Genesis 19

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Genesis 18:23-33

“And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for fifty righteous that are therein? 25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes: 28 peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. 29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake. 30 And he said, unto him, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake. 32 And he said, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. 33 And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED529]

“We have come as far, I believe, as chapter 18, verse 23. God and two angels have come to Abraham in the plains of Mamre. He made a feast for them, they sat down, they ate, they communed with him, and with Sarah, whether she liked it or not, and let her know that she was part of this plan where a male child would be born to her within a year. Of course, Sarah laughing for a number of reasons, and God saying ‘We’re going to name the child Laughter, that will always remind you of these precious moments.’ And then as the LORD and the angels turned their faces towards Sodom and Gomorrah, the LORD turns around and says ‘Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am about to do? Because I know that Abraham is faithful, he will instruct his house, his children,’ knowing that Abraham loved him, Abraham would be faithful, Abraham had his house in order, Abraham would pass a legacy along to his children. And certainly as God begins to make known to Abraham that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah has come before him, and he’s headed down to the plains to deal with the sin, Abraham says ‘Certainly you’re not going to destroy the righteous along with the wicked?’ And that’s the very thing that God wanted to help Abraham get filed correctly in his heart. Because he said ‘Abraham’s going to pass along to the next generation what he knows of me, what he knows of the truth, what he knows of my Word, and I want him to do that as accurately as possible, so I’m not gonna hide from him that which I am about to do.’ Verse 22, “And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.”

‘LORD, Wilt Thou Also Destroy The Righteous With The Wicked?’

“And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” (verse 23) Hebrews tells us, “let us draw near with hearts full of assurance.” Abraham drew near, he got close to God, the LORD was standing there. I like that, he got close to him, and said “Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” And again, for you and I in this world, not just an intellectual exercise anymore, something that we’d better have straight in our mind and our theology. He says “Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (verses 24-25) “And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” (verse 26) Imagine that, for 50 righteous, God will spare the city. He’s going to say over in chapter 19, verse 22, the angels will say ‘Escape thee, for four of them now, Get out of here, I cannot do anything till thou be come hither, till I get you out of here,’ for four. Now that’s important to us, because we see what’s happening in the world today, we hear all kinds of threats of nuclear war and mass annihilation, and one thing and another. [This sermon was given in 2006. Now Pastor Joe couldn’t have realized it would take 17 years for that to be occurring right now, after Vladimir Putin’s Russian Federation declared war on and invaded the nation of Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022, and that war has been going on for over a year now, and internationally, this world has gone from being a unipolar world right after the Soviet Union fell, to a multipolar world, where military power-blocks of nations are aligning with each other against the United States and its allies, Russia and China and Iran aligning with each other, against a soon to form United States of Europe, India and currently the United States. The Russo-Ukrainian war is causing European nations, particularly Germany, Poland and France to go through a military re-armament not seen since World War II. That war is acting as a proving ground for modern military weapons and tactics, just as the Spanish Civil War was just before WWII struck. Where is it all headed? see https://unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm]. But we need to know this, that God will not allow his Plan to explode upon the face of the earth until he removes us out. He’s not going to punish the righteous along with the wicked. And if we understand what’s coming on this world, some people I think I’m naïve and have not read carefully and don’t understand what’s coming. Ah, beautiful for us to see this, beautiful for this to be the legacy Abraham will have passed to Isaac and then to Jacob and to the nation of Israel. “And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes: peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.” (verses 27-28) “And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there.” and the LORD doesn’t even let him finish this time, he says “And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.” (verse 29) he doesn’t even have to finish his spiel. “And he said, unto him, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” (verse 30) “And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.” (verse 31) do I hear ten? Now you have to understand, this is part of the culture too. Any of you who have been to the Middle East, and you may have been to Israel with us. You’d go to any kind of a vendor, anybody with any kind of a shop, and you say ‘How much is that shirt?’ and they say, they give you a ridiculously high price, ‘This shirt is $100.’ Then it’s your responsibility to give them a ridiculously low price, ‘I’ll give you two bucks for it.’ And then they’re supposed to go ‘Two bucks, what are you talking about, I have a wife, I’ve children, how am I going to feed them, you’re out of your mind, this shirt is beautiful, I want 90 bucks for it,’ now he’s going down, and you say ‘Well, I’ll give you 5 bucks.’ Now if you walk away without doing that, they’re offended. You’ve offended them, because you’re supposed to enter into that, that’s just what’s happening. So this is not against the culture, Abraham’s saying ‘Fifty, forty-five, thirty, twenty’ and he said ‘I’ll not destroy it if I find twenty.’ “And he said, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.” (verses 32-33) notice this, “as soon as he had left communing with Abraham.” Abraham thought he was bargaining, God was communing. Abraham was his friend, the Bible tells us. And he was in God’s mind communing. That is exactly what he wanted to hear from Abraham, ‘What if there’s ten?’ ‘and he left off communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned unto his place.’ Now we come to this 19^th chapter, very interesting.

Genesis 19:1-38

“And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face to the ground; 2 and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. 3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 5 and they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. 6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, 7 and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. 8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. 9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. 10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. 11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door. 12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: 13 for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. 14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. 15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. 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. 18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: 19 Behold, now, they servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: 20 behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. 21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. 24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: 28 and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. 29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt. 30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. 34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 35 And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. 36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. 37 And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. 38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.”

Lot Sits In The Gate Of Sodom--What Does That Mean?

“And there came two angels” now these are the two men that had been with Abraham and the LORD “to Sodom at even;” and boy was it even for Sodom, the sun was going down on Sodom, that’s for sure. And notice this, “and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face to the ground;” (verse 1) Now it says when they came to Abraham, “behold, three men.” It says here “behold, two angels came to Sodom.” We don’t know if God allowed Lot to recognize right away the supernatural nature of these men, it seems the men of Sodom had no recognition of that. But we have Lot “sitting in the gate of Sodom.” We want to take note of personalities through this chapter, we want to take note of Lot, and there are things to learn. We certainly want to take note of Lot’s wife. Jesus instructs us to do that. We want to take note of his daughters, his sons, which we hear next to nothing of, sons in laws. We want to take note of the LORD, and of Abraham. There’s some very interesting personalities. And as we watch Lot, it’s one of the saddest stories in the Scripture. In fact, if this is all we have on Lot, we would live our lives wondering whether Lot was even a believer, whether he was even saved. We owe it to Peter, in his second Epistle, chapter 2, verse 7, when he tells us “Lot, that righteous man, that his soul was vexed day to day,” because of the evil behavior of those who lived in Sodom. So try to imagine, we’re going to look at this man, please take note, because it was on the basis of a decision, and decisions are so important. And yes I believe God is sovereign. And yes I believe there’s human responsibility. And Lot had made a choice, he had chosen the valley of Sodom, it was like Egypt in his mind it says, it was like the Garden of the LORD, it was well watered everywhere, it was beautiful. And he looked around and he chose the best for himself. We find him choosing Sodom, then we find him, it says “his tent was pitched toward Sodom,” then we find him “in Sodom,” and Abraham has to go and rescue him and all of the Sodomites. Now we find him sitting in the gate of Sodom, ok. If you’re sitting in the gate of Sodom, you are one of the officials, he’s the mayor or the city Counselman or something. You remember Jesus said “the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church.” Now those of you who have been to Israel with us, when we go there we take note of the gates of the city, they have seats inside of them, it’s cool during the day, and the elders of the city and those who made the decisions sat there. That’s where they made their plans for war, that’s where they made their civil decisions, that’s where they made their decisions for the city, the gate was the place where things were brainstormed. When Jesus said the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church, he’s not drawing a picture of a gate chasing us down the street trying to pound on the outside of the Church, he’s saying the stratagems of hell, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. Satan’s ideas and his strategies are not going to prevail. But here we have Lot sitting in the gate, and all the while his righteous soul is being vexed. This is a man in compromise. [Comment: And think on this, Lot was getting involved and became a part of human politics, the politics of Sodom, maybe in an effort to try to influence Sodomite politics to be better or closer to God’s standards in some way. Obviously, if his soul was being vexed by Sodom’s ways, he’s joined their leadership in an effort to try to politically improve Sodom’s standards. Where did this get Lot? Did the apostle Paul allow the early Church, the churches of God he founded across the Roman Empire, to get involved in Roman politics? Does God want those within the Body of Christ do get involved in worldly politics? (see https://unityinchrist.com/topical%20studies/America-ModernRomans6.htm)] This is a guy whose sitting where he knows he shouldn’t be sitting, he’s amongst people that are living a lifestyle that he knows he should not be amongst, and he’s there. And we’re going to see the fruit of it in the life of his sons, and his wife, and his daughters. Sodom, Sodomites, Sodomy mentioned 44 times at least in the Old Testament, 9 times in the New Testament, it was always relative to sexual perversion, as you go through the Scripture. We are told in Leviticus, let me just read a few of these for you, it says “Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, this is an abomination.” Again, Leviticus says this, it says, “If a man also lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination, they shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them.” Now it was a capital crime in the Old Testament, so is adultery, we don’t do any of that today, but you see the importance of it as God speaks of it. [Comment: the Church, the greater Body of Christ has absolutely no authority to carry out the penalties prescribed in the Old Testament Law of God. The Old Testament Law of God was the Constitution for the nation of Israel, as well as being the religious law for that nation. The Law of the Church is based on the Ten Commandment Law of God, but without it’s penalties. If someone continually breaks any of these laws as a lifestyle, these laws as spelled out in the Old Testament, as shown in the Epistles, they were to be expelled from the church they were attending.] Deuteronomy chapter 23 says this, “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a Sodomite of the sons of Israel.” And you go through the Scripture over and over and over, it’s no small subject, you find God speaking of this. Romans chapter 1 says this in regards to homosexuality, Sodomy, it says, ‘For this cause they refuse to acknowledge God…they worship the creature more than the Creator, and they would not acknowledge God as the designer, it says for this cause God gave them up to vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature, likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one towards another, men with men, working that which is unseemly,’ it is an interesting word, it’s “aschematizo” “against the schematic,” literally. Men practicing sex with men, that was against the schematic, ‘and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was fitting.’ I mean, you go through the New Testament, look, the world is out there, we live in America. Things are going to be legislated. But inside the Church, the Word of God is the rule for our lives, for what we believe, for our morality, for what we practice, inside the Church. [Comment: This is exactly what the apostle Paul was stating and teaching via his Epistles, that the Laws of God applied to believers inside the walls of the churches of God Jesus was founding through the apostle Paul. The Church had no authority civilly over humanity that resided outside the Church, and thus wasn’t to get involved in their politics, in an effort to attempt to enforce God’s laws on unconverted mankind (again, see https://unityinchrist.com/topical%20studies/America-ModernRomans6.htm)] It says ‘If someone whose called a brother is a fornicator, an extortioner, living in sin, we have to deal with it.’ Paul says ‘I’m not talking about people in the world, you’d have to leave the planet,’ Paul says. But we want to take note of Lot in the middle of all of this, compromising, somehow evidently being settled with it. We should never be settled with it. We hear so much today, so many excuses, you know, it’s acceptable and so forth. Look, and it’s not because of modern translations [of the Bible], John Chrysostom in the 4^th Century in the pulpit at Antioch speaking about Sodomites, said “This is absolutely nothing more than noxious or demented before God, it is pure wickedness.” Augustin whom the homosexual community sites as having had a homosexual experience, Augustin said this, I’ll give you the whole quote, “Before conversion I had a homosexual experience, I contaminated the spring of male friendship with the dirt of lust, homosexuality is against nature, contrary to human and divine custom.” Thomas Aquinas in the 12^th Century said “The vice of homosexuality is against nature, and it is a slap in the face of God.”

We, The Church Need To Reach Out To The Troubled Homosexual Community

And look, it’s like any other sin, God died for the homosexual, he loves the homosexual, he loves the sinner, but he hates the sin, like in our lives. And certainly that is a community and a group of people that the Church needs to reach with the love of Jesus Christ, undoubtedly. Because it’s a troubled community. April 24, 1993, and I don’t have updated statistics from them, the Family Research Counsel in Washington citing dozens of experts and studies including a study of 5,200 obituaries of over 5 years in 16 homosexual newspapers, these were their findings. The average age of men dying with AIDS among homosexuals is 39, the average age of homosexuals dying of all causes, 41. Only 1 percent live to 65 or older, only 3 percent over 55 years. The obituaries in the Gay press suggest that a Gay lifestyle, and it’s a lifestyle of choice, may cut two or three decades off life expectancy. Homosexual men are three times as likely to have alcohol or drug abuse problems. 14 times more likely to have syphilis, 23 times more likely to contract venereal disease, 1,000 times more likely to contract AIDS. Lesbians, 19 times more likely than heterosexual women to have syphilis, twice as likely to suffer from genital warts, 4 times for scabies. In San Francisco, one of the most openly Gay cities in America, this is against the national average, in San Francisco there are two times the rate of infectious hepatitis A, three times the rate of infectious hepatitis B, 22 times the national rate of venereal disease. Among homosexuals the ratio of men murdered is 50 times that of the general population. That’s one in every 200. Suicides are 60 times higher than the average population. Auto accidents 45, and I don’t have those figures anyway. The point is, the lifestyle is not Gay, it’s Troubled, and they’re broken people with empty lives that need the love of Jesus Christ. But Sodomy, Sodom, the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, this is not a small subject in the Scripture, it is all through the Bible. For you and I, we see Lot sitting in the middle of all of this, it says his righteous soul was vexed, he’s struggling, and yet he’s there in the middle of it. He’s been given some favour, because his uncle Abraham had delivered them all a few chapters before this, so he’s been given some position, he’s been given some consideration. But it doesn’t matter, you don’t want to be sitting in a situation where you’re struggling with conviction. Look, it’s better off to have aggravation on the horizontal and peace on the vertical, than to have peace on the horizontal and agida on the vertical. And if you don’t believe me, try it, find out for yourself. I would rather have peace with God, when I lay my head down on my pillow at night, knowing this way everything’s ok. Because if everything ain’t ok this way [on the horizontal] anytime in this life, it’s because it’s a pilgrimage, we just got here and we ain’t stayin’ long, we’re passing through.

The Two Angels Come Into Sodom--What Was It Like In Sodom?

He’s sitting in the gate of Sodom now, and he sees these men, he goes up to meet them, he bows himself with his face towards the ground, “and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.” (verse 2) it’s the first time “house” is mentioned in the Bible, Abraham’s living on a hill in a tent, Lot’s got a house, sitting in the gate, he’s got position, he’s got everything everybody might think is something. First time “street” is mentioned in the Bible. I don’t know what you’re going to do with that, I just want to keep you informed as we go along. “And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.” (verse 3) Now, it doesn’t give us all the details, doesn’t quite give us any of the details that we have of Abraham’s feast, with milk, and cheese, and fatted calf, and unleavened cakes. Here it just says it’s unleavened cakes, and Mrs. Lot ain’t doing anything, it doesn’t tell us, it says Lot went and did it. So we’re not sure exactly what to do with that. It reenforces a little bit of an attitude we see later, but first time unleavened cakes are mentioned here. [Comment: Some Messianic Jewish and Sabbath-keeping church of God pastors think this was around the time of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, which somehow Abraham knew about before the giving of the Law. We don’t know if that is true or not, it’s just what they believe.] But before they lay down, Lot knows the danger. These two guys say ‘We’ll stay in the street,’ he’s thinking ‘No, this can’t happen,’ his righteous soul is vexed every day, ‘I can’t let this happen,’ he begs them. We don’t know if they’re testing him, if they knew all along, but they come now into his house. “But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:” (verse 4) the whole city, wasn’t half a dozen guys, wasn’t 15 young punks, it was all of the old men and young men from every quarter of the entire city, the whole city knew that there were two men in the city that nobody had touched before. “and they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.” (verse 5) ‘that we may have sexual relations with them.’ The whole city’s outside, all of the old men, all of the young men, ‘Throw those two guys out to us that we might know them.’ What a place, what was the civil right there, I’m sure it was constitutional. “And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,” he shuts the door behind him, goes to face this mob, “and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.” (verses 6-7) he calls them “brethren,” how pitiful. Here is a guy who had participated in one of the highest callings ever, recorded in the Bible, with Abraham. This is a guy who could have still been living in a tent, up on the hills with Abraham, watching all of this from a distance, knowing what God was doing. Instead, he’s in the flow of things, he’s in Sodom, he’s in there amongst the culture. You know, some people in the Church say ‘We gotta get into the culture, gotta rub shoulders,’ well the Bible says “Be separate, come out from among them.” Abraham’s living in a tent on the mountain and he knows everything that’s going to happen. Lot is in the middle of the city, he don’t know nothing, he’s with the wrong crowd, he calls them “brethren.” Notice what he says to them, “do not so wickedly.” Now they’re not gonna like to hear that. “Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.” (verse 8) Now he’s got two married daughters, so he’s only got two daughters living at home. And you could just hear the girls, ‘great dad, just throw us out to all the old men and young men, the whole city and let them do whatever they want to us?’ “only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.” there’s that Middle Eastern honour of hospitality, he’s asking them not to interfere with. But he’s brought them in for their protection, the men of Sodom, they don’t care for anything about that. Now here’s Lot’s friends, ok? These are the guys he compromised to be with, in case you’re compromising to be with worldly people and sinners. You know, they’re only tolerant until you cross them, then they’re intolerant. “And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.” (verse 9) ‘Who does this guy think he is, judging us, telling us what we’re doing is wicked, and violating our rights, who does this guy think he is?’ “But the men” the angels “put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they” the angels “smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.” (verse 10) now that word “blindness” is only used one other time in the Old Testament, it’s translated “confusion,” whatever God struck them with, they were all of a sudden discombobulated. He smote them with blindness, notice, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door. Now these are one group of determined old guys and young guys. They all get smitten with blindness and now they’re groping around, their sexual satisfaction is more important to them than their sight. That’s the problem with our world today. And that’s the order it always comes in, first blindness, then judgment. It says in 2^nd Thessalonians, ‘Those who love not the truth God will give them over to believe a lie,’ and then judgment’s going to come. These men of Sodom had been rescued by Abraham, by God’s grace, had been graciously and tenderly treated by Almighty God, brought back to their homes, brought back to their families, and now they’re flying in the face of all of that, so quickly forgotten. And we see that in people sometimes, God will do something gracious, spare their lives, and a month later, two months, six months later they’ve forgotten all about it. At one point they were saying ‘O God, O God, O God, O God,’ and now it’s ‘Oh who? Oh who? Oh who?’ They’re blind and they’re groping at the door, wearing themselves out to find the door. “And the men said unto Lot,” the angels, “Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:” “thy sons” and we never hear of them anywhere else, he had sons, “for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.” (verses 12-13) That’s what this present world is destined for. That’s why it’s important for us when we get saved to be separate from it. You know, if you want to say to your unsaved friends, unsaved relatives, people you go to school with ‘Jesus Christ will save your life,’ there’s no sense you living in compromise, still getting stoned, still taking drugs, still living in sexual sin, still living like there ain’t no change in your life, then what do you have to offer them and promise them? It’s only when they see a change, it says ‘we’re living Epistles, known and read of all men,’ it’s when they can read your life, without your mouth, they know ‘Wow, something’s happened, they’re different, they’ve changed.’ And I’m not saying that we never struggle, that’s not my point. But there should be a change in our lives, because this world, like these angels say, is wicked before the LORD, it’s destined to be destroyed, and the Bible uses Sodom and Gomorrah and the days of Noah as an example to hold in front of us, and says ‘Just like they were destroyed, the present world is on the schedule.’ And when we get saved, we’re supposed to come out from among them, be separate, let those who name the name of Christ depart from iniquity. I mean, you can go down and down and down the list. It should affect the way we live, we’re free, the bondage of sin is broken from us, we’re free from it, we can live above all of that, what a wonderful thing. Verse 14 says this, now try to imagine this, “And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.” (verse 14) now the angel said, anybody else [of your immediate family] in the city. So Lot now, everybody outside his house is groping around trying to find the door, imagine him slipping out, and he’s kind of stepping around them, they can’t see him, he’s going through the city to find his family. What a strange picture, what a strange scene for a movie, for an artist’s brush, here’s Lot kind of scampering around trying to get, just crazy, he goes to find his family, “And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city.” notice please, “But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.” (verse 14) He had been such an impoverished witness, he had lived in the middle of it without condemning it, he had laughed with them in the gate of the city when he talked about their behavior and their lifestyle, he had lived there without raising his voice, without raising a standard. Now when he comes to his sons and sons in laws and says ‘This is all wrong, God’s going to bring judgment,’ they think he’s drunk, they think he’s insane, they think he’s one whose lost his mind, because he never, ever took a stand all along. And it’s so sad to see this, “But he seemed as one that mocked.”

The Destruction Of Sodom & Gomorrah

“And when the morning arose,” he goes back home, “then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.” (verse 15) these are evidently the two that are living at home that are not married. “And while he lingered,” what kind of a thing is that? You know, I don’t know about you, but I’m sitting somewhere in Philly and a couple angels show up, and everybody around me is mad about something and wants to kill me, and the angels strike the whole city blind, and say ‘Get your wife and kids, because tomorrow morning we’re destroying the whole city, judgment’s coming from Almighty God, hell’s going to fall out of heaven tomorrow morning.’ Am I lingering the next morning? ‘Oh, let’s see,’ he’s lingering, what in the world? Not me. “And while he lingered,” Now is he saying ‘Come on Honey, no leave that, we don’t need that, no, put that down, get your sneakers,’ what was he saying? “While he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.” (verse 16) So the two angels, one of them goes ‘Oye vey,’ one of them grabs Lot’s hand and his wife’s hand, and the other angel grabs each of his two daughters, and you got these two angels now dragging them out of the city like kids, trying to load up your kids to go to the dentist of something. “And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life;” very important, we’re going to find Lot’s wife doesn’t listen to this, “look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” (verse 17) God is so gracious to make a way of escape. “And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold, now, they servant hath found grace in thy sight,” what do you mean, two angels smote your whole city blind, they loaded you up, they drug you and your wife and your kids out of the city, and you’re saying ‘If we have found grace in your sight’? “and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.” (verses 18-20) ‘Don’t make me go into the mountains, something bad might happen to me.’ No, the angels said ‘No, something bad is going to happen to you if you stay here. God’s not saving and taking you to the mountains so a mountain lion’s going to eat you, what are you talking about?’ But don’t we think funny? We all do that. Abraham’s living in the mountains, he could have just went to Abraham’s camp, and said ‘Uncle, I was wrong, I was stupid, be merciful to me.’ And Abraham would have said ‘I was praying for you, and I asked God, and I’m so glad you’re here.’ ‘Don’t send me to the mountains, something bad might happen.’ “behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.” (verse 20) ‘and it’s a little one, it’s not a big bad city, like Sodom, it’s a little bad city,’ the angels were real impressed with that. “And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.” (verses 21-22) So it got its name on the day Lot said ‘Don’t make me go to the mountain, amongst all these big bad cities there’s a little one over there. Can I just go there?’ “The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.” (verse 23) So they got an early start, “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;” (verse 24) first use of the word “fire” in the Bible. Jude tells us this, “the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains unto darkness, unto the judgment of the great day, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, going after strange flesh, are set forth an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.’ It’s amazing for me to read all of these commentators that try to say this was a natural upheaval, with bitumen and tar. That may have all ignited in the process, but it says that eternal fire fell out of heaven. [Ron Wyatt discovered where Sodom was south of the Dead Sea, was allowed to go into the fenced area, photographing it for his DVD series (see http://www.ArkDiscovery.com). He dug out of a brick building a perfectly spherical golfball sized ball of phosphorus that he sent to a chemical lab, and they discovered it is 100 percent pure phosphorus which had imbedded itself into the building, thus without oxygen extinguished itself. The whole city was hit with these intensely hot burning balls of phosphorus, killing all living things within it. Nowhere on earth is 100 percent pure phosphorus to be found, according to the lab.] That may have all ignited in the process, it says that eternal fire fell out of heaven, the judgment came from heaven. “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.” (verses 24-25) “overthrew those cities” that’s the same word in the Septuagint that we have in the Greek when Jesus “overturns” the tables of the moneychangers, this is a violent circumstance, “he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.” there was nothing left. Archeologists feel today that Sodom and Gomorrah are in the area of what today is the Dead Sea, the Dead Sea is the lowest place on the face of the earth, it’s 40 miles long, 10 miles wide, it’s part of the Great Rift Valley which goes one 5^th of the earth’s circumference. So whatever came down and cracked the earth there, cracked it a 5^th the way around it’s circumference. And they’re looking, they have found some cemeteries there that give indication that there were upwards possibly of a million people living in the cities there of Sodom and Gomorrah. [Order that dvd Revealing God's Treasure at http://www.ArkDiscovery.com, for $19.00, and see the actual city he found, with the balls of pure phosphorus embedded into the building walls, it’s incredible.] They found in the northern end of the Dead Sea, which is up to 1,400 foot deep, they took a navy bathyscaph and went down and looked, they found corners and walls built, and they wonder if that may be some of the remnants of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but what’s left there is the Dead Sea, the lowest place on the face of the earth, potash, bromide, all of these chemicals that would be left after an intense burning, and there is nothing alive in the Dead Sea, and there’s nothing that grows down there, it’s remarkable, the overthrow, incredible what took place.

“Remember Lot’s Wife”

Now, verse 27, “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” Tough day. Jesus said this, “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded, and the same day Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:28-29) And then the Lord says three words, “Remember Lot’s wife.” (Luke 17:32) The tenses are “Be remembering Lot’s wife,” or “constantly be remembering Lot’s wife.” And I don’t. My wife’s here enough for me to be constantly remembering her. But it says “be constantly remembering Lot’s wife,” and this lesson’s not just for girls, Jesus is talking to the 12 apostles. We have three words about Lot’s wife in the New Testament, and 15 words about Lot’s wife in the Old Testament, and we’re told this is a woman that we should constantly be remembering. Why? What do we remember about her? We don’t know her name. We don’t know her background. Did Lot pick her up in Egypt when he was down there with Abraham, and he chose the plain of Sodom because it looked like Egypt, and she’s saying ‘Honey, Honey, that looks like Egypt, makes me homesick, take that.’ Was she from Sodom? She was content there, that’s for sure. How old was she? We don’t know anything about her, except this. She turned back, she was told not to by the angels. She was turned into a pillar of salt. This would be an interesting archeological find. The ancient rabbis and even Josephus says that she was still visible in their day. Some of the ancient writers said you could walk up to and see her through the salt. Now evidently that’s long gone, there is a configuration down by the Dead Sea that’s called Jabal Uzdum, which is about 500 foot high and 7 miles long they call Lot’s wife, but we know she wasn’t that big. Of course that would be one reason she was lagging behind [laughter]. What was she like? She didn’t cook for Lot, didn’t seem like she had any influence on her daughters. Was she hard to live with? Did Lot say ‘Honey, look at that,’ quick. Asking some questions, that’s all I’m doing. Now look, please be serious, Genesis 19, verse 26 says “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” The Hebrew construct “from behind him,” it has the sense of “she looked back, longingly, from, she was lagging behind,” she was far enough behind them that when the destruction came, the edge of it evidently overtook her, she “looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” What was she looking at? What was she longing for? What’s the warning? The warning to us, obviously is, this is a picture of the destruction that will come, Jesus says, ‘as it was in the days of Lot, so it will be in the last days.’ (see Luke 17:28-32) And his exhortation to you and I is, “Always be remembering Lot’s wife,” because she left Sodom in her mind, but she was destroyed in what she longed for in her heart. Her heart was still in Sodom. Because to her, that day was no different from any other day. It says they were building, there were housing starts, she got up in the morning, she heard hammers, there was life, and there was nothing at all to say that day was different than any other day that there had ever been, except for the Word of the LORD. There was no other thing, there was no physical evidence, she had sons back there, she had daughters that were still back there. Was she thinking about jewelry they left behind? There was something in her heart that she was still longing for, and as they were fleeing, she was lagging behind, lagging behind, maybe thinking ‘This is crazy, this is crazy, we’re not leaving, my life is there.’ And fire fell, judgment came. And there’s a lesson, you know, even if angels come, even if they drag us out of the city, even if they give us a head start, move us away, if our heart is not willing to be separate from the world, we’re in trouble. Because the heart always makes a convert of the mind, always. You guard your heart with all diligence, because from it flow the issues of life. Longing and desire are more powerful than intellect. And the smartest people end up doing the stupidest things, because they allow the longing of their heart to be their compass instead of the Truth. She left there, using her mind, having the information, knowing the truth, but she was destroyed in her longing. And evidently, obviously, what we are to remember about Lot’s wife, is not her name, her nationality, her age, it was her mistake, her destruction. Be remembering, Jesus said to his disciples, Lot’s wife. Look in verse 27, what a contrast to all of this, “And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:” he wouldn’t have traded that away for a thousand Sodom and Gomorrah’s, he had a place where he met with the LORD. He got up early in the morning and went to the place it was his habit, where he stood before the LORD. “and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.” (verses 28-29) now when you get a “behold” and a “lo” together you’re supposed to pay attention.

Lot & His Two Daughters--Where The Moabites & Ammonites Came From

God regarded the prayer of Abraham. Our prayers matter. “God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.” (verse 29b) Notice this, now he doesn’t even stay in Zoar, first he said ‘Don’t send me to the mountain, something bad might happen there,’ and then finally the angel says, ‘Fine you can go to this little city,’ and he goes there. Then after Lot sees what happens to the other cities, he figures, ‘you know, maybe we won’t stay in Zoar. I don’t know if this fire thing’s going to be a normal or weekly occurrence.’ “And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.” (verse 30) Here’s the guy that chose the best, made a decision with his natural mind instead of praying, instead of seeking the LORD, ends up choosing the plain of Sodom, pitching his tent towards Sodom, living in Sodom, sitting in the gate of Sodom, the prosperity, Jesus says they were building, a prosperous place, he was part of the wholly polloy there, the local government, he had position, he had a house, he had everything, yet he had nothing. Now he’s in a cave. What a sad story. It gets sadder. He and his two daughters. “And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.” (verses 31-32) Now I don’t know, on my checklist of things I’m taking from Sodom the day I’m running from the city that’s going to be destroyed, wine’s not very high on the list, they’re living in a cave, fled from Sodom and Gomorrah, they got wine with them somehow, bad choice [wine was a big part of the culture back then, obviously]. ‘Let’s make our father drink wine, let’s get him drunk, let’s have relations with him.’ “And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.” (verse 33) at least we could give it to Lot if he was sober. Now that is really pickled as far as I’m concerned. This is the older one, now she’s going to say to the younger one, ‘I did it, now you do it.’ Now the older daughter should have been an example, instead she’s going to tell her, her younger sister to have sex with her father, to get her father drunk. Lot drinks so much and gets so drunk that he doesn’t even know what happened? That’s unimaginable to me. [Another aspect of this, imagine you had just witnessed Hiroshima going up in smoke after the first atomic bomb hit it, and you were a resident that had left the city, and you had Saki with you, I think you’d be polishing it off and getting drunk to forget.] “And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger,” what a great older sister, “Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.” (verse 34) Well they were raised in Sodom, they were raised in the place he wanted to live. There’s not a single mention here or thought about God. There’s not a mention of God’s Word. There’s not a mention of prayer. There’s not a mention of God’s morals, his care, his grace, his provision, his will, not a word. Because if you live in compromise, and I live in compromise, that’s the side our children will choose. Their natural inclination would be inclined to the carnal side of what we do, and not towards the spiritual side of what we do. You remember in Nehemiah it says the men of Israel [which with Nehemiah were the men of Judah who had come back from Babylon] were marrying the daughters of Ammon and so forth and Moab, and it says their children learned the language of Ammon but not the language of the Jews, they learned the language of the world and not the language of heaven. And if you give them an option, if your home’s divided, ok, Dad is sold out, he loves the Lord and serves the Lord, mom’s a lukewarm Christian or doesn’t care, when the kids grow up, they will naturally gravitate towards that side of the equation, because it’s their natural inclination. [Comment: unless God happens to be calling one of them. We are children of Abraham, and if our kids and grandkids are in our prayers, God hears, and just as God heard Abraham and protected Lot, he hears our prayers for our kids and grandkids, so don’t give up on those prayers, folks.] If both parents are usually sold out for the Lord, and believing and serving the Lord go hand in hand, there’s no options, then there’s no options. But the choices we make infect our family for good or bad. Here is Lot, without his wife, without his sons, I can’t imagine, without his two older daughters, they’re all gone. He’s got two of his youngest daughters left, which should have been the joy of his life, and they’re getting him drunk and seducing him, because it’s the world they grew up in, the morals they learned, the standard they have lived by for years. “And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.” (verse 35) God said of Abraham, ‘He’s going to instruct his children and his household in the ways of God.’ Man, God saw Abraham so differently. “Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.” (verse 36) Now look, verse 36, that’s the last mention of Lot. We’ll hear Jesus say ‘As in the days of Lot,’ but the last mention of Lot, historically, is verse 36, that’s the sentence where he passes off the scene. How sad, both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father, exit Lot. “And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.” (verses 37-38) Amman, Jordan today, the capital of Jordan [and Jordan is Moab], unto this day, the Moabites and the Ammonites become the perennial enemies of the children of Israel, born out of sin, born out of the flesh, what a sad, sad picture. [Comment: But it is the Jordanians who have been friendlier with the nation of Israel than their Arab neighbours, strangely enough.] Look, written for us, for our instruction. Here’s the world, the world can legislate its morality, the world can say ‘Well this is right, church keep your mouth shut, we don’t care what you say is moral, this is what we say, we want our rights, we want to be able to do whatever we want to do.’ Fine, but if you chose to acquiesce to that and to live by that standard, it will infect your home and it will infect your family. I would stay on the mountain, in the tent with Abraham. We are passing through, this is a temporary journey, we are on a our way to glory, and we’re going to stand before the Lord someday, and what a wonderful thing that’s going to be. Or we can move into the middle of it, rub shoulders with it, gather the wealth of it to ourselves, the whole time we’re doing it being grieved in our hearts knowing we should be doing something else. But the next generation reproduces it in a multitude of sins. We sow to the wind, reap the whirlwind, how sad. You have Lot, you have Abraham in this picture, you have the LORD, you have Lot’s wife, turning back, longing for, destroyed, held up in front of us, saying, here’s an example, be thinking about it all the time. Look, watch the news, you see what’s going on in the world, write on your mirror in your bathroom where you shave ‘Remember Lot’s wife,’ every morning when you get up, it’s a good way to start the day, ‘OK Lord, I ain’t turning back today, I like salt, but not that much.’ Great example. Meanwhile in all of this God is merciful, God is merciful, God is sparing, God said if I can find some righteous there, I’ll spare. God had extended his mercy to Sodom and Gomorrah, God rescues Lot, who had been living in compromise. And if it’s borne bad fruit in your family, and you’re tired of it, God will receive you, he’ll spare you to the point of sending angels. How many of them have been around us, the New Testament says many of us have entertained angels unawares. They don’t come down with wings and haloes on a little stick and harps, they look like people. We’re going to get to heaven [at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, cf. Revelation 19:78-9] and find out the ones that were around us, I guarantee you. I guarantee you, God has cared for us. Read ahead, if the Lord tarries, chapters 20 and 21, some very remarkable things. We’re going to have the musicians come, we’ll sing a last song together. And let’s do this tonight, just as we sing this last song, just a great time, to say ‘Ok Lord, where do I fit best in this picture? Am I an Abraham, do I know what’s going on, I’m I praying for my country, for my city, for my family?’ I’m I kind of standing above and outside of it all because of your grace, I’m I remembering how temporary it is, am I a man of the tent and the altar, a woman of the tent and the altar? Lord, where am I in this picture, am I living in the middle of this, making excuses? Joking at work about immoral jokes and ashamed to tell them I’m a Christian because I laugh at their morality, we mess around, am I like Lot? Lord, am I like Lot’s wife, if you told me this morning that supernaturally the judgment was coming, would I be tempted to look back? Where’s my heart?’ All of this put in front of us so that we can measure it, so we can let the Holy Spirit speak to us about it, and we can turn to our Father, to learn, to grow, to be cleansed, to start afresh, to start anew, confessing our sins, and then he’s faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Let’s stay in our seats, let’s sing this last song, and just in your own heart I encourage you commune with the Lord and say ‘Where am I Lord? Where am I?’ I am going to ask those questions, there’s things, I’m not going to tell you about them, but there’s things, help me Lord, speak to me…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Genesis 18:23-33 and Genesis 19:1-38, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]