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00:00:01 [Applause] [Music] let's start with word of Prayer Lord we thank you so much that you have gathered us back here together again to worship you to be touched by your spirit to be immersed in your word to be transformed we are so a lot that you do this work with us for all of us who are here and all of us who at home that you just send us your blessing as the word covers their hearts we asked us what you say amen the two angels came to Sodom in the evening and lot was sitting in the gates of Sodom when lot saw them he rose to
00:00:57 meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said my Lords please turn aside to your servants house and spend a night and wash your feet then you may rise up early and go on your way no we will spend the night in the town square but he pressured them he pressed them strongly so they turn aside to him and entered his house and he made a feast and baked unleavened bread and they ate before they lay down the men of the city of her manner Sodom both young and old all the people to the last man
00:01:29 surrounded the house and they called to lot where are the men who came to you tonight bring them out to us that we may know them and lot went out to the people at the entrance and shut the door after him and said I beg you my brothers do not act so wickedly behold I have two daughters who have not known any man let let me bring them out to you and do to them as you please only do nothing to these men five come under the shelter of my roof but they said stand back and this and this fellow came to sajin and
00:02:00 has become our judge now we will deal worse with you than with them and they press hard against the man Lord and drew near to break the door down and but the men reached out their hands and brought locked into the house with them and shut the door and they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house both great and small so that they wore themselves out groping for the door and the men said to Locke have you anyone else here sons-in-laws sons and daughters or anyone you have in this
00:02:26 city bring them out of the place for we are about to destroy this place because of cry against these people have become great before the Lord and law has sent us to destroy it so lot went out and said to his son in laws who were to marry his daughters get up get up up get out of this place for the Lord is about to destroy the city but he seemed to his son in laws to be jesting as the morning dawned angels urged lot saying up take your wife your two daughters who are here lest you be swept away in the
00:02:58 punishment of the city but he lingered so the men seized him and his wife his two daughters by the hand and Lord being merciful to him they brought him out and set him outside the city and as they brought them out one said escape for your life don't look back or stop anywhere in the valley escape to the hills lest you be swept away and not said to her oh no my Lords behold your servant has found favor in your sight and you have shown me great kindness and saving my life by cannot escape the hills Leicester disaster overtake me and
00:03:32 I died behold this city is near enough to free to it this little one let me escape there is it not a little one and my life will be saved and he said to him behold I grant you this favour also that I will not overthrow this city of which you have spoken escape that quickly for I can do nothing till you arrive there and therefore the name of the city was Zawar and the Sun had risen on the earth and the Lord came to Zoe and Lord rain on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven and he
00:04:05 overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground the Lot's wife behind him looked back and she became a pillar of salt Abraham went early out in the morning to the place where stood before the Lord and looked down to what Sodom and Gomorrah and towards all the land of the valley he looked and behold the smoke of the land went up like a smoke of a furnace so it was that when God destroyed the cities of the valley God remembered Abraham and
00:04:32 sent lot out in the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which God not had lived a lot went up from zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters for he was afraid to live in Zorah he lived in a cave with his two daughters in the first Bond said to the younger hot is old it is not a man on earth to come into us after the man of all the earth come let us make our father drink wine we will lie with him that we may preserve offspring from our father so they made the father drink wine at night
00:05:01 and the first one went in and laid with her father he did not know when she laid down or when she rose the next day the first-born said to the younger behold i lay last night with my father let us make him drink wine tonight also and you go in and lie with him that we may preserve offspring from our father and so they made their father drink wine that night also and the younger one arose and lay with him and he did not know where she laid down or where she rose and tossed both daughters a lot became pregnant by their father the
00:05:29 firstborn bore a son and called his name moab and his father the Moabites to this day and this younger also bore son and call been a min and he was a father of the ammonites to this day right so this is the sordid tale of Genesis chapter 19 and basically long chapter by mother just focus on three aspects of this particular chapter continuing from what samuel preached to us last week three points are basically it never works can could somebody help me okay good all right good all right so one we've talked about the
00:06:15 sin of Sodom to the struggling Sodom and a third one to salvation from Sodom all right so the Lord will start off in chapter 18 when the Lord said because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great their sin is very grave I will go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that's come to be if not I will know here we actually have Sodom and the sin is great that the amount of treachery and corruption has risen to a level that there is actually an outcry in fact God
00:06:58 doesn't judge everybody straight away George God is a long suffering and during God but there comes a time when human evil has reached a certain level which is not tolerable to his eyes because he is in charge of the world unbeknownst to us that some of the thing we get away with everything the same thing happened in Genesis 15 the reason why the Israelites were kept for so long inside Egypt was that he couldn't come out why because this buddy came and go into the Promised Land they actually executed judgment and the
00:07:32 people of Canaan of their many evils and and in Genesis 15 can we have the next slide they shall come back here in the fourth Jesus is talking about the promised land for the fourth generation for the iniquity of the ammonites is not yet complete so there is a time in place where evil has reached its peak as it were and God has had enough and this is a same situation it actually happened in Sodom and Gomorrah and when you actually have evil there's an outcry there's outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah
00:08:10 according to the outrider has come - now comes to God now this doesn't mean that the people of Sodom Gomorrah were praying to God or having out cries it's just whenever you have got evil the Signum a not a knowledge is evil but the victims always do I remember just last week we had a we hospital we actually have a car park you know especially you reserved for doctors because of the zombies come late right so and we have one of our doctors coming you know go to a copper user you're touching your special card and then zoom
00:08:40 he goes up and in this time zoom he didn't go up right so what he did was he parked his great big expensive car right in front there and for two levels everybody is blocked up simply because he could not get in and you could see that out crying everywhere the sinner doesn't know his outcry he only know injustice to me because I got you justice to me I can even just it so everybody else but there is a public outcry hue and ha when there is evil where the sinner may not recognized by the victims recognized and also God
00:09:14 recognizes it sometime with I mean you felt like because of the big Karthik my my my steering lock I whacked the fellows car why because it's blocking everybody everybody felt like that right it's like exactly cane enable I've his Lamech I've killed a man for wounding me a young man for striking me and Cain's revenge you're seven whole Lamech is seventy-seven for God help his car we take so so so evil violence begets violence because we take justice into our own hands but God always responds if
00:09:46 you look here in job chapter 34 for his eyes are on the ways of men we're not hidden the things that we do are not hidden he sees all his missteps you can have corruption in the country yes it is not does not escape the eyes of our God there's no glue more deep darkness where evil doers may hide themselves he strikes them for their wickedness in the place for all to see because they turn aside from following him no regard for any of his ways so that they are caused the cry of the poor to come to him and
00:10:15 he heard the crowd afflicted so many people have a great cry they shout out against injustice when we pray against injustice it comes to God's ears this is still God's world same thing if you look in the prophecy of Amos a time of the people of God were ripped having evil there is judgment we look at the book amos this judgment are long not only israel but all the surrounding countries as well and this is talking about the ammonites so the lord said for three transgressions of amirite sand for i will revoke to punish women I will not
00:10:52 revoke punishment because they ripped open pregnant women in Gilead then they may enlarge their body so in their conquest they were cruel they ripped open pregnant women our kindle fire the walls of rama it will devour a strong whole castes allowed for three transgressions of scars and four I will not revoke the punishment you could carry into exile the whole people of the whole people to deliver them to Edom I will send fire on the walls of Gaza it shall devour a stronghold so it doesn't matter whether a Christian nation or not
00:11:22 any nation will be subject to God now so we have the story where the two angels came and lot was sitting and the gate of the Sodom and he saw them he actually welcomed them to his house he made them a great big makan and then the men of sodom came and all of them to the last men surrounded the house and they said to lot you know where these men bring them out that we may know them and Locke went out I said please say you know I beg you don't act so wickedly I've got two daughters who have not known any men it's a bit strange because
00:11:58 they're suppose I have son-in-law and the two daughters have not known any men so I suspect maybe they're engaged all right let me bring them out to you and do to them as you please only do nothing to this man for they've kinda under the shelter my roof so what was the sin of Sodom there are about three views on this the first one is that the traditional view that this is basically the sin of homosexuality because everybody came the angels were men and these were men that came out and so the traditional view that the previous sin
00:12:30 here was homosexuality there is a contemporary view that this is a sin against hospitality oh because you're supposed to come into Lots house and lot had hijacked them to his own house and he didn't give them opportunity for the crowd to get to know them so there's a sin against hospitality in hospitality at third views that is actually a sin of sexual violence and societal oppression now if you look there first two ons homosexuality the word know is actually euphemism for sex if you look at Genesis
00:13:04 chapter 4 verse 1 Adam knew his wife every time you know somebody it becomes there's a baby I've gotten a man the help of the Lord and you look at the surrounding cultures whether the Egyptian Acadian Ugaritic Syriac Arabic it's your pick or Greek all of them use the word know is a euphemism for sex however there's an alternative view by this chap from Cambridge who looked at the word know in Hebrew 943 times in the Old Testament on which only ten times refers to physical heterosexual sexual intercourse therefore he suggests that
00:13:42 you bring them up so that we get to know you just like our newcomers you know how for your hands up there after the service we get to know you I won't frighten you all right so the signal Sodom was to invade the privacy of lots home and flout the ancient rules of hospitality this is the chap from Cambridge I'll show you his picture so you recognize him and then only do nothing to these people for they have kin under my roof shelter on my roof so it's because they violated is that this was a sit I think it's a little bit hard
00:14:16 to justify this interpretation because when they say bring them out that we may know them then you look in verse eight behold I have two daughters who have not known any men i hello you you think newcomers welcome only for the opposite sex is it it is sexual that's what he offers his daughters as an alternative to the Angels so there is evidence of sexual thing here and then you've got the men of the city of Sodom both young and all all the man people to the last man surrounded the house everybody came they wanted a piece of
00:14:51 the angels and then he said to them do not act so wickedly so you think newcomers welcome dance is a wicked thing is it it cannot be so it must be something sexual if you have Leviticus you shall not lie with a male as with a woman it's an abomination so here is a sin of homosexuality Leviticus 20 my man lives without male as with a woman both of them committed abomination they shall be surely put to death their blood is upon and the word Hebrew is Tori bar which is an especially grievous sin which has
00:15:28 already been defined by Leviticus as homo sexual sin and if you look easy kill there many places in the Bible where Sodom and Gomorrah are referenced and you read here as your elder sister is Samaria who lives with her daughter's to the north and you and your younger sister who lives in the south of you is Sodom with her daughter's not only did you walk their ways and do according to their abominations the word toshiba okay verse 49 they were haughty and did an abomination before me so this is the sin
00:16:01 of sodom which is actually homosexuality as well then in jude in the new testament just as sodom and gomorrah and the surrounding cities which likewise indulge in sexual immorality pursued a natural desire serve as an example by undergoing a punishment for eternal of eternal fire so here we actually have sexual immorality linked with an unnatural desire which there's Baltar's the case that this is actually homosexuality then you go extra biblical literature writings of non-christian writers even a Philo and Josephus in the
00:16:36 first century and also literature from Second Temple Judaism that showed that actually this is a sin of homosexuality so now so what is the sin of Sodom it is actually the third view why because it's not just the sin of homosexual sexual violence you're actually taking the two people out and you're forcibly going to rape them even though it's homosexual rape and beyond that there are other things as well if you look at Ezekiel verse 49 talking about Sodom behold this was a guilt of your sister Sodom she and
00:17:13 her daughters had pride excess food prosperous ease but did not aid the poor and needy it goes beyond sexual violence we live in a world where if you look at this is a thing I've got a couple of years ago I preached a sermon the same thing on 2015 and this has come true if you look at the number of people who actually own the same wealth as half the world in 2010 would fit in a jumbo jet 388 by 2014 it was 80 by 2016 is 62 by last year he was 26 36 people own the same wealth as half the world and as the
00:17:55 economy goes with we live in a world where the global wealth share of the majority is going down in the 1% if you can see is going up coronavirus everybody wears a mask on even for n95 masks our friend wear a golden one I wonder how he can breathe but that's the picture of our world we have excess food pride prosperous that the problem is failure to love we are to love God and to love our neighbor and the issues that they did not aid the poor and Nietzsche the other thing is that what they had was the sin of
00:18:34 religiosity in fact they were very pious people we can imagine if you look here here the words and-and-and-and isaiah is using the same indictment of the people of judah hear the word of the lord to new rulers of Sodom he cast them lights out of Sodom yet the teaching of our God you people are soo Gomorrah what to me is the multitude of your sacrifices I'm enough of your burnt offerings of rams and fat a well-fed beast I do not delight in the blood of bulls or lambs or goats here you actually have a religious society
00:19:05 they live in prosperous is a great service probably live stream like us with all the bells and whistles and yet they didn't care or they distorted the kind of really kind of religion in verse 115 when you spread out your hands I will hide my face my eyes from you even though you make many press I will not listen your hands are full of blood and when Isaiah uses hand of blood is talking about injustice oppression wash yourselves wait yourself clean remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes cease to do evil learn to do good
00:19:37 seek justice correct oppression bring justice to the fatherless plead the widow's case you can't worship God and have social injustice you can't worship God use religion for your own means and this is happening in the world I came across this prophecy it's in YouTube Las Vegas International Church 2016 the the few prophets bring up Donald Trump and they lay hands on him you can watch it in YouTube you know what the Prophet said what I was hearing the Lord said this is my son in whom I'm well pleased
00:20:06 can you imagine that this is my son in whom I'm well pleased with hundred forty thousand people have died their ages by son Paul pleased the Lord showing me how you Donnell as a young man growing up that you were a good son you're a good father Lord saying - I am your as your father have prepared you for such a time as this you have been groomed and prepared for this kind of battle can you imagine the church using such words to speak the name of God in vain and only then they are proud of it the sin of
00:20:40 Sodom is they're proud of their sin Jerusalem has stumbled Judah has fallen because their speech and that these deeds are against the law defying his glorious presence and look of their faces bear witness against them they proclaimed their sin like Sodom they don't hide it we live in a society like Sodom today where we don't I'll say they were proud of our sin and this is a I tombs top 10 from a week in 2011 look at the top 10 I cannot pronounce it I get thrown out of church born that's my lesbian engaged and the f-word is very
00:21:12 common promiscuity promiscuity then sadomasochism by Rihanna top 10 I say 20 20 20 is it better well the first one the Devil Went to Georgia second one is man one margarita - margarita when you're having coffee 19 stress you drink your sorrows away rock star talking about drugs and violence watermelons sugar is exactly what is about watermelon sugar so nothing wrong with that blinding lights is a promiscuity we Lisa Sodom and Gomorrah remember this chap Lance Armstrong seven-time winner of the Tour de France
00:21:49 great athlete sat down with Oprah when he finally admitted that he took performance-enhancing drugs like a retro point in four years he had condemned the people he was righteous and for years she had cheated and they took all his titles away and this is a very important interview and this interview Oprah asked him was it a big deal did they feel wrong Lance said no scarier Oprah say it didn't even feel wrong Lance said no even scarier or perhaps a do you feel you were cheating planned said no the
00:22:28 scariest I looked up the definition cheat I didn't view it that way I saw it as a level playing field I use EPO you don't use is a level playing field this is a kind of world that we're coming to that we are surrounded like Sodom words dropped from the 2008 oxford dictionary junior wanna a be altar disciple you look last word sin Sydney's dropped from the dictionary in fact there's a chap called Cobb been Inga who who wrote this book and I think is a great quote I'm gonna read to you the word sin seems to have disappeared
00:23:02 it was a proud word it was once a strong word an ominous and serious word it described a central point in every civilized human beings life plan and style but the word went away it had almost disappeared the word along with the notion why doesn't anyone sin anymore doesn't anyone believe in sin the central destruction every cell any civil issue it comes when we forget our responsibility to God and our neighbor and you look New York Times Malaysia drops charges against a wolf of Wall Street producer in 1mdb case so here you
00:23:48 actually have someone who can steal a two hundred and forty eight million dollars and you give back half and you get escapes at the same time somebody else drop some balloons on somebody and gets prosecuted in court and the prosecution appeals the acquittal twice it's a transactional kinda more morality where justice the better who's sitting in control whose government controls morality that's the sinner sort of apes have sinned and we are proud of it this is in Spain young guy call Renkin qua youtuber you know what he did he
00:24:29 actually got Oreo Hermes in audio biscuit Oreo biscuits and chocolate alright and it's got some nice what's the stuff there white stuff inside it's called cream or something some some right and then what he does is you replacing a toothbrush toothpaste and he feeds it to the homeless man the homeless man hates it and he videos it and he vomits actually has a despicable sin he actually was sentence of 15 months jail and a twenty thousand euro five but this is what he said after his crime maybe I went a little too far but
00:25:08 looking on the bright side this helped him clean his teeth I don't think he's a brush there for a long time because he's poor since he became poor and the thing is that because he is on YouTube you can always find thousands of stupid people who support you and their thousands of stupid people support him you see the thing is we depend on shame shame you see what you've got sinned when Adam and Eve sinned the first thing happened what shame sin is the cause of shame and what we have done in society we take away sin
00:25:44 the next thing to go is what shame and if you are new tube no matter what you do as long as a few thousand people think like yeah you know there's six billion people in the world seven right it's not a few thousand people click like then you okay man is that it's do more shame you know in those days if you look at the there why is there a punishment those days when you actually put your hidden stocks right in the middle of town square so I really come and spit in you or pee on your leg or throw eggs at you because of shame we in
00:26:16 Chinese culture know and realize that a now culture ashamed shame actually acts to prevent evil we come to the world where shame is now gone in fact without truth there can be no shame there are 25 statements by this president that tells you there's something wrong you know he why he's shameless because nobody loves the Bible more than I do he says nobody builds a wall better than I do nobody better to the people in disabilities I am nobody's fighting for their veterans like I'm fighting for their veterans nobody has
00:26:53 done so much for equality as I have nobody's more Pro is and I nobody is more conservative I am nobody respects women more than I do is it without truth how can they be shame we're losing in a world where you remove sin no more shame and it's all because we've lost the truth recognize our time in Sodom now next I want to talk about is the struggle in Sodom if you look it starts in Genesis chapter 13 and here we have lot at Abraham you know Abraham brings him along you know come and join me we're going to go
00:27:34 to a promised land we get to promised lamb a little detour but detour to Egypt and then they start to fight you know what the fight over when you're poor you don't fight when you know when you reach you fight you fight over stuff the more stuff you have the more you fight look in every family you think poor family fight over the wila it's always the rich family stuff and because of this stuff lot has to separate from his uncle who brought him along and look and we form choices and a choices determine our lives we form
00:28:12 choices by looking and he lifts up his eyes and saw the Jordan Valley well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord like the land of Egypt in the directions Oh which was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah so you form a choice by looking and some how many of us formed choices just by looking what how beautiful girls must be wonderful must be angels and I marry that one you don't care what she's like whether it's a Christian or non-christian whether she's like you know I won't say any more
00:28:46 and then you form choices by leaving and here you have God Genesis chapter 13 so lot chose for himself all the valley drift Jordan Valley and lot journeyed East and only that he settled amongst the city not inside city yeah amongst the city and move his ten as far as Sodom this outsider I mean I'm there and then and then the Lord Moses writes in verse 13 then the men of Sodom were wicked great sinners against lot I mean when you're right narrative you can see his he chose by looking by leaving okay and he's sitting near Sodom
00:29:25 and the author writes the men are Sodom were wicked and great sinners again stop when you read like I said what's happening this is danger he's moving to closer and closer to what danger he's actually leaving the covenant people Abraham to go near these people you form choices by living and Genesis 1412 they took lot son of Abraham's brother who was dwelling in Sodom his possessions event underway so here we actually have him looking he's leaving and then by 14 he's a permanent resident he's there amongst the wicked people of
00:30:07 Sodom and verse 19 when the two angels came to Sodom in the evening lot was sitting at the gate of his the gate of Sodom you but your think about getting you think about your my gate and usj you know for you come with visi I got a great gate you press button the open but there's no place to sit the actual gate looks like this is a key gate built by Solomon that chamber Giza you can see the gate is very elaborate it's not automatic but you've got all the chambers there chamber one to chamber six and there and and when you talk
00:30:42 about city gate is a central business district where judges will dispense justice where commerce is there or their stock market the trading everything goes on that important goes on in city gate and if you say what was sitting at the city gate means what he's somebody he's somebody it means you see of your relative he goes to keep migrates to KL from Hong Kong you know got kicked out there come to home in Malaysia suddenly got office at the Twin Towers then you know his somebody right so actually he's he forms
00:31:18 charge back to being a leader and it's the same progression looking living live living and then leading someone blessed is man who does not walk snot in the council the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers and is exactly what lot has now doing is now entrenched in a wicked ways of the people of Sodom and all this he made his choice presence is as people don't fall into bad situations wake up in the morning I decided to go to soluble it starts by looking leaving living and then sitting
00:32:01 by the seats of scoffers and joining them it's a very gradual insidious process for which we are totally unaware of and what is the problem going to Sodom well the propagation said um he said it's a struggle against conscience 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 6 give us an insight into what is happening in - Lots why did God do this and Peter gives us the answer why he did it and what happened if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction making them an example of what is going to happen to
00:32:37 ungodly if you rescued the righteous Locke greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked for as far as the righteous man lived among them day by day he was tormenting his righteous soul over the lawless deeds he saw and he heard so here is a situation where he put himself in situation where every day he's being tormented pressured putting himself into this against his conscience because he was righteous part of Abraham's clan walking the ways of God and then you've got these people who are
00:33:10 doing Eve this is struggle it's like me you know I love to you know have coffee near this place in Centrepointe know how many of you been here before yeah when Jen good man he's got good taste because we go there I you know it's half my coffee near here I walk past you know why because this got-damn shop brought me it's called damn sure yeah damn shopper on me you look at that my god look at the prawns and and this what he called it a the the pop they're right everything great you know I once had
00:33:48 diarrhea after decision you know what just came out the oil half a quart of oil I know it's great for me in terms of my I love to eat it but the the devastating effects on my coronary artery system and all it's terrible say but why do I sleep having coffee near damp shock for upon me you put yourself you know it's bad for you and you still walk past or 35 times praying about it praying about it and then you give in you know I should go there with my friend wins in one day and ever you try to control each other we put ourselves
00:34:21 into a situation you see now society we live in KL we see the suffering the poor we're thinking about how tithing to give to the poor BT 76 or don't forget her but I think if I give too much I cannot support my lifestyle I'm not gonna buy my next Ferrari you know Oh III order have ethical business practices but then you know loss of profit margin know how men I wouldn't make that much if I see either injustice I cannot speak out in case I get persecuted with what you choose causes great torment to your soul
00:34:57 in that I remember a very the true story is a Malay I think he's Malaysian is somebody told me his name was Jairus either made me have shared before is is a very good general practitioner who worked in Melbourne for 11 years of his life you know 11 years his life not a single complaint against him very few people and zero complained very very good doctor and he was actually struck off by the Medical Board recently why because he live in a society that's how you think goes Australia very good but yes he live in a
00:35:31 society where he's tormented why abortion on demand LGBTQ and all that going on and you know what he did he couldn't stand it anymore he wrote in his facebook for ten years saying that this is not right genetically how you argue very measured arguments it was his opinion and a Medical Board true instigation a few people looked into ten years of Facebook which is thousands of postings and said this doctor has advocated genocide advocating we get rid of judges it was totally untrue totally untrue he was actually convicted of a
00:36:14 thought crime he didn't do anything he just wrote his opinion nothing wrong right nabina is in a western country and why did he do that because every day he sees homosexuality every day he sees abortion on demand every day he sees all that a different set of sins that we see in this country right and yet he's tortured and he watches spoke out and he suffered for it and that's the struggle that we have in our culture is now then we ever struck you chilly turn out we we live in a society where we use each
00:36:45 other here you actually have not being affected they want to do to rape the angels and they say now mine the lesser of two evils you go a rape my my my daughter's I offer them instead this is actually shocking to modern sensibilities as well as people in those days how could you offer your daughter to be raped and then the same thing happens later on when they escape from Sodom Gomorrah then the daughters go and rape him Allah you used me I you use do Becca I said okay no I don't know why they say this
00:37:24 is not a manly I mean know how they escaped from ZOA which is a city I mean after the hill I don't know why is that we are not sure then Bible never tells us and then and then they say there's not a man left around and no in the world and so therefore they they give him wine and then we will lie with him obviously obviously this has happened in two separate occasions right right separated by nine months right how can you do one night and a night and pop up to come out unless something happens and
00:37:56 I asked off the chin about that a bit incredulous all right but again here you can see the effect of the culture you struggle culture even your children adopt a kind of mindset in a lifestyle which is utilitarian we could use other people for their own good and and here you have a loss of testimony when he tries to protect the angels they said to him stand back this feller you know he's up inducted now he's become judge who are into towers and you're still putting that tongue you know so they actually
00:38:27 have no respect for him at all he's lived he he's a prominent guy maybe an MP sitting you know gates you know and yet at a step of a finger they actually disregarded me call him pin that tongue and Genesis 1914 the lot went out and said to his son-in-law who were to marry his daughters up out of this place that the Lord is about to destroy the city and he seems to he said like I joking and he there's no respect you live in such a way that your even your son in laws don't respect you I did this is the prevalent culture if you
00:39:02 look at the Pew Research on the belief in judgment in hell if you are atheist thing or agnostic only twenty seven percent believe in some sort of hell and that's already the culture in the place and so when he tells him to get out of Dodge they ignore him and then there's a struggle to let go as the morning dawned angel search Lord take up your wife and your two daughters who are here unless you be swept away the pan different City but he lingered he's there stroking his Ferrari Alomar a can we drive out of
00:39:37 town can I take my stocks and shares or you're looking at a stock market what about my my gold what of my mouth jewels while my favorite damn shopper on me can I take that along I see sometimes we get so embedded in the culture the evil around us that he doesn't want to be saved as ironic isn't it you can be in a city and you're so used to it that you don't want to be saved sin always takes us further than we intend to go longer than we intend to stay and cost us more than we intend to pay I'll struggle what we struggle we
00:40:22 rationalize evil away everybody's doing it so I do so okay what what's the problem or maybe we think God will forgive me because it's a gracious God he loved me anyway so I'm gonna just do this in a God close your eyes let me do this then I come back or you addressed me evil listen nothing wrong I was a big deal or we indulge our own desire obviously he had his own desires otherwise why would you go to an evil city like Sodom and Gomorrah or you're ignorant of God's Word either deliberately or accidentally
00:41:00 not really reading it or if you want to fit in with a crowd and you fear of being labeled right I remember a witness as a teenager first time going to Australia I just became a Christian one year and I went to this college I thought was great College it's called Holy Cross College all right Holy Mother I saw you in there so when there I found hello everybody is using four-letter words everybody's drinking everybody order all sorts of things and and I was I didn't know how to react as a young Christian I thought I had to be
00:41:36 different right so when he had a party or something you know everybody came in the wild clothes drinky here and I came my school uniform and they called me Billy Graham and I I mean there's two extremes one you're so far out though of the world that you're no longer relevant you know I mean you just look at everybody and you judge all of them who which is what I did which is wrong or you compromise so much because you feel being labeled I should have come with my broken jeans and and t-shirt and
00:42:08 cigar something then I become relevant there's a tension between the both i living in sodom is a struggle a misguided attempt to be relevant and a failure to consider the costly consequences their consequences to lot's family were immense he lost his wife his children are no better because he chose lastly the grace of God a salvation from Sodom verse 24 when the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven in all and he overthrew those cities and all the valleys and all
00:42:54 the inhabitants of the city and what grew on the ground but Lot's wife behind him looked back and she became a pillar of salt now if you look here you have every famous pastor down south and he says when you think I saw them Gomorrah what comes to your mind God's wrath and fiery judgment truth is God was not out to judge the PIO Sodom Gomorrah he was not on a sin hunt he was in fact on a righteousness hunt here is casting yes Scott was gonna look and save a lot but this whole chapter is about judgment you
00:43:34 cannot play it down why Luke 17 is a commentary on this it says likewise just as it was in the days of lot they were eating and drinking and buying and selling and planting and building sounds like us but on the day when lot went out from Sodom fire and sulfur rain from heaven and destroyed them all is so will be when the Son of Man is revealed on that day that the one who's on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away and likewise let the one who is in the you'll not turn back remember Lot's wife
00:44:19 whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it whoever loses his life will keep it very important words so the judgment or Sodom is cast as a parallel to the final judgment when the Son of Man comes back remember lot you know God so unfair you just look back Tambora a king 3 we got judged you think that's the truth if you look very carefully remember Lot's wife and then the next sentence happens whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it whoever loses his life will keep it when she looked back it wasn't just a
00:45:00 look she probably wasn't willing to leave you have to make a decision to leave you know when the Angels took lot is almost forcibly carry him you know they forcibly carry him out of the city you know where they dumped dumped him outside the city he has to walk the rest of the way to zou and the hills right why don't they get him straight to Zohar the hills why God didn't do that because the rest of the way you have to decide you have to decide to want to leave as an end God doesn't force you into
00:45:41 salvation he takes you half the way touches your conscience opens up his heart to you but you have to decide to leave and when you say remember Lot's wife she wanted to preserve her life she wanted to live the kind of life continue to live in the kind of life that she's led all her life that all should know she probably is a sort of mine he didn't I mean Abraham made sure I'd always feel married people from his own tribe part of the promised people right blood married the local girl she brought up in
00:46:19 Sodom and she kind of let go of Sodom even though it's raining Hellfire she couldn't let go Lord said whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose whoever loses his life will keep it and that applies to so many of us who are undergoing the temptations of Sodom I tell you on that night there will be two in one bed one do we take him and yet his left there will be two women grinding together one will be taken and yet his left judgment will come and it will be surprising it'll be selective I did not leave you today with sober words
00:47:00 from a psalm 19 will read to you the takeaways from this sermon it's a prayer of Moses and you know Moses led the people of Israel in a very difficult 40-year journey through rugged territory devoid of any food and refreshment God supplied them water and manna and the people of God were rebellious and they were punished scourge of serpents most of them could not reach the promised land they were punished they will never be able to return promise that in fact Moses also was punishing he did not reach the promised land only Jacob Caleb
00:47:42 and Joshua and this is his Sam or it's a lament we're talking about lament and when we are confronted with the city of Sodom is not the Sodom it's us it's a lament because of our sin that brings judgment and he says first of all the eternal nature of God Lord you have been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains were brought forth or even ever you had formed the earth in the world from everlasting to everlasting you are God you returned men to dance and say return all children of
00:48:18 man for a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday we know it's passed as a watch in the night so he's talking about the eternal nature of God how God spans forever and then the transient nature of man you you seep them away as with a flood they're like a dream like grass renewed in the morning in the morning it flourishes you in evening it stayed with us it goes away for we are brought to an end by your anger by your wrath we are dismayed here of the West we are terrified you set our iniquities before you our secret
00:48:59 sins in the light of your presence there's no sin in our lives they escape God's scrutiny for all our days pass away under your wrath we bring our years to an end like a sigh 6070 years goes like a sigh and it's under the wrath and judgment of God we live in a society where we don't even understand what sin means we live as if sin is something to be proud of and this is Allah meant that we are dying day by day I see I mean somebody's hit with something like a illness or catastrophe the first thing
00:49:50 they say in Waimea my question to you is why not you the whole daya why not you you go sin or not why not you we are brought to an end by your anger I'll sinned by your wrath we are terrified you set our iniquities before your secret sins in the light of your presence our years of life are 70 well that's not bad but even by reason of strength if you're particularly good and even it here in die and avoid them sharp on me you get 280 right but their span is toil and trouble let me go 10 more years of trouble you live longer 80 you
00:50:36 leave the 95 and see our friend more trouble they soon gone and we fly away who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according the fear of you can't even imagine the power of God's wrath what do we do what does Moses tell us to do in the light of Sodom anymore the light of the terrible suffering before us in judgment teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom you know many of us we're supposed to count our days and not denied a number when you talk about death you talk about lifespan first in
00:51:17 Chinese that I can I say mu gamma because they don't talk about death come even I you know I have the situation in my office that happens almost every month we have to tell someone you've got the Big C you have and my first message to them is to count your days first you ask me how long do I have you count you know what they do they deny the number not many people one accounted aced you'll still think in 95 there was still I've got someone in hospital right now under my care who's 95 and he's kept alive but also so wires
00:51:52 and the the daughter is still telling me he denies the number 95 is only a number ok father still alive we deny the number in fact what poses telling us is to number our days not deny deny my remember however old you are their only asset number and God has given your gift the gift is this life and this is something that you have to regard as precious and use every single moment of it fighting against sin and using every resource you have to glorify God and that's the only way to get a heart of wisdom wisdom is the art of
00:52:36 successful living that sexual living is using whatever time you have left for the best use in verse 13 Oh Lord return O Lord how long have pity on your hears a cry of Moses when they are trudging to the desert and being condemned to die out the desert and he's looking for God mercy and to a pity on them and you know what happened thousands of years later on he sent His Son Jesus Christ and God has mercy on us through the cross of Jesus Christ we now come with all our sins exposed and bad we do not deny it we number our days we
00:53:17 grab and hold on to Christ because he's the one that keeps us a life was paid the price for sin and lastly verse 14 satisfiers in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days you know what the problem of lot was he looked at his promised land with his eyes and he moved closer and closer to sort of what drew him there the people were wicked and evil and they're not ugly probably pretty but what drew him progressively to leave to look to live and to lead in this city
00:54:03 there was something that draws him that because he was not satisfied he is only satisfied with the things that he found which were actually his carnal desires maybe he's a technology maybe the you know the the the the yeast of prosperity all the good things in life maybe that's what drew him at that but maybe draws us he only want to be satisfied are those things verse 14 says satisfy I said every wake up in the morning before you see anything else you know what Moses saying satisfy me in the morning what with your steadfast love
00:54:40 you know a steadfast love is in Hebrews has said God's steadfast love that's the only thing that will actually permanently satisfy us that's the only thing that will reverse our drive towards and into and become part of Sodom if we are not satisfied in the morning right time becomes an evening it's a little bit late you can be saved but you have could have lost all the years of our life I'm gonna end with a just something that struck me over the last few weeks my favorite author Timothy Keller was diagnosed in 2002 with thyroid
00:55:29 cancer survived that and recently they found he had pancreatic cancer and he put out for those of you who would pray for me he wrote there are four things I want to pray for one you know that you know I won't that the doctors will do a good job and perhaps curing me if that's God's will and the other one is my family that one day I won't suffer through the side effects of the chemotherapy that he's been going through but the one that really struck me was this for Cathy me that we use this opportunity to be weaned from the
00:56:07 joys of this world and to desire God's presence above all you know what he's doing he's praying satisfying me in the morning with your steadfast love the only thing that can prevent us from rushing and continuing headlong into the clutches of Sodom and Gomorrah in our lives would be that desire the satisfaction where we Russian asada we're looking for something to satisfy us the only thing that will bring joy the only thing is Jesus Christ and and if we are facing there's so many of us here and I see day after day I've just
00:56:45 operated on two Christian Brothers very close to me recently who was struck with cancer it is such a terrifying time and I see more and more of them but the message comes out in Psalm 90 number of days cling on to our Lord Jesus Christ satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast that your steadfast love read first thing morning the steadfast love is the only thing that drives you and if that drives you then you will follow the psalm and it says that we may rejoice and be glad you know you want the last days of your life
00:57:22 to be happy to be wonderful to be filled with joy number your days that we may rejoice and be glad in our days let's pray by the Lord we will amend the fact that for each of us we face death will immense the pain and evil in our society some of us have chosen Sodom some of us are in Sodom not for any for our own but we face the struggle of sitting around as we pray a lot of each day did you open our eyes that we not be swallowed by our own desires but we learn to number our days and use each day to honor and glorify your name we
00:58:13 pray a lot that each day you wean us off from our desires for worldly desires and satisfy us with your love we ask this for Jesus sake amen
