Number 2400–or, “Escape for Your Life!”

Number 2400–or, "Escape for Your Life!"

(No. 2400)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1895.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
FEBRUARY 27, 1887.

"Escape for your life." Genesis 19:17.

THE Lord Himself said to Lot, "Escape for your life," although the
command was sent by one of His chosen messengers. God has messengers,
nowadays, and He still sends by them short, sharp, urgent, stimulating
messages like this, "Escape for your life." This message was sent in
love. God loved Lot and, therefore, He would save him from the
impending doom of Sodom. I doubt not that this message of love was
spoken by the messenger in very solemn tones. I do not know how angels
speak, but I am certain that the very heart of the messenger was
apparent in the message when he said to Lot, "Escape for your life."
Whether he whispered it in Lot's ears, or uttered it in a loud voice, I
cannot tell, but anyway, I am sure that it was delivered as it ought to
be delivered and it had an immediate effect upon the man who heard it,
for he was obedient to it.

Now, it may be that God has designs of love towards you who are here,
who, as yet, have never fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before you. Remember that the Gospel admonition comes to you fresh from
God–it has been in this blessed Book for ages–but it has not grown
stale! It still leaps from the mouth of God, filled with all its native
energy, and though I who have to deliver it to you may not speak it as
I would desire, for I am very feeble, I will at least speak it out of
the very depths of my soul while I try to plead with every unconverted
man or woman whom my message may reach–and this shall be the one
burden of my pleading–"Escape for your life."

I. Notice, first, that THERE WAS NO SAFETY FOR LOT WHERE HE WAS.

He must escape from the doomed city. The angel did not propose to him
that he should stop in Sodom and, beneath some sheltering arch, hide
himself from the fire-shower. No, the message was, "Escape! Flee from
Sodom! Escape for your life." So, to you who are unconverted, we can
bring no proposals of hope if you stay where you are! We can hold out
no hope to you either in this world or in that which is to come!
Neither a lesser nor a "larger hope" do we believe in, apart from your
laying hold on eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ! Stay where you
are and you are doomed. Remain what you are and you must perish in the
overthrow of that City of Destruction which God will certainly burn up
before long!

There was no safety for Lot where he was, so, let me say to you who are
unbelieving and unconverted, there is no safety for you in unforgiven
sin. It does not matter what form your sin has taken–whether you have
been a profligate or a moralist–as long as the sin you have committed
is unforgiven, there is no safety, for whether your sins are as
scarlet, or, in your judgment, of a milder hue, does not affect the
truth of what I say–you must be washed in the precious blood of Christ
and pardoned through His great atoning Sacrifice received by faith, or
else you will die in your sins and you will be driven to the place
where hope can never enter! If you die with your sins upon you–where
death leaves you– eternity will find you! Once lost, you will be lost
forever. So, there is no safety in unforgiven sin.

And, further, there is no safety in unforsaken sin. No, you must escape
for your life from every sin. The drunk cannot be saved and keep to his
cups. The adulterer cannot be saved and indulge his evil passions. The
thief cannot be saved and remain dishonest. The only salvation for you
is salvation from your sins–and that is the salvation that we preach!
How many would like to be saved from the punishment due to sin, and yet
to be allowed to go on in the sin! But there is nothing of that kind of
teaching in the Scripture! God did not send His Son to be the Excuser
or the Minister of sin, but to be the Savior from sin! There is no hope
for you if you stay in this Sodom–you must get out of it–you must
clear right away from it.

Perhaps you say, "I will change my place of residence. I will go from
the slums of the evil city into the cleaner and more respectable part
of it." I tell you that you have to come right out of it! You must
altogether quit the region of sin. You must flee from the realms of
iniquity or else you shall be consumed in the destruction of the city.
Up and away from all sin! Up and away! Our cry is not, "Hide in a
corner," or, "Shift into a better place," but, "Escape for your life!"

Again, there is no safety in unbelief. You may say, "I do not believe
this," but, as the Lord lives, before whom I stand, it is true! In my
own heart, soul and conscience, I know that there is a Judge of all the
earth, and that He must do right, and that the day shall come when He
will execute vengeance upon those who live and die in sin, for He
cannot wink at iniquity. It is not in the Nature of a holy God to
suffer sin to go unpunished! You may shut your eyes to this Truth of
God, but it is there. You may disbelieve it, but it is there. You may
ridicule it, but it is there, and you shall, before long, know it to be
so! You must come out of this state of unbelief if you are to be saved!
There is no salvation in unbelief. "He that believes and is baptized
shall be saved; he that believes not shall be damned." There is to be
no flinching in this matter–I am not sent here to please you who do
not believe, or to talk with bated breath, as though I sympathized with
your unbelief. I denounce it as high treason against the majesty of God
and, therefore, I cry unto you, "Repent and believe the Gospel," for if
you will not, you must perish in your unbelief! "If you believe not,"
says Christ, "that I am He, you shall die in your sins." There is no
safety in unbelief and, therefore, we say, as the angel said to Lot,
"Escape for your life."

And once more, let me remind you that there is no safety in
self-righteousness. If anybody here says, "Thank God, I am no doubter,
I am no profligate, I am no open sinner," I am glad if you can
truthfully say that, but still remember, if you trust in your own
righteousness, you cannot be saved! You must come out of that condemned
city or else you are a lost man. I spoke with one, this morning, who
is, I believe, earnestly seeking salvation, and he said to me, "I have
denied myself this, and I have cast away that." I was pleased to hear
it, but I said to him, "You have denied these things to yourself, but
have you denied yourself? That is to say, have you left off trusting in
yourself!" The hardest self-denial is to deny yourself and get right
away from all confidence in your own doings, feelings and everything
that comes of yourself, for you might as well hope to be saved by your
sins as by your good works! The road to Hell by human merit is as
certain as the road there by human sin! If you seek to insult the
Atonement of Christ by setting up your merit as though it were as good
as that Atonement, or by trying to prove that you do not need that
Atonement, you are just barring Heaven's gate against yourself! You
must come out of that self-righteousness if you would be saved! My only
cry to you is, "Escape, escape, escape for your life, for there is no
safety for you where you are!"

II. But now, in the next place, according to this message of the angel,
IF LOT IS TO BE SAVED, HE MUST RUN FOR IT AT ALL COSTS–"Escape for
your life."

First, he must leave his former comrades. Have you any jolly companions
who are not Christians? "They are bright, lively fellows," you say. But
they are doing you infinite mischief–they are leading you away from
God and His Christ! Break loose from them–"Escape for your life."
Though they seek to hold you back, tear yourself away from them and
even leave your garment in their hands, as Joseph left his in the hands
of Potiphar's wife! "Escape for your life." Quit all evil company.

Next, Lot had to leave his former comforts. For the sake of comfort, he
had gone to Sodom and, doubtless, he had his house well furnished
there. But he must quit it all. Probably it was that excellent house
that made Lot's wife look back– she could hardly relinquish all those
nice things of theirs even for life, itself! Beware, when you are
seeking Christ, that you do not let your money or your business stand
in your way! It will be better for you to enter Heaven a beggar than
being a rich man, to be cast into Hell! It were better for you to be as
houseless as the most unpitied waif about whom the wintry winds are
howling–it were better for you to die in a ditch and to be saved–than
that you should live in a palace and yet, after all, be cast into Hell
fire! I charge you, be ready to give up all things, if necessary,
sooner than lose your soul. "Escape, escape, escape for your life!"

Yet again, Lot must not stop to argue–and nor must you. You do not see
the danger. You need more evidence. You have objections–to all of
which my one solitary answer is–"Escape, escape, escape for your
life!" You have not time for me to discuss your difficulties, now. When
you are saved, it will be soon enough for us to argue out the moot
points, but now, while the fire cloud hovers above your head, escape
for your life! Yonder drowning man will not clutch the rope until I
have explained to him the doctrine of specific gravity. O Fool, what
have you to do with specific gravity when you are drowning? Lay hold of
the rope and live! So, there are some who must have election or
predestination explained to them, or the doctrine of the human
will–they must have this, that, and the other opened up to them and
made clear as daylight. I beseech you, do not be such madmen! Do not
trifle with your souls, but escape for your life! That is the one
business of the present hour–see to that, first, and let other matters
wait awhile till you are in a fit condition to consider them.

If Lot is to be rescued, he must, as men say, put his best foot
forward. It is quite early in the morning, but before the sun has risen
much higher, all Sodom and Gomorrah will be destroyed. You have already
waited far too long, my unsaved Friend! Gray hairs are on you head here
and there–why will you delay any longer? Did you not catch the solemn
tones of our hymn–

"Hasten, sinner, to be wise,

Stay not for the morrow's sun"? We sang that line over and over again
in the different verses–

"Stay not for the morrow's sun." Oh, that God would, in great mercy,
press that appeal home upon you! "Escape for your life."

Lot must not sit down and take things easy–nor must you. Lot must not
begin to crawl at a snail's pace and amuse himself by looking down
every side street of Sodom as he leaves it–he must run from the doomed
city and you, also, by God's Grace, must bestir yourself! You must quit
your sin by repentance and lay hold of Christ by faith. God help you to
do so! Oh, that my lips could speak the longing language of my heart,
and cease to utter the feeble syllables that do not express half what I
feel! How can words fully express the burning desires of a soul
yearning over sinners? But if you become willing to be led, even by my
feeble speech, to listen to God's almighty voice as He says to you,
through me, His messenger–"Escape for your life."

I cannot help, just by way of parenthesis, pointing out to you the
contrast between the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the
repentance of the Ninevites. At the command of God, Jonah went though
Nineveh and this was all he had to say, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh
shall be overthrown." Again, and again, and again, in bitter tones, the
Prophet cried, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown"–and
the whole body of the Ninevites sought for mercy and found it–with
nothing to help them to pray but this, "Who can tell if God will turn
and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?"
Now, if you have nothing better to comfort you than this, "Who can
tell?"–

"'Perhaps He will admit my plea,

Perhaps will hear my prayer,'"

why, you have good ground to go upon in approaching your God! But,
Friends, you are not under such a dispensation as were the Ninevites–I
have not to cry to you, "Yet forty days, and you shall be destroyed." I
have to tell you that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners
and that whoever believes in Him has everlasting life! I have to
entreat and beseech you to lay hold on eternal life by believing in the
Lord Jesus. Oh, how you ought to welcome such a message as that!

If there is anybody whom I am addressing who is actually marked for
death and who knows that he carries about in his body that which must,
in a very short time, bring him to the grave. One who is well aware
that he cannot recover from the incurable disease that has seized
him–yet, even that should not hinder him from seeking God's
face–rather it should move him at once to turn to Jesus! I can see a
man before me now–my mind's eye can see him and I know that he must
die, I am sure of it. Poor wretch, he has been a thief! His hands and
both his feet are nailed up, they are bleeding from the cruel nails
and, within a short time, he must die in agony. Yet I hear him cry out,
as he turns his eyes on the crucified Jesus Christ, "Lord, remember
me!" He is nearly dead and almost in Hell, but he cries, "Lord,
remember me," and he is saved–and today is with Christ in Paradise!

Now, you who have a cancer, you who are sick and ill, you who are poor
and broken down and feel as if you must soon die, you who are as great
a sinner as the dying thief was, say to Jesus, "Lord, remember me," and
He will remember you! There is no reason under the earth, nor on the
earth, nor in Heaven, itself–there is no supposable reason why you
should not pray! And if you pray and seek the Lord's face, you shall
not come to Him in vain, for He has said, "Him that comes to Me, I will
in no wise cast out." God help you to come, now, for the Lord Jesus
Christ's sake!

III. Now, to conclude, let me remind you that LOT HAD EVERYTHING AT
STAKE and, therefore, the angel said to him, "Escape for your life."

Suppose he had stayed in Sodom–then he would have lost all. He would
not have saved his furniture, or his gold, or his silver–he would have
lost all that he had. Suppose you stop your sin–will you really save
anything by it? "I shall save myself from thought," says one. Oh, but
do you think you are an ox, or a donkey, that thought should be trouble
to you? Why, it surely will be your wisdom to addict yourself to the
most sedulous care about your eternal interests! Suppose there should
be a cry of, "Fire!" raised in this house, tonight, as there was but a
little while ago in Spitalfields– how many there are who would rush to
the doors in a mad panic to escape for their lives! Yet, surely, the
soul's life, the eternal life, is more precious than the life of the
body! Will you not make that the first point to be considered and
set-tled–for, if you could by sin gain the whole world–yet what would
it profit you when you would lose your own soul?

Again, if Lot had not fled out of Sodom, he would, himself, have
perished. Not merely would his garments have been burnt, but he would
have perished. Not only would his gold and his silver have melted in
the fire, but he would have perished. That was a true saying, though
Satan uttered it, "Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has will he give
for his life." And all that a man has he ought to give for his soul,
for the immortal part of his being, for his higher and better nature!
Why, if your soul is cast into Hell, it would have been better for you
that you had never been born! If you neglect the Great Salvation and
you die and perish in your iniquity, you have lost everything! You are
not merely like a bankrupt who has lost his gold, but you have lost
yourself! I beseech you, therefore, listen to me as I cry to you, in my
Master's name, "'Escape for your life,' your immortal life, which is
now in imminent danger!" Your existence will continue whether you are
lost or saved, but your life! Have you yet received eternal life at the
hands of God? Your life! Will you be content to lose it and to perish
in your sin?

The worst point about this story is that if Lot had not escaped, he
would have perished with the men of Sodom. He could not endure them–he
was vexed with their filthy conversation! How horrible, then, would it
have been for him to perish with them! I cannot bear to think that some
of you upright, moral people may yet be lost! You were never drunks,
and yet you will perish with the drunk unless you repent and trust in
Jesus! You were never swearers, but you will be as surely damned as the
blasphemers will be unless you come to Christ! You cannot bear impurity
or filthy language–there is much about you that is most amiable and
excellent–but even to you, the Savior says, "You must be born again."
And if you are not born again, if you have no faith in Christ, if you
are not converted so as to become as little children, you will as
surely perish as will the worst of men!

You sometimes read in the newspaper a horrible story of vice and crime
and you wish that it had never been printed, and I wish the same. But
what must it be for you to be shut up forever with such as those who
commit these unmentionable abominations? Yet there are but two places
for man's eternal abode–Heaven and Hell–and if you are not saved so
as to go to Heaven, where can you go but into the same pit with all the
multitude of transgressors who shall perish in their sins? I wish that
you who are outwardly moral and upright would think of this Truth of
God. It seems to me as if I ought not to further press it upon you, for
you are reasonable beings, you are not shut up in Bedlam. I pray you,
therefore, run no longer such fearful risks as you have run up to now,
but escape for your lives.

If Lot had been destroyed in the overthrow of Sodom, there would have
been one thing about him which there would not have been about the race
of the Sodomites, he would have perished after having been warned. When
the fire-flakes began to fall and Lot felt the terrible burning, he
would have had this barbed dart driven into his heart–"I was told to
escape. I was taken outside the city gate. I was led to a place of
vantage and charged to escape for my life. Nobody else had that
opportunity–nobody else in these cities was called, thus, to escape! I
had a special appeal made to me by the messenger of God, and I refused
it and, therefore, I shall die a self-murderer, having chosen my own
delusions." O Sirs, O Sirs, if you go from this Tabernacle to Hell, it
shall be hard work for you! If you perish, I will be clear of your
blood. As long as this voice can speak, I will plead with you that you
do not destroy yourselves!

Look at the myriads of Africa, and the millions in China and India who
have never heard the Gospel! I leave their future in the hands of God,
all merciful, but they cannot enter Heaven! Neither can you! But there
will be this about your doom, that you had the means of Grace–you had
the invitations of mercy, you had the expostulations of God's Word! And
you chose–you resolutely chose–to put eternal life far from you! O
God, You who have made these men and women, if they have lost their
reason, give it back to them and may Your sweet Spirit teach them, now,
to judge righteously! And may they at once count it to be inevitable
that every wise man should escape for his life and flee from the wrath
to come!

I shall not detain you much longer, for surely I have said enough. Only
this much must be added before I close. There was a special favor in
the case of Lot, for Abraham had prayed for him. I should not wonder if
some here present are receiving a warning from me just now because
someone else has been praying for them. Abraham had prayed for Sodom
and, of course, especially for Lot and, therefore, God's messenger must
go to bring Lot out of the doomed city. At this moment, while I am
speaking, your mother is praying for you. While I am preaching, your
wife is praying for you. Some of you have been made the subjects of
special and particular prayer–you know that it is so! She who is now
in Heaven never ceased to pray for you as long as she was here–and her
many prayers–shall they not be now answered? They are undying prayers,
though she who breathed them has long been dead–they still live in the
Presence of God! Has He not sent His messenger, on that account, to
bring you out of the City of Destruction? Here! Here! Let me grasp your
hand and let us, together, flee from the wrath to come and run to
yonder Cross where there is safety, for none ever looked to the Christ
that bled thereon and looked in vain! I feel impressed that there are
some persons to whom this message is a peculiar answer to very special
prayers that have gone up to God on their behalf.

This message will, I trust, come to them as a special warning, as the
Lord's messengers reached Lot in a mysterious way. How came those
angels in Sodom to tell Lot to escape for his life? How very oddly
people are brought where the message of salvation is proclaimed! You
did not intend to be in the Tabernacle, tonight, did you? You had an
engagement to be somewhere else, but here you are, and you have never
been here before! Yesterday you would not even have dreamt of being
here tonight–but here you are! To what end are you here? God has, in a
mysterious way, brought you here to look in the face of this man who
cares for your soul and who says to you in the name of God, "I beseech
you, escape for your life!"

Then, again, this message came to Lot at a special time–on the morning
in which the city was to be destroyed. An hour later, it would have
been too late. I sometimes feel an awful solemnity creeping over me as
I stand in this place, because I know many things which I cannot tell
you about the strange way in which God speaks here. You remember that
just before I went away for my rest, I told you the story of the
godless young man who left his father's house? He was going to
Australia, followed by his parents' prayers. It was Sunday night–he
was about to sail on Wednesday and he thought that he would spend the
Sunday evening here in this house, as he knew that it would please his
mother. Better, still, it pleased God that night to touch his heart
and, we trust, to save his soul!

I put into the "Personal Notes" in The Sword and the Trowel for
December, the letter that he wrote home to his parents telling them how
God had met with their prodigal boy. That letter reached them only a
few hours before a telegram arrived, saying that the vessel had been
run into at Graves End and the young man and five others had been
drowned! Oh, what a mercy that, just a few hours before he had to meet
his God, his God met with him! I may be speaking to some others who are
in just the same position, just on the borders of eternity–I cannot
tell. You know that it is but two or three Sunday nights ago since one
of our Brothers sat over yonder, in the last pew in the middle. He came
into the Tabernacle, covered his face for prayer, and immediately died.
We had to delay the service, you remember, while he was quietly carried
away.

He was a child of God, but suppose it had been some of you? Suppose it
were some of you tonight? What would become of you? God save you even
now! Do not run any more risks. There is but a step between you and
death, a step between you and Hell if you are unbelievers! Therefore,
escape for your lives, and escape tonight–

"Stay not for the morrow's sun." God help you to have done with
delaying and to feel that you must and will run away to the Lord Jesus
Christ at once! Put your soul into His hands and if you do, He gives
you this guarantee , "None shall pluck you from My hands." Your soul
will be safe enough in His keeping! If I take my money to the bank, it
is credited to my account. What do I do, then? Do I loaf about and, at
last say to the clerk, "Is that money safe?" He would think that my
mind was a little wandering!

Sometime ago there was a bank in France to which there came a man who
had put in some thousand francs or so, and he said to the banker, "Have
you got my thousand francs?" "Yes, certainly. Do you want the money?"
"I should like to see it," he said. "Well, here is a thousand francs,"
and he laid them down before him on the counter. "Thank you," he said,
"I do not know that I want to take the cash, now–it is there, alright,
so I am satisfied." The next morning, he came in again and he wanted,
once more, to see his money. I believe that the banker cut the
connection and told him that he did not need such a customer as that to
bank with him. If he could not trust the banker with his money, he had
better take it home with him.

Now, if you cannot trust Christ with your souls, go and save
yourselves! But if you can trust Christ, put away all those foolish
doubts, fears and anxieties, and say–

"Firm as His throne His promise stands, And He can wel secure What I've
committed to His hands Till the decisive hour! Then will He own my
worthless name Before His Father's face, And in the New Jerusalem
Appoint my soul a place."

Finally, the reason why the angel's message had such power with Lot was
that God, Himself, was in it. That gave it a special pressure and I
have been praying that God, Himself, may be in my message, now–that He
may speak, gently speak, and powerfully speak to many of you! You will
scarcely know why it is, but you will say, "I never felt like this
before. I will arise and go unto my Father. I will repent of my sin. I
will look to Jesus, the Crucified Savior, God helping me! But why am I
saying this? Why do I feel thus softened, I who used to be hard as
steel? Why am I moved to this surrender of myself to my Savior?"

It will be the sweet Spirit of the blessed God gently working upon your
heart and graciously inclining you to yield yourself to the Lord! I
pray that it may be so, even now, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: GENESIS 18:17-33; 19:12-28.

Genesis 18:17-19. And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I
am doing, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty
nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I
know him, that he will command his children and his household after
him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and
judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He has spoken
of him. Abraham is called, "the friend of God." It was not merely that
God was his Friend–that was blessedly true and it was a great wonder
of Grace–but he was honored to be called, "the friend of God"–one
with whom God could hold sweet converse, a man after His own heart, in
whom He trusted, to whom He revealed His secrets. I am afraid there are
not many men of Abraham's sort in the world just now, but, wherever
there is such a man with whom God is familiar, he will be sure to be
one who orders his household aright! If the Lord is my Friend, and if I
am, indeed, His friend, I shall wish Him to be respected by my
children, and I shall endeavor to dedicate my children to His service.
I fear that the decline of family godliness, which is so sadly
prevalent in these days, is the source of a great many of the crying
sins of the age! The Church of God at large would have been more
separate from the world if the little church in each man's house had
been more carefully trained for God. If you want the Lord to confide in
you and to trust you with His secrets, you must see that He is able to
say of you what He said of Abra-ham–"he will command his children and
his household after him."

20-22. And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is
great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down, now, and
see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which
is come unto Me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their
faces from there, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before
the LORD. He was in no hurry to close that blessed interview–when he
had once come into the Lord's immediate Presence, he lingered there.
Those who are friends of God like to be much in their Lord's company!

23. And Abraham drew near. There is nothing like coming very close to
God in prayer. "Abraham drew near." He was about to use his influence
with his great Friend–not for himself, but for these men of Sodom who
were going to be destroyed. Happy are those who, when they are near to
God, use the opportunity in pleading for others, yes, even for the most
wicked and abandoned of men.

23-25. And said, Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Perhaps there are fifty righteous within the city: will You also
destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are
therein? That be far from You to do after this manner, to slay the
righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the
wicked, that be far from You. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do
right? Abraham bases his argument upon the Justice of God! And when a
man dares to do that, it is mighty pleading, for, depend upon it, God
will never do an unjust thing! If you dare to plead His Righteousness,
His Infallible Justice, you plead most powerfully!

26-30. And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the
city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. And Abraham
answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the
Lord, which am but dust and ashes: perhaps there shall lack five of the
fifty righteous: will You destroy all the city for lack of five? And He
said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he
spoke unto Him yet again, and said, Perhaps there shall be forty found
there. And He said, I will not do it for forty's sake. And he said unto
Him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Perhaps there
shall thirty be found there. And He said, I will not do it, if I find
thirty there. This time the Patriarch has advanced by ten–before, it
was by fives. Pleading men grow bolder and braver in their requests! A
man who is very familiar with God will, by-and-by, venture to say that,
which, at the first, he would not have dared utter!

31, 32. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the
Lord: Perhaps there shall be twenty found there. And He said, I will
not destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be
angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Perhaps ten shall be found
there. And He said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. He went no
farther than to plead that Sodom might be spared if 10 righteous
persons could be found in it. I have heard some say that it was a pity
Abraham did not go on pleading with God, but I would not dare to say
so. He knew better when to begin and when to leave off than you and I
do! There are certain restraints in prayer which a man of God cannot
explain to others, but which he, nevertheless, feels. God moves His
servants to pray in a certain case and they pray with great liberty and
manifest power. Another case may seem to be precisely like it, yet the
mouth of the former suppliant is shut, and in his heart he does not
feel that he can pray as he did before. Do I blame the men of God?
Assuredly not! The Lord deals wisely with His servants and He tells
them, by gentle hints, which they quickly understand, when and where to
stop in their supplications.

33. And the LORD went His way, as soon as He had left communing with
Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. We know that the angels
went down to Sodom, where they were received by Lot and despitefully
used by the Sodomites. We will continue our reading at the 12th verse
of the next chapter.

Genesis 19:12. And the men said unto Lot, Have you here any besides?
Son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whatever you have in
the city, bring them out of this place. Let me bid every Christian to
look about him, among all his kith and kin, to see which of them yet
remain unconverted! Let your prayers go up for them all–"Son-in-law,
and your sons, and your daughters."

13, 14. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is
waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD has sent us to
destroy it. And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, which
married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the
LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his
sons-in-law. "The old man is in his dotage," they said, "he always was
peculiar. He never acted like the rest of the citizens. He came in here
as a stranger and he has always been strange in his behavior."

15, 16. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot,
saying, Arise, take your wife, and your two daughters, which are here;
lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he
lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his
wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful
unto him; and they brought him forth and set him outside the city. I
have always felt pleased to think that there were just hands enough to
lead out these four people, Lot, his wife and their two daughters. Had
there been one more, there would have been no hand to lay hold of the
fifth person–but these two angels, with their four hands, could just
lead these four persons outside the doomed city. God will always have
agents enough to save His elect–there shall be sufficient Gospel
preaching, even in the darkest and deadest times–to bring His redeemed
out of the City of Destruction! God will miss none of His own.

17. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that
he said, Escape for your life; look not behind you, neither stay you in
all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed. Perhaps
the old man's legs trembled under him. He felt that he could not run so
far and, besides, the mountain seemed so bleak and dreary he could not
quite quit the abodes of men.

18-21. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my lords. Behold now, Your
servant has found grace in your sight, and you have magnified your
mercy, which you have shown unto me in saying my life; and I cannot
escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: behold now,
this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me
escape there, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he
said unto him, See, I have accepted you concerning this thing, also,
that I will not overthrow this city, for you have spoken. I think that
I have said to you before that this sparing of Zoar is an instance of
the cumulative power of prayer. I may liken Abraham's mighty pleading
to a ton weight of prayer–supplication that had a wonderful force and
power! Lot's petition is only like an ounce of prayer. Poor little Lot,
what a poor little prayer his was! Yet that ounce turned the scale. So,
it may be that there is some mighty man of God who is near to
prevailing with God, but he cannot quite obtain his request–but you,
poor feeble pleader that you are–shall add your feather's weight to
his great intercession and then the scale will turn! This narrative
always comforts me! I think that Zoar was preserved, not so much by the
prayer of Lot, as by the greater prayer of Abraham which had gone
before, yet the mighty intercession of the friend of God did not
prevail until it was supported by the feeble petition of poor Lot.

22. Hasten you, escape there. The hand of Justice was held back until
God's servant was safe. There can be no destruction of the world, there
can be no pouring out of the last plagues, there can be no total
sweeping away of the ungodly until, first of all, the servants of God
are sealed in their foreheads and taken to a place of security! The
Lord will preserve His own. He lets the scaffold stand until the
building is finished–then it will come down fast enough.

22-28. For I cannot do anything till you are come there. Therefore the
name of the city was called Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth when
Lot entered into Zoar. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon
Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of Heaven; and He
overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of
the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked
back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham got
up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:
and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the
plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the
smoke of a furnace. What must Abraham's meditations have been! What
should be the meditations of every godly man as he looks towards Sodom
and sees the smoke of its destruction? It might do some men great good
if they would not persistently shut their eyes to the doom of the
wicked. Look, look, I pray you, upon that place of darkness and woe
where every impenitent and unbelieving spirit must be banished forever
from the Presence of the Lord! Look till the tears are in your eyes as
you thank God that you are rescued from so terrible a doom! Look till
your heart melts with pity for the many who are going the downward road
and who will eternally ruin themselves unless almighty Grace prevents!