the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will 
be in the field, the one will be taken and the other left. 
And they answered and said to him, Where, Lord? So he said 
to them, Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered 
together. So Lot lingered, but he went. She went, but she looked back, 
and the Lord turned her into a pillar of salt." And that brings 
us to consider the meditation upon Sodom's wickedness. Abraham's 
morning devotions that day, he looked on Sodom as well, but 
not like Lot's wife. Verses 27 and following are very 
sober. Abraham went early in the morning 
to the place where he had stood before the Lord. Then he looked 
toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain. 
And he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like 
the smoke of a furnace. What an object lesson. What an 
amazing illustration of what Abraham had confessed in chapter 
18, shall not the Lord for the judge of all the earth, do what 
is right." That smoke rising up from the ground testified 
that certainly there is a God in heaven. Because God is not 
mocked. And when a city is given over 
to wickedness, and a city is given over to evil, the Lord 
will visit with justice. The Lord will visit with judgment. 
Abraham meditated that morning on the judgment of God, the justice 
of God, and perhaps the mercy of God, in fact, that he spared 
his nephew. Then he looked toward Sodom and 
Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain. And he saw, 
and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke 
of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God 
destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, 
and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew 
the cities in which Lot had dwelt." As far as we can surmise, Lot 
and two of his daughters escaped. Some have surveyed this scenario 
and said, you know, if Lot would have been a bit more consistent, 
he could have had the ten. Had he been a more faithful witness? 
I don't want to get into lambasting Lot. That's another sermon, lambasting 
Lot. We have lingering Lot and then 
we have lambasting Lot. There is something there, ten 
and two daughters. But of course, if you read on, 
you'd see that even that didn't come out very well. These two daughters were the 
cause of great sin. The law engaged in it as well. 
Paper for the Moabites and for the Anaheimites. Two nations 
that would continually be at odds with Israel. Zephaniah speaks 
of them in Zephaniah chapter 2. We'll see God willing this 
Sunday night. The Lord takes care of Moab and 
of Ammon. We'll have a lot of exercise, 
more of a godly influence. Perhaps he could have affected 
ten people and saved this city. There's a lot to lay on the moon, 
I know, but there is something there for us. We need to be able 
to affect by God's grace and live in such a manner. We can't 
change hearts, but maybe the Lord, through our faithfulness, 
will change the hearts of those whom we are around. Now I want to look finally at 
the repetition of Sodom's wickedness. Just so you can see, this was 
not an isolated event in redemptive history. Judges chapter 19. Judges 
chapter 19. A very similar situation in many 
respects, though several hundred years later. And it's punctuated by the reality 
of Judges 19 verse 1. It came to pass in those days 
when there was no king in Israel. That's mentioned a few times 
in the book of Judges. There was no king in Israel, 
very often connected with that, and everyone did what was right 
in his own eyes. This Levite concubine, he didn't 
want to stay in Jebus, which is Jerusalem. This is prior to 
it being the political and religious capital of Israel. He wanted 
to continue on and go to the city of Gibeon. He didn't want 
to stay in Jabez because of the heathen. Let's go to Gibeon where 
our people are. So an older man takes him in. 
Verse 18 of Judges 19. So he said to him, we're passing 
from Bethlehem and Judah toward the remote mountains of Ephraim. 
I am from there. I went to Bethlehem and Judah. 
Now I am going to the house of the Lord. But there is no one 
who will take me into his house. Although we have both straw and 
fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for myself, for your 
female servant, and for the young man who is with your servant, 
there is no lack of anything. The old man said, Peace be with 
you. However, let all your needs be my responsibility. Only do 
not spend the night in the open square. So he brought them into 
his house and gave fodder to the donkeys, and they washed 
their feet and ate and drank. And as they were enjoying themselves, 
suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the 
house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the 
house, the old man, saying, Bring out the man who came to your 
house, that we may know him carnally. But the man, the master of the 
house, went out to them and said to them, No, my brethren, I beg 
you, do not act so wickedly. Seeing this man has come into 
my house, do not commit this outrage. Here is my virgin daughter 
and the man's concubine. Let me bring them out now. Humble 
them and do with them as you please. But to this man do not 
do such a vile thing. But the men would not heed him. 
So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. 
And they knew her and abused her all night until morning. 
And when the day began to break, they let her go. Then the woman 
came as the day was dawning and fell down at the door of the 
man's house where her master was till it was light. When her 
master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house 
and went out to go his way, there was his concubine fallen at the 
door of the house with her hands on the threshold. And he said 
to her, get up and let us be going. There was no answer. So 
the man lifted her onto the donkey and the man got up and went to 
his house. When he entered his house, he took a knife, laid 
hold of his concubine, and divided her into twelve pieces, limb 
by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. 
And so it was that all who saw it said, No such deed has been 
done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up 
from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, confer, 
and speak up." Very similar, huh? You'd think they would have 
learned. knows no particular people groups, 
not just those dirty rotten Sodomites. In fact, as the writer of Judges 
is highlighting, the similarities with Genesis 19 demonstrate that 
new Sodom is in Israel. Very same pattern that was conducted 
in Genesis 18 and 19. Very same thing that ultimately 
led to civil war within Israel. Great ramifications from this 
event. the action of the attack of these 
homosexuals, the heel of the host, the action by the Levite, 
the abuse of his concubine. Brethren, we live in days that 
may differ to some degree, but the activity is the same. The 
wickedness is the same. The desire is the same. And having a proper understanding 
of the Bible, and having a proper understanding of the law of God, 
and the gospel of the free grace of Jesus Christ our Lord, Let 
us pray to the Lord God Almighty that He would use us to propagate 
these truths, that He would use us to speak these truths for 
the good of sinners. For certainly there is no benefit 
to man living in ignorance of what the Scripture so clearly 
displays for the good of mankind. Let us pray. Our Father, we ask 
that You would help us to learn the lessons of lingering lot, 
Help us, Lord God, to respond always to Your Word and to do 
what You call us to do. And Father, help us to learn 
the lesson of Lot's wife, not to look back when You call us 
to flee. Grant us grace, Lord God Almighty, to see ourselves 
as pilgrims in this land, to see ourselves as citizens of 
heaven, and not to be so tied down and so fastened upon earthly 
things. But grant us grace, Lord God 
Almighty, to be the way You would have us to be. We learn good 
things from Abraham, we see his resolve, we see his willingness 
to respond to the Lord in all things, God. We just pray that 
you would help us in these things. We ask through Christ our Lord. 
Amen.