Genesis 19:15-19 | Episode #275

October 28, 2022

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Genesis 19:15-19 Bible Study | Episode #275

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to Hope Alive Applying God's Word to Your Daily Life.

Hi, this is Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church, and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to.

And allow you to see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today in Jesus name. Good morning. Welcome to lake community. Church's morning Bible study. It's good to be with you this morning. We're in Genesis chapter 19, still still moving through chapter.

It is a deep chapter. This chapter that deals with a lot of issues and and we'll see if we can move on past it this week let's get into Genesis chapter 19 verse 15. It says when the morning dawned, and if you'll remember the angels came and they lot begged them to stay at his house.

Men of the village, the men of Sodom surrounded the area and surrounded the house and demanded that he send the the men out to them. And in fact, they began to try to push in the door and once they began to push in the door the two angels who are who are powerful beings blinded all the men of the town.

They, all the men of the town were struck with blindness and. So they were feeling around still trying to get into the house, which is what's so crazy. And that is such a picture of spiritual blindness. Oftentimes even when it's even when we've been struck with it, even when we can't see, we don't know we continue to try to do the things we were doing in the past.

We continue to try to do the things that cause the blindness and we just continue on and do not open our do not realize that we're walking around blind and cannot see. And Jesus oftentimes spoke. Spiritual blindness and making the blind. And in fact, one of the miracles that he did was making the blind sea.

And that is that is a issue that plagues mankind, it plagues who we are. And obviously as you're studying through this passage, it is it is hilarious that they continue to try to do that. But obviously when you're spiritually blind, you're INE. And they were ineffective and it says that when the morning dawned the angels urged light to hurry remember he'd gone to his son-in-law's.

After the blindness had struck those people and he asked them to leave the area with him, leave the town with him. And they were blind. They were not physically blind, but they were spiritually blind. And it was almost as if the Bible says it was almost as if they thought he was making a joke that it that it was funny, what he was saying was going to happen.

And He brought his two daughters back to the house with him. And when morning came the angels U urge, lot to hurry notice sometimes spiritual issues require require some haste to them, require you to be hasty in getting done what God has asked you to do. And I would say to you that that there is an element of wisdom and there's an element of maturity that comes with patience, but sometimes God opens a door for you an immediate door, a door of icy for somebody's life and for a situation.

And when that door is open for you of an immediate door, a door where you have an opportunity to do something that is spiritually important that you take that opportunity that you grab hold. Oftentimes I, I even yesterday I was I had a great, we had a great morning at church and we had a great morning fellowship and yesterday was my 29th wedding anniversary.

And so Kathleen and I wanna spend a little time together, alone, and we did have a house full. And we went to Auburn to do a little shopping and that you say that's not all that much fun. It was, it is always fun for us to be together and to do that. And that's one of the things we enjoy doing together.

And we actually saw some people over in Auburn that we knew from Dayville spent some time with them and that was good fellowship. And then And then we went to Sam's club and, Sam's is you go in there and you run in and you get all the items that you need. And then you come coming out and as we're coming out, there was a man and he wanted to spend a little time talking and I could tell that there was a strong likelihood that he was sharing his faith.

He was he was sharing the gospel of Jesus and my thought in my mind, Was I don't need to waste his time. He's in the business of running into people and trying to share Jesus with him. And I didn't, I don't need to waste my time, but I think I missed an opportunity and I think that opportunity was the opportunity to encourage him to say, I'm a believer.

I'm excited about what you're doing and go out there and do what you do. If God's calling you to. You're gonna learn something from it. You're gonna grow from it. Go do it. I did not do that. I just said no, not right now with the intent of getting him to go and talk to other folks.

And I probably missed an opportunity to be a blessing to him. That, that moment. It's an immediate moment. It's a moment that passes by fairly quickly. It's a moment that is of import for you. It may not be of the of life change and life saving importance. Like we see in the situation we see lot in, but it's an important situation.

Many times we see things with physical eyes, but we fail to recognize the spiritual because we don't have our spiritual goggles on, we don't have our spiritual glasses on. We're not seeing things from God's perspective. And we miss out and the angels here are telling a lot, they're saying, listen, it's we got to have haste today.

Sometimes it's good to be. Sometimes it's good to waste today is not the time of waste. And the moment we're in right now is not the time for patients. It's the time for haste it's time to get up and go. We see that also that's probably the most memorable place in the Bible is when the children of Israel woke up after the death angel had passed over.

Egypt and God told them to make the bread of hast, which is bred without yeast. What he is saying is we gotta move when Fay road lets you go, we gotta get your stuff together. We gotta get out. That's very Southern of me to say, but that's the way it is. Sometimes you gotta get your stuff together and gotta get out.

And he said arise and take your wife. The, this is what the angels say. Your two daughters who are here less, you be consumed in the punishment. Of the city. I remember my grandfather saying that about San Francisco when I was 15 years old and we had driven out west and spent some time out there and we were in market street in San Francisco and we'd driven down those Hills and we were in that big van and I can remember my grandfather distinctly saying, son, let's get out of this city before God takes it.

And I'm sure he was thinking about this story about. And his wife and if he was around today to see what San Francisco is like today, I think he'd probably doubled down on that statement. He said arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here less, you be consumed in the punishment of God.

And let me say this Bible says that bad company corrupts good character. And it, it tells us that for a reason. And the reason it tells us that is that sometimes the issues that are going on in the lost lives, the spiritual issues are so grave. And definitely. You have to separate yourself from that you can't be closely associated with.

You can't as lot was be living in the midst of that. You have to get away from it because because that dog has another Southern statement that dog has fleas and the fle is gonna get on you. And you gotta get yourself. You gotta extricate yourself from that situation. And that's what these angels are telling a lot.

They're telling him you gotta get outta here. The punishment or the a judgment of God is about to fall on this city. And you can't afford to be here because even though you're a righteous man, You're in the midst of his unrighteousness and you'll be consumed with them. Now, does that mean he's gonna go to hell no but it does mean that his physical situation is going to be affected by their lack of a spiritual.

Understanding and lack of spiritual eyesight or spiritual understanding. So you can't afford just to stay around and be closely associated with those who are quickly heading toward destruction and uh, Look, we're to be in the world, but not of the world we're to love our neighbors as ourselves.

But that doesn't mean that we're to so closely associate with ourselves, with them as to put ourselves in a position to have to deal with the fleas that they're dealing with. We're in the business of trying to get the fleas off of them. Not hang around with them and get the fleas ourselves.

And that's one of those spiritual insights that you hope that young Christians, especially young people in the church learn, sometimes they have to learn it the hard way it says. And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, notice these angels are in the business of taking care of lot.

They are they're in the business of bringing about the judgment of God on Sodom and Gamar. No doubt about that. They're in that business, that being said they're also ministering spirits. The Bible ask that ask that question of us or not angels ministering spirits sent to minister under the saints of God.

What the, that is a rhetorical question with an answer in the obvious answer. Yes, they are their ministry spirit sent the minister under the saints of God. And these angels they understand that like the death angel in that we talked about earlier in Egypt they sometimes are.

The source of judgment. That when the four horsemen of the apocalypse, that oftentimes with many of the angels in the book of the revelation God uses them as a source or as a hand of his judgment. But that being said they, their, they, their Original reason for existing in, in, in the universe that we live in or in the present that we live in is to minister to us or to take care of us.

And these angels, even though their primary mission of the day is the judgment of Sodom and Nomar. They understand that their overriding mission in. Is to minister under the saints of God. And so they're not going to allow they're not going to allow lot in his family to be destroyed. They're going to actively take action to keep them from experiencing that they're gonna grab them by the hand and drag them out of the city basically.

And I pray, I praise God. I don't know how many times this has happened in my. But I'm quite sure that it's happened several times that an angels grabbed hold of my hand and drug me out of a situation only to get out just in time before destruction fail. And I'm gonna tell you that the angels of the Lord are doing that for you all the time.

They're doing that for your children all the time. They're taking care of you, they're handling the situation that you're dealing with in life. And they're helping with that. And you need to thank God for that. You need to realize that the spiritual that is going to the battles of the spiritual that are going on around you are of great import they're of great importance and they're happening all around you all the time.

And God's angels are protecting you and they're holding you. Holding you together. And the only thing that allow that's allowed to pass are the things which God is using to make you stronger and to make you better and says it. The men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand and the hands of his two daughters notice they grabbed a handful of lot, a handful of of his wife and his two daughters, one angel I'm sure had two hands.

And the other hand angel had the other two hands and they dragged him out of the city. Basically, they, it says they took him by the hand and the Lord be merciful to him. The Lord be merciful him. They brought him out and set him outside of the city. It says that they escape.

It says, so it came to pass when they had brought them outside that he said, escape for your life. Notice they drag him outside the city. And then they say then they tell him to escape for his life. What does that mean? What that means is. Is that they brought you thus far. Now it's time for you to do what you need to do.

And a lot of times God brings us to a place or drags us to a place where we've not where we've not Realized it, and then all of a sudden when we get when we realized, oh, we just barely missed out on, on being consumed by God's judgment or consumed in this situation.

When our eyes are open, then we take off running. Let me tell you, I, I see that a lot with my with my, some of my clients in the legal profession, I. I see that, they didn't realize how close to being consumed. They actually were how close to being Totally destroyed. They actually were.

And then God grabs 'em by the hand. And he drags 'em to a place of sobriety, a place of understanding and they have their eyes open and they realize how close they actually are actually were to totally being destroyed their life, totally being destroyed. And they wake up and they run and they take off and they get their life going in the right direction and they get things headed in the right way.

They never turned back. And I think that is that's so exciting. And it's happened a lot more lately for me than it has in the last couple of years. Last few months, I've had several clients get their act together, get their life together. And it's been going on and I didn't.

Really know how much it was going on. Cuz sometimes you lose touch with them. Wow. What I mean, it is powerful for that to happen. And so it same. So it CA seemed to CA came to pass that they had brought them outside that they said escape for your life. Do not look back behind you or stay anywhere in the plane, escape to the mountains, unless you be destroyed notice once you've been delivered.

There's an element of saying there's an element of saying we're going to escape. We're gonna, we're going to, we're going to there's an element of say we're going to not. That situation to develop anymore. Don't look back and many times in life, we so many times wanna look back to the things that really have no big deal and really have no bearing on our future.

Even though they may have been very painful and very difficult in the moment they have no bearing. On our future right now. And that is the truth. That is the truth. And that is that. Such a issue for us on a daily basis. We wanna look back, even look back on the things we want to dwell on.

The things that have happened in the past that have been so destructive for us and why we do that. I just really don't have enough understanding. I do it myself dwell on the things of the past. I've done it a lot in my life. I can't say that I'm doing it a lot right now, but I've done it a lot in my life.

And I've lived now almost 50 years. I'll be 50 first part of next year. And. I've done that a lot in my life dwelled on the failings of path past, dwell on the destruction of the past, dwell on the difficulties of the past, rather than look forward to the future and looking back can be so painful and so deadly for you.

Looking back on your failures. Is to dredge up the sin that's already been paid for. Looking back on your struggles sometimes is to is to wall in the difficulty rather than to walk in the victory. A lot of your struggles have made you who you are. A lot of the difficulties that you face in your life have made you who you are.

And to continue to dwell on them is not to walk in the victory of God. Of what God has made you into is to really bellyache and wh about things that that God used for your best and. I see people mired in that. So many times they continue to dwell on the failures of the past or the struggles of the past, and they keep looking back.

And let me say this. If anything, there, I, if anything, that's the most wonderful thing about the Christian life is that I don't have to turn. And look, once I've turned to God, I don't have to turn back to those struggles. I don't have to turn to those difficulties. I don't have to dwell on them. I'm a new creation, the oldest past the newest come and if anything, God is the God of the second and third and fourth and fifth chance.

Why would I want to keep dwelling on the failures of the past rather than walking in the victory of the moment or the. Why would I want to do that? I wouldn't want to do that. I wouldn't wanna, I wouldn't wanna do that. I would wanna stop doing that. And and I would want to walk in who I can be rather than walk in the things.

That haven't been why? I will say this most of the believers that I know that are strong believers that are spirit filled, believers that are powerful believers. They're not mired in the struggles of their past. And many of 'em have very deep, difficult struggles. And many of 'em have very deep, difficult failures.

You, you need to hear that they have deep, difficult struggles and they have deep, difficult failures in their past, but they're not living in those failures and they're not living in those struggles. They're living in the victories of the moment and the purpose of God in the moment. Quit looking back. We're gonna see that looking back too much can cause total destruction in your life.

Notice they said do escape for your life. Do not look behind notice there. There's great import there's great urgency to what they're saying. Do not look behind you nor state anywhere in the plane mean meaning. Get to the high ground, get to God's ground. Get to the place where you need to be. He says escape to the mountains.

Let you be destroyed. Once God's given you victory, quit worrying about what you've been, what's happened behind you. Look forward to what God is going to do ahead of you. And those things are really good learn from those situations of past become who you're supposed to be because of them.

But then as you become that person, don't allow those. Struggles and those past difficulties to be the to be the driving force of your life, because they're not the driving force of your life live today as if it's the Lords and tomorrow we'll let God decide what happens tomorrow.

I hope you'll do that today. I hope you'll do that this week.

As you go today, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you that he'll make his face to shine upon you. And that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.