Moving Toward Sodom

Introduction

Good evening. Apparently we had a touch of confusion tonight over what the agenda actually was, and I don’t know whether it’s my fault or I’m not going to I’m not going to say it was Tony’s fault because he’s not here to defend himself. But he did tell me I was supposed to preach twice today. But apparently this was supposed to be singing night. And Dean was ready for singing night, and he truncated his song service so that I would have the time to present the lesson. So I said boat is my fault. Okay. Ernie says elders took the boat was his fault. So I appreciate I appreciate Dean for a number of reasons. He came up to me, as did Ben, who called me on the phone last night, and asked me, was there any song I can leave that would go along with your lesson?

Well, the lesson tonight is entitled Moving Towards Sodom. And so I couldn’t think of a song to go along with that. It’s about drifting spiritually, it’s about moving away from where we ought to be, and so he chose the Lord as my shepherd, because obviously, if we’re following the Lord, we’re not going to be moving in the wrong direction. I also wanted to highlight something that Brett said in his prayer when he talked about fleeing sin and fleeing lust. And how important that is, and how that not only embodies what we were talking about this morning to a degree, but it’s actually going to be much more relevant and pertinent to what we’re going to talk about this evening. And so, if you’ll take your Bibles, let’s open to Genesis the 13th chapter.

And then Genesis 13. Let me get over to the right slide here. Genesis 13, beginning in verse 1, it says, And Abraham went up. Abraham went up from Egypt and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him to the south. Abram was very rich in livestock and silver and gold, and he went on his journey from the south as far as Bethel, to the place where his tents had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there at first, and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. Lot also went with Abram, who went with Abram, I’ll get it out in a second, had flocks and herds and tents. Now the land was not able to support them that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.

And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, then dwelt in the land. So Abram said to Lot, please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you, please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right, or if you go to the right, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plains of Jordan, that it was a well-watered, well-watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go towards Oar.

Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.

What influence do we voluntarily place ourselves under? Did you catch what Lot did there at the end? Knowing the reputation of the city, knowing that it was a wicked place, it says that he pitched his tent towards and even as far as Sodom. Why? Well, turn over to 2 Peter, the second chapter, if you will. Before we excoriate Lot too much. It’s easy just reading the 13th chapter of the book of Genesis to really kind of develop a just kind of a bad complex, I guess, when it comes to Lot. But let’s read what’s written about him in 2 Peter chapter 2, beginning in verse 6, where it says, 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, and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked.

For the righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds.

He was tormented day by day. He was surrounded by iniquity, he was surrounded by sin, but he was surrounded by those things because of the choice that he made.

It goes on to say, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the flesh and its corrupt desires and despise authority. So I have a question for you. Knowing the reputation of the city, was it inherently sinful to move towards Sodom? You know what the answer to that question is? Only Lot can really answer that. I can’t judge Lot based on based on what he knew or what he might have known, but I can say to you that it certainly wasn’t wise. It certainly was not a good idea. It certainly did not embrace what was in the best interest of his own soul, of his own family, of those that were depending upon him, of those that were part of his household, his servants and his herdsmen and whatnot, it did not reflect good judgment on Lot’s part.

So, knowing the dangers of the world around us, at what point does our moving toward it, does our moving closer to the world become sin for you and me?

1. Rules or Righteousness?

Or where does sin actually begin? You know, one of the things that has disturbed me for some time as a preacher, in fact, it got to the point where it was downright discouraging, is this attitude that is beginning to grow within our brothers and sisters in the Church of Christ of a creed of sorts? To where we are distilling Christianity down into lists of do’s and don’ts, rather than talking about the righteousness that we ought to try to attain, rather than trying to teaching the godliness that we ought to be trying to strive for, we have we have begun as a people, not everybody, but some, to try to distill all that Christianity is into a simplified, codified list of do’s and don’ts. That we’ll look at passages like Galatians 5, 19 through 24.

We’ll look at the lust of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. Or we’ll look at a passage like Romans 1, 28 through 34, where the Apostle Paul mentions a list of things for which they were going to be, for which those sons of disobedience were going to be condemned. Or we’ll look at a passage like Colossians 3.5, or we’ll look at a passage like 1 Corinthians 6 or 1 Corinthians 10, and etc. and etc. etc. and so on, and we’ll say, as long as I avoid these things, I’m staying out of sin. As long as I avoid these things, as long as we all have our sacred cows that we’ll put together. As long as I’m not a liar, as long as I’m not a murderer.

Murderers end up on everybody’s list. Do you ever notice that? As long as I’m not a fornicator or an adulterer, as long as I’m not a homosexual, as long as I’m not these things, then that’s all there is to it. You know, that’s all I got to do. Is that really all that God expects of us? Is that really what it means to be a child of God? Are we supposed, or are we supposed to uphold a higher standard, a standard of righteousness that goes beyond just the law keeping? Certainly the do’s and don’ts are important, but is there a higher standard that we’re supposed to uphold to? Well, let’s look at a couple of passages. Open your Bibles, if you will, to the book of 1 John.

And in 1 John chapter 2, beginning in verse 15, a passage that will be familiar to just about everybody. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away and the lusts of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever. I like how the New American Standard says it he who does the will of God lives forever. But look up at look up at the tail end of verse 15 before we cross into verse 16.

And look at what that really says. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Tell me, how do we distill Christianity down into a list of do’s and don’ts when you have a statement like 1 John 2 chapter 15? Verse 15. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. That’s not a do or a don’t. That’s a call to some kind of higher authority. That’s a call to a higher standard. That’s a call not to be too entangled with this world. There’s a song that we sing.

My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. When I was a child, I said the angels bacon me. Didn’t know what beckon meant. The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door, and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore. I’m getting a three, which means my tie is flipping over. Is that really how we feel? That this world is not our home, that we’re pilgrims and sojourners, that this is not a place for us to find permanence. This is not a place for us to search for happiness. This is not the place that we’re going to find fulfillment, but rather it is a temporary place where we are to be accountable to the standard that God has set. Or 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9 and following.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. Some of your translations may say a peculiar people. So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous life. For once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers, remember the song we just talked about, to abstain from fleshly lust, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in which, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

I want you to look at how he starts this passage. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. Brothers and sisters, do we live like someone that belongs to the Father? Well, you say, how might that person live? Well, I believe that, and we’re not going to do this in slide, but I believe that you could go over to 2 Peter, the first chapter and begin reading in verse 5 and get a pretty good indication that there is more to being a child of God than just a list of don’ts. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue. Your new American Standard Translations will say moral excellence. Strive to excel in morality, is what he’s saying.

To virtue, knowledge, to knowledge, self-control, to self-control, perseverance, to perseverance, godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Or we could look at a passage like Philippians 3. Verse 17, and following brethren, join in my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame.

Who set their minds on earthly things? I don’t know about you, but that’s just another passage. It sounds like to me that there’s something higher than just a list of don’ts that we’re supposed to subscribe to. For our citizenship, this is my favorite passage, believe me. I know this sounds weird because Philippians 3 has got a lot of great passages in it. But verse 20 is my favorite verse in all of Philippians 3, and I believe it to be the crux of the entire chapter. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our citizenship is in heaven. What does that mean? It means we better not get tangled up with the things that he was talking about in verses 18 and 19.

We better not be those that set our mind on earthly things. And so, the question I have for you this evening is it rules or righteousness? This is one of those slides that was messed up with the template when I got here, so let’s see how this actually works. Not too bad. It’s a question of character. Does it come down to rules or righteousness? Does it come down to a codified creed where we can check off, yep, I’m not that, yep, I’m not that, yep, I’ve done that, boy, I’m okay. Or are we, like Paul describes earlier in Philippians the third chapter, pressing for the upward calling and striving to reach something that’s always going to be just outside of our grasp, but we nevertheless pursue it with all that we have?

2. Not Exactly Sinful: My Relationship to God

So it’s not exactly sinful. That’s what I’ve heard time and time again. As a preacher, you hear, you hear different things. Somebody will pull you aside and say, I’ve got something to talk to you about. It’s not exactly sinful. Anytime anybody ever caveats something with that phrase, you’re about to hear something good. You’re about to hear something excused. You’re about to hear something that you know good and well that the person that’s about to tell you what they’re about to tell you knows good and well they shouldn’t be doing it. But just because they can’t find book, chapter, and verse, they like to say it’s permitted. So it’s not exactly sinful. Well, what is this thing that’s not exactly sinful? This moving towards Sodom. What effect does that have on my relationship to God?

1 Peter chapter 2. Therefore, putting aside all malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word, so that you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And coming to him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also is living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Now pause right there for a second. What should our relationship to God be? We’re supposed to desire his word like a baby desires milk. We’re supposed to come to him and fall in line because his son is the chief cornerstone, and we are a part of the building that’s being built up.

That we’re supposed to be a place for spiritual sacrifices? Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious stone, and he who believes in him will not be disappointed. The precious value then is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. But you, remember this verse, are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. So that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God.

You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. You know, it occurs to me, we’re going to have to answer that question. Just how does a people that is owned by the Father behave? How do they conduct themselves? Are they somebody that lives as close to the world as they possibly can, shying away from that which God wants us to do? Eschewing obedience and obligation. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain. Here’s how they behave. From fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, if they may, because of your good deeds, as they observed and glorified God in the day of visitation.

Look at what it said right there in verse 11. I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.

We’re at war. You and I are at war for our souls. We’re at war for the souls of those that are out in the world that need to hear the gospel. Why, oh, why would we ever entertain the idea that it’s okay to live in closer proximity to the world today than we did yesterday? The fact of the matter is, brothers and sisters, if it’s a scary thing when you have people that have grown up in the faith that should be maturing in the faith, arguing to be more permissive, arguing for more latitude when it comes to when it comes to their proximity to sin, arguing for more latitude of conscience. Brothers and sisters, my belief, my understanding is that my conscience ought to restrict me more as I get older and not less.

And maybe we just don’t take that war seriously. Are we taking comfort in not breaking commandments? Even as we’re being led away from God by our own must. Are we neglecting the spiritual to embrace the physical? Does that constitute sin? Just because I didn’t break my own definition of one of those particular sins in one of those particular verses, does it constitute sin? If today I’m further away from God than I was yesterday, you know what my answer to that question is? And you’re going to have to answer it for yourself. For me, that’s sinful. For me, that’s wrong. For me, that’s wrong. If I’m less faithful today than I was yesterday, if I’m closer to the world today than I was yesterday, that cannot be pleasing to the Father.

3. Does It Have the Appearance of Evil?

I cannot make the case that is how a people possessed by God would behave. So it’s not exactly sin. How about does it have the appearance of evil? We referenced this passage earlier. Feel free to turn over to it. Galatians 5, beginning in verse 16. Galatians 5, verse 16 says, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh, for the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, for those are, for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.

There’s a reason why that’s underlying. Of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Look at what he says there in verse 21. And things like these. He clearly acknowledges this is not an exhaustive list. This is not the complete list. This is not everything that is sinful, but you can use these as guidelines and roadmarkers to decide for yourself if that’s something that you need to be entangled with. I’m going to tell you, brothers and sisters, the devil has gotten good at coloring things with shades of gray that if we try to overinterpret the scripture, we’ll excuse ourselves right into hell. And I make no excuse for how I said that.

We talked about it this morning. He changes the language. He changes the meanings of words.

Romans, the first chapter, another passage we referenced earlier, verse 28 and following says, and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to depraved mind to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strive, deceit, malice, they are gossip, slanderers, haters of God. How bad do you have to be to be a hater of God? Well, let’s read. Insolent, boastful. This is the one that always just blows my mind. Inventors of evil things. Inventors of evil things. Finding new ways to do evil. Disobedient to parents without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful, and although they know the ordinance of God that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Look at the last of verse 32 there. And I want I want to draw a bullseye on our culture for a moment. Brothers and sisters, and I make no apology for how I’m about to say this. We laugh at too much. We really do. We laugh at too many things. The devil is entertaining us with things that are sinful. And I particularly want to shift my focus over here for just a second because young people, particularly those of you that are getting ready to go off to college, the temptations that you are about to stare down are going to be magnified by magnified by a factor of ten. You’re going to have things that you have never considered before thrown in your face in ways that you have never bothered to consider them.

And you’ll be told, just go along. Just go along with it. Just go along with the party. You don’t have to drink, just go along with the party. Just go along with the people. You don’t have to participate in the illicit sex. Just go along with it. Just go along. We can’t be the people that give consent to sinful things. We just can’t be. We’ve got to be the people like the old anti-drug commercial who just say no. And brothers and sisters, we need to stop and give some consideration to it to the things that we’re laughing at. The things that we’re laughing at. Had somebody tell me the other day they were excited because a particular movie, the third, the third sequel is about to come out to it.

It’s called the hangover. We don’t have any business watching the hangover. We don’t have any business watching anything that has to do with that level of moral debauchery, and you don’t have to see more than a commercial to know I don’t have any business watching that.

We need to be careful of the things that we’re approving of. One of my friends, someone who was actually raised in the church, he was never converted, but his aunt brought him to church faithfully for years. Never put on Christ. Went off to college, and he started pasting all over his Facebook wall messages from the gay straight alliance. And how it is that gay people just want to be loved. That is a militant movement designed to make you uncomfortable with saying anything about the sin of homosexuality. I don’t know one Christian who has ever, who has ever professed hating a gay person, but I can tell you that the sin is not ever going to be right. I don’t care how society colors it. We cannot approve of these things.

And what that means is we’re going to have to be different. We’re going to have to avoid some things that give off the appearance of evil, even though everyone else around us is embracing them. That just because we’re not crossing the line ourselves, just because we’re not getting involved in the drinking or the lying, just because we’re not getting involved in the promiscuity, just because we’re not getting involved in it, doesn’t mean that we’re clean if we’re standing there giving our approval to those who do. You know, that really resonated with me on the Wednesday of last quarter when Tony was teaching the lessons about Christian in the culture. How many things do we say? I would never do that myself. But yet we turn around and we allow them tacitly into our life and we just kind of nod our head and let them happen, even if we don’t practice them ourselves.

Is the appearance of evil, does it have the appearance of evil? Remember that so it’s not exactly sinful. That was the argument. Does the appearance of evil, is the appearance of evil the gateway to sin? I don’t think you have to look any further than Lot or David with the sin with Bathsheba to see that hanging around somewhere where you know you shouldn’t be too long is going to rub off on you. Almost every sin begins. When we make a compromise, we know we shouldn’t. You know, I don’t think many people wake up in the morning and say, you know what, I just feel like sinning today. I just feel like jeopardizing my soul today. I hadn’t done it in a while, and it’s just got to be on the to-do list for today.

But there is a point in every temptation when we know we should turn and run. I told you I appreciate what Brett said in his prayer. When we know we should, like Joseph in the house of Potiphar, turn and run because we’ve got no business being there, and yet we stay. We make that compromise. Is the compromise itself sinful? Again, a question that you’re going to have to answer for yourself, but I can say for me. Yes, it is. You’re going to have to judge for yourself. You’re going to have to judge for yourself what kind of standard you’re going to come up to. Are you going to come up to a people that God possesses, a people that resemble the Father, a people that emulate the master.

You’re going to have to make that decision for you. But personally, I feel that there’s only one right answer for that.

4. What Does This Do to My Heart?

So it’s not exactly sinful. We’re going to move through this point just a little bit quicker. What does this not exact sin, not exact sin, do to my heart? 1 Corinthians 6, we referenced this passage a little while ago. Or do you not know that the unrighteousness, unrighteous, excuse me, will not inherit the kingdom of God, verse 9? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable.

All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Do you see what he says there? After saying some things that he shouldn’t do, he says, I don’t even go and practice all the things that I’ve got the right to do just because I’m not going to be controlled by anything. He makes the same kind of statement over in 1 Corinthians the 10th chapter in verse 23 and following, where he says almost the same thing. All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good but that of his neighbor. Then what is this doing to my heart? Now again, he’s not even talking about things that are inherently sinful.

He’s talking about things that he has the perfect, he has a perfect latitude to go and do, and he says, look, just because I can do it doesn’t mean I should do it. I wish that we could get that lesson through the heads of every man, woman, and child. Christian or not? Just because you’ve got the right to do something doesn’t mean that you ought to do it. How many times have you found yourself in trouble doing something that you had the right to do, but you knew you shouldn’t do? It happens more and more. Philippians 3, a passage we’ve already read. Verse 20, our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly wait for the Savior. Let me ask you something. Where is our heart supposed to be?

What is our heart supposed to be doing? What is it? What is supposed to be the inclination of our heart? What do the liberties we take say about the nature and direction of our heart? When we do the thing that we know causes our brother to stumble just because we just because we can we can give you all the passages that’ll say that, well, that’s not exactly a sin, even though it causes our brother to stumble. What do those liberties say about the direction of our heart? Is that a heart that’s moving closer to God, or is that a heart that’s living way too close to the world. Can I ever be pleasing to God? And this is really the kind of the linchpin for the whole argument.

5. Can I Ever Be Pleasing to God?

Can I ever be pleasing to God if my goal is to live as close to the world as possible?

See, brothers and sisters, we have to embrace some maturity. We really do. We have to grow up. We cannot be the Peter Pan Christians. We cannot be the people who never grow up, who never mature, who never move beyond the milk, who never get into the deep things, who never stop and consider what our actions may be doing to those of the next generation. I have known far too many people that have crossed lines that they said that they would never cross. Because they lived too close to the world. And let me tell you something, folks. If you think I’ve been talking to the young people a little bit today, this is a lesson for everyone. I have known marriages that have gotten in trouble because men hung around a water cooler a little too long with a woman that wasn’t their wife.

Just a little bit too long, and that little bit too long turned into friendship, and that friendship turned into lunch, and that lunch turned into flirting, and that flirting turned into the defiling of a marriage bed.

I have known young ladies in my time who lingered too long with men and boys that they know that they ought not be with, that they know that the kind of person their parents warn them about, sometimes just despite their moms and dads.

And ended up pregnant, unwed, and bearing the shame and stigma. They can be forgiven of the sin, absolutely, but bearing the shame and the stigma that goes along with that.

6. Can God Truly Ever Be Our First Love?

How can we ever hope to be pleasing to God if our goal is to live as close to the world as we possibly can? Finally, can God truly ever be our first love? If our desire is to live as far from him as he will allow.

Can we really say that God is our first love if, like Lot, we choose the best of what this world has to offer and move closer and closer and closer to a place that we know we ought not be, knowing what the end of the end result is going to be, the swamping of our soul with iniquity, and maybe somehow we’ll be able to remain faithful. But it will only be because of the tenacity and the realization once we’ve gone too far that we have actually done just that, gone too far. It is not easy as it is to be a Christian in this culture. It is not easy as it is to be godly in a world that is so ungodly. Why, oh, why, oh, why do we insist on making it harder?

Conclusion

So what are we to do? Where does sin actually begin? Well, you could look at 1 Thessalonians. See that no one repays evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophetic utterances, but examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good, abstain from every form of evil. So, what are we to do? Well, we’re gonna have to grow up. We’re gonna have to be more mature. We’re gonna have to be honest with ourselves that there are just some things that aren’t right. Some things that we love that we’ve got no business loving, and some things that we’ve loved that we’ve outgrown and realize that they have no place in our lives.

We’re gonna have to pull away from the world. We can’t live as close to it as we used to, and day by day we need to be pulling further and further away from it because our direction ought to be towards our spiritual home. Where does sin actually begin? Well, you’re gonna have to answer this for you. But for my money, it begins when we’re moving farther or further from the master. When we’re being pulled closer to the world. When we’re only concerned with the minimums of law keeping instead of true righteousness. In short, we need to beware of moving towards Sodom. And we need to be aware of the world in which we live. We need to be careful. It’s a dangerous world out there for people like you and me.

And we need to come up to our obligation. If there’s anyone here this evening that owes some duty to God, if your soul is not right, there’ll never be a better opportunity to change that than right now. Won’t you come forward confessing your sins as we stand as we sing?