The Watchman’s Call

Guest (Male): Standing at the intersection of the word and the world, there is a clear sound for uncertain times. Welcome to the Watchman's Call. Join us as we stand on the ramparts of scripture to examine the intersection of biblical prophecy and modern culture. The headlines are changing, but the blueprint has already been written. Listen as Pastor Andy Woods uncovers the prophetic significance of the world we live in. The Watchman's Call starts now.

Dr. Andy Woods: And I want to welcome you back to this last episode in this series on the Watchman's Call broadcast. We've been dealing with the days of Lot. What a strange topic. Why would we get into that topic? Well, this is a show that tries to highlight the significance of Bible prophecy. And we'd like to look at the culture and the signs of the times and ask ourselves, are we drifting into the season of Christ's return? Of course, we can't give a date for Christ's return because the Bible doesn't give a date for Christ's return, but we can look at the general signs in the times.

The Greek word for seasons is kairos. The Greek word for times is chronos, as in chronology. The signs and the times, the season of the Lord's return. And one of the great clues that Jesus gave is found in Luke 17:28 and following. He was asked, what's it going to be like when you come back? And he, among other things, says, as it was in the days of Lot, which would be the days of Sodom and Gomorrah that we read about in Genesis 18 and 19. As it was in the days of Lot, it's going to be just like that at the coming of the Son of Man.

And so we've been looking at the days of Lot, the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. And we've been trying to figure out if there are trends happening then that are happening today. And if so, we can tell that we're living in the general season of the Lord's return. So I've been studying the days of Lot. By my count, there's about seven trends that were happening then that are happening now. And these trends we've studied in prior shows. We've already covered six of them. And our final episode here on this series today, we're going to cover the seventh.

But the first trend is there was a general insensitivity towards God. I mean, people were eating and drinking and marrying and buying and selling and planting. Nothing wrong with those things in and of themselves, but they were pursuing them. The hectic nature of life at the exclusion of a relationship with God. And clearly we can see that trend in our world today. Number two, there was a great material prosperity in Sodom and Gomorrah. A lot of people focus on the depravity of Sodom, which is a legitimate focus, and forget the fact that there was a material prosperity that made the subsidization, can we say, of immorality possible.

Having been alleviated from the ordinary pressures of eking out a living. The inhabitants of Sodom were very prosperous and they could explore the sin nature. Leisure can be lethal. More free time on one's hands to surf sites that maybe you shouldn't go to, to watch videos you shouldn't watch, to text people illicitly that you probably shouldn't text, etc. And we see that prosperity described in Ezekiel 16:46 through 49. I mean, is that happening today? Yes. As we mentioned in one of our shows, we have a lifestyle in America in the middle class where we live like the first class or royalty in comparison to other countries and those that lived in world history.

The third trend is there was a mainstreaming of sexual deviance. I mean, perversion to the highest level even involving children. Because it says the old and the young surrounded Lot's house, Genesis 19 versus four and five, and demanded that Lot release his two guests who happened to be angels that appeared as men for sexual purposes. And we have seen how that mainstreaming of sexual perversion is happening in our culture. It's happening in our legal system. It's happening within the church. And very sadly, it even involves the sexualization of young children. You can think of the sex child traffic slavery that's so common in our day as an example.

And then we saw number four that there was a militant sexual perversion at work. In other words, this wasn't just mainstreaming sexual deviance. This was aggressive, attack-oriented, belligerent, physical, in your face, assault, battery, threatening. Because when Lot wanted to release his two daughters to the crowd instead of his two guests, they immediately said, we're going to break down the door and we're going to treat you worse than we treat your your two guests. And how dare you judge us? How dare you act like there's something wrong with homosexuality by implying that we could experience a similar relationship with your two daughters.

And that that led us to number five though, that there was a manifestation of God's grace in that city. God said, I'll spare the whole city if I can find 10 godly men. And yes, we see sexual perversion today in our world. We even see it militantly displayed in law fair against Jack Phillips, a cake decorator, that would not use his God-given skill, his trade to make a cake for a same-sex wedding and how his name has been dragged through the mud, how his how he has been dragged through the legal system. Yes, there's a militant sexuality today, but there's also a manifestation of God grace.

God is not going to bring judgment on this world as long as his people, the church are in it. And then we saw after number five there a manifestation of God's grace. We saw there was something else happening in the days of Lot, an honoring of intercessory prayer. Abraham was able to, should we put it this way, barter with God, negotiate with God. Just as a side note, you might wonder why Jewish people are such tremendous negotiators. Well, it's in their family DNA. It goes back to Abraham who essentially negotiated with God, bartered with God.

This was intercessory prayer where he started with 50 and got down to 10. And he kept asking God through these these various numbers, if there's so and so godly in the city, will you spare the city? And God kept saying yes all the way to 10. Will you spare the city if there's 10 godly people? God says yes. That shows you the power of intercessory prayer. And if we really are living in the days of Lot, as I've tried to argue that we are, then we should see intercessory prayer today. We should be people of intercessory prayer.

But this takes us to number seven and this concludes our list of seven. Number seven, there was a breaking forth of divine judgment. Judgment finally came to the wicked civilization of Sodom and Gomorrah. We read it about it in Genesis 19 versus 24 and 25 where it says this. Then the Lord reigned on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground. Close quote. I mean, this judgment was so severe that it even had an impact on plants, shrubbery, leaves, bushes, trees, and things on the ground itself.

This was a comprehensive judgment. We read about this same judgment over in Luke's Gospel, Luke 17:29. It says, but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, see the grace of God there. God was not going to bring judgment as long as Lot was in Sodom. And that what the destroying angel said. I cannot do anything until you leave this city. Genesis 19:22. But on the day Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and it destroyed them all. The same thing finally happened in the days of Noah despite God's grace.

Remember Genesis 6 in verse three. It says the Lord said, my spirit shall not strive with man forever because he also is flesh. Nevertheless, his days shall be 120 years. Was God's spirit at work in the days of Noah trying to convict the inhabitants of the earth in that time period into repenting? Yes, it was, but you'll notice that the grace of God doesn't last forever. He clearly says here, my spirit shall not strive with man forever. Here's what we read concerning the days of Noah, how judgment finally came in Matthew 24 and verse 39.

In fact, let's go back to verse 36 and and read this. It says, but of the day and the hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark. And the key verse here is verse 39. They did not understand until the flood came and took them all away.

So it will be with the coming of the Son of Man. See the grace of God here. Judgment didn't come until Noah and his family eight total on the ark were in the ark. But then judgment eventually came. The flood waters broke forth both from above, the Bible says and from below. And a global population was wiped out through judgment at that point. You see, folks, judgment finally does come. Here's what we read about the wicked Canaanites that God allowed 400 years of grace towards. We read about this in Genesis 15 in verse six. It says, then in the fourth generation they, that's Israel, will return here the land of Canaan.

For the wickedness of the Amorite, that's one of those Canaanite groups. The wickedness of the Amorite is not yet complete. It's not yet full. So God is allowing the Amorites, in this case the Canaanites, he's allowing their evil to reach a certain breaking point. It's kind of like water building up behind a dam, but eventually the volume becomes so large that the dam itself starts to break. And that's how to view these judgments, whether it's the judgment of the Canaanites, whether it's the judgment via the flood in the days of Noah whether it 's the judgment via fire and brimstone from heaven in the days of Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah.

Eventually the wickedness reaches a point where God's righteousness must manifest itself in the day of repentance. The age of repentance and the age of grace is over. Here's what we read in the book of Romans, chapter two and verse nine, concerning the ultimate manifestation of judgment yet future. Paul writes, because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself. In the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. So what do the days of Lot teach us? They teach us that judgment finally can come will come and in fact does come.

Now that will come in spite of the grace of God that we see today. So we should not confuse a postponement of judgment with a cancellation of that judgment. We should not confuse a delay in judgment with a denial of that coming judgment. We are living in wonderful grace today as the wicked inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were living in. But we have a tendency to think that that age of grace just continues on and on and on and judgment day never comes. And here we learn that judgment does come one day. That's what a good hard study of the days of Lot teaches us.

Today I would contend this, that God is putting up with an awful lot. He's exercising great patience. He's exercising great forbearance, but judgment in fact will come. In fact, this is the very thing that Paul spoke of on Mars Hill over in the book of Acts, chapter 17. When he talked about the forbearance of God today but ultimately it will lead to judgment one day. Paul writes or says as recorded in the book of Acts chapter 17 beginning at verse 30. Paul says, therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.

Now I'm going to tell you how to repent in just a moment. It means change one's mind. Verse 31 of Acts 17, Paul goes on as recorded in the book of Acts because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead. So judgment day is coming through Jesus Christ. And now is the time to get on the right side of Jesus Christ. Because don't confuse the patience of God with the idea that judgment will never come.

So there was great patience in the days of Lot before judgment came, but judgment did come. And that's exactly what's happening today. So to bring this whole series to a head here, how exactly do you get right with God in a godless age and godless world? Here's what Jesus himself said in John chapter five and verse 24. He said, truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death unto life. So Jesus says, truly, truly, in Greek it's amen and amen, which means it is so.

And he says that twice. And he says, here's what you have to do to be made right with me. You have to hear my word and you have to believe which means trust in him who sent me. Now that would be the finished work of Jesus Christ which he accomplished for us 2,000 years ago on the cross. It would refer to his death burial, resurrection and ascension. It would refer to his final words on the cross in John 19. I want to say verse 31. This was the final thing that Jesus said before he gave up his spirit or as the King James says, gave up the ghost.

It's actually in John 19:30. Therefore, when Jesus had received sour wine, he said, it is finished. That's a translation of the Greek word which means paid in full. That's actually in the perfect tense there, one-time action in the past, ongoing results. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. So a person must believe which is more than just intellectual ascent. They must trust in what Jesus did for them 2,000 years ago for their own forgiveness for the safekeeping of their own soul for their ultimate arrival into heaven one day. We're not trusting in ourselves to pull that off in our own good works.

We're trusting in the good work that Jesus did for us 2,000 years ago. And that's how to get right with God. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. In other words, he's not saying you'll get eternal life if you believe in me. You can have it now. Has eternal life. John 5:24 is in the present tense. It's a present reality. And then John 5:24 goes on and it says, and that person there I inserted that person just for clarity does not come into judgment but has passed out of death unto life.

Romans 8:1 says, there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. You don't have to worry about the judgment of God and the wrath of God because Jesus absorbed the judgment of God and the wrath of God in our place 2,000 years ago. And when we trust in that and not ourselves we have John 5:24 crossed out of passed out of death unto life. Now passed out of there is in the perfect tense as and as I said before concerning paid in full. It's a one-time event with ongoing results. See, when I trust in Christ, I'm not getting eternal life someday.

I have it now. When I trust in Christ for my salvation I'm not gradually crossing out of death unto life. The Greek language here does not allow that. It's a one-time action and occurrence. At a Here's the fancy name for it, punctilier point in time meaning the nanosecond you trust in Christ. The nanosecond you come under the conviction of the Spirit and you are no longer trying to save yourself but you trust in what Jesus does is the nanosecond that you have eternal life. And it's the nanosecond that you have now passed or crossed out of death unto life.

Now you might be saying, wait a minute, Pastor I thought Paul in Acts 17 versus 30 and 31 told us to repent, and he did. But repentance is not penance even though the two words sound the same. Repentance as a noun as a verb is simply a compound word, two words making up one word. Meta as in change and noeo where we get the Greek word mind. Notion, for example, which comes out of the mind. Meta you recognize as in metamorphosis or God forbid someone's cancer has metastasized, which is never good news, meaning it's transferred from one part of the body to another.

It just means change. Meta means change. Noeo means mind. It means change your mind about Jesus. In other words, go from being a Christ rejecter to a Christ accepter. So you might be asking, well, should we believe or should we repent? And the answer is yes. They're synonyms. Believe means to trust. And the moment you place your trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ, your mind changed. See, I I heard the Gospel when I was 16 years of age. I was very religious, trusting in my own good works for salvation, but I heard the Gospel of grace.

I trusted in it, and the moment I trusted in it, my mind changed. I went from being a Christ rejecter to a Christ accepter. I went from you know, a mindset where I thought I could save myself to a mindset where only Jesus could save me. And so you can't truly believe in the biblical sense of the word without repenting. And you can't really repent in the biblical sense of the word without believing. They're just synonyms different sides of the same coin. Of course, a synonym is just a different word explaining, you know, or describing or caricaturing, you know, the same idea or reality.

And that's what we have to do to be made right with Christ. We trust him meaning our mind changed. And we're made right with God. And I hope many people within the sound of my voice are doing that now because we're living on borrowed time. We're living in the days of Lot. And how do we know that? There's an insensitivity towards God. There's a great material prosperity. There's a mainstreaming of sexual deviance that's becoming militant, but God's grace is manifesting itself. He's honoring intercessory prayer, but divine judgment is coming. And just like it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah so now's the time to be made right with God.

And we've been teaching on how to do that through believe which is a synonym for repentance. Thanks for listening to this series and we will see you with a brand new series in our next Watchman's Call. God bless you.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to the Watchman's Call, exploring the intersection of prophecy and culture. This program is a ministry of Sugar Land Bible Church, a place where the Bible is taught and the times are discerned. Visit this Sunday in person or connect with them anytime at slbc.org. That's slbc.org. Until next time, may the Lord give you a spirit of discernment in the week ahead.