WEBVTT 0 00:00:04.890 --> 00:00:07.354 Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons podcast. 1 00:00:07.482 --> 00:00:11.150 This is where you can find audio from Sunday morning messages and more. 2 00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:14.442 Make sure you're subscribed so that you don't miss future episodes. 3 00:00:14.506 --> 00:00:16.030 And thanks for listening. 4 00:00:19.810 --> 00:00:21.118 Well, good morning again. 5 00:00:21.204 --> 00:00:26.130 If you've got your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join me in John, chapter 17. 6 00:00:26.210 --> 00:00:27.686 That's actually where we're going to begin. 7 00:00:27.788 --> 00:00:32.470 And then we will head pretty quickly to Genesis, chapter 19. 8 00:00:32.890 --> 00:00:38.970 Today we're going to deal with one of those passages of Scripture which we started last week in Genesis 18. 9 00:00:40.190 --> 00:00:53.262 It's very weighted, and when you hold to a view of Scripture that we hold to that I would be confident to say that good churches hold to, even if we can disagree on some things. 10 00:00:53.396 --> 00:00:59.134 But that all of Scripture, right, is what the Bible tells us, that all of Scripture is breathed out by God. 11 00:00:59.172 --> 00:01:08.286 And so we believe in the authority, we believe in the inerrancy, we believe in the power of Scripture. 12 00:01:08.398 --> 00:01:17.398 And so sometimes that takes us on complicated theological journeys that we have to wrestle with sometimes and try to figure some things out. 13 00:01:17.484 --> 00:01:25.586 But then sometimes it brings us to these stories that we believe are number one, historically accurate. 14 00:01:25.618 --> 00:01:35.130 So what we mean by that is we believe that what the Bible says happened actually happened and that it is there for you and I for our good. 15 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:50.106 So that I want to just make understand that when I say in this moment that it might be might be good if parents, if you want to send your kids because we're going to deal with some weight of this, it doesn't mean that what's there isn't beneficial. 16 00:01:50.218 --> 00:01:51.950 It's the exact opposite. 17 00:01:52.770 --> 00:02:04.386 And as a family that maybe thrives a little bit in having tough, difficult, complicated conversations with our kids and our kids back with us and Aaron and I together as spouses, we want to champion that. 18 00:02:04.408 --> 00:02:09.606 But we also want to just kind of say we need to kind of pause for that and take some time. 19 00:02:09.628 --> 00:02:14.040 Together as a family to do that as a whole church family. 20 00:02:14.970 --> 00:02:36.320 I want to say that as you're navigating through this and we said this last week, I don't know that there's two chapters in the Bible that are any heavier than Genesis 18 and Genesis 19 that when we read through these events that are there, they can often become these stories that we've heard. 21 00:02:36.690 --> 00:02:52.660 And we can treat them like far off tales that are like a mythological story that aren't real and don't involve real people, but they do, and we need to feel the weight of that. 22 00:02:53.430 --> 00:03:00.360 It's easy for us when we look at things like Genesis 18 and Genesis 19 to draw lines of us versus them. 23 00:03:00.970 --> 00:03:05.400 And that's not me, and I don't have that, and I don't struggle with that. 24 00:03:06.170 --> 00:03:23.180 Instead of taking the step back and looking and seeing how God's showing us our depravity within the pages of Scripture and what it means that Jesus died for our sin, which is where we'll get to when we partake in the Lord's Supper today. 25 00:03:24.590 --> 00:03:27.550 We're a talk today a lot about culture. 26 00:03:28.930 --> 00:03:46.180 And when we talk about culture, when we talk about society, I want us to not just think of their far off culture and their far off society, but I want us to think of our culture in our society that we live in today. 27 00:03:47.350 --> 00:03:53.400 I want us to not think that this is something that happened then, but these are things that are happening now. 28 00:03:54.250 --> 00:03:55.878 And how are we in this? 29 00:03:55.964 --> 00:04:06.220 We use a phrase, and I'm going to talk about this and this while we're going to start off in John 17 this morning, we use a phrase often, be in, but not of. 30 00:04:08.110 --> 00:04:09.078 This phrase. 31 00:04:09.174 --> 00:04:18.442 What this means is like, hey, be in culture, be in society, but don't be of culture. 32 00:04:18.506 --> 00:04:19.882 Don't be of society. 33 00:04:19.946 --> 00:04:32.062 Meaning, like, don't take what culture and society says is good and is right and is normal and is acceptable, and then receive that as believers. 34 00:04:32.206 --> 00:04:44.760 But instead, as we live in this world, as we go to work in these places, as we participate in various activities, to be in but to not be of. 35 00:04:45.450 --> 00:04:49.454 And that statement, it isn't incorrect. 36 00:04:49.602 --> 00:04:57.226 And I've taught that, I've preached that, I've tried to live that so much in my life to be in, but not of. 37 00:04:57.328 --> 00:04:59.030 But it's not incorrect. 38 00:04:59.110 --> 00:05:05.390 But I do think that that phrase be in, but not of is incomplete. 39 00:05:06.290 --> 00:05:07.680 When we say it. 40 00:05:08.130 --> 00:05:17.738 And so I want to look at John 17, verses 14 through 19 really quickly and understand the fullness of this statement. 41 00:05:17.834 --> 00:05:22.210 Because when we get be in, not of, we're drawing from the very words of Jesus. 42 00:05:22.710 --> 00:05:24.900 So let's understand the fullness of that. 43 00:05:25.370 --> 00:05:39.538 Jesus is given a prayer, and he says this in verse 14 of John 17, I have given them your Word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world. 44 00:05:39.644 --> 00:05:39.914 Right? 45 00:05:39.952 --> 00:05:41.740 There's our first of the world. 46 00:05:42.270 --> 00:05:54.686 Just as I am not of the world, so you and I, when we walk with the Lord, there is this conflict that we face because we are not of this world, just as Jesus is not. 47 00:05:54.788 --> 00:05:55.646 We're different. 48 00:05:55.748 --> 00:05:59.006 It's not that we in and of ourselves is better. 49 00:05:59.108 --> 00:06:05.940 In fact, it's the exact opposite, is that we acknowledge our depravity and sin and Jesus is better. 50 00:06:07.670 --> 00:06:08.802 We have this. 51 00:06:08.936 --> 00:06:17.190 And then verse 15, Jesus says, I do not ask that you take them out of the world whoa. 52 00:06:18.410 --> 00:06:22.040 But that you keep them from the evil one. 53 00:06:23.530 --> 00:06:26.486 How many times have you been going through a situation where you feel like. 54 00:06:26.508 --> 00:06:28.474 You'Re attacked oppressed, where sin is there. 55 00:06:28.512 --> 00:06:30.746 And you're like, Jesus, now would be. 56 00:06:30.768 --> 00:06:32.122 A good time to come back. 57 00:06:32.176 --> 00:06:32.780 Right? 58 00:06:33.310 --> 00:06:42.750 That's often, often verse 16, Jesus reminds again, they are not of the world. 59 00:06:42.820 --> 00:06:44.800 Just as I am not of the world. 60 00:06:45.650 --> 00:06:49.962 Verse 17, sanctify them in the truth. 61 00:06:50.106 --> 00:06:51.786 Your word is truth. 62 00:06:51.978 --> 00:07:07.560 So as they're in the world, but they're not of the world, do something in them that's not of the world, but that is of your word. 63 00:07:10.490 --> 00:07:31.600 Here's where verse 18 hits, and I said through verse 19, and I apologize through verse 18, as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 64 00:07:32.850 --> 00:07:36.480 Now, we understand the fullness of this. 65 00:07:37.170 --> 00:07:40.320 It's what it means to be in the world. 66 00:07:40.690 --> 00:07:47.300 Is this because I am sent into the world? 67 00:07:48.150 --> 00:07:51.540 It's not that I just wake up one day and I find out that I'm here. 68 00:07:52.630 --> 00:08:01.000 It's that I'm a man on a mission to be and to do what God has for me. 69 00:08:01.370 --> 00:08:11.354 So to not be of the world and to be in the world means that I have to come to grips with my calling, of why I am where I am. 70 00:08:11.472 --> 00:08:16.540 It's because God has sent me where he has me. 71 00:08:17.390 --> 00:08:19.754 God has sent me to my job. 72 00:08:19.872 --> 00:08:22.266 God has sent me to my town. 73 00:08:22.378 --> 00:08:25.386 God has sent me to my neighborhood. 74 00:08:25.498 --> 00:08:28.046 God has sent me to my friend group. 75 00:08:28.148 --> 00:08:37.346 God has sent me where he has me because I'm a man on mission that he has given me. 76 00:08:37.528 --> 00:08:48.438 And when we begin to look at our life this way, this is when we begin to see ourselves as the missionaries that God has called us to be. 77 00:08:48.604 --> 00:08:50.694 Don't be of the world. 78 00:08:50.892 --> 00:08:56.360 But here's why you're in the world because you're sent into the world. 79 00:08:57.390 --> 00:09:02.170 So now that defines my perspective. 80 00:09:02.830 --> 00:09:04.906 That defines my calling. 81 00:09:05.088 --> 00:09:20.560 Like, what if you viewed where you go tomorrow as not a place that you have to be, but what if you looked at tomorrow as the place that God was sending you? 82 00:09:21.490 --> 00:09:29.460 What if you looked at the neighbors that live around you as not the people that I'm forced to be around? 83 00:09:30.470 --> 00:09:38.040 But what if you looked at your neighbors around you as the mission field that God has sent me to? 84 00:09:39.450 --> 00:09:50.490 Now, this gives us the perspective of understanding why we are in where we are in God's sovereignty. 85 00:09:51.630 --> 00:09:58.374 He places you here, and it's what we've seen in God's covenant with Abraham. 86 00:09:58.422 --> 00:10:00.166 From the very beginning, and it's what. 87 00:10:00.208 --> 00:10:02.490 We see in the great Commission. 88 00:10:02.650 --> 00:10:04.880 God calls Abraham to go. 89 00:10:05.250 --> 00:10:06.960 He calls us to go. 90 00:10:07.330 --> 00:10:11.806 God tells Abraham, I'm going to make of you something into something. 91 00:10:11.988 --> 00:10:15.300 And God tells us, I'm going to make you into something. 92 00:10:16.790 --> 00:10:18.914 There's this flow that we get from. 93 00:10:18.952 --> 00:10:24.180 That because we're not of the world, but we're sent into the world. 94 00:10:24.550 --> 00:10:30.406 And when Abraham gets this right and we saw this, you want to go. 95 00:10:30.428 --> 00:10:32.950 Ahead and jump over to Genesis 19. 96 00:10:35.130 --> 00:10:37.654 When Abraham gets this right, like he. 97 00:10:37.692 --> 00:10:41.980 Got this, what we looked at in Genesis 18 in last week, that's what we see. 98 00:10:43.630 --> 00:10:46.138 But we're going to see this morning. 99 00:10:46.224 --> 00:10:48.874 Where someone else misses it. 100 00:10:49.072 --> 00:10:53.134 Misses it now, Lot is someone that we've seen. 101 00:10:53.172 --> 00:10:55.082 Lot is Abraham's nephew. 102 00:10:55.226 --> 00:10:58.266 Lot has been with Abraham since the beginning. 103 00:10:58.458 --> 00:11:09.474 It's a very volatile roller coaster relationship where there is love that is there, but there's also complications in the family dynamics as well, right? 104 00:11:09.512 --> 00:11:12.194 Like, we've all got that person in our life. 105 00:11:12.232 --> 00:11:14.898 We've got that person in our family, right? 106 00:11:14.984 --> 00:11:16.126 We love them. 107 00:11:16.248 --> 00:11:18.214 It's complicated, right? 108 00:11:18.412 --> 00:11:21.078 This is what we see with Abraham and Lot. 109 00:11:21.164 --> 00:11:26.322 And through the life and through the biblical narrative of Abraham, lot appears, lot disappears. 110 00:11:26.386 --> 00:11:27.666 Lot appears, lot disappears. 111 00:11:27.698 --> 00:11:41.022 Like, we see him kind of come and go from the story, but a similar theme that when we see Abraham and Lot in the same narrative of the story together, it's this emphasis on what Abraham is getting right? 112 00:11:41.076 --> 00:11:47.806 And his obedience to the Lord and God's standard actually lived out in flesh, tangible for us to see. 113 00:11:47.908 --> 00:11:49.840 And Lot is missing it. 114 00:11:50.290 --> 00:11:53.518 Lot is completely missing it. 115 00:11:53.604 --> 00:11:55.266 And that's what we see here. 116 00:11:55.368 --> 00:11:57.118 So last week we see Abraham. 117 00:11:57.214 --> 00:12:03.982 He lives in the territory around the area of Sodom, but he does not live in Sodom. 118 00:12:04.046 --> 00:12:14.790 And we've seen these instances where Abraham makes these intentional choices about being where God has him, but not being where God does not have him. 119 00:12:14.940 --> 00:12:18.034 And where God does not have him is in Sodom. 120 00:12:18.082 --> 00:12:21.622 And so the Lord comes, wrapping quickly up the chapter 18. 121 00:12:21.686 --> 00:12:28.454 The Lord comes with two angels, and he tells Abraham of the impending destruction of Sodom. 122 00:12:28.582 --> 00:12:33.440 And what we saw last week is Abraham intercedes for the people. 123 00:12:34.130 --> 00:12:35.840 He intercedes for the people. 124 00:12:36.450 --> 00:12:41.742 The description of Sodom at this time that we give of what God says. 125 00:12:41.796 --> 00:12:47.890 What the Lord says is that their sin is great and very grave. 126 00:12:48.950 --> 00:12:50.210 That's heavy. 127 00:12:51.430 --> 00:12:55.634 God says their sin is great and. 128 00:12:55.672 --> 00:12:58.454 Very grave and that God has come. 129 00:12:58.492 --> 00:13:02.470 As the Judge the Lord has come as the judge to evaluate this. 130 00:13:02.540 --> 00:13:04.520 And so he sends the two angels ahead. 131 00:13:04.970 --> 00:13:10.540 And this is where we pick up in chapter 19, we're going to read verses one through nine. 132 00:13:11.150 --> 00:13:18.090 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. 133 00:13:18.830 --> 00:13:32.714 And when Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, my lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. 134 00:13:32.842 --> 00:13:36.340 Then you may rise up early and go on your way. 135 00:13:36.710 --> 00:13:40.850 And they said, no, we will spend the night in the town square. 136 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:43.214 But he pressed them strongly. 137 00:13:43.342 --> 00:13:50.898 So they turned aside to him and entered his house, and he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 138 00:13:50.914 --> 00:13:53.318 So it's going to pause for a minute, all right? 139 00:13:53.404 --> 00:13:55.334 There's nothing that points us to that. 140 00:13:55.372 --> 00:14:00.890 Lot knows that these are angels, but Lot knows that the city is wicked. 141 00:14:02.350 --> 00:14:03.834 We'll find out here in a moment. 142 00:14:03.952 --> 00:14:05.530 What he's doing at the gate. 143 00:14:06.350 --> 00:14:07.420 Verse four. 144 00:14:08.350 --> 00:14:10.880 But before they lay down. 145 00:14:12.210 --> 00:14:13.790 This verse is heavy. 146 00:14:14.370 --> 00:14:16.080 Hear every word of it. 147 00:14:17.010 --> 00:14:29.586 The men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man surrounded the house. 148 00:14:29.768 --> 00:14:31.650 There's not one that's missing. 149 00:14:32.470 --> 00:14:34.820 And they called to Lot. 150 00:14:35.850 --> 00:14:39.430 Where are the men who came to you tonight? 151 00:14:39.850 --> 00:14:47.538 Bring them out to us that we may know them and they're not saying. 152 00:14:47.724 --> 00:14:49.820 We want to shake their hands and introduce them. 153 00:14:50.670 --> 00:14:55.290 This word to know them is sexual in nature. 154 00:14:56.670 --> 00:15:00.140 Every man of the city comes. 155 00:15:01.170 --> 00:15:03.374 A city that we've seen earlier in. 156 00:15:03.412 --> 00:15:09.040 Genesis is marked as that great city, that big city. 157 00:15:10.450 --> 00:15:16.020 Every man from young to old comes to them and this is what they ask. 158 00:15:16.950 --> 00:15:18.450 And it gets worse. 159 00:15:23.750 --> 00:15:32.710 Lot went out to the men at the entrance and shut the door after him and said, I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 160 00:15:33.690 --> 00:15:36.630 Behold, I have two daughters. 161 00:15:43.180 --> 00:15:45.210 Who have not known any man. 162 00:15:46.380 --> 00:15:51.130 Let me bring them to you and do to them as you please. 163 00:15:52.400 --> 00:15:58.030 Only do nothing to these men for they've come under the shelter of my roof. 164 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:01.070 But they said stand back. 165 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:07.520 And they said, this fellow came to Sojourn and he has become the judge. 166 00:16:08.020 --> 00:16:11.904 Now we will deal worse with you than with them. 167 00:16:12.102 --> 00:16:19.830 Then they pressed hard against the man Lot and drew near to break the door down. 168 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:29.310 That's complicated that. 169 00:16:32.020 --> 00:16:34.370 As a human, I don't understand it. 170 00:16:39.770 --> 00:16:54.140 As a dad of a daughter, Lot wouldn't want to run into me, right? 171 00:16:55.550 --> 00:16:57.820 And I'll deal with my heart with that. 172 00:16:58.930 --> 00:17:10.270 But what we see in this moment is we see a man, unlike Abraham living in compromise over conviction. 173 00:17:11.030 --> 00:17:15.140 Let's understand a little bit who Lot is in this moment. 174 00:17:16.230 --> 00:17:24.750 Lot sees these two angels and does not know their angels but seems to see them as these distinguished guests. 175 00:17:24.830 --> 00:17:27.702 And so he wants to welcome them and protect them. 176 00:17:27.756 --> 00:17:31.670 And the Bible tells us that he's sitting in the gate at Sodom. 177 00:17:32.250 --> 00:17:35.366 It's kind of a weird picture of somebody hanging out in there. 178 00:17:35.388 --> 00:17:42.890 And so here's what the story tells us, is that we've seen Lot's life progress earlier on in his life. 179 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:51.290 He's looking towards sodom Then we see later on in Genesis that he pitches his tent and he looks towards Sodom. 180 00:17:51.370 --> 00:17:58.378 And now we find out in Genesis 14 that he's living in Sodom because he loses everything when it's attacked. 181 00:17:58.474 --> 00:17:59.230 We saw that. 182 00:17:59.300 --> 00:18:08.130 But now where he's at what kind of custom in history tells us is that he's now a civic leader in Sodom. 183 00:18:09.270 --> 00:18:22.198 What they thought is that the men basically at the town council would sit at the gate and this is where things would be discussed and this is where life would take place. 184 00:18:22.284 --> 00:18:35.018 Now here's where within this what is difficult for us with understanding Lot if we were to jump ahead and read second Peter two, peter two, verses seven through eight we're not going to read them this morning. 185 00:18:35.104 --> 00:18:41.120 But what it talks about in Two Peter Two, is that in all of this mess that's going on. 186 00:18:44.050 --> 00:18:56.260 That Lot knows who the Lord is, that Lot is righteous in, that he's grieved by the sin that surround him. 187 00:18:57.830 --> 00:19:03.860 Then how do we get here? 188 00:19:06.630 --> 00:19:07.990 Leave him alone. 189 00:19:10.490 --> 00:19:12.310 But you can have my girls. 190 00:19:13.610 --> 00:19:17.020 How do we get here? 191 00:19:19.630 --> 00:19:20.810 Compromise. 192 00:19:22.910 --> 00:19:24.010 Compromise. 193 00:19:25.070 --> 00:19:36.750 We begin to take these small turns and the journey that it takes us on is a depth of depravity. 194 00:19:38.850 --> 00:19:39.790 We've got to move. 195 00:19:39.860 --> 00:19:52.066 But I think oftentimes when we look at this and when we judge and when we work through what is going to happen if I compromise, here's the litmus test that I think that we do. 196 00:19:52.248 --> 00:20:00.920 And I say we because I including me in this, because I know that I do this often if I compromise, how does it affect me? 197 00:20:04.060 --> 00:20:05.320 Oh, it doesn't. 198 00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:14.190 In compromise over conviction, how does it affect me? 199 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:39.460 And I think oftentimes what we will walk away from is a delusion that it doesn't affect me, a delusion that if it does affect me, it's not great, or a delusion that there will not be other people that will not stand in the impending wake of my compromise. 200 00:20:41.240 --> 00:20:46.490 And struggle with it and lots of mess. 201 00:20:47.900 --> 00:21:00.700 But we see a man not embraced being sent into, but has become a man living in and embracing the of the culture. 202 00:21:02.320 --> 00:21:06.476 He wouldn't say that, but his actions point to something different. 203 00:21:06.578 --> 00:21:08.030 Look at verse ten. 204 00:21:09.840 --> 00:21:11.920 But the men reached out their hands. 205 00:21:11.990 --> 00:21:18.960 And brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door, and they struck with blindness. 206 00:21:19.700 --> 00:21:28.500 The men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door. 207 00:21:29.800 --> 00:21:33.716 Then the men said to Lot, have. 208 00:21:33.738 --> 00:21:37.512 You anyone else here, sons in law. 209 00:21:37.646 --> 00:21:42.344 Sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the. 210 00:21:42.382 --> 00:21:50.012 Place, for we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its. 211 00:21:50.066 --> 00:21:55.980 People has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. 212 00:21:56.130 --> 00:22:08.930 So Lot went out and said to his sons in law, who were to marry his daughters, get up, get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy this city. 213 00:22:09.460 --> 00:22:11.296 But he seemed to his son in. 214 00:22:11.318 --> 00:22:13.024 Laws to be jesting. 215 00:22:13.072 --> 00:22:14.150 Verse 15. 216 00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:30.120 As morning dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, take up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city. 217 00:22:30.190 --> 00:22:31.800 So let me just throw this out to you. 218 00:22:31.870 --> 00:22:33.928 Just word of advice for all of us. 219 00:22:34.014 --> 00:22:42.716 If angels ever come and say leave because it's about to be destroyed, go. 220 00:22:42.898 --> 00:22:43.788 All right. 221 00:22:43.954 --> 00:22:45.420 Don't pack a bag. 222 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:54.640 Like when I'm on an airplane and they say in case of a crash, like leave all of your belongings, I'm like, that's great, but I'm grabbing my iPhone. 223 00:22:56.820 --> 00:22:57.852 I watch lost. 224 00:22:57.916 --> 00:22:58.784 I need stuff. 225 00:22:58.902 --> 00:22:59.730 All right. 226 00:23:01.540 --> 00:23:02.820 Verse 16. 227 00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:05.060 But he lingered. 228 00:23:06.360 --> 00:23:14.416 He lingered so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand. 229 00:23:14.538 --> 00:23:15.208 Look at this. 230 00:23:15.294 --> 00:23:18.250 The Lord being merciful to him. 231 00:23:19.740 --> 00:23:22.216 God's grace is you want to stay in this mess? 232 00:23:22.318 --> 00:23:23.544 I'm going to grab you. 233 00:23:23.582 --> 00:23:24.570 Let's go. 234 00:23:26.380 --> 00:23:29.804 And they brought him out and set him outside the city. 235 00:23:30.002 --> 00:23:34.172 And as they brought them out, one said escape for your life. 236 00:23:34.306 --> 00:23:37.960 Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. 237 00:23:38.040 --> 00:23:40.668 Escape to the hills lest you be swept away. 238 00:23:40.754 --> 00:23:44.236 And Lot said to him, oh, no, my lords, behold. 239 00:23:44.268 --> 00:23:50.128 Your servant has found favor in your sight and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. 240 00:23:50.214 --> 00:23:55.560 But I cannot escape to the hills lest the disaster overtake me and I die. 241 00:23:55.660 --> 00:24:00.132 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to and it is a little one. 242 00:24:00.186 --> 00:24:01.556 Let me escape there. 243 00:24:01.658 --> 00:24:05.248 It is not a little one and my life will be saved. 244 00:24:05.344 --> 00:24:13.284 He said to them behold, I grant you this favor also that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 245 00:24:13.412 --> 00:24:17.836 Escape there quickly for I can do nothing till you arrive there. 246 00:24:17.938 --> 00:24:21.100 Therefore, the name of the city was Zor. 247 00:24:22.080 --> 00:24:29.340 What we see in this let's wrestle with what we know about Lot from Second Peter. 248 00:24:30.900 --> 00:24:34.690 Let's wrestle with what I struggled with this week. 249 00:24:35.860 --> 00:24:38.130 I would never do that. 250 00:24:40.020 --> 00:24:46.212 Let's wrestle with God showing mercy to this man. 251 00:24:46.346 --> 00:24:47.860 And let's be honest. 252 00:24:48.010 --> 00:24:51.270 Raise your hand if you think he deserves it, because I'm not. 253 00:24:52.280 --> 00:24:53.590 But he does. 254 00:24:54.280 --> 00:24:58.330 He does over and over and over again. 255 00:24:59.180 --> 00:25:03.210 And here's the confession of my soul in my life. 256 00:25:03.980 --> 00:25:08.140 It's God's mercy in our compromise. 257 00:25:13.120 --> 00:25:15.116 So many times in my life. 258 00:25:15.218 --> 00:25:16.350 I am Lot. 259 00:25:18.800 --> 00:25:23.890 I might not do that, but, man, I'll do this. 260 00:25:27.900 --> 00:25:35.150 And God in his mercy, grabs me by the hand because he chooses to. 261 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:38.110 Because he loves me. 262 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:40.670 Because of who he is. 263 00:25:45.940 --> 00:25:47.250 Sometimes, though. 264 00:25:49.060 --> 00:25:51.200 We stay in our compromise. 265 00:25:53.140 --> 00:25:56.610 And we begin to believe the lie that God's turned from me. 266 00:25:57.940 --> 00:26:00.724 I just want to challenge you with this. 267 00:26:00.762 --> 00:26:01.590 This morning. 268 00:26:02.600 --> 00:26:07.620 The biggest lie Satan tells you is this god can't or God won't. 269 00:26:09.560 --> 00:26:13.930 And I don't care what you've done. 270 00:26:15.660 --> 00:26:20.810 God will not turn his back from you. 271 00:26:21.340 --> 00:26:26.460 His mercy is greater than your compromise. 272 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:33.390 His mercy is greater than the pit that you find yourself in. 273 00:26:35.780 --> 00:26:40.850 And then we see some difficult things that come from this. 274 00:26:41.300 --> 00:26:42.640 They escaped. 275 00:26:43.300 --> 00:26:44.530 They got out. 276 00:26:45.380 --> 00:26:53.350 But it still just keeps on that wave of compromise of what found them there. 277 00:26:54.840 --> 00:26:55.396 And we see. 278 00:26:55.418 --> 00:26:56.790 Let's look at verse 21. 279 00:26:58.200 --> 00:27:03.060 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zur. 280 00:27:04.380 --> 00:27:13.080 Then the Lord reigned on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. 281 00:27:14.080 --> 00:27:25.900 And he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the city and what grew on the ground. 282 00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:30.790 Verse 26. 283 00:27:32.120 --> 00:27:44.040 But Lot's wife behind him looked back, and she became the pillar of salt. 284 00:27:45.740 --> 00:28:00.060 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord, and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all of the land of the valley. 285 00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:09.040 And he looked, and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. 286 00:28:10.500 --> 00:28:29.620 So it was that when God destroyed the cities of the valley, god remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. 287 00:28:31.320 --> 00:28:33.610 And we see this grace sets there. 288 00:28:34.940 --> 00:28:38.970 And what I want us to look at, though, is just the matters of the heart. 289 00:28:40.860 --> 00:28:45.260 We see Abraham's heart pleading. 290 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:56.050 We see that God remembers Abraham, and we see what God did for Lot. 291 00:28:56.580 --> 00:29:01.570 But there's this piece about Lot's wife that's difficult for us. 292 00:29:02.900 --> 00:29:07.844 They had said the angels had said to them, don't look back. 293 00:29:07.962 --> 00:29:08.976 Don't pause. 294 00:29:09.088 --> 00:29:09.750 Go. 295 00:29:10.360 --> 00:29:23.400 And so what we get when we read this scripture is we get that they're on this journey and two cities destroyed says that everything that lived on the ground was destroyed. 296 00:29:24.860 --> 00:29:30.090 Fire raining from the sky, completely gone. 297 00:29:33.840 --> 00:29:38.700 The Bible tells us that Lot's wife looked back. 298 00:29:38.850 --> 00:29:42.510 Now, she was told not to, but she did anyway. 299 00:29:45.060 --> 00:29:51.628 And so we get this picture, though, of, like, have you ever been startled? 300 00:29:51.804 --> 00:29:55.890 And it's like you turn and look happens all the time, right? 301 00:29:57.140 --> 00:29:59.116 It's easy to scare my wife. 302 00:29:59.308 --> 00:30:02.880 She doesn't like to be scared when she's home alone. 303 00:30:03.040 --> 00:30:07.030 I try to make gradual noises so that she knows that I'm there till she sees me, right? 304 00:30:07.800 --> 00:30:11.450 But we kind of get this impression that Lott's wife, it could have been this. 305 00:30:12.700 --> 00:30:45.570 These words look back in the original language are words that not only describe a physical action of what's done, but it describes a condition of the heart that even in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah that she longed for what she came from, that her heart in judgment was found wicked and what she received was the wrath of God. 306 00:30:47.720 --> 00:30:56.230 And that's when it comes to the matters of the heart, god didn't just look at her action and judge her. 307 00:30:56.680 --> 00:31:00.390 God looked at her heart, and he judged her. 308 00:31:02.060 --> 00:31:02.952 Let's keep going. 309 00:31:03.006 --> 00:31:04.010 Verse 30. 310 00:31:06.940 --> 00:31:10.664 Now, Lot went up from Zor and. 311 00:31:10.702 --> 00:31:12.136 Lived in the hills with his two. 312 00:31:12.158 --> 00:31:19.340 Daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zor, so he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 313 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:34.560 And the firstborn said to the younger, our Father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come into us after the manner of all the earth. 314 00:31:35.700 --> 00:31:45.780 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him that we may preserve offspring from our father. 315 00:31:46.760 --> 00:31:54.600 So they made their father drink wine that night, and the first born went in and lay with her father. 316 00:31:55.420 --> 00:32:00.440 He did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 317 00:32:01.580 --> 00:32:07.964 Verse 34 the next day the first born said to the younger, behold, I. 318 00:32:08.002 --> 00:32:10.060 Lay last night with my father. 319 00:32:10.800 --> 00:32:13.470 Let us make him drink wine tonight also. 320 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:20.640 Then you go in and lie with him that we may preserve offspring from our father. 321 00:32:21.220 --> 00:32:24.370 So they made their father drink wine that night also. 322 00:32:25.140 --> 00:32:28.020 And the younger arose and lay with him. 323 00:32:28.170 --> 00:32:32.340 And he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 324 00:32:33.480 --> 00:32:37.460 Thus both daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 325 00:32:43.170 --> 00:32:51.300 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab and he is the father of the Moabites to this day. 326 00:32:52.230 --> 00:32:59.106 And the younger also bore a son and called his name Benami. 327 00:32:59.298 --> 00:33:03.960 And he is the father of the Ammonites until this day. 328 00:33:08.040 --> 00:33:12.680 When the wake of compromise consumes. 329 00:33:22.840 --> 00:33:23.216 There'S. 330 00:33:23.248 --> 00:33:34.680 A lot of sickness and depravity that seems to be foreign. 331 00:33:36.220 --> 00:33:40.010 But I can't wrap my mind around the actions of what's there. 332 00:33:42.560 --> 00:33:56.000 But I think for us it's a warning to be a light into the culture, not a product of the culture. 333 00:33:57.620 --> 00:34:29.560 I would say in these verses what you saw from Lott's daughters is they had become a product of the culture that they were in and that began with the man who was called to lead them, instead embracing compromise. 334 00:34:31.340 --> 00:34:32.910 This won't affect me. 335 00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:34.750 It's good business. 336 00:34:36.160 --> 00:34:37.868 This won't affect me. 337 00:34:38.034 --> 00:34:40.190 I can become successful there. 338 00:34:41.120 --> 00:34:42.908 This won't affect me. 339 00:34:43.074 --> 00:34:45.070 I can make a name for myself. 340 00:34:46.020 --> 00:34:47.408 This won't affect me. 341 00:34:47.494 --> 00:34:48.544 I'm not going to be like my. 342 00:34:48.582 --> 00:34:54.268 Uncle Abraham who lives out in the prairies and out in the wilderness. 343 00:34:54.444 --> 00:34:56.624 This isn't going to affect me. 344 00:34:56.742 --> 00:34:58.870 I'm going to go into the city. 345 00:34:59.240 --> 00:35:01.892 I'm going to come a part of the city. 346 00:35:02.026 --> 00:35:07.350 And the compromise reigns on and reigns on and reigns on. 347 00:35:08.040 --> 00:35:13.450 And we end up where we end up with in verse 38. 348 00:35:16.060 --> 00:35:16.536 Be a. 349 00:35:16.558 --> 00:35:21.770 Light into your culture and not a product of it. 350 00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:26.300 Abraham was a missionary in the culture. 351 00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:29.020 He stood for his convictions. 352 00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:33.390 He lived into, but not of. 353 00:35:34.740 --> 00:35:38.210 He prayed and was a testimony and a witness to others. 354 00:35:38.580 --> 00:35:41.730 Be that, be that. 355 00:35:43.060 --> 00:35:46.464 Be what Abraham did in your home. 356 00:35:46.662 --> 00:35:49.188 Be what Abraham did in your work. 357 00:35:49.354 --> 00:35:51.956 Be what Abraham did where you play. 358 00:35:52.138 --> 00:35:59.670 Be what Abraham did in our culture, in our community and in this world. 359 00:36:00.300 --> 00:36:01.640 Don't be locked. 360 00:36:03.580 --> 00:36:05.530 Don't become a product of it. 361 00:36:07.980 --> 00:36:10.424 In just a moment, our worship team. 362 00:36:10.462 --> 00:36:11.880 Will come up on stage. 363 00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:19.790 They'll lead us in a time of response and we'll partake in the Lord's Supper together. 364 00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:21.964 I want. 365 00:36:22.002 --> 00:36:40.230 As we looked at the sin and of the depravity and all this that has filled these pages that we wrestle with to understand this, that before Christ before Christ the condition of your heart. 366 00:36:41.640 --> 00:36:45.940 That sin's great and it was grave. 367 00:36:47.240 --> 00:36:51.640 But Jesus stepped off of his throne. 368 00:36:52.300 --> 00:36:57.530 And God did not send down fire, but instead he sent his only son. 369 00:36:58.300 --> 00:37:00.388 And he died for the greatness of the sin. 370 00:37:00.404 --> 00:37:01.290 Of your heart. 371 00:37:01.840 --> 00:37:09.180 And he died for the gravity of what your life was as he died for mine. 372 00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:17.870 And as we take this together, it's the acknowledgement of who he is and what he did. 373 00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:23.904 I want to invite you, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, whether this is your church home or not, to. 374 00:37:23.942 --> 00:37:25.248 Take this with us. 375 00:37:25.414 --> 00:37:43.044 I want to ask everyone in the room, myself included, that as we enter into a time of worship that we seek under the dependence of the Holy Spirit to prepare our hearts to partake in this, to ask ourselves, are we ready to do what God has called us to do? 376 00:37:43.162 --> 00:37:46.760 I want to challenge you to check your heart for any unrepentant sin. 377 00:37:47.100 --> 00:37:50.920 And if you find it in your heart, then you confess it before the Lord. 378 00:37:51.260 --> 00:37:58.712 I want you to check your heart with your relationships with others, specifically believers, and ask yourself, is there anyone that I need to forgive? 379 00:37:58.776 --> 00:38:01.084 Or anyone do I need to ask forgiveness for? 380 00:38:01.202 --> 00:38:06.032 And you might find that today, this morning, that you're not ready to partake in the Lord's supper together. 381 00:38:06.086 --> 00:38:07.024 And that's okay. 382 00:38:07.142 --> 00:38:08.130 That's okay. 383 00:38:09.780 --> 00:38:13.916 But if you are, then take this time as precious. 384 00:38:14.108 --> 00:38:15.600 Take it before the Lord. 385 00:38:16.580 --> 00:38:22.084 Would you pray with me, God? 386 00:38:22.122 --> 00:38:24.992 We come to you this morning, Lord. 387 00:38:25.056 --> 00:38:28.500 Thanking you for who you are, Lord. 388 00:38:28.840 --> 00:38:30.470 And for what you've done. 389 00:38:31.080 --> 00:38:33.256 Lord, the truth is, what we all. 390 00:38:33.278 --> 00:38:41.240 Deserve, what myself and everyone here deserves, is the full outpouring of Your wrath. 391 00:38:42.160 --> 00:38:43.820 That's what we deserve. 392 00:38:44.240 --> 00:38:46.430 But that's not what you offer us. 393 00:38:47.680 --> 00:38:50.364 What you offer us is a relationship. 394 00:38:50.482 --> 00:38:53.432 With Christ where we understand that he's. 395 00:38:53.496 --> 00:38:56.220 Died for our sins, where he's paid. 396 00:38:56.290 --> 00:38:59.232 The price, he's paid the penalty, he's paid it full. 397 00:38:59.286 --> 00:39:01.916 And we are now covered by the blood of the Lamb. 398 00:39:01.948 --> 00:39:14.070 Lord, our sins past, present and future have been washed away, Lord, and we've been brought into Your family, and that we are sons and daughters of the living God. 399 00:39:14.600 --> 00:39:32.440 God, I pray that in these next few moments, as we prepare our hearts to take this together, Lord, that you would show us these sinful areas of compromise in our life where we've reached out and we've made aware decisions. 400 00:39:36.650 --> 00:39:45.560 That I'm going to choose and desire and long for the sinful things of this world. 401 00:39:48.030 --> 00:40:02.560 And Lord, we miss we miss the devastation that it leaves in our life and in the lives of those around us. 402 00:40:11.040 --> 00:40:15.570 God, we thank you that you show us in your word. 403 00:40:16.180 --> 00:40:20.770 You are merciful to Lot, and you're merciful to us. 404 00:40:22.580 --> 00:40:27.140 May we respond this morning in repentance. 405 00:40:28.200 --> 00:40:31.780 May we respond this morning in worship. 406 00:40:32.760 --> 00:40:45.060 And Jesus, we thank you for paying the price so that we might be made new, and it's in Your name we pray. 407 00:40:45.560 --> 00:40:46.500 Amen. 408 00:40:50.720 --> 00:40:55.224 Thanks again for listening, and be sure to check back next week for another episode. 409 00:40:55.352 --> 00:41:01.064 In the meantime, you can visit us@willowridgechurch.org or by searching for Willow Ridge Church. 410 00:41:01.112 --> 00:41:03.000 On Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.