Joseph Prince - Live Undefeated In Christ
You ready for God's Word? Let's dive right into it. Last week, we started with Genesis 18 and how the Lord, such a homely picture in Genesis 18 that God would come to a man's home, amen, share the secrets of his heart, eat with a man, amen? And God brought two angels with him. We know it's the pre incarnate appearance of Christ and Abraham walked with his divine guests. And the two men, which are two angels, the Bible says angels can turn into a form of a man.
So, the Bible says even when Abraham was talking to the Lord, the Bible says, "The two men went toward Sodom". So, let's follow the story now. "And the Lord said, 'Because the outcry'". All right, the man went. "The Lord said, 'Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.' Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord".
So, the two angels went towards Sodom as if they knew the mind of the Lord and they both straightaway went. So, two of them went and Abraham was on a higher plain. Hebron is higher, but from Hebron, a distance down, you can see the Dead Sea and you can see the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. But before we go on reading, I want you to go to Genesis... sorry, 2 Peter 2, 2 Peter 2. If we are 2 Peter 2, yeah. "And turning the cities of", this is New Testament now, "And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly". Next, "And delivered righteous Lot".
Underline that righteous Lot. So, Lot was righteous. Today, I'm gonna share with you about a defeated righteous man, a man who had a family and lost his family. He finally ended up with only two daughters, but it's not a proper relationship. A man who was called righteous but defeated. Abraham is righteous, but Abraham was exalted. When all the destruction was happening, he was on a mountain looking down. I said, looking down, all right? Praise God. So, go back to Abraham negotiating. And the last part I'm gonna just read to you, okay. God says, "Shall I hide from Abraham"? So, he's gonna share like to a friend. "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great". And I'll come down and see what's gonna happen. "Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord". Next, "And Abraham came near".
You see the boldness? God wants him to be bold. God wants him to intercede. Let me ask you a question, if God wants to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, why didn't God just go and destroy? Why did God go find a man that he knew would pray? Abraham came near, that's boldness, "And said, 'Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right"?
Now, this is boldness, talking, right? The Lord said, now listen to the Lord's heart. "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes". Then they say, "What about 45"? Drop down because of time, all right? So God said, right, the last line, "If I find there 45, I will not destroy it". See God's heart. Drop down, okay. He say, "What about 40"? "I will not do it. I will not do it for the sake of forty". Then he says, what? "What if there's 30"? "I will not do it if I find 30 there". Drop down, it says like, "What about 20"? "I will not destroy it for the sake of 20". He says that, "Lord, Lord, Lord, let not the Lord be angry and I speak but once more. Suppose ten should be found there". And he said, "I will not destroy for the sake of ten".
I believe there are ten righteous in Singapore, and I believe there are ten righteous in America, and I believe there are ten righteous in Europe. Let's finish it. "So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; Abraham returned to his place". And the last part here, I'll do something that I seldom do, I'll let the account speak for itself, okay? This is our family, we are living in these times. Jesus says, "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be before the coming of the Son of Man. As it was in the days of Lot, so it shall be".
Let's follow the story. Next chapter, "Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. And he said, 'Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant's house, spend the night, wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.' And they said, 'No, but we will spend the night in the open square.'"
Wow, when Abraham said, you know, wanted to sit under the tree, right, immediately they acquiesce to his request but here they said no. They won't go into Lot's house. We'll stay in the open square. Lot had to insist. "But Lot insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate". No calf mentioned, no blood being shed. It's unleavened bread. He that have ears to hear, let him hear. Abraham gave both the shedding of blood as well as the bread. Let me tell you this, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And all the people said, "amen, amen, amen, amen".
So, they ate. Next verse, "Now before they lay down," the angels and Lot and all them, "the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.'" Next verse, "So Lot went out to them through the doorway and shut the door behind him, and said, 'Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.'"
How far he has fallen that he will give up his two daughters, righteous man but how defeated because he compromised. Next verse, "And they said, 'Stand back!' Then they said, 'This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge.'" Look at the language of these people. They always say that we are condemning them. "'They keep acting as a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them.' So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. But the men," the angels, "reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door. Then the men said to Lot, 'Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, take them out of this place"! Next verse, "'For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.' So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law," at least two, "who had married his daughters", so we have four here, "And said, 'Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!' But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking".
Now, something happens when you mix with the world and you talk like them, you drink with them, all right, and you act like them. You use language like them and finally you tell them about the coming judgment, they will look at you and say, "Stop joking". You have lost your credibility. You have lost your weightiness, you have lost your dignity, and you have lost your influence of them. Next, "When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry". Setting as your own family, you know? By the time you want to be serious with them about things of God, they'll look at you, "Look who's talking". It's a sad day. Let's not wait for the day to come, amen?
"When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, 'Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here.'" In other words, the angels know that the two daughters they've married and the sons-in-law, gone. They're not willing to come. All right, "'Lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.' And while he lingered", Aiyoh, this man, angels come to your house, they've been saying hurry up, hurry up. And while he dillydally, while he linger, "I must take my collection of DVDs". And while he lingered, look what happened. I love this. "The man took hold of his hand". There were two men, right? His wife's hand and the hands of his two daughters.
So, the man took the wife's hand, the hand of his two daughters, all right? And he the other angel took Lot's hand and the other daughter, or Lot and his wife and the two daughters. Okay, it works out. "The Lord being merciful to him". Must grab you by the hand, you know, help you get delivered. You see, if I don't read all this, people will think oh God just anyhow judge or God, you know... no, God is slow and even then angel can say, "You still want to linger", you want to linger? "All right, bye. See you in hell". Did he do that? No. We know he didn't go to hell, of course. But look, he lingered, almost had to be forced out. The Lord being merciful, I love that, the Lord being merciful to him.
"And they brought him out and set him outside the city. So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, 'Escape for your life! Do not look behind you,'" We know later on the wife did. "Nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed". Real quick I'll tell you this. You look at the this word, "the mountains," it's not plural. It's actually haHarah, that means the mountain, and I believe, I believe when I was meditating on this and looked up the Hebrew, I believe "the mountain" refers to where Abraham was, the high elevation. He's saying, "Go back to where Abraham was," amen, the mountain. Hebron is there, Abraham is watching down, all right? But on the west side, but he wants to go the Jordan side, the east side. He said this, Lot said to them, "Please no, my Lord".
See, this guy. People say escape to the mountain. "No, no, please no". And then next verse, "Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die". He didn't believe the angel. He says, "See now, this city". One city down here. "It's near enough to flee to. It's a little one, please let me escape that. Is it not a little one? And my soul shall live". We're gonna finish this. All right, "Please, let me go to this city". It's called Zoar by the way. "Let me go to this city". Next, angels said to him, "See, I have favored you concerning this thing also".
Actually, no, the word "favor" is not right here. It's not the word "favored hand". It's the word "nasah" which means, "I'll support you in this," all right? "In that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken". When I read this I was thinking, Abraham is not the only one that saved, you know, Lot, but actually Lot saved the city. "I will not overthrow this city because you want to go there". Can you see that? Defeated, very sad case but still can pray and God will hear. "Hurry, escape there," The angel said. "For I cannot", I love this, "I cannot, I cannot, I cannot, I cannot". Supernatural beings, strong angel says, "Hurry, escape there". "I cannot". Bring in judgment. "I cannot do anything until you arrive there".
I'm telling you this, if this is God's attitude, you think judgment will fall in Singapore? Judgment will fall on America as long as believers are not yet raptured. We'll see consequences of sin, and it will be bad but judgment from God, no, until we are raptured. "I cannot do anything until you arrive there". What a statement, what a statement. "Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar," which means small. "The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar". Now next, "Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground".
If you go there to the area today, the Dead Sea Area, you still find sulfur stones on the ground. Only the area can you find sulfur stones. You take one of the sulfur stones, you stick it and burn it. Use a lighter, don't use your hand. All right put it on a spoon, whatever. Even the spoon will have a hole after that. You burn that thing and the whole room will smell of sulfur. There's sulfur stones all over that area of the Dead Sea, even today, only that area, all right? And God overthrew everything. "But his wife looked back behind him and she became a pillar of salt".
Now, there are many pillars of salt in that area now, all right, she probably delayed too long, all right, because she has lived that life, amen. She's a picture of a professing Christian, not a possessing, eternal life Christian, but professing. Married to a possessing eternal life man, but she is a professor, not a confessor, all right? I love this part, I love this. "And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord".
You know the place where he stood before the Lord, on the place of elevation? He went back to the same place. I love it. And then, "He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain and he saw and behold the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace". He saw from afar like the smoke of a furnace. The whole place went up and he saw. That's what we'll see up there, looking down. You won't be down here. Regardless of how many preachers tell you you'll be here, you'll not be here. And we got only one person to thank, our Lord Jesus. Let me finish this, okay? Let's finish this, okay? All right, this chapter's coming to an end. Next verse, "And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out". God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out.
I'm telling you, there are people - thank God for people who are praying for us, amen? You can pray for your defeated Christian brother, your defeated Christian sister, and God will remember you and deliver that person out. Of course, it's in the name of Jesus, amen? We have no merit of our own. "God remembered Abraham, sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt. Then Lot went up out of Zoar". Now, you see this guy, not happy in Zoar. A heart that's restless cannot believe God will protect him, all right? The angel said, "We'll spare Zoar".
Did he ask to go to Zoar? Now he came out of Zoar and he dwelt in the mountain. Now not the original mountain, this is not the definite article here. The mountain of Zoar is on the Jordan side. There's still a place called the place of Lot and they have a cave there, a monastery there. "And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave". Oh sorry, "He was afraid to dwell in Zoar. All right, and he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave".
Next verse, these are the last few verses, I need to read this. "Now the firstborn said to the younger, 'Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.' So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. And it happened the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, 'Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.' Then they made their father drink wine that night also".
Stop, where did these girls learn how to drink? How did these girls learn to drink to the point of intoxication, you can bring a man to intoxication? What examples have they seen? Be careful what you let your children watch, all right? "Oh, pastor, I don't want to be too hard on them". No friend, as long as they're under your house, you have a divine rule. Parents, I want to tell you something right now. I'm gonna give you a gift right now, a revelation. God has made you a king and a priest in your house, that's why you don't have to raise your voice, all right?
You don't have to raise your voice because you just say, "I believe if you do this, it's gonna end up like this. I believe your best choice is this, is this. The Lord loves you". Just speak normally, calmly, and trust that God gives weightiness to your words. On the other side, the devil is saying, "No, your parents are just restricting you". Your friend says, "Oh, come on join us," but all their words will fall to the ground. Parents have this confidence, but do speak up. Do restrict them if you need to. Do tell them what is good, all right? Don't lose control. Never lose control, shout, yell, you lose power. All right, speak normally.
If you have to write, you have to text, trust that God will give you weightiness. God is on your side. That's why you don't have to scream, you don't have to shout. The moment you scream and shout, you have lost control. You don't believe God, all right? But do speak because your words carry weight. Parents, I give you this gift, your words carry weight and glory, okay? They laid with their father. "The younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down". Okay next verse. And, "Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father".
What a sad, sad, sad closing to the life of a defeated righteous man, incestuous relationship. "The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; for he's the father to the Moabites to this day". And became a pain to the side, a thorn in the side of Israel all the days of Israel in the Old Testament. We have a light that comes out of it, Ruth. "And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day".
Ammonites also, big problem for David and his men, remember? Enemies. And by the way, the story just ends like that. We don't know what happened to Lot. We don't know what happened to his two daughters. We do not know where they went, how they died. He's referred to by Jesus, remember Lot's wife, Jesus shortest sermon, "Remember Lot's wife," amen? And he's talking the Jews of his day about the coming of the Lord, his coming. Friend, Jesus died on that cross. God is not willing that any should perish. When he comes again, he will come, not to deal with your sins.
I'll close with one last verse. Hebrews 9, please. "Christ also was offered once and for all time". Say, "Once and for all". "As a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again". With us Christians, not to deal with our sins. "Our" here is believers. "But to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him". So, those eagerly waiting for him are all believers. He's gonna bring salvation. And what salvation is this? Our bodies, our bodies will be incorruptible forever, amen? Look at Amplified. "Christ having been offered once and for all for all to bear as a burden, the sins of many, will appear a second time when he returns to earth not to deal with sin".
But notice that he'll come to judge the earth. He will deal with the sin of the earth, but not to deal with our sin, all right, but to bring salvation to those. Who are these those? Who are eagerly and confidently waiting for him. So believers, rest assured when Jesus comes, you are going up. You will be raptured. He's not coming to deal with your sins, but he will come to establish his kingdom on the earth. So, the world will get darker and darker and darker, the church will get brighter and brighter and brighter. And all the people said, "amen". To God be the glory. Give him praise, hallelujah, hallelujah.