Chapter 19, verses 1 through 29, give your attention to God's holy and inspired word. The two angels came to Sodom in the evening and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, my lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way. They said, no, we will spend the night in the town square. But he pressed them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man 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. Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door behind them, and said, I beg of you, brothers, do not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and you do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof. But they said, stand back, and they said, This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them. And then they pressed hard against the man lot and drew near to break down the door. But the men reached out their hands and brought lot 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 small and great, so that they wore themselves out, groping for the door. Then the men said to Lot, have you anyone else here, sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place, for we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, up, get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city, But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city. But he lingered. And so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him. And they brought him out and set him outside the city. And as they brought him out, one said, escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills lest you be swept away. And Lot said to them, oh no, my lords. Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life, but I cannot escape to the hills lest a disaster overtake me and I die. Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it's a little one. Let me escape there. Is it not a little one, and my life will be saved? He said to him. Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing until you arrive there. Therefore, the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew these cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife behind him looked back and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord and he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley. And he looked and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. So it was that when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. Amen. Let's ask the Lord's blessing upon this word. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you that you have caused all of Holy Scripture to be written for our instruction and for our learning, for our humility, O Lord. for our repentance and faith that we might grow in grace. And so we pray now as we consider these words that you would give us insight, knowledge, oh Lord, and Lord, especially that you would help us to walk rightly in light of them in a way that pleases you, oh Lord, and is good to our neighbor. We thank you for your son and your spirit whom you give us to help us, Lord, to understand your holy instruction. Bless us now, Lord, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. I've only been in one earthquake my entire life, and it was actually just shortly after we moved to Hickory one Sunday morning, sitting and drinking coffee when the windows started to shake, and I looked outside, and the light wires in our backyard were kind of like wavy. We had that little tiny earthquake back in 2000, I don't know, 20 or so. Yet, I did live in California for a combined total of two years of my life, and the whole time I was there, I was hoping that I would just experience a little tremor, just to say I had been through one. No doubt, as you look at the news, anytime there's a bit of a rattle in California, whether it's Southern or Northern California, there raises a question in the hearts of people who live there, perhaps people throughout the country, and that is, is this merely an indication of something bigger to come? Is this not an aftershock? Or the actual earthquake, is this a foreshock? Is this an indication that soon maybe the big one will hit and it'll level, say, the cities of Los Angeles or San Diego or San Francisco? These questions. they are often raised. Because sometimes, that's the way earthquakes work, sometimes they're just immediate and you have no anticipation of them coming, like say the one that hit just north of here in 2020. But sometimes you get a few warnings. Sometimes you get a couple of rattles, a couple of rumblings that really serve to entail you and to enlighten your eyes and to give to your heart a desire to flee because something greater is coming. That's exactly what we have in this chapter. We have in Genesis 19, amidst all of the sordid details, not only of what happens in Sodom, but as we'll see next week, what happens with Lot and his daughters, we have here a foreshock, you could say, a reminder of what awaits everyone who will not turn from any of their sins, no matter which sin is their pet sin. Here is a warning for all who would persist in unbelief that there is a great destruction to come. And it will be far more terrific, far more wonderful, far more awesome, far more terrifying than sulfur and fire raining from heaven upon two cities in a valley. Indeed, as we've been in Genesis thus far, we've already seen one of those foreshocks, one of those reminders of a judgment to come, and it's the flood itself. Together with Babylon, the confusing of the languages. Judgments both, but judgments both as, again, as terrifying as they might be, most notably the flood, they are merely foreshocks of the great judgment to come. That's what we'll see as we go through this passage. We'll understand it in light of the rest of the scripture, in the light of what this passage reveals to us about our own sin, about our own need of a savior, and about the rescue that God provides for his people, even from judgment. A few points we'll look at this morning, we'll consider, you have these outlined in your bulletins, how these verses serve to us as a sad account of judgment, of remembrance, of repentance, and ultimately, This is where the joyous part comes in, you could say, of rescue. So let's jump in. Let's consider this passage. It's a well-known passage. It's one that occupies a particular spot in even our culture's memory. You can ask pretty much anyone on the street and they might have some vague understanding of what this chapter involves and includes. They might hate it and find it disgusting, but yet still, it still is a chapter of the Bible, like so many, that are, they stand out, right? they are there and they occupy a place in our memory not only in the church but outside of the church. So let's consider what's going on here in Sodom. Now this passage picks up on the hills of God visiting Abraham in the form of a man with two of his angel servants and Abraham interceding on behalf of this city, Sodom, where his nephew, Lot, is living. We saw this last week as Abraham pleaded with the Lord on behalf of the people of Sodom. If there are just, say, 50 or 40 or 45 or 30 or 20 or 10 righteous people there, then please have mercy on them, and God says he would. But there aren't 10 righteous. There seems to be only a handful. Lot, and clearly he's in a bit of a backslidden state. together with some of his family. Here we have a dire situation in Sodom. We've seen thus far that this city is renowned for its wickedness. Back in Genesis 14, we are told of Sodom that its people are known for their sin. And the king of Sodom, even after having been rescued by Abraham, failed to give any sort of thankfulness, merely just said, give me what? Give me my stuff and let me go home. He failed to give allegiance or to give thanks to the king who had rescued him. And very much does Abraham act as a king in that chapter. Sodom is a city renowned for its ungodliness. Even in the context here, twice, we saw last week and now in the passage before us this morning, that there has been an outcry to the Lord against this city. Look at verse 13 of Genesis 19. The angels say, we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against this people has become so great against, or before the Lord. So we would do well to think for a second, knowing this narrative, we don't have to trace it out thoroughly. We've read it, we know it. We should think of what the sin of Sodom is. Ask yourself that question before we even look at it, maybe in a little bit more depth, and look at the rest of the scripture. What is the sin at root in Sodom? Because the Bible is very clear about what it is. I mean, clearly in the narrative itself, we see that the men of the city, down to every last one, both young and old, are thirsty. They are desirous of seizing hold of these visitors to Lot in order to violate and abuse them in the most heinous way possible. And they are dead set on it. So much so that when they're stricken with blindness by the angels, they grope about the door, seeking to tear it down just to get to what they want. That sad, treacherous sin there described, sodomy, homosexuality, whatever you call it, it is merely the culmination of a life of sin. of a whole culture of debauchery. We know that from the rest of the Bible and what it says. Later on in the Bible, in the history, in the prophet Ezekiel, God is speaking to his people Israel and he's describing what he's done to his people. faithful covenant people. He sought them out. He found them beside the road, cast off and rejected even as a baby and raised his people and then became like a husband to them and cared for his bride and did everything for her and yet she went and rebelled against him and committed adultery with every single passerby and God continually sought her out. And the prophet Ezekiel levels a judgment against Israel as the wayward bride of the Lord, the wayward adulteress. And as a part of that judgment, the Lord says to his own people that they are more corrupt than Sodom. Ezekiel 16 verses 49 says this. or 48 and 49 says, as I live declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters had pride, excess of food and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and they did an abomination before me. Look at the list of sins that lie at the root of this city. Pride, first and foremost, which the church's father Augustine said is the mother of all sins. The soil from which every other sin grows together with gluttony, excess of food, and perhaps just this lackadaisical state, prosperous ease. They had all their needs met, and of course they didn't need the Lord. They did not care for those who did have need, the poor and needy, and They were prideful again, were haughty. When something's mentioned twice, it's notable. And then they committed an abomination before the Lord, using the language of Leviticus 18 and 19 to describe the act of homosexuality. This is what they are known for. Yet their sin goes even further. In the language of Genesis, or in the culture of Genesis 19, even as we saw a bit last week, there is a high, high, a price put on one's hospitality. And here, as you get to Sodom, you have two men traveling and needing a place to stay, and they perhaps, of course, they're angels, they know the whole situation, they pretend to be a bit ignorant. They say, no, we'll stay in the city square whenever Lot seeks them out. But Lot is zealous and good to them that he offers to them gracious hospitality, the same way Abraham offered to these very same angels the day before as they approached him, you know, making a feast, baking bread, slaughtering a calf and setting before them all this food and then sending them on their way. In this day, in that time, in that culture, that level of hospitality was a mark of godliness a mark of kindness, a mark of love towards others. And Lot illustrates it here. He shows it to us here. He shows this hospitality to these strangers, even in a way that anticipates the coming Passover and alerts us to what's about to happen in this text, which is the reason why he has unleavened bread here set before them. But the people of Sodom do not. They have one thing on their minds, and it's to use and abuse these men. which is not, I mean, it's the complete opposite of any kind of hospitality, whether worldly or godly itself. And that's a serious ordeal in its day and time, and it's a terrible thing. We see how serious it is, perhaps, in Lot's attempt to avert the whole situation here. As the men press in on Lot, he says wisely in verse six, I beg of you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. And then very foolishly in verse seven, I have two daughters, why don't you take them instead? He is not the paradigm of a good father here, nor next week we'll see. But perhaps what he's doing there, even if it's a bluff, even if he wouldn't actually do it, he was just seeking a way to get back inside or to diffuse the situation, it's still a very terrible attempt to quell the riot at his door. But it shows, in his mind perhaps, greatness of, or the desire to be hospitable to guests in the day and time in which he lived. All these sins culminate in the desires of the mob at Lot's door. All these sins are ones in which God's people today, together with the cultures in which we live, the lands in which we dwell, continue to struggle with, are they not? Or perhaps not to struggle with, and that's the problem. Give way to, live by, pride, ease, prosperity, lack of care for the poor and needy, sexual deviancy, lack of hospitality, all these things all fit together into a debauched state. A bit of an aside, considering this passage, a bit of application that is absolutely necessary to make to the church today, is to note how these verses are used in the whole discussion concerning LGBTQ issues or even what could be called the gay Christian movement. Oftentimes, I'll look to a passage like this and say, see? This passage is not dealing with homosexuality at its basis. It's dealing with this murderous, thirsty desire to abuse others. It's dealing with lack of hospitality. It's dealing with pride and all of these other sins. The Bible nowhere says anything against a loving, monogamous homosexual relationship. And they'll say, look, this passage doesn't. This is clearly, this is wrong, no matter what side of the issue you're on. Now that's true in a way, at least the part about the sins in Sodom being more multifaceted than just their sexual deviancy. But it fails to account for the rest of Scripture. where we look at not only Leviticus 18 and 19 and the discussions of what is an abomination to the Lord there, but furthermore, in Romans chapter one, where God himself says that the sexual deviancy of homosexuality is itself a perversion of the whole creation's order itself. And it comes about as the fruit of sinfulness. Yet, as we find throughout the rest of Scripture, take most notably 1 Corinthians 6, it is not the unpardonable sin. It can be redeemed. And many have been redeemed out of that lifestyle. Even as Jesus said in his discussions in Matthew 11, if the gospel, if that level, that sort, if the good works done in the land of Capernaum had been done in Sodom, they would have been saved. You know, obviously God knows who will be saved, who will be his own. But he's saying that even the gospel can overpower this hardness of heart. The thing we should take away from this passage, above all, before we even get to the rest of the four points before us this morning, is that of judgment against sin. Whatever form the sin takes. But yes, especially heinous, destructive, terrible, abominable sins before the Lord, the seeds of which are in each of our hearts. So all of us, as we consider this account, whether Christian, but especially if not, should hear this account as a warning of what awaits an unrepentant heart. of what awaits someone or a people who walk antithetical to God's law and the path of true freedom and goodness and delight and blessing that he sets before us in his instruction. That which awaits such a culture, such a city, such a place, such a people, such a person is the judgment of a righteous and holy God. Therefore, Considering this passage, we should think of it as judgment on sin, but then secondly, as a means to remember, something to remember as we consider our own sins. In other words, that is, this passage is set before us as a remembrance in order to warn us. And there are three ways in which it does that, at least three ways I've outlined here first. is as we see the, consider the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil, and especially as these temptations come to, come to result in a life that is backslidden, we ought be warned if such is our life. Second Peter, or the Apostle Peter in his second letter speaks of Lot dwelling in Sodom. In 2 Peter chapter two, verses seven and following, or verse eight, it speaks of Sodom as that righteous man who lived among them, the people of Sodom, day after day, and as he did so, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard. Now, he's called a righteous man, he's in covenant with God, but his situation, living in Sodom, is itself an error. on his part, if not a full-fledged sin and rebellion against the Lord, is at least very, very, very, very unwise. Remember, there was a choice given to Lot. Dwell in any part of the land you want. God, or Abraham, said that our families, they're too plentiful. We can't feed all of our cows with the grass that's on the fields before us. We need to separate. And so Abraham gave Lot any choice, any place he wanted to dwell in the land. And where did he go? The best part. the fertile valley, the wealthy, prosperous cities. And he let perhaps his desire for security, for wealth, for that to override a more wise choice, not to go and live amongst places that are known for their debauchery and sin. And so I think in light of 2 Peter, we can see Lot as an example of someone who has Not been wise. and he was backslidden terribly. By backsliding, we talked about this a bit last in the evening. Don't think someone who's lost their salvation, don't think someone who is in danger of losing their salvation, but truly a Christian can be using that term, backslidden, in that they're not walking rightly as they should, and it is not good for them. We read in 2 Peter, this is tormenting Lot. That should be a sign that where he is and the life he's living is not right. Our Christian life shouldn't be a torment. Now, in this world, we will face trials and temptations, but if his righteous soul was constantly tormented by what he saw before him, maybe he's not in the right place. And so, for him, this choice, this desire, this place of residence would spell disaster for, well, really much of his family, his wife and his daughters. So this is a passage we all remember as we're tempted to walk in ways of folly, to be motivated more by our ease, by security, to be motivated less by being and dwelling amongst God's people, by following his instructions. Secondly, we're to remember here the great judgment to come and the means of escaping it. This is what I mentioned earlier in the introduction, is that this, together with the flood, together with Babel, is like a foreshock. It's a earthquake that happens at the beginning to remind you that the big one's coming, and you cannot escape it if you stay where you are. You have to flee to the mountains, flee to the hills, get out of the city of destruction, run for your life, seize hold of the gospel trust in Christ, because judgment is coming. And that's exactly what this passage preaches to each of us. To flee from destruction. Remember that's what Pilgrim God, his little scroll, told him that. The city in which he was dwelling was about to be destroyed and so he must flee. And the same is true of all of us. Flee to destruction that is coming. Yes, God promised he will never flood the earth again to blot out all life. But there will be a great judgment when the Lord returns, when the heavens are set on fire, when he himself judges the living and the dead as the just judge of all the earth, who knows the hearts of all mankind. All of our hearts this morning are open before him. And so if we are persisting in unbelief, and here is especially a warning to you who have not named Christ and trusted in him and embraced the gospel that you hear this morning, that perhaps you've heard every morning, every Sunday of your whole life, to remember Sodom. Remember that judgment comes. You cannot escape it. Whether you mock it now, whether you disbelieve it now, it will come. The third thing to remember here is that all of us ought persevere. By faith, trusting in the promises of God, setting our hands to the plow and not looking back. And I say that because Lot's wife. They escape the city. Actually, we'll see this in a second. The rescue here is forced in a way. Lot and his family, they linger and the angels have to seize them and drag them out of the city and tells them to go and go to the hills. But ultimately, Lot says, I can't go to the hills. Let me go to the small city adjacent. And the angels say, you can do that. And so he goes there, but they give him the command, do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. And then we read in verse 26, and this is exactly what Lot's wife did. She was behind them as they were traveling, and she looked back, and she became a pillar of stone. When I was a kid, I read this verse, or I remember hearing this story, and it terrified me. Because I used to think, man, if I were there, how tempting would it be not to look back, right? You hear the destruction. You hear the fiery sulfur and brimstone falling from heaven and breaking apart these cities. And you think to yourself, man, I would look. I mean, how would I not? It would be so tempting just to get a sight of the fireworks, literally. Anytime there's a disaster on TV, right? Say there is a hurricane that's barreling down at some Gulf Coast state or even North Carolina. You read about a volcano and the lava's spilling through the streets. It's like nonstop coverage and you want to see it in a way. You want to see the destruction left after the tornado as it's reported on the news. And so I thought I would look back. So would I be damned like Lot's wife? Would I turn to a pillar of stone? Well, that's not what this passage is telling us. It's not saying, just don't look back and see the destruction, but this is a longing to be back there that Lot's wife had. This is someone who, in light of redemption, that is proclaimed to them, and even they're called up in a bit. Think of someone who grew up in the church. and tasted of the heavenly gift, have enjoyed the gospel ministry each Sunday, but yet still look to the world and do not look to heaven. We'll not look to Christ. We'll just look longingly at the world outside. That's what Lot's wife illustrates to us. The Lord Jesus himself, as he promises the end, the coming of the kingdom in its fullness, speaks of destruction to come. And he says, just as in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the son of man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark. The flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down and take them away. And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. And by that the Lord Jesus is saying, there is a judgment that is coming and it'll surprise you at that time. And at that time, even now as you prepare for it, let your heart not be wedded to this world, to the things in your house, to whatever you have, to your life in the world. Let it flee to the Lord. Let it look to the Lord. Let it long for the Lord. In other words, remembering Lot's wife and the call to persevere is remembering that our true citizenship, our true home is with the Lord. And nothing in heaven and nothing on earth is to be desired more than him. There perhaps are many in the church, perhaps even many here this morning or some, that have declared, that say they belong to Christ, but truly don't. Or perhaps there are children who have not yet confessed to faith, who sadly, as parents, will have to see walk away one day. Remember Lot's wife. Remember someone who has been a recipient of many privileges as belonging to the Lord and his people, at least outwardly, and yet never inwardly. Trust in the gospel to free you from this destruction. How do you do that? Well, it's by repentance and faith. Repentance and faith. I say that because the passage we read is our first reading of scripture. Jesus uses the the people of Sodom as an illustration to Jerusalem or to Capernaum in his own day, a city in which he did many mining works. a city in which he dwelt for a time, and he said of Capernaum, the city where he did all of these great signs and wonders and preached the gospel, perhaps for years, for weeks or months in his ministry, he says, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you. Why? Because that people had received so much of the good news, yet still turned aside from it. We're called, like Capernaum, to repentance, to hear the same Christ who says, woe to you who persist in unbelief. That's what he's saying. He also says, come to me, all who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. In order to repent, in order to be free of the judgment to come, in order to safely make it through the fire of God's righteous and holy and indeed loving wrath, is to feel and know your lostness, the terrible situation you're in. Embrace the woe that you might then embrace the rescue that is yours through Jesus Christ. This passage should call all of us, unbeliever or believer alike, to repentance. for the sins that we have in our hearts, that we perhaps even unknowingly have us that we walk in, especially as we come to this table to remember what our Savior has done to rescue us from the coming judgment of God's holy wrath. That we ourselves should repent, to turn aside with an acknowledgement of our hopeless, helpless situation. Woe is me. Turn aside unto the one who says, come to me. And I will give you rest. This passage is a call to repentance that promises and assures to all those who repent a glorious rescue. I said this is a sad account of judgment, remembrance, and repentance, but it's not sad. The rescue isn't, it's a delight to some. It's God's great mercy and shot through this chapter of judgment and sin and debauchery is the thread of God's redemption. First of all, the angels are there with Lot and they bring rescue. I mean, in an active way, right? They save Lot from being consumed by the abusive crowd. They reach in, they grab him, they strike with blindness the men of the city. That's the anticipation of what is yet to be. And then the next day the city is to be destroyed and Lot is to go out and rather he lingers there and the angels, verse 16, have to seize him and bring him out of the city. And we read here that this is the Lord being merciful to him. Like, how often do we dilly-dally? and drag our feet. Here this is what Lot does and God has to seize him literally by the hand and drag him out of the city. That's mercy. It's mercy to him as well when God gives him this other city to go to at least for a time. It's merciful that that city is not destroyed because Lot's presence is there for the one or the two righteous that were saved. God is full of mercy in the midst of this. God is merciful not only to Lot, But to Abraham, we read in verse 29 here, oddly enough that when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and then sent Lot out of the mist when he overthrew these cities. In other words, God is full of mercy to those who are his own. This passage preaches that to us just as much as it preaches us a judgment to come. And you notice it in many of the parallels, even between not just what Christ accomplishes for us, that is certainly there, but this passage in the Exodus. The night before the destruction, there's unleavened bread. There's a promise that God will be with his people. There's a destruction to come. And God brings his people out from a place of spiritual darkness to be with them. He rescues his own. This is what Peter tells us as well in second Peter, chapter two, when he speaks of lot tormenting his righteous soul, he still says this, he says. If by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, God condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly, there's the warning there. And if he rescued righteous lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked, for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials. And as this passage preaches to you, the message as well, not only of coming destruction, but of coming rescue. God knows how to redeem you from judgment, and he has redeemed his people from judgment. In Christ who came, in Christ who took to his own self the condemnation, the death, the wages of sin for sinners. that we might have eternal life, that we would not be swept away with the unrighteous, but that he would take us out, he would redeem us from the judgment to come, and it's exactly what he does for us in the exodus that Christ brings our great Passover lamb. So we rejoice in this passage just as much as we are sobered by its description of sin. So we consider Lot and Sodom Let us more deeply and more passionately and more thankfully consider Christ who redeems us and rescues us from the judgment to come. I think it's fitting then to close with a question. And that is, for all of you here this morning, whether you've been in church your whole life, whether this is perhaps your first time in church in a long time, have you fled from Sodom? Have you seized hold of the good news of Jesus Christ that is presented to you this day to turn from sin and wickedness and to cling to a Savior who is able to rescue you from the judgment to come? As you think of the last day, as you think of standing before the Lord, are you terrified by that thought now? Or are you resting thankfully in Jesus, who in your place was condemned and now guarantees you safety as the waters of judgment Cover this earth. Look to a good Savior and live. Let's pray.