(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, Genesis chapter 19, not a very pleasant chapter, however, I believe, as I mentioned in the prayer, every single word of this book to be true, and I think there's not enough reading of these chapters going on these days, as is evidenced by what's going on in politics and just in the world in general and how crazy things have gotten. We need this good reminder, we see what happens here, obviously a real famous story of Sodom and what happened to Sodom. How God feels about the men of Sodom and the people of Sodom and everything that was going on in that place to the point to where they were beyond redemption. He didn't send his angels into Sodom to save the people. He sent his angels in to bring out Lot, who was already saved. The Bible says that he was just, that he was righteous, and he brought him out of that city before he poured out his wrath and rained fire and brimstone, utterly destroying and annihilating the city, and that is how God feels about Sodom. And I'll tell you what, God's view of Sodom hasn't changed. Just because we live in a day now that's thousands of years past that event, all of a sudden God doesn't just have this soft spot now in his heart and say, you know what, I actually shouldn't have done that to Sodom. He recorded it in his word. This is how he feels about it. It's very strong, but it hasn't changed. When you look throughout the Old Testament and the Old Testament laws, many people don't even realize this, but the sin of Sodomy, the sin of homosexuality was punishable by the death penalty. That is how egregious, that is how abominable, that is how wicked of a sin that is. Now we live in a day today, and you know what? When preachers preach like this, they get a lot of hate back for it. Why? One of the reasons is because, even from other Christians. And the reason is because so many people these days now know someone who's a sodomite. Because it's like a cancer that is spread through our society. And people have been so deceived, and the devil's been hard at work to get Christians to be tolerant. Let's just tolerate, let's just tolerate, and then it's going to go from tolerance to acceptance. Well, now let's just accept this. Let's embrace this. Let's just allow the filth and wickedness and sin into our church, and let's just say, you know what? Everyone just needs love, and there is no judgment of God, and everything's just fine. And you know what? Just keep on sinning, keep on living a life of wickedness, and God's not going to do anything about it. Well, you know what, my friends? That's not the God of the Bible. Because God brings judgment. God is a God of love, and I'm all for that. And I thank God for His mercies and His long suffering and His kindness, and the fact that He loves us so much, that He gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross and pay for all of our sins, amen and amen to that. However, that is not the only side of God. God is not one-sided. He is not only a God of love. He has to be and is inherently a God of justice and judgment. There is both. Without, you know, there could be no heaven without hell. You know, there's no payment for our sins without sin. You know, the law is not just completely dead. Now if you're saved, you're not cursed, you're not bound by the curse of the law. You don't have to worry about the punishment of hell because Christ has paid for your sins. However, that doesn't just give you just permission to go out and just sin willfully. God still wants us to obey His commandments. Now in this story here, I want to focus in on the one part here that we see in verse 26 where it says, But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. As the angels came into Sodom, and they're pleading with Lot, like, look, get your things in order. Get your family together. Get out of here. God is going to destroy this place. And it got to the point to where they're just not willing to leave. They're just dragging their feet. They're not, you know, the angels literally had to take hold on their hands. It says, you know, that they took hold of Lot and his wife and his two daughters and had to practically drag them out of the city when it was time to go. They said, no, it's time. God is going to rain fire and brimstone down. You have to go right now. And even when it got to the point to where he's like, you know, you're going to go into the mountains, you need to go way away from here. And he's just like, oh, you know, come on, just let me go here. I'm going to die if I go there. And this is, you know, well, Lot was a real weak Christian. He was weak in the faith. He was a real worldly Christian, but he was still saved nonetheless, and that's why God still extended his mercy upon him and thanked the Lord for that. But one of the things that they told them as they were leaving the city in verse 17, it says, and it came to pass when they had brought them forth abroad that he said, escape for thy life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain, escape to the mountain lest thou be consumed. So one of the commands of the angels when they bring them out is to say, don't look back. And that's the title of my sermon this morning is No Turning Back. Okay, we need to take heed to this story. Obviously, you've got the overall aspect of just Sodom and the filth and the wickedness that goes on in Sodom, and that is something that needs to be preached today anyways, but I want to focus more on the people who were delivered, the people who were saved from that physical destruction and still turned back and still looked back and still had left their heart in San Francisco, as it were, because that's what happened with Lot's wife, and look what happened to her, dire consequences for her, it says, but his wife looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt. She died just instantly. She looked back from behind her just to see, oh man, what's going on in Sodom? Oh, poor Sodom, that city or whatever it is, whatever she was thinking, we don't know what she was thinking, but she was thinking enough to be mindful of what's going on in Sodom when they said, look, don't even look back. You have been saved out of that place. You need to get yourself out of that place and it should not even be a thought to you anymore. And this is the way that we need to be with our lives. If you're saved this morning, you got saved out of a sinful life. Now I know that we're all still sinners, that we still have sin in our life, but we need to be living our life as one where we are not turning back into that sin. We're not mindful of the life that we used to live. Now everyone's got a different history, a different story. I've got a lot of wickedness in my past. I've got a lot of sins in my life. And one thing that really bothers me is to hear Christians talk about the way that they used to live in a way that's like reveling, right? You're thinking, you know, for example, myself, I'll use myself, for example, if I were just to say, oh man, you know how much I used to be able to drink, you know how I could hold my leg, and just kind of be bragging on the wickedness and the sin that I was a part of. And talking about it in like a glorious manner, or like longing for, oh man, if I could just go back to those days again. That's the type of attitude that we see here that Lot's wife had, was just looking back onto what she's already been delivered from. We've all been delivered from things in our life. We need to make sure that we're moving forward and not looking back behind us to what we've been delivered from. And what's interesting about this though is that God killed her for it. She lost her life. Now every time I notice this, every time in the Bible, you're reading and you come across a story and somebody, you know, God takes their life. And this is God did that. I mean, there's a few times, obviously there's battles, there's other things that go on and God's judgment gets brought upon a people as a whole. But when individuals lose their life directly as a result, like from God, and God just took their life. For example, in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, when the people were selling their possessions and they're bringing them down at the apostles' feet and they're trying to help the cause and promote the ministry. And Sapphira and Ananias came in and they said, oh, we sold this property and here's everything that we got from it. And they gave it to them and they lied. And they held back part for themselves. You know, and Peter said, look, you're not lying unto men, you're lying unto the Holy Ghost. And they fell down dead. See, those are the types of things that we need to look at and take notice and say, wow, because we know God's long suffering. We know God's merciful. We know the mercy He extends unto us and will let us continue to go and go and go before He actually just comes down and says, I've got to bring judgment now. And when you see Him take your life, we need to really take a look at that and say, okay, God's serious about this. This isn't just, oh, yeah, whatever. We should never be that way anyways with the Bible, with God, and be flippant about things. But it's easy to get used to getting away with things, right? You start indulging in a little sin and nothing seems to happen and you do a little bit more. Everything must be okay. Don't get deceived by that because the Bible says, be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. And just as the seed that you sow in the ground, you don't see the results immediately. The little bit of sin that you like to get into and indulge in and then you say, oh, wow, nothing happened. Because we expect things to happen just like right away and then you go a little bit longer, a little bit longer. You're going to reap from what you've sown later on. Now again, I believe that to happen in this lifetime for Christians, people who are saved. That happens to us here in this world because God is never, you know, once you're saved, you're born again, you have eternal life and God is never going to take that away from you. He's never going to remove his loving kindness utterly away from you. But as his children and him being our father, when we disobey our daddy, guess what he does? He brings the chastening upon us. The Bible says that the Lord chastens every son whom he receiveth. So we need to make sure that we are not going back and looking back into a sinful life that we once had and we need to be mindful. Look at, turn if you look at Numbers 11, I'll read for you from Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 is that great chapter on faith when it talks about all the great people and the faith that they had and Abraham and Moses and it goes through this whole list of people and how great faith they had. And verse five said, and truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country that is in heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. He's saying, look, if they had been mindful of where they came out from, they might have returned back into it. We need to be diligent and make sure that we are not mindful of the past that we came out of. Be mindful of the sins that we've gotten victory over and just thinking about those things because we might go back into them. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. We need to make sure that you don't get puffed up into thinking, wow, I'm so far past, I'm so far past, there's no way I'll ever get stuck into that again. Be humble. You know, I hope not, you know, I have that same type of an attitude, there's no way I'm going to touch another drop of liquor in my life again. And that's the stand I take, I'm going to take a strong stand on that. But you know what, I'm never going to allow myself, hopefully I'll say that right now is the way I feel, but this is the way I'm thinking, the mindset I'm in, to get to the point to where I just feel so strong, like, well, it doesn't matter, I'm so far past that, I'm just going to go, I could go sit down in a bar and I could just go hang out and just be around all this booze and it's not going to affect me at all. I'm not going to be that foolish. We need to be careful and be diligent and keep on guard. And that's just one personal example, I mean, that could be a host of things, whatever it is that's troubling you. Don't think that you've become super-Christian and that you're just impervious to any type of temptation. We need to be diligent to keep ourselves on the straight and narrow, make sure that we're doing what's right and not being mindful of our past. You're in Numbers chapter 11, and we're going to see what happened, here's a story of the children of Israel in the wilderness, and we're going to see what happened when they were mindful of Egypt, right? What happened, and this is oftentimes what happens with sin, is what happened with the children of Israel when they were in Egypt. When they were in Egypt, it was like the worst thing in the world for them. They were under bondage and they were under severe bondage. They were being beat, they were being given these impossible tasks and Pharaoh was coming down on them and the taskmasters were whipping them and beating them and working them to death. And it was horrible. And at the time, they're crying out to God, God help us, save us, and God brings a deliverer. He brings Moses and Aaron and they lead them out of the land of Egypt with a great strong arm and a great victory over Egypt. And all the plagues and all the miracles and everything that they saw, they get out of that land of Egypt and now they're in the wilderness, right? And we're going to see how they start to complain about other things now. And they start thinking about, well, when we were in Egypt, yeah, when you were in Egypt, you were under bondage, yet you forget about the hard part and you only think about the things that you had that were okay. And oftentimes we look back at a sinful life and some of the things that maybe we're into and the misery and the extreme sorrow and the bondage that you had fades away. The memory of that stuff, you kind of forget about that and you only think about the things that were maybe pleasurable, the things that you really liked about it. And it starts to entice you again. We'll start reading in Numbers chapter 11, verse number 4. And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a-lusting. And the children of Israel also wept again and said, who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes. This is the attitude that they had. And it's a wicked attitude to have because, I mean, think about, the manna was a miracle from God. It was life providing sustenance, the bread from heaven. They didn't have to labor for that bread. God provided it for them every single day. It was there for them. All they had to do was just gather it up and eat it. And now I could understand, we started eating the same thing every day, you could start to not like it so much, right? But to get to the point where they're saying, oh man, back when we were in Egypt, when you were in Egypt, you were slaves. You were being persecuted. You want to go back to Egypt just so you could have a chicken sandwich? It's mind-boggling. And look, we're all guilty of this. We could all get to this type of a mentality and this type of an attitude. That's why it's written for us so that we could learn from this. Don't just think, oh man, those Israelites, I don't know what they're all about. We need to make sure that they're human just as much as we're human. And we're susceptible to this type of thinking. And we need to learn from their errors and their mistakes. They're written for our admonition so that we can learn from them. We'll jump down to verse number 18, because that's the attitude that they had. And we're going to see how God responds. In verse 18, and say thou unto the people, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow and ye shall eat flesh. For ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. Therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days nor twenty days, but even a whole month until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you, because that ye have despised the Lord which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why can't we forth out of Egypt? And this is the way God deals with people. He says, Okay, you want flesh? I'll give you flesh. And you know what? It's not just going to be for a day, or two days, a week, it's going to be a whole month. I'm going to give you so much flesh, it's going to be coming out of your nose. And you're going to hate it. And maybe that'll teach you not to be so disrespectful of the Lord, and such spoiled rotten little brats that just think that you need to have everything when God gives you what you need, and you need to be happy and content with what God gives you. Thinking you need to go back into Egypt. But see, they're thinking about the wicked world. Egypt symbolizes the world. All throughout Scripture you go to Egypt, it's just a picture and a symbol of the world at large, right? And the things of the world are not of the Father, and neither are the things of the Father of the world. But we've been called out of this world, and thinking upon the worldly things, thinking about what the world does will lead us into that. And we need to make sure that we stay away from that type of mindset. We need to understand that living for God will come at a cost. If you decide, you know what, I am going to go all out, and I am going to live for Jesus. I am going to do what's right, I am going to make a stand, I am going to read my Bible, I am going to do what God has set for me to do, I am not going to be shamed of His words, and I will boldly proclaim the Word of God. If you decide to do that and actually do it, it comes at a cost. People will be angry with you, so if that bothers you with people getting upset for the stand that you take, be prepared for it. It's going to happen. The world hates it. Think about this, and this is a good way to put it in perspective. We are so far beneath Jesus Christ, right, everyone agree with that? He was perfect. He did everything right. He preached the most truth. He had the most love. He did everything. The standard is Jesus Christ for us. But what did they do to Jesus? They hated Him and they crucified Him. They whipped Him, they mocked Him, they spit on Him. And they were constantly conspiring to kill Him. Throughout His whole ministry, can we really expect that if we are going to be Christ-like, that the world is going to act any differently towards us? And think about this, should we be trying to live our lives different than Jesus so that the world's not mad at us? Should we be changing our method or changing our words or changing our techniques so that nobody ever is offended and no one ever gets angry at what we say? I mean, that's not what Jesus did. When everyone was leaving Him, He said, this is a hard saying, who can receive it? And everybody left Him, He turned to His disciples, He's like, are you guys going to leave too? He didn't go pander to them, oh no, no, wait, please don't leave, really, no, you've got to listen to me. He says, go ahead. They were wise, they said, well, who are we going to follow, you know, you're the Son of God. And they understood that and they stuck with them. But we need to understand ourselves that this is going to happen. And you know what? It's okay if people get angry with you. Now, I'm not saying be a jerk and be belligerent and just make it a point to try to get people angry with you. That's not the goal. But it doesn't matter, you know, as David said in the Psalms, he says, you know, when I speak, I am for peace, but they are for war. And the world can't handle God's Word. They don't like it. It rubs them the wrong way. You know, like, if this were to be broadcast on national TV, when I read, just reading the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, there are a lot of people that would hate that and would hate me for it and would ridicule me because it's God's Word. Not because it's me, it's not even my thoughts. This is just God's Word. But we need to be ready for that. We need to understand that following God and following Christ comes at a cost. You need to be prepared to be able to handle that. You may lose relationships with people. Maybe family members, maybe friends that you had. As you follow Christ, people will separate themselves from your company. And they'll speak evil of you. You also may not be as well off financially as you re-prioritize your life and what you feel is important. That happens. Maybe you've lived a life and you've been very successful, you've been a hard worker and you've been doing things, but you've been so focused on your business and earning that money, now you realize, you know what, I don't need to lay up for myself treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt. I can lay up for myself treasures in heaven. I'm going to take a break from all this stuff and I'm going to serve God with my heart and with my energy and just, I'm going to spend more time in my Bible, more time praying, more time outreaching people. You only have so many hours in a day. You need to be able to choose. You can't serve God and mammon, the Bible says. So that's a possibility, it could be a financial cause. Now many of us, you may already be like, well, I don't have much money to begin with. So don't worry about that, that won't be much of a loss for you. But all these different things can happen. Don't let any hardships that go along with serving God cause you to be bitter against God. Man, we're having a great morning with the kids though, huh? Let's not have gotten enough sleep or something. But anyways, as we, you know, the Bible says to suffer little children to come unto me. And I apologize if it's a little bit distracting, but we are, as a church here, I just want to make this as a real side step here. Jesus Christ didn't forbid the children to come unto him. We don't believe in separating mothers and children and families from each other. So in the church, every once in a while we'll have things like this from a two-year-old that doesn't seem to know any better. But um, so please bear with me here. But as we start to serve Christ, as these hardships come up, as we have, you know, problems and persecutions and people who are disassociating themselves from us, we can't allow that to cause us to be bitter against God and start putting the blame on Al-Gawah. Why do you allow this to happen to me? And why is all this happening? I remember, I remember when I was living real worldly and not doing anything for Christ, I didn't have any problems. Everything was just fine. Everybody, you know, I got along great with everybody. And that's the same type of mentality that the children of Israel had about Egypt. And that could be the same mentality that Lot's wife had turning back to Sodom. We need to make sure that we can keep ourselves focused on the truth, on the Word of God. And know, I mean if you know that these things could happen, it could help to strengthen you and to get through those hard times. But look at what happened now with the children of Israel. We're going to finish off the story in Numbers 11. When they got bitter, when they weren't thankful for what God had provided for them, when they weren't thankful for God delivering them out of bondage and providing food for them and leading the way, they became unthankful. God said, okay, careful what you ask for because now you're going to get it until it comes out your noses. But look at verse number 32. The Bible says, and the people stood up all that day and all that night and all the next day and they gathered the quails. He that gathered least gathered ten homers and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the case. So they're real happy now, right? Like, yes, we got all these quails that took them a day and a half just to round them up and to gather so much flesh to eat. Verse 33, and while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. They died as a result. Many people, thousands of people died in this plague that fell a-lusting, that decided to look back to Egypt. They turned back. They weren't willing to stick it out and to have the faith and let God lead them into the Promised Land. They looked back. Oh, I remember I was in Egypt, man. I'm sick of this. I'm sick of going God's way. I'm sick of doing things this way. I mean, all we got is this manatee to eat. It's a dangerous attitude to have. And this is why I'm spending so much time on this this morning because, I mean, this is the type of attitude that could kill you. And don't think for a second, you know, God holds your breath in His hands. Don't think for a second. He could just say, okay, well you know what, your work that I had for you is done now. Because you're ungrateful and you decided to just turn back from what I've already delivered you out of. We have been delivered out from the bondage of this world. See Lot was vexed with the filthy sodomites. The Bible says that they vexed his righteous soul every day. Now he was still living there. I don't know what in the world he was doing there. He was being real worldly. But he was still vexed by what was going on. And we ought to be vexed too. We need to make sure that we don't have this soft spot for the wicked filth of this world. That we view it as it is. I mentioned before, the Satan, let's go all the way back to the source. Satan is the one who's trying to promote this tolerance and trying to get people to accept absolutely everything in the world as just being okay. I mean the madness of it all, I'm so mind boggled at what is going on in this world that people are to the point of saying well, I don't know, I guess if a man wants to use a woman's restroom, that's just fine. What? What planet are we on? Really? And you know, it would be so funny if it was an episode of the Twilight Zone. But this is the reality that we're living in today. It has gotten so perverted that it's not a joke for someone to say, yeah a man could go into a woman's restroom dressed as a woman if that's how he identifies as. If a woman thinks that she's a man and wants to dress like a man and wants to go in the men's room, that's just fine. What? What is wrong with people these days? You know, a big problem is the lack of the preaching of God's Word and His judgment and how He feels about this stuff. Everything isn't just rainbows and roses with God. He's willing to take life for it. He destroys cities. He destroys nations. When people don't repent and get right with Him. When they just want to get involved in all forms of wickedness and perversion. He destroys them flat until they're not, Sodom and Gomorrah, I don't know if you know this, it's still not inhabited today. It is desolate, a wasteland, never to be built again, never. God destroyed it utterly. I just saw this video this week of young people at a college campus were being asked a question and some guy went out and he was a white guy, appeared maybe in his 20s, right, asking questions to these college students. And he said, well, and he was just demonstrating the ridiculousness of the thoughts that people have these days. He was saying, I'm a seven year old Asian girl. Just to see if anyone would even say, no you're not. He said, I identify as a seven year old little Asian girl. Well you know, if that's, one of them even said, you go girl, or if that's what you think. No one even had the guts to say, you're a white man. And he'd say, well what if I, I feel like I'm actually a six foot ten, you know, whatever. He's just like, no, you're not. People could not even say, no, you're wrong. It's become so desensitized, no one wants to say anybody's wrong about anything. Well, if that's the way you feel, okay, no. There is a right, there is a wrong, and it's spelled out for us in the Bible. This is right, this is wrong, and we've gotten so brainwashed. Kids these days, and not just the kids, there's so many people out there that have been pushing this agenda and it's mind boggling, you know, even so come Lord Jesus. I can't wait for that day because things have just gotten so out of hand here. I wonder if there even is any hope left for a civilization, for a nation, that can get so far off track. Alright, keep working, that's all we can do. Keep preaching, screaming from the rooftops. The world's gone mad, this is what God says about these things. But that's all we can do, we'll let God deal with the rest. But we need to make sure that we're doing this, because I think one of the reasons it's gotten to this point is because not enough people are doing this. Not enough people are holding the line and standing for what's right. Too many people are backing down, and the people that do say something now, they feel so much pressure and they get criticized so much that all of a sudden they come back out the next week and apologize, oh, I'm sorry, oh, I didn't mean that, oh, because they get attacked, because they have no backbone, they have no spine. They're not willing to stand up for what's right, at a cost, at something that's above themselves. I know that the attacks will come, I know that the threats have already come in the short time that I've been pastoring here. The heathen, the wicked, the heathen that rages, they'll send you the death threats, they'll send you the nasty stuff, the filth, and they're wicked, devil-worshipping devils that will just try to silence the truth. And they'll come at you with threats, they'll come at you with everything to get you to shut up. It happens. Don't think it doesn't happen. It absolutely happens. They'll attack you if they can find out what businesses you're in. I know a pastor friend of mine has lost his entire business over standing up and it's against the Sodomites. Because they will, they are hardcore, they are unmerciful, they're implacable. Read Romans chapter 1, it gives you an entire list of the attributes of the Sodomites. They're not the little friendly, you know, queer-looking guy that you laugh at on the TV screen. That's what they want you to think. The Bible calls them reprobates. That's in Romans chapter 1. I'm not going to get into all that. Turn if you would to Psalm 58. Psalm 58. I want you to, we're going to read this whole Psalm and I want you to see this. I think this is something that, again, that is unbalanced in today's Christianity. There is a righteous rejoicing at God's judgment on the wicked doers. Now again, we need to keep everything in context, the whole Bible in context. We know that the Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. It's not God's wish and desire for people to die and go to hell. That's not what He wanted for them. But He gives us ample opportunity. He gives us, He's given His only begotten Son. He has given everything that He could give and still leave the choice up to us to decide whether or not we want to get saved. But there are evil doers and wicked people out there that are the wolves in sheep's clothing. That is not your average person. Your average person, everybody's a sinner, right? But the wolf in sheep's clothing, the guy that's out to destroy, the guy that makes himself look real good and look real nice and look real friendly and try to gain your trust with just having wicked intents on destruction, that's a different type of person. And most people have a hard time, most normal people have a hard time wrapping their mind around that people like that even exist because it's so far removed from who you are and from what you think. Yeah, you make mistakes. Yeah, you sin. Yeah, you willfully sin in your life. But to be the type of person just bent on destruction, that is looking to like the perverts, the pedophiles that go after and seek out little children to defile them. How could you even understand that? It's beyond comprehension. But they exist, these people are out there and they lay traps and they try to gain confidence and destroy people. When God judges people like that, we should be rejoicing over that and say praise the Lord. Amen and amen. Let's read Psalm 58. Verse number 1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Yea, in heart ye work wickedness. Ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent. They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. Look at this. Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord. Let them melt away as waters which run continually. When he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away, like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living and in his wrath. The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, so that a man shall say, verily there is a reward for the righteous. Verily he is a God that judgeth the earth. This is what's called an imprecatory prayer, right? It's this wishing for, you know, this is a prayer to God, wishing for the judgment upon these evildoers. And that is not a wrong or sinful thing to have. Now it needs to be directed properly about the wicked, and you noticed earlier in the Psalm, it says the wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they be born speaking lies. People who are just bad to the bone, wicked, that are out to do harm and hurt to other people, and that is what they're all about. This is the rare, you know, not the common thing. But these people are out there, and it's okay to rejoice when God brings his vengeance. And of course the Bible teaches, you know, it's not on us to revenge and us to repay and us to right every wrong. That's God's job. He's the judge, but when he does it, we could be glad in that. We could rejoice in that and say, thank God for bringing the justice and the judgment down upon these evildoers. Thank God for raining fire and brimstone down on Sodom and Gomorrah. Because they were a people that got to the point to where visitors, out of town guests come in to stay, and they're ready to beat down a house and rape two men that were just there for, you know, visiting Lot. And they had gotten to that point. Praise God for destroying them. That's all that can be done. I mean, it gets to a point where, just like a dog that needs to be put down, that's a point that people can get to. And we can rejoice when God brings his judgment upon those people and not have to worry about or even be sad about it. Just rejoice. The Bible says in the end times that, you know, when people are being martyred for Christ. In Revelation 6, when there's a whole host of people that have been martyred for Jesus Christ up in heaven, they're going to be saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? They'll be saying, look, God, how long are you going to let this go on? I mean, are you going to let these guys just get away with all this stuff? And God says, well, a little bit longer, but no. Because God does. He's going to pour out his wrath on this earth, upon the wicked doers, upon all the people who are following Satan. When the Antichrist comes down and establishes his kingdom and people are taking the mark of the beast. Let's turn, if you would, to Luke 17. We're almost done. Luke 17, we're going to look now at one of the New Testament references to the story that we started off with, with Sodom and Gomorrah, with Lot and his wife. We're going to get a New Testament perspective on this. And by the way, the New Testament perspective isn't any different than what I've already preached this morning. Because a lot of people say, oh, that's just what God did in the Old Testament. He had all this wrath and he had all this anger and everything else, but since Jesus Christ came, God's not like that anymore, and that is false. The Bible says in Jude, verse 7, this is the New Testament, this is as new as you get, it's almost, it's right before the book of Revelation. Jude verse 7 says, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. They were set forth as an example for us today. Nothing has changed. He's saying, yeah, think about that story in Sodom and Gomorrah. And this is Jude. So just keep that in mind. But we're going to look at Luke chapter 17. Luke chapter 17, verse number 20, where we'll start reading, about when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come. He answered them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither shall they say lo here or lo there, for behold the kingdom of God is within you. And he said unto the disciples, the days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, see here or see there. Go not after them nor follow them, for as the lightning, which lighteth, lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. So here we're seeing in Luke 17, Jesus Christ is talking to his disciples about his second coming. What are things going to be like? In Matthew 24 they asked the Lord, what is the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus answers them, and Luke 17 is a parallel passage to that. And he's explaining, look, it's going to be just like it was in the days of Noah. Hey, back in the days of Noah, they were eating, drinking, marrying, everything was going great all the way up until the day that Noah went into the ark and the flood came and the wrath of God was poured out and destruction came. It's going to be the same way these days before Christ comes again, he will be eating, drinking, thinking everything is just fine, and then boom, it's all going to hit him. Verse 28, now we're going to see about with Lot. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded, but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Both events, Noah and Lot. God's wrath and God's destruction was poured out the same day. Noah went into the ark, boom, the flood came. The rain started, the flood came, the fountains of the great deep burst open, and there was great destruction. As soon as Lot was let out of Sodom, the judgment started coming. He's saying, that's the way it's going to be. And this is a picture of the rapture, I'm going to get into that in just a minute. Well, I'll just get into it right now. The same day when Christ comes back to deliver the believers out, He's basically coming back to make sure that we are not here when God starts to pour out His wrath on this world. And that's what He's explaining here, that the same way, God was able to get in there and get Lot. Lot was saved. They got Lot out of there, and then the destruction came. Noah was saved, he was righteous before the eyes of the Lord. He got Noah out of there, and then the wrath was poured out. And destruction came from the Lord. It's going to be the same way when Jesus Christ comes back. Let's keep reading here, verse number 31. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away. And he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. And then he goes on about the rapture. I tell you, there's two men in one bed, one shall be taken, the other left. And what he's saying here is, when Jesus is going to come back, there's going to be a time, there's going to come a time when things get so bad that it's time to just get out of dodge. And we'll know when that time is. But right when Jesus Christ comes back, He's saying don't turn back. Don't worry about the stuff in your house. You can't take it with you. Don't worry about the physical goods. Don't worry about what you are leaving behind. So remember Lot's wife. She became a pillar of salt. Don't look back on this world. When Jesus Christ is coming back, hey, we should be looking to Him, and looking to Him only. Don't worry about everything else that you're leaving behind. Flip back if you went to Luke chapter 9. There's two places we're going to look, and we're wrapping up the sermon here. They're both going to be in Luke chapter 9. See, Jesus wants us to serve Him completely. He doesn't want half of our heart. And just like when you get saved, you can't put half of your heart on Jesus Christ for your salvation. You can't say, well, I believe in Jesus, but I also need to do these works. I also need to get baptized. I also have to give up all of my sins. No, you need to put all of your faith on Christ. You need to believe on Him with your whole heart. That is what is required for salvation. And then after that, God doesn't want us to serve Him halfheartedly either. He wants us sold out. Say, you know what, Lord, I'm going to serve you now. That's what He wants. Luke chapter 9, verse 57. Luke 9, 57, the Bible reason it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto Him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, foxes have holes in the birds of the Arab nest, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head. Again, referring to the cost that it will take to actually be a disciple of Christ to actually follow Him. He's saying, okay. Because the guy said, look, I'll follow you anywhere, Jesus, I'm with you 100%, Lord, I'm going to follow you anywhere. He said, okay, just remember this. Foxes have holes, the birds of the Arab, they've all got homes to go to. I don't have a home. I'm going out and I'm serving God. And you know what, if you're going to be with me, you're not going to have a home. It's not going to be comfortable. You're not going to have that nice place to crawl into that nice warm bed and pull those covers over you and have a soft pillow and wake up in the morning and eat breakfast. You're going to come with me. I don't know where I'm going to sleep tonight. We'll figure it out. We're going to go out and serve God. And hey, might be under a bush, might be by a tree, you know, whatever. Whatever we find. Maybe someone will let us in, I don't know. But I don't know where we're going to stay. That was part of the cost of serving Christ. Verse 59, and he said unto another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, no man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. God doesn't want us looking back. When he calls you, he says, look, I want you to serve me. This is what I have for you to do. It's not time to start thinking about everything else in our life. You say, yes, sir, I'm here for you, God. What do you want me to do? And be able to serve him without looking back and letting other cares of this life. And you know what, you can look at these things saying, hey, I can't even go say goodbye. He got rebuked for that. That's not the attitude that Jesus wanted. He said, okay, I'm gonna do whatever you want. I will serve you even if it means I can't go back and say goodbye. I can't just get one last look like Lot's wife did with Sodom. Luke 14, this is the last place we'll turn. Luke 14, we'll see some more words of Jesus about being his disciple and following him. This is what he wants for us in our life. And as I was saying, this is gonna be challenging and you know what's challenging for me? I love these sermons because it helps us to get a proper perspective and to really start thinking and analyzing our life. What am I really doing to serve Christ? How am I serving him? Am I allowing sin to just creep into my life? Do I have the proper hatred for sin? Do I have the proper just view on how bad some of this stuff really is and how God thinks about it and that we ought to have that same type of mindset and say, you're nuts if you think that I'm gonna budge even for a second on what I believe about this stuff. And I will voice my opinion and I will say that it's wrong and I will say it's wicked. I don't care who gets offended by it. I don't care about being politically correct. Being politically correct is wrong in God's eyes. Luke 14, verse 25. And there went great multitudes with him and he turned and said unto them, if any man come to me and hate not his father, these are the words of Jesus, okay, I didn't write this. I'm reading it for you. If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, in his own life also he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost? The cost to you. Whether he have sufficient to finish it, lest haply after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying this man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king going to make war against another king sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him that cometh against him with 20,000? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambisage and desired conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. If you wanna be a disciple. Now, real quickly, being a disciple does not mean salvation. You do not have to give up everything that you have and bear your cross daily and do all these different things to be saved. That's a free gift. Being his disciple is being his follower and actually doing what he has for you to do and doing the work that he has for you to do. That's being Jesus' disciple. Receiving the free gift of salvation, you do that one time, you're saved forever. Amen and amen, praise the Lord for that. But if you wanna be his disciple, if you actually wanna do something with your life here and do the work that God has laid out for you, he says, you need to be able to hate your family, hate your own life also, be willing to give up everything to serve God. To have that type of dedication in your heart to say, you know what, God, I am willing. I am willing to do whatever it takes for whatever you have for me to do. I will bear my cross, I'll forsake all that I have. If that's what you want for me to do, I'd be willing to part from your worldly possessions and everything else that's in this world to serve God. That is the heart and the attitude that he wants you to have serving him 100% of the way. Not many people are willing to do that, by the way. A lot of people think they are, but Jesus said, hey, you follow me wherever I go, I don't even have a place to sleep tonight. I don't remember reading much more about that guy later on in the Bible, I don't know. I know at one point everybody left him. Let's have an attitude here in this church where we don't turn back. We don't turn back to the sin, we don't revel in what we used to do, we don't think about the wickedness, we don't look to Sodom, we don't look to these other places and think about them. We're looking forward, we're pressing on for the prize, for the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That that is what we are looking to achieve and that we're willing to do whatever it is that God has for us to do, willing to endure whatever persecution we have to endure, whatever it may be. Because we know that God is true, we know that God is just. And you know what, people need to be warned. There's a warning that needs to go out today. People need to understand, whether they believe it or not, that's on them. But you know what, if we as God's watchmen don't go out and give that warning, they're still gonna die either way, but the blood's gonna be on us. Read Ezekiel, talks about the watchmen and that if we are not doing our job, because we're watchmen, we know the truth, we know that Christ is coming back, we know how easy salvation is. When people don't, when we go out and preach the gospel, one of the things we're doing obviously is we're trying to present the free gift to them and say hey, accept Christ, he's your savior. But you know what, it's also a warning because if you don't accept Christ, there's only one place for you and that's hell. God's real, God exists. We shouldn't be just thumbing our nose at God and not caring about what he says. Let's do our job and warning this wicked world of what's to come. Let's have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for the Bible, we thank you for the instruction that you've provided for us, dear God. We pray that you would please strengthen us. God, give us the boldness that we need. It's not always easy to do, but Lord, we pray that you, we know that you can strengthen us and we pray for that strength today. And Lord, I pray that you would please build this church. Help us to grow together as a church family and support one another and edify one another that when the persecutions come, we could gain strength from being here for each other, dear Lord. And I pray that you would please just lead us and direct us, dear Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.