Daniel Van Gelderen: Turn your Bibles, please, Genesis chapter 19 this morning.

Genesis chapter 19.

I don't have a long time this morning, but I have a message that I feel like God has put in my heart.

for you this morning.

Genesis 19, we'll get there in just a moment.

How many have been watching the weather news?

Anybody watching the weather news recently?

Today, yesterday?

Okay.

We've been very closely watching the weather news.

I have relatives now that live in Florida and that were directly in the path of the storm of the hurricane, Hurricane Milton.

Lord was good.

It kind of went south and Missed them, but a lot of people were hit by the storm, and the hurricane really, really affected millions of people, over 3 million now without power in Florida.

Just an incredible, incredible storm.

Storm surge everywhere, houses destroyed, tornadoes everywhere.

I mean, just unbelievably powerful storm.

My wife was watching some of the storm cameras because we were keeping an eye on things, and she said an hour before the landfall of Milton, this is a Category 5 at that point, an hour before it hit landfall, there were people on the beach going for seashells.

also saw on one of the videos about an hour or a little bit less than when Milton was about to hit the land the eye of the storm there was somebody kayaking in the ocean you know people when warned about impending catastrophe when warned about destruction coming their direction there's people and maybe you're one of them who see that as an invitation to take it all the way to the edge, right?

Here comes a hurricane.

Let's stay right there until it's right on top of us, and then we'll run for our lives.

There was a story in 1969 about a hurricane in this town of past Christian Mississippi, and I went to this town.

We drove through it a few years ago.

We were traveling.

It's literally right on the beach.

Massive, massive beaches with no cover, and there's this town.

They were going to have a hurricane party I'm not sure what that is.

In the face of the storm, it was called Camille at that point.

They don't know much about the whole party, but they do know that this apartment building was 250 yards from, 60 feet from the surf, right there, just right across the street.

The chief of police, Jerry Peralta, went up to this apartment building.

Everybody else had evacuated.

It was a mandatory evacuation.

He went up there and he said, you've got to leave.

You've got to go.

and there were about 20 people in that hurricane party and the guy came out on the balcony with his drink in his hand.

He laughed.

He said, we're not leaving, man.

We're here for the party.

And they hung out.

They had a grand time, unless they thought they did.

The chief of police said, you have to leave.

The guy said, if you, the only way I'm leaving is in a pair of handcuffs.

You have to arrest me.

Chief couldn't really do anything, so he took down their next of kin.

That's all he could do.

Took down the next of kin of all the people in there.

They laughed.

They're like, we're not leaving.

10.15 p.m., the front wall of the storm came ashore.

Scientists clocked to Meal's wind speed at more than 205 miles per hour.

Milton was about the same.

But it hit the land at that strong winds.

One of the strongest on record even today.

The winds, the waves were out in the Gulf Coast, were cresting between 22 and 28 feet high.

Well, news reports after the hurricane came through said the worst damage came in a little settlement called Past Christian, Mississippi, where about 20 people were killed in an apartment building.

Nothing was left except for a three-story building except for the foundation and a mattress to which a little baby, little toddler, was clinging and he was alive.

You hear a story like this and you think, to put it bluntly, these people were idiots.

How could you, with 205 mile an hour winds coming at you, literally stay on the surf with the ocean about to destroy your life?

How could you stay there, keep your family there, keep a little three-year-old boy in this building and say, we'll just ride out the storm?

They shrugged off the warnings.

They lingered in the face of destruction of what happened.

They were killed.

You know, all of us here today, all very smart people, right?

Well, all but some junior hires, right?

And some second-year seniors.

Or dropouts, you know what I'm talking about.

We're all smart, pretty smart here, and we look at this, we read this, and we just, we don't know how to put our brains to this.

We don't know how to function looking at a story like that and say, I would obviously run.

I would obviously get out of the way.

I wouldn't stay there.

There's no way.

What kind of person would knowingly put their life in danger for just a few more hours of fun, a few more drinks, and a few more worldly pleasures?

Well, in the Bible, we're given the story of that kind of person.

Genesis chapter 19 is the man named Lot, Abraham's nephew.

And for time's sake, we're not going to read all the verses, but in verse 1 of chapter 19, we meet Lot in the gates of the city of Sodom.

That alone is a problem.

Lot is the nephew of Abraham.

We're going to go back a little bit in the chapters, but he's the nephew of Abraham, and for him to be sitting in the seat of counsel in Sodom?

What in the world happened?

We'll find out.

But here he is.

He's in Sodom.

and two men come, as we know are angels, they come and he sees them and as the culture would have him do, he bows himself, he's very, very, very, you know, gracious to them.

He calls them my lords.

He knows there's somebody of prominence and he brings them to his house.

He tells them, you've got to come to my house.

And in verse three, he said, you have to.

And as we find out, he knows, we know why Lot wanted him to come to his house because of their personal safety.

And in this whole time, we'll talk more about what happens in this chapter.

What do they say in verse number 12?

They start to talk to him.

They say, hast thou any here besides, you know, what you have, your wife and your daughter, son-in-laws, my sons, my daughters.

He says, whatsoever thou hast in the city, verse 12, bring them out of this place, verse 13, for we will destroy this place.

There's no gray area here.

We will destroy this place because the cry of them is waxing great before the face of the Lord.

Then the Lord has sent us to destroy it.

Okay?

Wow.

It's going to happen.

And Lot told him, went to his family in verse 14, and he warns his family.

And what do they do?

They mock him.

It seemed as one that mocked to his son-in-laws.

What are you talking about?

that's crazy, we're not going to leave this is our city, they were from Sodom we're not going to leave verse 15 when the morning arose and the angels hasted a lot saying arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city once again, the angels pressed on them and said, hey, you've got to go right now I want you all to read with me out loud the next four words verse number 16 with me

the first four words, and while he lingered.

Excuse me?

And while he lingered, what did he do?

The angels from God just told Lot, hey, just so you know, we're going to obliterate this city.

We're going to destroy it.

There's not going to be anything left.

We're going to kill everything inside, it's gone.

Every single thing, it's gone.

You gotta leave right now.

And he lingers.

He lingers so much so that the men had to lay hold on his hand, verse 16, and upon the hand of his wife, upon the hand of his two daughters, and we'll talk about this in just a moment, the Lord being merciful unto him.

And they brought him forth and they set him without the city.

How is it possible that Lot could linger in Sodom in the face of earth-splitting destruction that God was about to send?

Now, before I answer that question, I want to remind you what the Bible says about Lot.

2 Peter 2, verses 7 and 8, And delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, just Lot.

For that righteous man dwelling among them, and him seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.

Three times in two verses.

Lot is described as a just or a righteous man.

You think, excuse me, what?

How can you describe a man living in Sodom as righteous or just?

There's a lot of people that say different things, but I will tell you this.

For us this morning, and we'll cut to the chase, young people, Lot was one of the good kids.

I'll put it that way.

Lot was one of the good kids.

Lot wasn't a blatant rebel.

He wasn't the guy sitting in the back row.

He wasn't the guy mocking the messages.

He was a good kid.

Lot was considered a righteous man.

Obviously, he was respected.

He was one of the rulers.

One person put it, he was Mayor Lot.

Somebody said he was like an alderman or somebody like that.

He was in charge.

What was he doing lingering?

Matthew Henry uses the old word trifled.

It's a word we don't even really use at all.

What does trifled mean?

He trifled.

Well, it's to treat something without seriousness or respect.

I like the way it's put.

To talk or act frivolously.

To waste time.

Lot was given a command.

He was given a warning.

And he just wasn't that big of a deal.

He lingered.

He stayed in the place longer than necessary.

He was reluctant to leave.

And why, this is all introductory here quickly, But why did he linger?

Well, I'll tell you why he lingered.

Because of, first of all, his fame.

He was sitting in the gate.

He was the ruler of the city.

Somebody put it this way.

His political power was great, but his spiritual influence was absolutely nil.

He was there.

He was a political force.

He was one of the rulers of the city, but he was nothing spiritually.

But he couldn't move.

He was stuck because he could think of it.

Well, I'm in charge of the city.

He lingered because of his fortune.

He had a house in the city.

He had accumulated wealth in the city.

He lingered because of his family.

His family wasn't coming with him, and he didn't know what to do.

He was torn.

He lingered because of his failures and his lack of faith.

Something caused Lot to pause to linger.

He just couldn't bring himself to believe that what the angels were saying was going to be true.

Something caused him to stop.

So what about you this morning?

Because I know in this room there has to be young people, Pastors' kids, missionaries' kids, deacons' kids.

Kids who have started their life to preach or full-time ministry.

Kids who know all the right things to say and the right things to do.

Kids who don't get in trouble at school or in youth group.

There are good kids, quote-unquote, in this room, and I dare say more than we would like to know, that are lingering in the world and lingering in their sin.

And young person, I was one of those.

Wayne Van Gelderen Jr.'s son, I was one of those.

I was a good kid I started to preach in 7th grade I started to evangelism in 9th grade I was on track to go to Bible college And I wasn't going away from that But I had sin in my life Man, I was a good kid I knew how to wear it, say it, talk it, walk it I was around preacher's meetings I was around everybody I knew what to do But I struggled in my life I had secret things hidden away in my life

And I faked it a lot Man, I did love the Lord wanted the Lord to use my life, but I was a good kid.

And it wasn't until after part of my senior year, and then really after my senior year, where God just broke me of who I am, and who I was.

And I will tell you, God spared me from what could have come.

But I'm talking to a lot of you just like me.

In this room, I'm not talking to the rebels.

I mean, if you get hit with some of the conviction here, great.

I'm talking to good kids, with pastors as dads, or missionaries as dads, or deacons as dads or even coming from a bad situation and you've chosen to do what's right in your life, but you're struggling.

You're lingering like Lot.

You're lingering like those 20 people in the apartments.

You're lingering in the world, and young people, listen up.

You may think the world has it better for you.

It doesn't.

Went to school with scores of people in high school and junior high.

So many of them are off.

Complete living in the world.

Some of them in full destruction of their lives.

Some not even alive today.

You know, you might have thought of every excuse and every rational way to excuse your sin this morning.

You may even say all the right things at all the right times to all the right people to give the impression to people that you are doing okay.

You prepared for TGYS.

You steeled yourself for TGYS.

You said, I gotta make it to Friday night, and if I do, I'll be okay.

I did that.

I did all the competitions.

I went through all the war of special forces.

I went back for invitations and got right about not reading my Bible, cover for a lot of other sins.

Many, many times, young people, I went through big conferences like our victory conference and steeled myself because I was just unwilling to be vulnerable and break and say, God, I can't.

And here come two angels, two lot, mercy of God, we'll talk about in a moment, and they say, hey, you're about to be destroyed.

And Lot goes, yeah, I don't know.

I'm just going to stay here for a second.

Be not deceived, God is not mocked.

For whatsoever man soweth that, shall he also reap.

Satan has convinced you to buy into the world's agenda.

This holy living thing is just a bunch of strict rules that you don't need in order to serve God.

What the world has to offer is better than what God has.

that your personal sins, your wicked thoughts, your viewing issues, your worldly music isn't that big of a deal, that you don't need to listen to leaders in your life, that giving all to God is too much, that being a living sacrifice like we heard last night is a bridge too far in the Christian life, that those hurts that are nursed in the secret parts and places of your heart and the private sin issues, those are just too much for anyone to help you with any

ways nobody would ever understand.

I'm not gonna deal with that.

That fitting in with the world around you, with the dress you wear, the music you listen to, and the lifestyle you live is just fine.

And maybe you're sitting here and that's your mindset and you linger in the world.

Well, young person, I have something to tell you.

A young person who lingers in the world is setting themselves up for destruction.

A young person who stays in the world, a young person who lingers in Sodom is just waiting for destruction.

God's going to destroy this world.

God's going to judge the sin in this world.

But we have, as one writer put it, some self-righteous, very religious Christians who are sitting there who are going to be judged as well.

So this morning, very quickly, let's look at three crucial aspects of a life that lingers.

Number one, the impending catastrophe of a life that lingers.

The impending catastrophe.

Sodom and Gomorrah are about to get leveled.

God was going to judge these cities for their blatant and perverse mockery of God's laws.

So how does somebody come to a place where they linger in a point of all of this?

How did Lot get to this point?

How did Lot get to a city that's very name is synonymous with wickedness?

One very simple reason, he longed for it.

Lot longed for the things of this world.

Look with me, please, in Genesis 13, please.

Genesis 13, just a couple of chapters back.

Genesis chapter 13 verse number 10 Abraham has given Lot the choice the well watered plains or the other the not so well watered plains and what does he say in verse number 10 he lifted up his eyes and he beheld all the plain of Jordan that it was well watered verse 11 and Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan verse number 12 Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

What does it mean to long, to have a longing?

Well, it's a strong desire or a strong feeling that they could have something.

It's just overwhelming.

I had jaw surgery back in 2010, I believe it was, 2009.

They don't wire your jaw shut like they used to But I have six screws in my jaw Don't think too much about that It's mentally kind of weird to have six big screws in your jaw But they had it and they said you cannot have anything solid for four weeks I'm 21 at that point Okay, I'm not a kid And so food, I need food So I literally ate, I don't even know how many Too many sunny side up eggs Because you can slurp those

I had smoothies It got to the point though where I I so longed for real food That I started this when my mom wasn't there My sister made me a pizza Just a pizza Cut it up into small pieces And I learned how to chew the pizza with my tongue On the top of my mouth I was literally desperate You would have probably thought this guy needs to be in an institution I probably was foaming at the mouth I don't know, I'm shaking I literally

have this part of my mouth.

I was like, I need food.

I had crackers.

My tongue was absolutely stronger than the tooth by the time it was done.

I mean, I was eating pizza.

I ate an entire half of pizza on the top of my mouth.

Just try that one for size.

I was so desperate.

I so wanted it.

You know, there was one time I was having a low-carb diet.

Bad idea.

Ask my wife.

I spent the entire low-carb diet with the door of the pantry open, staring at what I couldn't have.

For some reason, before we started the low-carb diet, there was a bag of Gardettos.

If you know me, I like Gardettos.

They were sitting there at eye level.

I just want one.

Just one!

I stood there and looked at it forever.

Last December, end of December, beginning of January, I stopped most sugar in my life.

Oh.

Still kind of there with that.

Four weeks, I felt physical pain.

How many of you?

You couldn't do it, okay?

Some of you are like, you live inside the ice cream bucket.

You know what I'm talking about?

I kind of, you know, I was there.

I had too much sugar every day.

I was living there too much, and I cut it off 100% just done.

It was physical pain.

I would sit there, and I would tell my wife, I can't do this.

My body was wanting it.

said no to it, fortunately.

But that intense longing, that absolute intense longing.

You know, I'm a dad.

I'm a husband of 12 years.

I'm a dad of three kids.

When I travel and I'm not with my wife and kids, I long to be with them.

It's an intense desire to be with them.

It's just incredible.

It overwhelms you.

And what is Lot doing?

He sees the well-watered plains of Sodom and he's so overwhelmed with this.

I want that.

Given a choice, he chose that What does it say in verse 13 of chapter 13 The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly Chapter 18 verse 20 The city was known far and wide for its sin This, young people, was something Lot would have known He wasn't an ignorant person to the sin Lot knew And not only did he choose the plains of Sodom Young person, he pitched his tent towards Sodom Now give him the benefit of the doubt he wasn't

in the city maybe, living there.

And maybe he did it on purpose to not take his family in there.

I don't know.

But he pitched his tent towards Sodom.

So the first thing he saw when he got up and the last thing he saw when he went to bed was the city of Sodom.

And he wanted that and he interacted with that and he was desiring that.

Young person, some of you right now, maybe you're not living in Sodom, but you pitched your tent towards Sodom.

Maybe you've taken that first step towards Sodom.

Maybe you're just dabbling.

Maybe you've gotten one friend that just kind of starts to pull you down.

I will tell you from personal experience, and every one of the preachers at this TGYS will tell you, those friends, when you just start getting in, will tear you down.

They introduce you to this.

They talk about this.

They say this.

And down you go.

Maybe you just pitched your tent towards Sodom.

But you're wanting it.

You want it so bad, you can taste it.

You may know how to walk that walk as I talked about, but you're just there.

Now, person, maybe in your whole life, maybe it's not big stuff we're talking about at this moment, but maybe it's small things like an attitude issue.

You've longed for the world so much that things of spiritual nature are irritating to you.

You have to keep up your facade, but it cracks at times with your parents.

The eye roll comes, the reaction, The grunt behind your parents' back.

The complaining about rules, maybe not in front of your parents, but behind their backs.

You should hear what my parents said.

If you say that to your friends, something's wrong in your heart.

Questioning God, maybe not a verbal questioning, but there's a questioning of what's going on.

Is this God who will love me?

Does God know what he's doing in my life?

Maybe lifestyle choices, maybe you can't wear it, maybe you can't listen to it, maybe you can't watch it, or maybe you can't say it, but it's what you're going to do when you turn 18, or at least you think in your mind.

You know, I was, in my school, there were some bad kids.

And they were there, they would talk about stuff, and I would go in there, and I would, fortunately, they would expel me out of the group pretty quickly.

Like, preacher, you don't even, they didn't call me preacher boy, or, you know, pastor's kid, or PK, whatever.

I'd walk in and start laughing at a joke that I had no idea what they were talking about.

And they'd kick me out the back door of the group, like, and laugh me to scorn, which kept me away from them a lot.

But I would try to be a part of that group to fit in.

Maybe that's you.

Maybe it's just a little bit of bitterness.

You're just a little upset at somebody.

Just a little bit of bad thoughts.

Not that much.

Just a little bit of a second look here and a little bit of this.

And just a little bit of hurting my conscience.

Young person, I don't care what it is.

If you are pitching your tent towards Sodom, if you're starting to dabble in the world, I'm telling you right now, before you know it, blink your eyes, you're going to be sitting right in Sodom, fully ingrained in the world, just like Lot.

Because we see by the next chapter, chapter 14, Lot stops longing for it.

He's done longing for the city.

He's now living in the city with his family.

He's lingering there.

He's moved into the city.

He has a house.

He's come a leader.

His daughters are married to men of the city.

He is completely, 100% desensitized.

to the world.

As a young person, maybe you're still a good kid.

You know, it's funny.

In my life, in all the sin that came in my life, I never lost my desire to preach.

I always thought I was going to be a preacher.

I never thought I wasn't going to go to Bible college.

Ever.

It never left me.

I never thought I was…

All those things, I still had that.

so I use that as I'm okay.

That doesn't mean you're okay.

As the Bible says, Lot was a just man, a righteous man.

It didn't mean he was okay.

The Bible's trying to say this is who he was.

He was a man who believed in God.

He was a man who had overall good morals.

He was a man who, if you pinned him down, he would have said the right things.

But he was not living there.

And you know, in order to get to this place, in order to get into the middle of Sodom, young person, listen carefully, you have to compromise in your life what you know is right, what you know is biblical.

Lot had to accept a worldly lifestyle which is unbelievably perverse.

We won't go into all the details, but I will tell you what, Lot had to be able to be okay with the garbage and filth of the world around him.

Young person, let me ask you, are you okay with that?

When something comes up in a friend group, maybe some unsaved and they talk and the language comes up, are you okay with when they take God's name in vain?

Are you okay when somebody swears?

Are you okay with innuendos about immoral things?

Are you okay when they laugh about garbage and filth?

Are you okay with that?

If they show a picture on their phone and it's wrong, do you look at it just because you want to fit in?

Are you okay with the things of this world?

Are you okay when you listen to the music and you turn on your Spotify account and it's maybe not that bad?

It's not maybe, you know, Taylor Swift.

It's not all the way out to the, but it's just a little bit of dabbling.

Are you okay with that?

Because young person, I'll tell you right now, you start accepting the world's lifestyles, you will head that way.

And fortunately, by God's grace, Lot was taken out of there before he was inundated with that.

But you'll accept that.

It becomes so hardened and callous to the wickedness around us.

You won't even think twice when you see it.

You know, there's a lot of wicked things around us, and I love being around the older generation because they still get this, ooh, ugh, ooh, when wickedness comes up.

They've stayed simple concerning evil.

This generation is very knowledgeable concerning evil.

part of it's just because of the technology you know this generation knows because technology is ubiquitous it's everywhere they know how to use things you know my kids we don't let them on technology much at all but man they know how to squeeze and pull in and you know my son knows how to do a picture thing he figured out something with a video more than I knew he was taking a picture for me and he had all the settings worked out he's five.

I had no idea what he was doing.

I'm like, how'd you get this good picture?

I don't know.

I figured it out.

If it's five years old, my wife and I have talked, it's terrifying.

I didn't have a smartphone until I was married.

Because they weren't even there, folks.

Don't laugh.

I graduated from college when the iPhone came out.

I go back to the days of iPod.

I remember records in my house.

CDs were the only thing you could listen to.

Okay?

Nowadays, it's all there.

It's all pouring into our lives, and we've accepted it.

What else is, what happens when you move into Sodom?

There's no witness for the Lord.

Why would you witness for the Lord when you're living like the world?

Seriously.

I got neighbors next to me They came to friend day this last week My neighbor, Lord willing, raised her hand She raised her hand for salvation We're going to follow up with her this week here And the next couple weeks I believe she got saved An amazing thing What if I live like the world next to her?

What if I live like the devil next to her?

Do you think she would come?

They were moved by what God was doing in this service They told me that Live like the devil Live like the world you're not going to have much of a testimony for your friends around you.

You're not going to have much of a testimony when you're working at McDonald's or at Chick-fil-A.

You're not going to have much testimony at your job or at your school if you're in a public school or in a Christian school that has unsaved people.

You're not going to be a testimony for those young people who are in desperate need of seeing Jesus.

You're not going to be a testimony for them if you're living for the world.

Man, I'll tell you right now, the biggest regret in my life, my high school years, that I did not let God use me to lead my class to Jesus.

I had all the tools I was given all the opportunities and I rejected them because I was selfish I was too afraid I was too aware of myself.

I was too aware of things of the worlds around me Praise the lord.

God got a hold of me before I came to college and that changed changed my life Focus on self apathetic to spiritual things.

You know if you're in here and things are preached you're like people are going to hell.

The world's dying.

There's a problem.

If you can't get anything going and you can't feel any emotion about the needs of the world, something is wrong in your life.

It might be small and it might be huge, but something's wrong.

You're so desensitized to sin, you can't even see it.

You have a temporal, shallow mindset of life.

you're living the TikTok, Instagram life.

Whatever the trend is, whatever the fad is, whatever the world's doing, whatever Hollywood says, you're all in.

Can we just say whatever the Bible says we're all in?

But it's hard to get there when the world's in front of our eyes.

Young person, it's a deliberate decision to choose this over the world.

And it becomes harder and harder every single year.

But I will tell you, and this next point is where we're gonna get to here.

Lot was so entrenched in his lifestyle, He couldn't even see the severity of the coming and pending catastrophe.

But God loved Lot.

And what did he do?

He sent two of his angels.

He was merciful.

Number two, the intentional cautioning.

Intentional cautioning given to a life that lingers.

How does someone get out of this place of lingering?

How does somebody get rescued from this?

I see two ways.

Number one, the mercy of God.

God's loving mercy.

And for time's sake, we won't read all the chapter.

But Genesis 19, we obviously know he sent his two angels in.

Angels came to warn Lot.

Not only did they do that, they dragged Lot inside of his house when the crowd was going after him.

Not only did they do that, after he lingered, they didn't leave him.

They physically dragged him out of the city.

They loved him so much, God loved him so much, that he saved his life.

You know, God's showing his mercy is much more than Lot deserves him.

Why?

Obviously because he loves him, but because God loved Abraham, who loved Lot.

And he was answering his prayer.

One chapter before, we see Abraham's intense intercession, chapter 18.

We don't, for time to say, we can't go through all of it.

But this is incredible.

The Lord says, in verse 20, I'm going to go destroy the city.

Because they're wicked.

Verse 23, Abraham drew near and said, hey, whoa, whoa.

will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

Lot's in there.

Don't destroy my nephew.

Please, God, don't.

If there were 50 men, he's probably thinking Lot's maybe had some influence here.

No.

There's 40 men.

If there's 30, God, verse 32, if there's 10.

And God answered his prayer, and it wasn't even the right number.

God loved Abraham so much, and God loved Lot so much.

Let me say something right now.

Young person, there's a lot of hours of prayer and tears for you right now.

I am here because of the prayers of my family, my mom and dad.

I am here because of the warnings and the protections of that.

I could have easily gone off into the world, easily.

I know where I am and who I am.

you're good kids you've sat in so many surfaces and heard so many truths hours of prayer though have been spent for you god wants to show his mercy to your to your life don't push him away this week as you hear truths and things are being dealt with don't push him away abraham was so intensely interceding for lot god showed his mercy even when he didn't even pray the right number.

Young person, maybe you're doing okay right now, but maybe there's some young people around you in your church that need some intercessions, need some love, and you need to pray and say, God, get a hold of their heart this week.

Sponsors in here, maybe it's time to turn on the intercession for the people that are sitting up, the young people right up here.

God wants to give grace to the humble this morning, young people.

You know, it's amazing.

that the creator God of this universe loves us so much that he would send his son to die for us.

And not only that would he give us salvation, but that he would love us every day of our lives and lovingly chasten us as children to bring us back to himself.

The young person, what happens to a life that lingers and doesn't respond?

Number three, we're done.

The inevitable consequences of a life that lingers.

The inevitable consequences of a life that lingers.

Look with me, please.

in verse 17 of chapter 19, the angel said to them, escape for thy life.

Look not behind me.

Neither stay thou in all the plain.

Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

And Lot asked to go to a city and they let him go to the city.

But they said, don't.

Don't turn back.

Don't turn back.

And what happens?

They destroy, they destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

Look at verse number 24.

The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone of fire from the Lord out of heaven.

And verse number 26, but his wife looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt.

You know, the inevitable consequences of a life that lingers is your, you know, as you get older, yourself, your family is destroyed.

Lot's family was destroyed.

He himself was destroyed, but he lost family members.

His wife was turned into a pillar of salt.

For time's sake, I can't read this whole quote, but Spurgeon said this.

Basically, I'll just kind of say what he said, but he said, so many of us are living our life in the world.

We are so much into the world.

He said, only let us live as Christ lived, and we shall find the dogs of this world howling at us as they used to.

Basically, he was saying, we so are comfortable.

He was talking about Lot's wife turning away and looking back to the world.

We so live our life encumbered with a host of people who call themselves Christians, but are as much of the world as other people, whose inheritance is in the world, whose pleasure is in the world, whose speech is worldly, and who are altogether of the world.

And because they are of the world, the world loves its own, and therefore there is little or nor strife between them.

Alas, I feel the church is not true to itself, and therefore the world begins to love it.

The world loves the Christians, is what Swergen is saying.

And he's making this in the context of Lot's wife, Lot turning around, Lot's wife turning around because she couldn't leave.

Lot lingered, and because of that, taught his wife to linger too, and she turned away in direct disobedience to what the angels said.

His daughters, he lost some of them in the city, and he lost his daughters, committed horrible sin.

His offspring became a nation of Moab and Ammon, two of Israel's greatest enemies in the future.

His life was ruined.

What great things of God do you hear of Lot in here?

Nothing.

He was a righteous man.

He was going to heaven.

That's it.

A writer put this, If ever the salt had lost its savor, it happened right here.

Even though 2 Peter 2.7 calls Lot a righteous man who was vexed by filthy lives of the Sodomites, he himself was so in love with the city that he was powerless to change it.

He lost his testimony, and in so doing, he lost his own family and almost lost his own life.

And reputation was ruined.

All we know of Lot today is the man who moved into the wicked city of Sodom, and his family was destroyed.

Listen to this.

Do you want to know how much Lot made in Sodom?

I suggest you make a trip to the Holy Land.

Go and stand by the shores of the Dead Sea and look over that lifeless brackish waste, the lowest and most desolate spot on the face of the earth, 1,300 feet below sea level, and listen to the lifeless waves lap on the beach in unending monotone of death.

Nothing grows there, nothing lives, nothing moves in all that forsaken valley.

How much did Lot lose?

He lost it all.

Absolutely everything.

All his wealth vanished in the smoke.

All his herds were utterly destroyed.

he left Sodom with nothing but the clothes on his back.

Lot wanted to get the best of both worlds, and so doing, he lost everything, his home, his family, his children, his career, his fortune, his reputation.

4,000 years have passed, and Lot still stands the ultimate picture of the worldly Christian who loves the world and loses it all.

Young person, since pleasurable for a season, but only for a season.

I will tell you what that quote said there if you stand there at the Dead Sea and look around you it is absolutely desolate that was Lot's life he lost everything all the wealth he had accumulated all the position, all the fame all the good feelings, everything he had was gone and what he escaped with his family, destroyed his wealth you know a young person Contrasting with this and we don't have time to obviously go into this and it's a whole other message living Parallel

to lot Not in the plains was his uncle abraham Abraham followed god even when it made no sense from ur to canaan He wasn't perfect.

He got right with god when he when he sinned He rescued lot when he was in trouble in genesis 14 He obviously we talked about he interceded for lot when he heard of the destruction of sodom He was a man of God.

His reputation was a man of God.

His family was the nation of Israel.

Abraham, the uncle of the man we're talking about, is one of the greatest men you'll ever talk about.

One of the greatest men you'll ever hear about and read about, Abraham.

But nephew Lot, look what he did.

You know, young person, throughout the scriptures, you can linger like David and fall into sin, or you can run from the world like Joseph and be used by God to change the world.

Are you willing to be a living sacrifice?

Are you willing to come out from among them and be separate?

Young person, impending catastrophe and absolutely certain consequences face you if you linger in the world.

This is a sobering message.

Genesis 19, I was telling my wife this morning, this is not, There's no fun illustrations you can make up about Genesis 19.

It's pretty bad.

But I will tell you this, it's in the book for a reason.

It's in the Bible for a reason.

Because in this room, just like back in 2001, 2, 3, 4, when I was in high school, there's young people who you know, you're sitting here and you're going, it's me.

I'm the good kid.

Let me say one more thing before we're done.

young person, who cares what people think?

Who cares?

That's what held me back for so many years.

They're going to think I'm a failure.

Well, you are, but God's the victory.

Don't live in the failure.

Your whole life will be marked by failure like Lot.

Right now is the chance to say, God, I don't care what's going to take.

I want victory.

I want peace.

I want that, I want the acceptance of you, not the acceptance of my peers.

I don't care what anybody thinks.

I want what you have for me.

And young person today, let's take this sobering reminder of the, of the man lot and turn it into a step, follows after Jesus.

And then when you're 37 years old, May your life shine 100 times more than any of us as preachers here at the TGYS.

May you change this world for the Lord.