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A trait of people who do not believe complete truth is that there are always verses in scripture that they ignore. There are various scriptures that some denominational preachers would never take as their text simply because they want to avoid the subject of those passages. To teach from them would admit that they contradicted their dogma or doctrine and so they would rather just act like that such scriptures do not exist. You probably know some of the scriptures and subjects that I am talking about because the very verses that other churches overlook or turn a blind eye toward, we tend to emphasize in this church. I refuse to leave anything out, and I have often said that if you discover something in the scripture that we are not teaching or preaching in this church, then by all means come and tell me because I want to be saved. I do not want to have to "explain away" any scripture, but rather obey it in context of all other passages of scriptures. We must believe and live and preach "all scripture" because all scripture was given by God and is profitable to teach doctrine from!

Having said that, I must admit, though, that there are several scriptures in the Bible that bother me; make me uncomfortable. There are a few verses that I would rather not think about -- not because that I'm avoiding them -- but rather because they stir me with the implications of what they are saying. One such verse that never ceases to bother me is when Jesus said:

I understand Jesus cannot lie and so the words of these verses are truth, but they still bother me. It bothers me that the very One who would die to bring about salvation for a lost world would have to admit that in the end the number of people who were lost would still outweigh and outnumber the number of the saved. A similar verse that bothers me is:

This verse bothers me for twofold reasons, first because it states clearly that we must "obey the gospel of God." Unfortunately there are preachers after preachers that stand up and say that you are saved by only "believing the gospel" and never get around to the obeying part. I believe that you must believe the gospel, but that you must also obey it in your life. The Gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and we obey it by dying to our sins in repentance, being buried with Him in baptism, and having the resurrection of power of God bring new life through the infilling of the Holy Spirit. It bothers me that so many people preach a watered down, "EZ Breezy" plan of salvation that is only partially true and ignores many other scriptures.

But this verse also bothers me when it states, "if the righteous is scarcely saved." The term "righteous" indicates someone who is right with God and completely obeying the Word of God and the Bible states that they will be "scarcely saved." This verse is written from God's point of view. According to God's level of holiness, they will just have passed. According to God's standard, the righteous will just have cleared the bar. Maybe a word to the "fence stragglers" here might be in order: if you think that you can live for God with one foot in the world and one foot in the church, then you'd better think again! Because part-time Christianity will not get you into the great pearly gates! If you are going to live for God you had better throw your lot in with everything that you have and give it all you've got! If you want to be saved, then you had better get radically passionate about the things of God and obeying His Word! A divided heart will not enter into eternal life!

I heard a preacher preach a message one time entitled "The Scariest Verse of the Bible" and throughout the message, he kept the people guessing what the scariest verse was until the end and then he said that -- for him -- the scariest verse of all was:

This verse means that someone could be "born again" and yet because of neglect still have unrepented sin within them and lose out on heaven. I'll never forget the phrase that the preacher made that night and I remember it vividly even though I cannot remember the name of the minister preaching the sermon: he said, "There will be more church people in hell because of the sin of neglect more than any other sin." And he also said something along the lines of "if people backslide, the root problem is always bitterness, but the root cause is always neglect of the commandments of God." Before they start doing something that they shouldn't, people always first cease doing something that they should. If I remember correctly, he finished the message by preaching about soul winning and how we are commissioned to tell people about the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ and to reach them with how to obey it.

It is sort of like this analogy. If you had knowledge that a bridge ahead on a road was missing the middle section, and you did nothing to warn the coming drivers and made no effort to put up any sort of barricade or warning signs, then you would be guilty of the worst possible crime: the crime of neglect! Now, if you did stop every car and warn them of the danger ahead and set out flares and put up signs and someone chose to continue to drive off the edge, then you have done all that you can do and so be it. But at least they drove over the edge knowing what lay ahead and warned about the outcome of their path!

The Spirit-filled Christian who does not talk to people about God and teach Bible studies and invite people to church and look for every opportunity to win someone to God is like that person who puts no signs up and with knowledge that could change lives, chooses to be indifferent and just walk away. We must care about the eternal destinations of others. If we are truly to be "Christians" which means "Christ like" then we must warn others of the end of the path that they are traveling! We must do whatever we can to reach them. The church must be the car-stopping, flare waving, and impassioned pleader notifying people of their fate without God. If they choose to continue on after they have been touched, then so be it, but God forbid that anyone would go to hell without having at least the opportunity to consider an alternate route! God forbid that we be guilty of the great sin of neglect!

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With all of this weighing on our minds, I draw your attention to a pair of scriptures that really bother me when I read them. We read the first as our last text in the 11th chapter of Matthew:

Verses 23 and 24 are the ones that bother me, because I know something about the "land of Sodom" of which He speaks. But before I elaborate, look at another similar verse in the chapter previous:

Here Jesus is sending out His disciples to preach throughout Palestine and He tells them that when they are to go to a town, they are to approach a house and if the house receive them, then they are to bless it, but if a particular house or town refuses to listen to their words, then they are to "shake off the dust from your feet" and move on to the next town or the next house. But look at verse 15! Jesus says that the town that rejects the words of His disciples preaching about Him, that it would be "more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town!" That Sodom and Gomorrah would have a lighter judgment in eternity than the towns that received not the preaching of the truth! This joins in with the words of our text that Capernaum would receive a worse judgment than Sodom because of the mighty works that were done in the city!

These scriptures shock me. Because the references to "Sodom and Gomorrah" are referring to the two very evil cities that God destroyed with fire in the time of Abraham. The story is recorded in the book of Genesis and we read as our other text the story of Lot's being saved from the destruction by the angels of God. From the Bible, we know quite a bit about the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and why God thought them evil enough to destroy by reigning down fire and brimstone upon them. Sodom was the chief city of several Canaanite cities in the area which is now the Dead Sea. Clues throughout scripture indicate to us that the Sodomites completely and totally rejected the one, true God of Abraham and Lot. Beyond this, they were a society that was consumed by lust of the flesh, and sexual immorality was rampant. They were also known for their tolerance and encouragement of homosexuality and this is so vividly portrayed by the Genesis account of a large crowd of homosexuals that gathered outside of Lot's door to ask for the men (who were the angels) who were visiting them so that they could rape them. Even after the angels smote the crowd with blindness, they still groped for the door in their lust and evil desire! More characteristics of the city of Sodom, which caused God to toast the towns are revealed by a scripture in Ezekiel where God said:

They were full of pride, committed abominations against God, and were full of food and prosperous ease but neglected the poor and needy. Combine that with the lust-centered and homosexual society and we discover the reason that God chose to very vividly rain judgment down upon a town and village!

I must comment that it is scary enough just to compare the characteristics of ancient Sodom with the culture of modern America. We live in a society that is lust driven and in which pornography has reached heights never before equaled even in Sodom. What was considered pornography just sixty years ago is now on in prime time on your television and readily available in media that can be purchased or accessed by anyone of any age. American society largely presents women as their chief value being a "sex object" and everyone seems to think that this is normal.

But worse than that, is the rampant rise and agenda of the homosexual movement. We are less than ten years away from gay "marriages" being legalized in our own country. And if anyone dares stand up against it, they are criticized as "extremists." Throw in the "prosperous ease" that even infects the churches of America and our pride and "superiority" complex, and one wonders why God has bothered to let us exist as a country for the last few decades! I'm not a dooms-day type preacher, but if God allows this country with her current society to prosper much longer, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah at judgment day! We -- like Abraham -- live in the shadow of a spiritual Sodom! And judgment will come!

Now back to these scriptures that "bother me." If you are comparing cities to cities, then in my mind there is no comparison between Sodom's society and that of the towns of Jesus' day of Capernaum and even the little villages that rejected Jesus' disciples. Certainly Israel's society at the time of Christ had it's faults but wanton lust and homosexuality were not the major issues. Neither for that matter was prosperous ease and neglect for the poor. Capernaum at first received Jesus' messages so greatly that Jesus made it His headquarters for His Galilean ministry and we often compare Capernaum's favorable response to the things of God compared with, say, "a Nazareth." And yet it is these towns that Jesus said that would receive a harsher judgment than even Sodom in the end! Such verses shock me!

But the reason that they are there is that God views things differently than we do. From these scriptures we find an emphatic truth that we must never forget, and here it is:

Sodom was destroyed because of their rejection of the true God and His moral code, but yet they only had the wishy-washy Lot amongst them as an evangelist of righteousness. They were still guilty and were judged accordingly, but contrast them with Capernaum and some of these cities of Judea whom Jesus said would have a worse judgment than Sodom. The cities of Jesus' day were not any worse sinfulness wise, but they had a much greater visitation and many more opportunities to receive truth than Sodom. They had the revelation of Jehovah God in flesh among them. They had repeated visits from preachers of truth. They had miracles and signs and wonders done among them. And so Jesus said that they would receive the worse judgment. That it would be "more tolerant for Sodom" than them in the judgment!

And so this leads to a more startling truth that we must also permanently embed upon our minds:

If all that we have said about the towns of Capernaum compared to Sodom is true, then think of where our own area stands in the eyes of God! There is a myth that there were more frequent miracles and supernatural occurrences in the Old Testament than there are now. That is not true. Take Elijah, for example. In his entire life, he only performed seven miracles. Yet he is considered one of the greatest prophets of old. Take Ezekiel as an example of an old preacher. Yet a quick scan of his book reveals that it was often a year or two and even five or six years between the times that God moved upon him and gave him a message to preach to the people. Compare those stats to our modern-day church in Castroville, Texas. We have had more than seven notable miracles since I have been pastor of this church going on five years! And God has certainly given me messages to preach to you more often than once a year!

Going a bit further, there is a popular misconception that there was a mightier move of the supernatural during the time of Christ than there is today. There may have been more obvious physical infirmities healed, but we regularly experience today a miracle far greater than any lame walking when someone receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit! At the time of Jesus' ministry, there was not anyone filled with the Holy Spirit in Capernaum or any other towns. If -- without such events taking place -- their lack of receiving the truth caused them to wax worse than Sodom in judgment, then how would God view our town today? We have easily had a hundred people in the last five years receive the Holy Ghost in our church and services that we have been a part of. And we will see many more, but we must never forget that God will take that into account when the people of our area stand in judgment. For them it will be worse than even Sodom and Capernaum simply because of the opportunity that they were given by having the Spirit of God move in their area in such a way! Just as Abraham lived near to a society that was marked for great judgment, so do we and it will be an even greater judgment.

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I bring this to you to impress upon you that all of this presses heavily the truth that we have a tremendous duty to perform! The bridge is out ahead on the paths that many have chosen to take and the fall is further and the result more horrible than it has ever been, and God forbid that we sit idly by in the sin of neglect and not warn everyone whom God puts in our path!

Hear this preacher:

We sit in Sodom's shadow today! Because just as judgment was coming on Sodom and they needed to be warned to get out of their sin, so is our society and area going to one day receive judgment. Like Sodom, it will be a judgment of fire and the scriptures record that this world will melt with a fervent heat. But even the destruction of this physical earth cannot compare with the anguish of an eternity in the flames of hell. Such statements are more than just statements by preachers, but hell and eternal punishment is a reality! Jesus preached about it more than any other subject, but then again He was then only person in human flesh that had actually seen it before preaching. It drove Him to be radical in outreach and winning people to truth!

But unlike Sodom, there are no angels that will go and warn the masses. Angels do not preach the Gospel. When you see that happen in Revelation, then you know that you have reached a time period beyond the church age. The job of spreading the Gospel has been assigned to the followers of Jesus Christ who have received His Spirit and His Word. We have been commissioned to go preach the gospel to "every creature!" There are "Lots" out there in Sodom's shadow who must be warned of the impending doom, and if they are to be saved, it will be us who reaches them with the message! There is nobody to pass the buck to for our community. We are the ones who have received the blessings of God and the message of what their future holds. We cannot rely upon someone else to throw a roadblock up, but must give ourselves to reaching them! We cannot delay and wait for someone else to take the initiative, the responsibility rests fully upon our shoulders. By having truth and the moving of the Holy Spirit that we so enjoy, we are pressed and called into service!

I understand that the scriptures say that there will be many that will be lost. And there are those who would say "well, the Bible says that most will be lost, so let's let them." Thank God that somebody did not say that about you! Thank God that you had the opportunity to receive truth! Thank God that someone did not neglect their God-given duty in your case!

Hear this preacher again:

The way to hell may be an easy one, but it is our job to make it much harder! The late Charles Spurgeon a tremendous evangelist and preacher said, and I quote:

He also said in response to a student's question who asked "will the heathen who have not heard the Gospel be saved?" with:

We ought to let the impassioned cry of Jude become our mantra:

Save them by "snatching them out of the fire!" If you've got to literally pull them off of the brink of danger, then do it! But whatever you do, reach out! Reach out! And the way that you do that is not by becoming some psycho-freak that runs through town with doomsday messages. But by "building yourself up in your Holy Faith, praying in the Holy Spirit!" And by "keeping yourselves in the love of God!" And by "having mercy on those who doubt." And by showing "mercy with fear!" And by keeping ourselves from the sinful actions of this world! You cannot save someone from something that you are trapped in yourself! It's time to separate ourselves and through giving ourselves to holiness and prayer and to mercy to reach those whom God has placed within our grasp!

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And so I close by returning to the shadow of Sodom. In our text we read of the angels getting desperate to save Lot and his family. Despite the clear warning of the messengers from God, Lot hesitated and lingered. Why do people hesitate to leave their life of sin? Because they have much invested in that life there. They have spent much time and effort on the things of sin. They have many social connections and so they hesitate to leave it. But our text said that finally, when Lot had lingered to the point of almost being consumed, the angels grabbed their hands and dragged them out of the city.

Count the hands of the messengers in the story, if you will. The angels had manifested themselves as men. They had two hands each for a total of four hands. There was Lot and his wife, and two of their daughters that were pulled out of Sodom. Every hand of both messengers from God were tied to bringing someone out of the coming judgment! There was not a spare hand to be idle!

And so it must be with us in the house of God! God forbid that there would be an idle hand amongst the saints of God in the shadow of Sodom! God forbid that someone would have a hand to spare while someone is yet unreached. God forbid that we would have the attitude that only a few hands in the church have the duty to reach the lost! If you belong to Him and you have hands, then you are called to reach out! If you have a voice, then use it in calling out someone's name to God! If you have a Bible, then use it to show someone else truth. If you have a testimony, then don't let it sit idle but use it and reach out to the lost!

I know that Lot's wife looked back and was destroyed because she looked back despite the warning of those sent from God. But as she was destroyed, it was despite the best efforts of God's messengers! And so I speak to you today: If they are to be turned to salt and be consumed, then let their hands become hardened while being pulled away from the destruction! If they are to be consumed by the fire, then let them do so with one hand being urgently tugged toward salvation! If they are to go to hell, then let them do so because they managed to get by an impassioned and focused Christian that was reaching towards them in love and mercy! If they are to be lost, then let it be despite our best efforts, not because of the lack of it!

When I read the story of the destruction of Sodom, I want to scream at the text, "where is Abraham?" His nephew is in danger of dying in the judgment, and yet he's content to sit with God and let someone else do the warning and attempt to reach them. He feels justified by praying for God to send someone else to save them. He feels justified by his relationship with God that he never gets up and heads to Sodom himself. It must never be so with us! We cannot sit with our fellowship with God and pray for God to send someone else while we do nothing! Maybe if Abraham would have been there, Lot's other daughters would have listened! Maybe if Abraham would have made the trip, himself, it would have been the salvation of Lot's wife! In any case, it could have been two more hands reaching someone else! Let such a case never be named among us! Every hand; everybody must reach out for someone! We are in Sodom's shadow and the time is short! We must do everything that we can to save them!

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It is time that everything we do at M.V.C.W. becomes about winning someone to God. It's time for a philosophy change. It's time for a gut check. I'm not advocating that you run out of here and go up to the first stranger and say to them "you are going to hell." Such an approach will probably turn them off rather than help save them. I'm not asking you to be foolish in condemning people with your words. But I am hoping that the realization that we sit in modern Sodom's shadow indicates that we must pray fervently and with passion. We must have church and we have not a service to waste. And every day, we must be spiritually attuned to the needs of those around us, because they need to hear about a Savior and the Holy Spirit and they need to hear it from someone who is separated from this world and in tune with God and on fire for Him! It's time to do everything that we can to help win someone to God! We are in Sodom's shadow, therefore let us reach out to a world that is condemned! It's not too late but time is running out. Without delay, it's time to get a genuine burden for the lost!