“Taking You Out to Bring You In”
Deliverance
Genesis 19:17
Intro
Genesis 18 (summary)
We are at the time of our father Abraham in the land of Mamre where the Lord our God has appeared unto him with two angels. They were brought out of the dust and dirt into a clean, sanctified home to sit. In his time with God he served God baking cakes, presenting a dressed calf with. God prophecies to Sarah saying she will have a child, a son during her life. Both Abraham & Sarah are old in age so she is in disbelief and internally laughs but God hears her.
“Is there anything too hard for the Lord” God says.
God and his angels are now about to leave, but he makes a key decision to tell Abraham the works he is about to do. Looking towards Sodom he gives insight that the cry of Sodom & Gomorrah is great, (verse 20) “and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not ,I will know.”
Then the angels went onto Sodom, but Abraham did not remove himself from God’s presence because he knew what was about to happen to Sodom. Abraham had family in the city and didn’t want them destroyed. He knew there was someone righteous in Sodom and wanted no harm to come upon them. So he pleaded with God that if at least 50 be found righteous they should not be destroyed. God agreed, but Abraham kept pleading again for forty righteous people, then thirty and twenty. Finally he got all the way to ask for the lives of at least 10 righteous. God agreed.
Why did Abraham go from fifty to ten? Isn’t the fine print of our mission is to save as many lives as we can? Was it because he knew there weren’t that many to be found?
The two angels come upon Sodom, where the city is currently under siege by a perverse spirit. No one loves God. They love only themselves in a most despicable way. Men physically involved with one another. Only one family has God in their life and that’s the family of Lot.
Lot, sitting at the city gate sees them and rose up and bowed himself to honor them. Here a question though, why was Lot sitting at the city gate & not in the comfort of home & his family? I would like to believe that Lot wants to escape from the city but may not have any direction or know where to go so he is stuck in the turmoil. The angels wanted to see what was going on in the city, but Lot strongly requested they stay in his house for the night and go their way in the morning. So he brought them out of the mist of trouble and into a place of peace to be served.
Before turning in for the night, the men of the city all surrounded Lots home wanting him to present the two men that came into his home. Lot knows what they want, and is not about to offer it. In return he says they can have his two daughters but the men refuse. If Lot didn’t turn over the men, they would do worse to Lot, than the men they wanted. So they begin to rush Lot, but the angels strike them down with blindness.
How many of you know that when the enemy comes, so does God?
Scripture:
Genesis 19:17
And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
The Angels tell Lot and his family what to do in order to be delivered, information that you & I can follow in our lives today.
I: Escape!
Lot may have been at the city gate trying to find a quiet spot, a place where he can get his thoughts together. We do that today when the baby and the rest of the kids in the house are getting on our nerves. Everyone is asking for something.
- Momma, can we go to the mall?
- Dad, what time is dinner?
- People on the job are demanding too much from you where it becomes unbearable.
- The traffic jam is taking much longer than normal now you’re getting irritated.
IT’S TOO MUCH!!!
Sometimes we need a Calgon moment. When there is mass confusion, mass turmoil, too much noise, we can’t hear from God. We can’t see God. We can’t find direction.
Escape for your life before you lose it.
II: Don’t Look Back
God’s wants to do a wonderful work not just in us, but for us. But if we keep looking back he can’t do what he needs to. In verse 22 he says, “I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Meaning sometimes you have to be in another place for God to do his best. Don’t get caught in the cross fire. But sometimes it’s hard to leave it behind because we have invested so much of ourselves into someone or something. If you look back you lose sight. If you look forward you gain sight. Move when God tells you to move. Run, when he tells you to run.
How many times have you looked back on your past and kept wondering what could have happened if you were still there?
In Luke 17:31 Jesus is speaking of the coming Kingdom (Remember LOT)
In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
LEAVE IT BEHIND!!
- He wants to remove us from that abusive relationship to one of love and compassion. Now you can lay your head down at night in peace without fear of your life and the life of your kids. No longer bound. No longer in the midst of trouble.
- From that dead end job to one of significance and importance to where you are promoted. Now you have the respect of your peers.
- He wants to take you out by the collar from that broken down, rat infested, roach infested house to the one he’s been preparing for you that’s made of brick with no termites insight.
HE’S CLEANING HOUSE!!!
III: Get off the Plain
What’s the sense of being delivered if you’re on the same level as before? God has a nation to build and wants your assistance.
- To have a deeper knowledge of God and the bible you can’t come to church once a month. Commit yourself to at least twice a month, three times a month, four times a month.
- For a thriving relationship you need to take it up a notch.
IV: Get to the mountaintop
When Moses’ life was changed, it was on the mountaintop. When the children of Israel were delivered, it was on the mountaintop to rejoice in the works of our Lord God. Because we had a praying father (Abraham), praying Grandparents, a praying mother God spared our lives
Philippians 3:13-14
“…forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus
– I want you to close your eyes. Picture the things that have you bound right now, the trouble that is surrounding you.
- The pain you’re feeling.
- The spiritual separation that is pressing
- The ridicule you’ve faced
- Temptations coming after you
Now picture God taking you out of all of that.
