Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter
From the Beginning • Sermon • Submitted
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· 139 viewsMany Christians today have a hard time dealing with the trails of life because they have allowed their minds to think this world is our home. We have to always remember as Abraham did that we are just sojourners in this world and we look for a better country.
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Introduction:
This morning we are going to talk about another tragedy found in the bible. It’s the famous story of Sodom and Gamora.
Sodom, Gamora, and this surrounding region was full of sexual sins and perversions. The region had gotten so perverse that God said, “I will destroy it all.”
The way that God destroyed Sodom and Gamora is important because it points us to future events.
24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
Genesis
According to Jesus this was a forshadowing of the time of the tribulation right before His return.
29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Luke
7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
Rev 8:
The warning of Jesus is a warning to us that these events could start any time. Do you ever look at the atrocities of the world and think to yourself, “Why does God put up with all of that. If I were God I would just kill them all.”
Well God only put up with is for so long, but He will destroy all the wickedness of this Earth.
But, You see the story of Sodom and Gamora is not really about the destruction of this region. It’s about the salvation of one man and his family. The family of Lot.
But what if the man didn’t want to be rescued. Unthinkable Right?
Lot was a believer, a righteous man but yet he had lost focus on his true home. He had settled into this world.
So it is with many Christians today:
You will never function in the Kingdom of God while being a Citizen of this world.
The Foreigner and the Citizen
The Foreigner and the Citizen
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth
1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth 2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” 3 But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Gen
Lot had settled down in Sodom. He had taken his eyes off the kingdom and onto this world.
15 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. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
1 John 2:
It started with the lust of the eyes.
It started with the lust of the eyes.
And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
Then the Lust of the flesh
7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);
2 Peter 2:7-8
Sodom was a place of perversion and sexual immorality.
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.”
Gen 19:4-
They were going to rape these men.
Now the Pride of life. He living and doing business in Sodom.
Now the Pride of life. He sat
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth
Gen
Abraham was a pilgrim and a stranger just passing through this world.
Abraham kept his eyes on the heavenly country
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
Hebrews 11:13
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.
16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Hebrews 11:13-
Abraham cared nothing for the things of this world
23 that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ 24 I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”
Gen 14
Abraham’s pride was only in the Lord.
You will never function in the Kingdom of God while being a Citizen of this world.
Your citizenship is determined in the mind!
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Col 3:1-2
Don’t place your hopes and dreams on a place of destruction. ()
Don’t look back.
23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Gen 19:23-
Set your mind on the kingdom of God and never look back.
Lot’s wife desired her life in Sodom and became a part of its destruction.
28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife.
Luke 17:28-
Live in expectation of New Heaven and New Earth
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
2 Peter 3:10
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
The Lord is giving you a chance to repent and escape.
2 Peter 3:
This is not a joke like Lot’s kids thought.
If you are not wiling to lose this life you will not be saved from it.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Cast off the cares of this world and live as citizen of the household of God.
You are an ambassador of the kingdom of God and we should act accordingly.
The gutter is the world. Set your mind on things above.
Conclusion:
Are you a Foreigner or a Citizen of this world?
If you are a citizen, God is call you out of the gutter into salvation.
If you are a Foreigner, set your mind on things above.