Let us open our Bibles to the Old Testament, to the book of Genesis, chapter 19. Genesis, chapter 19. We'll read the first twenty-nine verses. And there came two angels to Sodom at even. And Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. And Lot, seeing them, rose up to meet them. And he bowed himself with his face toward the ground And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servants' house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay, but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly, and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house, and he made them a feast, and did bake and leaven bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, come past the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter. And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came into thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters, which have not known man. Let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes. Only unto these men do nothing. For therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge. Now will we deal worse with thee than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even lot, and came near to break the door. But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door. And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides, son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place. for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.' And Lot went out and spake unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city." And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto him. And they brought him forth and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought him 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. And Lot said unto them, O not so, my lord. Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shown unto me in saving my life. And I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die. Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one. O let me escape thither, is it not a little one? And my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything till thou become thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord reigned upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. and he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord. And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt. Thus far the reading of God's word. The text for this evening's sermon is actually this entire account, but if I can direct your attention, it would be to verse 16. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand and upon the hand of his wife and upon the hand of his two daughters. the Lord being merciful unto him. And they brought him forth and set him without the city. We have come, dear congregation, to the last night of this year, 2013. For many of us, I think that this year has flown by. It seemed like it had just started. But here we have already come to the end of this year and the last night of this year. What will this last night be like? What will happen yet in this last night? What will happen in your last night? What will happen in the last night of this present world? Where will you be? Will you be safe with the living Church in Christ? or will you perish with the dying world outside of Christ? What will that last night be like? Jesus says in Luke 17, that last night will be like that day when lot went out of Sodom and it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Will you be safe on that day? or will you perish? Let's ask these questions, dealing honestly with our souls on this last night of the year, listening to the last night of Sodom. That's what you can write over this sermon, the last night of Sodom. We'll see three things. First of all, what the world does. Secondly, what the church does. And thirdly, what the Lord does. The last night of Sodom, what the world does what the church does, and what the Lord does. We meet Lot this evening, this nephew of Abram in Genesis 19. It's not the first time that we meet him in this chapter, but it is the last chapter in which we do meet him in this book of Genesis. What do we know about Lot? Well, for one thing, he's a saved man. He's a saved man. We might not think it if we were just left to the testimony of Lot in the book of Genesis. The Lord says it of him in 2 Peter 2, verses 7 and 8. There he says that Lot was a righteous man. He belonged to the people of God, receiving the righteousness of the one who was promised to come in the book of Genesis. And in the fullness of time came. But yeah, in the land of Sodom, which was full of unrighteousness, here is a righteous man. In fact, Abram in the chapter just before, Genesis 19, has been praying to the God, the Judge of all the earth, who will do right, that He will not slay the wicked with the righteous. And if there are ten righteous in the city, the Lord will not destroy Sodom. Are there ten? Are there five righteous? No, but Lot is righteous. Something has happened in Lot's life. The Word of God had come to Lot through Abraham, but Lot, as a nephew of Abram, had also come in contact with it, and that Word had done something in his heart and life. So that Lot, too, was willing to follow the Lord and come to that land which the Lord had promised to Abram. And he embraced it. In faith, the Word of God, he embraced it. That's why we can say, first of all, he's a saves man. Secondly, he's a compromising man. He's a compromising man for, you know the story, how when there was not enough grass for Lot's cattle and Abram's cattle, then Abram offers Lot first pick. Which land do you want, Lot? And Lot does not need much time. His eyes are set on the plains of Jordan, this well-watered place that's a fruitful place. It's like the Garden of Eden. And he makes that his choice and he heads towards Sodom. First, he stays outside of Sodom, but pitching his tent towards Sodom, he maybe thinks that he can still try and be faithful and stay outside the city. But he couldn't stay outside the city. The draw to the city was just too strong. Maybe his daughters had encouraged him, Come, Dad. Don't be so old-fashioned, Dad. And maybe he had begun to reason it out by saying, well, you can't always say no. And, you know, poor Uncle Abraham living in tents and that pilgrim life, that's not so ideal either. And you can't do that forever. And that's how many Christians are. We don't need to be that strict, they say. You don't have to be that old-fashioned. And Lot has even allowed his two daughters to be engaged to men of Sodom. He's allowing them to be unequally yoked. But that cannot go well. Love for the world, it cannot go well. Jude says that we are to hate even the garment spotted by the flesh. The Lord Himself says in the last book of the Bible to His church in Revelation 18, to come out of the world, that wicked Babylon, that wicked harlot city, and be separate, the Lord says. But Lot had no use for that. No need to be distinct. To be set apart. It's fine to compromise. And so Lot was a compromising man. Thirdly, not only a saved man, not only a compromising man, but he tried to become an influential man. An influential man. When we meet him here in this chapter, we meet him boys and girls in the city gate. It's the place where disputes were settled, where business deals were finalized in those days. Verse 9 of this chapter says that he's even a judge. Maybe that's what he had hoped. when he moved into Sodom, that maybe he could do some good in Sodom. Maybe that's why he settled there in Sodom. But how do you influence Sodom? And how do you try to reach the world? And then the philosophy of many is that you have to try and be like them in order to influence them. You first have to befriend them. You can't, after all, stay separate from them. You have to befriend them, that's how people reason, and then maybe They'll change. It's not true. But that's how people think. Even in the Christian church. And that's why Lot was willing to compromise. And to give a little. And to have them like him. In order to try and change them. Sad. Don't you think? That spirit. Sad. How much influence do you really have when you sacrifice principles, biblical principles? How much will Lot influence Sodom? And that's why he's an unhappy man. That's the fourth thing we can say about him. He's an unhappy man. Peter will say that in 2 Peter 8. that he vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. And when Peter uses that word vexed, he uses this strong word meaning tormented. It's the same word that's used in Matthew 24, verse 24, to describe the boat that is battered by the waves. It's the same word that's used of the demons in the gathering who ask Jesus, art thou come hither to torment me or torment us before the time? That's how it is for Lot. He's tormented inside his soul. And how unhappy he is. What distress there is in his soul living there in Sodom. He is a child of God. The Spirit has begun to live in him. And even though there has been much compromise and backsliding in Sodom, he can't be happy there. He can't be at peace there. And there he is. Living in Sodom. not warning Sodom. He's not denouncing Sodom's sins. He's not a preacher of righteousness like Noah was in Genesis 6, or like Enoch who also was a preacher of righteousness, spoke the words of judgment and was not afraid of condemning sin. No, Lot was quiet about it. He vexed his soul, but that's where it stayed. He doesn't dare to talk about it in the city gate. And thereby, he's all alone, missing the favor of God, missing the communion with God. And I wonder if that may be how this year has been for you. Has there been compromise? Befriending the world? How can you be happy then? And now on this last night of Sodom, two strangers make their way into the city. Messengers from God. They've been sent by God in order to examine the city of Sodom one last time. It's like a final exam, boys and girls, young people at college or university or high school. That final exam, the final test. To use an illustration, it's like the prosecutor investigating the case and coming to his final conclusions and submitting his final arguments to the judge. How would we fare in such a test? What report would they bring to the Lord about you when the books are open? What will they say of you and me? That's the errand that these messengers have been sent on. Lot meets them at the gate and he shows respect to them and he invites them into his house to spend the night so that they might leave early again the next morning. Verse 2, that they might leave early again the next morning. Rise up early and go on your ways. You see, Lot knows that himself Sodom is not a place where strangers should hang around. This is not a place where strangers should linger. And Lot insists that they spend the night at his address. And he won't take no as an answer. He convinces them, even though they're suggesting that they should spend the night in the city square. No, Lot insists that his house be their shelter for the night. And they're treated kindly in the house of Lot. But while they get ready to lay down in Lot's house, a mob, a mob is beginning to gather around his house. A large mob made up, verse 4 says, of young and old from every corner or quarter of Sodom there to there. A large mob And it's a lustful mob. It's a mob that's set on wickedness, set on perversion, that makes a dreadful demand for these visitors that are in Lot's house to be brought out so that they might do with them as they please, so that they might fulfill their wicked desires. And when you hear this, the test result is in, isn't it? Sodom is Sin City. It was Gay Pride Week every week in Sodom. Nothing restrained these inhabitants of Sodom anymore. And our world is not so far behind Sodom. It's my body, they say. I can do with it as I please. And shameful things for which we should blush are openly promoted. And governments want this taught to our children. We're not so far behind Sodom. The evidence is there. Maybe we are just becoming desensitized because it's so in your face. We're not that far behind Sodom. He goes outside and he tries to reason with the men of the city. And he says, don't do such wicked things. And he tries to bargain with these wicked men. And he offers his own daughters to them. Do you see how Sodom has influenced Lot more than Lot has influenced Sodom? Their demand is a wicked demand. But his counteroffer, is just as wicked. And so it is judgment day for Sodom. In the words of Romans 1, verse 26, God has given them up unto their vile affections. What began in secret is now done openly. And there is a burning in lust one toward another. It is judgment day already in Sodom. It is now just fire and brimstone day. But judgment has already been passed. That's why they've been given up to their lustful desires. And the men of Sodom, hearing the offer of Lot, are not all that interested. Instead, they turn against Lot. His life is in danger. And the crowd surges forward. And his own life is about to be snuffed out. But then the angels reach out and pull Lot back into the house and shut the door and smite the Sodomites with blindness. as the Lord did later on with the Syrian army when they came to find God's prophet Elisha. So then the men of Sodom are struck with blindness and they are struggling about in the dark. And their last night is spent without light. And in just a few hours, these men will be cast into the darkest blackness ever. You see, the wickedness of the world. Let that be the first lesson that we can draw already at this point. The wickedness of the world. You see, Matthew Henry says that those who have become impudent or brazen or bold in sin, those who have become impudent in sin generally prove to be impenitent in sin. And it will be their ruin. Those who have hard hearts often sin with high hands. Friends, are you any better than Sodom? Do you have any reason to look down on Sodom? Is that lustful glance any better? Is that spirit of pride any better? Is self-righteousness and unbelief any better? You know, there are respectable sins that are just as worthy of God's anger and punishment. Would it not be best if we see that we are deserving of His judgment, that we deserve that this should be our last night, and that we bow before Him saying, I am evil, born in sin. That's what this year has shown in my life. The wickedness of my heart. And that the wickedness of the world is there just as well. Secondly, we see the unreasonableness of the world, the unreasonableness of the world. Yes, I know that many of us maybe are trying to reason with the world and trying to compromise with the world. Maybe that's what we've been doing in this past year. We listen to the demands of the world. to sin and we meet them halfway. No, I won't do that wicked thing, but why not this thing? It's just as wicked. How many have this past year tried to maintain friendships with the world? You know what Lot does at least? Lot at least keeps the mob, keeps the world outside of his house. How many of us have the mob inside our house? The world inside our house? And how many fathers have this past year said with lot and with the angels, this can't come into our house. Let us keep the door closed to the world. Young people, let us keep the door closed to the entertainment of the world. Let us keep Netflix out. Let a father say to a son or a daughter, let's look at what you have on your phone. And what needs to be removed from your phone? What are you looking at? And that in all love and compassion we do that. You see, at least law keeps the door shut. And for how many has the world come into our homes this past year? Let's realize we can't reason with the world. We can't negotiate with the world. It only leads to compromise. There are things that we just need to shut the door to. There are times you can't win an argument with the world. They just won't listen. They just don't get it that we just do well to shut the door, as the angels do, that we shut the door to the world and to friends of the world. I know that they can be hard, and I know that there can be complexities with modern technology, but James says, keep yourselves unspotted from the world. See what the world is doing in their last night. They're doing it tonight, too. Yeah, it's their last night for Sodom. And they're seeking their sinful pleasures and they're pursuing the pleasures of sin for a moment before the agonies of hell. They're in ignorance in their last night. And they don't know that judgment is coming in only a few hours. Now, how terrible that is not to know what you need to know. To be ignorant, as Sodom is ignorant, that judgment is coming. What's worse than that is to know, as you and I and as the church should know, that the last day is coming. And we're not prepared. That's worse. What is the world doing on the last day? Making themselves ripe for judgment. Friends, is that how we will spend our last night of this year? We not only see what the world does, but we also see what the church does. Our second point, what the church does, for we do find the church in Sodom. We find it in Lot, who through Abram has received many privileges, who has been taught the oracles of God, who has heard of the worship of the true God, who's heard and received the promises of God. Oh, it's true. The church is not that big in Sodom. Extended to Lot, his wife and his two daughters. It was a backslid in church, that's true. The Lord could say, as He would say to one of the seven churches, I have somewhat against thee. But what does the church do in Sodom on its last night? For one single night had given the messengers of God sufficient information to know Sodom was doomed to destruction. And the angels tell Lot that they have been sent to destroy Sodom. But they offer to bring him and others out of the city. Verse 12, Hast thou here any besides, son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place. God is willing, in other words, to extend His mercy to others who belong to Lot, like He was willing to show mercy to anyone who was in the house of Rahab there in the city of Jericho, so that all Jericho will be destroyed, but those who are in the house with Rahab will be spared. Lot's two daughters are engaged to be married to men of the city. And Lot goes through the streets of Sodom to speak to them in the middle of the night and urges them. Verse 14, urges them to get out of the city, for the Lord will destroy the city. You see, they don't have like Nineveh had. Forty days and forty nights. No judgment is coming now. They must make their escape now or never. They didn't take his words seriously. The last words of verse 14, He seemed as one that mocked. That's the same thing that is said of Ishmael, who mocked young Isaac in Genesis 21. That's the word that's used here. These men say to Lot, Lot, you must be joking. Lot! You're overreacting. And maybe Law tried to convince them some more, but the more he said, the more they laughed. And John Trapp, the Puritan, said this, Graceless hearts cheer when they should fear. They laughed. Maybe they laughed because they had never They'd never heard Lot speak this way before. And when he does speak, they think, Lot, you must be out of your mind. Lot, you've sent so many different signals. You've sent so many mixed signals. Lot, you've joined us. You've joined the Sodom. And you've come so far and you've compromised so much. But having compromised so much, he had no more credibility. No more credibility when He warned. You see, the lesson we can draw here, we can lose our credibility when we compromise. We can lose our credibility when we live a compromised life and then the words that you speak don't ring true because there is no godliness. There is no holiness. There's nothing in your life to show that there is a difference. There's no separation from the world. There's no seriousness. And if that's missing, if there's never seriousness in our dealings with others, then how can you be taken seriously? Lot had been far too silent. And I wonder at the end of this year, is that how it's been for you, fathers, mothers? Become too silent. You've laughed a lot, but you've never been solemn, never warned. Or have you done that? Warned your children this past year in love? spoken to them in all earnestness to break with their sin, to flee the wrath to come, that they need a new heart. And when your children hear it from you, do they know that they're hearing it from someone who desires in all sincerity to live in the fear of God? Do you have credibility? Or have you lost lost your credibility. You see what the church is doing on the last night. It's witnessing. It's true. It's witnessing. But it's sad to say it's a poor witness. It's an ineffective witness. There's reason to humble ourselves to, isn't there? To feel the urgency of the call that comes to us For there's a second thing that marks Lot here. Not only that he's witnessing, but he's lingering. He's lingering. The night is quickly slipping away. The morning was coming. The angels have to urge Lot. They have to hurry Lot. Verse 15, And it seems the urgency has worn off. And verse 16, Lot is said to be lingering. He's delaying. You know what that is, young people. You know what it is to have to do something, but you postpone. Maybe it's an assignment for school. You don't really feel like it, and so you procrastinate. You leave it for the last minute. Or maybe you know that you should stop with a certain sin in your life, or you know that you should end a relationship in your life, and a friendship maybe in your life, because they don't fear God. But you find it so hard to break with such a relationship, and you delay, and you postpone. That's what Lot's doing. Was he lingering because it was so hard to believe that Sodom had had it last night? That Sodom would be destroyed? That Lot maybe said to himself, how can this be? It looks like it's going to be just like any other day. A beautiful morning, just like any other morning. And maybe he's halting between two opinions. And maybe Lot's wife is slowing him down, but he's hesitating. He's lingering. And maybe that's what you've been doing this past year. Maybe you're doing it still tonight. Maybe your wife has been delaying you. Or maybe a friend has been delaying too. Or maybe a parent. Just delaying in the gospel call and there's procrastination and you say to yourself, oh, surely there will be more time. Maybe as a young person, you say, but I'm still so young. I've got many years and I'm not the only one who's delaying. There are others who have procrastinated, too, and it went OK for them. Lot could have said that to my wife's lingering. And my daughters are not ready to leave Sodom either, and I can't leave my job just like that. I've got a role to play in the city gates, and maybe I should go and announce something tomorrow in the city gates. Or maybe I just can't leave like this. The people of the city will laugh at me, and I'll seem like such a foolish man. Friend, is your job more important than your soul? and your reputation more important than your never-dying soul. Maybe you say, but I can leave it for the last minute. Maybe I can leave it for the last hours of my life. Maybe I'll leave it to my sickness. Then I'll repent. Matthew Henry writes, Thus many that are under some convictions about the misery of their spiritual state and the necessity of a change, Yet defer that needful work and foolishly linger. And there are thousands of reasons to linger. Thousands of excuses you can make up to linger. Tomorrow will be another day. And that's the word of the devil. But the Lord says today. Haste for thy life today. while he proffers peace and pardon, let us hear his voice today, lest if we are hard and we should perish in the way. And that's what Lot is about to do. Left to himself, he's about to perish. Lot, as a child of God, would have destroyed himself and perished with the ungodly had not the Lord intervened. And Peter is right when he says the righteous, that the righteous are scarcely saved. scarcely saved, not that their salvation is uncertain, but they're saved by great difficulty, for we can make it so difficult on ourselves when there is no clear break with sin and no clear break with the world and when we're sitting instead of running, when we're resting and being at ease in Zion when we should be fleeing. Is that what you've been doing this past year? Let me ask it of those who have come to know of the grace of God in your life. A lot after all is someone like that. Have you been lingering? Halting between two opinions? Procrastinating with things that need to be broken? Ah, thanks be to God we don't have to end the sermon there. To just listen to what the world is doing, first of all, or what the church is doing, secondly, but to hear lastly of what the Lord is doing. Verse 60, And while he lingered, the man laid hold upon his hand and upon the hand of his wife and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto him. and they brought Him forth and set Him without the city. The Lord did something that parents sometimes need to do with their children. When they're clinging to something and are slow to obey and they don't want to let go of what they're holding on to, then parents have to free those hands and take them by the hand and with love and firmness guide them to where they want them. It's violence, Matthew Henry writes. It's gracious violence what happens here. For Lot was so attached to Sodom. He was so rooted in Sodom that the angels had to pull him out and uproot him. And to say, verse 17, escape, escape for thy life. Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. and they allow Lot to find safety in Zoar, a city that becomes for Lot a city of refuge. Do you see what the Lord does? Do you see what mercy does? The Lord, by mercy, took them by the hand. And like that text in Zechariah, He plucks Lot as a brand out of the burning. With these strong hands of mercy, He grips them. Those hands that the Bible speaks of more often. Those hands of God, like in Hebrews 8 verse 9. Those hands that brought Israel out of the land of Egypt. I took them by the hand, the Apostle writes. Or those hands that Jesus speaks of in John 6 verse 44. No man can come unto Me except the Father which hath sent Me. Draw him! Those hands that brings, that draws, that leads a sinner where he will not bring himself. And I wonder this evening, have you escaped for your life? Have you fled the wrath to come? Have you been roused out of your carnal security? Have the hands of God laid hold upon you in your soul and broken the tie that ties you to the world? Has that grip of mercy gripped you? that with holy and gracious violence you're brought out of the city of destruction like Christian. And Pilgrim's Progress has that happened that you can say with Isaac Watts in one of his hymns, it was the same love that sweetly forced, forced, yes, sweetly forced me in else I had still refused and perished in my sin. Those hands that were stretched out on the cross of Golgotha where Jesus takes the fire and the brimstone and He lets Himself go into the fire. The fire that His people deserve and He bears it in their stead. and lets them shelter by the cross where He bears the agony of hell. And He gives you safety there. Have those hands, boys and girls, have they brought you to the cross? Have they rooted you up out of Sodom and brought you to the city of refuge? Lot made it. Lot's two daughters made it. Lot's wife did not. She had great privileges. Her husband was a righteous man. Her uncle was Uncle Abraham. She came in contact with the promises of God. She had great privileges. as you do. But privileges will not save you. You may be married to a Christian, a true Christian, but being married to a Christian won't save you. It did not save Lot's wife. You may to come in contact with the promises of God in a way that maybe you had never anticipated. Lot's wife came in contact with the promises, but they didn't save her. It seems from verse 27, she was lagging behind ever since they began to run. Maybe her steps were marked by reluctance as if something was holding her back. And there was. Her heart was nicked of Sodom. Her heart was set on Sodom. She had left Sodom, but Sodom had not left her. She had heard that voice that said, now don't look back. But there was another voice that she heard inside that said, ah, just a little look. Just look at all that you're leaving behind. It's where you live these 20 years. Can it really be that bad to just turn a little? She became a pillar of salt. Sodom was... Jesus says that where your heart is there, your treasure will be also. Sodom was her treasure. That's where her heart was. The Lord was not her treasure. And then it can't go well for friendship with the world, embracing the world, taking those hands and worshipping the world. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Remember Lot's wife. And where will your eyes be? Where will your eyes be set upon on the last day? When the great day comes and the trumpet Will you be looking longingly at this world and at your homes and at your pleasures? And so, judgment came upon her. Remember, Lot's wife, she became a pillar of salt covered with what would cover that whole region. Salt. And she died suddenly. And she died in the very act of sin. And she dies outside of Sodom. She has been shown the way of mercy, the place of safety. She's about to obtain mercy, but she's condemned. She stops running. And she turns her head and she scarcely looks She can't even make out her house. And she becomes a pillar of salt. And she'll never move again. Stand there as a statue of salt. Remember Lot's wife. Her doom came sudden. It came upon her before it came upon Sodom. and she had no more time to repent. Remember Lot's wife. Remember that the next time you're tempted to surf the web and click on sites that you shouldn't click on. The next time you're tempted to download that YouTube video You're tempted to turn on that music. It is not honoring to God. Remember God's life. My brother tells a story of a man who'd been piling up brush, branches, logs of trees, piling that on his property for some years. There had come this large pile of brush there in his backfield and the day came when he decided to burn it up. He poured fuel over it and he lit the match. The flame began to spread and suddenly out of that brush some rabbits and a few birds came out and took off in an instant. And then he suddenly saw two raccoons coming out of the brush. One of the raccoons started running and kept running and never turned back. The other stayed on the edges of the brush, trying to escape without leaving the woodpile, climbing branches, climbing trees, trying to flee without having to leave. And the fire consumed that second raccoon. You see, that raccoon was so knit to the brush. That was its home. Is that how it is for you? And the Lord says tonight, the last night of 2013, escape for your life and flee to the rock of ages left for sin. Hide yourself there in the cleft of the Lord Jesus. Seek refuge in Him. He can give you the grace you need, the mercy you need. He can set those legs that are so paralyzed, He can set them in motion. so that you're drawn out to the Lord Jesus, so that you go down on your knees and you begin to plead for mercy. I need Thy hands, O Lord, to rescue me, to save me, to bring me to the cross. Oh, hide me, O my Savior. Hide me till the storm of life is past. Safe into the haven, guide me. Oh, receive my soul at last. The Lord is still merciful. He can still rescue you. He can still receive your soul at last. He has promised to do it. He has grace to give for it. And He can bring you where it is safe so that you arrive and hide at the cross of Jesus. And you bow and you are sheltered by Him. And He lets you know it. And what do you think Lot said? What do you think Lot said with his daughters when he reached safety? Don't you think he said what Paul would later on say? I, the chief of sinners, the world so rooted in me, I obtain mercy. That would be a good way to end, don't you think? Amen. Let us pray and give thanks, O Lord of heaven and earth, the wonder that Thou dost visit us here in Thy house with a warning from the pulpit. Not only a warning to awaken, but an invitation to shelter in the Lord Jesus Christ and a call for those who have sheltered there to be filled with wonder and amazement. And that will be an eternal wonder to thy people. Lord, will thou remember us when Sodom is so close and it cannot be long anymore, after having given up our nation to itself, that thou wilt come with the final fire and brimstone. O Lord, grant that we would not be like those fiancés who laugh, who cheer when they should fear, Lord, apply thy Word. Forgive our sins in preaching and in listening. Thank thee for upholding us. Be with us further. Also, as we end this year, grant that it may be ending it with an open Bible, bended knees, and that thou wilt bring us together also on the first day of the new year to this place and speak. Thou wilt spare us. Take none out of this life unprepared. Not boys or girls. Young people. Old or young. Have mercy, Lord, we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.