Lot's Shocking Mistake - Compromise leads to Disaster

[0:00] Tonight I'm talking along the subject of compromise and what is compromise? What do I mean?! I picked this picture of a knight in shining armour. There's an arrow poking into the visor of this otherwise well-armoured man.

[0:17] It's a picture of compromise, the chink in the armour. What does the Bible talk about as far as compromise? I put to you that compromise is kind of like a double-mindedness.

[0:29] We must guard against a mixture of truth and error because there's a deadly mix, isn't it, when we mix truth and error? And I say to you tonight, don't compromise your convictions. Stand strong and true.

[0:43] Compromise is sin. It's really hateful to God and it's hostile to Him. We read in James chapter 4, it reads, verse 4, Friendship of the world is enmity with God.

[1:02] Emnity means it's a hostility towards God. Friendship of the world is enmity. It's being the enemy of God.

[1:15] Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Friendship of the world is enmity. It's being the enemy of God.

[1:28] And so the Word of God says some very strong things and some of these things tonight will be on the strong side, if you like. We see of the prophet Jeremiah that he condemned most, if not all, the clergy of his day, the prophets of his day.

[1:43] He was quite outspoken. And Jeremiah says, Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 10, it reads, So it's a two-fold thing.

[2:08] With the ministry of God's Word, there's a time to root out, to uproot, to pull out the weeds, to pull down, to destroy. There's that demolition stage.

[2:19] And then there's the building up, planting. And so there's a bit of that tonight. And Jeremiah was quite bold in speaking the Word of the Lord. And we ought to be Jeremiah's today.

[2:30] Every one of us can be Jeremiah's. He was called the weeping prophet. It wasn't very popular in his time because he was forthright. And we have to be watchful of compromise, I tell you tonight.

[2:41] It's abundant. There's rife compromise. And we had someone this morning come along and try to put some... I put to you false doctrine.

[2:52] He was saying you've got to be baptised to be saved. You've got to speak in tongues to be saved. And he was trying to blab this falsehood in the assembly. And I had to call him to account and say, no, this is not true doctrine.

[3:05] This is false. It's wrong. You're teaching error. Really, it's a lie. If you're trusting your baptism to save you, you're not saved. That's what I told the man. Because we know we're not of works.

[3:17] We're not saved of works. We're saved by grace. We're saved by faith. It's not... Baptism is really a symbol of the inward work of the salvation that's within. By Christ.

[3:28] By faith in him. So we've got to be watchful of compromises. People with all kinds of funny ideas out there trying to cause such confusion. We know that devil is the author of confusion.

[3:39] So we've got to watch out for such things. We need uncompromising churches. God helping us. That's what we want to be right here. Where the word of God is preached. Forthrightly. Strongly.

[3:50] Soundly. Certainly. Faithfully. We need that in our world today. We need that in Adelaide. Not compromised, but uncompromising ministry. And the thing about compromise, that compromise starts small.

[4:04] Starts with just, hmm, just a little bit. Just a little bit of this or that. And so it's like that with sin, isn't it? Some will mess with just a little sin. And it always leads to bigger and bigger sin.

[4:18] And the Bible talks about that concept of Galatians 5 verse 9. A little, just a little, a little leaven. Leaven the whole lump. Leaven is yeast.

[4:28] So just a little bit of yeast in that mixture of the dough. And then you've got this loaf. It affects the whole thing, doesn't it? A little makes a big difference. Is the point. And compromise is such that just a little compromise.

[4:42] Some might say, oh, we can allow this or that. We can accommodate this or that. But it lets a little in. And before long, it's made a big impact. And it's like that, you know, the door ajar.

[4:53] And before long, the whole door's wide open. So what do I mean by compromise? Compromise, you could put, is compromise of truth. It's either true or it's not true.

[5:04] If it's not true, then it's wrong, isn't it? And we see that sound doctrine must be important. It must be prevailing. We're seeing this mass jumbling together of all kinds of, a dangerous mix of all kinds of truth with error.

[5:20] That's a dangerous and deadly thing. We want to avoid that. It's been said that rat poison is only a tiny percentage of poison. But rat poison in a small amount is enough to poison and to damage to kill a rat.

[5:33] We see in churches today, we see some would hold up a wafer and say, that's God. That the Catholic Church would say that when you hold up this wafer, it somehow becomes the real body of Christ, which is a false teaching.

[5:49] And we know really for some, I'm not apologising if you're of that persuasion tonight, but the Roman Catholic Church is really allied to or alike to the harlot church of Rome.

[6:02] You see, there's things that are not right, they're not true. We've got to say it. I'm telling it like it is tonight. And so if you might be offended, I'd be glad to explain to you more politely, more personally, and explain to you as thoroughly and as helpfully as I can.

[6:19] I'm not putting people down here tonight. I'm putting the truth out as plainly as I can, because we must do so. 1 Corinthians 6.15 says that the body of Christ should not be joined to a harlot.

[6:31] And so we know as many men of God over history have seen, certainly the signs of the Romish system, the papal system, the Roman Catholic system, that there's danger there.

[6:43] It's devoid of soul-saving truth. We see also in some churches they have Freemasons in places of power. I've heard that there's a church down the road where apparently there's a lot of Freemasons in positions of eldership and such.

[6:58] And that's dangerous and damning stuff. You know, Freemasonry is ultimately it's worshipping Lucifer. Let me tell you how it is. That's the truth of it. And so that's compromise.

[7:09] We can't accommodate that. If we know that someone's a Freemason, we will exhort them to come out and be separate of such a thing, because we can't accommodate that. We must speak against it and be urgent against it.

[7:22] People might say, oh, you're making a mountain out of a molehill. You're making a fuss about something that's trivial, that's minor. A little leaven. A little leaven is all that it takes. A little leaven.

[7:32] And so some would say, it's minor, just let it slide. No. We have to talk strongly. We have to say no. We're not going to accommodate that which is wrong. Of course, I'm not saying look at everything like some finicky, picky person that we're making a fuss about this or that.

[7:49] Some might have different views about such things as the timing of the rapture or some things that might be more, yeah, we can allow there's different viewpoints, there's different views about certain matters that are not things to make a make or break thing out of it.

[8:06] But we need to be mindful. We need to search the scriptures, come to our own conviction and God helping us will have that general uniformity of belief, of sound doctrine, of truth.

[8:19] And when I'm talking about examine things, I'm saying most of all, let's examine ourselves. The Bible says examine yourself. We've got to keep watch over ourselves. I know I've heard it put to me, well, there's deception everywhere.

[8:32] There's deception in independent fundamental Baptist churches just as there is deception in all kinds of the wacko, charismatic, fringe churches. And I know that there is deception everywhere.

[8:44] We've got to guard ourselves. We've got to guard this church. That's why I had to talk strongly to that man this morning that we're not going to allow false teaching to be going on. Because I have to protect the flock from the wolves that would come in as grievous wolves, as wolves in sheep's clothing as well.

[9:01] And so it's important that we look at ourselves. We look mostly at ourselves. First, how can I improve myself? How can I watch myself? Is there a chink in my arm that that arrow's going to come?

[9:13] Am I going to let something slip? Am I doing something that I should be wiser to avoid? Because it's easy to allow a compromise of truth. And sound doctrine is vital. We must have sound doctrine.

[9:25] And we can't excuse something that is unsound. There's compromise too in practical ways as well. There's questions about choices that we make for ourselves. Individual questions and decisions that Christians can face to have to make.

[9:39] And some Christians may choose different ways of doing things. But let me talk frankly here again. And I put to you my position on these things.

[9:51] I've got to ask God for myself. How does he want me to live? In practical ways. For example, in terms of how I look after my body. Really, your body is not yours.

[10:03] It's his, isn't it? It doesn't belong to you. It's no longer yours when you're saved. When you're a Christian, when you're born again, you're no longer your own. You belong to him. You're bought with a price.

[10:14] And compromise can defile the temple of God. There's a sense where compromise, we accommodate something that's harmful, that's hurtful, that's going to do us damage.

[10:25] Something that can shorten our life. Let's talk frankly here. And I know some struggle. And bear with me, you might be in this situation. I've never had this situation, thank God.

[10:35] But, you know, to be partaking of something that's going to shorten my life. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you? And it's not good for you. You know that. And the Bible says that we should look after our bodies, not defile them.

[10:49] It says, no, you're not that you are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. So, look after your body.

[11:01] If it's not something wise, abstain from it. If it is something harmful, avoid it. If it's not something like that, God helping you, he'll help you to get free from stuff that's hurting you and harming your body.

[11:12] And it's going to hurt and shorten your life. We ought to let go of that. God helping you. Ask for prayer. We'd be glad to pray for you. And to give you some practical pointers.

[11:22] I'm sure there's numbers of us who've been through that struggle of having to let that go. That's held us back in such things. You are important to God and he wants you to live a life as fully, as long as it can.

[11:37] To be extending your life as long as it can live. As long as it can be. Because while you've got breath to breathe, you can be useful for God. And if you're going to stop breathing, you're not going to be able to go the distance.

[11:50] So, I'm telling you honestly, smoking is one of those things, isn't it? It can be a questionable area. There's choices we can make, we can choose to partake of things. And even more damaging really than such a thing as smoking is like sinful pleasures, sinful amusements, entertainment.

[12:09] They're probably even more damaging. I mean the Bible speaks specifically about drunkenness for one thing. The Bible uses the word wine in dual sense. Often it's simply unfermented grape juice.

[12:21] But we ought to be careful about such things I put to you. The Bible tells us very plainly in this verse here, Proverbs 23, 31. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

[12:38] It's talking about fermented wine here. It's dangerous. It's a picture of sin, of course. Now we could talk much about that. It bites like a serpent. It stings like an adder.

[12:49] Wine drinking, when it's alcoholic wine. The Bible's very plain about that, that it's doubtful, it's damaging. Even more than that is overeating as well.

[13:00] We can, oh these people that drink, we can point the finger at them. But if we might overeat, we might be overindulging. You know, we've got to be careful, brother, sister, don't we? I'm not looking at anybody here tonight that like eating out.

[13:14] Of course we all like to eat. But it's that overeating, isn't it? That overindulgence. We know it's not good for us. If it's something that's going to hurt us, ultimately. You are a temple walking about is the point, isn't it?

[13:26] Look after yourself. Look after that body. You've only got one of them. And really, you are a holy ground. You are a sacred place. A sanctuary. You are a holy place.

[13:38] A sacred site, you could say, is your very body, isn't it? So you want to look after that. Make it go the distance. You know, there's certain things you wouldn't do in a church. You wouldn't do them in a church because it's a sacred place.

[13:49] It's not something that would be appropriate. What's appropriate in the temple of God? The temple of God, what's appropriate there? Maybe just a little bit of leaven. Maybe just a little bit.

[14:00] No. Don't allow. Don't settle for even a little. God helping you. Say, no, I don't want to have a bar of it. See the danger of the little and avoid that compromise if you can.

[14:13] Compromise. Compromise is conforming, too. Think of compromise. It's a kind of conforming thing. I like this picture here of the school of fish going the one way and the one fish goes the other way.

[14:25] It's kind of a picture of non-conformity, isn't it? I like the thought that really we should be non-conformists in that sense. We should be prepared to stand alone. Because peer pressure is pressure to conform, isn't it?

[14:37] Go with the crowd. Go with the flow. Or will you swim upstream and be different? Be willing to be different. Because we know a lot of people, there's this kind of sheep mentality that are going the wrong way.

[14:49] We need to go God's way, don't we? What do you do when friends ask you to go to an ungodly place? Do we follow the crowd or do we follow Christ? Do we think twice or just go along like a lemming?

[15:01] What's your reaction when you're asked to go to an ungodly event that you know is not a right choice for you? What do you do when you feel the pressure of doing the wrong thing? Oh, everybody's doing it.

[15:12] Do you have a sense of conviction? A sense to ask, what would my Lord be pleased with me doing? These are questions we all face. It's life, isn't it? It's life's journey.

[15:24] These are constant things. Temptation may be strong, but we do not have to give in to them. We can say no to all temptation and sin. And we might have situations, I've had it myself, where they're laid on the alcohol and, oh, there's no one watching.

[15:39] Or, you know, we could all just indulge and over-allow such things to just go with the flow, just join in with everyone who's doing it.

[15:49] But, no, we'd rather stand strong and say, no, I'm a man of conviction. I'm a woman of conviction. I want to follow my Lord. I want to do what's honouring to Him. So we're no longer slaves of the devil.

[15:59] We've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We're no longer in that miry clay. Our feet have been set upon a rock. Amen? We've been set free and set on a rock. And now the Lord directs our steps, the way that we choose.

[16:12] God helping us will hear His voice, will go His way and will obey Him. We would save ourselves a whole lot of grief. We would just listen to God's heart, like God's Word.

[16:24] What's God's Spirit prompting us? What would He want the best for us? So don't compromise your walk with God. Know that pleasing Him is what matters most.

[16:38] Don't be sucked into the vacuum cleaner of temptation, of sinful pleasure, of lust, of pride, of laziness. Don't play games with the devil.

[16:50] Because he's playing for keeps, isn't he? You know, the devil wants your soul to burn in hell. But yet, in Christ you can have liberty. You can know you've been set free. That all your sin has been paid for.

[17:00] You have salvation's gift. And you are saved for time and for eternity. And you want your faith to be such that it's uncompromising. That you'll keep going straight ahead.

[17:11] Not shifting here or there. But straight through and true. Keeping your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. So, preacher, how much compromise is acceptable?

[17:26] How much? How much compromise is acceptable, really? Be the person God's created you to be. God helping you have convictions that you'll stand true to, no matter what crowd you're amongst.

[17:39] I know as a younger Christian, I was a little bit, you could say, accommodating more so than... I should have been. Like being a little bit of a chameleon. You know, the chameleon changing colour to suit those that hang around.

[17:54] Maybe at church being a different person to what I was at school amongst my peers. But the compromise that God would allow is zero, really, isn't it?

[18:07] A little? No, not even a little. So, be the person God wants you to be. To be filled with His Spirit. Even the world uses this phrase, zero tolerance, don't they? There's zero tolerance in the schools for certain things.

[18:19] They have an intolerance, which is a good thing. And we need to likewise have that uncompromising heart. Have that motto of no compromise, no compromise.

[18:32] Because really, backsliding starts with a series of small compromises. Oh, just accommodate this or that. And then before long, Christian slackness happens. It's gradual, over time, slowly.

[18:45] It results from a series of compromises. Little by little, you compromise. Compromise by compromise, you start lowering your standards. And before long, you're changing over from truth to error.

[18:58] From right to wrong. I'm going to present two Bible examples here tonight of compromise. And the Word of God tells us this.

[19:10] In Romans 15, 4, it reads, For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.

[19:21] So, we see the Bible says what it is written for us, it is written for our learning, and that we might, through patience and comfort, have hope. Patience, perseverance, we might have comfort, we might have encouragement, we might have hope.

[19:38] The Word of God tells us how to live. And it gives us examples in black and white, warts and all, of people just like you and me. And number one is Lot.

[19:49] Lot was called just by Peter. We see it tells of him in 2 Peter 2. Lot was called a saint.

[20:02] He was saved, but he was not a good testimony. So, we see there, I'll read it through, 2 Peter 2, verse 6 through 8. In the context, it's talking about God sparing Noah.

[20:17] In judgment time, God spared Noah. And then it reads on about Lot, as another example of being spared. It tells of the turning of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes.

[20:29] And God condemned them, it says, with an overthrow, making them an example, an example, unto those that after should live godly. So, there's an example here for you that should live godly.

[20:41] Here's one example the scriptures tell us, Lot. And it says that God, verse 7, delivered just Lot. Just, he was righteous. Delivered just Lot.

[20:53] Vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. For that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.

[21:04] So, it's saying there that Lot, when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, turned it into a pile of ashes, that Lot was delivered by God.

[21:15] But while Lot was in Sodom, he was vexed. You know, he was torn and stressed with the filthy conversation, the filthy way of life of the wicked, of the people of Sodom.

[21:32] And it says, this righteous man, he was seeing and hearing things, and it was just vexing, just stressing out his righteous soul from day to day when he saw all these things going on.

[21:45] So, here was Lot. We'll read about him and what happened. God called Abraham, as he was Abram, from Ur to the land of promise. The land of promise.

[21:56] And his nephew, Lot, came with him. When they got there, there was a famine that hit the land. And they were forced to go to Egypt. And it tells of Abram and Lot that they had cattle and flocks and herds.

[22:08] They had servants and tents and silver and gold. But they were pressed for space now because it was just so busy. There were so many of them. And Abram gave Lot the choice to go anywhere that he wanted.

[22:21] So, Lot made a series of little compromises. Compromises, as we see, little by little, has he lowered his standards. And this led to all of his problems, as we'll see. He did what he wanted to do.

[22:32] The first compromise we see in Genesis 13, verse 10. We see that as the time came, Abram said to Lot, Lot, you go your way, I'll go mine, your choice.

[22:46] And so, Lot's first compromise was the choice that he made. Lot played on the edge of sin and worldliness. It says that Lot chose really what pleased himself.

[22:57] He wasn't motivated by what was pleasing to the Lord. And Lot gave in to his weakness. We read that, Genesis 13, verse 10. It says, and Lot lifted up his eyes. And he beheld, oh, look at that, all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord.

[23:21] It's like the Garden of Eden. It's like the land of Egypt. As they comest unto Zoar. He looked out over all the land. It looked very pleasant, like a garden. Beautiful.

[23:32] Beautiful. And he thought that the land by Sodom was the best, had this fruitful soil, everything was flourishing. And he probably thought to himself, he told himself, hmm, this makes a very good business decision.

[23:48] This is a great business decision for me. My herds and my flocks are going to do better down there. I can grow better crops there. He might have thought, this is going to be the best thing for my family as well.

[24:00] Well, he thought of all kinds of good excuses, you could imagine. It was easy for him. It was comfortable. This was the easy track. So Lot chose Sodom. First big mistake, first compromise here.

[24:12] After a long time of looking, it says, notice, he looked. He lifted up his eyes. There was a looking. There was a longing. As he looked there, over that landscape.

[24:24] And it's got the sense that there was a long time of looking and longing. And then verse 11, it says he chose. He chose Sodom.

[24:36] Verse 11. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan. And Lot journeyed east and they separated themselves the one from the other. So Abram went his way. Lot went to Sodom.

[24:48] God lets us choose some dumb things, doesn't he? God lets us make some stupid choices, doesn't he? He's got that permissive will that he lets us choose stupid things to do.

[25:01] And this is what Lot did. He totally disregarded God. He just pleased himself. It's a big mistake, isn't it? Big compromise here from Lot. It was the first compromise was choosing to move near the city of Sodom.

[25:15] Lot was one you could think of as one who wanted to sit on the fence. Have it both ways. To live in two worlds. It's the same for many Christians. They want to be Christians. They want to go to heaven.

[25:26] They want Jesus. They want also, though, to do what everyone else is doing. To enjoy the worldly things. To not really deal with their marriage situation.

[25:37] To not deal with their worldly fun. The things that they're accommodating. Just to blend in. To go along. Not to be different from the world. They want it all. And they want it their way.

[25:48] But really, God helping us. We want to make wise choices that please our God. That are right choices for us in his sight. As believers, we're not meant to blend in and just go along.

[26:01] Go with the flow. Like those fish going the wrong way. We're meant to be peculiar people. I know some of us are a bit more peculiar than others. I'm talking about myself. For one.

[26:12] There's a sense where we're peculiar. We shouldn't be, you know, we shouldn't be blending in. We should be willing to be distinct. And to be different.

[26:24] Amen. It's that sense of salt and light, isn't it? We're meant to be standing out. Not just going along with any old thing. We're meant to have different values and loves and desires. And you cannot sit on the fence.

[26:36] You can't remain neutral very long. You know, it's a bit uncomfortable sitting on a fence after a while. And God will shake the fence and force a decision. And sooner or later, all the fence sitters are going to fall off, usually on the wrong side, and get hurt.

[26:50] You can avoid all of this. Don't sit on the fence. Decide. Jesus, I follow you. Don't sit on the fence. So, Lot's second compromise we see in verse 12 through 13.

[27:03] It shows that his heart's desire became action. And the Bible says that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. We see the heart of Lot.

[27:14] He did what pleased himself. He did what suited himself. And Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan. Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain. And pitched his tent, it says, towards Sodom.

[27:29] He pitched his tent. Notice that. You know what they say about real estate? Location, location, location. Well, Sodom was not a good location for a man of God.

[27:44] For a family that wants to follow God. Sodom wasn't a good place to be. And Lot didn't care. He just pitched his tent towards Sodom. You can imagine.

[27:55] I don't know what the tent pegs would have looked like in Lot's day. But he put down those tent pegs into the ground. Says, this is my home now. And there he was with his door open towards the wicked city of Sodom.

[28:07] He moved out of the hills into the plain. He left the good influence of his uncle. And he pitched his tent towards the glittering cesspool of immorality that was Sodom. And now he has no interest in godly things or fellowship.

[28:21] What about you? Is there a lack of desire for Christian fellowship? Do you place the temporal above the eternal? Has God taken a secondary place in your life?

[28:33] So here was Lot. Put down the tent pegs. He pitched his tent towards Sodom. And it says of Sodom that the men there were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.

[28:45] But Lot didn't care. Lot just followed his heart. You know, a lot of people say that, don't they? It's the kind of mantra now. Oh, just follow your heart. It's sort of that kind of airy-fairy thing.

[28:58] If it feels good, do it. That's what the devil would say to you. Just follow your heart. The Bible says your heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Oh!

[29:09] If we could take a real heart surgeon look into the spiritual heart. Think, oh, there's some ugly things inside of there. Oh, you don't want to know.

[29:21] It's deceitful. It's desperately wicked. And so here was Lot. He pitched his tent. His heart's desire became action. And the third thing that Lot did was we see that he got accommodated really, he was really cosy there in Sodom.

[29:40] Lot became hardened to his sin. So here's Lot. He's now living in the city of Sodom. And we can think for ourselves as a believer, when we place ourselves in a situation of immorality, of wickedness, before long we just get hardened to it.

[29:57] You get hardened to sin. We can get hardened to sin. And so when others rub off on us, we don't even realise it. We're talking the language of Sodom. We're talking the culture of Sodom.

[30:09] Oh, we're watching the TV programs of Sodom. We're seeing the adverts of Sodom. You can't escape it. It's everywhere, isn't it? And Lot was not careful.

[30:20] And we see Lot, really he became a leader in Sodom. He joins in and he sits at the very gates of Sodom. So it's like, it tells us here, Genesis 19 verse 1, where was Lot?

[30:32] He sat in the gate of Sodom. And sitting in the gate, we think of the, there's a phrase gatekeepers, isn't it? People that are kind of important people. The gates were important places.

[30:45] The gates were where there was merchandising, there was marketing, there was trade, there was governance. And the elders sat there. It was an important place.

[30:57] And so Lot here, we can see he was an important person. You know, he's got so accommodating in Sodom that he's part of running the place. He's living in the city of Sodom and he's actually so hardened to sin that he's just going along with it all.

[31:13] He's not daring to speak out. He's just going along with the culture, the culture of Sodom. So Lot was not careful. He became a leader.

[31:24] Joining in, sitting at the gates. He's part of the decision making of the place. He became one of them. He became one of the Sodomites. Now, I must say I'm involved in the local council.

[31:35] I hope that I'm not becoming one of the ungodly. Hopefully I'm a good influence on the council. But we know for Lot here, he was just, it seemed like he was just accommodating such that he'd lost his spiritual edge.

[31:48] He became so spiritually dull that he no longer realised how bad things were going, what it had become. And so Lot here, it's like he didn't stand out. He wasn't really different. He didn't have much of a testimony.

[31:59] And we can all be like that. As Christians, we can just, as I say, be a chameleon. We surround ourselves with sin such that we just start to just think that's okay.

[32:10] And what the world is doing, we think that's okay. We just join in the same conversations, the same kind of thinking, such that the worldly culture becomes our culture.

[32:21] That's a problem, isn't it? Even though we know it's wrong. And what about you? We can all think of that. Are we spiritually dull as a Christian? Are we desensitised by the daily exposure to sinfulness and filth from TV, whatever?

[32:37] So Lot's third compromise was he got hardened to sin. Lot's fourth compromise was he was willing to allow his family to participate in it. So what's even more telling, really, it's not enough just for us ourselves individually to compromise, but we're bringing our whole family along with it.

[32:58] Our whole family, we're leading our family into something that's sinful and questionable. And so here was Lot. He was finally in this fullness of his compromising.

[33:09] Not only had he become hardened to Sodom, to Sodom's sinfulness, he was willing to allow his family to participate in it. And it got so bad that God sends two angels here.

[33:21] You see, Genesis 19, God's sending two angels in to get his people out. It was like a rescue mission by God. He's sending in this SWAT team, if you like, of these two angels.

[33:32] They're coming in to pay this supernatural visit, to extract this man and his family out of this community, this place of sinfulness. And they come and they literally drag Lot out by the hand before God destroyed the city.

[33:52] So when these two angels showed up at Lot's house, so did the community. And they weren't just curious, they had perverse intentions. And we can read the context, you might take time to read every verse here, that these men had an evil intent.

[34:07] They were so perverse that they couldn't wait to violate these two strangers. And Lot then offered his two daughters to the men of the city. What kind of a father would do such a thing?

[34:19] To offer his daughter up to these wicked men. It shows how far Lot had fallen. It shows how far Lot had compromised. His very family, his most precious family, was now sacrificed here.

[34:34] But here he was compromising inch by inch that he comes to the depths of this tragic situation, that backsliding to such an extent.

[34:44] He breached the pits. And so the angels, it tells us here, they had to lay hold of his hand upon the hand of his wife, upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto him, and they brought him forth and set him without the city.

[34:59] So the angels literally had to lay hold of Lot and his family to remove them. Lot wanted to save his two son-in-laws. They were betrothed to marry his daughters.

[35:11] And when he went to these ones, he told them what the angels had said. But they had watched Lot over time. They'd seen him compromise often and repeatedly, lowering his standards, his witness, his testimony, had long since lost its authority.

[35:27] He'd lost his testimony with his own family. And that's a big thing, isn't it? Think for yourself. What's my testimony to my loved ones, to my relatives, to my family, to my siblings, to my children, to my parents?

[35:42] What's my witness and testimony? Lot had lost his testimony with his family. What a tragic thing to come to such a place. How has your witness and testimony? And still Lot lingered.

[35:54] It's a really crazy thing to think of it, really, that Lot lingered. Notice that, verse 16. Lot lingered. The two angels literally had to take Lot and his family by the hand, physically remove them outside the city's gates.

[36:08] Friends, God does not accommodate sin. See what's happening in Sydney at the moment? Pride. God help us. God help Australia. This nation is going down the tubes.

[36:21] God help us. Our prime minister is going to walk down the Sydney streets, waving the rainbow flag and going along with it all. God help us, people. That's Australia today.

[36:31] Sodom. Sodom and Gomorrah. God does not accommodate sin. Sodom is damned. We must get out. You see what it reads? Verse 24. It says, Friends, there's no lingering with sin.

[36:49] We can't accommodate it. And look, if you're in Sodom, God's got mercy. Notice that, that God had mercy to bring them out. God was merciful to bring them out. God's merciful to bring anyone out of Sodom.

[36:59] If you're in Sodom, if you're a Sodomite, it says God has mercy to bring them out. God can bring you out of Sodom. If you want to be set free, just take a hold of his hand. Because one day the rain's going to come down.

[37:11] The rain of fire and brimstone. It's going to come down on Sydney. God help us, people. Adelaide. We're part of it. Our government's sponsoring some...

[37:22] I don't even want to talk about it. It makes me sick. It makes me sick. Lot wanted to linger in sin. And there's a lot of people that are lingering in sin.

[37:33] They think, oh, yeah, this is popular. It's celebrate, diversity, inclusion. Lot and his family fled. But his wife still lingered. She lingered and she looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.

[37:47] Verse 26. There's a sense where she lingered so much that her heart was still there. You could think of it. Do you like to linger in worldliness? Rather, to linger with your Lord.

[37:58] To want to linger with Him. To want to be with Him. Better to withdraw. So we see Lot's compromise was he's willing to allow his family to participate in it. And then we see the fifth compromise was that, verse 30 of chapter 19, Lot allowed sorrow and disappointment to overtake him.

[38:19] Here he was alone on the mountain watching the smoke of the several cities rising to heaven. Lot and his daughters conclude the entire world has been destroyed. The daughters get Lot drunk and then lie with him and bear him children.

[38:32] Lot had compromised to such a degree that he went to such depravity. And it happened by degree. Friends, just a little leaven ends up with a whole big lot of trouble, doesn't it?

[38:45] A whole lot of trouble. It was compromise after compromise. It happened by degree. So Lot had compromised with his sin such that he reaped then a bitter harvest.

[38:56] It says, For whatsoever a man sows, that will he also reap. So when Lot pinched his tent towards Sodom, he never intended to fall into such immorality and sin. He didn't start out by saying, I'm going to openly sin and sleep with my daughter.

[39:11] But it did happen. He compromised his faith to such a woeful stage. And so friends, tonight, sin, compromise happens bit by bit, inch by inch, until we get hardened and we come to this place of depravity.

[39:28] We see that what a man sows, he's going to reap. Friends, there's a reaping coming. So compromise. We start by lowering the standards.

[39:39] We start by accommodating this or that. A little here, a little there. You spend less time in your Bible. You start coming to church when it's convenient rather than being faithful.

[39:49] You spend more time doing other things. You relax your grit and you begin to backslide and your witness for God decreases. Your joy vanishes. It all starts with that little leaven, just a small compromise.

[40:04] How are we going tonight? Let's look at quickly another Bible example. On the other side, Daniel. He was a man who would not compromise.

[40:15] He was not a friend of the world. He was a friend of God. Daniel won. Here he was, brought to the University of Babylon of its day for an education in the king's court.

[40:27] Three-year program. God allowed these ones, Daniel and his friends, they were chosen as the best and brightest, the strongest and smartest.

[40:38] The king gave them graciously from his own table and their names were changed. Now their identity, their distinctiveness as part of God's people was under threat here, you could say.

[40:54] So what do we learn from Daniel and how they handled all of this challenge that they were faced with? They could have just kind of accommodated it, the contamination with the world.

[41:09] They could have run away from it. What did they do? They didn't absorb the Babylonian culture. Some would say today, when in Babylon, do what the Babylonians do.

[41:25] You have to go along to get along. You know, in Aussie culture, you've got to start being a, you know, what the typical Aussie man is like or what the typical woman is like.

[41:37] you just go along with what the stereotypes are of the Aussie. Or do you say, actually, no, some of that, I'm an Aussie, but I'm not going to go along with that stuff.

[41:49] For some, they'll say, look, I don't want to be viewed as weird. I'm just, I'm just going to blend in. I won't rock the boat. Or some will maybe say, actually, no, I'm willing to even lose friends to stand for Christ.

[42:04] It's better to be standing for Christ that you're not going to be an accommodator. And Daniel and his friends said, yes to some things. They weren't questionable things, but they said no to other things.

[42:17] It's the same for you and me. In the workplace, there's certain things in a workplace setting. Say, okay, yeah, I'll accept that's okay for me. That's within the scope of what's reasonable.

[42:28] And then this, no, I'm not going to be part of that. I'll say no, no to that. I'm not going to do this or that. You see in some workplaces now, I know in Coles, they're wearing these LGB flags on their name tags.

[42:43] And you think, no, if I was working at Coles, I wouldn't want to do that. I would say no to that. Because that is questionable, isn't it? Now, Daniel and his friends, they drew the line where they determined in good conscience to draw the line.

[42:57] To withdraw from Babylonian culture, not totally withdraw, but to say, where it's evil, we're not going to have part of that. Daniel made the very hard choice to not eat the king's choice food or drink his wine.

[43:14] He made that choice. He said, no, that's something, mm, not going to do that. He knew where he had to draw the line. You know, sitting down and eating at someone's table is a sign of friendship and trust.

[43:27] Maybe Daniel thought, I can't let myself be so chummy with these people that I forget who I am and who I belong to. And really, Daniel at this time, some have reckoned he was only a 14-year-old boy.

[43:39] What about you and me? When we're faced with these choices about our life, we need courage. We need to stand strong, step over the line, make those hard choices, say, yeah, that doesn't fit for me, that doesn't sit with me.

[43:55] It's something, I'm going to not accommodate that. Because compromise, really the result of compromise is not a good result. We see of Solomon, one of the wisest men, if not the wisest man.

[44:10] Solomon, he had such great wisdom, thanks to God's giving it to him. And yet for all of that, Solomon, despite all of that that God had given him, it says, Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord.

[44:25] He went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. And so the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice.

[44:36] So we see Solomon, this man, he had everything. God gave him such blessing and wisdom and bounty, and yet his heart was turned from the Lord.

[44:49] It can be true for you and me. Our love can grow cold. You see some, you think, where are they spiritually? Something's gone wrong. There's a coldness crept in. Will you be a Lot or a Daniel?

[45:06] Will you stand for something that you believe in, the truth, the word, God's will? When there's temptation, when there's doubtful things, when there's unfruitful works of darkness, don't give an inch, not even a little leaven.

[45:22] Don't choose what's convenient and easy. Think of the Lord who's purchased you, that you want to live righteously, godly, in Christ Jesus. You want to live as would honour him.

[45:34] It's not that our living right saves us, but because we're saved, we want to live right. We want to make right choices. And we want to say, hmm, that's questionable. Some Christians even might allow it, but I'm going to say, no, I'm going to say, no, that's, I'm going to avoid that.

[45:48] I'm not going to toy with that. I'm actually going to say, no, I'm not even going to excuse that, that others might excuse. Because I don't want to have a worldly appetite.

[46:00] I want to have an affection that's set on things above. So let your soul feed on that which is good. Be a Daniel, purpose in your heart. Lot was still called righteous.

[46:11] That's one of the amazing things, really, isn't it, of the word of God here, that Lot, for all of his faults, God said, just, Lot, he was righteous, he was encountered, he was included as one who was a saved man.

[46:25] He was a saint of God. He was saved. He was, he was God's son, saved by grace. And so, Lot was called righteous despite all of his foul ups.

[46:38] So, you might think, preacher, oh, some of that's hit a bit, hit a nerve here. I'm feeling a bit injured tonight from the preaching because of this or that that I said. Look, Lot, for all his mistakes, he was still a saved man.

[46:52] But the thing with Lot was God told him to escape for his life. And it says, you know, we think, an escape story, I think, of prisoners of war escaping, there's the sense of, escape for thy life.

[47:06] Don't stay in Sodom. Don't stay in Sodom. If you're one of the Sodomites, escape for your life. Look to the Lord. Look not behind thee. Don't stay there. Escape. Escape, lest thou be consumed.

[47:17] Get out. Get out. We can learn from the testimony of Lot. We can learn from him how not to live. And you might think, preacher, I've really messed up. I'm fairly a bit like Lot.

[47:27] I know I've not been a very good Christian witness where I live. I've made some poor choices. I've not done the right thing. I'm ashamed of myself.

[47:37] Well, it's a good starting point to come to that place to realise that. To say, if you could still include Lot as someone who's righteous, then by your grace, include me too. Help me to escape like Lot escaped.

[47:49] Help me to make the right steps for the future. To be in your will. And Daniel and his three friends, they purposed in their heart. They purposed in their heart. May we dare to be a Daniel.

[48:00] Dare to say, no, I'm not going to go with the flow. I'm going to be a non-conformist. I'm going to conform to him. To his likeness. To be conformed unto his image. And that we can impact the very culture that we live in for our Lord.

[48:14] Such that others will be drawn unto him. To know him. Like we do. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that we see the comfort of your scriptures. These things were written for our example.

[48:26] Lord, we see the example of these ones. We see Lot made those different choices. Bit by bit, small compromises made a whole lot of trouble for Lot.

[48:41] Lord, help us not to do so. Help us to be like Daniel and his friends that they decided to be different. that even in a setting that was difficult and challenging that they were willing to do that which was different.

[49:00] To do that which was honouring to you. Help us, Lord, to likewise not compromise, to have zero tolerance. But especially tonight, we pray each one might have that heart's trust to know your saving grace that we can escape for our life.

[49:17] We can know the refuge who is Christ tonight. We can flee to you for refuge from the wrath to come. We know that as surely as your wrath is against Sodom and Sydney and every sinful thing of this world that we can flee to you, our Lord.

[49:36] We can flee to your arms. We can escape from Sodom. We can escape from judgement. We can find shelter and safety in your sure keeping because your blood shed is that refuge from your wrath.

[49:52] Lord, as we trust your death on our part, we pray each one might have that heart's trust by your grace. Lord, help us to be such a people that will live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

[50:12] Amen.